A Link to the Past
Banned
One flaw w/ this is that it makes me put off completing games for a few days because hey, might as well get a strong start for 2016 
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
52 games. 1 Year. 2015.
- Thread starter VisceralBowl
- Start date
- Status
Games 1 - 20
Games 21-39
Games 40+
Game 55: The League of Explorers: A Hearthstone Adventure
This was, like the other Hearthstone Single-Player adventures, a slickly-presented series of matches that put some fun twists on the regular gameplay. However, with Tavern Brawl offering such novelties on a weekly basis nowadays and that being against another player, this has lost a lot of its impact. The escape sequences were good fun, but ultimately, I didn't have to build a single deck or incorporate any of the new cards to breeze through it, and it all became kind of forgettable. And, to be honest, I think I'm calling it a day on my time with Hearthstone now. The meta keeps changing faster than I can keep up and new mechanics are added these days before I get used to the old ones. It was a blast, and I enjoyed it immensely, but I can recognise when enough is enough.
If you like Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer, you'll like this
Game 56: Guitar Hero Live
I got this as a Christmas present from my sister and it's pretty great. The live crowds and bands could very easily have ruined it by being overly cheesy or wooden, but the actors and crowds are energetic and enthusiastic, and it all gets pretty convincing. The new guitar feels like a real evolution of the format, too. More complicated chord shapes and an extra fret button, yet somehow the note chart is easier to read than ever. Like all great advancements, it seems so obvious after the fact. And, in my opinion, Guitar Hero TV is a wonderful approach to additional tracks. It's able to offer access to a lot more tracks for free because they don't need to be licensed to own, and it also has the bonus of discovery of new tracks and artists you wouldn't have looked at before. And you get a little excited when one of your favourites comes up. It removes the instant gratification of picking your favourite track and hitting play, but it also adds texture to the overall experience, and I think it's worth the tradeoff. However, some technical issues have soured my experience. It seems like I have to reboot my router every time I want to access GHTV, and the guitar has sometimes not recognised I was holding down the first white fret button. It's a shame, because if everything just worked properly, this would be hands-down the best plastic guitar game ever for me.
If you like Guitar Hero II, you'll like this
That might be me done for the year, though I might get Trails in the Sky finished before Friday.
Games 21-39
Games 40+
Game 55: The League of Explorers: A Hearthstone Adventure
This was, like the other Hearthstone Single-Player adventures, a slickly-presented series of matches that put some fun twists on the regular gameplay. However, with Tavern Brawl offering such novelties on a weekly basis nowadays and that being against another player, this has lost a lot of its impact. The escape sequences were good fun, but ultimately, I didn't have to build a single deck or incorporate any of the new cards to breeze through it, and it all became kind of forgettable. And, to be honest, I think I'm calling it a day on my time with Hearthstone now. The meta keeps changing faster than I can keep up and new mechanics are added these days before I get used to the old ones. It was a blast, and I enjoyed it immensely, but I can recognise when enough is enough.
If you like Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer, you'll like this
Game 56: Guitar Hero Live
I got this as a Christmas present from my sister and it's pretty great. The live crowds and bands could very easily have ruined it by being overly cheesy or wooden, but the actors and crowds are energetic and enthusiastic, and it all gets pretty convincing. The new guitar feels like a real evolution of the format, too. More complicated chord shapes and an extra fret button, yet somehow the note chart is easier to read than ever. Like all great advancements, it seems so obvious after the fact. And, in my opinion, Guitar Hero TV is a wonderful approach to additional tracks. It's able to offer access to a lot more tracks for free because they don't need to be licensed to own, and it also has the bonus of discovery of new tracks and artists you wouldn't have looked at before. And you get a little excited when one of your favourites comes up. It removes the instant gratification of picking your favourite track and hitting play, but it also adds texture to the overall experience, and I think it's worth the tradeoff. However, some technical issues have soured my experience. It seems like I have to reboot my router every time I want to access GHTV, and the guitar has sometimes not recognised I was holding down the first white fret button. It's a shame, because if everything just worked properly, this would be hands-down the best plastic guitar game ever for me.
If you like Guitar Hero II, you'll like this
That might be me done for the year, though I might get Trails in the Sky finished before Friday.
Why the slightly lower number? It seems like plenty of people finished the challenge this year.
Wozzer
Member
Don't ruin the formula just because we have jobs, families and other meager distractions holding us back. I prefer to have a carrot on a stick. I managed to snag it this year, and look forward to doing so again next year - even if it does end in being divorced/fired.
chrominance
Member
Don't ruin the formula just because we have jobs, families and other meager distractions holding us back. I prefer to have a carrot on a stick. I managed to snag it this year, and look forward to doing so again next year - even if it does end in being divorced/fired.
Based on the use of "require" in quotation marks, I wonder if it'll be a tiered challenge this time.
Did it
Keeping a list like this helped me focus on whittling down my backlog, although I still bought tons of stuff as well this year.
All games on PC, (100%) means I got all Steam achievements.
Game 01: Armored Hunter GUNHOUND EX (100%)
Assault Suits Valken/Cybernator inspired
Game 02: Axiom Verge
Nice Metroid throwback game with some clever powerups
Game 03: Azure Striker Gunvolt
Nice Mega Man inspired game, good post-release support on the PC version.
Game 04: Battle Fantasia -Revised Edition-
Underrated fighting game, clearly one of the inspirations for Street Fighter 4.
Game 05: Blue Estate (100%)
Crass and politically incorrect, onrails lightgun shooter that plays surprisingly well
Game 06: Broken Age (100%)
Second Half wasn't as impressive as the first, still one of the better adventure games in years.
Game 07: D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die
Quirky and interesting, nice PC port, season 2 pls.
Game 08: Dokuro (100%)
Charming puzzle game.
Game 09: Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist (100%)
Funny and short (and free!) sort of the comedic equivalent of the Beginner's Guide
Game 10: Dropsy
Very LucasArtsy adventure game despite havingno dialogue
Game 11: Double Dragon Trilogy (100%)
Techincally three games I guess, but they're quick enough that I'll count them as one. Also, no version of Double Dragon 3 was ever good.
Game 12: Eryi's Action
Troll platformer, but not as punishing as IWBTG, so IMO more fun to go through to see all the gag traps
Game 13: Eets Muchies (100%)
Only Klei game I hadn't played yet. Fun, light puzzle game
Game 14: Giana Sisters 2D
Not a great port but still got some C64 nostalgia out of it
Game 15: Goat Simulator (+ DLC) (100%)
Dumb janky fun.
Game 16: Gods Will Be Watching - Final Chapter (100%)
Very underrated game, final chapter added post-release puts a fitting cap on the story
Game 17: Grim Fandango Remastered (100%)
A classic, still liked the setting/characters more than the puzzles.
Game 18: Grow Home (100%)
Loved it, innovative and fun.
Game 19: Gurumin
Old Falcom game, sort of an Ys-light
Game 20: Her Story (100%)
Neat premise, solid execution
Game 21: Hotline Miami 2 (100%)
Amazing soundtrack, difficulty level starts off where the first game ended which might be too much for some people, but I still really liked it.
Game 22: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (100%)
Got all the achievements again now that it's steamworkd instead of GFWL. Fuck/Love you lantern run
Game 23: Invisible Inc.
The best turn based strategy game this year with tons of style.
Game 24: Jazzpunk (100%)
Absurd Naked Gun shotgun style comedy that works most of the time
Game 25: Killer is Dead
Weird, surprisingly solid combat
Game 26: Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (100%)
Not quite as good as the guardian of light, still pretty good
Game 27: Lost Planet 2
Finally beat the entie campaign becasue someone on my friends list managed to get 4 players together
Game 28: Mega Man 1 (Mega Man Legacy Collection)
Game 29: Mega Man 2 (Mega Man Legacy Collection)
part of the Mega Man collection, groundbreaking for the time, but some rough edges nowadays compared to games like Shovel Knight that actually play like you remembered these playing.
Game 30: Metal Slug 1
arcade run and gun, classic, pretty short if you've played 2 and 3 before
Game 31: Mighty Gunvolt (100%)
Came with Azure Striker Gunvolt, enjoyable short little bonus game
Game 32: Momodora III (100%)
Cave-story light
Game 33: Not A Hero (100%)
Neat game by the OlliOlli devs, Bunnylord is a pretty funny character.
Game 34: OlliOlli (100%)
Game 35: OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood
Some of the best modern skating games
Game 36: Oniken (100%)
Game 37: Ori and the Blind Forest
Beatiful visuals and music and plays nice as well, can't wait for the Definitive Edition in 2016
Game 38: Outland (100%)
Cool to see this come to PC even if all the other great indie stuff makes it obvious there types of games have progressed quite a bit
Game 39: Outlast: Whistleblower DLC
Even better than the main game due to better pacing/story
Game 40: Phantom Breaker: Battle Ground
Decent beat 'em up with line system, gets a bit repetitive eventually
Game 41: Please, Don't Touch Anything (100% achievements + extra endings)
Game 42: Primordia (100%)
Good adventure good, couple of obscure puzzles, but the story and writing was good, you can see the Planescape Torment inspiration
Game 43: Resident Evil Revelations 2
Surprising return to form for the frachise, even on a lower budget.
Game 44: Richard & Alice (100%)
Amateurish production values, but good story
Game 45: Rogue Legacy - Neo Bosses update (100%)
Pretty frustrating honestly, the main game is a cakewalk in comparison
Game 46: Shadowrun Returns
Not as good as Dragonfall which I played before, but still worth playing
Game 47: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (100%)
Best Shantae game so far, looking forward to the kickstarter game
Game 48: South Park: The Stick of Truth (100%)
Funny, true to the TV show, combat gets a bit too easy.
Game 49: Space Ace (100%)
Arcade classic
Game 50: Steel Strider
Easier than the usual Astro Port stuff, lots of references to their other games
Game 51: Strider (100%)
stylish if not spectactular Metroidvania
Game 52: Supercharged Robot VULKAISER
love the old school robot anime esthetic
Game 53: Super Time Force Ultra (100%)
More of a puzzle game than the balls out Contra shooter it seems like at first
Game 54: Super Win The Game (updated version with speedruns) (100%)
Expands on the original free game, looking forward to what he does next.
Game 55: Tembo The Badass Elephant (100%)
Pretty charming, skill ceiling could have been higher
Game 56: The Beginner's Guide
maybe a little bit pretentious, sort of like a student film, but still interesting
Game 57: The Charnel House Trilogy (100%)
P&C adventure game, little rough around the edges, but atmospheric
Game 58: The Fall (100%, episodic, more to come)
Great story
Game 59: The Next Penelope (100%)
Another very underated game, throwback to stuff like Rock and Roll racing/F-zero etc.
Game 60: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (100%)
Game 61: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux (100%)
Gorgeous, great atmosphere, nice to get the update for free as well
Game 62: Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power (100%)
What's there is good, but the ending is very abrupt
Game 63: Velocity 2X
Neat score attack type of game, some longer levels got a bit annoying
Game 64: Westerado: Double Barreled (100%)
Open ended isometric western game
Game 65: Wolfenstein: The New Order (100%)
Nice mix of old and new school FPS sensiblities
Game 66: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (100%)
Not quite as good as TNO but still solid
Game 67: Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim (100%)
Weaker than Origin and Oath, but still worth playing
Total: 67 games beaten, 43 with 100% achievements.
Keeping a list like this helped me focus on whittling down my backlog, although I still bought tons of stuff as well this year.
All games on PC, (100%) means I got all Steam achievements.
Game 01: Armored Hunter GUNHOUND EX (100%)
Assault Suits Valken/Cybernator inspired
Game 02: Axiom Verge
Nice Metroid throwback game with some clever powerups
Game 03: Azure Striker Gunvolt
Nice Mega Man inspired game, good post-release support on the PC version.
Game 04: Battle Fantasia -Revised Edition-
Underrated fighting game, clearly one of the inspirations for Street Fighter 4.
Game 05: Blue Estate (100%)
Crass and politically incorrect, onrails lightgun shooter that plays surprisingly well
Game 06: Broken Age (100%)
Second Half wasn't as impressive as the first, still one of the better adventure games in years.
