rine

Stuck in the backlog of games

Living in Korea, blogging about games, TTRPGs, and other things I want to fixate on.

PFP credit to: https://twitter.com/Seharuuchan


So I did a thread over on Twitter to keep track, but I think I'll migrate it here, and next year do the same but here. I think I complete things so slowly I can just reshare with a new post everytime, but we'll see. Don't want to repeat the spam of the massive list of translated games fiasco.

To be clear: I consider a game finished when I see credits roll / whatever other arbitrary value most people normally say for the game being done. Final boss, all stages, whatever. I consider a game complete when I have 100% of the achievements listed in game, and if the game doesn't have achievements, whenever I feel I have seen all the game has to offer.


Loop Hero: Completed

A super solid game, fun the entire way through barring a iffy middle section where it was a bit hard to make consistent progress. The idea is so good that I still wish there was more to play, and if they release any DLC or a second game like this I will grab it in a heartbeat.

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition: Finished

A bit of revenge for a game I never finished when I was younger, it doesn't hold up nearly as well as the sequel, but I'm lagging on that one cuz I've played it a million times. The enhanced edition stuff is nice, but just having it on modern hardware is enough personally.

Borderlands 3: Finished

Ehh, didn't enjoy it as much as 2, and the post game immediately lost me. Not planning to get any of the DLC, so my achievement list is likely uncompletable. The gameplay is still solid, just clearly has lost what was good about 2s storytelling.

Forgive Me Father: Finished

A solid old school shooter with a good idea for the talent trees. The boss fights and some murder rooms were more annoying than fun at times, and I quickly slammed the difficulty down as a lot of enemies just get unfair later on. Admittedly, I probably am not the -best- player as I found the limited items more annoying to use than useful (I played the reporter, one of her items gives her a knife that one shots enemies and heals you, but every time I tried to use it I died). Still super solid presentation, even if the story ends with a meh.

Monster Sanctuary: Completed (then uncompleted due to free DLC, need to recomplete)

Probably my personal game of the year of things I've actually played and finished. If more games were made like this, maybe Pokemon would have some incentive to improve and add variety to gameplay. The 3v3 team format with buffs/debuffs and the like mattering was super fun and engaging, a long with the sheer amount of customization for each monster.

Paradise Killer: Completed

A solid detective game, even if the exploration bits were a little tacked on. You could have done the entire thing as a visual novel with mild point-clicks like an Ace Detective game and it probably would have suited it better. Still, great idea, unique story, solid game.

Shipwreck: Completed

A Zelda-clone, with none of the charm, interesting ideas, or polish of a Zelda game. I don't even remember when I got it, it sat on my list for ages, and I completed it in an hour or two. Can not recommend, should be forgotten.

The Shrouded Isle: Finished

While the game has interesting ideas (a bit of investigation, faction management, etc), once you find the gameplay loop you can easily coast till the end of the game with little effort. A lot of the achievements are niche and annoying, so likely will be a long long while before I bother to complete it.

Warhammer 40k Mechanicus: Finished

Has easily become my top recommendation for 'If you like X-Com, you should really try this' honestly does a lot of things better than X-com, and the lack of miss chance for most things is fun. You can easily cheese the game later on the normal difficulty, as you get just way too many options, and some options need better balancing for usefulness.

Immortal Redneck: Finished

A solid FPS-roguelite, which leans a bit onto the quippy Duke Nukem humor though nowhere near as offensive/dated. Solid progression and weapon choices, though the last pyramid does suffer from a massive spike of difficulty that required getting lucky and getting more numbers. Likely a long time to complete this one, since one achievement is finishing the game in under X deaths.

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones: Finished

One of my most mixed games of the year. On one hand, the gameplay, art, and storytelling are super solid, and it is one of the better adaptations of Lovecraft that directly references his work, but doesn't just do the stories again. On the other hand, it clearly had development issues, a lot of the things you build up for kind of get left behind after the first act, and the whole thing rushes through to an ending that's just 'which character do you knife' and a cliffhanger. Its really hard to recommend a story-based game that doesn't deliver on the story at the end, but if you can get over that everything else is great.

Fairy Solitaire: Completed

It was one of the first games I owned on Steam ages and ages ago, I completed the original, they remastered and gave it out for free to everyone who owned the first version, so I recompleted it. Its a fun little solitaire game, but nothing much else to say.

Banners of Ruin: Completed

In the very crowded halls of roguelikes, deckbuilder roguelikes are still kinda crowded. Deckbuilder party based roguelikes are a little less so. This one is solid, but the fit and finish of the card balancing and party mechanics doesn't -quite- work out at times. The post game mechanics don't add much, and since I could complete it without bothering, there was little point in beating it a second time.

Spellcaster University: Completed

I did a full review over here but to summarize once more: A solid tower builder with random card mechanics, but gets a bit repetitive late into the story. Good ideas, could use a bit more to flesh it out or provide more control over what you can build.

Star Wars: Republic Commando: Completed

I can see the appeal, but even the characters remarked on seeing the same hangars repeatedly. It feels a little bite sized for what it is, and once you finish it I can't really see a point in going back. It hasn't aged terribly, but you can see where it could have been better with more time/funding.

Warhammer: Chaosbane: Completed

Another one I've already fully reviewed here. A solid B+ Looter ARPG. Not much to complain about, and the post game loop of harder enemies, optional difficulty, bigger loot is solid enough if that tickles your brainpan. It gets a bit samey at times, and the fit and finish isn't quite there in some areas, but its a fun game.

Vampire Survivors: Completed

I mean, completed as of now, including DLC, but this is a game I'll be glad to go back and play more of as they add more content to recomplete. I don't think I need to say much more, its a great game, enjoy every time I pick it up.

Frog Detective 1 and 2: Completed

Cute, simple, short, no complaints, charming in their own way.

Technobabylon: Completed

A solid point and click adventure game. It does the setting well, and avoids a lot of the issues older games had without divorcing itself too much from the standards they set. If you wanted a Sierra-era adventure game that doesn't hate you unnecessarily and has solid voice acting throughout, this fits.

Battlechasers: Nightwar: Finished

Probably the most solid example of a Western-made JRPG. Turn based combat, crafting systems, over the top limit break animations, color swapped enemies that get old after a while, forgettable bottle-plot cuz its based on a comic book that is from like 2007. No major complaints, but if the art style or often-too-much combat bothers you, I wouldn't blame you for giving it a pass.


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