Review your recently played games...

I've been tearing through games lately.... I just never get to share my thoughts because a lot of them are backlog games.... So! I thought it'd be fun to quickly summarize your recently played games with a numerical score and a quick line about your experience! I'll go first!

Recently played from current to past.

Outer Worlds 6.5/10 - a Competant, short, mostly fulfilling Fallout style game with a few om characters and really weird color pallets. Wasn't a huge fan of this one. It was just good. I don't remember what the community thought of this game, but I give kudos to how well the systems work in the game, but it's all entirely forgettable.

Vampire Survivors 9/10 - the most fun I've ever had with a one button game. Scratches so many long lost Smash TV itches.... Screaming for a sequel with even more flash and balls!

Spec Ops The Line - 8.5/10 - what a wonderfully horrible game.... I mean that with love and adoration. It's a Competant shooter... It doesn't do a good job of getting you to want to stray from using the same comfortable guns, but it's a pretty intense set to have gun battles in. The story is one of the best I've seen in a game and certainly turns a white hot light on our actions in this hobby.... Crazy good narrative.

Max Payne 3 - 7.5/10 - Still a pure shooter with no frill... I like that. I just didn't enjoy it as much this second time through as I did back on the 360. I thought the cut scenes and story were pretty over the top and the story is serviceable, but max Payne is meant to be a high octane action experience and it delivers. Very short.

Batman Arkham Asylum - 9/10 - Thoroughly enjoyed my 1st playthrough since it launcher on 360. I played the native version not the remastered. It ran at 60fos on my steam deck throughout and it still looks and plays beautifully. The riddler puzzles are some of the most engaging in recent memory and I lived the boss fights and creepy arkham Asylum atmosphere. Still awesome.

Helldivers - 8.5/10 - yeeeears later and it's still at its best. Great community, still so damn engaging. I love that helldivers forces you to work with each other. The warm and fyzzues are all over this game. Still shitty as a SP game, but meh...we all know what is top billing here. Coop.

Vanquished - 8/10 - First playthrough and very happy I finally played it! Super fun game for the half dozen hours it lasts. There's a really great flow you can get into with combat, but when you're not in that flow you look like a bumbling idiot sliding around like a fool... It's one of those games you wanna get good at and access the elegance of it. Main character is stupidly awesome. I want to punch his face in and smoke a but with him at the same time.

Dishonored - 8.5/10 - Wonderful! Great inventive, flexible gameplay with blinks and assassinations. Stealth, skills.... All of it just felt great. Story is kinda cool as well. I'm excited to play the sequel on steam deck. I picked it up for 5 bucks! Corvo is a cool protagonist and I think Arkane presents something more cohesive than a lot of games in its class.

Dead Space - 8/10 - First playthrough. I bought it for sheckles to have a baseline for this remake coming out. I wanted to see how dated the original release felt. Guess what? It feels fantastic. It is still creepy and atmospheric and scary and awesome. I loved the pulse cutter and got the achievement for playing the game only with that weapon. It was like geometry puzzles in a horror game. Lol. Does it need a remake? No... Is it part of a larger strategy to relaunch the franchise? Possibly, in which case, ok.... Still, that's a ten year old game that plays no less as satisfying as New releases of today.

Rogue Legacy 2 - 9.5/10 - why can't all games play this well? I marval at how tight rogue legacy is and how it's systems sharpen the whole thing to a razors edge. When I was a kid I dreamed of 2d action platforms that played this well. I love the heir disabilities and the many classes that all beg you to give them a try. I love the feeling of besting a boss and clearing a tricky room.... I just can't say enough about the glorious experience of playing rogue legwcy 2 (and 1!)

Ryse Son of Rome - 6.5/10 - holy crap what a beautiful game! Also, not very deep... I feel like this. If the game had been longer its glaring lack of depth would've overstayed its welcome. Since it's a 4 to 6 hour game the basic swordfighting doesn't really detract from the overall. Cool story, cool setting.