Game 07: D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die
Quirky and interesting, nice PC port, season 2 pls.
Game 08: Dokuro (100%)
Charming puzzle game.
Game 09: Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist (100%)
Funny and short (and free!) sort of the comedic equivalent of the Beginner's Guide
Game 10: Dropsy
Very LucasArtsy adventure game despite havingno dialogue
Game 11: Double Dragon Trilogy (100%)
Techincally three games I guess, but they're quick enough that I'll count them as one. Also, no version of Double Dragon 3 was ever good.
Game 12: Eryi's Action
Troll platformer, but not as punishing as IWBTG, so IMO more fun to go through to see all the gag traps
Game 13: Eets Muchies (100%)
Only Klei game I hadn't played yet. Fun, light puzzle game
Game 14: Giana Sisters 2D
Not a great port but still got some C64 nostalgia out of it
Game 15: Goat Simulator (+ DLC) (100%)
Dumb janky fun.
Game 16: Gods Will Be Watching - Final Chapter (100%)
Very underrated game, final chapter added post-release puts a fitting cap on the story
Game 17: Grim Fandango Remastered (100%)
A classic, still liked the setting/characters more than the puzzles.
Game 18: Grow Home (100%)
Loved it, innovative and fun.
Game 19: Gurumin
Old Falcom game, sort of an Ys-light
Game 20: Her Story (100%)
Neat premise, solid execution
Game 21: Hotline Miami 2 (100%)
Amazing soundtrack, difficulty level starts off where the first game ended which might be too much for some people, but I still really liked it.
Game 22: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (100%)
Got all the achievements again now that it's steamworkd instead of GFWL. Fuck/Love you lantern run
Game 23: Invisible Inc.
The best turn based strategy game this year with tons of style.
Game 24: Jazzpunk (100%)
Absurd Naked Gun shotgun style comedy that works most of the time
Game 25: Killer is Dead
Weird, surprisingly solid combat
Game 26: Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (100%)
Not quite as good as the guardian of light, still pretty good
Game 27: Lost Planet 2
Finally beat the entie campaign becasue someone on my friends list managed to get 4 players together
Game 28: Mega Man 1 (Mega Man Legacy Collection)
Game 29: Mega Man 2 (Mega Man Legacy Collection)
part of the Mega Man collection, groundbreaking for the time, but some rough edges nowadays compared to games like Shovel Knight that actually play like you remembered these playing.
Game 30: Metal Slug 1
arcade run and gun, classic, pretty short if you've played 2 and 3 before
Game 31: Mighty Gunvolt (100%)
Came with Azure Striker Gunvolt, enjoyable short little bonus game
Game 32: Momodora III (100%)
Cave-story light
Game 33: Not A Hero (100%)
Neat game by the OlliOlli devs, Bunnylord is a pretty funny character.
Game 34: OlliOlli (100%)
Game 35: OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood
Some of the best modern skating games
Game 36: Oniken (100%)
Game 37: Ori and the Blind Forest
Beatiful visuals and music and plays nice as well, can't wait for the Definitive Edition in 2016
Game 38: Outland (100%)
Cool to see this come to PC even if all the other great indie stuff makes it obvious there types of games have progressed quite a bit
Game 39: Outlast: Whistleblower DLC
Even better than the main game due to better pacing/story
Game 40: Phantom Breaker: Battle Ground
Decent beat 'em up with line system, gets a bit repetitive eventually
Game 41: Please, Don't Touch Anything (100% achievements + extra endings)
Game 42: Primordia (100%)
Good adventure good, couple of obscure puzzles, but the story and writing was good, you can see the Planescape Torment inspiration
Game 43: Resident Evil Revelations 2
Surprising return to form for the frachise, even on a lower budget.
Game 44: Richard & Alice (100%)
Amateurish production values, but good story
Game 45: Rogue Legacy - Neo Bosses update (100%)
Pretty frustrating honestly, the main game is a cakewalk in comparison
Game 46: Shadowrun Returns
Not as good as Dragonfall which I played before, but still worth playing
Game 47: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (100%)
Best Shantae game so far, looking forward to the kickstarter game
Game 48: South Park: The Stick of Truth (100%)
Funny, true to the TV show, combat gets a bit too easy.
Game 49: Space Ace (100%)
Arcade classic
Game 50: Steel Strider
Easier than the usual Astro Port stuff, lots of references to their other games
Game 51: Strider (100%)
stylish if not spectactular Metroidvania
Game 52: Supercharged Robot VULKAISER
love the old school robot anime esthetic
Game 53: Super Time Force Ultra (100%)
More of a puzzle game than the balls out Contra shooter it seems like at first
Game 54: Super Win The Game (updated version with speedruns) (100%)
Expands on the original free game, looking forward to what he does next.
Game 55: Tembo The Badass Elephant (100%)
Pretty charming, skill ceiling could have been higher
Game 56: The Beginner's Guide
maybe a little bit pretentious, sort of like a student film, but still interesting
Game 57: The Charnel House Trilogy (100%)
P&C adventure game, little rough around the edges, but atmospheric
Game 58: The Fall (100%, episodic, more to come)
Great story
Game 59: The Next Penelope (100%)
Another very underated game, throwback to stuff like Rock and Roll racing/F-zero etc.
Game 60: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (100%)
Game 61: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux (100%)
Gorgeous, great atmosphere, nice to get the update for free as well
Game 62: Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power (100%)
What's there is good, but the ending is very abrupt
Game 63: Velocity 2X
Neat score attack type of game, some longer levels got a bit annoying
Game 64: Westerado: Double Barreled (100%)
Open ended isometric western game
Game 65: Wolfenstein: The New Order (100%)
Nice mix of old and new school FPS sensiblities
Game 66: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (100%)
Not quite as good as TNO but still solid
Game 67: Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim (100%)
Weaker than Origin and Oath, but still worth playing
Total: 67 games beaten, 43 with 100% achievements.
Quick update before the year ends
Original Post
December
40.) Tales from the Borderlands (12/13
41.) Dead Space Extraction (12/13)
42.) Life is Strange (12/13)
43.) Disaster Report (12/18)
44.) Mortal Kombat X (12/20)
45.) Senran Kagura 2 Deep Crimson (12/21)
46.) Transistor (12/26)
47.) Valiant Hearts: The Great War (12/26)
48.) Dropsy (12/26)
49.) Read Only Memories (12/27)
50.) Never Alone (12/30)
51.) Super Mario 3D World (12/30)
Just one more game to reach the goal.
Original Post
December
40.) Tales from the Borderlands (12/13
41.) Dead Space Extraction (12/13)
42.) Life is Strange (12/13)
43.) Disaster Report (12/18)
44.) Mortal Kombat X (12/20)
45.) Senran Kagura 2 Deep Crimson (12/21)
46.) Transistor (12/26)
47.) Valiant Hearts: The Great War (12/26)
48.) Dropsy (12/26)
49.) Read Only Memories (12/27)
50.) Never Alone (12/30)
51.) Super Mario 3D World (12/30)
Just one more game to reach the goal.
VisceralBowl
Member
I was changing it so that'd it match the books and movies thread but lately I've been considering just throwing the extra two games in anyways.Don't ruin the formula just because we have jobs, families and other meager distractions holding us back. I prefer to have a carrot on a stick. I managed to snag it this year, and look forward to doing so again next year - even if it does end in being divorced/fired.
Index
71. Downwell (Steam, 2015/12/08, 20 hours)
Close to perfect arcade fun straight out of the mid 80s: repayable, addictive, polished, easy to pick up, hard to master, challenging but fair. The combo risk/reward triggered so much greed and made me ruin so many good runs. Surprisingly neat ending and punchline, there's actually a valid reason for going Downwell.
72. Tearaway Unfolded (PS4, 2015/12/18, 8 hours)
Still as charming as on Vita, but PS4's horsepower takes the whole thing to the next level. Full HD, 60fps, enhanced lighting, proper anti aliasing and buttery smooth 60 fps make this enhanced port a joy to play. They've transferred the controls from Vita's abilities to DualShock4 more than gracefully, it's actually a good differentiator that makes both releases worthwhile. Unfolded follows mostly the same path with a few additions as the original. The backbone of both games is deja vu inducing similar so to echo my Vita remarks: presentation, voice acting, quirky character designs and the whole "make your own story without actually making your own story" spin. Customizing your character and pieces of the game world, while optional, was always good playful fun and carried forward through the journey in meaningful ways few games manage to archive. The gameplay had rare annoying moments when precision platforming was required, but not possible. The overall experience was overwhelmingly fun though.
73. Alien: Isolation (Steam, 2015/12/19, 21 hours)
Instant classic, one of the most film like experiences out there. The rendering and field of view so immersive, that I real-life ducked a couple of times to not bang my virtual head on virtual bulkheads. Amazing attention to detail in every regard, I constantly gawked at the environments like a tourist. The retro scifi working class' tech from the first Alien movies in full effect, spot on and sincerely carried forward in the extended universe of Isolation. Sound design perfection not just in terms of atmosphere, but also gameplay: hearing things crawling around in the walls, down to the smallest bleep of your motion tracker. Loved how the pacing slowly ramped up from sightseeing to stealthy survival horror to sprinting through burning corridors with the greatest sense of urgency. I was worried the game would be too long, but in the end loved every second of my 20+ hours play through. Props for the PC release, super well optimized for the crazy amount of shader wizardry on display.
74. Broforce (Steam, 2015/12/19, 9 hours)
Triple A arcade platformer, hilarious characters and sound bits make the chaotic jump'n'running extra fun. Lots of chain reactions and mayhem, sometimes to the point of "What the hell just happened?!". The game never frustrated me though, even when my untimely demise wasn't really my fault. Props to the dev team for their continued post launch support, they still keep adding new stuff.
75. Ruzh Delta Z (Steam, 2015/12/20, 1 hour)
Brief bullet hell SHMUP, 3 short levels, slightly over-powered aids, controls aren't tight enough and your ship's hit box weird. Okayish sprite work and chiptune music, but wouldn't recommend overall. There are way more worthwhile options available.
76. The Order: 1886 (PS4, 2015/12/26, 9 hours)
Waited for a deal since the initial impressions were pretty down on this game. It's criminally underrated and probably victim of many click-bait reviews. Super solid 3rd person shooter, insanely detailed environments, some of the best mo-cap, great voice acting, mature story without dumb dude-bro banter. Stunning picture quality, best I've seen so far on PS4: almost no aliasing or shimmering. Amazing since the game is a technical tour de force, masterful use of depth of field, surface shaders on objects, crazy good character models, the whole 9. Gameplay as standard as it gets but serviceable nevertheless. I really enjoyed The Order: 1886.
77. Noby Noby Boy (PS3, 2015/12/27, 150120 hours)
Boy finally stretched enough and Girl connected all planets of our solar system after 2502 days. Neat little ending sequence, followed by a letter written in 2009. Quirky and delightful till the end. I only helped to reach Mars and took a "break", but hey ... every little bit helped.
78. Shutshimi (Steam, 2015/12/27, 2 hours)
Cleared the cute 'em up after a couple of tries, totally hilarious: the muscles from Cho Aniki and the quirkiness of Parodius. Not the hardest SHMUP, complete clear takes around 20 minutes, 60-70 waves, each wave only a few seconds brief, followed by a quick item select, not all items will help and some are just there to grief the player.
# end of line, congrats to all who made it, keep on gaming <3
71. Downwell (Steam, 2015/12/08, 20 hours)
Close to perfect arcade fun straight out of the mid 80s: repayable, addictive, polished, easy to pick up, hard to master, challenging but fair. The combo risk/reward triggered so much greed and made me ruin so many good runs. Surprisingly neat ending and punchline, there's actually a valid reason for going Downwell.
