Game 1 - Final Fantasy VII Remake Intermission - PC / Epic - Completed Jan 1st, 2022
I had the base game of Final Fantasy VII on the PS5, but my PS5 broke. Thankfully I hadn't bought the Intermission DLC yet, so I decided to pick it up on PC with the Epic store's $10 off coupon (making the game $60 for the base game + DLC). While the game ran surprisingly well on PC, I have to say that paying $60 for just the Yuffie DLC definitely wasn't worth it. Although I'm sure I'll play through the base game again some time before Chapter 2 releases... eventually. I did actually enjoy the DLC but the enemies felt like bullet sponges a lot and it didn't have nearly the amount of variety that the base game had. The Fort Condor mini game / tower defense was fun though! And the ending tacked on to Intermission was pretty brilliant as well.
Game 2 - Inscryption - PC / GOG - Completed Jan 5th, 2022
Wow, what an experience. I was not prepared for this game. If I would have played this game last year when it was released, I think it would have been a contender for my personal Game of the Year. Somehow they turned a simple card game into an awesome deckbuilding game with a huge twist. Excellent atmosphere and awesome worldbuilding come together to make an excellent and unexpected backdrop for a game like this. I can't really say more without ruining things, but I recommend this game to anyone.
Game 3 - Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars - Nintendo Switch - Completed Jan 11th, 2022
I felt like this game was pretty interesting and had a lot of good game mechanics. It was a fun little psuedo-tabletop RPG game, and the card aesthetic was used to great effect here. However, after playing for a while it became increasingly clear that this game wouldn't have any difficulty, at all. I ended the game with just over 11 hours on the clock, all party members were max level (30), and I had all of the character's strongest weapons and armor. Even the final boss was a bit of a pushover (although easily the most difficult boss in the entire game). There were a lot of questionable design choices here that just... made the game easy. For example, your characters (as they level up) get passive buffs - but instead of choosing just one per character or something, they just... stack. So by the end every character has like three massive buffs that are hugely advantageous. A shame, really, because the story was really nice and the narration was top notch. The game was fun but without having any sort of challenge, it just felt a bit flat to me.
Game 4 - Kingdom Rush: Origins - Nintendo Switch - Completed Jan 14th, 2022
The final Kingdom Rush game I picked up on the Switch during the Black Friday sale last year. I didn't like the variety of towers as well in this title as the last one, but it was a fun little game none-the-less. While a pretty faithful adaptation from the phone version, this (like the other Switch games in the series) had all of the heroes that could be unlocked with regular gameplay rather than with microtransactions - so that was pretty cool and welcome. The story was pretty meh but the comic sections in between each level were fun and well done. Overall, a really solid tower defense game.
Game 5 - Spider-Man: Miles Morales - PlayStation 5 - Completed Jan 15th, 2022
I picked this game up over the holidays on a pretty steep discount. I figured it'd be worth the $30 price tag, given that I heard most people's complaint is that the game was pretty short. Actually, I really enjoyed the length of the game - it never outstayed it's welcome. The PS4 Spider-Man game, I had given up on it half way through because the story just seemed to drag on and on. So in a lot of ways, I liked this format a lot better. Interesting story, good characters (as expected from Marvel!). I can't wait for Spider-Man 2 now.
Game 6 - Ultra-Age - Nintendo Switch - Completed Jan 16th, 2022
This game was... not great. I picked it up on a whim on import because I love supporting physical copies of digital only games - and this game got a physical release in Japan. I got it tacked on to another order I had placed and the shipping was free, but still... not really worth the price of admission. Aesthetically, this game was trying to be a PS2 game (whether that was an intentional choice, or if the game was just janky, I'll never know). The voice acting was really, really bad. However, the action combat and exploration were both fun but never quite got into the realm of "great". By the time I had reached the end of the game, I realized that the game hadn't given me enough items to power up completely so that it was like I was playing on unintentional hard mode. The ending was... also bad. Overall, this game is a D- at best.
