Games Completed 2018

[duskvstweak]

Finished RAGE last week. I found the shooting mechanics to be some of the most satisfying I've experienced in a while, but it really is a strange game with a mixed identity. I just wanted to get back to the action while the game wanted me chatting and racing. And those damn textures, I had to start my game over in 64bit mode after the slowdown became too much for my brand new PC.

[Todinho]

Dangaronpa 2: Goodbye Despair(Pc)- So did you ever play a game and then thought "Man if they did THAT for the sequel it would be amazing" and then the devs go and do exactly what you wanted, well that's Danganronpa 2 for me.

Unlike the first game that starts pretty slow, the second starts really strong and hooked me straight away and it only went up from there, the cast this time around is much more interesting then the first one and the first one wasnt bad but 2 just takes it a step further, the cases were also alot more interesting and they really had fun with what they could do in that structure so there are some really cool cases this time around, which once again the cases of the first one werent bad but but the sequel just one-ups it. When it comes to the ending the first one had an amazing conclusion and thiso ne isnt far behind everything I wanted to happen happened but the game still managed to throw in a few curve balls I didnt see coming, also big props to the writing teams in creating fantastic antagonists both 1&2 have incredible antagonists that I easily put among the best I've seen in years.

They also made so very well welcome gameplay changes, especially in how you acquire skills for the trials which is way better here and also how the relationship system works, as for the mechanics in the trials It's where I think they took a step back, I mean they added more stuff but I didnt like it, they improved the basic bullet game and the summary but they also added a bunch of other bullshit that is in my opinion just makes the trials worse if you're like me and didnt like the mini games in the first place. Also I didnt really connect to the Island as a setting I much prefer the more claustrophobic high school of the first especially because you can walk around it completelly in first person while in the second you kinda of have a world map between areas, and while I think the cast of 2 is overall better then 1 I much prefer the characters that make it of the first game, but maybe that's just because everybody I maxed out before the ending ended up dying XD.

Yeah another great game and Im really glad I decided to play this series, I think 2 ends in a pretty nice place in which it doesnt really need a sequel, the first game once it ended I really wanted more but after finnishing the second Im good for awhile so I think I give some time before I jump in the third entry, if anything to give my ears a break from having to hear "Zetsubou" and "Kibou" over and over, great games but the writing can get a bit repetitive at times still highly recommend both these games.

[AndrewBrown]

02/01: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES Classic]
04/01: Oxenfree [Switch]
13/01: Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition [Switch]
14/01: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Switch]
15/01: Super Mario World [SNES Classic]
20/01: BioShock Infinite [360]

23/01: The Fall [PSN]

A bite-sized 90s-style Adventure game with a super slick Artificial Intelligence plot. You take control of a Mark-7 ARID Combat Suit whose pilot has sustained critical injuries, and must deliver him to medical care before he dies. It's basically a game built around Fallout New Vegas' Y-17 Trauma Override Harnesses, but played for philosophy rather than horror.

It does engage in at least one frustrating puzzle solution of the nonsensical variety, reaching too hard into esoterica to provide a comedic end result that stonewalls your progression forward, but most of what got me stuck was the frustrating mechanic for interacting with the environment. You need to point the player character's flashlight at an object to interact with it. Even if it's a computer. Because reasons. This meant I missed a couples items because I didn't realize they could be interacted with (a common problem in this style of Adventure game, really), and a cramped right-hand is a frequent occurrence as I hold down R1 to activate the flashlight, maneuver the flashlight with the right joystick, navigate to a flag and interact with the menu that appears with the left joystick, and activate the selection with X. All this fumbling caused me to frequently accidentally toggle to the gun, which is activated with the RB3, and you have to fire with R2 while your index finger is already busy holding down R1 to aim in the first place. Yeah, it's a mess.

I played this because the sequel is out in February, and I'm definitely interested to see how they continue to explore Artificial Intelligence in that second-of-three-parts, but I hope it has a more user-friendly interface to do it in. I was able to guess the ending to this one, but it was a guess not a deduction, so I enjoyed it anyway.

[Jobobonobo]

20/01: Horizon Zero Dawn Frozen Wilds

Finished the main story campaign on this and the vast majority of the side quests. All that is left is to rid the area of Fireclaws which will take a while to say the least. The new machines are definitely much tougher than what I have fought before and I was getting killed by machines 15 levels lower than me! But overall, fun little bit of DLC that is definitely a good reason to hop back into HZD.