72. Tearaway Unfolded (PS4, 2015/12/18, 8 hours)
Still as charming as on Vita, but PS4's horsepower takes the whole thing to the next level. Full HD, 60fps, enhanced lighting, proper anti aliasing and buttery smooth 60 fps make this enhanced port a joy to play. They've transferred the controls from Vita's abilities to DualShock4 more than gracefully, it's actually a good differentiator that makes both releases worthwhile. Unfolded follows mostly the same path with a few additions as the original. The backbone of both games is deja vu inducing similar so to echo my Vita remarks: presentation, voice acting, quirky character designs and the whole "make your own story without actually making your own story" spin. Customizing your character and pieces of the game world, while optional, was always good playful fun and carried forward through the journey in meaningful ways few games manage to archive. The gameplay had rare annoying moments when precision platforming was required, but not possible. The overall experience was overwhelmingly fun though.
73. Alien: Isolation (Steam, 2015/12/19, 21 hours)
Instant classic, one of the most film like experiences out there. The rendering and field of view so immersive, that I real-life ducked a couple of times to not bang my virtual head on virtual bulkheads. Amazing attention to detail in every regard, I constantly gawked at the environments like a tourist. The retro scifi working class' tech from the first Alien movies in full effect, spot on and sincerely carried forward in the extended universe of Isolation. Sound design perfection not just in terms of atmosphere, but also gameplay: hearing things crawling around in the walls, down to the smallest bleep of your motion tracker. Loved how the pacing slowly ramped up from sightseeing to stealthy survival horror to sprinting through burning corridors with the greatest sense of urgency. I was worried the game would be too long, but in the end loved every second of my 20+ hours play through. Props for the PC release, super well optimized for the crazy amount of shader wizardry on display.
74. Broforce (Steam, 2015/12/19, 9 hours)
Triple A arcade platformer, hilarious characters and sound bits make the chaotic jump'n'running extra fun. Lots of chain reactions and mayhem, sometimes to the point of "What the hell just happened?!". The game never frustrated me though, even when my untimely demise wasn't really my fault. Props to the dev team for their continued post launch support, they still keep adding new stuff.
75. Ruzh Delta Z (Steam, 2015/12/20, 1 hour)
Brief bullet hell SHMUP, 3 short levels, slightly over-powered aids, controls aren't tight enough and your ship's hit box weird. Okayish sprite work and chiptune music, but wouldn't recommend overall. There are way more worthwhile options available.
76. The Order: 1886 (PS4, 2015/12/26, 9 hours)
Waited for a deal since the initial impressions were pretty down on this game. It's criminally underrated and probably victim of many click-bait reviews. Super solid 3rd person shooter, insanely detailed environments, some of the best mo-cap, great voice acting, mature story without dumb dude-bro banter. Stunning picture quality, best I've seen so far on PS4: almost no aliasing or shimmering. Amazing since the game is a technical tour de force, masterful use of depth of field, surface shaders on objects, crazy good character models, the whole 9. Gameplay as standard as it gets but serviceable nevertheless. I really enjoyed The Order: 1886.
77. Noby Noby Boy (PS3, 2015/12/27, 150120 hours)
Boy finally stretched enough and Girl connected all planets of our solar system after 2502 days. Neat little ending sequence, followed by a letter written in 2009. Quirky and delightful till the end. I only helped to reach Mars and took a "break", but hey ... every little bit helped.
78. Shutshimi (Steam, 2015/12/27, 2 hours)
Cleared the cute 'em up after a couple of tries, totally hilarious: the muscles from Cho Aniki and the quirkiness of Parodius. Not the hardest SHMUP, complete clear takes around 20 minutes, 60-70 waves, each wave only a few seconds brief, followed by a quick item select, not all items will help and some are just there to grief the player.
# end of line, congrats to all who made it, keep on gaming <3
Bananajama
Banned
Just been looking through my history of gaming on Steam/PSN.
Most I've ever completed in a year is 30
Seems like 52 will be a push for me!
Most I've ever completed in a year is 30
Seems like 52 will be a push for me!
I'm just gonna add two books and movies anyway because I prefer the week thing over 50/50.
Keep it as 52!
A Link to the Past
Banned
So do episodes of games count?
It seems like if they do, it's almost cheating lol. I'd have over half of the games completed in a month, just by beating episodes of Sam & Max 1-3, Life is Strange, Strong Bad, Tales of Monkey Island, Wallace & Gromit, Jurassic Park, and Tales from the Borderland.
It seems like if they do, it's almost cheating lol. I'd have over half of the games completed in a month, just by beating episodes of Sam & Max 1-3, Life is Strange, Strong Bad, Tales of Monkey Island, Wallace & Gromit, Jurassic Park, and Tales from the Borderland.
Ahhh.. well that makes a little since. I understand your need for symmetry with Off-topic. My yearly goal is always 100 Films, 52 games, and 24 books.
Personal preference. I count them, others don't.
I chose not to. Definitely felt like cheating.
Did it! Completed the challenge a few weeks ago but lazily put off updating until now.
Main post
#52: SOMA - 8.5 hours ★★★★
Incredibly engaging sci-fi horror narrative experience that explores some profound existential questions in thought-provoking ways that only this medium can offer. Superb presentation, design, and pacing. I think I'd prefer if it were streamlined with less horror elements, and the writing and voice performances (particularly of the main character) can be hit or miss. But a fantastic, unforgettable experience on the whole.
#53: Fallout 4 - 51 hours ★★★★
I had fun, for sure. At times I couldn't resist some of its addictive qualities, playing for hours and hours straight. But looking back at my entire time spent in post-apocalyptic Boston I just can't help but feel that my enjoyment was largely hollow and forgettable. Can't deny that I really enjoyed parts of the game, though.
#54: Aviary Attorney - 4 hours ★★★
Enjoyable but ultimately fleeting and disappointing given the unavoidable comparisons to the high standards of the series it imitates. The time limit on investigation phases is a neat idea in that it creates a sense of urgency to collect as much evidence as possible before you're forced into trial, but unfortunately that's the extent of the game's challenge - there's nothing difficult about figuring out which evidence to present during its straightforward and simplistic trials. The game's presentation and humorous character interactions are its strengths; the real meat of the game just needs some beefing up.
Main post
#52: SOMA - 8.5 hours ★★★★
Incredibly engaging sci-fi horror narrative experience that explores some profound existential questions in thought-provoking ways that only this medium can offer. Superb presentation, design, and pacing. I think I'd prefer if it were streamlined with less horror elements, and the writing and voice performances (particularly of the main character) can be hit or miss. But a fantastic, unforgettable experience on the whole.
#53: Fallout 4 - 51 hours ★★★★
I had fun, for sure. At times I couldn't resist some of its addictive qualities, playing for hours and hours straight. But looking back at my entire time spent in post-apocalyptic Boston I just can't help but feel that my enjoyment was largely hollow and forgettable. Can't deny that I really enjoyed parts of the game, though.
#54: Aviary Attorney - 4 hours ★★★
Enjoyable but ultimately fleeting and disappointing given the unavoidable comparisons to the high standards of the series it imitates. The time limit on investigation phases is a neat idea in that it creates a sense of urgency to collect as much evidence as possible before you're forced into trial, but unfortunately that's the extent of the game's challenge - there's nothing difficult about figuring out which evidence to present during its straightforward and simplistic trials. The game's presentation and humorous character interactions are its strengths; the real meat of the game just needs some beefing up.
Triggerhappytel
Member
It depends but I think most of us agree that it feels a little bit like cheating. For instance, you're fine to count something like King's Quest as individual games as the episodes release, but playing The Walking Dead S1 three years after release would seem a little disingenuous counting that as five different games.
Dr. Buni
Member
Each Life is Strange episode is longer than some platform games posted here and they were released in the space of 2~3 months each. It doesn't feel like cheating to me.
Some people also count game that can't be finished...
I don't really feel that the length matters much for people that don't count episodes (but I might be wrong), it's more that it's not a complete game/story (for me).
If I can count a part of a story as a complete game just based on how the game was released, what stops me from being able to count acts separately in games that released as a full game immediately? A "season" is a full game, an episode is not. So I only count seasons. I'm fine with others doing it differently.
The first Golden Sun games messed this up for me pretty bad this year btw, but I chose to count them separately even tho they are basically two episodes of the same story (and the first one isn't complete), so I'm not really that consistent
Cheesemeister
Member
31. D-Pad Hero II
Redmethod18
Member
Managed it this year, going to add some comments now.
- Strider (PC) - Jan 08, 2015
(7h 43m) - Child of Light (PC) - Jan 12, 2015
(14h 54m) - Saints Row: Gat out of Hell (PC) - Jan 26, 2015
(10h 19m) - The Witcher (PC) - Feb 26, 2015
(59h 02m) - Ratchet & Clank (PS3) - Mar 05, 2015
- Mars: War Logs (PC) - Mar 08, 2015
(10h 03m) - The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (PC) - Mar 16, 2015
(39h 09m) - Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut (PC) - Mar 28, 2015
(28h 15m) - Ys II Chronicles Plus (PC) - Apr 01, 2015
(9h 44m) - Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC) - Apr 03, 2015
(16h 21m) - Deadlight (PC) - Apr 04, 2015
(3h 50m) - Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (PC) - Apr 07, 2015
(11h 52m) - VoidExpanse (PC) - May 02, 2015
(28h 48m) - Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box (PC) - May 03, 2015
(9h 22m) - Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC) - May 04, 2015
(19h 12m) - Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (PC) - May 09, 2015
(48h 37m) - Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition (PC) - May 09, 2015
(3h 58m) - God of War (PS3) - May 12, 2015
- Yakuza 3 (PS3) - May 19, 2015
- 10000000 (Android) - June 11, 2015
- You Must Build A Boat (Android) - June 18, 2015
- Contrast (PC) - July 03, 2015
(3h 34m) - Watch Dogs (PC) - July 06, 2015
(21h 13m) - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist (PC) - July 09, 2015
(9h 20m) - Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PC) - July 12, 2015
(7h 20m) - Path of Exile (PC) - July 16, 2015
- The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II (PC) - July 25, 2015
(11h 05m) - Super Chibi Knight (PC) - Aug 01, 2015
(5h 34m) - Infamous: Second Son (PS4) - Aug 09, 2015
- Lisa "The First" (PC) - Aug 10, 2015
(1h 10m) - Risk of Rain (PC) - Aug 12, 2015
(2h 22m) - Hero Siege (PC) - Aug 14, 2015
(12h 46m) - The Fall (PC) - Aug 15, 2015
(2h 49m) - God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PS3) - Aug 18, 2015
- The Order: 1886 (PS4) - Aug 19, 2015
- God of War II (PS3) - Aug 20, 2015
(9h 10m) - God of War III (PS4) - Aug 22, 2015
(8h 32m) - Breath of Death VII: The Beginning (PC) - Aug 23, 2015
(5h 42m) - Victor Vran (PC) - Aug 23, 2015
(18h 25m) - God of War: Ascension (PS3) - Sep 01, 2015
(6h 04m) - Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (PC) - Sep 03, 2015
(6h) - One Way Heroics (PC) - Sep 05, 2015
(4h) - Diablo III (PC) - Sep 16, 2015
- Mad Max (PC) - Sep 27, 2015
(50h 56m) - Halo: Spartan Assault (PC) - Oct 03, 2015
(4h 25m) - Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition (PC) - Oct 10, 2015
(15h 34m) - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PC) - Oct 29, 2015
(188h 07) - Omerta: City of Gangsters (PC) - Nov 01, 2015
(18h 25m) - Race Driver: Grid (PC) - Nov 14, 2015
(25h 28m) - Deadpool (PC) - Nov 15, 2015
(7h 19m) - Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z (PC) - Nov 16, 2015
(4h 40m) - Dragon Quest (Android) - Nov 18, 2015
- Divinity: Dragon Commander (PC) - Nov 25, 2015
(13h 32m) - Transformers: Devastation (PC) - Nov 29, 2015
(6h 11m) - Just Cause 3 (PC) - Dec 22, 2015
(47h 46m) - Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below (PC) - Dec 26, 2015
(37h 19m)
People are free to interpret things however they want. I just wouldn't be comfortable separating Life is Strange out into five entries (and didn't). It's five parts of one game. I definitely wouldn't include games that can't be finished (or aren't finished, period).
Domstercool
Member
A shiny badge! I like!
It's a shame I fell just short of 52 last year!
It's a shame I fell just short of 52 last year!
