Games Completed 2023

[Alex79]

JAN - Red Dead Redemption 2: Arthur's Story (Xbox)
JAN - The Witcher 2 (Xbox)
JAN - Ori And The Blind Forest (Switch)
JAN - Shinobi III (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Sonic Spinball (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Super Fantasy Zone - 1cc (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Death's Door (Switch)
JAN - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES on Switch)
JAN - Final Fight (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - The King Of Dragons (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - Yakuza 3 (Xbox)
FEB - Goldeneye 007 (N64 on Switch)
FEB - Starfox (SNES on Switch)
FEB - Mafia 2: Remastered (Xbox)
FEB - As Dusk Falls (Xbox)
MAR - Grand Theft Auto 3: Definitive Edition (Switch)
MAR - The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA on Switch)
MAR - Pentiment (Xbox)
APR - Resident Evil 4 (Switch)
APR - Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox)
MAY - Dishonored 2 (Xbox)
JUN - Shock Troopers (Arcade on Switch)
JUN - Dizzy The Adventurer (NES on Evercade)
JUN - World Of Goo (Android)
JUN - The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Switch)
JUN - Mega Man 2 (NES on Evercade)
JUN - The Room (Android)
JUN - Portal 2 (Switch)
JUN - Pinball FX3: Paranormal (Switch)
JUN - Pinball FX3: Earth Defense (Switch)
JUL - F1 2021: Braking Point (Xbox)
JUL - Divinity Original Sin 2 (Switch)
JUL - Borderlands: GOTY Edition (Switch)
JUL - Holedown (Android)
AUG - Sea Of Thieves: Monkey Island Chapter 1 (Xbox)
AUG - Magic & Legend: Time Knights (Evercade)
AUG - Quake (Switch)
AUG - Dragon View (SNES on Evercade)
AUG - Water Margin (Megadrive on Evercade)
AUG - Doodle World: Redrawn (Evercade)
AUG - Return To Monkey Island (Android)
AUG - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA on Switch)
SEP - The Room Two (Android)

SEP - 64th Street: A Detective Story (Arcade on Evercade)

A completely unremarkable belt-scrolling beat 'em up from Jaleco. Looks quite nice, fairly dull to play, even by genre standards.

[Rhaegyr]

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

185+ hours and I could happily keep playing it - haven't had this much fun since Breath of the Wild.

What the fuck am I supposed to play now?

10/10

[ratsoalbion]

Baldur's Gate III, obvs.

[Rhaegyr]

Waiting on the Xbox version so myself and two friends can do the whole thing in co-op like we did Original Sin 2!

I'm going for a more buffet approach at the moment - Sea of Stars, Norco, Spiritfarer, Quake 2 and Street Fighter 6 all had some play over the weekend, one should really grab me soon.

[Truk_Kurt]

Venba

I quite liked it. As others have said it’s the perfect game pass game. Wouldn’t have liked to have paid I think £15 for it though given that I finished it in just over an hour. The mild puzzles for the cooking bits were simple enough but effective, what I liked most about it was the story about being raised in western society from a different culture and the difficulties around that. Never seen a story like that presented in a game before. My only other slight complaint would be how some of the cooking bits weren’t puzzles at all, just place ingredient here which I didn’t really see the point of, especially when the rest of the cooking was slight puzzling and hence more engaging. I’d give it a 7/10

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Death's Door - Series X.
(Jan) Warhammer: Chaosbane SE - Series X.
(Feb) Evil West - Series X.
(Mar) God of War Ragnarok - PS5.
(Mar) Dead Space(2023) - Series X.
(Apr) Ben 10: Power Trip - Series X.
(Apr) Resident Evil 4(2023) - Series X.
(May) Ghostwire Tokyo - Series X.
(May) Ravenlok - Series X.
(May) Turrican - PS4.
(May) Spec Ops: The Line - Xbox 360
(July) Shadow Warrior 3 - Series X.
(July) Planet of Lana - Series X.
(July) Horizon Forbidden West - PS5.
(July) Bramble: The Mountain King - Series X.
(Aug) Halo Wars 2 - Series X.
(Aug) Remnant II - Series X.
(Aug) Halo Wars: Definitive Edition - Series X.
(Sept) Vampire Survivors(1000GS) - Series X.
(Sept) Control: Foundation/AWE dlc - Series X.