Game 7 - Ys IV: Mask of the Sun - PC / Retro Achievements - Completed Feb 11th, 2022
This is one of the few Ys games I had never played before, but I tracked down a translated copy (that had retro achievements!) and set out on another adventure with Adol. While this felt like a step down from the fantastic Ys III, this was more or less a direct sequel to Ys I and II which I thought was pretty cool. The attack system was similar to the first two games with the "bump attack" style which took some getting used to after having played modern Ys games. As always, the music was fantastic and a real standout. I unlocked 20/30 retro achievements (some I did but didn't unlock properly) and had a ton of fun with those! Now Ys V is the only mainline game I haven't played before so I think I'll have to do that one next.
Game 8 - Katamari Damacy Reroll - Xbox Series X - Completed Feb 20th, 2022
I last played this game on the Switch but the Switch was a really poor choice for this game's control scheme. Playing it again on the Xbox was a ton of fun, as the controllers analog sticks are a lot more sturdy. The music, as always, is one of the best parts of this game. I didn't unlock all of the presents, but I got a few of them! I also didn't bother with the Xbox achievement for "roll up everything" because that's extremely tedious and not-fun. Overall though, I love this game and it's wacky sense of humor and style.
Game 9 - Diablo II Resurrected - Nintendo Switch - Completed Feb 21st, 2022
I've been playing this off and on for the last couple of months. I can't say that I'm entirely impressed. First out of the gate, it took me two weeks after buying the game to be able to sign in with my Battle.net account. Hoping Microsoft does away with that nonsense in the future. I played a Druid character, I haven't played Druid since maybe the Lord of Destruction expansion first released like 20 years ago. I found the character to be boring, and took forever. While the summons were cool for crowd control, my guy himself was so weak that I'd usually just be standing around waiting for my summons to kill things. The control scheme didn't adapt too well either, lots of small tight corridors and things left me frustrated trying to navigate. Inventory took forever to manage. Overall, this was not a great console adaptation, but the game itself is timeless. Shame.
Game 10 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master! - Xbox Series X - Completed Feb 24th, 2022
This game released on Game Pass, and I've been looking for a new rhythm game now that Rock Band is on life support. Unfortunately, Drum Master is not that game. While I appreciated the song selection immensely, I just couldn't get over how incredibly average the gameplay was. Two types of notes (press left or right on the controller) and nothing like star power or multipliers made the game incredibly dull when compared with something like Rock Band. The over-the-top Japanese aesthetic was cute but also a bit distracting. The game had a few elements of feeling unfinished, like I bought a new instrument in the store (with in-game currency, not real money) but didn't like the way it sounded and spent the better part of 20 minutes trying to figure out how to set it back to default (hint: you can't). I bought a different instrument to replace it, and that was cool but that's the only way to change it out even though I "owned" several at that point. Very weird. Anyway, game was below average at best - glad I played it through Game Pass, definitely not worth $50.
Game 11 - Aperture Desk Job - Steam Deck - Completed Mar 18th, 2022
Although this was a really short experience, I thought this was a great introduction to the Steam Deck! Getting familiar with the system's buttons and controls was pretty helpful, I would recommend this to anyone who is just starting to use their Steam Deck. Obviously filled with Valve's signature humor and set in the Portal universe. An enjoyable experience!
Game 12 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - PC / GOG - Completed Apr 3rd, 2022
Wow. I can't believe I hadn't played this game before, especially since I'm such a huge Ys fan. After 50 hours spent with Joshua and Estelle, I can safely say that this is an amazing game that I won't soon forget. While the graphics were pretty dated the characters, gameplay, and music made up for it completely. I also played most of the game using the Japanese voices from the Evolution Vita release which were fantastic. A gripping story that held me interested from start to finish (and what a finish it was!) is a pretty incredible feat for a game that lasts fifty hours. I can't wait to play the sequels, although I'm going to chew on this one for a little while and play some other games first. Seriously if you're a JRPG fan, and you haven't played this game, now is the time.