Elden Ring - 10/10 - Everything you could ask for in an acruon/adventure/rpg. Elden ring is always in the players hands and the challenge is what makes gaming so fun. It's also in my opinion the best multi-player community I've seen in a game. Literally everyone helping everyone. A true online treasure. A truly unskipoabke masterpiece.

OK system wars! Your turn!!

Castlevania Circle Of The Moon - Can't say I like it that much. The environments are boring. Find the environments in the majority of these games compared to Bloodlines are boring. Music meh as well.

Like the idea of the card system and discovered what they do yourself, but most of them are boring, some pointless.

The enemy encounters are mostly boring as well.

Still think Bloodlines is the best entry of what i've played, this is probably the weakest alongside the original and two.

Prob never touch again.

9/10

Elden Ring - 11 out of 10. Easily GotY. Loved every second of it and want DLC already!

Horizon - Also loved this game. Skipped all dialog in the game so no clue what the game is about. But gameplay loop, sound, and graphics draw me in.

GoW: Ragnarok- only 6 hours in, but I love it. Little too much talking in beginning, but awesome afterwards.

@TheEroica:

Like you, Elden ring: 10/10. Especially with the seamless coop mod, making multiplayer way more uhhh....... seamless.

Outward: 7.5/10:

Very interesting concept, with combat that reminds you of soulsborne titles, but a bit janky. The survival elements, game over scenarios, and just that overall feeling of "shit, we'd better be careful down here" when dungeon crawling kinda trigger my nostalgia over games like everquest. Only downsides are, the voice acting is pretty awful, and the main quest is super predictable and clichéd.

Valheim: 9/10:

Keep coming back to this one, and just got back into it again now that my younger kid has figured out how to use a controller. I mean, it's basically minecraft with vikings. How can you go wrong?

Games I'm Playing - Your Stacks - GameSpot

Mostly meh. I might have a bit of a bias towards racing games, really enjoy checking out Forza Horizon 5 or Mario Kart 8 every time there is new content. It doesn't get old to me.

@Chutebox: halo infinite 100/10. Not a typo.

Kid Chameleon - Level design that makes me want to blow my brains out. 10/10

Mega Man 3 - Not Mega Man 1 or 2. Totally. 9/10

Sonic the Hedgehog - He's fast. And so is the game. But it's great. 10/10

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - More bombastic than 1, and more flashy. But longer, and with more difficult bosses. Plus gambling. 9/10

Road Rash - I whipped a highway patrol cop with a chain. 7/10

Haunted Castle - Dude walks like he's constipated. Bats swoop like they know he's constipated, and know they can kill by simply touching him. 6/10

Thunder Cross - Has these little orb things that shoot out heat-seeking dots that will ruin your sanity. 8/10

Ragnarok - 9/10. Originally it seemed like a 9.5 game, or maybe even a 10, but i did not like how it ended, and some things that happen near the end. Wouldn't it have been cool if Kratos gets to Odin, and Odin completely destroys him with no chance for Kratos of winning? Or after Thor fight, Kratos and Thor team up to **** up Odin? Or my fav, Freya and Mimir are the ones that set you up to kill everyone related to Odin, when in reality Odin isn't even a bad guy, and was simply doing what's best for his people. Then, at the end, you see Kratos and Atreus leaving the 9 realms with nothing but destruction behind them. I think this would've been a much more memorable and God of War-like ending.

Control has the best third person shooting mechanics I've used in years, after installing the number row weapon mod. You can shoot while running without your accuracy being reduced, you can swap shoulders at all times, the inhuman enemies don't require a single boring shot to the head (but can have bloated HP), the sci-fi abilities are nice, no cramped over the shoulder perspective except while holding right mouse button (and even then it's not as bad as many other modern games). Just wish you could shoot while crouching. What a waste. Despite being over the top, the animations and movement have a nice sense of weight, unlike some flimsy Vanquish-type shit.

World is cool, but still don't understand much of the story, not interesting enough in the way it's told. Abundance of journals still feels lazy.