Triggerhappytel
Member
PM sent.
See my post #2544 for my most recent update, and probably final one of the year.
VisceralBowl
Member
J
Jotamide
Unconfirmed Member
While I couldn't even get close to 52, I probably cleared the most games ever in a year in 2015. Looking to clearing my backlog even more this 2016!
IfAllElseFales
Member
Original Post
-Game 29: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD (3.5 Hours, Xbox 360)
Had a little Tony Hawk kick for a little bit at this part in the list. Forgot how bad the physics were in this one. 5/10
-Game 30: Guitar Hero: Warrior's of Rock (7 Hours, Xbox 360)
Forgot how weird the story mode in this was but it was still fun after all these years. Completed on Expert. 8/10
-Game 31: Tony Hawk's Underground (6.5 Hours, Xbox)
Still my personal favorite Tony Hawk game. 8.5/10
-Game 32: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (15 Hours, Xbox One)
This one got a little repetitive towards the end but overall it was enjoyable. 7.5/10
-Game 33: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (7 Hours, Xbox One)
Probably my favorite CoD campaign since Call of Duty 4. Which isn't saying much but I actually did enjoy my time with this one. 8/10
-Game 34: Mad Max (24.5 Hours, Xbox One)
This one surprised the hell out of me. Even using the AC formula it was a ton of fun just driving around the desert and taking in the view. Story was meh overall but I had tons of fun. 8.5/10
-Game 35: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (1.5 Hours, Xbox One)
Short but the stealth gameplay was fun. Until shit hit the fan and I shot my way out. 7/10
-Game 36: Assassin's Creed Rogue (9.5 Hours, Xbox 360)
Black Flag part 2. Unfortunately not as good though but it was a lot easier to power through than Unity. 7/10
-Game 37: Destiny (11.5 Hours, PS4)
Had a lot more fun going through this again than I did the first time. The Taken King content makes it a better game for sure. 8/10
-Game 38: Until Dawn (7.5 Hours, PS4)
This was a fun take on old horror movies wrapped up to play like a Telltale game. 8.5/10
-Game 39: Monument Valley (1.5 Hour, Mobile)
I love artsy games like this. Not too difficult though. 8/10
-Game 40: Life is Strange (15.5 Hours, Xbox One)
Story was great (outside of the ending). Everything else was top notch. 8.5/10
-Game 41: Tales from the Borderlands (10.5 Hours, Xbox One)
One of my favorites of this year. Lots of funny dialogue and the characters are all engaging. Also includes some of the best segments in a Telltale game. 9/10
-Game 42: Guitar Hero Live (4 Hours, Xbox One)
First Guitar I got broke but I have a new one now so I'm enjoying the game a lot more. Love how the TV thing works but the Live portion was so short. 7.5/10
-Game 43: Prune (2 Hours, Mobile)
Fun little mobile game. 8/10
-Game 44: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (11 Hours, PS4)
Finally played through this and wasn't as big a fan of it as I thought I'd be. Graphics and gameplay were good enough to make it to the end though. 8/10
-Game 45: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (9 Hours, PS4)
Same thing here as with 2. Good game but not great. All caught up for 4 though which looks great. 8/10
-Game 46: South Park: The Stick of Truth (11 Hours, Xbox 360)
This game has me so excited for the next one. Really good RPG, really great South Park game. 9/10
-Game 47: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2.5 Hours, Xbox 360)
I play this again every few years. Still love it all the way through. 8/10
-Game 48: Fallout 4 (22.5 Hours, Xbox One)
Loved 3 and NV and I loved this one. So much content to explore and I can't wait for thr DLC next year. 9.5/10
-Game 49: Yo-Kai Watch (18.5 Hours, 3DS)
Might have liked this more than some of the recent Pokemon games. Lots of charm, can't wait for 2 to make it to the US. 9/10
-Game 50: Game of Thrones (11.5 Hours, Xbox One)
Not as strong as some of the other episodic games this year but still enjoyable as a fan of the TV series. Interested to see where the story goes next year. 8/10
-Game 51: Emily is Away (.5 Hour, PC)
A fun but quick trip down nostalgia lane. Story hits home for sure. 8/10
-Game 52: The Crew (19.5 Hours, Xbox One)
Actually really liked this with all the tweaks they have made. Story was laughable though but the map is huge and the events were mostly fun. 8/10
So glad I made it to 52 this year. Still playing Witcher 3 right now but know I won't be done before the new year. Not sure if I'll take part in this again but I will at least keep track how many I beat next year.
-Game 29: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD (3.5 Hours, Xbox 360)
Had a little Tony Hawk kick for a little bit at this part in the list. Forgot how bad the physics were in this one. 5/10
-Game 30: Guitar Hero: Warrior's of Rock (7 Hours, Xbox 360)
Forgot how weird the story mode in this was but it was still fun after all these years. Completed on Expert. 8/10
-Game 31: Tony Hawk's Underground (6.5 Hours, Xbox)
Still my personal favorite Tony Hawk game. 8.5/10
-Game 32: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (15 Hours, Xbox One)
This one got a little repetitive towards the end but overall it was enjoyable. 7.5/10
-Game 33: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (7 Hours, Xbox One)
Probably my favorite CoD campaign since Call of Duty 4. Which isn't saying much but I actually did enjoy my time with this one. 8/10
-Game 34: Mad Max (24.5 Hours, Xbox One)
This one surprised the hell out of me. Even using the AC formula it was a ton of fun just driving around the desert and taking in the view. Story was meh overall but I had tons of fun. 8.5/10
-Game 35: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (1.5 Hours, Xbox One)
Short but the stealth gameplay was fun. Until shit hit the fan and I shot my way out. 7/10
-Game 36: Assassin's Creed Rogue (9.5 Hours, Xbox 360)
Black Flag part 2. Unfortunately not as good though but it was a lot easier to power through than Unity. 7/10
-Game 37: Destiny (11.5 Hours, PS4)
Had a lot more fun going through this again than I did the first time. The Taken King content makes it a better game for sure. 8/10
-Game 38: Until Dawn (7.5 Hours, PS4)
This was a fun take on old horror movies wrapped up to play like a Telltale game. 8.5/10
-Game 39: Monument Valley (1.5 Hour, Mobile)
I love artsy games like this. Not too difficult though. 8/10
-Game 40: Life is Strange (15.5 Hours, Xbox One)
Story was great (outside of the ending). Everything else was top notch. 8.5/10
-Game 41: Tales from the Borderlands (10.5 Hours, Xbox One)
One of my favorites of this year. Lots of funny dialogue and the characters are all engaging. Also includes some of the best segments in a Telltale game. 9/10
-Game 42: Guitar Hero Live (4 Hours, Xbox One)
First Guitar I got broke but I have a new one now so I'm enjoying the game a lot more. Love how the TV thing works but the Live portion was so short. 7.5/10
-Game 43: Prune (2 Hours, Mobile)
Fun little mobile game. 8/10
-Game 44: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (11 Hours, PS4)
Finally played through this and wasn't as big a fan of it as I thought I'd be. Graphics and gameplay were good enough to make it to the end though. 8/10
-Game 45: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (9 Hours, PS4)
Same thing here as with 2. Good game but not great. All caught up for 4 though which looks great. 8/10
-Game 46: South Park: The Stick of Truth (11 Hours, Xbox 360)
This game has me so excited for the next one. Really good RPG, really great South Park game. 9/10
-Game 47: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2.5 Hours, Xbox 360)
I play this again every few years. Still love it all the way through. 8/10
-Game 48: Fallout 4 (22.5 Hours, Xbox One)
Loved 3 and NV and I loved this one. So much content to explore and I can't wait for thr DLC next year. 9.5/10
-Game 49: Yo-Kai Watch (18.5 Hours, 3DS)
Might have liked this more than some of the recent Pokemon games. Lots of charm, can't wait for 2 to make it to the US. 9/10
-Game 50: Game of Thrones (11.5 Hours, Xbox One)
Not as strong as some of the other episodic games this year but still enjoyable as a fan of the TV series. Interested to see where the story goes next year. 8/10
-Game 51: Emily is Away (.5 Hour, PC)
A fun but quick trip down nostalgia lane. Story hits home for sure. 8/10
-Game 52: The Crew (19.5 Hours, Xbox One)
Actually really liked this with all the tweaks they have made. Story was laughable though but the map is huge and the events were mostly fun. 8/10
So glad I made it to 52 this year. Still playing Witcher 3 right now but know I won't be done before the new year. Not sure if I'll take part in this again but I will at least keep track how many I beat next year.
VisceralBowl
Member
Where you left off.
I have 60hrs+ in Elite Dangerous. I'm counting it! lol
Honestly, everyone's creating their own criteria anyway. There are games I haven't counted simply because of something minor. I've done all of The Taken King except the raid for example, but haven't counted it, because that's what I'd define as it being "complete", and for some games I didn't count them as complete until I'd also finished all available DLC along with it. On the other hand I have counted the episodes of Life Is Strange individually, as they each one felt more substantial and "complete" than my random runs through sruff like Golden Axe or Toejam and Earl were. The challenge already demands an awful lot of time from people depending on what games they play, so having rigid definitions, or completion criteria regarded as "cheating" doesn't make a whole lot of sense imo, as it'd just cause people with less time to avoid certain games in order to not fail (which kinda defeats the purpose of the entire exercise really). This has already somewhat been the case for me this year, when I'd look at something like Xenoblade Chronicles, and decide that I'm not touching that until I was ahead of my quota so to speak... which has resulted in me not starting it until about a week ago, when I had finally reached 52 games (still need to make a final update before tomorrow, lol).
Chainsawkitten
Member
- Ittle Dew 01-01
Nice puzzling hampered a bit by poor combat mechanics.
★★☆ - Dust - An Elysian Tail 01-07
Mostly good presentation (I don't mind furry) but the core gameplay doesn't appeal to me.
★★☆ - Year Walk 01-13
Very nice, atmospheric game. I hope their other games get PC ports.
★★★ - Gunpoint 01-16
I like the punching achievement.
★★☆ - Whispering Willows 01-18
Generally enjoyable but I found the ending quite weak.
★★☆ - Lost Constellation 01-21
Lovely teaser that works well as its own thing. Certainly looking forward to Night in the Woods.
★★★ - Babies Dream of Dead Worlds 01-26
Ugly (though not quite as ugly as my header image suggests), boring standard platformer mechanics (as per your-first-platformer implementation) and dull dialogue.
★☆☆ - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 01-26
Good graphics. Ok gameplay.
★★☆ - Evoland 02-05
The concept seems good at an initial glance but the inherent problem in it quickly shows. It does a lot of different things instead of doing any one thing well. The action-RPG parts are subpar, the turn-based RPG parts are atrocious and in general it's just not very good at anything it attempts.
★☆☆ - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow 02-12
I think it's better than Symphony of the Night but having to constantly go into the menu to change equipment (at the water sections) is annoying.
★★☆ - 0h n0 02-12
Not sure whether I prefer this or 0h h1.
★★☆ - Detective Grimoire 02-13
Don't have any complaints about this, but no real praise either.
★★☆ - Broken Sword 1 - Shadow of the Templars: Director's Cut 02-19
Tonal issues. Main lead is insufferable. He might have worked in a different context but when the game at one hand has serious conspiracy theory and murder plots and on the other has a clown main character being an asshole to people (for comedic purposes) and sexually harrassing the female lead (that's supposed to be charming? it's all fine cause they hook up at the end...) it doesn't.
★☆☆ - Card City Nights 02-21
I like the characters.
★★☆ - At a Distance 03-01
Next time you have a LAN party, dedicate some time to this. It's free and short so you should be able to fit it in. You probably should know as little as possible about it.
★★★ - Luxuria Superbia 03-09
Played it on Android but I have it on PC as well. Kinda curious how it would work with gamepad. I feel the touch is kinda inherent to the appeal.
★★★ - Syberia
A very nice contrast to Broken Sword. Puzzle solutions generally have you helping people rather than fucking them over (though there is one instance where you cause a nuisance for an innocent person).
03-11
★★★ - A Bird Story 03-11
It's not a very original story but it worked for me.