Game 13 - Baltoro Klondike Solitaire - Nintendo Switch - Completed Apr 4th, 2022
As much as someone can "finish" solitaire, I have. I've played way too much of this game. It's a pretty basic solitaire program, but you earn XP and level up after finishing matches, and upon leveling up you unlock new card skins, new boards, new soundtracks, etc. Pretty well done considering this was like a $0.99 game on sale. Otherwise, it was pretty much like PC solitaire, but on the Switch.
Game 14 - Chocobo GP - Nintendo Switch - Completed Apr 9th, 2022
This game is the definition of bullshit, full stop. The races are completely unfair and rely almost solely on RNG. Even doing the story mode on "easy", I would still complete the game's objectives (like, finish the race in under a 1:25) and still fail because I'd be in 5th place. I probably played the final chapter's race about 30 times before finally winning by sheer luck. The theme song in the main menu was fun and quirky at first, but got annoying FAST as it played between every level. The GP mode is fuckin pointless, as you have the same RNG stuff but now it's online. You can buy the "battle pass" using real money, but it takes about 5-7 races to level up. Level up to 60 and you unlock Cloud, or just straight up pay $20. Game is straight garbage.
Game 15 - Assassin's Creed - PC / GOG - Completed Apr 21st, 2022
This game has... not aged so well. I got to thinking that this is one of the few Assassin's Creed games I never finished, and I decided to go back to where it all began. What I found was a bit of a mess both of graphics and controls. I used to think this game looked amazing when it released in 2007, but 15 years later the game just doesn't hold up very well. The story was cool but I feel like Assassins Creed II was better in every single way (having played it a few years ago as part of the Ezio collection). The controls were kind of the worst enemy of this game and drove me several times to the point of total frustration. While it was fun to look back on this and remember what was, I can say that this game is best left in the past.
Game 16 - Vampire Survivors - Steam Deck - Completed Apr 22nd, 2022
For $3, this is one of the most fun games I've played in a long time. I spent 25 hours with the game and unlocked all of the achievements and in-game power-ups. The game is pretty simple but has a bit of fun complexity to it with different weapon builds and such. The core gameplay is like a single-stick shooter (think twin-stick shooter, but with auto-attacking) which I found to be surprisingly engaging. There were also rogue-like elements, since every time you died, you spend the money you earned that run on permanent upgrades for your subsequent games. Highly recommended. Still in early access, so I'm sure I'll revisit this when it fully releases.
Game 17 - Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - PlayStation 5 - Completed May 5th, 2022
I finally got my PS5 fixed up, so I decided to give the Uncharted 4 remaster a go. The graphics looked great and the framerate was super duper smooth. I haven't played the game since I beat it back in 2016 after it first came out, but I really enjoyed it still and it held up great. The only thing I didn't really catch the first time around was how utterly insufferable Nathan's wife was in the second half of the game. Always telling Nathan what to do, where to go, giving him shit - all while being able to beat up guys and lift more than her weight above her head. Utterly ridiculous. Other than that though, the story was good and the gameplay was fun. Highly recommended.
Game 18 - Kuukiyomi: Consider It - Nintendo Switch - Completed May 21st, 2022
This game was... weird. But kooky. I enjoyed it a lot even though it was pretty short. You have to make quick decisions to make the most considerate move for your character. There were 100 "situations" but the game only takes about 30 minutes to complete including the credits rolling. I know there are a few more games in the series, I might have to check them out.
Game 19 - Rogue Legacy 2 - PC / Steam - Completed May 22nd, 2022
I absolutely loved the first Rogue Legacy game, so when I saw they were making a sequel I was pretty excited. I picked it up when it first released to Early Access (about two years ago!) and played it a couple of times while it was in development. Now that it got released a few weeks ago to 1.0, I've been playing it a lot lately. It's very much like the first game but better in (almost) every way. The only real letdown was that some of the Fairy chest rooms were pretty bullshit this time around. This game had a lot better traversal, with the ability to permanently unlock shortcuts to each area. If you liked the first game, be sure to give this a try!
