First of all, thanks to MRORANGE and VisceralBowl for their work on the previous year's threads (see below for links).



This is a thread for GAFfers that want to play on average one game a week for the year of 2018. Whether you're doing the 52-game challenge to help clear your backlog, compete with your friends, or simply to keep track of the games you've played - this is a fun way for us to come together and talk about the games we've played this year.



How do I take part?
Claim a post (you may need two later). Write down each game and your thoughts about each one. Use this format for your post:

1: NAME - DURATION PLAYED
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE

2: NAME - DURATION PLAYED
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE

3: NAME - DURATION PLAYED
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE

Click to expand...

How do I know when I've completed a game?
That's up to you, it could be completing the game or playing 10hrs+ if it has no ending or a MP game. You can do replays, as long as all the games are completed in 2018.

Do I have to record time?
No.

Do I have to review or comment on the games I complete?
No but it'd be nice to give a few words or maybe a quick score. Full blown mini-reviews aren't necessary.

Do episodic games count as a single game or X amount of games?
That's up to you. It's alright to count something like Life is Strange as one or five games. Your choice.

Can I finish a game I started in 1992 and count that?
Yes.

What should I do once I've completed the challenge?
Send me a PM with a link to your post (or posts) that shows all the games you've completed this year.

Do board games / card games / tabletop games count?
They do not.

Is there a deadline?



Archive: 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017


People who have completed the challenge will be posted here, please remember to send me a PM with your post once you're done!

wyvern_bloodfist
KentBlake
Psychotic_Mantis
tschep2
jshackles
W watdaeff4

I'm going to give this an absolute shot! Will start my games tonight, and will update my list with thoughts and whatnot as I complete them!

My personal challenge is to play as many RPGs as possible!

HERE WE GO!

(Will update to make the post more flashier, I've been working a lot lately, so I haven't been able to update, but don't wanna be a noshow.)

1: STARFOX 2 - SNES CLASSIC - 1.5 hours

Pretty fun game, glad I got to see what probably might not have been. Good game, but also a short game. Not much to explain, it's like an RTS where you control two units, and it's on the SNES. You also fly a space ship and it can also walk on the ground. You get to play as two new adorable characters: Miyu and Fay.

2: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - SNES CLASSIC - 16 hours~

Just as good this year as it was when I played it the first time in 1996. Not much to add that hasn't already been said about this game. It's great, and I hope Nintendo makes more like this and Link Between Worlds.

I am ready to go in 2018.
I only completed 22 in 2017 so it is time to step up my Game !!




1) Jan 01: Rise of the Tomb Raider.
2) Jan 21: Escape Goat 2
3) Feb 10: Gravity Rush: Remastered
4) Feb 11: Batman: The Telltale Game
5) Feb 18: BattleChasers: Nightwar
6) Mar 11: Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age
7) Mar 16: Ratchet and Clank
8) Mar 22: Dishonored 2
9) Mar 26: Ni No Kuni 2
10)Apr. 15: FarCry 5

11)Apr 23: God of War
12)May 13: Tales from the Borderlands.
13)June 2: Detroit: Become Human
14)July28: Octopath Traveler
15)Aug06: Ori and the blind forest
16)Aug 11: Sky Force Anniversary
17)Sep 16: Marvel’s Spider-Man
18)Sep 24: Red Dead Redemption
19)Sep 30: Darksiders
20)Oct 14: Assassins Creed Odyssey

21)Nov 6: Red Dead Redemption 2
22)Nov 22: Assassins Creed: Unity
23)Dec 07: Dragon Quest XI

Part 1, 2018 (Part 2 Here)

Game 1 - Ryse: Son of Rome - Xbox One - Completed Jan 6th, 2018
This game was... not very good. The visuals were great and the story was more or less okay - but the combat got so repetitive that after the 3rd mission I was ready for the game to end (not even half-way through). Luckily the game wasn't very difficult, but it certainly was tedious. The game probably wins the "most boring final boss fight" award out of every game I've ever played.

Game 2 - A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV - Playstation 4 - Completed Jan 6th, 2018
The game was originally a pre-order bonus but it was surprisingly well done. I'm planning on going back and playing the Final Fantasy XV episodes and extras and decided to start here. I actually liked young Noctis' character perhaps better than "present day" Noctis - he was great in the Platinum demo and it was fun to peer into his imagination and curiosity. The brotherhood anime (which I'm also re-watching) has a few scenes of him too although "slightly younger teenage Noctis" is kinda garbage. Anyway, the game was a surprisingly competent brawler with an interesting twist at the end. I enjoyed seeing young Regis' "party" come together - it's something I wanted to see in a spin-off anyway after playing through the game. Overall, very cool for a free product.

Game 3 - Final Fantasy XV Extended Universe - Playstation 4 - Completed Jan 13th, 2018
OK so I'm calling this "Extended Universe" to include the three character episodes, chapter 13 verse 2, the Brotherhood anime, and the Kingsglaive movie. These extended glimpses into the FF15 universe were fun and done with the intention of finally starting my New Game+ playthrough of the main game soon. I have a lot better appreciation of the subject matter at hand now that I know where everything fits in the timeline of the game. I'm not too ashamed to admit that I cried at the end of Episode Ignis. I think of all the main character episodes, I liked Prompto's the best - Arenea was one of my favorite characters in the game after all. Anyway, I'm looking forward to jumping into Noctis' story yet again soon.

Game 4 - 8-Bit Adventures: The Uninvited - Playstation 4 - Completed Jan 21st, 2018
This is the game in the collection that I had played the least when I was younger, but I still had a good time with it. While it's quite a bit shorter than the other games in the trilogy, it's also the one with the largest number of red herrings so I remember getting really frustrated with it when I was a kid. The achievements here were the real draw, and I was actually pretty surprised about how much of the game I remember playing. The ending was a bit cheesy (as they all were back in the day) but overall I enjoyed this quite a bit. I now have 100% of the trophies of this collection!

Game 5 - 12 Labours of Hercules VI: Race for Olympus - PC Steam - Completed Jan 21st, 2018
For the past few years (starting in Jun 2016, it turns out) I've been playing through this series, and I'm actually a little sad to have reached the end. The games are excellent and usually my go-to "chill" games, as they don't require a whole lot of brain power to interact with but they're fun and easy. This one had a few extra "beat the developer" achievements that I didn't get (only got 8 out of the 10 required) and a "get all the other achievements" achievement, so I didn't 100% this one like I did some of the others. I might have liked this game the most of the series, as it had quite a bit more strategy and a "build your base" feel to it that the others never really had. A great end to the series!

Game 6 - The Inpatient - Playstation VR - Completed Jan 24th, 2018
I was really excited for this game - everything about it looked great. Sadly, it definitely failed to meet my expectations. The game looked fantastic and the sound direction was top-notch. The VR "world" was really cool (and familiar, since it's the same as Until Dawn) but it was just entirely too bogged down with terrible controls for me to recommend this game, especially at the price. The game was also quite short (about 2 hours) and most of that time was just spent walking around. Sadly, I think they could have done a lot better.

Game 7 - The Jackbox Party Pack 4 - Playstation 4 - Completed Jan 27th, 2018
I had my daughter and her boyfriend home and convinced everyone to play the new Jackbox games to at least try them out. With 5 people, we ended up spending about 3 hours playing - most of this doing "Survive the Internet" and Civic Doodles. The games are a lot of fun, of course Fibbage is classic and Bracketeering was interesting. Monster Seeking Monster was super awkward since it was basically two couples (my wife and I, daughter and boyfriend) and my son - anyway.... Still had a blast. I got it for $8 during the last sale so I'm pretty happy with that purchase. We'll usually find games like that we enjoy and typically go back and play them again and again so I'm sure I'll be revisiting this later down the line too.

Game 8 - God of War - Playstation Vita - Completed Jan 29th, 2018
I never really played any of the God of War games, but the new PS4 title (aptly named God of War) had me interested enough to go back and revisit some of the series earlier entries. I fully realize that the PSVita might not have been the best choice for doing that, but here we are. The time on my save file (playing on "Easy" difficulty) was about 8 hours, but my actual play time in this game was closer to 18. Turns out, I'm not very good at janky action games that run at 15fps. Still though, I found the game interesting enough to continue playing it although I'll be honest and say that the regular near-unmissable trophies this game has had a lot to do with that. In the end I think I was missing 4-5, mostly stuff like "Beat the game in under 5 hours" (ha!). I enjoyed it enough at least to give the second game in the series a try.

Game 9 - Final Fantasy XIV: The 7th Astral Era - PC Steam - Completed Feb 4th, 2018
My son and I have been playing Final Fantasy XIV for a few months now, and after finishing the main Realm Reborn quest we moved on to the 7th Astral Era quests leading up to Ishguard and the Heavensward expansion. All in all these were some pretty fun and entertaining quests, although there were a few characters that kind of sprung up out of nowhere and didn't stick around very long - but I'll forgive them since they were kinda new to this whole "monthly quests" thing back then. Anyway, we had a good time and earned a few cool in-game achievements. I'm maining a Samurai now that's up to level 55 so I should (hopefully) be able to get through most of the Heavensward expansion content without too many issues.