[Jobobonobo]

Spoiler: show

Jan 8: Densetsu no Stafy
Jan 10: Parodius 2: Fantastic Journey
Jan 26: Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy
Jan 28: Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius
Feb 19: Metroid Zero Mission
Feb 21: Kirby’s Dreamland
Mar 6: Yakuza 5
Mar 25: Luigi’s Mansion 2
Mar 30: Kirby’s Dreamland 2
Apr 13: New Super Mario Bros
May 1: Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time
Jun 17: Super Bomberman
Jun 24: Mother 3
Jul 12: DoReMi Fantasy: Milon’s Quest
Jul 16: Angry Birds Trilogy
Aug 3: Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
Aug 12: Gunstar Heroes
Aug 13: Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…
Aug 19: Super Bomberman 2
Aug 21: Super Bomberman 3
Aug 30: Super Castlevania IV
Sep 6: Captain Toad Treasure Tracker
Sep 14: Soul Bubbles

Sep 19: Sonic Advance
The Sonic series was a big part of my gaming diet growing up, especially the 2D ones, so I was always interested in trying out the GBA games. On the whole, it was a pretty standard Sonic game with just 6 levels with 2 acts each and a final boss so you can fly through it quite quick. But there are two things that extend your playtime. First, you have a selection of four characters which all play quite differently (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy) and secondly, the last third of the game gets quite annoying with its level design. Angel Island Act 2 and Egg Rocket in particular are full of bottomless pits, enemies placed in all the worst spots and spikes everywhere. The amount of times when I would just be running along and spikes would just shoot out of the ground was infuriating. To add insult to injury, you might be attacked by a badnik then while you recover the area you are standing in will have the spikes shoot from beneath you. This happened way too much and I got countless game over because of just those two levels. The Mega Drive games were never this obnoxious with how it placed hazards.

Knuckles and Tails’ playthrough during these levels were annoying but alleviated due to how they had more air mobility. Sonic and Amy on the other hand were a complete nightmare. There is one section in Egg Rocket (which is continuously counting down by the way) where a spring will catapult you to the left where you are meant to go over the wall and continue running left. However, you need to hit the spring at just the right speed because if you are not fast enough you will head directly into a row of spikes. Further complicating things is that there is a badnik shooting bullets down at you and another row of spikes before the spring so you can lose your momentum very easily. With Sonic in particular this section was such a pain in the arse to get through and of course there still was a fair bit more of the level afterwards so if you mess up before the next checkpoint or game over, do it again. Easily the low point of the game.

Amy was a bit easier as hitting a spring with the hammer makes her go crazy fast and she can clear to the next section easy. Her big issue was that she does not spin into a ball when jumping so she is much more vulnerable to enemies and bosses and that she has no spin dash so going up steep slopes can be especially tricky with her and you will need to be hitting big speeds before you can conquer these sections. This was again a big issue in the latter part of the game than the earlier sections. She is definitely the most unique and at time frustrating of the roster you play as.

But despite my gripes, this was an OK game. Interested to try the rest of the Advance games but for now, the Mega Drive games and Mania have nothing to worry about in terms of me putting Sonic Advance up there as one of the greats of the series. I hope the later entries in this little trilogy are less dickish with spike and enemy placement. It would have improved this game by a lot.

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Death's Door - Series X.
(Jan) Warhammer: Chaosbane SE - Series X.
(Feb) Evil West - Series X.
(Mar) God of War Ragnarok - PS5.
(Mar) Dead Space(2023) - Series X.
(Apr) Ben 10: Power Trip - Series X.
(Apr) Resident Evil 4(2023) - Series X.
(May) Ghostwire Tokyo - Series X.
(May) Ravenlok - Series X.
(May) Turrican - PS4.
(May) Spec Ops: The Line - Xbox 360
(July) Shadow Warrior 3 - Series X.
(July) Planet of Lana - Series X.
(July) Horizon Forbidden West - PS5.
(July) Bramble: The Mountain King - Series X.
(Aug) Halo Wars 2 - Series X.
(Aug) Remnant II - Series X.
(Aug) Halo Wars: Definitive Edition - Series X.
(Sept) Vampire Survivors(1000GS) - Series X.
(Sept) Control: Foundation/AWE dlc - Series X.
(Sept) Control(1000GS) - Series X.