[ColinAlonso]

Spoiler: show

Jan 7 - Bleed (PC)

Jan 19 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
A lot has been said about this game by people with far more experience of the open-world genre than me so I'll just make a few points.

I spent a lot of this game traveling on foot (or paragliding to be fair). Horses are available but I wanted to really take that world in. It's beautiful. Also I was afraid I might miss a visual clue to something if I was traveling at speed.

The actual acts of traversing Hyrule also feel great, but then I liked climbing everywhere, taking a look around and gliding in a direction that took my fancy. Always good.

I've seen complaints about the weapon degradation system, and yeah it annoyed me in the early game too. Later on I usually had enough weapons that it just added a bit of variety to what I used.

I loved coming across shrines with their mini puzzles but then the divine beasts felt boring.

I finished it having played for over 125 hours and completed 100 shrines. Its not all of them but I'm happy with that.

[Dante Fireseed]

4th January - X-Com 2 (PC)
6th January - Last Day of June (PC)
22nd January - What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4)

[duskvstweak]

Tomb Raider: Underworld is complete. Now that I've finished the Legend trilogy, I can check out the 2013 reboot. I'll miss classic Laura, though.

[ratsoalbion]

LARA

[duskvstweak]

LARA

I HAVE SO MANY TAGS TO CHANGE!!!

[AndrewBrown]

02/01: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES Classic]
04/01: Oxenfree [Switch]
13/01: Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition [Switch]
14/01: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Switch]
15/01: Super Mario World [SNES Classic]
20/01: BioShock Infinite [360]
23/01: The Fall [PSN]

26/01: Celeste [Switch]

I enjoyed Super Meat Boy on a mechanical level, but it was very difficult for me to get attached to that videogame. Meat Boy is a bit of carrion who stains everything red and makes disgusting noises when he runs; not much of a character going on there. So when I finished it, I was happy and felt rewarded that I had put in that effort, but I didn't find it particularly memorable. It was just another tick mark in that year. More succinctly: I enjoyed it, but I didn't have anything to say about it. Celeste seems in answer to people like me, as it's got the furious platforming of Super Meat Boy but with characters who learn and grow and a world that suggests a real place rather than just death traps to be overcome in a contrived videogame environment.

For bonus points, Celeste is also really fun. I never felt unsure about what I was supposed to be doing in most rooms, though there are a few mechanics unique to some zones which could be explained better. The challenge level of the core game isn't quite on the level of Super Meat Boy at its hardest, but a few rooms certainly kept me stuck for a while. My biggest complaint was some Lovecraftian monsters who stalk you through Chapter 5 that were extremely dogged in pursuing you and also unkillable. "Unstoppable monster who follows you from room to room" is quickly becoming one of my least favorite videogame tropes.

The inclusion of an Assist Mode that lets you trivialize some of the less newbie-friendly aspects of the genre is certainly welcome. There are also over 150 Strawberries hidden around the maps; getting them is far more challenging than anything you will be doing in the core game, and there's no reward for doing so. For reasons I cannot possibly explain, I actually really appreciate that? It's cool to show off how many you have, but if the Strawberries are beyond your skill level to reach you're not missing out on any of the story. Crystal Hearts are also hidden throughout each level, and near as I can tell it's actually impossible to reach them on a first visit; no idea what they do yet. There are also remixes of each course called "B-Mixes" you can unlock which are supposed to be downright hellish, but I haven't played any of them yet. I doubt they could do much to damage my opinion of Celeste, which is high.

[Bakers_12]

2/1 Battlefront 2 single player
2/1 Battlefront 2 Resurrection
5/1 inside iOS

26/1 Dishonored 2 Low chaos Emily playthrough

Very much the same as it’s predecessor a good game that is just missing something to make it great. Has some cool new powers when playing as Emily and does not have the steep starting difficulty of the first game when you had limited powers and items. The story is a bit of a rehash of the first and though there are still a few big names in the cast the voice acting was less memorable than in the first game.

[Alex79]

JAN - Dear Esther (PS4)

JAN - Lumino City (Android)

Beautiful little point & click / puzzle adventure, which has you navigating a gorgeous hand created city to find your grandad, whilst solving puzzles to progress. The graphical style is really interesting in that the developers actually created a lot of the city in cardboard before importing it in to the game, giving what is essentially a 2D game some awesome 3D transitions and effects. It's not free to play, but it's worth the few quid it cost.