★★★ - Syberia 2 03-23
Mechanically it may be better than the first game but the writing isn't as strong. Whereas the original game kinda avoided stereotypical villains this has some pretty uninteresting and very clearly villain characters. Overall, though, I still enjoyed it.
★★★ - Hearthstone 03-29
Pay 2 win crap.
★☆☆ - Secrets of Raetikon 04-12
Pretty but gameplay-wise somewhat annoying (fucking crows).
★★☆ - The Last of Us 04-17
Slick, polished and too long.
★★★ - Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy 04-28
Boring.
★☆☆ - Mind: Path to Thalamus 05-01
Pretty. Found the time-constrained puzzles a bit annoying.
★★★ - Sigils of Elohim 05-03
Standard puzzle without any twist with a decent enough presentation.
★★☆ - Minefield 05-26
An interesting concept and in some ways an improvement but as with all MMO-grind kind of stuff the lack of clear end-points means there is no satisfaction of clearing a level or similar breakpoint. Instead, it feels very empty.
★★☆ - Hexcells 06-21
Excellent Minesweeper take.
★★★ - Hexcells Plus 06-24
More of the same, which isn't a bad thing by me.
★★★ - Hexcells Infinite 06-25
The major difference here is the generated levels (hence Infinite), though it lacks difficulty configuration. Once you've done the handcrafted levels, the auto-generated levels are at a level that'll most likely provide you no challenge whatsoever.
★★★ - Jazzpunk 06-27
I like the style enough but it's not that funny.
★★☆ - Mario Kart 8 07-03
Decent time-waster.
★★☆ - Rain 07-10
Absolutely lovely world and music.
★★★ - Xaxi 08-15
It's pretty but I still feel like there's better things to do with this kind of thing than just implement standard FPS controls.
★★☆ - Ni No Kuni - Wrath of the White Witch 08-17
Lovely visuals, design and music (although very repetetive such) which can't make up for the overlong story and grindy gameplay.
★★☆ - Kirby's Dream Land 2 08-18
Fuck the fish.
★☆☆ - One More Night 08-21
Charming despite some annoying technical issues. (Don't try to make it go fullscreen!)
★★★ - Sweeper 08-24
A bit frustrating at points.
★★☆ - Samorost 2 08-25
Still hadn't finished this. Big improvement over the first, imo.
★★★ - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 09-25
Does a lot of things but none of them well.
★☆☆ - Rinse and Repeat 10-04
Honestly don't think the realtime aspects really add anything to it. Also didn't think it was clear enough when I was supposed to be there. At the given time or an hour afterward?
★★☆ - Er Aran 10-11
Feels kinda unfinished.
★★☆ - Travelling Salesman 10-11
Decent enough puzzle but seriously needs better presentation.
★★☆ - NaissanceE 11-02
Lovely architecture but too difficult at times and needs more checkpoints. (Like, how about a checkpoint after the "wait for 30 seconds" segment instead of right before it?)
★★★ - Shorn Face 11-26
Very well written.
★★★ - The Tender Cut 12-04
I never liked An Andalusian Dog.
★★☆ - Momodora II 12-04
Much better than the first (which I couldn't be bothered to finish).
★★☆ - Momodora III 12-05
An improvement over II but not as distinct an improvement as I->II.
★★☆ - Noitu Love 2: Devolution 12-08
Had only played Xoda's campaign before. Mr. Almond's gameplay is kinda crap.
★★☆ - Murdered: Soul Suspect 12-09
I liked the atmosphere. Fights were repetetive and boring (as usual) but there weren't that many of them so that's fine.
★★★ - Super Smash Brothers for Wii U 12-12
Smash Tour is shit but whatever.
★★☆ - Davy Dreams of Flying 12-14
I was attracted to this based on the interesting post-processing effect. Unfortunately, I think it works better in screenshots than in motion.
★☆☆ - Pink Heaven 12-14
It's charming but I don't feel like it does anything that interesting.
★★☆ - We Are in the Woods 12-14
I like the concept of a second-person view where the character you control is different from the character through which you view (different from standard third-person view in that the camera is its own character) and it's something I've experimented with myself (although nothing released). The problem is that this is just that. It doesn't actually do anything with it.
★☆☆ - The Sensational December Machine 12-20
Pretty interesting way of presenting a visual novel.
★★★ - Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist 12-20
*insert joke about guard AI, stealth mechanics, etc.*
★★★ - Oneshot 12-20
Honestly not too much into the whole 4-th wall breaking thing but the world and characters are compelling, so it's still enjoyable.
★★★ - Breadcrumbs 12-21
Not much to it other than a neat visual style, which unfortunately suffers from the low resolution.
★★☆ - Rule of Rose 12-27
2 stars is for if you're using the infinite health cheat. Otherwise it gets 1 star because the combat sections are completely unplayable.
★★☆ - Home 12-29
Boring and dull. No atmosphere to speak of. No characters that we get to know anything about. No story ("you figure it out!"). It'd be interesting to try to figure out the fate of these characters if I cared about them, but I don't cause I know jackshit about them.
★☆☆
TheDancingWatermelon
Member
Original Post with #1-26
Game #27 - FFXIV Heavensward (PC) 6/26/2015 [who knows]
This was the part of my year where everything came to a stop gaming wise for my fiancee and I, as we had both committed to playing FF14 with our friends. Initially I really enjoyed the expansion, the main story was interesting and flying was fun enough. Sadly the honeymoon period for FF14 Heavensward came and went, and the state of the game entering 2016 is a mess imo. I’m still hopeful that i’ll play it a bunch this coming year, but with interest fading fast for my raid group who knows.
Game #28 - Batman Arkham Knight (PS4) 8/21/2015 [20 hours]
The final Batman game from Rocksteady feels like it just came and went honestly. Its primary story twist on one hand was the most well executed part of the narrative, while feeling simultaneously tired. The batmobile see-sawed on fun and interesting mechanics one minute, tedious and mundane the next. At least it looked good and played well? I’m a big fan of the series, and it was a good enough game, yet it just feels so forgettable now. I might revisit it sometime, at the very least to check out some of the DLC(although I can't say I’ve heard good things about most of those either).
Game #29 - Until Dawn (PS4) 8/29/2015 [8 hours]
While Arkham Knight left me disappointed, Until Dawn was a pleasant surprise. I’m a big fan of horror movies and games, but I went in expecting nothing special and got a great experience. The story and characters were campy yet fun, and some of the “DON'T MOVE YOUR CONTROLLER” moments worked surprisingly well. I managed to save everyone on my first playthrough, but I’d like to revisit it sometime to see some of the other ways it can play out. Hopefully we’ll get an Until Dawn 2 someday.
Game #30 - MGS Ground Zeroes (PS4) 8/31/2015 [4 hours]
Just a quick runthrough to prepare for V, as an introduction for what was to come it was pretty good. Also did some of the extra stuff like extracting Kojima.
Game #31 - Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (3DS) 9/2/2015 [72 hours]
A fantastic RPG, with a great cast, memorable music, and an interesting world. The small 3DS screen felt overwhelmed by the UI at times; but running through the world, or hearing that battle music kick in never got old. I can’t wait to check out X in 2016.
Game #32 - Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (PSVITA) 9/14/2015 [20 hours]
I’m a big Danganronpa fan, but I have mixed feelings on UDG. On one hand, the shooting mechanics aren’t very good and it can be a chore to actually play. On the other, I really enjoyed the cast of characters and the way the story played out. It was also nice to see them flesh out one of the characters from the original Danganronpa, as her character never interested me in that one. In the end, I’d recommend it for fans of the series.
Game #33 - Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (PS4/PSVITA) 9/15/2015 [6 hours]
With all of my love for Shovel Knight, I knew I’d be there day one for the DLC. While you essentially play through the same levels, theres a few interesting twists, along with the major one in the way Plague Knight plays. It was fun mixing and matching various bomb parts depending on what was thrown at me, and the challenge mode was a blast. The story was cute, and I enjoyed how they handled the change of character pov in the story. I’m looking forward to the next two DLC, for what will probably be even more playthroughs of shovel knight.
Game #34 - Xerodrifter (PSVITA) 9/22/2015 [3 hours]
A neat “metroidvania” style game, it was fun but incredibly short. I did like travelling between planets once various power ups were discovered.
Game #35 - Super Mario Maker (WiiU) 9/25/2015 [40+ hours]
A great creation tool, with tons of interesting and fun levels made by some incredibly talented individuals out there. When I played there were A LOT of bad levels out there, but it was always fun to find that “diamond in the rough” so to speak, and give them a star or leave a comment of praise. It was also really fun to make my own levels, to swap them with a friend, or have my fiancee play through them. I need to go back to it now that they’ve added checkpoints among other things, and see what others have come up with over the last few months.
Game #36 - Kid Icarus Uprising (3DS) 9/28/2015 [13 hours]
I finally tracked down a cheap physical copy of this and wow what a game. The controls were rough, as I had a hard time finding a comfortable control scheme for the on foot sections. In the end I only managed playing it on difficulty 6 and 7, but everything else about it was fantastic. The music, the characters(Hades was a great villain), the dialogue, soaring around with those effects. Just a fantastic game and one I’d definitely recommend to anyone with a 3ds to at least give a shot!
Game #37 - Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (PS4) 10/2/2015 [10 hours]
Got this with PS Plus and played through it with a friend. I really enjoyed Guardians of Light, and while this one felt a step below its predecessor, it was still nice to get another in the series. Besides that, who can turn down blowing up your friend, or dropping him into a pit of spikes?
Game #38 - SOMA (PC) 10/4/2015 [7 hours]
A tense, uncomfortable game that made me think about different subjects from what I expected, and found ways to unsettle me. I liked the story; The main twist felt fairly obvious a few hours in, but some of the reveals(especially near the end) were well done. The monster encounters were easily the weakest part, as they were often times annoying rather than scary.
Game #39 - Persona 4 Dancing All Night (PSVITA) 10/4/2015 [8 hours]
First things first, DAN is a beautiful game on the Vita. Everything really pops, it's super colorful and vibrant. With that out of the way, the actual rhythm mechanics felt kind of off(I wasn’t a fan of the scratching), and the story mode is terrible. It was nice to see the cast of characters again before Persona 5 I guess.
Game #40 - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4) 10/13/2015 [40+ hours]
TPP is one of my favorite games of the year, and yet also one of the most disappointing. I love the gameplay, it’s just really fun. It’s incredibly smooth, and all of the ways you can tackle an objective are fantastic. Visuals, controls, music, and what is there of the story are all great. What I find disappointing is the story kind of falls apart halfway in, and the way the “true” ending is handled just didn't hit the right notes for me. None of that would have bothered me if not for this is the final entry into the series(directed by Kojima anyways), so it's kind of a bitter emotion. I love what's there, I Just wish it didn't feel so rushed or unfinished at times.
Game #41 - Undertale (PC) 10/16/2015 [8 hours]
WIth an interesting hook of “killing no one,” a great cast of characters, and some truly emotional moments, Undertale served as a reminder that in a year of big AAA’s, great games can come from unexpected places. Two months later my fiancee and I still listen to the OST, it's hard to find a wasted song on there! I did a neutral and true ending run, but I couldn’t bring myself to do the genocide route. Maybe someday I will, as the final fight of that path looks really fun.
Game #42 - Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (WiiU) 10/22/2015 [4 hours]
I really wanted to play through some Castlevania games for Halloween, and while my playthrough of IV got pushed to November, I did managed to finish this one before the holiday. It's my favorite of the NES Castlevania games, as I enjoy the branching paths and special companion system. The difficulty level also feels spot on, as it's challenging, but never feels unfair.
Game #43 - Transformers: Devastation (PS4) 10/26/2015 [6 hours]
Great mechanics and presentation, and a nice love letter to G1 fans. It was a little on the short side, but that worked out since I was able to play it over a weekend and focus more on some of the other games on my list. After seeing what they did for Transformers I’m really looking forward to seeing what Platinum does with TMNT.
