Games Completed 2025

[Scrustle]

Did you play much online? I restarted this on Switch a few weeks back and was surprised how easy it still was to find other players, even after Wilds had been released.

I was playing on PC and I did manage to get some people to join in every so often. There weren't loads but it wasn't totally deserted. It might have something to do with what time of the day I was playing though. I think Wilds may have actually caused an increase in player numbers recently, with people wanting to go back and check out other games in the series for a variety of reasons.

[Jobobonobo]

Spoiler: show

Jan 2: Shantae: Risky’s Revenge
Jan 20: E.V.O.: Search for Eden
Jan 22: Super Smash TV
Jan 26: Demon Turf
Feb 11: Mother (Earthbound Beginnings)
Mar 15: Metroid: Samus Returns

Apr 1: Okamiden

I really liked this. Despite being a spin off/successor to the cult classic Okami and getting good critical reception at the time, this game is really under looked. I think the Celestial Brush system of Okami is a natural fit for the DS and it works really well here. Your godly paint powers are used to great effect in some smartly designed dungeons and the boss battles are quite fun to go through for the most part with Bullhead the monster catfish being a particular favourite of mine. Chiberatsu is absolutely adorable, and I would always feel awful whenever he got hit as he would let out the most pitiful whimper. Moments on the story where he is comforting a character over some misfortune melted my heart every time. For a portable title it is also quite hefty in the story department, and you do get attached to the numerous partners you have alongside you throughout the adventure.

My only real issue is that like in the original game there is a boss rush at the end but is thankfully not as long as in Okami. Really am not a fan of boss rushes, always feels like repetitive content padding. Also, the second to last boss is a real pain.

Spoiler: show

It has an attack where if it hits you, it not only damages you but also heals him. I would chip away at his damage and every time, I would fail to dodge this attack, and he would be back at full health! I tried everything and nothing seemed to work, I can’t hide in a corner or jump over it and my paint abilities had no effect. So, I was forced to look at a walkthrough and it turns out you continuously attack him while he is charging up the attack that it cancels it.

This game is for the most part pretty forgiving with difficulty and clear with what it wants you to do but this was a really irritating exception. However, once I knew what to do, he went down without too much difficulty.

Overall, Okamiden is a solid game and if you are looking for a reasonably lengthy adventure that does not overstay its welcome then this comes highly recommended. It also has me that bit more hyped for the actual Okami sequel coming out. I really can’t wait to see what a modern Okami will look like with the graphics of today seeing as the original is still an absolute beauty. If you want Okami on the go, then I would urge anyone to check this out. A real hidden gem.

[Scrustle]

08/04 - Burnout 2: Point of Impact

This game popped back up in my mind again the other day so I decided to boot it up and play a bit. Since I was starting from a save that was already part way complete and it's such a short game in general, I ended up finishing it. Still loads of fun. Pure, straightforward, simple, but excellently crafted arcade racing thrills. The driving model feels so responsive and the sense of speed is intense. Tracks are attractive and have personality to them, and the soundtrack is full of catchy earworms that set the tone really well. The crash physics remain pretty impressive and spectacular too. I didn't care much for the pursuit events that take up a significant chunk of the career in this game though, since they force you in to a bad car and rely on working around unpredictable AI. The normal races are still great though.

[Jobobonobo]

Spoiler: show

Jan 2: Shantae: Risky’s Revenge
Jan 20: E.V.O.: Search for Eden
Jan 22: Super Smash TV
Jan 26: Demon Turf
Feb 11: Mother (Earthbound Beginnings)
Mar 15: Metroid: Samus Returns
Apr 1: Okamiden

Apr 9: Warioland 4

This was my first ever Warioland title and you can tell that this is a different beast from Mario’s outings with its greater focus on item collection, puzzle solving and exploration. The added stress of speeding back to the exit once you hit the frog switch and are racing against the clock also adds an interesting twist to completing the levels. The weirdness of Warioware is very present here with the visual style and the great voice acting of Charles Martinet with many of Wario’s one-liners from later Warioware titles being present here in warbled GBA goodness. Wario’s various screams and screeches as he enters and exits a level never gets old. The visuals are also distinct from Mario leaning towards the absurdly grotesque, especially in the boss battles giving these games a slight edge aesthetically.

