Now I will review 71 games I completed in 2022 (2023)

So 2022. What a year, right? I did some research: I found that since 2015 when I started tracking deals until now my average has been 57-58 games a year. If we take away the meager 33 finals from 2015, we jump to 63 games a year.

This year we're done and I'd rather 'finish' than 'win' because not every game can or should be 'won', implying that it was some kind of challenge - a pretty decent number! That's right, that's it... SIT DOWN AND FOUR GAMES!

Every year I find that the games I've played have a certain theme, but only in hindsight. It's never planned. This year? Hmm... well I would say... there were a lot of games I didn't play.Love? It's been a tough year, really tough. Death in the family, PTSD stuff, it's just been... a really tough year, which means I haven't played as many games as I was hoping.

So dumb: Computer part failures, health complications, and other things threw everything into shape.more difficult. Suffice it to say, definitely one of the most difficult years of my life so far. The 3 worst without a doubt. So that sucks.

In January I said that the games I wanted to finish were...well, let's see.

What am I waiting for in 2022? Good…

mortal
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Bloodlines of Vampire, the Masquerade
Last fantasy 9
Last fantasy 12
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
primer metroid
Shin Megami Tensei: Noturno
digital devil saga
God of War 2 (no Ragnarok, literally the original God of War 2 for PS2)
persona 4 gold
the dragon's belief
Dark Souls 1, 2 and 3
13 guards
sleeping dogs

I still have to learn from these games...

mortal
Last fantasy 9
Last fantasy 12
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
digital devil saga
god of war 2
persona 4 gold
the dragon's belief
Dark Souls 1, 2 and 3
Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna: The Golden Land
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Persona 3-Laptop

However, in the case of Final Fantasy 9, I lost my saved games.miI decided to play Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger first and put that aside. You could say I played 6 and Chrono Trigger instead of 9 and 12. KOTOR I broadcast with my friend Cory, the voice of Bill on Adios, and timing our time can be difficult! Instead of Digital Devil Saga, I chose Soul Hackers and Soul Hackers 2, two games for the price of one. The Dark Souls games were offline from February, where we made great progress, until the end of November? The other... well, I kept finishing other games that I had on my backlog, usually games that felt shorter, or games I started a long time ago, like Fire Emblem: Three Houses. It was certainly a year of recovery.

Unfortunately Dark Souls is currently having an issue where my friend Sean who was so kind as helping me through Demon's Souls and Bloodborne is unable to connect to our other friend Cameron and I. After weeks of trying we finally moved to Dark Souls 2, but it's December and I had 55 games done so I wanted to work hard to get more games off the backlog first.

Different people end the games in different ways. My personal preference is to try as many worlds as possible, as many game modes. As someone who wants to be knowledgeable about the medium to understand it and be able to emulate the way a great chef understands all sorts of techniques right down to the chemistry of the food they are cooking and going through a lot of games is where i think the joy is. I know other people who play them for other reasons: like to dominate, or because they have a subscription, or because they want to relax, or because they love competition, or whatever.

What I like is stepping into a world, finding a story and living it. I like a lot of other things too, but on a simple, gentle level, I think what appeals to me most about gaming was and always will be the ability to lose myself in another world for a while. I think competitive games and MMOs don't allow that. Final Fantasy XIV and Guild Wars 2, with all their chat regions and hotbars, keep me at bay in a way other games really don't. The same goes for competitive shooters or fighting games.

They don't do much for me emotionally; if they do it for you, that's great! We are different people, of course we have different relationships to things. A key skill of being a great critic is recognizing that not everyone works the same way, and I try to keep that in mind as I work.

If you think my work has value and would like to help me financially, that would be great because disability is expensive in America. I'm posting all this for free because I used to live in poverty and couldn't survive without government help; I know what it's like to not have resources that other people have in abundance. I don't think people should be denied access to educational materials like this just because they are poor. I hope that those of you who can support will be willing to help not only me but also people who may not have much access to other game design materials. If you can help and believe in this goal of providing access to people in need, you can help me to continue writing here:

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If you want to read my other summaries go here:

• 2016
• 2017 (apparently unwritten?)
• 2018
• 2019
• 2020
• 2021

As always, they are in the order I completed them. They are not classified.

1. Monster attack on Friday(3ds)

I can't remember why I decided to play Attack of the Friday Monsters other than a great desire to find an idyllic small town game about being a kid when the world seemed big and promising. Attack of the Friday Monsters offers a lot of them.

And alsofabulous, albeit only on a 240px screen as it has pre-rendered backgrounds. The whole city is staged so lovingly that one easily has the feeling that the artists have been transported back to their own childhood.

The story seems simple at first; You're a kid, and there were kaiju... but obviously the kaiju are just kids pretending about the nearby film studio, right?

INCORRECT.

ULTRAMAN IS REAL. HE IS STRONG. AND HE IS MY FRIEND.

2.Voice of the Cards: The island dragon roars(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Many people liked Hideo Kojima because of the tricks in his games. When he wrote a game with real substance, Metal Gear Solid V, a lot of people were pissed that there weren't any real cheats (they also complained that it didn't have enough cutscenes, even though it's a big open-world game, ie for Of course there will be a different ratio of scenes and gameplay).

Yoko Taro is the same. Lots of people love it and point out the cheats why. But if he goes out and writes a great little tragedy, and he's an author ofGreatTragedy - people don't pay that much attention to it.

Voice of Cards is the dumbest, not exactly a card game I've ever played.

Of course you have tickets. The world is the letters. The battles you play are card games... right?

INCORRECT.

It's actually a traditional JRPG pretending to be a card game!

Because? What does a deck of cards do? That's easy:A card game is a game in which a player draws a hand of cards from a shuffled deck and then uses the cards in his hand as the primary method of play.

In Voice of Cards you have spells that equip your characters. Yes, they are turned over and shuffled, but each card represents a character, each character has a turn to attack enemy units (which are also cards). You don't draw cards from a shuffled deck or randomly play your hand.

That's allaesthetics.

But it's really cool and really cute, and the story really is just as funny, just as surprising, and obviously a product of Yoko Taro's masterfully tragic writing, as you'd expect. I loved it. What a wonderful experience!

3.turning circle 6(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

I loved Tropico 3. I loved Tropico 4 even more. I didn't like Tropico 5 that much: I thought it wasn't fun having to hop between multiple islands.

turning circle 6? Not so good. Had major economic pace issues causing the game to feel lackingThegreat for gaming; it was easy to fall into an economic trap you couldn't get out of. The game just needed more polish. Or maybe I'm just tired of Tropico.

Either way, it's not a game I would recommend.

4.Jurassic World Evolution 2(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Early on, I heard many complaints that the game was too short, and indeed, if you missed the entire second campaign, it was too short. But again,There is a second campaign, where each mission is based on the various Jurassic Park movies, so there are, I don't know, five or six of them?

I'm not sure I loved Jurassic World Evolution 2 despite its length.

The big big problem in the last game was that all the islands had the same basic and basic objectives. You want to complete X number of tasks for Y factions, and each faction, from what I recall, had the same basic types of objectives that you pursued in the same basic order. In other words, it became predictable very quickly, and the only interesting creases came when a dinosaur appeared, which is more frustrating than onelustigwrinkles you know

The sequel is a bit more varied, the maps are different and have a lot more variety, and I found that the final mission of destroying the biggest park of them all had something poignant about it, but I couldn't help but feel that the game still needs something more to grab reallywork. It's not a bad game, but it's a game I got tired of quickly.

A good city builder is a bit like a garden; You will find a certain level of zen when you play. I think in the last few years more city builders started to put more pressure on the characters so they got into one of the big city builder problems.