Game 20 - Monster Train - Xbox Series X - Completed Jun 16th, 2022
I play this game off and on on PC from time to time, so I decided to check it out on console and found that it was on Game Pass. I played through several runs and finally maxed out my favorite faction (again). This game is one of my favorite rogue-likes out there, and easily my favorite deckbuilding game that's come out in the last few years.
Game 21 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Xbox Series X - Completed Jun 17th, 2022
My son and I played through this game completely in a single afternoon while completing all of the optional side quests and uncovering all of the secrets in every level. A really fun game that I'm sure I'll be playing through again and again. I'm always in the market for a good beat em up, because I feel it's the ultimate "party game" with friends or family over. Thankfully, this one is low skill level which means even my wife enjoys it. Even though it's on Game Pass, I'm planning on buying this probably a few times.
Game 22 - Inscryption - Steam Deck - Completed Jun 20th, 2022
OK so... I don't normally replay games this close together (I originally finished this game back in Jan) but Inscryption was something special. I originally played a GOG copy of the game, but this time I decided to see how well it would run on the Steam Deck. The controls took a little bit of getting used to, but otherwise it played really well! I was obviously a bit better at the game this time around, but the story is still zany and fun and full of interesting twists. I'll have to see if I can figure out this Kaycee's Mod thing next...
Game 23 - 12 Labours of Hercules IX: A Hero's Moonwalk - PC / Legacy Games - Completed Jul 8th, 2022
Although I'm getting sick of having all these extra launchers, I decided to pick up all of the Hercules games on Legacy Games because I bought 20 games for the price of what two of these games on Steam was. Nothing much to write home about on this game, as it's basically identical to the previous 8 games that I've played. Thanks to that deal, I've got a few more of these to eventually play. The games are fun and worth playing!
Game 24 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rescue Palooza - PC - Completed Jul 9th, 2022
My son and I played through Shredder's Revenge a few weeks ago, and he really enjoyed it. So I decided to introduce him to the fan game Rescue Palooza, and we had a blast playing through the game. There are a bunch of really cool levels, and fun characters to collect. A huge nostalgia hit for someone like me who really enjoyed the Turtles show and action figures in the 80s and 90s. Cowabunga!
Game 25 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time - PC / Retro Achievements - Completed Jul 10th, 2022
I've been on a TMNT kick lately, and this was the latest game in my lineup. A fun romp through time and about 10 levels of killing a bunch of foot soldiers. This game is crazy difficult! Playing with two players was a lot of fun though, and we had enough extra lives / continues to finish the game and defeat the super Shredder. Highly recommended if you've played Shredder's Revenge and want something similar.
Game 26 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game - PC / Retro Achievements - Completed Jul 11th, 2022
Another day, another Ninja Turtles side scrolling action game. This one was great, we played the 1990 Japanese arcade cabinet version. I played this back in the day, but the levels and stuff were much more familiar to me because of the NES port of the same game which was much worse graphically but also much more forgiving. This game was brutal with the enemy chain attacks and combos, and the fact that you could die in 2-3 hits from most enemies. Overall still pretty great despite being 32 years old now.
Game 27 - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - PC / Retro Achievements - Completed Jul 22nd, 2022
I really enjoy the JoJo manga and anime, but I never played the PS1 fighting game that was made by Capcom for the Stardust Crusaders story arc. The sprite work is really good, and very faithful to the manga. The gameplay was (mostly) great with a lot of variety in the different fighters. The only section of the game that I didn't enjoy was the levels that were 100% QTEs, because the timing required on those was literally insane. I probably played the gamer level about 100 times before I was able to finally beat it - having to enter 15 random buttons with less than a second each is a bit over the top. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this game and might play through the arcade mode with a few of my favorite characters.