Bayonetta 3 - Solid 8 but definitely a step back from the amazing Bayonetta 2. Hopefully Platinum gets back to the franchise roots and decides to tone down the mini games in favor for better design.

• Here Comes Niko! (Switch) - Fun 3D platformer, very chill gameplay. Was a little long for my liking, but still enjoyed it nonetheless.
• Somerville (XSX) - Decent game by some ex-Playdead devs. Not in the same league as Inside, but still a cool experience.
• High on Life (XSX) - Had a lot of fun with it, very funny and charming in the end. Gameplay solid.
• Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) - 2nd playthrough - reaffirmed my love of this game. I'm still finding details I missed the first time, even though I got nearly 1000 moons. Masterpiece.

I have a rule that I don't review games until I complete them, so some of these will be tentative thoughts:

Total War: Warhammer III: 9/10. It's Total War: Warhammer, except bigger and more. What's more to say?

Warframe: tentative 7/10. It's not the most beginner-friendly looter shooter, and its experimental nature can often lead to additions that don't work so well. Still, I like that there's an endpoint to each grind, and it's fantastic paired with some nice podcasts and YouTube videos.

Marvel's Spider-Man: tentative 8/10. To abuse the meme; it really makes you feel like Spider-Man. Everything else is standard open world action game fare, but that core gameplay loop really makes it worthwhile.

Death Stranding Director's Cut: tentative 8/10. It's... ...interesting. And also strangely compelling. Literally walking simulator, but there's just something about it that gets me coming back.

Total War: Three Kingdoms: tentative 9/10. Probably the best Total War game straight out of the box since Shogun 2. Shame the DLCs didn't take, causing CA to drop support for it. Still worth playing.

Tekken 7: tentative I suck at it/10. Nope, not going to give too much of an opinion on fighting games. I enjoy them, but I'll never consider my opinions on them to be worth taking seriously. I enjoyed Tekken 7, and that's all I'm going to say.

Yakuza 0 - Lots of content, interesting story, substories are hilarious, combat is eh.

Kiwami - Sucked

Kiwami 2 - Still playing it, much better than Kiwami. Don't think I'll like it more than 0 though.

God of War Ragnarok 10/10

South Park FB 8/10

Stray 8/10

AC Valhalla 7/10

Luigi's Mansion 3 8/10

@TheEroica:

Halo Infinite: 7/10

Campaign is a little too ambitious for what the development team can deliver and it comes off as a bad clone of Far Cry. The story writing is still terrible and it relies too much on nostalgia to keep players interested. I got bored 2 hours in, when I realized that the level design is basically the same for the entire map. Then they padded the crap out of it with repetitive side missions. There's also still no sign of local co op. Multiplayer seems to be the only thing they care about fixing but with stripped down game play, it's mostly mehh. They removed too many game play elements from Halo 5 to tailor to the old Halo fans. So it's not even that fun to play.

Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core Reunion: 9/10

Everything good about it is mostly thanks to what was already there. The story is good even though it gets pretty cringe when they start talking about bromance. But that's a part of its charm to me. The combat got a noticeable upgrade and Zack's attacks are more refined plus they added a battle stance when you get the Buster Sword. The voice acting is mostly great on the exception of Zack's whiny new voice in the beginning and the music has some improved tracks like a better version of Nibelheim's song that is more true to the original from FFVII. Overall, it's a great remaster and it plays really well on the Switch. I love the redesigned levels and the fact that it's fully voiced too. Hearing npc's talk was a welcome addition for sure.

Ni no kuni 1 remastered 9/10. Popped on on gamepass and wanted to see what the remaster part entailed! Not

Much as it turned out, but the game is still amazing, minus the horrible tacked on last part…

GOW Ragnarok, 8/10.( not finished yet) It’s more GOW and while it feels more like an expansion than a sequel, it’s still a great game. Love the lord and the story, but the playing as the kid is a bit dull imo… also wish there was a difficult option between normal and hard, normal is to easy and hard is to hard when it comes to bosses imo… I suck with a controller:/

Dark suns, only 6-7 hours in so won’t rate it. But feels amazing so fare and not sure why it’s getting so much hate for the story!