My only real issue I have with this game is that the throwing could be finicky and inconsistent. I would try and aim my item upwards to throw it up and oftentimes it would fly directly horizontally despite me pressing up before throwing! This made the pinball level and the cuckoo clock condor boss in particular a real exercise in frustration. But all in all, had a good time with this and the anarchic madness of Wario really shines through on this title. If you want a decent puzzle platformer for the GBA, I say give this one a go.

[markfm007]

Warioland 3 and 4 were games I played again and again as a kid, when I had fewer games to chose from. I always got on with it more than 2D Mario honestly. From what I remember it's less about precise platforming and more about navigating the level and finding things, shoulder bashing enemies, rolling down hills. 4 has a little baseball mini game I played a lot too. Just a timing thing where you time your swing to the pitch.

[Truk_Kurt]

Breakout: Recharged
I get it, you're sat there thinking "How can a brick breaker be a 10/10 game'. Well all I can say as a massive fan of the genre is that in terms of brick breakers, it is the best one I've played and it's hard to criticise it in any way. The challenge is judged perfectly, it looks great, it has fun power ups and even the paddle moves at just the right speed for my taste (unlike the recently released Breakout Beyond). I loved this game so much that I got all all the trophies in it which I haven't done with a game in years. 10/10

[Jobobonobo]

Warioland 3 and 4 were games I played again and again as a kid, when I had fewer games to chose from. I always got on with it more than 2D Mario honestly. From what I remember it's less about precise platforming and more about navigating the level and finding things, shoulder bashing enemies, rolling down hills. 4 has a little baseball mini game I played a lot too. Just a timing thing where you time your swing to the pitch.

Yeah Wario is a strange hybrid of puzzle solving using the various powerups and moves at your disposal and Sonic-like rushing through levels which is definitely distinct from Mario in many ways and in fairness makes me want to try more of this side series. I also played the baseball minigame a fair bit in Warioland 4. The minigames themselves seem like proto-microgames that would eventually go on to typify Warioware. Played those minigames a fair bit as the coins I got enabled me to buy some powerful "summons" which I used to make the final boss a lot easier. The Golden Diva can get really out of hand in the latter parts of the fight if you are not ready for her so doing those minigames really worked out for me. Also would not have gotten the good ending if not for that little trick as that fight can really drag on when you play it normally.

[Scrustle]

21/04 - No More Heroes

Revisiting another old favourite. Still great. I really like the vibe of this game. It’s kind of grungy and dingy, but with a stark, harsh high contract presentation, along with a confrontational but still quirky punk attitude to it. It’s got some interesting themes about violence and killing as entertainment, and nerd culture in general that gives the game a bit more to say and chew on beyond what it might seem like on the surface.

The gameplay may be pretty basic and janky, but it has a satisfying bite to it that makes it still fun to play, and it reflects the scrappy punk attitude of the game in general as well. I did experiment with it a little more than I usually do though, and found that there is actually a bit more to the combat systems than I originally thought. It’s not much, but there are actually some variance to the combo strings that give you a few options in how to approach opponents a bit more meaningfully than just hacking away at them. Different weapons have different move sets too, giving a slightly different experience for each.

I was playing the Switch version this time, and unfortunately it’s not a great way to play this game. While it targets 60fps, it is nowhere near consistent and wavers a lot. Performance in the overworld is pretty poor in general. It’s better in the action levels, but it is still far from stable. It also has graphical issues with transparencies, and occasionally textures on buildings fail to load in too. It’s a real shame, as this series has an association with Nintendo platforms, but they have ended up being the worst place to play these games now. I wonder if running this on the Switch 2 can fix the frame drops at least.