Game 28 - The Quarry - PC / Steam - Completed Jul 31st, 2022
I love Supermassive's games, and this one was no exception. It's easy to see that this was bigger budget than the Dark Pictures games, and it's length rivaled that of Until Dawn. I think I actually liked this better than Until Dawn, even though the story was quite a bit weaker. I feel like this game had better characters, and better choices. It also had a more accessible couch co-op play mode that I used to play through this with my son. Overall, an instant classic.
Game 29 - Vampire Survivors - PC / Gamepass - Completed Aug 2nd, 2022
It's pretty rare for me to finish the same game twice in a single year - in fact I think this is the first time I've done it since I started tracking my game progress on NeoGAF back in 2014. But, here we are. Vampire Survivors is probably my favorite game I've played in a long time, it feels like a breath of fresh air in gaming - so much so that it's already spiraling out by creating it's own genre. Anyway, after already completely beating the game on Steam I decided to play it on Gamepass because it was free and it was fun to start over with no upgrades. Now, I've completely finished it yet again.
Game 30 - Shadowgate - PC / Retro Achievements - Completed Aug 10th, 2022
I love this game, it was one of the few NES cartridges I had access to as a kid. I believe my brother got it from my parents one year for Christmas (I think I got Crystalis that year, so I'm not complaining!). Anyway, the game is still great and has an amazing soundtrack. Unfortunately, I've played through this so many times, that I still knew all of the answers to all of the puzzles and was able to easily walk through like everything in the game. Still fun to revisit, and I unlocked most of the game's achievements!
Game 31 - Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - PC / Epic Games Store - Completed Aug 17th, 2022
Well, after putting in about 90 hours on this game I finally finished it. This game was definitely a wild ride - full of fun Final Fantasy references, music, and good combat. The story was honestly a bit shit, and silly, but that could be said of a lot of Final Fantasy games that this is trying to mimic. The game ran really well on my PC, and stayed at a pretty steady 60fps the majority of the time. Occasional lag spikes, especially when doing finishing moves on monsters, but these got progressively better with updates. The class system was the standout here - so many fun combinations of move sets and whatnot. Overall, a solid B action adventure game.
Game 32 - Deja Vu - PC / Retro Achievements - Completed Aug 19th, 2022
So - I recently played through Shadowgate again and had a fun time with it. So, I decided to give Deju Vu a go. Now, like Shadowgate, I've played this game hundreds of times back in the day. Also like Shadowgate, I remembered a good bit about where to go and what to do. Regardless, the game is still a lot of fun and a good mystery. This game has more of an element of randomness to it, but I found that works out pretty well overall. Still a great game, after all these years.
Game 33 - Wizard of Legend - PC / GOG - Completed Sept 30th, 2022
It's been a while since I've finished any games, because the ones I've been playing have been taking a really long time to beat. Wizard of Legend is an example of such, my son and I played this in co-op for about 25 hours before finally finishing the final boss. The game is a lot of fun, and mechanically it's really sound. However, the game relies too much on RNG to really be any fun late-game. An overall enjoyable experience, but it's really a bummer when you do an hour long run and get screwed out of relics you need for your build. More rogue-lite than rogue-like.
Game 34 - Katamari Damacy - PC / Retro Achievements - Completed Oct 1st, 2022
So Retro Achievements activated PS2 achievements today, and I had to play through one of my favorite PS2 games to celebrate. Katamari Damacy is such a weird, quirky title that's got such an amazing soundtrack. I've played the remake recently, but I actually preferred the PS2 version (upscaled, of course, in PCSX2). Amazing game that's pretty timeless and tons of fun.