[seansthomas]

Jan 13th - Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)
Feb 7th - Hi-fi Rush (Xbox Series S)
Feb 10th - Goldeneye (Xbox Series S / Switch)
Feb 20th - Halo: Combat Evolved / The Master Chief Collection (Xbox Series S)
Feb 25th - Bayonetta 3 (Switch)
Apr 10th - Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)
Apr 30th - Dishonored + The Knife of Dunwall / The Brigmore Witches (Xbox Series S)
May 1st - Tron Identity (Switch)
May 10th - Elden Ring: NG+ (Xbox Series S)
Aug 5th - Streets of Rage 4 (Switch)
Aug 7th - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
Sep 11th - Astrobot's Playroom (PS5)

Sep 22nd - Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye (PS5)

All this talk of space exploration in Starfield, reminded me that I had unfinished business with THE best space exploration game ever. Given there's a free PS5 upgrade from my PS4 copy of the game and the DLC was on sale, I figured... why not.

It was a pleasure to be back in this world. After a couple of loops I figured out how to pilot the ship again, as I flew past some planets that for me are genuine technological and creative marvels.

But I had a new quest. One final journey.

I won't say much about the game, bar what you can glean from the opening minutes, because the joy of this game is in figuring it out for yourself. The way I play Outer Wilds is to do as much as I can, only resorting to a guide when I feel like I either know what I need to do (but can't find a certain location again) or when I'm utterly, totally stuck.

I didn't get too totally and utterly stuck on this, though I wasn't always following the story 100%. There were a couple of moments though where I kicked myself because I hadn't clocked a tiny detail that was very important, and I'm not sure I ever would have figured it out. Where I did give in a bit easily was when the big difference between the two games came to a head; the horror.

Now really, it's no more freaky or different to the main campaign. It's largely psychological and down to the emptiness of the experience. But because of the central theme at the heart of this DLC you do spend a lot of this experience in the dark. Quite literally. And there were a few times I properly jumped out of my skin (and I do not do horror games).

I am glad I pushed past that though as the way this DLC fits into the main campaign really enriches it.

To me, this closing chapter isn't quite as good as the main game, being more of a self contained mission within a larger interconnected universe, but it goes to some very unexpected places, finds new creativity within the established framework and more than anything, just made me remember what a staggering, wonderful, ambitious, original and creative game Outer Wilds is.

I just need to wait a few lunar loops so that I can one day go back in and experience it all over afresh.

[Scrustle]

Spoiler: show

03/01 - The Last Campfire
05/01 - Splatoon 3
17/01 - Wolfenstein (2009)
22/01 - Fragments of Euclid
02/02 - Postmouse
08/02 - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (Kung Lao)
26/02 - F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
06/03 - Omensight: The Definitive Edition
09/03 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
21/03 - Forza Horizon 2 (first finale)
25/03 - Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
31/03 - Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (World Tour)
01/04 - The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
16/04 - Knights Contract
20/04 - Strider (2014)
12/05 - The Sword of Etheria
22/05 - Lost Planet 3
26/05 - Disco Elysium
12/06 - Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition
14/06 - [PROTOTYPE]
18/06 - Zeno Clash II
29/06 - The Wonderful One: After School Hero
07/07 - Dante's Inferno
12/07 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Shivering Isles
19/07 - Van Helsing
27/07 - Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
28/08 - Shadow Warrior (2013)
15/09 - Kurohyou: Like a Dragon - New Chapter

24/09 - The Forest Quartet

A very short but sweet little narrative puzzle game about a jazz band who live in the forest dealing with their mental issues as they get together to do one last show in remembrance of their departed bandmate. It has a nice moody art style, and an emphasis on creative and interesting sound design. The sounds of the things you interact with and the various different background effects have a quirky and somewhat musical feel to them. You can definitely tell that this was made by people who love to play around with sound.

The actual puzzle mechanics are very simple, and feel more like they are there to just give you something to fiddle with and keep your attention for the runtime. Usually solutions are pretty obvious, and if you just mess around with the few things you can, everything just falls in to place more or less by itself. It's relatively satisfying to see things come together, but it never feels like it's actually asking you to think about how to solve any of it.

27/09 - The Last Story

A pretty enjoyable game overall. One that I feel deserves to have a bit more prominence than its status of obscurity in the shadow of Xenoblade Chronicles. But at the same time, I can see why it might not have lit the world on fire, as it's a fairly lowkey game in comparison to the heavy hitters in the genre. That gives it something of a charm though as well.