[Jobobonobo]

Spoiler: show

Jan 2: Shantae: Risky’s Revenge
Jan 20: E.V.O.: Search for Eden
Jan 22: Super Smash TV
Jan 26: Demon Turf
Feb 11: Mother (Earthbound Beginnings)
Mar 15: Metroid: Samus Returns
Apr 1: Okamiden
Apr 9: Warioland 4

Apr 16: Umurangi Generation

Was surprised how quickly I flew through this. The credits just appeared so abruptly and I wanted to keep on playing so I was relieved that the version I had included the Macro DLC. I will have my full thoughts on the episode thread but I loved the photography gameplay, the rebellious streak of the story and the incredible soundtrack. Umurangi is exactly the type of stuff I want to see come out of the indie scene. Something with its own voice and is unapologetic with what it wants to communicate. After this and the photography in Beyond Good and Evil, I think I am fully converted to loving photography as a mechanic in games now.

[Michiel K]

April 12: Syberia II (PC)

Played this for Cane and Rinse and my thoughts on it are now (sort of) public on their Patreon. The all access version of this podcast will be out in 4 weeks.

April 21: Unicorn Overlord (Switch)

What. A. Game. I put over 100 hours into my first playthrough of this gorgeous Ogre Battle spiritual sequel by Vanillaware. There's so much unexpected substance to this generous SRPG, that it's hard to know where to begin.
My only sort of complaint is that the game is maybe too forgiving as you can often easily correct tactical mistakes with items and the very useful Valor Skills.

But I picked Normal difficulty without reading into it, so that's on me. Reason why is that many SRPGs throw some offputting brick wall difficulty spikes or just plain nonsense in on the higher difficulties (looking at you, FE: Awakening on Hard Classic and your enemy reinforcements that can attack as soon as they spawn in on the map). But the higher difficulties in Unicorn Overlord start limiting your item use per battle, forcing you to make better use of the other myriads of mechanics, so that sounds pretty appealing.

Incidentally, I thought I was losing my mind as the ending music interpolated the chorus melody from "We Are the Champions", but apparently that was certainly intentional and another nod to Ogre Battle and its many references to legendary rock band Queen.

This game is super glue like sticky and I can't stop thinking about it. I've already jumped into the post game content and am deliberating starting a fresh run on a higher difficulty (maybe the just unlocked highest level "True Zenoiran") as we speak, so I can play a mission every now and then and get proper tactical with it, now having a pretty strong grasp on most of the systems in the game.

Big big big recommend, just mind the addiction factor.

[Truk_Kurt]

Yakuza Kiwami
You know what to expect with a Yakuza game, I good story with great characters with a nice balance between the serious and the ridiculous and a world oozing in atmosphere. All of that is very much the case here with Kiwami (even though I didn't enjoy the story quite as much as the others I have played up to now which are Judgement, Lost Judgement, Like a Dragon and Zero). However, the game also suffers from the worst bits of the franchise, primarily the difficulty spikes on bosses. Rather than press through these spikes like I have previously, I decided to just allow myself not to bother getting frustrated anymore and just lower the difficulty to easy. This allowed me to enjoy the game and story more but then the fights became too easy and lacking in any satisfaction once complete, they became more of a chore. One final minor complaint would be that I didn't think the side stories were quite as interesting compared to the afformentioned ones I have played either.
So all in all a decent game and I was pleased to see where it all started for Kiryu on PS2 and tick another entry in the series off the list.

[Alex79]

Yakuza Kiwami
You know what to expect with a Yakuza game, I good story with great characters with a nice balance between the serious and the ridiculous and a world oozing in atmosphere. All of that is very much the case here with Kiwami (even though I didn't enjoy the story quite as much as the others I have played up to now which are Judgement, Lost Judgement, Like a Dragon and Zero). However, the game also suffers from the worst bits of the franchise, primarily the difficulty spikes on bosses. Rather than press through these spikes like I have previously, I decided to just allow myself not to bother getting frustrated anymore and just lower the difficulty to easy. This allowed me to enjoy the game and story more but then the fights became too easy and lacking in any satisfaction once complete, they became more of a chore. One final minor complaint would be that I didn't think the side stories were quite as interesting compared to the afformentioned ones I have played either.
So all in all a decent game and I was pleased to see where it all started for Kiryu on PS2 and tick another entry in the series off the list.