Game 10 - Secret of Mana - Playstation 4 - Completed Feb 22nd, 2018
I had a great time replaying the modern remake of Secret of Mana. Despite the fact that it seemingly got terrible reviews and most people hated it, I really really enjoyed it. The voice acting turned out to be the best upgrade for me personally, because I find it increasingly difficult to play games that don't have it entirely throughout any more. I thought maybe just the cut scenes would be voiced, but it turns out that every ounce of dialog is, and that made the game a really solid experience for me even though the voice acting was a little cheesy. At it's core, it's still the same game and it's still awesome. The updated script was pretty great too, although it still kinda just fell apart at the end of the game much like the original. I'm really really happy this game exists, and even more happy that I was able to get a physical PS4 copy with the original artwork on the cover - it's instantly become one of my most prized possessions. I'm torn, because I'd really like to get the platinum for this game, but at the same time I realize that means another 20+ hours of grinding. The only negative I can mention is that the game crashed a lot (maybe 20 times total) but that was largely negated by the autosave feature.

Game 11 - Fallout 3 - Xbox One - Completed Feb 24th, 2018
I decided to pick up an Xbox One X and obviously this was the first game I had in mind to play. This is probably my 11th or 12th time through Fallout 3, but I still consider it to be one of the best in the series. The gunplay is fun, the RPG elements are great, and the game has a real "survival" feel to it. Additionally, the perks are interesting and the skill tree is pretty great too. This time (for the first time ever, I believe) I started my character with 10 Intelligence - meaning I got to pump about 24 points into my skills every time I leveled up meaning I had several level 100 skills by the time I got to the end of the main game at level 15. I did only get about 400 of the gamerscore on this and didn't do any of the expansion quests, so it might be fun to explore further if the mood strikes me.

Game 12 - Overcooked - Playstation 4 - Completed Mar 2nd, 2018
My family and I have been playing short sessions of Overcooked for a couple of weeks now. The game absolutely excels as a party game in my house - mostly because everyone here is so detail oriented. The story was absolutely bananas, but largely unimportant. The level design was top notch here though, and definitely frustrating at times but rarely felt like it was overly punishing and allowed us to really hone our "cooking" skills. The last level was kinda-sorta bullshit (in that it was 15 minutes and had to be restarted if you lost, which we did several times) but otherwise the game was pretty great. I was able to unlock 100% of the trophies on PSN.

Game 13 - Crackdown - Xbox One - Completed Mar 4th, 2018
I was really happy to see Crackdown get released not only as BC on the Xbox One but also with Xbox One X Enhancements. I loved this game back in the day but only played it briefly as I didn't have the console when it released and ended up playing it at a friend's house. The X played this game like a champ though, I was really impressed with how smoothly it ran and how sharp the graphics looked on my 4K TV. Although I finished the "main story" and defeated all of the crime bosses, I didn't stick around to flesh out all of the goofy stunt / multiplayer achievements (and I doubt I will). All in all, I feel like this game is pretty solid although obviously Just Cause 3 is a much more reformed take on the genre. Either way, glad I was able to play this again - and here's hoping Crackdown 2 isn't far behind.

Game 14 - Super Lucky Tale - Xbox One - Completed Mar 9th, 2018
I had way more fun with this game than I thought I would - I tried it out on a whim since it was included with Game Pass, and I'm glad I did. The game itself reminded me a lot of Spyro the Dragon (in a good way) and the bright colors and weird creatures were somewhat reminiscent of Ratchet and Clank. The characters were interesting and the enemies (especially the boss cats) were cute and entertaining. One of the ways this game managed to hook me so bad is that each level had a "100% clear" that was possible from the beginning and didn't require special abilities or anything else - you could play each level once, get everything, and move on to the next one. For some reason, that gameplay hook really got me because I was getting a bit tired of the Metroidvania collectithons these games typically turn into. Overall, super solid old-school platformer.

Game 15 - Stardew Valley - PC Steam - Completed Mar 23rd, 2018
I had a good time this go-round with Stardew Valley, after having a bit of a rocky start playing it when it first came out and then enjoying it on the Switch as well but eventually going back to the PC version after I got an ultra-widescreen monitor (and this game works with it natively). I focused most of my efforts into raising animals but also rebuilding the community center and getting married as those were my ultimate goals with the game since it's so open-ended. I married Penny, because honestly how could you not? It took a bit over two years in-game but I was finally able to restore the community center - the fishing fetch quests were the worst of it. There is still a ton of stuff that went undone (I only got 12/40 achievements) so I'll likely be back at some point, but I've got some other big games I want to dive into first.

Game 16 - Final Fantasy Dimensions II - Android - Completed Mar 30th, 2018
I started playing this game around Thanksgiving of last year, so I guess I've been at it for a good 5 months now and racked up about 55 in-game hours. While the formula was a little simplistic (go here, fight this thing, level up, go here...) I actually really enjoyed this game for it's great pick-up-and-go-ness. While I keep drifting back to another FF mobile game, Record Keeper (more on that below, I'm sure) this game had a different "paid-up-front" model which I really liked. While it was obviously converted from a gocha game, they actually did a really good job of building skill progression that matched character damage output and skills that made sense. Well worth the $20 price tag if you're like me and a huge Final Fantasy fan - this game returns the series to it's pixelated roots and has an amazing soundtrack to go along.

Game 17 - Late Shift - Xbox One - Completed Apr 7th, 2018
I went into this game blind knowing nothing about it other than it's an FMV game based on a heist. I found it to be entertaining, although there were a few technical issues that got in the way of it being great. Firstly, the video scenes would stutter then "catch up" every time the scene changed - and I get that it's processing stuff in the background or whatever, but this is on an Xbox One X and should be more than capable of handling this type of transition. Secondly, there were a few decisions that I made that the video kinda forced me into the opposite decision, which (at times) shattered the illusion of choice. Again, I get that the story has to be moved along but this felt so weird because in a few instances they filmed a scene in multiple ways anyway, they might as well have done something more clever regarding the decisions to patch the story together. There was one section where my partner was gone for like 5 seconds and suddenly she's kidnapped which left me going "huh?". I guess since the game was free on Game Pass I can let it slide. It was only about an hour long so maybe I'll give it another go at some point since I got one of the "bad" endings.

Game 18 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Xbox One - Completed Apr 14th, 2018
Once this game got X enhancements, I figured I would give it a go. I played the game when it first came out, but I guess that was 10 years ago so it's been a while. While I remembered the general idea of the story, I had forgotten most of the specifics so it was good to experience the story's twists and turns again. I absolutely loved this game, even though it was a bit short. The 4K upgrade was really great, so much so that the cut scenes looked worse than the actual gameplay which I don't think was always the case. It pains me that EA has control of Star Wars these days, because I would love to see a Force Unleashed 3 or basically anything that wasn't a multiplayer game in the Star Wars universe.

Game 19 - Ni No Kuni II - Playstation 4 - Completed Apr 14th, 2018
Man oh man, I couldn't seem to put this game down. While most games I beat and say "I think I'll go back and get some of the trophies" (and rarely ever do), this one had it's hooks in me: hard. The game itself was really beautiful to look at, great art style, and the difficulty level was generally pretty easy so this was definitely my kind of game. I spent about 60 hours with this game and it's only been out for three weeks, which is crazy for me. I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the side-quests - basically, I loved absolutely everything about this game. There are still a few trophies I didn't get (including beating the 10 dream doors with the super-boss) which I'll probably mop up at some point (I know, I know) but will require another 10 or so hours of nothing but grinding the last boss over and over again. Looking forward to the season pass content. So far, this is definitely my "Game of the Year".

Game 20 - God of War - Playstation 4 - Completed Apr 29th, 2018
This game ended up being much better than I had originally anticipated. While I played through the first God of War earlier this year in anticipation (and I'm glad I did now) it really didn't prepare me for the kind of game I would find here. The game was a technical masterpiece, and extremely atmospheric. It started out seeming like it was going to go in one direction, and had several twists and turns along the way, culminating in a really great modern God of War just like the old games but with much more purpose and urgency. The storytelling was amazingly well done, really top notch. I'm not usually one for action games, but this is an adventure I'm really glad I decided to embark upon.

Game 21 - Rock Band 4 - Playstation 4 - Completed May 2nd, 2018
I'm always playing Rock Band because it's the perfect way for me to unwind after a hard day at work. So I've probably put in a few hundred hours overall, but it's also difficult to say "I beat this", so I'll go with "I completed the Rockudrama again" like I did last year when I listed this game. Not much to say since the game hasn't changed much (I don't do multiplayer) but I will say that I have a love / hate relationship with their new season pass DLC purchase structure. While it offers a pretty hefty discount over buying the tracks individually, the value proposition goes down pretty significantly when they release songs that I don't like and won't ever play. Last season was great, and every song they released was something I would have otherwise bought. This season has been frustrating since they've been releasing two songs every week and the season pass featured song is like... the one I didn't want and I end up buying the other. Will definitely pass when the next season rolls around. Otherwise, the game is still great and I'm still rockin' out often.