The story is good, with some likable characters that have a good rapport with each other, and a solid plot. A lot of it is pretty familiar in terms of the themes and tropes it deals in, but it handles them well. Despite the game portraying a sense that it has a somewhat lower scope, it actually effectively juggles quite a lot of different plot threads at once, creating a deceptively complex story. But one that doesn't go overboard with the convoluted concepts either. The main plot deals with empires at war over magical resources, and how overexploitation of said resources for the sake of warmongering hurts the environment, etc. You also have a love story between the protagonist and another central character that wasn't terrible too. A bit simplistic and fairytale-esque, but that feels fitting with the tone of the game overall.

The combat grew on me a lot throughout the game too. Over time it adds more and more layers and ends up as something pretty cool. Not just the mechanics of drawing attention that show up early, but later on when positioning and building attack chains with party members become important, as well as managing the party in general with their magic spells and whatnot. It does have some weird quirks to it that make it feel rather unlike other RPGs too. There are no consumable items used in combat at all. No potions or status heal items, etc. So everything has to be done with magic. But you also have five lives in each battle, and you fully recover at the end of each fight. It's an unusual lack of permanence that is a bit odd to see in a game like this. Not that it's bad or anything. Just the way this game does things. Maybe they were trying to make it forgiving because of the perception of the Wii's audience. It's definitely not a hard game at all.

The visuals are a really nice aspect of the game as well. I already talked earlier about the character design, the colour palette, and the atmosphere of the town you spend a lot of the game in. It's a very nice game to look at for sure. Although the textures on character models, particularly clothes, can be extremely low resolution. To the point where it's hard to tell what some details are even meant to be. Before starting this up I did take a look at various fan made texture packs that exist out there, but I decided to not go with any of them to keep things somewhat authentic. I don't think the game needed them in general either, except for maybe those clothes. Yet those details are so low resolution that I can see an unofficial texture pack taking some questionable creative liberties with them.

[markfm007]

Spoiler: show

January 5th - Final Fantasy VII
January 22nd - Death's Door
January 25th - Citizen Sleeper
January 31st - Dead Space (2008)
February 5th - Dead Space 2
February 18th - Hi-Fi Rush
Feb 24th - Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
Mar 3rd - Gears of War 2
Mar 8th - Gears of War 3
April 1st - Resident Evil 4 (2023)
April 6th - Demon's Souls
April 26th - Resident Evil 4 (2005)
May 8th - Super Mario Odyssey
June 1st - Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin
August 10th - Final Fantasy XVI
September 16th - Disco Elysium: The Final Cut

September 27th - The Order: 1886

Beautiful game with a cool premise. Gameplay is very stiff and basic, mostly shaped around fitting into the cinematics. The story and characters are pretty interesting but ultimately fell flat for me. Not a bad game overall but very underwhelming considering how promising it seems at first.

[Alex79]

JAN - Red Dead Redemption 2: Arthur's Story (Xbox)
JAN - The Witcher 2 (Xbox)
JAN - Ori And The Blind Forest (Switch)
JAN - Shinobi III (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Sonic Spinball (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Super Fantasy Zone - 1cc (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Death's Door (Switch)
JAN - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES on Switch)
JAN - Final Fight (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - The King Of Dragons (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - Yakuza 3 (Xbox)
FEB - Goldeneye 007 (N64 on Switch)
FEB - Starfox (SNES on Switch)
FEB - Mafia 2: Remastered (Xbox)
FEB - As Dusk Falls (Xbox)
MAR - Grand Theft Auto 3: Definitive Edition (Switch)
MAR - The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA on Switch)
MAR - Pentiment (Xbox)
APR - Resident Evil 4 (Switch)
APR - Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox)
MAY - Dishonored 2 (Xbox)
JUN - Shock Troopers (Arcade on Switch)
JUN - Dizzy The Adventurer (NES on Evercade)
JUN - World Of Goo (Android)
JUN - The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Switch)
JUN - Mega Man 2 (NES on Evercade)
JUN - The Room (Android)
JUN - Portal 2 (Switch)
JUN - Pinball FX3: Paranormal (Switch)
JUN - Pinball FX3: Earth Defense (Switch)
JUL - F1 2021: Braking Point (Xbox)
JUL - Divinity Original Sin 2 (Switch)
JUL - Borderlands: GOTY Edition (Switch)
JUL - Holedown (Android)
AUG - Sea Of Thieves: Monkey Island Chapter 1 (Xbox)
AUG - Magic & Legend: Time Knights (Evercade)
AUG - Quake (Switch)
AUG - Dragon View (SNES on Evercade)
AUG - Water Margin (Megadrive on Evercade)
AUG - Doodle World: Redrawn (Evercade)
AUG - Return To Monkey Island (Android)
AUG - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA on Switch)
SEP - The Room Two (Android)
SEP - 64th Street: A Detective Story (Arcade on Evercade)