These problems are usually the following:

1. It's too easy to make a decision that hurts so many hours later that you could finish two or three more full games before you realize it.I'm currently playing Ixion and I'm having a problem because there are too many resources in one place, so I can't demolish a building to make more space to build another building to keep my economy running. Everything has stopped. It's endemic to any kind of cheap engine game; The whole genre revolves around how to set up a machine. If you have a problem with a lower level of your economy, over time you will find that it is interfering with yoursthe whole economy. Luckily it wasn't that bad in JWE2, but I ran into it a few times.
2. Is it possible to reach a state of super stability where you really can't fail and just sit back without interacting with the game while your income skyrockets?. This is the original Great City Builder problem I identified a while back. I'm sure other people do it too, that's what I always called it lol. If you have a different name please let me know. However, if you see me mentioning it, that's what I mean. I can't say I experienced much of that in Jurassic World Evolution 2, luckily!
3. Then there's the problem with Jurassic World Evolution 2: it's easy to get used to it and find that the game doesn't really work.changethereafter.The game is no longer dynamic and the options are no longer interesting.. In the case of Jurassic World Evolution 2, once you understand how things are going to work, the game becomes something of a grind. Place buildings in the best spots to maximize profitability and go from there. As well as some dinosaurs escaping (which I find catastrophic because people, you know, are dying, and we run a theme park with animal care facilities, so I don't really like them, same way getting stuck in a stealth game feels like failure , even if it isn't one).

It's not so much that Jurassic World Evolution 2 was bad: I think I liked the overall persistence of progression from Evolution to Evolution 2 because I ended up doing a lot of the same basic tasks over and over again. I didn't think that much about the room and make it work well, I don't know, I was just waiting for the dinosaurs to come out of their cages and bother me.

5.primer metroid(Wii) (Gamecube version with a Gamecube controller)

i wrote aboutprimer metroidHere. The bottom line is: I'd love to make a game like this, but I think the controls spoil the experience too much. For me in particular, holding down triggers on the Gamecube caused a lot of physical pain thanks to my specific chronic pain issues.

6.Pokemon Diamond(repeat) (change)

I don't remember anything about this game that should tell you much. I definitely won. I found notes of myself saying I won... but damn if I can't remember anything. I think out of all the great Pokemon games I've played, Diamond is probably the worst. I literally remember Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness more, or whatever it's called. I remember Pokemon Shuffle more.

I didn't hate it, I just don't remember anything other than the ongoing disappointment.

7.13 guards(PS5)

I never really say "I have a game of the year" but I do.drugI have a game of the year. 13 Sentinels may have come out in 2019, but remember, this list is what I'm talking about.completeNot when it came out.

So... 13 Sentinels... hmm, where do I start. Generally, I write everything I want about games on these lists and try to get to the bottom of itbecause i like the game, but you haveso many reasonslike 13 guards!

At a higher level, it's an intriguing premise rich in excellent character writing; With the storyline alone they probably could have made a good game - the pace of the wild twists is once every twenty minutes and I'm not exaggerating and they are endlessly entertaining. But beyond that, they've chosen compelling characters, and the character writing really manages to pull us in. It's always a good time. I can't remember a single post (some of the puzzles were challenging, I wasn't entirely sure what the game wanted from me, but I really mean "some", literally two).

This isn't really a genre I love, I have a hard time enjoying or paying attention to 2D games, but the great writing and the way you interact with the space and characters wasso good. Combining ideas to understand things, figuring out how to interact with the environment to get specific answers, discovering a talking cat... it's all very inspiring.

And then - then!!! - You created a brilliant little strategy game and then tied all game progress to all other systems and characters; You start doing something else. In terms of pacing, this is one of the best video games ever made.

buy now

8.I don't think I've run this route before(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

A cool little PS1 style horror game! To verify.

9.antique ring(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

when I wrote about itDark Souls and DisabilityI've gotten a lot of shit from people who said, "Because your body isn't working, you can't be happy. you should stay outside As Kate Bush said, if I could make a deal with God, I'd get him to switch places, maybe then they'd change their tune.

That isdifficultPlaying Souls games without reducing the physical stress on my body. Elden Ring solves this problem with A) the series' most reliable co-op implementation to date, and B) a level design that makes chilling so much easier.

If pre-Elden Ring Souls games were basically about walking into a room andSoCombat discovery in Elden Ring is usually about exploring a location and deciding whether or not you want to participate. While all Souls games have supported many builds and styles, the level design in Elden Ring allows for much more room for spatial interaction.

The show was always about a kind of desire: you see a place and your brain starts thinking about how to get there. But here, now, with many, many more cards up for grabs, the desire, the goal setting, is much more appealing.

Elden Ring is worth a worldresearcher, and as a player who prefers exploration to combat in the Souls series, this is easily the game world I've enjoyed the most.

This is a world that's exciting, alluring, mysterious, and so satisfying when you can figure out how things fit together.

(TogetherThat carriage I had to fall into!)

10Ghostwire Tokio(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

What a cool, unique and extremely weird game.

Ghostwire Tokyo is apparently an open world sandbox game making open world sandbox games. It's a first-person shooter, so you might be inclined to say, "Oh, so it's like Far Cry 6 or something?"

Uh... no... not really. You are in a Tokyo where there are almost nonePeople,mostly just ghosts, yokai and talking cats. Combine the modernity of Tokyo with the mythology of Japanese culture, add some aesthetics from early J-horror films like Ringu, Ju-On or Dark Water and you have an immersive game.

Many of the Yokai you encounter are friendly. others aregruesome. There's a ghost parade that parades through town that's just as spookyCrap.It's an open world that feels a little richer, more innovative, and more interesting than a typical first-person open-world game like Far Cry, but it also feels like it's doing a lot more with a lot less, on a way that works for me...difficult. articulate understand

This version of Tokyo, although deserted, looks more realistic and inhabited than any version of a larger city I've ever seen.Alwaysplayed in a game.

Combat takes a while to feel right - the leveling system tends to put combat where it belongs.shouldBe there all the time instead of making you feel like you're particularly competent, but when it happens, it really does. Apparently they've fixed the annoying yokai screams so they're a lot less annoying as well, which is great.

Really fun time, super unique.

11tiny metal(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

I enjoyed the game and its aesthetic; Apparently it was originally much shorter and they updated it with some extra quests which... I personally think it's a little overkill. Tiny Metal needed about 5 fewer missions to be perfect, but I had a lot of fun.

I like Intelligent Systems' strategy game design style, but Tiny Metal's mechanics aren't rich enough to sustain the full duration. A fun time, at least for a while, I recommend it if you fancy a game of tactics.

I think one of my biggest complaints about this game is a complaint I have with many tactics games: Taking turns getting from point A to point B when not in combat seems a bit boring. I'm just... on the move. That's all I do It's not very funny. At the same time... it's good to have some time between fights. Mutant Year Zero allows you to go in real time whenNOin battle; I would love to see more games that do something like this.

12Opening table work(PC (Dampfabdeckung))

This was a cute little tech demo for the Steam Deck; It shows various features and works a bit like a tutorial on how to use it. It has a funny Portal style humor. I wish Valve would take this stuff and actually make some real single player games instead of just little tech demos like this and the VR I forgot the name of.

13XCOM: Chimera Squad(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

In my opinion this is the worst XCOM game. It's getting even quicker to be a board game instead of getting away from it, a problem that started in XCOM 2. The game still feels like it cheats a bit, and seems like it wants toveryso you play a certain way that you're willing to ruin your fun to get there.

While I like the occasional initiative-based combat system (where units rotate based on a stat like initiative or speed) because I like systems that let you think about and control the economy of turns, XCOM was always best when rounds are team-based (meaning you take turns with your opponent and do whatever you want with the whole team first).

Also... I didn't like the writing on itsomehow. He's trying too hard to be cute.

14Call of Duty: Avantgarde(xx)

I don't really remember Vanguard. It was fun, as Call of Duty (not Treyarch) campaigns always are, thanks to a bunch of really great encounters, even if the story and characters were bloody awful. I thinkAs a matter of factdamn terrible. As bad as all Black Ops? Not quite. But man, way closer than Infinity War.