Game 22 - Final Fantasy Record Keeper - Android - Completed May 8th, 2018
I've been playing this game basically since day one, and I've listed it in my "completed games" challenge every year since even though the game doesn't have an end goal or a "win state". As such, I try to consider this game as completed once a year around a large event - and this year's event was the 3rd anniversary event followed by a few weeks of renewal dungeons. I had actually taken about 5 months off from playing, so the renewal dungeons were a great way for me to catch up on memory crystal III lodes that I had missed while I was away. I also set out to level up every character from 65 to 80 and that's mostly done now with a few exceptions. I've completed all of the available realm dungeons, and maxed out a few of the legend spheres. I've basically been at the end game of this one for a few years now, but it's still fun to min/max and play the timed events.

Game 23 - The Elder Scrolls Online: Clockwork City - Playstation 4 - Completed May 10th, 2018
I know it's an expansion pack and not technically a game in and of itself, but I feel there was enough content here to warrant it's inclusion. I think it took me about 15 hours total to complete the story line and most (if not all) of the side-missions that take place inside the Clockwork City. I really loved the factotums design and how they were able to access information via dreaming and nostalgia - that was a cool touch. I also liked the unexpected political climate inside Sotha Sil's city and the caste system that was essentially set up by dividing those with augments against those without. I also love how every expansion pack this game has had to offer has not only a ton of new stuff to do but also offers a continuation of the story that you can play out with a single character (mine is level 34 now). I also really love how you don't pay any subscription fees to play the game, because otherwise I probably wouldn't. It's been almost a year since I completed Morrowind last June, and even though I've occasionally jumped in here and there I've not put a lot of time into the game since then. Overall, very happy with this game because it feels like something I could play forever as long as they keep making expansions. On a final note - that excellent foreshadowing of the Summerset expansion at the end...

Game 24 - Monument Valley - Android - Completed May 13th, 2018
I downloaded this game for free since I had heard so much praise for it. The puzzle aspect was neat and interesting, but the game didn't exactly blow me away. I'm kinda just glad I didn't pay $5 for it. The Google Play achievements were easy to get and provided a pretty big score boost, so I guess that's something. I guess the "art" aspect of the game was interesting enough, but not really interesting enough for me to pay the $1.99 for the expansion pack.

Game 25 - Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition - Xbox One - Completed May 19th, 2018
This is the third time I've played / beat this game on as many systems (previously on PC and then PS4). I absolutely love this game, even better than Rise of the Tomb Raider although admittedly not as pretty. The game played great on the Xbox One X, no complaints there. My only issue was that I had a bug where the "Complete One Optional Tomb" achievement never unlocked, even though I got the "Complete All Optional Tombs" one. There were a few achievements I missed, mainly doing all of the optional challenges as I really didn't see the point. I was able to get Lara to max level, and unlocked all the gun upgrades. I also found all of the documents, relics, and GPS caches to end the game with 94% - not bad. I'm sure I'll end up playing Rise some time again before September when Shadow of the Tomb Raider comes out, probably also on the X.

Game 26 - Detroit: Become Human - Playstation 4 - Completed June 3rd, 2018
I really, really enjoyed Detroit. It was the perfect blend of cinematic storytelling and interactive gameplay. I ended up with the Android uprising ending, although Kara died along the way leaving Conner and Markus to do the uprising assault at the end. The game had amazing character development, an absolutely outstanding story, and was one of the top games of the year that I've played. I was worried when I ordered this game if it would be worth the $60, and it turns out it definitely was. I got 50% of the game's achievements so I'll definitely be wanting to play this again to get the other outcomes - I saw a lot of scenes when the credits rolled that I didn't get a chance to experience in the game. The setting was also amazing, and the city of Detroit really came alive. Seriously, this game is awesome.

Game 27 - Microsoft Mahjong - PC - Completed June 30th, 2018
I'm going to call this game "complete" since I got all of the Xbox achievements that don't involve playing every day for a year. I played every day in June to get the marathon achievement. I love playing Mahjong and this is a pretty good version of the game although I'll admit I mostly played it over an alternative just because of the Xbox cheevos.

Game 28 - Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Nintendo Switch - Completed July 7th, 2018
I've been playing this game on my lunch break at work for the past few months (since April, I guess) and I've been absolutely having a blast with the game. At first, the anime aesthetics kinda turned me off of the game, but as things progressed I started to really appreciate the game's beauty and sense of humor. I loved all of the games systems even though they were a little convoluted and a little difficult to understand especially at first. I finished the game with almost 80 hours on the clock and I really didn't want it to end - I'm glad the game has a post-credits save spot and new stuff to do after the credits rolled. Next week Octopath Traveler comes out, and I'm sure my Switch will be dedicated to that for a while so I'm glad I finished it when I did though. The ending... I swear it's just dusty in here.

Game 29 - Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon - Nintendo Switch - Completed July 8th, 2018
This is... basically a Castlevania game. I actually really liked how the castle had multiple branching paths, and I also liked how each of the four characters kinda had their own thing going on. I also really liked that there was an "easy" difficulty setting that just gives you unlimited extra lives. What I didn't like was the insane difficulty of the final boss. I probably spent just as much time fighting him as I did getting there, sadly. Also, when one character died (there were no heart regens in the boss fight) it made more sense to just suicide the rest of my team and start over with a full crew (again, thanks to the easy difficulty level). A solid few-hour distraction that I was glad just had a $10 price tag otherwise I would have left the experience feeling a bit miffed.

Game 30 - The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit - Xbox One - Completed July 29th, 2018
There is always a bit of melancholy that comes with Life is Strange games for me, and this free mini-episode thing was no different. The game was actually a lot more dark than it appeared on the surface - dealing with things like alcoholism and the loss of a parent. I really enjoyed the short narrative experience and it's small tie-ins with the first Life is Strange game (like that Chris' mom went to Blackwell) and apparently this character will be recurring in the upcoming Life is Strange season 2 so I'm glad I got the chance to experience this. Chris reminded me a lot of myself, I used to play make believe a whole lot when I was younger, making up crazy elaborate stories - so I felt like I could really connect to his character in a lot of ways.

Game 31 - Octopath Traveler - Nintendo Switch - Completed Aug 17th, 2018
I was really excited to tackle this - a modern RPG with old school graphics in a AAA package. The wait of over a year was worth it, I really enjoyed this game and put in over 60 hours before beating it. I played all of the character's stories (all four chapters) as well as the post-game bosses some of which were incredibly difficult. I thought the voice acting was cheesy but after enough time it kind of grew on me and helped set the tone of the game. The game had a great class system and there were a lot of fun combos to put together. I know the developers have said they'll be making more games like this, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what they come up with next.

Game 32 - Bloons TD6 - Android - Completed Aug 18th, 2018
I've been playing Bloons 6 for the past few weeks and while I really like the game, I can't help but feel a bit cheated that the game has so many microtransactions that can't be purchased using in-game money. There were some really cool and interesting levels, and I appreciated the fact that the maps this time around aren't just totally "flat". I unlocked quite a few of the game's achievements which is nice.

Game 33 - Overcooked 2 - Xbox One - Completed Aug 18th, 2018
My wife and I really enjoyed the first Overcooked game, so the second one was promptly pre-ordered when it was announced. While the game is essentially "more of the same" as the first game, in this case that's not really a bad thing. This entry introduces a series of new commands (such as the ability to throw / catch food) that make the experience a lot more hectic. Overall, I really enjoyed this game and I suspect we'll be playing a lot of the versus and arcade modes as well as unlocking the rest of the hidden levels and unlocking all of the game's achievements. Very impressed with this game.

Game 34 - Dragon Warrior - NES - Completed Aug 31st, 2018
I decided to tackle Dragon Warrior (the original) using RetroAchievements before Dragon Quest XI releases, and I'm glad I did. The achievements themselves were fun even though I didn't get them all - there's no way I'm grinding up to level 30 - but an interesting take on a game I've played a million times before. Seriously, I would encourage anyone that's not tried RetroAchievements to give it a fair shake because honestly it breathes a bit of life into these older games, especially so for their "hardcore mode" which prevents save-states and cheat codes like Game Genie. Dragon Warrior is still a solid title and holds up well even today although the level grinding gets to be a bit much. While the NES version wasn't as good as the SNES remake or the Android release, it was a fun nostalgia trip for me personally.

Past challenges:

• 2014 - 63 games
• 2015 - 67 games
• 2016 - 54 games
• 2017 - 52 games

Completed















My Backloggery!

jshackles said:

First of all, thanks to MRORANGE and VisceralBowl for their work on the previous year's threads

Click to expand...

