In no particular order
Tunic 🦊
A real sleeper that caught me by surprise. I'd seen nothing about this game untill it hit game pass on PC and just the screenshots and trailer had me fascinated. The mix of zelda-esque progression combined with the light bullet hell mechanics and souls-esqe combat loop are just amazingly satisfying.
The game inserts more and more innovative mechanics as you progress and just when you think you have a lock on whats going to happen next, something mindblowing ocurrs and you go OOOOHH and you then backtrack through the world finding hoards of new secrets. The ingame instruction manual is cute as heck and replicates the SNES art style perfectly, and is incorporated brilliantly into the game with actual mechanics, secrets and collectables. I literally couldn't put this game down. A classic.
Persona 5 Royal (PC) 👑
A great port of one of the best RPGs to come out in years. I beat this on the PS5 when it released a few years back, and i was happy to dive back in. I used this playthrough to act as a complete ass and choose all the really aggro dialogue options that i wouldn't have chosen on my first playthrough. This was a great decision and playing the MC as a complete ego chad rewards you with some very funny lines A++ would recommend.
The game is a beast and clocks in at 150-200 hours easily, which is offputting at first but once you accept the scope of the game and just give yourself over, letting yourself drink in the perfect aesthetic style, banging music, and easy dungeon grinding, it becomes one of the best JRPG experiences ever made. The 60FPS on PC is just icing on the cake. Keeping this game locked at 30 on consoles was a crime.
Elden Ring ⚔️
I was so scared about what this game was going to be when i heard George RR Martin was involved and that it might be open world. I love souls-borne games and have beaten every single one of them. They're far and away my most played genre of game over the last 10 years. I intentionally went in totally spoiler free, avoiding all trailers and pre-release coverage. I was not disappointed.
From the moment you exit the tutorial area and emerge into Limgrave i was beaming with excitement. The exploration in the game is second to none. There are so many hand crafted experiences scattered across the map, and you always feel like theres something to find just around the corner. It compels you to peek into every nook and cranny and you're almost always rewarded. Sometimes with material rewards, items, bosses etc, other times with a little peek at an upcoming area that hasn't been filled in on the map yet, or a terrifying looking enemy you have no way of reaching but now you're armed with knowledge of its existance and the curiosity of what it might be guarding.
The map expanding as you discover new areas was a stroke of genius and concealed the true scope of the game, giving you a sense of scale that makes you feel like Sam and Frodo walking towards Mordor. By the end of hthe game you can look back and see the epic journey you've completed marked out with a line of wonderfully convenient teleport points.
The game starts to repeat some sub-bosses by the late game which is a tad disapointing however there are so many different main bosses that are incredibly difficult and memorable that it really doesn't matter and doesn't feel cheap. Somehow this is also Froms easiest game despite not making many concessions in terms of mechanics. If you ever get stuck there's always another area to go explore, level up and a find new weapons and spells which can help with a difficult boss. This game is a real gold plated experience. Top to bottom, beautifully presented, amazin visual style, a musical triumph, and a joy to play. The only game i got every achievement for this year!
Vampire Survivors ⚰️
I've only had this game a week and it's already go it's hooks into me so deep i'm scared. This game captures the idea of the addictive gameplay loop so well it's actually incredible. The idea of "survive this bullet hell for 30 minutes" seems simple on paper but when you layer on the hundreds of new mechanics, playable characters, weapons and permutations you have one of the most entertaining short games ever made.
There's not a great deal to say about this game as it's very straighforward. Pick a character dive into one of a handful of maps, and avoid enemies untill the timer reaches 30 minutes. Find weapons and power ups, all of which auto-fire and all you need to do is move to avoid the enemies. Sounds easy but the way enemies escalate as you approach the 30 minute mark is actually jaw-dropping. you reach a point where the screen is literally filled with baddies and you ocuppy a tiny circle in the centre of a maelstrom of enemies lifted from vampire lore, the necronomicon, and the D&D monster manual (also the bible). One of the most chaotic games ever made. A must play, and a steal at it's current price of only a few £££.
Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker 🌝
I have a love/hate relationship with FF14. On one hand i hate the MMO hot bar combat system and wish it would go away in favour of something better, i have no idea what that looks like though. And there always comes a point where i can feel the net closing in around me as the story comes to a halt, and the game lays out its loot grind skinner box in front of me...and i shudder with dread. I have an addictive personality and these style of games feel exploitative. I struggled with WoW for a lot of years due to these same tendancies. Fortunately it's a lot easier to justify walking away from FF14 due to its heavy story based nature that has a slightly more clear stopping point.
On the plus-side. Endwalker is by far my favourite of the FF14 expansions. I didn't get hooked by Shadowbringers the way a lot of people did, and as such didn't buy Endwalker mid-2022. Hoo boy did this one get me though. I levelled a brand new class for Endwalker and i'm glad i did. I got to experience everything with my dancer which was far easier to play than my black mage and as such took away a lot of the MMO performance anxiety in group content.
The musical pieces in Endwalker are some of the most incredibly written songs i've ever heard. Wonderful instrumental motifs run through every song from the moment you arrive off the boat, till you beat the last boss and the credits roll. It's a joy to listen to, and invokes emotion in a way other games just can't.
It may just be because i've spent literally hundreds of hours with these characters but i was heavily invested in seeing the conclusion to this decade long story arc to it's conclusion. I generally don't like the "Scions of the seventh dawn" as a team of good guys. They're too sugary sweet for my liking despite being fairly well written. The real gem of the story comes in the antagonists. Specifically Emett Selch who is such a fantastic chaos gremlin and steals every scene he is involved in. His motiviations are broad, nuanced and throughly engaging. His line delivery is charismatic, terrifying, and engaging. And his relationship with you and your squadmates is beautifully written, ocuppying both the angel and devil positions on your characters shoulders, as he shouts abuse and encouragement alternatively.
The story wraps up in a wonderfully satisfying way, drawing to an emotional crescendo, wrapping up most of the loose ends, and laying a little ground for the upcoming patches, and the inevitable next expansion. If you've played far enough to have access to this expansion then i'd stronlgy recommend you give it a go, enjoy the story, then cancel your sub untill the next story patch is released. This expansion has turned me into a lifelong fanboy for FF14. Hopefully the rest of the story is as engaging as Endwalker. The fact that this team is working on the upcoming FF16 has me full of hope and joy.