[kintaris]

JAN - Dear Esther (PS4)

JAN - Lumino City (Android)

Beautiful little point & click / puzzle adventure, which has you navigating a gorgeous hand created city to find your grandad, whilst solving puzzles to progress. The graphical style is really interesting in that the developers actually created a lot of the city in cardboard before importing it in to the game, giving what is essentially a 2D game some awesome 3D transitions and effects. It's not free to play, but it's worth the few quid it cost.

This looks great! Between yourself and James it seems I'm never going to have much space on my Android phone

I don't know if you've already seen this floating around, but you might want to keep an eye on Trüberbrook. Currently in development with a similar handcrafted approach.

[Alex79]

Thanks, that looks really interesting, will keep an eye on it! One thing I forgot to mention with Lumino City, is that is basically features a built in walkthrough in the form of your grandfather's note book. It contains the solutions to all the puzzles, so you can be stuck for as long as you want to - or as long as your will power allows haha.

[Flabyo]

7th Jan - Mafia 3 (XBO)

29th Jan - Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (XBO)

Everything I like in my video games. One of the most fun strategy games I’ve played in years, I could happily play another dozen missions of it, was just so satisfying to play.

I hope it’s done well for them, going to be interested in whatever they do next.

[Chopper]

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun here too (PS4).

Great game, it would quite likely have been my game of the year last year, had I played it.

I did cheat a bit on the final level, which I found very difficult. I'd decided to approach it by sneaking past everyone, but then got to a point where I realised I'd have to go back and kill everyone I'd just bypassed. I didn't have the energy for that and I'd...

Spoiler: show

...noticed someone online mentioning "the 2 minute method" so I looked that up and found it was very feasible from where I was at. 30 seconds later I was done. Delighted.

I looked up the studio's previous game, thinking I'd give it a go, but by all accounts it's a mediocre platformer. Definitely interested to see what they do next.


I also blasted through Everest VR, which isn't a game but a VR experience. It is a pretty slight offering, but I was impressed despite myself. That was more due to the setting rather than anything too interesting about the presentation.

[Flabyo]

I think I know the bit you mean, and I’d already realised that was going to be required before I reached a point where it would be a lot of back tracking, so I only had two or three people left to deal with.

I tweeted that I hoped the developers did well enough to make something like it again, and one of them replied with ‘on it’. This pleases me.

[Chopper]

I think I know the bit you mean, and I’d already realised that was going to be required before I reached a point where it would be a lot of back tracking, so I only had two or three people left to deal with.

I wish I'd shown a bit more foresight, but I'd thought I could open the big gate and didn't notice it was barred till it was too late. You should look up that video I mentioned above, it's very funny.

I tweeted that I hoped the developers did well enough to make something like it again, and one of them replied with ‘on it’. This pleases me.

Happy days!

[MajorGamer]

Jan 1 - Neon Chrome (PC)
Jan 2 - Dispersio (PC)
Jan 9 - Numbus (PC)
Jan 11 - Hero Siege (PC)
Jan 14 - Castle of no Escape 2 (PC)
Jan 20 - Toy Odyssey (PC)
Jan 23 - 20XX (PC)
Jan 25 - Battle Chef Brigade (Switch)
Jan 29 - Kamiko (Switch)

The thing shall be done this year. I won't comment on all of those unless someone wants more details about one but Battle Chef Brigade is the standout by far. I've never liked Match 3 mechanics because of how much RNG dictates how well you do. Things are changed here since the orbs you get are completely under your control. It is a surprisingly fun game where you need to go out to get your ingredients and cook everything up to the judges' expectations (or not) all under a time limit. Saying that I enjoy a game where Match 3 is one of its core mechanics is something I thought I'd never say.

[Flabyo]

7th Jan - Mafia 3 (XBO)
29th Jan - Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (XBO)

31st Jan - The Room: Old Sins (iOS)

Probably a little easier than the previous instalment of the series, but less frustrating to play as they’ve cut back on the myst style ‘wander from room to room’ animations. Puzzles are just as intricate as always and definitely worth a play. Good entry point too, it’s a new story arc in the same world, so doesn’t matter if you don’t know what’s happened before.