Did you play Zero before this? I enjoyed Zero (first I played in the series) but then played this and felt it was a real come down in terms of interesting story. But then Kiwami 2 blew it out the water and remains my favourite in the series so far (I've only played 0, K1, K2 and 3 - and Judgement - so far, but hoping the 4, 5 and 6 come to Switch 2).

EDIT: Sorry, didn't read properly, you said you already played Zero.

[seansthomas]

Jan 12th - Resident Evil 2 (PS5)
Mar 5th - Nier Automata (PS5)
Mar 14th - The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Switch)

Apr 23rd - Blue Prince (PS5)

I don't think you can really complete this game, but I think I've reached a point where I'm parking it for a while.

Got to the antechamber and Room 46 around Day 20ish and then put in several more sprint runs to continue with the wider mystery, unlocking several new areas, doors and rooms. But I think at around Day 38 I'm calling time. For now.

I've largely loved my time with Blue Prince.

I think it wants you to hold multiple avenues and mysteries in your head at once, and pivot your playstyle on the fly as you realise that one of them is beginning to come to the fore. And if you do this, then every run reveals at least one new room, fragment of information or item. HOWEVER if you zero in on a single approach and go all in on that, then the random nature of the game is infuriating, and feels like you are simply hoping a bunch of rooms appear.

I largely had a good experience, due to writing down multiple tangental paths and enjoying the process.

But I definitely found that by Day 30, and certain puzzles getting more laborious and long winded, that the juice was beginning to not be worth the squeeze.

I feel on the one hand that I have plenty more to uncover here, and that I don't want to bail just yet. Equally it's been feeling like diminishing returns since I got to Room 46 and that perhaps it's time to move on. Having googled a few of the upcoming puzzles I'm part way through figuring out, it's clear that it's a long road to a relatively minor pay off.

All in all I think Blue Prince is marvelous. It doesn't quite deserve to be held alongside Outer Wilds for me personally, but it's also way more interesting and complex than your average roguelike.

[Scrustle]

28/04 - No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Although I’ve always liked this game I’ve gone back and forth over the particulars over the years. This run was still a good time, but some of the aspects that bother me did stick out particularly this time as well.

The changes to the combat has its pros and cons. It does still have that scrappy and chaotic feel like the first, with very similar mechanics, but the greater variance in the styles of beam katana you get is a big plus for this game. I really like how they have more distinct play styles from each other, and being able to switch between them on the fly as you please is great. It’s really good for experimenting and working out which one works best for different situations. The two bonus playable characters you get to control at certain points are a fun change as well. They aren’t especially fleshed out though, and only show up for a very short moment. I’m guessing those things are related. But their existence is appreciated. The boss fight design has some good highlights in there too. While not every one is a winner, many of them stand out as fun and challenging encounters which are some of the best in the series. Playing this immediately after the first game, I did notice that this game lacks the hit-stop of the predecessor, except for on a single weapon that is meant to be slow and heavy. It makes this game feel like it lacks a little bit of bite in comparison, although maybe you could say it’s a bit more fluid instead.

I really dislike the side job minigames here though. I can’t point to any core singular issue why, I just think they simply aren’t fun and were always a pain to have to engage with. While in NMH1 you didn’t actually have to engage with them much to grind for money, as you also had the assassination side missions to do, here you don’t have that option. One that I have particular disdain for is the gym minigame for upgrading your attack strength. Because of that benefit it’s hard to avoid, but for some reason they made this one minigame absurdly difficult. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to beat the final level of it.

The aesthetic is fantastic though. It feels like a slightly more stylised and refined version of what the first was going for. The muted, grainy colours with moody cel shading and a grungy vibe with a hint of noire to it. The soundtrack is awesome too, with a wide range of aggressive hard rock bangers, along with many other genre flavours mixed in there too. The lack of an open world does hurt the tone of it slightly though. Being able to explore around Santa Destroy and soak in the odd, stark atmosphere is mostly gone this time around.