It's Call of Duty. If you've played one of these, you probably have a pretty good idea of ​​what it's going to be like. I got some free Xbox Rewards points and I would say they were free Xbox Rewards points well spent.

Call of Duty is like the Diet Coke of the gaming world. You know what you're getting, but it probably isn't your favorite and it won't blow your mind like Titanfall 2 (the Baja Blast Zero of first-person shooters, aka the best).

15.Vampire: Die Masquerade: Blutlinien(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

They say that every time you mention Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines someone has to reinstall it. With the fan patch to make the game work on modern systems, I thought... one of the best games I've ever played. If 13 Sentinels wasn't Game of the Year, Vampire: The Masquerade would have been.

To me, the best games immerse you in a world that immerses you and feels alive, regardless of you.

I don't really like vampires as a fictional concept; They're not a selling point for me, but they're not a disadvantage either. I don't usually enjoy the fantasy of attacking innocent people as much as bigger and stronger things. I would definitely be a lot happier playing Hunter: The Reckoning stylized as Vampire: The Masquerade than playing as a vampire, but still, what a great game. Impeccable mood, fantastic soundtrack, rich and fascinating world.

But there is something... more.

For a long time I had this dream of a game with different and discreet locations. You can see this in my essay on horror games, which is about the fictional game Zero World. It's heavily inspired by the signature locations of STALKER and Deus Ex. Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines is another game that does just that; is very good. I love games that have a series of mini-sandboxes that you can jump into freely. I don't know why, I just do it.

I'm done with the dynamite. My Malkavian had a great time and so did I.

sixteen.Stealth-König(360)

Sneak King is a cute little game that you could get for free in the early days of the Xbox 360 (just like Big Bumpin and PocketBike Racer). They accomplish this by having something like this... I think four or five world maps that have tons of different types of quests. After completing a certain number of quests, you can move on.

It's stupid! Use the Burger King mascot! It was a fun little game; I broadcast for what it wasbasicallyCompletion (there were a few extra missions I could have played for 100% completion, but rarely 100% in games).

17Crossfire X(xx)

This is the worst Remedy game.

I've played all but two Remedy games (Death Rally and Agents of Storm; neither are typical "Remedy" games, and Agents of Storm is for iOS so I never had a chance) and I feel pretty confident about that .

Not that this is Remedy's first first-person shooter - the combat is great, the gameplay often looks great - but... it feels like there's not a lot of budget here, and that means Remedy probably didn't. Take the time to really make this campaign stand out.

18Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition(xx)

As far as open-world games go, I think Wei "son of a bitch" Shen could be one of the best characters in video games. He's a cop, of course, and all cops are bastards, but what a bastard he is. Hong Kong feels rich and vibrant, although the missions don't send you to other areas of Hong Kong until later in the game.

Still... what a game. Fighting fun, driving fun, Hong Kong fun, the missions are fun, the story is great...man. I want to talk a lot about the game, but the problem is... there are a lot of games that I like, a lot of games that I can take small parts of, but not enough to write a big article or anything about it. Sleeping Dogs is one of those games. Love, love, love, but not much to write home about.

It doesn't mean it will always be like this, just that it is like this now.

19Scharlach Roter Nexus(xx)

Funny fight, funny characters, boring story. I've heard the story works a little better if you play the male lead first and I think that's true, but I think it's a silly way to build your game; I wouldn't go on with a second half that's basically identical except for a few narrative changes. If there were more regions, cinematics, a different pacing? Of course I can love him. But not me. Still, the fight was fun.

20Shin Megami Tensei III: Noturno(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Okay, so when I said 13 Sentinels was my game of the year, I may have misrepresented that a bit because you see...yes.connectedwith another game, and that game is Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, which is maybe the best JRPG ever.

If you are unfamiliar with the Megami Tensei series, there is...veryof substrings, and we'll deal with thatof theThis year, the first Shin is Megami Tensei, which is considered the "right" series. Nocturne was the game that laid the groundwork for all the games and spinoffs that came after it.

I've played a lot of turn-based systems, but I love Nocturne (and many of the later SMT games and spin-off series) because it uses the "Press Turn" system, where you can change the number of turns you play have by pressing certain buffs or debuffs. . If an opponent is weak and you hit them with a fire attack, you get another turn. If they are strong to shoot you can lose two. It's not just about "more damage" like you get from elemental weaknesses in something like Pokemon, it's about controlling the combat itself. It brings with it a level of strategy that really helps my ADHD addicted brain focus on the battle at hand. I would say that Nocturne and the games that follow are always good times thanks to this system.

But it's not just the press-turn system that makes Nocturne a masterpiece; of course not. There are some rough edges in Nocturne that mark a turning point between old school hardcore dungeon crawler RPGs and something newer and grander, but the masterful vibes, intriguing locations and immersive dungeons, the narrative often apocalyptic but often hilarious ... my goodness, everything gets mixed uponly then. The game has an atmosphere that is second to none.

If he hadn't played 13 Sentinels this year, Nocturne wouldn't have a clear contender for Game of the Year, barring one other game...but we'll get to that in a moment.

21Serious Sam: locura siberiana(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Siberian Madness was, I understand, an attempt by the Russian mod team to make a Serious Sam game that somehow became an official entry in the series, and I can see why; The quality is on par with previous Serious Sam games and it uses Serious Sam 4 technology which was already looking pretty good.

I don't have much to say about the game; it is fun! While some areas of the game occasionally left me wondering, many of them were clever and fun, and made use of Serious Sam's mechanics in ways I didn't always expect.

If you like Serious Sam, you'll like this. If you don't like Serious Sam, you won't. There is not much to say about this; As a fan, I was pleasantly surprised.

22judgement(xx)

Judgment is a parallel series set in the world of Yakuza/Like a Dragon. No, seriously: The first game takes place entirely in Kamurocho, the hometown of most Yakuza games, but instead of playing the often non-Yakuza, but also always Yakuza, Kazuma-Kiryu or Yakuza protagonist: As Ichiban Kasuga , protagonist of a clanless yakuza dragon, you play as someone on the other side of the law... sort of.

I think Takayuki Yagami might be the most boring protagonist in the seriesPersona, although he has an interesting baggage; Yagami just plays... flat. Kiryu feels like Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star or Jotaro from Jojo's Bizarre Adventures. Ichiban Kasuga is... well, I can say that I love him. I love it. He's a fun, sweet, and passionate video game protagonist; While many JRPGs (and Like A Dragon is explicitly a JRPG and not an open-world fighting game like Judgment and previous Yakuza games) the protagonists are meant to be heroes, they're kind of a blank slate and Ichibanit is not. He's rich in life, he's an idealist, he's quirky, funny, loyal, and steals pretty much every scene he's in, except that his "party" is just as interesting as he is.

Yagami, on the other hand, is... performance-wise, there's not much going for him. Even his reactions to things are such that a normal, average guy knows and reacts to martial arts.

Yagami, a former lawyer, resigned in disgrace when a man whom Yagami was defending successfully murdered his girlfriend (not Yagami). Yagami now works as a detective with his best friend, violent ex-yakuza Kaito, mostly doing odd jobs in Kamurocho in the form of some of the best sidequests in Studio RGG's oeuvre.

Although the actual description of Yagami (and I don't want to attribute that to the voice actors, he directed and wrote the scenes) they make the best of the material they can, vizGreat, just flatter than I'd like) is a bit boring, side quests are great.

Remember how I wrote an entire article on player motivation and how to make a game.Interesting? In it I used Yakuza: Like a Dragon (I prefer to call it Yakuza 7 but Sega took the opportunity to rename it and all Yakuza games will end up being called "Like a Dragon" like apparently in Japan which is great) and their side quests to explain how side quests can do much more than the usual "Find 3 Gummy Bears".