SEP - WarioWare Inc. Mega Microgame$ (GBA on Switch)

It's WarioWare. It's great. WarioWare is always great. Shame the pointless and irritating cut scenes aren't skippable, but I guess you can't have everything. WarioWare though. Always a good time. Would be good to have a show on the series. I do think it would be the perfect candidate for one of the Nintendo online 99 games too. WarioWare battle royale? Yes!

[Alex79]

JAN - Red Dead Redemption 2: Arthur's Story (Xbox)
JAN - The Witcher 2 (Xbox)
JAN - Ori And The Blind Forest (Switch)
JAN - Shinobi III (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Sonic Spinball (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Super Fantasy Zone - 1cc (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Death's Door (Switch)
JAN - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES on Switch)
JAN - Final Fight (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - The King Of Dragons (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - Yakuza 3 (Xbox)
FEB - Goldeneye 007 (N64 on Switch)
FEB - Starfox (SNES on Switch)
FEB - Mafia 2: Remastered (Xbox)
FEB - As Dusk Falls (Xbox)
MAR - Grand Theft Auto 3: Definitive Edition (Switch)
MAR - The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA on Switch)
MAR - Pentiment (Xbox)
APR - Resident Evil 4 (Switch)
APR - Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox)
MAY - Dishonored 2 (Xbox)
JUN - Shock Troopers (Arcade on Switch)
JUN - Dizzy The Adventurer (NES on Evercade)
JUN - World Of Goo (Android)
JUN - The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Switch)
JUN - Mega Man 2 (NES on Evercade)
JUN - The Room (Android)
JUN - Portal 2 (Switch)
JUN - Pinball FX3: Paranormal (Switch)
JUN - Pinball FX3: Earth Defense (Switch)
JUL - F1 2021: Braking Point (Xbox)
JUL - Divinity Original Sin 2 (Switch)
JUL - Borderlands: GOTY Edition (Switch)
JUL - Holedown (Android)
AUG - Sea Of Thieves: Monkey Island Chapter 1 (Xbox)
AUG - Magic & Legend: Time Knights (Evercade)
AUG - Quake (Switch)
AUG - Dragon View (SNES on Evercade)
AUG - Water Margin (Megadrive on Evercade)
AUG - Doodle World: Redrawn (Evercade)
AUG - Return To Monkey Island (Android)
AUG - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA on Switch)
SEP - The Room Two (Android)
SEP - 64th Street: A Detective Story (Arcade on Evercade)
SEP - WarioWare Inc. (GBA on Switch)

SEP - The Room Three (Android)

The Room games are pretty good. I started a re-playthrough of the series a couple of months ago with the intention of finishing the final game (the fourth one) this time since I didn't when I played it last time, but to be honest I think I've had my fill of puzzle box games for a while now so might come back to it in a few months. Besides, Storyteller just released for Android via Netflix games so will give that a try on tablet.

[Angry_Kurt]

Call of Duty Vanguard finished
Not my favourite Call of Duty campaign ever. Graphically it was stunning and the core gameplay is fun, but there weren’t any stand out missions that I’ll remember like there has been in the 2 most recent modern warfare campaigns and the story didn’t grab me either so ended up skipping the cut scenes. I must give a shout out to the WW2 guns though which were incredibly visceral to use with great sound design. 6/10

In terms of the 3 COD studios campaigns I would say that my favourites have been by infinity Ward, then sledgehammer and then Treyarch

[seansthomas]