Thanks to you for picking this up I had a go at this last year or year before. Much harder than it looks. Hopefully have a few to throw in here

Well I think I only completed one game last year and that was horizon so let's make a bit more progress this year.

I'll throw my hand into some games, since my backlog is fucking massive and I really need to finish some of them.

I tried the challenge last year, but only got to 32... Hope I can make It this year!

Playing:
Xenogears
Arc the Lad
GoT TT


Completed:

1.Conan (Xbox 360)
2.One Way Heroics (PC)

Reserving my spot

I finished 16 or so games last year, we'll see how this year turns out.

Currently playing Forza Horizon 4 on Xbox One.

Top 5 games this year so far - RiME, Abzû, Firewatch, Night in the Woods, and Gears of War 4.

1: Gears of War: Ultimate Edition - 4/5 - New to the series, fantastic fun, good sci-fi story.
2: Yooka-Laylee - 3/5 - Grew up on BK, controls were the biggest problem, worlds were epic.
3: Inside - 4/5 - Presentation: OMG Niiice..., Mechanics: Solid A+, Story: Like... WTF!
4: Abzû - 5/5 - I need more games like this in my life. Straight into my top ten. A wonderful game.
5: Pneuma: Breath of Life - 3/5 - Very interesting story, though slightly obtuse puzzles. Would replay for narrative appreciation.
6: Firewatch - 5/5 - Superb story and ending, beautiful soundtrack, I think this is my favourite genre now.
7: Gears of War 4 - 5/5 - Absolutely solid action, loved the campaign, better than GoW: UE.
8: Life is Strange: Before the Storm - 5/5 - Still a fantastic soundtrack, more varied gameplay, makes me want to replay the original again.
9: Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition - 4/5 - It's hard to say how I felt, definitely a new experience, and one which I did enjoy.
10: RiME - 5/5 - Perfect game, with a wonderful story, what an experience! I feel like games these days are going through another golden age like in the 90s.
11: Letter Quest: Grimm's Journey Remastered - 4/5 - Conniving, Evolution, Motivated.
12: Injustice 2 - 5/5 - Spectacular presentation, story mode was gripping, now to do some training.
13: Valley - 3/5 - Some strange design choices, if polished up a bit more could have been a 4/5, but got better as the game progressed.
14: Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions - 4/5 - Frantic, classic shooter, with brilliant modern graphics and a tough challenge.
15: What Remains of Edith Finch - 4/5 - Lovely atmosphere, weird story, couldn't get past seeing some stories as mini-games.
16: Pool Nation FX - 4/5 - Great graphics and physics, put Spotify on in the background and grab a beer, pretend I'm young again.
17: Virginia - 2/5 - Didn't understand the story, although replays for achievements may reveal some plot I didn't get, great OST though.
18: Night in the Woods - 5/5 - Peppa Pig's parents - Donnie Darko and Max Caulfield - gave Peppa a little sibling: Broski Mae Borowski.
19: Trials of the Blood Dragon - 2/5 - The running sections, those green-grabby-bits, that pinball level.
20: The Sexy Brutale - 4/5 - Luigi's Mansion x Majora's Mask, love Tequila Works' games, story was deep.
21: Candleman - 2/5 - The free DLC levels are the best, the story was quite sweet, not much replay value.
22: Tacoma - 5/5 - Believable sci-fi setting, fantastic voice acting and drama, wish I could listen to the soundtrack!
23: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit - 4/5 - Childhood is strange, great build-up to LiS2, perfect balance of reality/fantasy.
24: The Witness - 5/5 - Second playthrough, this time on Xbox One - first time was Steam version, found more than ever this time, and it remains a perfect experience.
25: Death Squared - 4/5 - Fantastic puzzles, humorous story, David is the future John Connor.
26: Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure - 3/5 - Played on Xbox Game Pass, good for younger players, now to uninstall to make room for DOOM.
27: Hexcells Plus - 3/5 - Running outta time, need some short games, but I like me some Hexcells so I also bought the new one: SquareCells. (Edit: SquareCells sucks.)
28: ONRUSH - 3/5 - Solid "bash 'em up" racing game, frantically mad online battles, mired only by a sometimes bad online connection/luck based final achievement.
29: Monument Valley - 3/5 - Monuments of masculine toxicity, valleys of feminine repression, would have been better with a joystick in my naughty man hands.
30: The Gardens Between - 4/5 - Gameplay and puzzles is probably a 3/5, but the presentation, style and tone coupled with the fact it's unique, raise it one higher.
31: King Oddball - 2/5 - Not as fun as the rest of the series by developer 10tons, one hell of a lot of levels though, but frustrating controls.

Currently playing:

• If my heart had wings (PC)
• World End Economica episode.01 (Mac)
• Wipeout 2048 (PSV)
• Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (PSV)
• Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator (PS4)

Finished:

1. Soldner-X 2 (PSV) - relatively boring sequel to shmup from ps3 era, 6/10 - around 1 hour - short review
2. Ultratron (PSV) - suprisingly decent twin stick shooter, 7/10 - around 2 hours - short review

Abandoned:

Last updated 18th February

Game 1-Never Stop Sneakin(2017)-Switch-Beaten on January 1
-Overall I enjoyed this game but it really was way to monotonous and way too long. The game is supposed to bring back memories of Metal Gear Solid but it really doesn’t, at least for me as MGS is my GOAT. This game has you doing the exact same thing for about 12 hours or so. Same environments, same bosses, same everything, for some reason I kept playing as it was enjoyable but could have been so much better. 7/10

Marking this as my post area!

12

1: Star Wars: Battlefront 2 - 6 Hours 14 Minutes (01/01/2018)
#The campaign was my "Finish a game on New Year's Day" challenge that I do every year. Will continue to play and beat the side content and play more multi.

2: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series - Episode 3: More Than A Feeling - 1 Hour 25 Minutes (17/02/2018)
#Out of the 3 episodes so far, this was the one that was like a mundane average ep.

3: Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide- 65 Hours (15/03/2018)
#Great coop game! Beat all levels apart from a few left over in the hardest difficulty Cataclysm, but since the new one is out, it is time to retire this.

4. The Council - Episode 1: The Mad Ones - 2 Hours 25 Minutes (01/04/2018)
#Interesting take on the Telltale style formula. Be good to see where this goes.

5. God of War (2018) - 20 Hours (06/05/2018)
#A change to the God of War formula, pretty great game, but didn't gel with the combat until
6. Horizon Zero Dawn - 30 Hours 10 Minutes (26/05/2018)
#Lovely looking open world game with some cool enemy designs and interesting story.

7. Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds - 10 Hours 22 Minutes (27/05/2018)
#Well developed expansion to the main game with a story that didn't felt cheaply made just to make an add-on.

8. Detective Pikachu - 17 Hours 27 Minutes (01/07/2018)
#Fun little adventure game, but nothing too exciting.

9. Wolfenstein II: The Freedom Chronicles - Episode 1 - 1 Hour 52 Minutes (14/07/2018)
#Fun little content that doesn't do much but give you a story about another character.

10. Detroit: Become Human - 12 Hours 52 (29/07/2018)
#Good story that had some hard choices. I'm sure I got some bad endings, but I had some feels with them.

11. Yakuza 0 - 40 Hours (27/08/2018)
#Great prequel to the series that keeps the brilliant stuff about Yakuza going on wards.

12. Yakuza Kiwami 2 - 31 Hours (08/09/2018)
#Fantastic remake of the second Yakuza game - probably best in the series.

Ok, let's do this again.

Past years:

2016 - 61 games
2017 - 54 games

Now, let's start 2018:

01) Gorogoa (PC): A very nice and very creative puzzle game. It lasts about one hour and a half, and it's really worth playing.

02) Night in the Woods (PC): What a gem. I love narrative-focused games, and this one was no exception. Great story, amazing characters and some bizarre stuff. Really liked it.

03) Star Wars Battlefront 2 (PS4): Surprisingly, I enjoyed the story quite a bit, especially with the final 3 missions (Ressurrection, I think) that were released later. They complete the story nicely. But the gameplay has lots of problems, 3rd person view is a janky mess and a lot of the missions follow the Destiny 1 campaign mold of "protect the character that's doing something". And the space battles, while thrilling, are frustrating sometimes, because if you bump your ship on anything it's game over and back to the last checkpoint. Overall, a nice Star Wars story wrapped in a very flawed game.

04) The Sexy Brutale (PS4): Groundhog Day meets The Name of the Rose. It's a very interesting game with time manipulation and a few obscure puzzles.

05) Sniper Elite V2 (Xbox One): Everybody's saying SE4 is great, so I decided to take a look at this series starting from (almost) the beginning, and I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would. I died a lot because I'm used to play CoD with guns blazing, and this game definitely should be played more cautiously. I enjoyed it a lot and will surely play SE3 and SE4.