Game #44 - Trails in the Sky FC (PSVITA) 10/29/2015 [44 hours]
This was one that came heavily recommended by friends, but I could never muster enough interest to start it. Finally I decided to just sit down and play it and I’m really glad I did. It starts really slow, but its attention to detail in building its world and developing its characters is second to none in the few JRPG’s i've played. I actually finished it right as SC unlocked on Steam, so I downloaded a completed save and moved on to that one.
Game #45 - Trails in the Sky SC (PC) 11/9/2015 [60 hours]
While FC started really slow, SC felt much better paced. A Lot of the new additions are nice(link attacks, etc.) and the story, while predictable, was enjoyable and done well. Estelle was a great main character, who I felt developed nicely over the span of two games. Really it’s a fantastic series, and one I can’t recommend enough. I’ve never been a big consumer of JRPG’s, but after playing Xenoblade and the Trails series, I definitely plan to check out more.
Game #46 - Dying Light (PS4) 11/13/2015 [30 hours]
Played through this entirely in co-op and it was really fun. I wasn’t a big fan of Dead Island, but I really enjoyed just running across town, and drop kicking zombies in the face. The co-op added a ton, as it was always a hoot. The story was a hot mess though, although I enjoyed some of the cheesy moments like Rais screaming “CRANNNEEE” or that final sequence. I was also disappointed that it forced me to do the final sequence by myself, as my friend and I had to awkwardly go our separate ways while discussing the sequence in our headsets. That being said, we both had a good time and I’m pretty sure we’ll check out the expansion this year.
Game #47 - Super Castlevania IV (WiiU) 11/21/2015 [4 hours]
My other Castlevania Halloween play through got delayed, but I still wanted to play through this, past the holiday or not! Despite being really easy, I love the presentation and varied levels and bosses of this one. It’s not very challenging but it sure is fun.
Game #48 - The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone (PS4) 11/30/2015 [12 hours]
The GOTY got even bigger with a meaty DLC quest that rivals any quest from the main game in quality. From a heist, to letting a ghost experience a wedding, Hearts of Stone was awesome. Gaunter O’Dimm was a fantastic villain, It was nice to see Shani again, and I really enjoyed the story of Olgierd Von Everec. If this one was anything to go by, the final DLC is going to be an awesome cap to one of my favorite games.
Game #49 - Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS4) 12/12/2015 [10 hours]
I’m hoping to play through all of the Uncharted games before April, so this seemed like an easy choice for the 52 game challenge. I was really impressed on the technical side, as Bluepoint did a great job bringing the first of Drakes adventures up to the level of the following two. It’s still my least favorite of the three, but a fun introduction to the cast and short enough to where it doesn't outstay its welcome.
Game #50 - The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (3DS) 12/14/2015 [25 hours]
Played through the entirety with my fiancee and friend. As someone who never got to play Four Swords, some of the levels and puzzles were really interesting and fun to figure out together. I had pretty terrible luck with materials to make costumes, and the servers seemed kind of spotty at times, but it was a good time none the less. Hopefully we’ll find some time to go through the Den of Trials they added at some point.
Game #51 - Life is Strange (PC) 12/15/2015 [22 hours]
A game with a great story that tackles some interesting topics, with a likable main character and really good soundtrack. I particularly enjoyed that it never felt like there was a right or wrong choice, as it really shined through with its message of each action having consequences. Also finding all of the photograph spots was a fun little side game, I missed a few but I enjoyed the hunt for them(GIANT SQUIRRELS). I felt like the final episode was the weakest(with the maze section particularly standing out), but it doesn't diminish the total package, which was quite the ride.
Game #52 - Tales of the Abyss (3DS) 12/15/2015 [50 hours]
The first old RPG up on the block is one of my Fiancee’s favorites. I’ve only played a few of the Tales games, but of the ones I’ve seen this would probably be my favorite. The first third of the game the main character is one of the most insufferable ones I can think of(which I suppose was the point), but I did enjoy how he and a few of the others in the cast develop over the course of the game. Playing on 3DS wasn't much of a detriment, although it felt like the inclusion of free run broke the battle system. I wish I had the time this year to see some of the other games in the series(Zestiria or Vesperia come to mind), maybe I can get around to those for the 2016 challenge.
Game #53 - Tales from the Borderlands (PS4) 12/20/2015 [12 hours]
Where Life is Strange stirred emotions dealing with often times dark situations, TftB came along with its silly, incredibly fun story that was just a joy from start to finish. I spent a lot of time in the first two Borderland games, and while I had fun with friends I wouldn't say the story was one of my favorite parts of those. Telltale took the setting and ran with it, developing enjoyable characters that really pulled you in. My fiancee went from thinking it would be dumb to essentially dropping what she was doing to watch how it unfolded. Oh and if there was an award for “best title sequences” of 2015, I feel like this would have it wrapped up. Just a phenomenal job by Telltale when I was starting to think they had lost there touch.
All in all it was a great year of games, and I'm looking forward to hopefully doing the challenge again next year. Hopefully next go around i'll make time to post updates more frequently, instead of rushing to type my thoughts over the holidays!
Game #27 - FFXIV Heavensward (PC) 6/26/2015 [who knows]
This was the part of my year where everything came to a stop gaming wise for my fiancee and I, as we had both committed to playing FF14 with our friends. Initially I really enjoyed the expansion, the main story was interesting and flying was fun enough. Sadly the honeymoon period for FF14 Heavensward came and went, and the state of the game entering 2016 is a mess imo. I’m still hopeful that i’ll play it a bunch this coming year, but with interest fading fast for my raid group who knows.
Game #28 - Batman Arkham Knight (PS4) 8/21/2015 [20 hours]
The final Batman game from Rocksteady feels like it just came and went honestly. Its primary story twist on one hand was the most well executed part of the narrative, while feeling simultaneously tired. The batmobile see-sawed on fun and interesting mechanics one minute, tedious and mundane the next. At least it looked good and played well? I’m a big fan of the series, and it was a good enough game, yet it just feels so forgettable now. I might revisit it sometime, at the very least to check out some of the DLC(although I can't say I’ve heard good things about most of those either).
Game #29 - Until Dawn (PS4) 8/29/2015 [8 hours]
While Arkham Knight left me disappointed, Until Dawn was a pleasant surprise. I’m a big fan of horror movies and games, but I went in expecting nothing special and got a great experience. The story and characters were campy yet fun, and some of the “DON'T MOVE YOUR CONTROLLER” moments worked surprisingly well. I managed to save everyone on my first playthrough, but I’d like to revisit it sometime to see some of the other ways it can play out. Hopefully we’ll get an Until Dawn 2 someday.
Game #30 - MGS Ground Zeroes (PS4) 8/31/2015 [4 hours]
Just a quick runthrough to prepare for V, as an introduction for what was to come it was pretty good. Also did some of the extra stuff like extracting Kojima.
Game #31 - Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (3DS) 9/2/2015 [72 hours]
A fantastic RPG, with a great cast, memorable music, and an interesting world. The small 3DS screen felt overwhelmed by the UI at times; but running through the world, or hearing that battle music kick in never got old. I can’t wait to check out X in 2016.
Game #32 - Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (PSVITA) 9/14/2015 [20 hours]
I’m a big Danganronpa fan, but I have mixed feelings on UDG. On one hand, the shooting mechanics aren’t very good and it can be a chore to actually play. On the other, I really enjoyed the cast of characters and the way the story played out. It was also nice to see them flesh out one of the characters from the original Danganronpa, as her character never interested me in that one. In the end, I’d recommend it for fans of the series.
Game #33 - Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (PS4/PSVITA) 9/15/2015 [6 hours]
With all of my love for Shovel Knight, I knew I’d be there day one for the DLC. While you essentially play through the same levels, theres a few interesting twists, along with the major one in the way Plague Knight plays. It was fun mixing and matching various bomb parts depending on what was thrown at me, and the challenge mode was a blast. The story was cute, and I enjoyed how they handled the change of character pov in the story. I’m looking forward to the next two DLC, for what will probably be even more playthroughs of shovel knight.
Game #34 - Xerodrifter (PSVITA) 9/22/2015 [3 hours]
A neat “metroidvania” style game, it was fun but incredibly short. I did like travelling between planets once various power ups were discovered.
Game #35 - Super Mario Maker (WiiU) 9/25/2015 [40+ hours]
A great creation tool, with tons of interesting and fun levels made by some incredibly talented individuals out there. When I played there were A LOT of bad levels out there, but it was always fun to find that “diamond in the rough” so to speak, and give them a star or leave a comment of praise. It was also really fun to make my own levels, to swap them with a friend, or have my fiancee play through them. I need to go back to it now that they’ve added checkpoints among other things, and see what others have come up with over the last few months.
Game #36 - Kid Icarus Uprising (3DS) 9/28/2015 [13 hours]
I finally tracked down a cheap physical copy of this and wow what a game. The controls were rough, as I had a hard time finding a comfortable control scheme for the on foot sections. In the end I only managed playing it on difficulty 6 and 7, but everything else about it was fantastic. The music, the characters(Hades was a great villain), the dialogue, soaring around with those effects. Just a fantastic game and one I’d definitely recommend to anyone with a 3ds to at least give a shot!
Game #37 - Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (PS4) 10/2/2015 [10 hours]
Got this with PS Plus and played through it with a friend. I really enjoyed Guardians of Light, and while this one felt a step below its predecessor, it was still nice to get another in the series. Besides that, who can turn down blowing up your friend, or dropping him into a pit of spikes?
Game #38 - SOMA (PC) 10/4/2015 [7 hours]
A tense, uncomfortable game that made me think about different subjects from what I expected, and found ways to unsettle me. I liked the story; The main twist felt fairly obvious a few hours in, but some of the reveals(especially near the end) were well done. The monster encounters were easily the weakest part, as they were often times annoying rather than scary.
Game #39 - Persona 4 Dancing All Night (PSVITA) 10/4/2015 [8 hours]
First things first, DAN is a beautiful game on the Vita. Everything really pops, it's super colorful and vibrant. With that out of the way, the actual rhythm mechanics felt kind of off(I wasn’t a fan of the scratching), and the story mode is terrible. It was nice to see the cast of characters again before Persona 5 I guess.
Game #40 - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4) 10/13/2015 [40+ hours]
TPP is one of my favorite games of the year, and yet also one of the most disappointing. I love the gameplay, it’s just really fun. It’s incredibly smooth, and all of the ways you can tackle an objective are fantastic. Visuals, controls, music, and what is there of the story are all great. What I find disappointing is the story kind of falls apart halfway in, and the way the “true” ending is handled just didn't hit the right notes for me. None of that would have bothered me if not for this is the final entry into the series(directed by Kojima anyways), so it's kind of a bitter emotion. I love what's there, I Just wish it didn't feel so rushed or unfinished at times.
Game #41 - Undertale (PC) 10/16/2015 [8 hours]
WIth an interesting hook of “killing no one,” a great cast of characters, and some truly emotional moments, Undertale served as a reminder that in a year of big AAA’s, great games can come from unexpected places. Two months later my fiancee and I still listen to the OST, it's hard to find a wasted song on there! I did a neutral and true ending run, but I couldn’t bring myself to do the genocide route. Maybe someday I will, as the final fight of that path looks really fun.
Game #42 - Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (WiiU) 10/22/2015 [4 hours]
I really wanted to play through some Castlevania games for Halloween, and while my playthrough of IV got pushed to November, I did managed to finish this one before the holiday. It's my favorite of the NES Castlevania games, as I enjoy the branching paths and special companion system. The difficulty level also feels spot on, as it's challenging, but never feels unfair.
Game #43 - Transformers: Devastation (PS4) 10/26/2015 [6 hours]
Great mechanics and presentation, and a nice love letter to G1 fans. It was a little on the short side, but that worked out since I was able to play it over a weekend and focus more on some of the other games on my list. After seeing what they did for Transformers I’m really looking forward to seeing what Platinum does with TMNT.
Game #44 - Trails in the Sky FC (PSVITA) 10/29/2015 [44 hours]
This was one that came heavily recommended by friends, but I could never muster enough interest to start it. Finally I decided to just sit down and play it and I’m really glad I did. It starts really slow, but its attention to detail in building its world and developing its characters is second to none in the few JRPG’s i've played. I actually finished it right as SC unlocked on Steam, so I downloaded a completed save and moved on to that one.