Well, Judgment is no exception to that rule. The main storyline is intriguing, and I mean really, really, really a good mystery to follow, but the side quests are absolutely top notch. Just some absolutely amazing missions in there. If you want to learn how to create quests, check out Judgment.

It's a great moment every time; as dense and impressive as any yakuza game.

But... my favorite part is the relationship system I think. In it you meet people, take on different tasks for them and finally unravel entire stories as part of the relationship system. It makes you experience all of the gameplay mechanics, and it's something I've been planning for my next game, codenamed Waifu Death Squad, even before I was even familiar with Judgment. I love that!! turns out it worksdamn good!! It's a great way to get acquainted with everything it has to offer. Too bad he's not in Judgment Lost. :(

Absolutely an excellent game. The verdict on my potential Game of the Year contenders is really high.

23shadow warrior 3(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Shadow Warrior 3 esfabulous.

Coming from me, you know that's a bad sign; I read a study years ago that showed how most reviewers cite charts first. If you have great graphics, chances are you'll get a great rating even if the rest of the game sucks.

Well, Shadow Warrior 3 doesn't suck. In fact, it's super fun and mechanically the best game in the series. I think the beautiful and devastatingly tragic storytelling of Flying Wild Hog's first shadow warrior (one of the most effective uses of tragedy) makes it the best in the series, and the second is... well, to say the least. the more the merrier (I liked that it had co-op, but the randomized level design made it a lot less of a game). Shadow Warrior 3 is mechanically an excellent shooter; It's not Doom 2016, Halo 3, or Destiny as a shooter, but it's a few steps above Doom Eternal (albeit on a smaller budget).

Believe it or not, my biggest problem with the game is thisspatial rhythm.

We often think of pacing in terms of encounter or narrative design (which overlap, but you can think of the increasing complexity of puzzles in a non-narrative puzzle game as "encounter design pacing") because of the pace of travel through a game the most important rhythm type there is, but there are other rhythm types to consider as well.

For example you can have pacing in a progression system, the time between levels up or whatever, and I remember Todd Howard mentioning the Fallout/The Elder Scrolls success secret when he said something about it. He enjoys chasing down rewards in his games (and he's right; a big part of his success is that the worlds are spread out so well that you have a really good pace for XP and rewards; it never takes you too long, without the lizard brain doing anything ZING!).

But I noticed something a long time ago that I've just come up with a term for, and that's "spatial rhythm."

A long time ago I realized that it looked like thisatThe game came with lava level, desert level, ice level and so on right? I mean check out Metroid Prime! It has all that, right?

What this creates is a sense of flow where you're never in one place for very long. There is nothing better than your reception. Of course, the problem with this type of space pacing is that it costs money: if you create five environments, you pay less than if you create ten environments, right?

So, the more places, the less mental fatigue of the player (from an unchanging game that does not get rich), but the higher the budget.

I suspect that Shadow Warrior 3's budget was to create a few beautiful and impressive locations rather than many different locations.

Highly recommended game if you want a shooter withGreatfight that looks extremely beautiful! Just don't expect a lot of different biomes, okay?

24Mega-Aquarium(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Megaquarium is a simple park builder, which is what happens when you take a city builder and focus on individual structures within a location. As with an aquarium, it is obviously all structures within a single building. I found Megaquarium fun and charming, but ended up having to struggle and figure out how to actually increase those numbers. I think a lot of these types of games need to figure out how to smooth out some of the parts where the game numbers stop, or do something else to let players know where to increase their numbers.

Nonetheless, it was nice and relaxing.

25Final Fantasy VI(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

I understand why people call it one of the best stories in gaming; That was a lot, a cleverly told story that impressively juggles its cast. It's a highly original fantasy world that nonetheless feels constantly refreshing.

It loses steam towards the end, and I think that's down to the gameplay. For Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IX which I played but didn't finish last year due to lost save files, I've come to the conclusion thatAs a matter of factI don't like the combat part of these games at all.

These games, doctor? Do you mean - "No. I don't mean JRPGs. I mean '90s and early '90s Square Enix-style JRPGs. It's not the narratives or the worlds that I find problematic; the last game I played was Final Fantasy: Crisis Core I like the games, but...the turn-based combat in those old 2D adventures, yeah, they're a bit rough.

You've just gotten to a point where you've really seen everything there is to see and you're starting to wonder how... what do I do? Because?

Something like the press-turn system in Atlus games involves at least some element of strategy and turn economy control, but in games like this... there's nothing.

Years ago, an online nerd said that "JRPGs" were "real RPGs" and many RPGs he mistakenly called "WRPGs" (a term coined by JRPG fans who were angry at the idea that JRPGs weren't be RPGs). Instead, real party adventure games that try to "bring the RPG down" to its level. Stories and worlds are the best kind of games, so just putting the genre tag "RPG" on something does it based on the tag, well, but that's nonsense, so no) - because, he claimed, "an RPG is any game with 1) levels, 2) a party, and 3) a story, and 4) a bestiary."

This is blatant nonsense. A role-playing game is a “role-playing game”. Roleplay is a specific term related to acting: the idea of ​​bringing a character to life. If you play a role, don't act; If you're playing Romeo in Shakespeare's famous play, don't play. If you're playing "Romeo from Shakespeare's famous 'Romeo and Juliet'," but someone says, "But all of a sudden you're transported back to the American Southwest in the 1920's," and now you have to invent something that we're doing, which is here a Roleplay.

Real role-playing is more like this: you define your relationship to the world through your choices.

Most JRPGs are adventure games in the broadest sense, not point-and-click but literal adventure stories with some combat mechanics (and if you're lucky, other mechanics too) and all the mechanics of the wargames, like combat systems, aren't really effective from the actual onestagingPart of the Role-Playing Games genre.

And honestly? These games are fucking awesome! I love the depth of the characters, the ingenuity of the locations, the epic journeys and the funny moments. I love how I can be trying to remember my lines for an opera one minute and be fishing to play an old man the next. They are fantastic adventures!

I just think the combat loses its appeal after a while, regardless of the combat system.

26process lost(Xbox-Serie X)

I suspect Lost Judgment is a victim of COVID; Where Judgment seemed full of meeting people, places to visit, and adventures going on, Lost Judgment, which adds a second map to the mix, falls a bit short.

Despite my attempts to fit everything into the game, I found the game felt oddly small without the School Stories DLC. Gone is the great relationship system, replaced with far fewer side quests that also felt less impactful than the last game. The quests that most closely resembled actual Judgment side quests were, well, the school stories mentioned above, but I was already through most of the game before I figured out how to advance (I assumed that they would open up as I progressed through the story, not realizing that each of them was tied to me just doing a bit more of the side content in one of the clubs before unlocking the others).

When I say "I've finished most of the game," I mean I literally thought, "Hey, more main story, no new side quests coming." That's weird. So I looked up where it was and realized it was either in chapter 9 or 10 of 13. Seriously, I was almost done with the game!

Like I said,mostof secondary content got stuck in school stories.

The game was physically larger than Lost Judgment, but appeared to have much less content overall. I really liked what I was playing - the systems feel more fleshed out, the overall quality of life is better - but I don't know, something about it made me feel like it wasn't quite as polished or fleshed out as the other RGG studio. Games I have completed.

Of course, an 8/10 RGG studio game is better than most top studio games, so of course I loved it; The main story wasenjoys, which was one of the reasons I got to Chapter 9 without realizing anything was wrong. The game just went well.

27Voice of the Cards: The Forgotten Girl(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

I really loved Voice of Cards so I figured Voice of Cards 2 would be just as good.

Erasfastvery cool, plus a really frustrating area (the island up north). The problem for me was the structure. With Voice of Cards, I had no idea what was coming next - the story just felt organic and interesting. With The Forsaken Maiden you are tasked with going to four different islands, meeting their maidens, having your adventures and bringing an item back to your home island. In short, it was so formulaic in its structure that the narrative couldn't be too surprising. Otherwise it was completely identical to Voice of Cards. If you loved the first, you will like the second.