Ni no kuni 1 remastered 9/10. Popped on on gamepass and wanted to see what the remaster part entailed! Not much as it turns out, but the game is still amazing, minus the horrible tacked on last part…

GOW Ragnarok, 8/10.( not finished yet) It’s more GOW and while it feels more like an expansion than a sequel, it’s still a great game. Love the lore and the story, but the playing as the kid is a bit dull imo… also wish there was a difficult option between normal and hard, normal is to easy and hard is to hard when it comes to bosses imo… I suck with a controller:/

Dark suns, only 6-7 hours in so won’t rate it. But feels amazing so fare and not sure why it’s getting so much hate for the story!

Just finished Grounded on PC, got it in early access a couple of years ago but waited till release to play it and just forgot about it. Id give it 8/10 which is a good score coming from me. Feels like a mix between Subnautica and The Forest but a lot harder than both those games, which was most suprising. Was good fun playing COOP with friends.

Spiderman miles morales - 5/10. I like original but this is just terrible DLC with unlikable characters.

Mass effect legendary edition - 6/10. original have nice story bad gameplay. later games have improved but still mediocre gameplay with worse storytelling.

Doom eternal - still 10/10. most perfect gameplay combat in any of FPS.

• GoW Ragnarok 7/10
• Splatoon 3 9/10
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 9/10
• Bayonetta 3 9/10
• Eldin Ring 9/10
• Kirby and the Forgotton Land 9/10
• Pokemon Legends Arceaus 7/10
  
• Neon White 8/10

Currently finishing Tactics Ogre Reborn. Will probably give it 8 or 9 depending on how it finishes.

• Elden Ring : 10/10 - unlike IGN and Gamespot (post-MGS4) that give 10/10 to pretty much anything, mine are extremely rare and only go out to the best games. Honestly a perfect game and one of the top contenders for game of the century. I do wish it had more RPG elements (I wish the class actually mattered and I wish there wasn't hard and soft caps on abilities)
  
  
  
• God of War Ragnarok: 9.5/10 - Could argue this is a 10 as well, but it just isn't as good as other de facto 10s like The Last of Us or Elden Ring. Hard to say. I gave God of War 2018 a 9.5 as well and thought enemy variety and boss variety is all it needed to get a 10. GOWR fixed all of GOWs problems and improved in almost every way. I guess if we use exact digits I could give this 9.6 - 9.8, better game than GOW but with less impact/'innovation'.
  
  
  
• Stray: 7/10 - a fun beautiful game that lets you play as a cat. you can even meow.
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart: 7.5/10

oh and FYI @TheEroica , I am currently (inbetween GOWR) going through the Mass Effect legendary collection. Have not played since their respective launch dates. I remember giving ME2 a 9.0-9.5/10 somewhere and it being my top 30 best games ever, while ME1 was a bit too flawed.

Currently playing ME1 remaster and gahhh damn is it wonky af. I never played ME3. I am wondering if I should just skip ME1...

I remember nothing from the story other than I loved the story and characters, but the gameplay and combat mechanics is really rough. if I didn't care much for it in 2007 (almost 16 years ago!) you can imagine how dull it feels in 2022.

This is looking like a 4/10 so far.

Hunt: Showdown - 9/10
Darktide - 7/10
Valheim - 9/10
Elden Ring - 9/10
DOOM Eternal - 8/10
Rogue Legacy 2 - 8/10
Deep Rock Galactic - 8/10
Resident Evil 2 R - 7/10
Halo Infinite - 6/10
Risk of Rain 2 - 7/10
Kirby & TFL - 7/10

@warm_gun: Control is seriously one of the best games in years. Glad you're playing it. Loved the gameplay throughout

@Mozelleple112: ahhh a journey back through mass effect. Enjoy. You should play mass effect 3 if you're into the narrative. If you're just skipping cut scenes and playing for the gun fights then it's not gonna change anything for you. I liked me3. It wrapped up a lot of story even though we al only focused on the last 5 minutes.