The story doesn’t hit the same highs as NMH1 either. While at first it seems like it does have some stuff going on, and is trying to build on the themes of the original, it never feels like it actually makes good on that in a truly satisfying way. It introduces the idea of expanding the concept of killing as entertainment, mentioning how the success of the last game resulted in the mainstreaming and commercialisation of these ranking fights. And also bringing up how gaining fame through killing just ends up creating an endless cycle of revenge instead. But then most of the events of the story and the bosses you go up against have little to nothing to do with any of that. Many of them are introduced without much build-up or dialogue introduction, so they don’t have much of a narrative impact. It does try to bring things back around to these themes by the last few bosses, but a lot in the middle feels a bit superfluous to the plot. There’s also the subplot about Akashic Points, seemingly trying to add a supernatural spin to things. But it’s never clear what relevance they have in the grander scheme of things. I have heard that this is a part of the game that was originally much more fleshed out, but ended up getting cut back, which would explain a few things.

On a technical level though it seems this one ends up in a better spot than NMH1. Once again playing on Switch, the frame rate feels better this time around. It’s still definitely not a locked 60fps all the time, but dips are smaller and less frequent. Although considering the worst of it was in the open world previously, simply not having to deal with that in this game is probably a big part of it. On the other hand, seeing as how on the Wii this game was only 30fps, that makes for a big upgrade regardless. I didn’t come across any noticeable graphical bugs this time around, but I did get one issue where a weapon kept reappearing in the shop as if I hadn’t bought it when I already had. Not a big deal, just something to know to avoid blowing money on.

[markfm007]

Spoiler: show

January 18th - Silent Hill 2 (2001)
January 26th - Silent Hill 2 (2024)

April 29th - Metaphor: Refantazio

Can a fantasy change the world? Maybe. Can an overly long review? Probably not. But heavy is the head that spends over 100 hours in an RPG, and this game inspired me to share my thoughts on it. While it succeeds in many ways, it struggles in others that for me make it easy to like, but difficult to love.

Story/Characters
Metaphor’s story is one of its stronger points. It’s intriguing enough that I was always hooked on where it would go next. I love Louis as a villain, very bold and open in what he wants to achieve, brashly challenging other characters in an appealing way - theme music always drowning him out just a bit (pipe down back there!) The middle section of the story in particular is excellent, full of action, surprising reveals and dilemmas. It’s sincere and open hearted, and a lot of the meaning in it comes through its connection to our world through the ‘fantasy novel’. Some of my favourite moments involved characters being shown and discussing this book, and what it eventually comes to mean in the narrative as a whole.

Characters are kind of an odd one. They’re great within the context of the story. Each has their own story to tell, and their are some great emotional pay offs and memorable moments. But outside of it the game really struggles to flesh them out. The dynamics between party members feel pretty limited. Either they’re non-existent, or there’s potential that never gets off the ground. There’s also very little conflict between party members, which feels like such a missed opportunity in this game of all games. It’s harder to buy into the ‘tribes uniting’ aspect when everyone just sort of gets on so readily. The one big opportunity they have to put the cat among the pigeons here ends up falling a bit flat too.

Social/Calendar
At its worst the game has an almost overbearing niceness to it. Social links and quests in general really suffer for this. In the Persona games managing your calendar always felt like you were living an actual life, meeting different types of people. The fact that some of them were kind of dumb or weird was part of the fun. You're hanging out and things go the way they go. The schedule made sense in the context that you’re a student. In Metaphor there’s a dogged insistence that everything be meaningful, a lesson learned. The game eventually runs out of things to say and ends up repeating itself and becoming increasingly trite.

I like the characters, but I never felt like I got to properly know them as people - the warts and quirks that makes someone who they are. At times there’s an almost sterile, unnatural feeling to it, an over focus on ideas and the abstract, like being in a motivational speaking seminar, or burdened with a well meaning but over eager teacher. It’s a shame as when the characters are allowed to be a bit more natural and fun, they’re great! There are some great little touches along the way, personality in little remarks and even in battle, even a great little dalliance with a sort of romance. It just feels like a wasted opportunity and a misreading of what makes the calendar/social aspects of Persona fun.