28Devil Summoner: Soul Hacker(3DS)

I think this is the first dungeon crawler I've ever completed. A remake of the original Saturn game for 3DS, Soul Hackers has that '90s anime art style that I really liked combined with a cool first-person setting and a pre-Y2K online horror sensibility (like Serial Experiments Lain or Cairo/Pulse). , and the world looks damn interesting.

A virtual reality — think of “Metaverse” back when it was all the rage before Mark Zuckerberg, the second most annoying man on earth handed it to you — recently popped up online, and it hasstealing people's souls. It's up to you and your friend who was recently possessed by a machine spirit named Nemissa who has a much better fashion sense to save the world.

To do this you must defeat hackers and demons and sometimes demon controlling hackers and sometimes demon possessed hackers. You do this in first-person, but while this new version, released after Press Turn's launch, is very similar to the original game, it doesn't have any of the demonic combat or trading systems you're familiar with from previous games. It's a lot more like a traditional dungeon crawler with group placement (two rows of three, one in front, one in back) and the like.

Like Final Fantasy VI and other JRPGs, the combat system wears down its reception; it just isn't dynamic enough to be as exciting as SMT or Persona.

29Xenoblade Chronicles X(Wii U)

Speaking of grand plans with a bad combat system, Xenoblade Chronicles X is a story about how Los Angeles turned into a spaceship, flew across the universe and crash-landed on a strange planet...Earth. They want to kill people for some reason, which is not good for us.

What follows is... a very interesting story, a vast and beautiful world that looks as weird and spectacular as any other world Monolithsoft has created. In fact, I think I have to say that out of all their games, this is my favorite right now.removed.

Unfortunately, like any other Xenoblade, the quality of life fixes aren't quite on par with the original Xenoblade Remake for Switch, and you'll have to do oneTONNELook for quests ("Bring me x items and give them back to me. Congratulations, here's some XP for you!") to get there. If there is history, it is good! If there's search missions... yeah... whatever, man. I can't say I loved that part. I know the players wereNaturallyto use online mode but has been offline for years. The game isn't well-tuned to single-player games, not without a lot of work.

I would like. would i play again Maybe maybe. But not for several years.

30Nier Replicant(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

When I first heard about this there was quite a commotion on the internet because a guy refused to review it because he couldn't figure out how the fishing works.

The second time I heard it, I came across a GIF of one of the fights in the game and I was like, "Hey, that's cool," so I bought it for my Xbox 360, started playing, liked it, and said, "Me come back!" more soon!" Then life happened and I finally decided to turn it around...

When it happened for the third time and they announced they were going to do a remake, I thought "hey, I'll play the remake instead" and waited for the release.

It's worth it.

What a great game. I got all the endings and yeah man man did I cry I think I might like it better than Automata, but I'll write more about the two games in a future article (actually, I'm writing as I write this sentence).

31Queen in Anarchy(360)

A mid-range Platinum game where you beat up guys, fill bars and unlock new campaigns where you do it elsewhere. I think it has to do with Mad World. For the $5 I got at Gamestop it was okay.

32.Devil's Army Two Kartell(360)

Damn what a game

The 360 ​​generation was a little strange; Many would-be intellectuals in the game-critic field began criticizing any game that didn't seem to suit existing nerds' tastes.Öit looked like movies and televisionwho can win prizes. It was basically, “I want to keep doing what I do, but I want to be recognized for consuming the most commercialized products in the world. I want to be called picky because I bought the first game I see at a Gamestop. I want my parents to respect me for consuming entertainment products. Call me demanding!

This meant that products not aimed at this target group, Last of Uses and Grand Theft Autos, were ignored or even ridiculed. Take Gears of War for example, a series that had its "bro" moments (when a fight ends, you might hear a character "Get back in your hole!" or "Cool!"), but it was a third-party shooting game. Immaculately built person with strong anti-war themes.

People thought the beefy and dumb character designs were too sexist, so they covered their ears and pretended dumb games for idiots were just bad, dumb games for dumb great apes in connections. So they went back to the movies that badly mimicked the Oscar bait and praised that mildness, ignored itgame guideIt is inNarrativeto "Well, this looks like a movie, so it's as good as it gets."

Too bad because O Cartel do Diabo isdamn good. It's a superlative co-op shooter; a tricky deal at $60 considering its roughly 8-hour runtime, but it's wrapped in the fun trappings of the ultra-stylized "TWO" corporation.

I once worked on a game where I said to the developers, "If you want people to believe in your world, you don't want to make a theme park out of it." Army of Two is all about theme parks and it's about as exciting as a big roller coaster. It's a beautiful, silly, silly, grandiose moment. Too bad we couldn't keep in touch for the last mission but other than that it was majestic.

I wish these games were on PC.

33.Shin Megami Tensei V(Trokar)

I loved Nocturne so much and starting 2021 with Shin Megami Tensei V, so I was like, “You know what? I should end this. About 80 hours later I finished one of the best games I have ever played. YoLoveDa'at - Taito, one of my favorite songs onthe whole series. The missions are great, the world design and enemy focus is even better than Nocturne, but the mood isn't.quiteover there. A magical experience, if I gave Nocturne an approval rating of 90%... I would give Shin Megami Tensei V the same 90%, which means...We have a tie to three for game of the year!

V is better than Nocturne in quality of life, Nocturne has an advantage in vibrations.

Ridiculously good.

I just wish it was on PC, where it would probably do better, and it should, as its characters' long, flowing manes deserve to flow at a perfect 60fps, if not more.

34.Two point campus(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

I don't remember this game anymore, but I had a lot of fun. If you liked Two Point Hospital, you'll like this; I think I liked it better than Megaquarium, but it clearly had a much bigger budget. Like many city builders, it starts to fall apart after a while with little spice, but it's good while it lasts.

35.chasing the static(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

I think Chasing Static is one of the best PS1 style horror games and by far the best. I'd definitely like to see the mechanics of the location a bit more - someone should give Nath a few million to do something wild. Or should we work together. ;)

36.Betrayal at Club Low(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

A long time ago I saw a Cosmo D game and thought "man that looks weird".

So I played it and I was like, "Oh man, this is one of my favorite video games of all time." It's also very weird." So I went straight away and played another game of Cosmo D right after.

Now I buy every Cosmo D game, period, no look, no questions asked, because Cosmo D means... hmm. inventiveness? Fascination? When I play Cosmo D, I transform into a kitten chasing a laser, a seemingly endless ball of energy enchanted by whatever.TogetherI'm looking for.

I love this shit I say. Betrayal at Club Low, like the other Cosmo D games, is unlike anything that came before it, but familiar because it has those fingerprints all over it. I can't even begin to put into words what it means to play a Cosmo D game other than that it makes me happy to do so.

buy now

37.Modern Warfare 3(xx)

Have you ever sat down to eat something calming? Well, Infinity Ward's Call of Duty campaigns are my consolation. They work well and fast, they're fun, they have some great parts and they're very well built compared to everyone else in the industry. They seem so focused that they don't have personality, but that's okay. They're funny. Modern Warfare 3 is one of the best.

38.time trigger(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Honestly, there's nothing I can say here that I haven't already said about Final Fantasy VI. Great story, great characters, bloody boring fight. An excellent adventure that would only benefit, I don't know, from having a better combat system that would withstand the actual duration of the game better than the current one.

39.Bloons TD6(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

It's a fun tower defense game. I don't really know why I stuck with it because it wasn't a game I loved enough to make it a high priority, but yeah, and it was fun. That's great. Sometimes a man just needs a defense game!