Me1 is a different monster all together. I get why people dislike the gunplay, but for me I just love the ability to freeze the fight, select my powers and set up my attack and then clear a room. For me it the balancing of the three squad members that feels most satisfying. Knowing which powers weaken which enemies based on tech/biotic and getting good at controlling the room.

Still, that's me with 8 playthroughs of the game in 15 years or whatever it's been. It is dated though by today's standards and me2 is a wonderful improvement in that area.

I still say though after my sons and I played through the trilogy again that the story is still very impactful and my kids adored it.

SIFU : 8/10. Loved the game. But its too short and could have been a serious contender for GOTY.

Elden Ring : 9.5/10. Started so strong. But it could get tedious and suffer to most open world which is repetitivenes.

GOW:R : 9.5/10. Awesome combat. I havent finish the game yet due to there is so much sidequest and im playing GMGOW. Though my few complains is most of the moves, enemies and skills are pretty much rehash from 2018.

Something I need to criticize, however, is the influence of Dark Souls on everything. It's super stupid that dying in Control means returning to the last "bonfire" and all the enemies on your way back to where you were still being cleared. Why make the player travel that distance again if the enemies are still gone?

I don't actually remember that being distracting to me, but I can see where you're coming from. Regenerating health, bonfires, no death penalties....therrs always some approach that takes hold for a while before things shift again. Control had so much going for it, it'll be great to see where they take it for a sequel. After the sequel they should move on entirely.

Wolcen - 6.5 controller support isn't great but it's fun to destroy mobs of enemies with a variety of spells in short bursts

Infamous 2 - terrible performance, repetitive, also fun in short bursts 6.5

Hollow Knight - fun but tedious needs more fast travel points 7.5

High on life 7/10.

Plague tale reqium 8.5/10.

MW2/multiplayer 7.5/10.

Scorn 6.5/10

@___gamemaster__: can't wait for sifu on steam.

@TheEroica: Its awesome, i tried it on Switch and was fun.

Kirby Planet Robobot (3DS) 8/10 what a solid platformer, had a lot of fun playing this one. liked the music

High on Life 8/10 Wasnt planning on playing this at all, got cringe vibes from the trailers, but hey... gamepass... why the hell not. Loved it. Probably my biggest surprise this year.

ZoE HD collection 9/10 Good as ever. re-played through these 2 games for the hell of it this year and loved every second of it. they just don't make em how they used too.

Warhammer Darktide 6/10 (this was my most hyped to play game this year) big disappointment. But there is promise. The music is killer and the aesthetics are everything you want from a 40k universe and the gameplay is pretty much vermintide with guns (which is a good thing) The game just has too many technical issues (first week i tried to play the game wouldnt even recognize my GPU and was trying to run off internal graphics, after a hotfix patch it recognized my gpu and runs well enough and is playable but the network has serious issues. I get get kicked from a match every other game due to the game crashing, FatShark will spend the next year cleaning this game up for sure like vermintide. Oh and too little content, too many map repeats, no private partys at launch... no true crafting system....Its basically early access title but asking for full price. This game will most likely be an 8/10 a year from now, But currently the game is unfinished.

Elden Ring 8/10 Good RPG, still havent beaten it but im having fun with it. Way less punishing from older from software titles. World is beautiful, very little hand holding which is always refreshing, Combat/gameplay is nothing special. But no fromsoftware souls games have amazing combat. Cool RPG tho. Cool world.

Baynetta 3 8/10 Its Bayonetta, its fast pace, its fun, the demons you control mix things up with combos, gameplay is GREAT, I do wish performance was a little better. (need that new switch pro) id give it a 9/10 if performance was better

Halo Infinite MP 9/10 (i cant comment on SP because i still havent beaten it and dont know if i ever will because i straight up dont care about Halo SP) Winter update with Forge is amazing, straight up Halo infinites Forge is ground breaking for MP community made content. Its superb and i cant think of any mp game with something better currently. 343 got the Browser out early and im glad they did.