06) Saints Row IV: Re-Elected (PS4): This game is bonkers. The only Saints Row game I played before this one was SR3, and it was already crazy. This one is much crazier. The activities get repetitive, but the superpowers are really fun. And it has the best traversal in any game.

07) Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans (PC): I remember when this game was cancelled...I was a big fan of Blizzard, RTS games and Point & Click adventures. So, the fact that I was never gonna play this game was a big letdown to me. I'm very glad it somehow leaked and was playable from beginning to end. But, after all is said and done, I understand why it was cancelled...it's just a run of the mill adventure game, with very obscure puzzles. I used a walkthrough to play through it, but I'm still very glad I had the chance to play it. It's a piece of gaming history, after all.

08) Divinity: Original Sin (PS4): I was a HUGE fan of the Infinity Engine games (Baldur's Gate, IWD, etc), but after all this time I thought I wouldn't be able to enjoy such an outdated (or so I thought) gameplay. How wrong I was! This game is amazing, and now I wanna play all the recent games in the CRPG revival. My playthrough lasted 65 hours and I enjoyed every single one of them.

09) To The Moon (PC): It's like a 16-bit version of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I never though tiny sprites could make me feel so many things. The gameplay is really clunky, but it's worth it for the story, music and characters.

10) Hidden Folks (PC): Great game that does a "Where's Waldo" style thing. Very creative and fun.

11) Florence (iOS): A half-hour game that's more like an interactive comic book. Adorable and bittersweet.

12) Red Faction (PS4): When I saw that Red Faction Guerrilla is getting a remaster, I remembered that I never played a Red Faction game. So I decided I'm gonna play through all of them in order. I started with the original game, and played it on my PS4 (it's a "PS2 on PS4" game). It's REALLY dated, especially the graphics, but once I customized the controls to be closer to modern standards it became much more playable. I didn't have the greatest of times playing the game, but it wasn't a chore either (I played on easy and it really was a walk in the park). It's not a very long game, and it was nice to know the start of the franchise. Now I'll wait for Red Faction 2 to go on sale so I can buy it and play it.

13) Hand of Fate (PS4): I hate card games. I don't like games with permadeath. And I love Hand of Fate. It's a great mix of cards, Arkham combat, RPG mechanics and roguelike. The final boss is very OP, but I managed to beat him with a little help from my RNG luck. I'll surely buy the sequel too.

14) Epistory - Typing Chronicles (PC): A cool typing game with beautiful art style and a good ending. I enjoyed it and recommend it if you like this kind of game.

15) God of War III (PS4): Since the new game is coming, I decided to replay GoW3 to refresh my memory. I enjoyed it all over again and have really high hopes for the new one.

16) Mafia III (PS4): People complained about this game a lot, but I really liked it. I can see all the flaws: it's janky, repetitive, it looks like a PS3 game, etc. But the gameplay is actually good, the story is awesome, and it's told in a very original way. I also loved all the DLC: it consists of 3 stories that are very different from the main game. Overall, a good swan song to the series (I imagine it is the last one, because this game was kind of a flop, but I kinda hope it's not).

17) West of Loathing (PC): A pretty cool (and funny) black & white western RPG with stick figures. I really liked this game...it's fun to play, really simple and sometimes laugh out loud funny. I just wish it had a good way to track quests. But overall I really recommend it if you like indie games that try to do something different.

18) God of War (PS4): I have always been a fan of the God of War series. I played through all of the six games (and replayed 1 and 3). But this game....man, this game. It's incredible what Cory Barlog and his team at Santa Monica have accomplished with this one. Amazing graphics, perfect combat, lots to do even after the credits rolled, amazing story with a lot of surprises. I highly recommend this game to both GoW fans and GoW haters. It is that good. Got the platinum after many hours and now I can't wait for the sequel. It got up there with my favorite games ever (right beside Fallout 2 and the first Dark Souls).

19) Ys I (PC): I always heard the name Ys, but had no idea what it was. Suddenly, I started reading about it everywhere, and everybody was saying it's awesome. So I decided to give it a try, starting from the beginning. This first game is really old (1987) and it shows, but it still holds up, despite a few problems. I enjoyed the game for what it is (I had to use a guide in some parts), and soon I'll start Ys II (which is apparently the only other game in the series that's really dated). It has potential to be a series that I can really get into.

20) Red Faction II (PS4): I'm on an old game streak...the second game in the Red Faction franchise. It's a little better than the first one, but much shorter: I finished it in one afternoon. It's also really dated, but still playable. Now I'm ready for the Red Faction: Guerrilla remaster.

21) Red Dead Revolver (PS4): Another series I decided to start from scratch (although I already played Redemption). This first game didn't age well at all. I kinda enjoyed the story and the spaghetti western feel, but the graphics, controls and gameplay are all extremely dated and clunky. Also, the game can be really infuriating at times, with bad checkpoints and cheap deaths. I only finished it because I'm very stubborn, since I wasn't having a lot of fun with it. Anyway, I'm glad I finished it.

22) Ys II (PC): Nice, now I've finished the really old games in the series and I'm able to proceed to the more modern ones. Ys II is a better game than the first, as it has a better developed story and gameplay. Now I'm also watching the anime and enjoying it a lot. I'm starting to think that after all these years I've finally found a JRPG series that I can enjoy.

23) Minit (PS4): A really cool little game with a really cool little idea. It lasted less than 2 hours, but it was really fun.

24) Tesla vs. Lovecraft (PS4): A great twin-stick shooter, and one of the best I've ever played. I'm a sucker for anything Lovecraft, and this game was exactly what I wanted. Got the platinum, although by the end of the third run/difficulty it got REALLY hard.

25) Red Dead Redemption (Xbox One): I played this game when it came out, and 8 years later it's still awesome. It also looks amazing in native 4k on the Xbox One X (despite a few moments, especially in cutscenes, when the game shows its age). But it was great to revisit John Marston's saga. I'll also play Undead Nightmare soon (I never played it).

26) Super Lucky's Tale (Xbox One): I got a month of Gamepass for $1 and decided to play a few titles that are available on the service. This game is a simple and colorful platormer that is nothing special, but fun. The final boss is a little annoying, but overall I liked the game.

27) Fable Anniversary (Xbox One): I like Fable, but playing this game again (I already played the original Fable on PC), it felt really dated and clunky. Lots of technical problems, crashes and that terrible lock on feature that never works. Now I want a Fable 4 with modern technology.

28) Tormentum - Dark Sorrow (PC): A point & click/puzzle game with an awesome art style. It has almost no animation, but the visuals are really interesting and the story is very intriguing. Recommended.

29) Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch): Yes, it's Mario XCom. And yes, it's awesome! Despite a few annoying levels (escort and "get to the place" missions), I really enjoyed playing this. Ubisoft made a game that somehow feels like Nintendo itself made it.

30) Resident Evil 7 (PS4): I'm usually not a survival horror fan, and generally prefer more action oriented horror (and also enjoy third person games a lot more than first person ones). But this game is something special. I never thought I'd enjoy it so much. And some of the DLC (Daughters, Not a Hero and End of Zoe) complete the story perfectly. Can't recommend it enough.

31) The Evil Within 2 (PS4): I enjoyed RE7 so much that I decided to play another horror game. And it's also great! I played the first TEW and liked it, but I enjoyed the second game a lot more. A really remarkable experience. Am I becoming a horror fan? I wonder.

32) Shadowrun Returns (PC): It's a very linear game, resulting in a mix of turn-based RPG and visual novel. The story is interesting, though, and kept me playing until the end.

33) The Bunker (PS4): It's a very claustrophobic FMV game that last 2 hours. It's got an interesting story, with a few twists along the way.

34) Late Shift (PS4): Another FMV game by the same guys, but I enjoyed this one a bit more. It doesn't have annoying button mashing sections or bad quick time events...only choices. I got a real bad ending, but liked the game anyway.

35) Far Cry 5 (Xbox One): It's a great Far Cry game with the most f***ed-up ending I've ever seen. Seriously, I really didn't see that coming, and I really don't know how I feel about it (and I got the so-called "good" ending). But the game is great.

36) Maize (PC): It's a very weird, sometimes funny game. If you intend to play it, just start it without knowing anything about it. It just gets crazier by the minute.

37) A Mortician's Tale (PC): A game that made me think about the finitude of life. Strange, short and different. Recommended if you like unique experiences in your games.

38) The Little Acre (PS4): A very short point & click game with cartoon graphics and a nice story. I enjoyed it.

39) Bone: Out from Boneville (PC): The first game in an unfinished series based on a comic book by Telltale Games. It's easy to see that Telltale was still trying to find their storytelling formula. The game is not very good, but since I like the comic it was based on, it wasn't that bad for me.

40) Matterfall (PS4): It's my least favorite Housemarque game, but it's not bad. That said, F*** that final boss. It's so much harder than anything in the game that it just stopped being fun. I think it took me more than 30 tries to beat it on the easiest difficulty.