40Kerkerdorf 2(Android)

I don't know why I like Cairosoft games. I suspect there's a kind of lizard brain in the human mind that loves to watch the numbers go up, up, up! Personally, I love having a list of things to check and then completing them one by one, watching the bars fill up and the like. To that end, I would say that Dungeon Village 2 isbetterCairosoft game I played.

41.Alien-Shooter TD(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

It got to the point where I wasn't enjoying it anymore, so I incorporated a few hacks to end it and get it out of my backlog.

42.Oh! Edo cities(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

More Cairosoft, more fun! This one is a little different from Dungeon Village - you're building an economic machine here, rather than just trying to develop a town that fits the bill. I didn't like it as much as Dungeon Village 2.

43.Under(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Mundaun is a very special kind of horror game. There isanythingso although you could call it a first person adventure game as some puzzles are solved. I really like that; Everyone should buy a copy, Michel deserves to make every game in the world.

44.Dungeon City(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

It's like Dungeon Village 2 but with fewer resources and maps. I was very happy when Kairosoft games came to PC; They are much more playable here than on my phone!

45.Pokémon Lendas Arceus(Trokar)

I think I might have a new favorite Pokémon game. Did you expect it to be a spin-off? NO! Most spinoffs are small compilations of minigames and the like, or stripped down Pokémon games like Let's Go Eevee and Pikachu.

I wasn't expecting a huge game with multiple open-world regions, an incredibly satisfying list of things to tick off, all drawn from a simple "search for Pokémon in the world by doing and catching different things" checklist book .

It's ugly as hell, possibly one of the ugliest games ever made in the worst Pokemon region (essentially an old version of Diamond/Pearl, but boy oh boy has it wandered the world for about 60 hours and has Pokemon caught instead of fighting them all time, a blast.

Yeah...yeah man. I think I like it better than the standard Pokemon formula. Give me another game of Legends, please! This time I'm on the first day.

46.A spinning sushi(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

More Cairosoft, this is about running a sushi restaurant in a city, so it's about developing recipes instead of building a city, although you decorate your sushi restaurants a bit, which is nice.

47.Uncharted: Verlorenes Erbe(PS5)

I love adventure movies and hate the lack of adventure.games. Sure, there's the adventure game genre, but man, I want more Romancing the Stone, Indiana Jones, The Mummy, you know?

The problem is that pretty much the only team that makes them is Naughty Dog, and their games are like, "What if people made games just by reading Story and Save the Cat?" They're stereotypical, aren't they surprising, uninteresting and derived. I want more than what they offer. But when they are the only ones offering something similar, beggars have no choice.

It felt like it was made without much of the polish and attention that other Naughty Dog games get, but the open-level design was pretty cool. I liked the elephant part. it's routine

48.Age of Empires IV(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Return of the (era of) KING! Age of Empires isÖSeries that got me into gaming; Sure, I loved playing Flight Simulator, but it was Age of Empires where I said, "Wow... games arelustigOne of my fondest memories was of hanging around my friend Callum's house, stopping playing X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, turning on Age of Empires 2, and somehow blasting the Star Wars soundtrack through the headphones while listening to Age of Empires played.

I was worried that Age of Empires IV wasn't good, and I had two reasons for that.

First of all, the people who ran Age of Empires in the past, Forgotten Empires, didn't do a very good job on Age of Empires and destroyed (yes, destroyed: the Rise of Rome demo maps were destroyed) some of my favorite maps completely , destroying the initial project by something less interesting and homogeneous). Relic, the studio behind the game, has evolved from great RTS games to increasingly faster, tactical, almost eSports-like games. Many developers of classic RTS (a genre notoriously difficult to produce in the best of times) insisted on going after the MOBA crowd and losing all the dads in the process (RTS is absolutely a daddy genre for guys in their 40s and 50s).

Would Age of Empires IV do what worked so well for Age of Empires 1 and 2? Would they return to real-time gaming four times slower than their predecessors? Would you be more interested in them?StoryWhat a strange plot like 3?

Sim.

Age of Empires IV could be the best game in the series, at least from a campaign standpoint.

I only have one complaint:

Why was there no fishing in the campaign?

49.Nightmare 1998(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Apparently, Daymare started out as a Resident Evil 2 fangame in 1998 that became its own thing when Capcom said, "Hey, you want to see something?" and showed them an early version of the Resident Evil 2 remake, looked at Daymare and said: "Since we're doing RE2, would you be willing to do it your way?"

The results were... mixed, but apparently the team consulted Resident Evil 2 and Capcom lent a hand to Daymare.

It's...an admirable game on a budget, but it also shows exactly why you should hire real writers and voice actors for what you do. Games are aboutmaking things, and when the players start saying "Well, why should I?" and you don't have a valid reason other than "play more" then you have a player who sees "play more" as a chore, not something to look forward to. You need something goodReasonskeep going. This does little or nothing.

I quit Daymare in 1998 because I learn from every game, good or bad. Playing against the villains helps me understand the pitfalls I need to avoid in my own games. Most people won't want to finish.

50Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2(Game 2022) (PC)

I don't like that Activision doesn't just call this Modern Warfare 5. I understand it's kind of a reboot, but it's a whole different story, just with characters that have the same names (and are completely different people).

It's an Infinity Ward campaign; not as good as Infinite Warfare or good old Modern Warfare maybe as good as if not better than Modern Warfare please restart the first one called "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" not "Call of Duty 4: Modern warfare". There are tons of creative and awesome backgrounds everywhere.

I had a problem, and it's kind of odd that it deserves an article of its own.

You know how I say the best games are the ones with the most varied encounters? Modern Warfare 2 is a game with a lot of variety in the encounters... but it followed the letter of the law, not the spirit.

The encounters are so varied that you can never play sniper as a sniper. Each level is an exception, each level has its own cheats... which means you don't use the basic skills and just do a good deed, there's always a different modifier, something specific you should do. Then there are some legal bugs - like, uh, I have to swim to this location, I have to traverse Civis and do a secret extraction, I have to throw people here - more flexibility than something like the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare seems not to be there?

Is the variety of encounters good, special conditions for the player within this variety? You probably want to go a little cheaper.

51.what golf(Trokar)

I want you to pick and play this game.

All I can say about that is this: Jon Blow once said something like "the perfect game is a puzzle game that explores every possible way of solving its puzzles". He was wrong then and he's wrong now, but a broken watch is right once a day, and It was What the Golf's turn that day.

This is the best.

52.Digimon survived(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Digimon means everything to me. When I saw a Fox Kids bumper in the episode where Myotismon enters the real world and the kids are left behind and face a Devidramon, I was blown away.interested(Digimon Adventures Episode 27). The first episode I watched was Adventure 02, about 52 episodes later, where Arukenimon tries to trick a Golemon into destroying a dam. These memories are burned into my brain; I know where he was, what he was doing, who he was with, all that.

This series got me on the internet. It's the series that got me into forums RPGs, that got me into gaming sites, which ultimately leads to why I'm here today. It's all thanks to Digimon.

So yeah, I've been waiting for Digimon Survive for a long time; tacticsmiDigimon? I was excited.

And boy... did it... kind of delivered.

Is it weird how a constant theme this year has been that I've had enough of the combat systems of many games with great stories? Yes, Digimon Survive has followed the same path - the story is absolutely amazing.legal, and it does amazing stuff (actually some of the "holiest" beats of the year for me, more so than any other game on this list), but... the actual visual novels are a bit dry, while the tactics stuff is... well it's not enough. Also, I was a bit upset that I didn't get my favorite evolution line (Renamon → Sakuyamon) at the end of the game, and it was the smaller version of Sakuyamon, Miko Mode.

Still, some really great stories happen here. A really cool game. He just needs a slightly tighter pace and more variety in tactical fights. You could say he didn't have a big budget.

