Alright let's do it then, since I actually got a fair number of games this year. You know the drill. Trying to keep this to only games I started this year.
- One Piece Pirate Warriors 3
My only Switch purchase this year, Pirate Warriors 3 came recommended especially by @beamsplashx to get the Switch version, it sure is a jam-packed game that I can put down and come back to for more grinding when I feel like plopping on the couch next to my old, old cat. I've been wanting to get back into Warriors and while I still want to get Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition again, this absolutely kicks ass and I've got no regrets picking it up. Also nice to finally get past the Sanji-recruited arc for once in any form of One Piece.
- Halls of Torment
Full honesty, I think these kinds of games are selling themselves a bit cheap. There's clear effort being put in and like 20 Minutes Till Dawn there's a lot of balancing still happening. That said, while I haven't touched this in a good few months, it's an excellent game with graphics clearly inspired by early Diablo, complete with most of your lighting coming from fire pits and torches. Naturally, I've been gravitating towards Warlock for summon builds.
- Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
Sleeper GBA hit that eluded me for so long, in fact of all the Dragon Ball games on GBA I only had the second-worst game on there (Legacy of Goku 1). This game rules, pure beat-em-up with an incredible surprise of also having a 1-vs-1 mode. I haven't gotten to the end game but the fact you can, apparently play as just about everyone when you beat the game?? Absolutely sweet deal, and absolutely sad I did not get this when I had my GBA.
- Parkitect
I love Planet Coaster. I loved Rollercoaster Tycoon. I think Nerdcubed put it best that the fact we got two successors to the old RCT games is incredible (plus OpenRCT2 is there as well). While Planet Coaster succeeds RCT3 and places great emphasis on the finer details and editing you can do, Parkitect puts focus back on maintaining the park's finances and ecosystem while also needing to do things like hide staff buildings and paths. It's two different flavors and I'm glad to have both sides ready to fulfill when needed.
- Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Yup this is the GBA game that I never played that will probably get me yelled at. And y'know what, I deserve it. Aria of Sorrow fucking RULES. I took way too long to play it, but I at least have the excuse of playing it on my at-the-time recently wiped laptop with Batocera put on instead. I was so happy with it, I have a file for Dawn of Sorrow that I'm like 15% through, one day I'll get through but for now... man, Aria's Soul system absolutely hit me good. The only other Castlevania I played during the "inspired by SotN" era was the original Symphony of the Night, and even that I didn't play until I had a PSP. I have a bad habit of this.
- Vampire Survivors
Not much else can be said by Vampire Survivors, the gameplay is already well understood. I want to say, though, the DLC maps, especially Tides of the Foscari, gave off this really cool vibe of being a map that didn't feel out of place in a simple but charming RPG Maker game. It really broke how the other maps worked on top of introducing a series of characters and weapons that were out of this world. Also, I will never get "Moms Are Tough" out of my head, fucking one of the top 5 video game tracks in the entire medium.
- Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition
Literally the one game that came out this year that I actually got near launch, and this port I had absolute faith in. It's... I'll be honest, Rise of the Triad isn't exactly anything special, the story about it being originally a Wolfenstein 3D sequel sure shows, and I love it for that. But it's more than that, it's a series of maps with deep secrets, incredibly fun weapons, and some of the best music to grace the FPS genre. Yeah, this was more a personal joy but, man, that's kind of the point of these lists eh?
- Monster Hunter Rise
So I played a bit of the demos for 4 and Generations on 3DS, but y'know, otherwise it's been like 12 years since I last played, being Tri on Wii. It's Monster Hunter, missed it greatly, I've gotten good at Switch Axe, but whoh they streamlined it so much. Now, Yaodema has World on PS4, I tried it a bit, was alright with it for a few minutes, but, ehh, I dunno why but Monster Hunter feels so much better on PC for me. I do want to get World eventually but at this point, Rise has so many QoL changes and fun stuff along with weapon changes it might spoil me. I need to still get into Sunbreak, but the base game alone, hell yeah. Feels so good to carve up absolute bastards of monsters and turning them into my gear.
- Nightmare Reaper
This was a last minute thing, and hoo boy am I loving every bit of it. Clearly inspired by retro-FPS, this features some heavy progressive gameplay with skill trees that have their own minigames. I'm sooorta reserving full judgement because I heard New Game+ gets pretty bad with balance, but until then man, MAN this game hits something hard. The skills generally keep you paced with enemies but the addition of things like dash and grappling turn the flow upside down, it's weirdly satisfying using the Slow Time skill on dashing to dodge every single attack against you while getting easy head shots in. And the weapons are satisfying even without the random stats, there's a top level chainsaw that you can hold alt-fire on to just hold it in front and let the momentum carry you along the floors and up walls. I think the neatest thing is how the game tempts you with a huge amount of money in exchange for selling your most used weapon, which tends to come up when you've saved a weapon for at least six levels. Also the story is, naturally, dark and sad but some of the flavor actually integrates quite well into the gameplay. Lastly, the customization options is extremely deep, including being able to turn off minigames if you so prefer (I've turned off Topaz because I cannot be bothered with a Pokemon minigame, I'm sorry I'll leave sorry).
- Grim Dawn
I thought I had played this in 2022 but apparently not. Ah well, I got the DLC like summer of this year anyway so it counts. Grim Dawn... tbh I can't go much into it because I already have a giant post draft going that's going to be split to cover both the base game and the expansions. But, if you wanted to play not-Diablo, here you go. Amazing cross-class system, powerful loot filters, incredible atmosphere, god I am just blown away by this game still, even though I still have absolute hatred for Ultimate difficulty at times.
Still, it hits good. It's a game about some amazingly fun customization, incredible character builds, and being oddly forgiving for failure as long as you're not running Hardcore. I am never going back to Diablo 3, especially thanks to the DLC giving me access to enough trees to make a pet-heavy build.
Honorable Mentions:
Dwarf Fortress: I need to get back into this, aaaaugh. The new UI has made it easy for me to jump back in at least.
Against the Storm: Yeah this one I def want to get back into the mood for, bite sized RTS missions is such a treat. Sorry @Gyro ;-;
Lunistice: Okay I am going to save onto this for a bit because I've only gotten a few levels done but oh my god a cute game based off early 3D platformers but many of the issues of old ironed out??? Did I mention it's cute, Hana is a very adorable character.
What's next? Shrug, I do want to get Super Lesbian Animal RPG at some point, it's honestly shocking I haven't gotten to it yet.