Pokemon Arceus 7/10, its pokemon, its open world, i got what i wanted out of it, nothing ground breaking tho.

I'll only review the most recent one

Thief (2014) 6.5/10 - It wasnt as bad as I predicted. I could squeeze some fun out of the 1,99€ I gave for it. Couldnt ask for too much. I dont know if my expectations were too low or what but I didnt think it was as bad as people made it out to be at the time of its release. Terrible "open world" city hub design though, hard to navigate

Are you including Sekiro in that statement? Cause if you are then you would be dead wrong

Very sad that its not as hard as the others. I really wanted for you to be punished for even buying my games.

@TheEroica: Gotta say you played some awesome games (Dishonored, be sure to replay it and try a more aggressive approach or different routes) I plan to play Arkham Asylum on my Steam Deck as well. I really think the sweet spot for Steam Deck games are those Xbox 360 era games (fit the resolution and don't drain the battery) with excellent controller support.

Here are some of my reviews:

Uncharted 4 - 7/10

Went for my second playthrough of Uncharted 4 with the PC version. The game isn't bad, but it's also nothing special and none of it is really memorable. The new character being Nathan's brother Sam is just a vehicle for Troy Baker to voice and added in nothing besides being a worse substitute for Sully. Nadine is another questionable addition but I think she actually got a nice story arch conclusion in TLL.

A Plague Tale Requiem - 8/10

A beautiful and thought provoking adventure that is only lacking a bit in the gameplay department. I think Quantum Break is a good comparison to this as both games get carried away with telling their stories and forget that giving us lots of gameplay and combat encounters is the way to go to keep players engaged.

Uncharted The Lost Legacy - 8/10

Where Uncharted 4 feels more like a tech demo to me, Uncharted The Lost Legacy succesfully marries the gameplay of older Uncharted titles with the new mechanics of U4. It's a blast to play from start to finish, it's a bit shorter than U4 which imho plays to its strengths. And I loved the added Dualsense controller support.

Callisto Protocol - 9/10

I started playing this game and I felt like I just 'get it', you know? A lot of people seemed to want to play this as a third person shooter and walked away disappointed. But I'm destroying all my foes with simple yet smart use of my melee capabilities and the GRP module (think Half Life 2 gravity gun). The game is just loads of fun on maximum difficulty and I also like restarting certain sections thanks to a liberal auto save system.

NFS Unbound - 8/10

This feels like a cross between Need for Speed heat's bank and heat system as well as the dark souls of need for speed games. A whole bunch of words to simply say: this game is fun. It's not simple, it doesn't hold your hand, it just tells you how to play the game and expects you to abide by its rules. And its up to you how you fill it in and how you play it. Kinda like Doom Eternal.

What is the timeframe for this? I will take in the past few months.

Dwarf Fortress: 9/10: Excellent Simulation game, that is probably the most realistic fantasy simulation I have seen. Could have been a 10, but ultimately it lacks the challenge of Rimworld.

Tactics Ogre Reborn: 7/10: A fairly unambitious remake of a stellar game. Would be a 9/10 if I hadnt played this game before. Still, it is the best version of this game. Taking the best of the SNES and PSP versions. Still when you compare this to other remakes such as the Resident Evil remakes or Fire Emblem Echoes, it lacks some passion. Compared to the above.

Kenshi 8/10: Going to War with Slavers will always be satisfying

Pokemon Violet 6/10: A themepark open world game that was actually well executed. But the game is rife with bugs and technical issues. But I have to commend someoen for making a themepark where there is actually content in the open world rather than it all being tucked away in points of interest.

Ring Fit Adventure 8/10: Being able to exercise has been a blessing considering the weather here. Not going outside to run when it is all ice.

Crusader Kings 3 9/10: Extremely Catharic, but I cannot say why, that would belong in Political Gamers.

A Plague Tale Requiem: 7/10

Very beautiful game. Well acted protagonist! But…. the interactive part just wasn’t that great. Especially the last quarter of the game or so. Ending didn’t do it for me either.