Spoiler: show

03/01 - The Last Campfire
05/01 - Splatoon 3
17/01 - Wolfenstein (2009)
22/01 - Fragments of Euclid
02/02 - Postmouse
08/02 - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (Kung Lao)
26/02 - F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
06/03 - Omensight: The Definitive Edition
09/03 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
21/03 - Forza Horizon 2 (first finale)
25/03 - Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
31/03 - Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (World Tour)
01/04 - The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
16/04 - Knights Contract
20/04 - Strider (2014)
12/05 - The Sword of Etheria
22/05 - Lost Planet 3
26/05 - Disco Elysium
12/06 - Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition
14/06 - [PROTOTYPE]
18/06 - Zeno Clash II
29/06 - The Wonderful One: After School Hero
07/07 - Dante's Inferno
12/07 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Shivering Isles
19/07 - Van Helsing
27/07 - Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
28/08 - Shadow Warrior (2013)
15/09 - Kurohyou: Like a Dragon - New Chapter

24/09 - The Forest Quartet

A very short but sweet little narrative puzzle game about a jazz band who live in the forest dealing with their mental issues as they get together to do one last show in remembrance of their departed bandmate. It has a nice moody art style, and an emphasis on creative and interesting sound design. The sounds of the things you interact with and the various different background effects have a quirky and somewhat musical feel to them. You can definitely tell that this was made by people who love to play around with sound.

The actual puzzle mechanics are very simple, and feel more like they are there to just give you something to fiddle with and keep your attention for the runtime. Usually solutions are pretty obvious, and if you just mess around with the few things you can, everything just falls in to place more or less by itself. It's relatively satisfying to see things come together, but it never feels like it's actually asking you to think about how to solve any of it.

27/09 - The Last Story

A pretty enjoyable game overall. One that I feel deserves to have a bit more prominence than its status of obscurity in the shadow of Xenoblade Chronicles. But at the same time, I can see why it might not have lit the world on fire, as it's a fairly lowkey game in comparison to the heavy hitters in the genre. That gives it something of a charm though as well.

The story is good, with some likable characters that have a good rapport with each other, and a solid plot. A lot of it is pretty familiar in terms of the themes and tropes it deals in, but it handles them well. Despite the game portraying a sense that it has a somewhat lower scope, it actually effectively juggles quite a lot of different plot threads at once, creating a deceptively complex story. But one that doesn't go overboard with the convoluted concepts either. The main plot deals with empires at war over magical resources, and how overexploitation of said resources for the sake of warmongering hurts the environment, etc. You also have a love story between the protagonist and another central character that wasn't terrible too. A bit simplistic and fairytale-esque, but that feels fitting with the tone of the game overall.

The combat grew on me a lot throughout the game too. Over time it adds more and more layers and ends up as something pretty cool. Not just the mechanics of drawing attention that show up early, but later on when positioning and building attack chains with party members become important, as well as managing the party in general with their magic spells and whatnot. It does have some weird quirks to it that make it feel rather unlike other RPGs too. There are no consumable items used in combat at all. No potions or status heal items, etc. So everything has to be done with magic. But you also have five lives in each battle, and you fully recover at the end of each fight. It's an unusual lack of permanence that is a bit odd to see in a game like this. Not that it's bad or anything. Just the way this game does things. Maybe they were trying to make it forgiving because of the perception of the Wii's audience. It's definitely not a hard game at all.

The visuals are a really nice aspect of the game as well. I already talked earlier about the character design, the colour palette, and the atmosphere of the town you spend a lot of the game in. It's a very nice game to look at for sure. Although the textures on character models, particularly clothes, can be extremely low resolution. To the point where it's hard to tell what some details are even meant to be. Before starting this up I did take a look at various fan made texture packs that exist out there, but I decided to not go with any of them to keep things somewhat authentic. I don't think the game needed them in general either, except for maybe those clothes. Yet those details are so low resolution that I can see an unofficial texture pack taking some questionable creative liberties with them.

Glad to see someone else play The Last Story. I really liked that game. Not often a Japanese RPG has the bravery to clock in under 40 hrs. I loved how when the story unfolded, you just moved wholesale to smaller, one off locations too as the game progressed via a narrated title card. Felt very unique.