The Gauntlet Runner journeys are a bit better in this regard. You get to hang out with the characters a bit more, do little tasks, bump into rival candidates along the way. I also love the map and journeying here. Stopping along the way at villages and interesting sights, planning out whether I want to camp out for the night or move on. Same with the little dinners you have when you’re done. I wish that the social links had just been folded into these journeys somehow, but that’s easy to say in hindsight. Similarly the planning out of routes, watching the weather etc is done so well here and feels like it could’ve been pushed further. Those are the moments where you really feel like a team going on an adventure.

Presentation
Maps and sights are all beautifully drawn here, and I love the narration of your journey. Everything feels so well made to feel like a novel, poring over old books and text. Ink blots and diagrams, manuscript fonts. Menus are as attractive as they’ve ever been. The portraits of characters are gorgeous, everything flows together so nicely. For me it’s as important to the game as good feeling guns and movement are to a shooter, and it really excels in this regard. Music is great too. Less immediately enjoyable than a Persona or Final Fantasy soundtrack, but very rich, evocative and interesting. Stands out for me were the island theme, some of the night themes, the battle themes, akademia, and the theme for the villages (A Small Helping Hand - for some reason it has the sounds of Ruby Tuesday by The Rolling Stones to me, and I'd sing it in my head every time I got there. Very pleasant!)

Gameplay/End Game Woes
I really enjoyed the gameplay here too. Archetypes are far more intuitive to me than Persona, and there’s far more engagement between roles. I loved trying to find the perfect party combination, adding the right moves to each character, the synthesis, mixing in gears and items. Things like front row/back row, overworld combat and being able to pass on your turn add lots of interesting little wrinkles. Combat is generally more challenging than Persona too, which is mostly enjoyable. Mostly.

That leads into the endgame, which is where the game sours for me. Endless dull social links, sidequests, bosses, super bosses, bosses I’ve already fought, the boss after the boss after the boss, long dungeons, grinding. The archetype system also funnels into focusing on the super archetypes here too. It’s frustrating not only in the sense that you’ll likely have to grind to make up for the archetypes you didn’t level, but also in that it feels like a slap in the face of your own choices, and the freedom you previously had. There's a weird lopsided feeling going from levelling at your leisure, to shooting through ranks just to get to other classes. You don’t have to do them of course, but it’s clearly the best course of action.

All of this lead to an ending that left me feeling flat. Both narratively and due to how long it took me to get there. It left me feeling quite sour until I reflected on the game as a whole. Midway through the game I was riding high, but by the end I felt more mixed. It’s definitely a good game on the whole, and I don’t regret playing it. It’s just hard to truly love a game when you’re final lasting feeling is “that’s that, then”.

[seansthomas]

Jan 12th - Resident Evil 2 (PS5)
Mar 5th - Nier Automata (PS5)
Mar 14th - The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Switch)
Apr 23rd - Blue Prince (PS5)

Apr 29th - Dishonored 2 (PS5)

I really loved Dishonored and it's DLC but this is an even bigger leap forward. The way you can play this game in so many different ways is incredible. And they all work.

I did an entire playthrough on Hard as Emily, relying largely on stealth, non lethal attacks and exploring less direct pathways. And it was great.

And I replayed half of the game as Corvo, levelling up my combat, brutality and becoming a one man army. And both are equally compelling and varied for entirely different reasons.

The level design is also truly lush. The visual aesthetic splendour of it is a lasting legacy to the recently departed Viktor Antonov. And behind that veneer are complex, layered and multi-avenued levels ripe for experimentation.

A vertical iisland prison you can infiltrate from the sea, coast, front door, windows or roof. A sprawling town being patrolled 24/7. A clockwork house that transforms as you move through it, like a giants Rubik's cube. A haunted house that exists between two plains you can shift between. A decadent coastal palace where you can alter the fortunes of the staff being employed there.

It's staggering stuff. The variety of Hitman in terms of replayability, but with the thrill of Metal Gear Solid or The Last of Us when a situation goes south and alters. Thinking on your feet Vs reloading your level is exhilarating.

I put 40+ hours into this and feel like I could probably play it again and experience it in a very different way. But, y'know... there's a lot of games to play...

I can totally see why many regard Dishonored 2 as a masterpiece and the high water mark of Arkane's output. It's one of the best games I've ever played.