41) Off-Peak (PC): A weird indie game that takes less than 30 minutes to beat. It's free, and very strange.

42) Subsurface Circular (PC): Who knew a 2-hour game about robots talking in a subway could be so incredible? It's a "talking simulator" that starts slowly, but the dialogue gets more and more interesting, ending in a VERY hard choice. It's minimalist, and it's incredible. Now I wanna play its "spiritual successor".

43) Refunct (PC): A short first-person platformer. Nothing amazing, but fun while it lasts.

44) Bone: The Great Cow Race (PC): It's the second (and last) episode of the series. It's more of the same, and I can see why it was left unfinished. I don't think they could be successful if they tried to get going until the end of the story (which is quite long in the comics).

45) Plug & Play (PC): A very bizarre game that lasts 15 minutes. Very, very, bizarre.

46) Leaving Lyndow (PC): A small walking simulator about saying goodbye to your home and your family. Short and beautiful.

47) Quarantine Circular (PC): The spiritual successor to Subsurface Circular. And it's even better! I really enjoyed this game.

48) Message Quest (PC): A small point & click adventure that looks like stained glass. Cool.

49) Three Fourths Home (Xbox One): It's basically clicking through dialogue, but at least the narrative is interesting. It made me care about its characters, but it's also a little boring. Not bad, not amazing.

50) Tacoma (Xbox One): The successor to Gone Home, and I think this one is a better game. It's the same structure (walk around, check for clues and stories), but done in a better way.

51) Crossing Souls (PS4): Awesome story, eighties references, cartoon cutscenes and characters. Good gameplay in some parts, but there are some REALLY annoying segments with ill-placed checkpoints and bad platforming. Overall a good game, but it could be a great one with a few tweaks. But it would make an incredible movie.

52) Donut County (PS4): I love this game! It doesn't have any challenge, it lasts only 2 hours, but it's so fun! I wanna play it again. I reminds me of Katamari, which I also love.

And that's it. 52 games. On August, 31st, meaning that I still have 4 months left in the year. I'll keep updating this post.

53) Yakuza 0 (PS4): Another franchise that I decided to start from the beginning (I played Yakuza 3 a long time ago, but I went back to the start now). It has AMAZING characters and story, although the gameplay and some of the graphics are a little boring and repetitive. Overall, I loved the game (even if it's a little bit longer than necessary), and I look forward to playing all the games in the series.

54) Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4): It's so much better than I expected. Spider-man is beautifully rendered and animated, and traversal is the best in any game ever. The story, acting and characters are great, the combat is awesome and the open world is.....good. Some missions are very repetitive (especially crimes), but the game is really, really good. Got the platinum.

55) Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series (PS4): Man, I'm gonna miss Telltale Games. I'm so sad they are gone....I loved this series too...the Guardians are great characters, and I enjoyed this story very much.

56) Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (Xbox One): It's a great piece of DLC with a lot of zombies. Good stuff.

57) Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (Xbox One): They made the best AC game...again. Odyssey is a gigantic playground in ancient Greece. So far I have 65 hours in the game, and just finished the main story, but there are still so many things to do! I don't think I'll stop playing this game anytime soon.
.

Reserved. Looking forward to 2018.

JANUARY - 5 Games

Game #01 - Super Mario Odyssey \ 10/10
Playtime: 14:00 hours l Beat on Jan. 1st l Nintendo Switch
This was my first Mario game in more than a decade. It felt really nostalgic and very innovative at the same time, which is always nice at this day and age. Almost all Kingdoms were amazingly designed and a joy to explore. I'll definitely get back to this to collect some more moons here and there. Also, the final minutes were extremely fun and very memorable for sure.

Game #02 - Steamworld Dig \ 7/10
Playtime: 05:20 hours l Beat on Jan. 1st l Playstation Vita
It felt very fitting for a handheld. Don't know how it is on PC but it definitely was very enjoyable on the Vita. It's very simplistic. You dig, you collect, you upgrade, you progress. Nothing else needed for this to be an enjoyable experience.

Game #03 - Another Adventure \ 5/10
Playtime: 01:00 hour l Beat on Jan. 1st l PC/Steam
I had my eye on this since it came out. It isn't anything special by any means but based on its' artwork I expected a humorous, shut off your brain type experience - which is needed once in a while, you know. It's just 2 €, so the time it took to beat it was fine. It wasn't the funny experience I anticipated but rather thought provoking kinda. It's 4 Chapters long and looks at 4 different characters who struggle, mostly in relation to any kind of artistic work.

Game #04 - Infamous: Second Son \ 8/10
Playtime: 15:00 hours l Beat on Jan. 3rd l Playstation 4
Very fun open world game. The concept art of this one is beautiful, the recreation of Seattle is very well done in my opinion. The orange and blue environments make for a good mix of color and the stencil art Delsin performs looks great every time. Sure, it's a collect-a-thon, if you want to complete it (as I did). Sure, it's repetitive tasks. But it was fun. The gameplay was very well done to make these tasks enjoyable. Where this game stands out is in its voice acting and motion capture. Great facials and voices that actually fit what's going on, which often is done poorly in video games. The story isn't actually bad but of course nothing too memorable. Overall, this game is good fun but doesn't do anything extraordinary besides the character models - and that is enough.

Game #05 - Persona 4: Dancing All Night \ 7/10
Playtime: 11:30 hours l Beat on Jan. 5th l Playstation Vita
Beat the story mode. The Persona series has a lot of cringy dialogue. It's true. For me, the games have enough charm that I can look past those moments and actually sigh in a positive way about it. The Persona games are some of my favorites of all time after all. P4 DAN had a lot more of that, the basic premise of the story being that you can fight shadows by expressing yourself through dancing. It worked with the story but it took a lot of getting used to. Looking past that, the rhythm gameplay was a lot of fun and I'll make sure to keep playing this and unlock the special chapter.
---

Currently Playing

• Cuphead [PC/Steam]
• Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne [PS3]
• Splatoon 2 [Switch]
• South Park: The Fractured But Whole [PC/Uplay]

Abandoned Games

• Darksiders

January

Game 1 - GUNVALKYRIE (Completed 15th of January)
4/5 - challenging game but rewarding once you get used to the controls, I played this game many years ago but couldn't beat it till now. Never realized that the character in the background of the menus was a red dolphin till a few days ago...

I made it through January 2017 last year. Unfortunately for the challenge, I started playing Overwatch, which dominated all of my gaming time for a few months. I really do love this thread though, and hope to have a better showing this year!

Currently playing:
South Park Stick of Truth
Super Mario Odyssey
Super Mario World

Good luck everyone!

Giving it another shot this year. Ready to rock!

First time in 10 years im single. Got all the time in the world now, lets give it a shot!

I am going to back out of this and can't find how to delete posts sorry. I will read other peoples tho like reading topics like this.

Good luck to all, gonna bow out this year. Just had a newborn, dont think i can keep up. Was doing really well last year until i got burnt out grinding through games so fast. Began to lose sight of the enjoyment when i focused too much on getting through 1 a week. Great time though catlogging and giving my thoughts. Love reading everyone elses too


will reserve spot to keep track of what i do finish though

Reserved. I'll give it a try.

Reserved. First time doing this

Reserved! Have tried this countless of times and failed, but I gotta clear through my gross backlog somehow! Good luck everyone

Reserved. count me in for a fifth year.