53.Seelenhacker 2(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

The reason I played Soul Hackers was to be ready for Soul Hackers 2, but they aren't.As a matter of factrelated. I miss the horror of Soul Hackers but Soul Hackers 2 was a good time with great voice acting and a cool story. You could say the budget isn't what Atlus gives to their other games, but it was really, really fun. I had a nice time. Definitely a recommendation; The way you recruit monsters is different than what you're used to if you're just an SMT/Persona type.

I feel like I should write a lot more about this because I put an absolutely amazing 45 hours into it, but I really don't know what else to say. It was amazing.

54.Marvels Spider-Man(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

I think this is the worst Insomniac game I've ever played. It looks great, it works great, and it just wants...to lick police boots more than anything I've ever seen. I didn't aggressively engage with the main story, the combat never seemed that good to me...there just isn't much to like about the game. If you're a die-hard who needs Spider-Man, great. This game is very much Spider-Man but with so much more "Oh wow I wish I was a cop! Cops are so good and they don't do bad things! Cops are important! Society cannot exist without the police!

It was irritating.

Unlike most open-world games, which for me are zen and meditative experiences where I clear the entire map little by little, I wanted Spider-Man to finish and was glad when he did. I hope the Wolverine game is much better.

However, it worked very well on the Steam platform.

55.Detective Rana 2(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

I like the frog detective. I was lucky enough to meet Grace Bruxner briefly at GDC 2019 (Frog Detective's booth at IGFs was right next to ours) and I was like, 'Oh shit, I hope we get more of these games.'

We have more of these games.

They are short, charming, full of wit and worth the price. Drop everything you do and take all three.

"Doctor, don't you want to talk about the content?" No, go blind.

56.Pokemon purple(Trokar)

As a core Pokémon game, Scarlet is perhaps its best.

You know this shit if you've played Pokémon: go to eight gyms, fight the bosses, do the side story with Team Whatever, catch them all, catch the Legendaries, and so on.

ÖStoryIt's a bit more interesting though - there are a few things that make it more interesting; It focuses more on why people want things and how far they will go to get them. It's also freer: the world is bigger, more open, there are more activities. I really like it.

What INOLike is something that happens towards the end where they come up with the laziest Pokemon designs, and you know me, I've literally written about why the Pokemon developers aren't the laziest Pokemon designs I've ever seen. Because? Well...it's basically a pallet swap. There's a little more to it, but that's basically it. And you can't evolve your Pokemon into that form either, which annoys me a lot (I don't like Pokemon that can't evolve unless they're Legendary or Mythic from the start! A Pokemon that's a different version of an existing Pokemon will only get worse!). A bitter taste left my mouth with an otherwise pretty good Pokémon game, if not quite as good as Arceus.

57.The Callisto Protocol(xx)

I was really excited for Callisto, worried about the studio head's praise for the crackle... and... then I played a game that wasn't great...initially.

Callisto Protocol wants to be cinematicFirst, and the game suffers as a result. They create mechanics that aren't very intuitive, but look great when you time them right. you die if you fail. This leads to a very boring and frustrating combat experience wherever you tryTempookay, rather than acting intuitively just to make it look good.

It's The Witcher 2's problem. It's The Witcher 3's problem. It focuses on nice motion capture rather than good-looking gameplay; You can make the fight look like averybetter by enabling autododge and reducing the difficulty to easy. It's still weird, but now you have something closer to Dead Space, something that feels more intuitive and fun.

The in-game graphics, the story is... well, it's generic, but generic, which is how I like it. Some tough fights that really make you want to use (or ignore) certain systems casually and otherwise had a lot of fun.

I think there's a really good game out there, but it's limited by a fixation on something that nobody really cares about: making the game look good in marketing material.

The players don't give a fuck. Motion capture, slow, it's just not nearly as fun as a game that feels so much more responsive and intuitive to control.

Also? Too many openings for my liking; It didn't do anything for the gameplay, it wasn't fun to experiment with. It didn't add anything to the game.

I know it sounds like a lot of complaints, but they're all things you have to overcome to get therevery good gameInside. If you manage to overcome them, you will be surprised.

58.Rana-Detektiv 3(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Frog Detective 3 is perfect.

59.Cool(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

A long time ago, a friend of mine at the time considered quitting video games for good. I used to jokingly tell people in a few tweets from my old account that "if you want to improve your indie game, make it a first-person shooter". This friend seemed down because a guy blocked him in game so I tried to cheer him up. We talked a lot about Quake, so I suggested he do a first-person shooter. I knew he would be good at it, I knew he loved it so I told him to try it.

A few months later he came back to me with his new E1M1 sniper, a first for him. That must have been eight or more years ago? I have this old version that he sent somewhere. He told me he was going to send it to a publisher, and I guess he did that because they went off and made a very successful boomer shooter that started a big movement.

We don't talk much these days - he stopped speaking to me after he got famous and I started a thread about Dark Souls and disability, I think in response to some of the bullying I (unrelated to him) in the by received an article written to me. about the series

As I played Cultic, a game clearly inspired by the move that followed my friend's game, I thought of that friend and how much I missed him.

60the puzzle machine(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

This is one of those games that I don't even know how to write about, but I think everyone should try. Good price, good length, fashion-inspired usage. I hesitate to say more because I think you should try it yourself! Honestly, a wild time.

I had to (literally, hehe) search for a puzzle.

61.Marvel Last Alliance 3(Trokar)

My friend Cory and I went through this; If you want to have big and silly fun walking around like the Marvel heroes in a classic style rather than a movie version, then this is the game for you. I wish it was on more platforms; I probably would have played more if it was on PC.

62.Brilliant Memory: Infinite(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Bright Memory was pretty much a "one person made" game (multiple people actually stealing some asset releases) but as far as I know they got it right and anyone who put their hands on the original Bright Memory , given a free version of Infinite, which is maybe two hours long, looks great, plays great and even looks better than Shadow Warrior 3 at times. It's just... super super short. A great experience.

63.Goose game without title(Trokar)

I tried to play this game as a distraction at the worst time of my life and couldn't. To put some of that time behind me, I decided, "Hey, I'm going to finish this game," jumped in, picked up where I left off, and played the rest of the game. It's a bit of a shame that games are disappearing so quickly these days; The Untitled Goose Game is charming and delightful, mischief has never felt so good, but it's very short. You may have noticed that many of my comments here have been brief; That's because a lot of those games towards the end of the year were short and I don't have much to say.

What can I say about Untitled Goose Game? That I didn't quite understand some of the puzzles and had to look for instructions? That I would laugh and cry and squeak if I solved the puzzles by myself? That I found the perfect ending? All of these things are true. The game was a treat. I would be happy if you play.

64.The Rise of the Monster Hunter(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

i wrote aboutEsin 2021.

A very stupid person once insisted to me that Monster Hunter would be simplified if it were on other platforms, and that's why Monster Hunter World, Capcom's best-selling game of all time, deserves a mention more than anything else: Resident Evil or Street . Fighter: Wasn't given a number at the end of the title as the "real" Monster Hunter 5 would be out soon.

With Rise, it's clear that Capcom will no longer be making numbered entries. As we know, World was a huge hit because things like "forgot to bring sharpening tools and come home and restart the mission" or "having a bunch of little map sections instead of one contiguous map" turned out to not t you are just as funny as what World made.

Monster Hunter World didn't do everything perfectly, as much as I like it. For one, he has neither Lagiacrus nor Gigginox. On the other hand, mechanics like covers and slight bugs that help track monsters made the game feel good, but not always very satisfying.

Rise adds a little more complexity and brings back a little more of the weirdness the series was known for, while retaining much of the gameplay that made World the best game in the series.

But now we have Rise, and it's a marked improvement over World in almost every non-graphical aspect for a number of reasons. However, he commits an unforgivable crime. Only the worst: there's Khezu, who's basically Gigginox but not, and there's Mizutsune, who's like a Lagiacrus with a lightning element replaced with a bubble bath. Seriously, your element is basically soap.

Monster Hunter Rise was easily one of the funnest games I've played in 2021. It's a great game, despite the slow start. I think it's probably the best game of the whole series.