Game #45 - Trails in the Sky SC (PC) 11/9/2015 [60 hours]
While FC started really slow, SC felt much better paced. A Lot of the new additions are nice(link attacks, etc.) and the story, while predictable, was enjoyable and done well. Estelle was a great main character, who I felt developed nicely over the span of two games. Really it’s a fantastic series, and one I can’t recommend enough. I’ve never been a big consumer of JRPG’s, but after playing Xenoblade and the Trails series, I definitely plan to check out more.
Game #46 - Dying Light (PS4) 11/13/2015 [30 hours]
Played through this entirely in co-op and it was really fun. I wasn’t a big fan of Dead Island, but I really enjoyed just running across town, and drop kicking zombies in the face. The co-op added a ton, as it was always a hoot. The story was a hot mess though, although I enjoyed some of the cheesy moments like Rais screaming “CRANNNEEE” or that final sequence. I was also disappointed that it forced me to do the final sequence by myself, as my friend and I had to awkwardly go our separate ways while discussing the sequence in our headsets. That being said, we both had a good time and I’m pretty sure we’ll check out the expansion this year.
Game #47 - Super Castlevania IV (WiiU) 11/21/2015 [4 hours]
My other Castlevania Halloween play through got delayed, but I still wanted to play through this, past the holiday or not! Despite being really easy, I love the presentation and varied levels and bosses of this one. It’s not very challenging but it sure is fun.
Game #48 - The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone (PS4) 11/30/2015 [12 hours]
The GOTY got even bigger with a meaty DLC quest that rivals any quest from the main game in quality. From a heist, to letting a ghost experience a wedding, Hearts of Stone was awesome. Gaunter O’Dimm was a fantastic villain, It was nice to see Shani again, and I really enjoyed the story of Olgierd Von Everec. If this one was anything to go by, the final DLC is going to be an awesome cap to one of my favorite games.
Game #49 - Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS4) 12/12/2015 [10 hours]
I’m hoping to play through all of the Uncharted games before April, so this seemed like an easy choice for the 52 game challenge. I was really impressed on the technical side, as Bluepoint did a great job bringing the first of Drakes adventures up to the level of the following two. It’s still my least favorite of the three, but a fun introduction to the cast and short enough to where it doesn't outstay its welcome.
Game #50 - The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (3DS) 12/14/2015 [25 hours]
Played through the entirety with my fiancee and friend. As someone who never got to play Four Swords, some of the levels and puzzles were really interesting and fun to figure out together. I had pretty terrible luck with materials to make costumes, and the servers seemed kind of spotty at times, but it was a good time none the less. Hopefully we’ll find some time to go through the Den of Trials they added at some point.
Game #51 - Life is Strange (PC) 12/15/2015 [22 hours]
A game with a great story that tackles some interesting topics, with a likable main character and really good soundtrack. I particularly enjoyed that it never felt like there was a right or wrong choice, as it really shined through with its message of each action having consequences. Also finding all of the photograph spots was a fun little side game, I missed a few but I enjoyed the hunt for them(GIANT SQUIRRELS). I felt like the final episode was the weakest(with the maze section particularly standing out), but it doesn't diminish the total package, which was quite the ride.
Game #52 - Tales of the Abyss (3DS) 12/15/2015 [50 hours]
The first old RPG up on the block is one of my Fiancee’s favorites. I’ve only played a few of the Tales games, but of the ones I’ve seen this would probably be my favorite. The first third of the game the main character is one of the most insufferable ones I can think of(which I suppose was the point), but I did enjoy how he and a few of the others in the cast develop over the course of the game. Playing on 3DS wasn't much of a detriment, although it felt like the inclusion of free run broke the battle system. I wish I had the time this year to see some of the other games in the series(Zestiria or Vesperia come to mind), maybe I can get around to those for the 2016 challenge.
Game #53 - Tales from the Borderlands (PS4) 12/20/2015 [12 hours]
Where Life is Strange stirred emotions dealing with often times dark situations, TftB came along with its silly, incredibly fun story that was just a joy from start to finish. I spent a lot of time in the first two Borderland games, and while I had fun with friends I wouldn't say the story was one of my favorite parts of those. Telltale took the setting and ran with it, developing enjoyable characters that really pulled you in. My fiancee went from thinking it would be dumb to essentially dropping what she was doing to watch how it unfolded. Oh and if there was an award for “best title sequences” of 2015, I feel like this would have it wrapped up. Just a phenomenal job by Telltale when I was starting to think they had lost there touch.
All in all it was a great year of games, and I'm looking forward to hopefully doing the challenge again next year. Hopefully next go around i'll make time to post updates more frequently, instead of rushing to type my thoughts over the holidays!
Game #54: Captain Toad - Treasure Tracker - Finished Ep 1-3 i.e. the campaign. I have no desire to do the Bonus episode, considering it's mostly repeat of the SM3DW levels. All in all, really fun little gem (pun not intended) but the repeating bosses were a let-down.
I'm planning on finishing Just Cause 3 tomorrow, before the clock strikes midnight.
Did it with less than 24 hours to deadline! Doubt I will finish anything tomorrow so this is my final year post.
Games 1-12
Games 13-16
Games 17-21
Games 22-26
Games 27-30
Games 31-34
Games 40-41
Games 42-44
Games 45-48
December:
Game 49: Unmechanical Extended - 18/12/2015
Interesting game with some clever puzzles but it's not anything special.
Game 50: White Night - 20/12/2015
I liked the game until the apparitions and having to fight against invisible enemies + terrible fixed camera and unresponsive controls. There is an actual good game but those parts sour the entire experience to me.
Game 51: Crysis 3 - 28/12/2015
Playing a game on a previous gen console is not easy nowadays and Crysis 3 feels so slugish because of that. You get used to at least stable 30fps that you notice right away when game stutters 50% of the time. Of course the game also didn't help. I was so bored that I had to force myself to actually finish it just like Crytek seemed to do while developing this game.
Game 52: Life is Strange - 31/12/2015
Oh boy. I thought I was leaving the best for last and I was so wrong. The game never impressed me as much as others but at least the first 3 episodes had some intrigue and the story was promising until Episode 4 happened and then Episode 5 completely destroys everything about the game. It's a complete trainwreck that I can't help but feel that the developer tried to much to create a super-smart conclusions filled with emotions that failed to realize what the rest of the game actually was. The only emotion I felt at the end was laughter at how bad they managed to conclusion. It's a shame though because in some regards they had the best character development of any game in this genre. Maybe next year?
Let's see if I can reach the goal a little earlier in 2016.
Games 1-12
Games 13-16
Games 17-21
Games 22-26
Games 27-30
Games 31-34
Games 40-41
Games 42-44
Games 45-48
December:
Game 49: Unmechanical Extended - 18/12/2015
Interesting game with some clever puzzles but it's not anything special.
Game 50: White Night - 20/12/2015
I liked the game until the apparitions and having to fight against invisible enemies + terrible fixed camera and unresponsive controls. There is an actual good game but those parts sour the entire experience to me.
Game 51: Crysis 3 - 28/12/2015
Playing a game on a previous gen console is not easy nowadays and Crysis 3 feels so slugish because of that. You get used to at least stable 30fps that you notice right away when game stutters 50% of the time. Of course the game also didn't help. I was so bored that I had to force myself to actually finish it just like Crytek seemed to do while developing this game.
Game 52: Life is Strange - 31/12/2015
Oh boy. I thought I was leaving the best for last and I was so wrong. The game never impressed me as much as others but at least the first 3 episodes had some intrigue and the story was promising until Episode 4 happened and then Episode 5 completely destroys everything about the game. It's a complete trainwreck that I can't help but feel that the developer tried to much to create a super-smart conclusions filled with emotions that failed to realize what the rest of the game actually was. The only emotion I felt at the end was laughter at how bad they managed to conclusion. It's a shame though because in some regards they had the best character development of any game in this genre. Maybe next year?
Let's see if I can reach the goal a little earlier in 2016.
iceblade997
Member
Just going to go ahead and ask - how do y'all manage to fulfill the list (hopefully) without burning yourself out and getting tired of playing stuff? After all 52 games is a lot, and I figure I'd have run out of steam long before then. Any coping strategies perhaps?
Thinking about participating for 2016 and I have a quick question. Are you allowed to beat games that you've already beaten before?
I ask because I love to speed run and even when not speed running I like to replay my favorite classic NES and SNES games quite a bit. Would they count? or can I only beat games that I've never beaten before to count against the total?
I ask because I love to speed run and even when not speed running I like to replay my favorite classic NES and SNES games quite a bit. Would they count? or can I only beat games that I've never beaten before to count against the total?
You can replay games if you like.
Make a list of interesting games coming out this year that you want to play or classics that you never got a chance to play. Make sure they're short enough to where you won't get burned out on them or games in general. I tend to play a few long games towards the end of the challenge or when I'm finished and just trying to clear the backlog, but it helps to start with shorter games (5-10 hours) first.
LiquidSolid
Member
Alright, last post of the year and a bit of a rushed one. Disappointing December but I've been sick for most of it and Yakuza 5 is an enormous game, so I've been mostly stuck on that for the last couple of weeks. Still, I managed to fit in The Walking Dead: Season 2 at the very end right before new years plans interrupt. I'm looking forward to finishing just as many games next year, though I do have plans on getting a few RPGs done, so I wouldn't be surprised if I missed the boat.
Original Post
Game #53 - Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (PSV) - 09/11/15
A weird game. One part third person shooter (with a little hack 'n slash in there) and another part visual novel. I don't think it worked that well though. I ended up liking what they did with the stories and characters (they do a really great job fleshing out Toko) but there were times when the cutscenes/dialogue dragged on and on and all I wanted to do was get back to the action. There's some real pacing issues there that I had issues with and on top of that, the gameplay is pretty mediocre too. The aiming speed is absurdly slow and you have to earn upgrades to speed it up, which seemed ridiculous to me.
Game #54 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted (PSV) - 13/11/15
Almost a year after first starting it, I finally got finished Most Wanted. From what I remember, the reason why I stopped playing it on my last two attempts was because it felt like racing on the small Vita screen was a disadvantage, but once I got into it, it wasn't too bad. If anything the billboards and barriers were more difficult, as there's no in-game checklist to figure out your progress, so you have to use some dinky maps online and try to figure out where the last few you need are. That part gets incredibly tedious.
As for the game itself, my thoughts on the game are a bit mixed. I really enjoyed Burnout Paradise but while I can't really nail the specific reasons down, I feel like Most Wanted came up short as a spiritual sequel to it. It just isn't as fun or crazy, like the Need for Speed license watered down what made Burnout Paradise so good.
Game #55 - Actual Sunlight (PSV) - 16/11/15
I was expecting something sad but man, I didn't expect it to get that cynical and depressing. It got to the point where it really turned me off.
Game #56 - Game of Thrones (PS4) - 17/11/15
Terrible. Game of Thrones writing fails to live up to the source material, with incredibly contrived plot twists and character deaths. The main characters are almost all very conveniently placed right next to the most important characters/events from the books/show. Games of Thrones design fails to give the player any agency on the story or world, with almost all choices leading to the exact same outcome. And Game of Thrones graphics fails at looking even remotely good, with a post-processing effect that heavily blurs/warps certain objects in the background to a ridiculous degree.
I haven't played Tales from the Borderlands yet but based on all their story focused adventure games I've played (TWD S1, TWAU, TWD S2 and GoT), Telltale desperately need to work on their engine, writing consistency and game design. That doesn't mean all four games are bad, I thought TWD S1 was decent and TWAU was fantastic, but even those pale in a lot of areas compared to Until Dawn and Life is Strange.
Game #57 - Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (NDS) - 22/11/15
It's been in my backlog for a couple of years and I've wanted to play it even longer than that, so I'm happy I finally made the time to go back and play it. What a great game. Great characters, great mystery story and it all wraps up together really well.
Game #58 - Last Window: The Secret of Cape West (NDS) - 25/11/15
I was originally going to have a bit of a break between Hotel Dusk and Last Window but after finishing the first game, I couldn't help but start this straight away. Not quite as good as Hotel Dusk but the writing is still great and the puzzles fun. It's really sad Cing ended up closing down because they made some really cool adventure games.