Game 1: Black Mirror -
4 hrs. 35 mins. 22 out of 25 Points.
Game 2: Killer Instinct 2 -
3 hrs. 15 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 3: Killer Instinct Definitive Edition -
5 hrs. 7 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 4: Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage - -
2 hrs. 36 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 5: The King of Fighters XV -
3 hrs. 15 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 6: Soul Sacfrice -
41 hrs. 10 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 7: Xblaze: Code Embryo -
11 hrs. 2 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 8: Xblaze: Lost Memories -
7 hrs. 42 mins. 19 out of 25 Points.
Game 9: N3 Ninety Nine Nights -
5 hrs. 22 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 10: Samurai Shodown Sen -
1 hrs. 14 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 11: Battle Fantasia -
7 hrs. 47 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 12: Dead or Alive 4 -
55 hrs. 22 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 13: Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 -
74 hrs. 32 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 14: Rumble Roses XX -
109 hrs. 48 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 15: Kengo Legend of The 9 -
1 hrs. 39 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 16: Silence: The Whispered World 2 -
3 hrs. 43 mins. 22 out of 25 Points.
Game 17: Star Fox Zero -
4 hrs. 43 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 18: Pandora's Tower -
15 hrs. 22 mins. 25 out of 25 Points.
Game 19: Street Fighter V Arcade Edition -
5 hrs. 43 mins. 17 out of 25 Points.
Game 20: Toon Blast -
25 hrs. 32 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 21: Dynasty Warriors 9 -
15 hrs. 12 mins. 15 out of 25 Points.
Game 22: Shadow of The Colossus Remake -
6 hrs. 25 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 23: TITANFALL 2 -
4 hrs. 45 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 24: Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet -
32 hrs. 15 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 25: Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles -
7 hrs. 17 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 26: Gintama Rumble -
5 hrs. 32 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 27 : Candy Crush Saga -
42 hrs. 44 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 28 : Past Cure -
3 hrs. 15 mins. 15 out of 25 Points.
Game 29 : Shinobido 2 Revenge of Zen -
8 hrs. 39 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 30. Valkyrie Drive -Bhikkhuni - -
30 hrs. 22 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 31. Lord of Apocalypse - -
37 hrs. 32 mins. 25 out of 25 Points.
Game 32. Phantasy Star Nova - -
65 hrs. 12 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 33. Super Street Fighter 2 - -
1 hrs. 10 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 34. Soul Calibur 2 - -
1 hrs. 5 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 35. Candy Crush Soda - -
45 hrs. 6 mins. 14 out of 25 Points.
Game 36. God of War 4 - -
22 hrs. 2 mins. 15 out of 25 Points.
Game 37. The Letter - -
15 hrs. 27 mins. 24 out of 25 Points.
Game 38. Toy Blast - -
35 hrs. 14 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 39. Infinity Blade - -
5 hrs. 38 mins. 24 out of 25 Points.
Game 40. DETROIT BECOME HUMAN- -
6 hrs. 37 mins. 24 out of 25 Points.
Game 41. Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Fortune- -
13 hrs. 15 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 42. Street Fighter 30th Anniversary - -
3 hrs. 32 mins. 15 out of 25 Points.
Game 43. Zero Time: Dilemma - -
3 hrs. 5 mins. 22 out of 25 Points.
Game 44. F -Zero GX - -
5 hrs. 55 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 45. Kamen Rider Battride War- -
30 hrs. 05 mins. 22 out of 25 Points.
Game 46. Drive Girls- -
6 hrs. 04 mins. 19 out of 25 Points.
Game 47. Blossom Blast Saga- -
35 hrs. 42 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 48. Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed - -
22 hrs. 31 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 49. Beast Quest- -
10 hrs. 40 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 50. Ultra Street Fighter IV - -
4 hrs. 16 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 51. TOUKIDEN 2 - -
45 hrs. 09 mins. 22 out of 25 Points.
Game 52. Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus - -
5 hrs. 09 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 53. MUSOU Stars - -
33 hrs. 10 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 54. Monster House - -
4 hrs. 02 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 55. Hidden Dragon: Legend - -
4 hrs. 32 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 56. Stormblades - -
40 hrs. 05 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 57. Saint Seiya: Sanctuary Battle - -
8 hrs. 48 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 58. Shin Hayarigami - -
5 hrs. 12 mins. 23 out of 25 Points.
Game 59. Record of Grancrest War - -
15 hrs. 22 mins. 24 out of 25 Points.
Game 60. Shin Hayarigami 2 - -
5 hrs. 42 mins. 23 out of 25 Points.
Game 61. 戦国BASARA3宴 - -
5 hrs. 35 mins. 24 out of 25 Points.
Game 62. Sengoku Basara 3 - -
4 hrs. 47 mins. 22 out of 25 Points.
Game 63. Dante's Inferno - -
5 hrs. 36 mins. 24 out of 25 Points.
Game 64. OZ Over Zenith - -
20 hrs. 53 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 65. Tekken 5 - -
3 hrs. 15 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 66. Arcana Heart- -
2 hrs. 22 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 67. Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae - -
3 hrs. 2 mins. 17 out of 25 Points.
Game 68. Swords of Destiny - -
12 hrs. 41 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 69. Berserk: Millennium Falcon - -
15 hrs. 43 mins. 22 out of 25 Points.
Game 70. Utawarerumono Zan - -
5 hrs. 10 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 71. CryStar - -
36 hrs. 25 mins. 24 out of 25 Points.
Game 72. The King of Fighters XI - -
3 hrs. 25 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 73. The King of Fighters '94 - -
3 hrs. 05 mins. 15out of 25 Points.
Game 74. The King of Fighters '96 - -
3 hrs. 10 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 75. VAMPYR - -
23 hrs. 37 mins. 23 out of 25 Points.
Game 76. Bastion - -
7 hrs. 16 mins. 24 out of 25 Points.
Game 77. Iron Blade: Medieval Legends RPG - -
22 hrs. 18 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 78. Darkness Rises - -
45 hrs. 22 mins. 20 out of 25 Points.
Game 79. Legacy of Discord-FuriousWings - -
15 hrs. 6 mins. 20 out of 25
Game 80. Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution - -
1 hrs. 28 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 81. The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match- -
1 hrs. 2 mins. 16 out of 25 Points.
Game 82. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - -
1 hrs. 21 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 83. Soulcalibur III - -
1 hrs. 35 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 84. Super Dragon Ball Z - -
1 hrs. 30 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.
Game 85. Onimusha Blade Warriors - -
3 hrs. 10 mins. 18 out of 25 Points.

Reserved. I have a massive backlog. I hope this encourages me to play more even though my head's busy with life.

Reserved.

Definitely won't beat the challenge, think I only managed to complete 6 last year, wow.

Currently playing:

South Park
L.A. Noire

Reserved.

Reserving my spot for this year. I hope I can get at least 40 this year.

1: Need for Speed: Payback - 59 Hours (Platinum) 1/3/18
# Game was alright. The racing was fun. I didn't like the speed cards. I had to constantly grind to get a better card that I could upgrade my car. Some of the collectibles were frustrating and also boring to collect.

I'm going to RESERVE this Spot. It's a good challenge.

Between family and work, I will be proud, very proud, of myself if I get to finish one game a month this year.

Reserving my spot.

Update January 2nd 2018: I'll give the challenge a try, but I'm thinking I'll fall short already lol. I just started Horizon Zero Dawn yesterday for the first time so it should hopefully be my first completed game.

Update January 28th 2018: I'm already behind on this challenge but I've made some progress. I think I will be playing the games of 2017 for quite a while, although Shadow of the Colossus and God of War will jump to the top of my list when they release(I'll hopefully have time for them). My PS4 backlog continues to grow and it'll be my main focus this year with a sprinkling of Switch, Xbone, Vita, 3DS, and older games here and there. I was in grad school from 2014 - 2016, and I traveled nearly 5 months out of last year for my job so I'm really behind on this generation in general and with such great quality releases one after another I think I'll be playing 8th gen games for a long time.


Game #01 - Horizon Zero Dawn - 9.5/10
Playtime: 34 hours l Beat on Jan. 27th l Playstation 4

I bought Horizon at launch but only just started playing it on New Years 2018. I'm beginning to think buying games I really want at launch is a bad decision financially because I rarely ever play them right away, but I digress. HZD has jumped to the top of my list as my favorite game of this generation. Guerrilla has really taken a huge step forward in terms of tech, world building, game mechanics, and story telling! The story is what put it over the top for me, and what separates it from the often compared Zelda BOTW as the better game IMO. Full disclosure, I've only completed the first mystical beast in BOTW. The gameplay is a close second in best attributes for HZD, and it just feels so good to climb, jump, fire arrows, and swing my spear around. I've beaten the main quests and currently sit at 34 hours in playtime with 53% completion. I can't wait to dive back in and do more side quests, get all of the collectibles, and start the DLC! This is has truly been a game that clicked with me and I can't wait for the sequel. I really believe Guerrilla has vaulted themselves into a position where they have the potential to be just as important a studio as Naughty Dog. As you can tell from the glowing praise, I really liked the game and think it's a must buy for any PS4 owner.


Game #02 - Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds DLC - 10/10
Playtime: 12 hours l Beat on Feb. 4th l Playstation 4

I've completed everything The Frozen Wilds has to offer except for the hunting challenges. The DLC was a great addition to the overall universe and at times really felt like a mini sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn. I loved the new story beats, and more difficult enemies that brought some challenge back to the game. The cherry on top is the fact that the snow-covered mountainous landscapes look spectacular in HDR and 4k on the PS4 Pro. It was Horizon++ which was exactly what I wanted with some cool weapons/armor, modifications and skills to add to the mix.


Game #03 - Shadow of the Colossus - 9/10
Playtime: 7 hours l Beat on February 25th l Playstation 4

Bluepoint Games did a wonderful job with the Shadow of the Colossus remake and made me fall in love all over again. The controls took a bit of time to get used to and are still a bit wonky, but the modern control scheme option helps a lot. The game is just as good as it was when it originally released in 2005 and I highly recommend it to anyone as a must own PS4 game. I completed it in a little under 7 hours on the game clock but I spent much more time in photo mode than I ever have in any other game. I'll be sure to jump back in to Time Attack and New Game Plus modes soon!

Game #04 - Iconoclasts
Playtime: In-progress l Playstation Vita

Game #05 - Celeste
Playtime: In-progress l Playstation 4

Reserved.