So now here I am in 2023, having played the game again in 2022, which should tell you two things:

Firstly, we have a unique opportunity to discuss this game since we've played it before.

Second, it was good enough for me to play twice.

So what am I thinking?

Well I can say I was a little less excited about playing it again but it still works.sweetOn PC I spent most of my time with my good friend Blaid, buffing and leveling up so we could kill some of the higher level monsters in the new Sunbreak DLC, and in the process completing the main campaign, this time on PC.

Monster Hunter games always make me feel a bit lost; I've had trouble remembering all of the controls, and positioning or executing the attacks I want is a little less intuitive than I'd like. So I often feel like I'm not really helping my team and there's no way, what can I improve?

But I've been like this in every Monster Hunter game! It's always fun when you're playing with friends and the dramatic, pounding monster music starts (unless it's Khezu, which has no music), and then you're knee-deep in a gigantic beast that jumps and spins and spins and roars. It's a good time, I guess my sense of uselessness hampered my enjoyment a bit, but very often when someone asks "do you want to play Monster Hunter?" I'm here.

Sixty-five.war machine 2(xx)

There was someone who said the worst thing about Gears of War 2 was that it was almost too good. When I first played it around 2010 when I got my first Xbox I was blown away. While Gears 2 isn't the absolutely perfect video game that Gears 3 is, I said to my friend Cory, "Wow, this is so much better than I remembered!"

Worst of Gears 2?

No, it's Gears 3.

66.Kirby and the forgotten land(Trokar)

The problem I have with original Nintendo games is how cheesy they are. They areAlsocute but alsoAlsoabstract,Alsotrusted. You are a cute boy in a world full of other cute boys andsomeThey want you dead and that's itcharmingbut it's almost calculatedly charming, and at some point I'll have to step back and play something louder, more attractive.

Is Kirby the first major Nintendo game of this style (basically excluding Zelda and Pikmin) that I think I've already beaten? I've played dozens of Marios and Kirbies and Donkey Kongs and the like and they all mix for me.

This, the first Kirby 3D, was a fun romp; Like the other Nintendo games, it took me a while to really get into it, but when I did, man, I had a blast.

67.A room(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Ok, imagine a game.onea room, but the actual gameplay issolve riddlesthey are... super connected. For example, imagine a hexagonal box with some notches and buttons. you look around What is that? A knob that looks like it could be unscrewed? So you flip it and it comes out and it's actually aTaste, but the key is metal and bent in various ways, so you'll need to examine the key, move a few bits of metal around until it looks like a pattern you've seen elsewhere in the box, and voila! Now you can open the box!

This is the room. It's short, it's great, it's dense, beautiful and intricate puzzle game. I think the biggest problem I have with the game (figuring out what to interact with next) might be an inevitable need for puzzle design. The puzzles are incredibly intuitive, but figuring out which puzzle to solve next can be a bit frustrating. It could be pretty easy if you didn't have to hunt I think.

Also, there is some weird horror in the background.

68.Zimmer 2(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

The Room, but now you can go through the rooms and solve different puzzles that are connected.

69.Fire Emblem: Three Houses(Trokar)

I like the combat in Fire Emblem compared to XCOM, where XCOM is all about moving individual units to individual locations on the map, like behind cover, Fire Emblem is more like “here's an abstract representation of a map; It's centered around a city, but don't worry about the size or anything. If your units are within range, they can fight each other." Then it shows roughly how much damage you're going to do (within range) and all sorts of other things; it means you're much more methodical about what you're doing and be able to be more thoughtful and not have a "95% chance of beating this guy or that guy".

The characters arefabulous, although the plot suffers from the structure of the game. It's no secret that I love games with social elements. I think I've been in love with the idea since base building in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker or camp in Dragon Age: Origins, and that's a big part of why I love Three Houses. . One of the great games I've always wanted to make is pass the time in rounds; It was great to see a similar system in this game. However, it is...how to put it...Nintendo is the most valuable company in Japan, but the rigidity of the systems seems...less than AAA.

I liked what I was playing, but thereveryafter that, and it's all stuck in that super-rigid "we're in this monastery and you get to explore every weekend and do some hard chores in between." I think I would have preferred a slightly different structure, one that wasn't rigidly tied to calendar progression, especially after the time warp where I'm still at the monastery, although it appears to have been abandoned.

Also, this is my first time completing a Fire Emblem game, so as I said, I only completed Pikmin and Zelda (3 and BOTW respectively)? Well thanks to 2022 we can add KirbymiFire Emblem to list.

I really enjoyed the 60+ hours I put into it. I'm sad because I didn't understand some of the recruitment systems until later. A great story, great characters and an absolutely amazing time, that's for sure. I only had a few complaints about the lack of variety in the overall school structure. If you want a good calendar progression system, check out Persona 5 Royal.

70.Producer 2021(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

I don't like adventure games so it surprises me if absolutelyreveredProducer 2021. What a world!!! TheVibration!!! Please make more games like this, thanks.

71.road map(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

Stray, BlueTwelve's best cat game, is a nice little adventure where you play as a cat. It's better than it looks; I'm not sure I can do my job well enough to say how much I enjoyed it. What I want to say is that this is 100 percent the most animated cat in a video game. Recommended. Very good duration of five hours. Good time.

72.Halo: Spartan Assault(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

I played it because I was looking for some short games to get to 69 because that's the funniest number on the internet and I thought it would be a fun little game to try. It was OK. And I didn't write MW2 either, so I actually made 70 games. Oops.

73.Eschaton(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

A short and spooky PS1 style horror game.

74.Ace Combat: Joint Attack(PERSONAL COMPUTER)

There is one rule and it is like this: Ace Combat games set in Strangereal (4, 5, 0, 6, 7, Skies of Deception and Assault Horizon Legacy+ (NOT ASSAULT HORIZON, THIS IS ON EARTH AND THEREFORE BAD) ) are good , Ace Combat games set in the real world are not good.

Joint Assault is the exception; all is well. Same gameplay as any other game (why mess around with perfection?), cool enemies to fight... minor issues with the emulation on the Playstation Vita I've played (I don't want to risk my PSP UMD so I have I decided to play the game (a digital version on Vita) but then I encountered some glitches in the scene and the solution was to play it on PC and make some changes on the emulator.

This one is better than Assault Horizon because at least it has super enemy planes.

If you want to know more about my thoughts on Ace Combat as a series and all similar games, read on.Here.

So hey wow. This is... this is the list!

What am I doing next year?

mortal
Last fantasy 9
Last fantasy 12
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
digital devil saga
god of war 2
persona 4 gold
the dragon's belief
Dark Souls 1, 2 and 3
Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna: The Golden Land
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Persona 3-Laptop

Except… between the time I wrote that at the top of the article and now two things happened!

1. Persona 4 Golden has been upgraded to 64-bit by Atlus which means all mods are broken now including the cheat sheet mod.
2. Vencí a Dark Souls.
3. I also beat Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and am working on Dead Space.

What could I want more? Like... the actual games of 2023?

Remake von Resident Evil 4
STALKER 2 (although I bet it will be pushed to next year)
Alan Wake 2 (if it gets pushed back to 2024 I won't be surprised)
Maybe Tears of the Kingdom? I don'tLovebreath of the wild
Last fantasy 16
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (I loved Nioh 2 and Stranger of Paradise so... :D)
Pikmin 4 (I would like)
Hi Fi Rush (announced and released same day)
Fire Emblem Engage (I saw a scene that made me laugh so I know I'm in)
Baldur Tor 3
Starfield (because I always like some Bethesda games)
red drop

It's been a tough year for me for a lot of reasons, but hey. I've played some damn good games. I can't wait to see what 2023 has in store.

Trouble is... I'm building rockets again as a hobby, so... who knows? Maybe I'm playing fewer games than ever.