[seansthomas]

Jan 13th - Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)
Feb 7th - Hi-fi Rush (Xbox Series S)
Feb 10th - Goldeneye (Xbox Series S / Switch)
Feb 20th - Halo: Combat Evolved / The Master Chief Collection (Xbox Series S)
Feb 25th - Bayonetta 3 (Switch)
Apr 10th - Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)
Apr 30th - Dishonored + The Knife of Dunwall / The Brigmore Witches (Xbox Series S)
May 1st - Tron Identity (Switch)
May 10th - Elden Ring: NG+ (Xbox Series S)
Aug 5th - Streets of Rage 4 (Switch)
Aug 7th - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
Sep 11th - Astrobot's Playroom (PS5)
Sep 22nd - Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye (PS5)

Sep 30th - Cocoon (Xbox Series S)

I'd been watching this one for a while, after a great EDGE preview and when I learned it was from the lead designer on Limbo / Inside.

And it was worth the wait. An absolutely brilliant, mind-melting, incredibly original puzzler that I'd put up there with Portal, Journey and Monument Valley.

I won't say much about it, as it's a great 6 hour experience best enjoyed with no spoilers, but the premise revolves around coloured orbs and the different abilities they have.

The wonder of the game is in how these skills stack and interconnect. There were puzzles I figured out by accident, puzzles I planned meticulously for and several that made my jaw drop. It reminded me of Portal in terms of gameplay because of this, and because of how slick and tight an experience it is; that it's all controlled using one button is a miracle of reductive design.

Because it is so brilliantly thought through, and you can feel the quality that's gone into the playtesting, I never felt tempted to reach for a guide, and played around to solve every puzzle myself. The minimal sound design also alters when you are onto something, all of which combines to be highly rewarding.

It's a joy to move around too. Your character walks at the perfect speed. The time based puzzles are perfectly paced. The one off game mechanics thrown in at boss stages, a la Mario Galaxy, are so intuitive that you pick them up instantly. I can only imagine the amount of playtesting and refinement this game underwent.

I had very few gripes. The art style is largely gorgeous, but there were a couple of places where a creature design felt out of place or the aesthetic felt a bit too derivative of Journey / Monument Valley when the camera zoomed out. And there's a mechanic in the game about 2/3s through that I wasn't into quite so much as all the others, but thankfully it's short lived.

But overall, Cocoon is an utter triumph. Of design, ideas, puzzles and experience. I'd be surprised if it's not my Game of the Year.

[Alex79]

I feel like this sort of came out of nowhere, didn't we get a first look at it only a couple of months ago? I really enjoyed Limbo and Inside (although I'm still torn over the ending of the latter - brilliant or terrible, not sure!) and looking forward to playing this as soon as I renew my Gamepass (waiting for Forza).

[seansthomas]

Dunno? I feel like it's been on my radar a little while now but I could be wrong. Well worth a play though when you do renew!

[seansthomas]

Jan 13th - Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)
Feb 7th - Hi-fi Rush (Xbox Series S)
Feb 10th - Goldeneye (Xbox Series S / Switch)
Feb 20th - Halo: Combat Evolved / The Master Chief Collection (Xbox Series S)
Feb 25th - Bayonetta 3 (Switch)
Apr 10th - Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)
Apr 30th - Dishonored + The Knife of Dunwall / The Brigmore Witches (Xbox Series S)
May 1st - Tron Identity (Switch)
May 10th - Elden Ring: NG+ (Xbox Series S)
Aug 5th - Streets of Rage 4 (Switch)
Aug 7th - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
Sep 11th - Astrobot's Playroom (PS5)
Sep 22nd - Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye (PS5)
Sep 30th - Cocoon (Xbox Series S)

Oct 1st - Dordogne (Xbox Series S)

Sweet little indie game about a young woman clearing out her recently deceased grandmother's house, and trying to piece together their relationship.

It's set in rural France and the star of the show is the art style. The watercolour sketchbook aesthetic and pop-up book effect is pretty lush, and highly original. Taking photos and filling in the journal is really well done.

Gameplay wise it's pretty rudimentary. Simple little drag and drop tasks to kick off the next cut scene or simple acts of navigation to get from A to B.

Where once an indie game like this would have been groundbreaking, in 2023 it feels more like a nicely told tale that the act of playing somewhat interrupts. But you can tell there's a personal story within the coding and the resolution makes it worth seeing it through, if the opening hour intrigues.

[Truk_Kurt]

Dunno? I feel like it's been on my radar a little while now but I could be wrong. Well worth a play though when you do renew!

I'm playing this at the moment too and yeah, it's absolutely brilliant.