1. Binary Domain.

Ok, I am in. It will be a real challenge for me.
3 years ago I beat 41 titles, 2 years ago 54 games, last year didn't participate (finished 36). Let's do it again.

First time poster, long-time lurker. I actually did complete the challenge for 2017 including finishing a couple on December 31st for a total of 56 games. Going to give this another try in 2018 to see if I can repeat that feat!

JANUARY - 1 Game

Game #01 - Call of Duty: WW2 (PS4) Playtime: 11 hours | Beaten 1/3/2018
I played through on Veteran and got most of the trophies for the campaign. Not my favorite Call of Duty ever (Modern Warfare is still the best in my mind), but this was one of the first times I felt a little connected to the soldiers you're fighting with. I'm pretty amazed at how far the tech has come and will give multiplayer a try (though I'm almost exclusively a single-player only gamer at this point).

Currently playing:
SteamWorld Dig 2 (PS Vita)
Life is Strange: Before the Storm (PS4)

Reserved Let’s give this a go!

Reserved. Finally going to give this a try.

Game #1

Game: Super Mario World
Console: SNES Classic
Time Played: 5 hours


Started the year with an easy one, since I didn't 100% it this time - I just beat all of the castles and Bowser to get the credits rolling. Super Mario World was the first game I ever played, and holds an extremely special place in my heart. It instantly brings me back to my childhood, where my mother, brother and I spent countless hours playing this classic. This time playing through, I played it on the SNES Classic. It was certainly a more enjoyable experience than playing on the GBA or Wii U, but it did have a couple of frame rate hiccups that I don't remember existing on the original console. Overall, I still love this game to pieces. Having this tiny little machine on my desk that allows me to relive my earliest years of gaming is going to be a blast. I'll take this Mario game over any other 8bit made previously.

My score:
9.75/10

35-ish. Sided with , romanced Tess.

I got this game for extremely cheap, only because I wanted to play the first two Witchers before tackling the supposed GOAT Witcher 3. I ended liking it quite a lot: it's undeniably janky (it crashed once or twice on me every time I played) and the difficulty curve is a bit meh, being a really difficult game at first and extremely easy in the second half.

Still, I loved the combat system and the "Dung ages" low-fantasy setting, and I found the story really engaging, particularly during the two latter chapters and the endgame. Will soon tackle TW2.

My Score: ★★★★☆

Original Post

Reserving a space. Got pretty close last year at 44 games. Maybe this year. Already beat 1.

1) Resident Evil 5 - PC
Really huge drop off in quality from RE 4. They focused too much on action in this one, as opposed to survival horror. Every second of RE 4 was a struggle to get through, but because of that it was constantly rewarding. RE 5 was too easy. I never felt the tension and relief cycle of 4. Also, in RE 4 the story was silly but again, it almost served as comic relief from the gameplay. In RE5, the story was just silly. On its own though (i.e. not comparing it to one of the best games of all time), it's ok.

In Progress:
Oxenfree -PC
Black Mesa - PC

Reserving a space. Managed 39 last year, though includes a couple of short VR games and some Telltale episodes. lets see how this year goes!

In Progress:
1) Horizon: Zero Dawn
2) The Division

Okey, I'm in Reserve this place ~ my average is 8 completed games in a year, I hope i can reverse this year

Trying this. Reserved.

My Main Post

Game #05 - Persona 4: Dancing All Night \ 7/10
Playtime: 11:30 hours l Beat on Jan. 5th l Playstation Vita
Beat the story mode. The Persona series has a lot of cringy dialogue. It's true. For me, the games have enough charm that I can look past those moments and actually sigh in a positive way about it. The Persona games are some of my favorites of all time after all. P4 DAN had a lot more of that, the basic premise of the story being that you can fight shadows by expressing yourself through dancing. It worked with the story but it took a lot of getting used to. Looking past that, the rhythm gameplay was a lot of fun and I'll make sure to keep playing this and unlock the special chapter.

Reserved

I recently had a re-org of my Steam categories and having delved into Baldurs gate for the umpteenth time (beaten before but picked up the EE edition during the sales). I figured I'd try and dedicate my gaming time this year to ticking off my growing backlog of unplayed/unfinished RPGs. Principally focussing on classic/isometric ones firstly and maybe extending that to some others afterwards.

In no particular order: -

Baldurs Gate:EE with DLC (in progress)
Baldurs gate 2

Banner Saga 2 (and 3 if it comes out this year)

Divinity OS:EE

Wasteland 2 Directors Cut

Pillars of Eternity + DLC

Planescape Torment

Torment: Tides of Numenera

Tyranny + DLC

Age of Decadence

Icewind Dale I & II

Hard West

Expedition: Vikings

Shadowrun Dragonfall: Directors cut

Shadowrun Hong Kong: Extended Edition

Southpark: The Stick of Truth 100% Achievement as well

There's a bunch more, but realistically I suspect even achieving the above will be a challenge as none are short games.

Reserved!

First time, let's give it a shot.

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 9/10, Playtime 100+ hours, finished 1/4/18

In Progress
Final Fantasy 3 - PC
Fire Emblem 7 - GBA

Reserved.

In Progress
Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin
Horizon Zero Dawn

49:13h. Perfect score in the 2nd year evaluation. Got it by marrying Penny, maxed house, shipping +1,000,000G, completing the Community Center, maxing friendship with pet, getting the Rusty Key and the Skull Key.

IRIDIUM-QUALITY UNMARKED SPOILERS BELOW

Alright, incoming Wall of Text. I think I like Harvest Moon more than most people. I call all my nameable characters Jack because of Harvest Moon. I like Harvest Moon so much that I couldn't finish any Harvest Moon post-DS, with the notable exception of AWOL, which was basically a 3D version of Harvest Moon FotM anyway. Not even Story of Seasons quite scratched the itch (though I will go back to it in the future)

I couldn't put down Stardew Valley once I got the Switch version. It's a cocktail of Harvest Moon SNES and Harvest Moon FotM, with some of the best QoL improvements that the series has been timidly introducing via the inferior sequels. The setting has loads of charm, the NPCs are lovable and have a deep characterization: in fact, they're basically Harvest Moon staples, given some extra layers.

The cute, feminine bookworm? Lives in a run-down trailer with her unemployed, alcoholic mother. The carefree, artistic gadfly? A university dropout fresh out of an abusive relationship. The angry, terse guy? A chronically depressive, drunk wreck of a man, that opens to you when you realize you're his only real friend. You get to care about them, and want to help them get their act together. They're the glue that holds Stardew Valley together.

The only thing SV is missing IMO is more fantasy. I know there are dwarves, shadowpeople, wizards and witches, but the game doesn't take risks with the bachelors and it makes the endgame pretty much the same in all cases. Make it so you can marry the Dwarf, or Krobus! Make a Forest Spirit bachelorette, or introduce a pharaoh queen in the Calico Desert. Something that reminds you at all times that this is a world where anything is possible.

Perhaps something to keep in mind for SV2?

My Score: ★★★★★

Original Post

Reserved:

First year doing this.....Looking forward to it! hopefully I can make some good progress lol.

Playing/In Progress
1) Super Mario Odyssey
2) Wolfenstein II
3) Horizon Zero Dawn
4) Mario Rabbits
5) Zelda Breath of Fire

Uncharted 4
Had one last trophy for this and it was the speedrun. Decided to just do it for the last playthrough. Deleted it now!



Rise of the Tomb Raider
Got this in the sale. Already played it last year on PC but got the PS4 version and wanted to get the extra DLC and run through it again



Mario Odyssey
Ran through the campaign, collected some optional stars. Don't really have the inclination to collect any more. I liked the hat mechanic but I found the floor controls a little 'bubbly' and while the game was charming and technically perfect it's just not one of those games tat makes me think it should be up there with GOTY. I mean it's great people enjoy it and I have no issues, I just have a hard time seeing what 'elevates' it.


Battlefield 1
Only wanted to run through this campaign on hardest difficulty. Finally did it. Just confirmed that I'm done with this type of ultra real FPS/competitive online FPS. Graphics and sound were really good. Wasn't a fan of the new style campaign shorts.


Destiny 2
I actually liked this and stuck with it for a while. Got the Osiris expansion but it was pretty boring running the same RAID over and over again. Eventually the group I played with also lost interest and just kind of played less. Found myself logging on less and less so finally uninstalled. Had two characters at level 335


PES 2018
Usually around this time each year I burn out on the football game I chose for this season. Not really putting it on any more. Odd game here and there but as a single player, got what I wanted from it.


RiME
Really enjoyed this. Played it on the pro. Was part of PS+ subscription. Liked it so much I had some credit for the eShop on Switch so decided to support the developers and buy it on there for the other half to play through. The music was outstanding and the game charming enough. Can see as the game went on where they maybe had to reign the scope back though..


Unravel
Got this on a PSN sale, have been waiting for awhile for the price drop. Enjoyed this as well. Good solid little platformer with a lot of heart.