Game #59 - Assassin's Creed Rogue (PS3) - 05/12/15
I got sick of Assassin's Creed games a few years ago but when Rogue went on sale a month or two ago, I figured I'd give this one a try because at least the sailing shakes up the tediousness a bit. It still has the horribly designed missions, lame story, bad characters, pointless modern day stuff, a million pointless collectables scattered across the map, bad controls and towers galore but you don't play an Assassin's Creed game these days without expecting those. It's not great but it's passable and at least it doesn't drag on for way too long like most games in the series.
Game #60 - Tales from the Borderlands (PS4) - 07/12/15
Alright, I've played this game now and while it's no Life is Strange or Until Dawn, it is one of the best games Telltale have put out. The story is entertaining, the characters likeable and while the choices still don't really matter (as usual for Telltale), they never insult my intelligence by pretending that I've made a major decision. What a weird, inconsistent company to put out trash and a pretty good game simultaneously for the second year in a row.
Game #61 - Final Fantasy VII (PS4) - 14/12/15
Not my favourite FF but it's up there and I had a lot of fun going through it again after all these years. I'm really looking forward to the remakes.
Game #62 - Submerged (PS4) - 15/12/15
An interesting little game with unique storytelling but it got tedious pretty quickly. Climbing buildings resulting in following long, tedious and linear paths around said building and hoping you come across all the optional collectables on that building before you find the main objective. If not then you'll be backtracking a bit. I think there was potential with this game but a few parts just weren't executed or designed as well as they could've been, which is disappointing.
Game #63 - Syberia (PS3) - 21/12/15
I first played this years and years ago but never finished it, so jumped on a cheap price a couple of months ago to finally finish it. I can't say it's aged that well, with some dated voice acting, some weak looking backgrounds, janky controls and janky character movement (stop getting stuck on boundaries!), but I still think it's a decent game with an interesting story and some pretty cool puzzles.
A pity the EU PS3 version of Syberia II seems to have a trophy breaking bug. They're apparently working on a patch for ("apparently" because it's been a few months already), so I guess I'll just wait for it to come out. I should've looked this up before I bought it but I guess I wasn't very smart that day.
Game #64 - The Walking Dead: Season 2 (PSV) - 31/12/15
I bought this way back before it finished but after experiencing the horrible performance of the first season of the Vita and seeing how bad Season 2 was on PS3, it took me a while to get around to it. But on a whim, I decided to get this out of my backlog right before the end of the year and yeah... Still rubbish and the performance is fucking pathetic.
Original Post
Game #53 - Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (PSV) - 09/11/15
A weird game. One part third person shooter (with a little hack 'n slash in there) and another part visual novel. I don't think it worked that well though. I ended up liking what they did with the stories and characters (they do a really great job fleshing out Toko) but there were times when the cutscenes/dialogue dragged on and on and all I wanted to do was get back to the action. There's some real pacing issues there that I had issues with and on top of that, the gameplay is pretty mediocre too. The aiming speed is absurdly slow and you have to earn upgrades to speed it up, which seemed ridiculous to me.
Game #54 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted (PSV) - 13/11/15
Almost a year after first starting it, I finally got finished Most Wanted. From what I remember, the reason why I stopped playing it on my last two attempts was because it felt like racing on the small Vita screen was a disadvantage, but once I got into it, it wasn't too bad. If anything the billboards and barriers were more difficult, as there's no in-game checklist to figure out your progress, so you have to use some dinky maps online and try to figure out where the last few you need are. That part gets incredibly tedious.
As for the game itself, my thoughts on the game are a bit mixed. I really enjoyed Burnout Paradise but while I can't really nail the specific reasons down, I feel like Most Wanted came up short as a spiritual sequel to it. It just isn't as fun or crazy, like the Need for Speed license watered down what made Burnout Paradise so good.
Game #55 - Actual Sunlight (PSV) - 16/11/15
I was expecting something sad but man, I didn't expect it to get that cynical and depressing. It got to the point where it really turned me off.
Game #56 - Game of Thrones (PS4) - 17/11/15
Terrible. Game of Thrones writing fails to live up to the source material, with incredibly contrived plot twists and character deaths. The main characters are almost all very conveniently placed right next to the most important characters/events from the books/show. Games of Thrones design fails to give the player any agency on the story or world, with almost all choices leading to the exact same outcome. And Game of Thrones graphics fails at looking even remotely good, with a post-processing effect that heavily blurs/warps certain objects in the background to a ridiculous degree.
I haven't played Tales from the Borderlands yet but based on all their story focused adventure games I've played (TWD S1, TWAU, TWD S2 and GoT), Telltale desperately need to work on their engine, writing consistency and game design. That doesn't mean all four games are bad, I thought TWD S1 was decent and TWAU was fantastic, but even those pale in a lot of areas compared to Until Dawn and Life is Strange.
Game #57 - Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (NDS) - 22/11/15
It's been in my backlog for a couple of years and I've wanted to play it even longer than that, so I'm happy I finally made the time to go back and play it. What a great game. Great characters, great mystery story and it all wraps up together really well.
Game #58 - Last Window: The Secret of Cape West (NDS) - 25/11/15
I was originally going to have a bit of a break between Hotel Dusk and Last Window but after finishing the first game, I couldn't help but start this straight away. Not quite as good as Hotel Dusk but the writing is still great and the puzzles fun. It's really sad Cing ended up closing down because they made some really cool adventure games.
Game #59 - Assassin's Creed Rogue (PS3) - 05/12/15
I got sick of Assassin's Creed games a few years ago but when Rogue went on sale a month or two ago, I figured I'd give this one a try because at least the sailing shakes up the tediousness a bit. It still has the horribly designed missions, lame story, bad characters, pointless modern day stuff, a million pointless collectables scattered across the map, bad controls and towers galore but you don't play an Assassin's Creed game these days without expecting those. It's not great but it's passable and at least it doesn't drag on for way too long like most games in the series.
Game #60 - Tales from the Borderlands (PS4) - 07/12/15
Alright, I've played this game now and while it's no Life is Strange or Until Dawn, it is one of the best games Telltale have put out. The story is entertaining, the characters likeable and while the choices still don't really matter (as usual for Telltale), they never insult my intelligence by pretending that I've made a major decision. What a weird, inconsistent company to put out trash and a pretty good game simultaneously for the second year in a row.
Game #61 - Final Fantasy VII (PS4) - 14/12/15
Not my favourite FF but it's up there and I had a lot of fun going through it again after all these years. I'm really looking forward to the remakes.
Game #62 - Submerged (PS4) - 15/12/15
An interesting little game with unique storytelling but it got tedious pretty quickly. Climbing buildings resulting in following long, tedious and linear paths around said building and hoping you come across all the optional collectables on that building before you find the main objective. If not then you'll be backtracking a bit. I think there was potential with this game but a few parts just weren't executed or designed as well as they could've been, which is disappointing.
Game #63 - Syberia (PS3) - 21/12/15
I first played this years and years ago but never finished it, so jumped on a cheap price a couple of months ago to finally finish it. I can't say it's aged that well, with some dated voice acting, some weak looking backgrounds, janky controls and janky character movement (stop getting stuck on boundaries!), but I still think it's a decent game with an interesting story and some pretty cool puzzles.
A pity the EU PS3 version of Syberia II seems to have a trophy breaking bug. They're apparently working on a patch for ("apparently" because it's been a few months already), so I guess I'll just wait for it to come out. I should've looked this up before I bought it but I guess I wasn't very smart that day.
Game #64 - The Walking Dead: Season 2 (PSV) - 31/12/15
I bought this way back before it finished but after experiencing the horrible performance of the first season of the Vita and seeing how bad Season 2 was on PS3, it took me a while to get around to it. But on a whim, I decided to get this out of my backlog right before the end of the year and yeah... Still rubbish and the performance is fucking pathetic.
Yay I got my hall of shame picture again!
Speaking for myself I'm a serial game replayer! Nearly everything I played this year most certainly wasn't for the first time. If ya already know your way around the games your playing then the time it takes can drop drastically! Not ta mention utilizing new game+, cheats, easy modes, somewhat loose definition of "beating"... all go a long way!
chrominance
Member
I usually have a few games on the go so I don't burn out on any single game. It helps to have a good variety, not just in terms of genre but also in terms of how they work in different situations--Fallout 4 sucked all the oxygen out of the room for a solid month, and I could spend four hours straight in it, but then sometimes you just want something you can pick up and play for twenty minutes. I think this is why PC is perennially my most-played platform, because it's fantastic at accommodating both.
I also don't beat myself up over dropping games or taking time off from games in general--better to enjoy a new game rather than force yourself to finish a game you don't enjoy. Generally, stressing over doing the challenge is a great way to not finish the challenge. If you just play games and not worry so much about actually finishing, you'll have a decent shot assuming you have enough time to play. And if you don't, you probably have other interesting things going on in your life anyways so whatever!
Oh, another random tip: beat short games. It's a self-imposed challenge, so no one's going to be angry if you play a bunch of games that are three hours or less to complete. I try not to fill my entire list with those kinds of games just because a) it's a bigger challenge and b) I like playing longer games anyways, but if neither of those applies to you there's definitely no shame in it.
I play multiple games at once. Usually one game is 30+ hours while the other is closer to 10 (I almost never play long games by themselves, because it's easy to get behind schedule). Playing longer games can put you a little behind schedule, but by playing them over long periods of time you can turn it into an extra game down the road (by beating two games in the same day/week).
I try to keep something on my phone that I can beat. There are plenty of games you might not ever play if you aren't explicitly looking for something on mobile that has an ending. Of course you can also go the route of emulation. I save these mobile games for work or when I'm out somewhere where I don't want to pull out a 3DS or Vita (such as dinner with the in-laws). Again, this is a nice way to squeeze in an extra game here or there.
If you're into MP shooters, make time for MP, but not too much time. in 2014 I wasted a few months playing CoD almost exclusively (and again in 2015 with a return to FFXI). Instead of playing bottomless MP shooters with my friends, I try to play co-op games that I can count towards my tally. This year I co-oped through 4 or 5 games, which I thought was nice.
Keep a few games in your back pocket that you know are short, in case you need to make up lost ground. Every year I get behind and have to squeeze in extra games, and if it wasn't for this strategy I would never finish in time.
Lastly, I encourage people to not just use the challenge to finish new games, but also as an opportunity to tackle your backlog. Over the last couple of years I've revisited a lot of games from my childhood I might not have ever played again, if not for this excellent excuse. Likewise, I've also trimmed my backlog considerably by tackling stuff I probably never would have made time for otherwise. Not to mention that buying 52 new games could get expensive, while not buying new games means that you'll save money by buying them when they're cheaper (and maybe actually playing them when you buy them, since you won't just be buying them because they exist but rather because you want to play them).
Anyways, if you fail it's not the worst thing in the world. And as long as make some progress towards your goal (whatever that may be), then you've done something worth while.
Edit:
chrominance said:
Yeah this is great advice. It can be easy to invest 20 hours into a game only to grow tired of it and want to quit. If this happens, then just go with the feeling and find something new to play. Either you come back to it or you don't, but it's better to take the loss on the 20 hours than to force yourself to play something you hate, get burnt out, and then stop the challenge.
chrominance
Member
To illustrate this point: I spent 40 hours on Bravely Default and Rune Factory 4, and 25 hours on Valkyria Chronicles 3 without finishing any of them last year. If I'd felt bad about any of this it probably would've killed my challenge dead. Instead I beat 63 games without worrying about the games I dropped.
Ultimately I feel like the goal of the challenge is just to get you to play a bunch of fun games, nothing more, nothing less. It's not like you get bragging rights (well, at least not outside this thread) and you definitely don't get a tangible prize. You're just doing it for your own satisfaction. If you're not having fun, there's no point to the challenge!
Variation is the spice of life, I'm always mixing things up: PC to console to handheld, AAA to indie, FPS to STG, RPG to point&click, JP to US to RU to EU, re-trying genres out of my comfort zone, etc
- Status