Cyberpunk 2077: 9/10

If you started at 10 and deducted points for flaws CP would score a lot less. But it was such an awesome world, great locations, fantstic art direction. Some well written and interesing quests. Gameplay was equal parts fun and broken. The fun part was all the options you had stealth, melee, shooting, hacking. The broken part was in how it was balanced and the enemy AI.

Overall I had a great time. I dream about a sequel that fixes the broken parts 😁!!!

Return to Monkey Island:8/10

Great point and click adventure. Lots of imagination both in artstyle and puzzles. Genuinely funny writing. The ending was a major let down for me. I sort of understand what they were going for, but I would have prefered something more traditional with better payback.

Elden Ring; 8/10

It's a great first attempt to bring the Souls genre into an open world format. The world building was great, the enemies interesting and memorable. Fascinating NPC's, like my girl Ranni the Witch. Multiple endings provided a great incentive to replay the game, not that us Soulsborne fans wouldn't play the heck out of it anyway. My only real critique of the game is that I prefer more linearity, and the invasions became lopsided for invaders. Not to mention you cannot be invaded going solo, which to me was the whole point of the Soulsborne games; random, uninvited guests who are there to ruin your progress.

Pokémon Violet 8/10

The game finally goes open world. The new Pokémon designs were really cool, and I appreciated how Game Freak gave us interesting type combinations for the starters final evolutions. The exploration of the open world to find hidden gems for my Mon to get stronger was fun, and the ability to go and choose what goals I want to achieve first at any time during the campaign was a good way for the devs to get me to experience things I wouldn't have normally done in any other game. Like Elden Ring, though the open world is pretty barren but brimming with life, it still was designed in such a way that I didn't mind it.

@R4gn4r0k: I feel like this year has been really great for gaming in the time I've had. I have definitely played some great games this year. Surprised by some! I haven't played anything I've "hated" and the hits keep coming. Working on for a horizon 4 tight now. Never played any horizon before so this is fun. Actually can't believe how fluid this game is. It gets right to the fun and never let's up.

The goal with the steam deck has been to play everything I've missed that seems fun. Of the games I listed I have only played max Payne 3 and arkham Asylum before.... So yeah, 22 was a good year!

I feel it should be everyone's goal to keep playing the games that bring them joy and don't bother with games that suck the joy away or games that you feel you 'hate' playing.

I can only point to one game this year that I was expecting to be decent but that I ended up hating, and that was due to a graphical effect that was so strong in that game that I just couldn't bother playing anymore (motion blur in The Quarry).

Eventhough I love first person shooters I've been avoiding the genre as of late because of all the ones that try tricking you like a mobile game: be it with extensive and grindy battle passes or just silly cosmetics and skins. For example I had Overwatch 2 installed and wanted to give it a shot finally, I just never actually bothered with it.

But hey, this freed up time, lots of time in fact. Time for me to play and finish the Mass Effect Legendary collection, plus some other RPGs and even start with Mass Effect andromeda!

I can't praise the Dishonored franchise enough, if you really enjoyed the first one (it loves for you to play it as thief, but it doesn't punish you if you want to go agressive and let everyone be eaten by the rats), be sure to pick up the sequel in the steam sales and give it a whirl in 2023 ;)

@R4gn4r0k: I waited on a sale for dishonored 2 and snagged it a few weeks ago! . Really excited to work back around to it. I've read that it doesn't run on steam deck, but will with updated Proton..

I played it first this time this fall. Loved it, you are in for a treat 😁!

Mario Strikers Battle League: 6/10. It can be fun but it's not as good as its predecessors.

Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia: 8/10. A solid remake f a game I never played. I wish Nintendo would finally bring the rest of the series here in NA.

Mario Kart 8 DLC: 7/10. The new tracks are hit or miss.

Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remake: 9/10. The updated Opera scene alone was an excellent moment. I still haven't finished it.

This year I honestly hadn't had enough time to play anything new.