Game 35 - Club Nintendo Picross - Nintendo 3DS - Completed Oct 2nd, 2022
I've dusted off my 3DS to play some Picross games, and I've also been working to learn Japanese. The ultimate combination of those two things led me to boot up Club Nintendo Picross, which was originally a Club Nintendo exclusive download in Japan. The game had about 100 different puzzles in it, all relating back to various Nintendo properties but mostly Mario and Zelda. A lot of fun, although a bit on the easy side as the majority of the puzzles were 10x10 and there were no mega picross puzzles.
Game 36 - We Love Katamari - PC / Retro Achievements - Completed Oct 15th, 2022
I didn't like this game as much as the first one, back in the day. However, now I found it to be utterly delightful and better than the first in a lot of ways. While the overworld mechanics certainly weren't great, the rest of the game was really solid. The music has some absolute bangers and remixes of the main theme from the first game. The level structure (once I got used to how it works) actually made a lot more sense and contributed a lot to the game's overall replayability. A game like this one makes me wish we had a modern Katamari Damacy that wasn't just a remake of the old game.
Game 37 - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance - PC / GOG - Completed Oct 17th, 2022
Well, despite the $40 price tag, I had a lot of fun playing through this game in a couch co-op session with my son (who had never played this). It took some convincing, because he doesn't really like "Diablo style" action RPGs, but I assured him this game was awesome so he finally relented. It's been several years since I've played through this, but I still really enjoyed it. The addition of widescreen support and updated textures was nice - but not really worth the price tag. Overall, still a great game.
Game 38 - 12 Labours of Hercules X Greed for Speed - PC / Legacy - Completed Oct 19th, 2022
There isn't much to say about this game that I haven't already said about the other nine entries in the series that I've played so far. But - one thing I noticed with this game was that, especially towards the end, the levels started getting TOUGH. Which surprised me, because these are casual games (sometimes literally put in "casual games" categories on storefronts) but man... One level in particular required you to basically set up a programming function to solve similar to something like TIS-100. Very neat to see here, but felt really out of place honestly.
Game 39 - Crystalis (Game Boy Color) - PC / Retro Achievements - Completed Nov 15th, 2022
I absolutely adore the NES version of Crystalis, it's one of my favorite NES games. Somehow, I'd never played the Game Boy Color version - and when it got achievements, I figured I'd give it a shot. The first thing I noticed right off the bat was that the music in this version was a massive downgrade from the original, and that stayed true throughout. The story beats were changed (slightly) to make the game more coherent which I enjoyed. Some of the dungeons were made smaller, which was also a welcome change. The frame rate was awful and took some getting used to. Overall, a really mixed bag.
Game 40 - The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me - PC / Steam - Completed Nov 23rd, 2022
I absolutely love the Dark Pictures games, and this is probably the best one of the bunch so far. Though they're calling this the end of "Season 1", they've already announced the next game in the series which looks great. This game had a really great cast of characters, a spooky atmosphere, and a story based around true events. A definite improvement over the other games in the first season, although some of the QTEs were a bit bullshit. I'm always fascinated with these game's branching paths, and this one seems to diverge pretty wildly at times (based on the videos in the interviews I watched afterwards). A really solid entry into what is becoming one of my favorite modern game series.
Game 41 - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Nintendo Switch - Completed Nov 24th, 2022
It's Thanksgiving, and family was over so we put on Mario Kart for everyone to play in split screen. This game is still an amazing party game that seemingly everyone loves. The new tracks that are part of the expansion pass were a lot of fun to play through as well. I really enjoy the variety that this game has to offer now - but where are they even going to go with Mario Kart 9 eventually? This game seems to have it all.
Game 42 - Monster Train - PC / Steam - Completed Nov 25th, 2022
I've played through this game completely a couple of times now - and this is, in fact, the second time this year. I picked up the game and it's expansion on Humble Choice a few months ago, and I've been playing it on and off since. Have I mentioned that I love this game? It's a great game. If you haven't already played it, you really should.
Past challenges:
jshackles
as the prior host)
[20/52]
