Super Games You Beat in 2024 Turbo Thread: Arcade Edition

[toxicitizen]

Metaphor: ReFantazio

 

I suppose there's some irony in finishing the game this week in particular. Having the selection of a leader end well is a nice escape from reality right now... 

 

Overall, this is a pretty solid offering from Atlus. While it is basically Fantasy Persona (to a shocking degree, honestly), I found that its main differences from Persona were its biggest strengths. The story doesn't quite reaches the same heights as P5R but the press-turn combat system and the Archetypes job system both felt like a huge improvement over the more repetitive and limited One More combat from Persona. Press-turn felt way more strategic to me. If you play your cards right, you can dispatch enemies without taking any damage and get a boost to your combat rewards. If you don't, an encounter that could've been trivial can end up kicking your ass.

 

The way archetypes work together also adds another neat strategic layer. It clicked for me early on in the first real dungeon. I unlocked a new archetype and equipped it on a character immediately. Then I proceeded to get my ass kicked the very next fight. I thought about it for a bit and considered how my current archetypes could work together and came up with a strategy that carried me through the rest of the dungeon. That was way more satisfying than I ever found the combat in Persona to be.

 

Being able to use every archetype with any character is also great. Need a second healer? Just level up the Healer tree on any character you like. Want that character to still keep its original role? No problem, switch back and use skill inheritance to re-equip the healing spells you want. It's a level of freedom and customization that just isn't present in Persona/Demon fusion. I know I always end up feeling like I have to compromise and lose useful abilities. Here, though, you can build your party members pretty much exactly how you want them. It's great!

 

So yeah, while the game feels very similar to Persona in terms of structure, the combat is the one thing I felt was an upgrade. The story, not so much. it's fine, really, and there's a few cool twists along the way but ultimately it felt pretty basic. It's the one aspect of the game that made me feel like it could benefit from a Royal-style rerelease with added content.

 

Oh and the game is way less strict than Persona as far as time management goes. I didn't quite manage to do everything because I'm dumb and suck at time management but the last month gives you enough free time that I still managed to complete all the requests and max out all the followers' ranks. And that's despite me wasting a bunch of days traveling to places I wasn't ready to tackle on more than one occasion... If you plan things out a little better, there's a ton of breathing room here.

 

So yeah, overall this was pretty damn good. The fantasy setting was a nice change from the usual Atlus fare although I wouldn't necessarily say i preferred it. It was just a nice change of pace.

 

But now that this and P3R are out of the way, I really need you to reveal Persona 6 already, Atlus! And don't you fucking dare go back to launching as a timed PlayStation exclusive, I swear to God...

[MetalCaveman]

The Evil Within 2

 

Brief but accurate summary:

 

 

This one definitively felt better to play, it is overall the better game, but the first one is the better survival horror. Not to say this one isn't scary, it does have some really creepy parts, but the general atmosphere and feel of this one doesn't quite reach the same heights.

 

The story was pretty cool

Spoiler

Starting around chapter 12 it does feel like everything goes to hell (more than usual lol):

Liam goes all "Burnice at home".

Torres' sacrifice led to an unintentionally funny moment with Sebastian going from "I'm free of my guilt!" to "Oh god this is all my fault, what have I done!" real quick.

Sykes thinks he found a way out but there's a 75% chance he's just gone.

Hoffman realizes that coming with us on a journey to hell tower was not the best idea.

 

Then there's the whole ending sequence with Myra.

 

Quite the ride. I was expecting Sebastian to be toast as well, leaving Kidman to take care of Lily.

 

Overall, this is a game I would totally recommend to anyone interested in the series, there's plenty of QoL and gameplay improvements, although at the cost of some of the horror, still pretty creepy though.

 

Grade: A

[toxicitizen]

11 minutes ago, MetalCaveman said:

The Evil Within 2

 

Brief but accurate summary:

 

 

This one definitively felt better to play, it is overall the better game, but the first one is the better survival horror. Not to say this one isn't scary, it does have some really creepy parts, but the general atmosphere and feel of this one doesn't quite reach the same heights.

 

The story was pretty cool

  Hide contents

Starting around chapter 12 it does feel like everything goes to hell (more than usual lol):

Liam goes all "Burnice at home".

Torres' sacrifice led to an unintentionally funny moment with Sebastian going from "I'm free of my guilt!" to "Oh god this is all my fault, what have I done!" real quick.

Sykes thinks he found a way out but there's a 75% chance he's just gone.

Hoffman realizes that coming with us on a journey to hell tower was not the best idea.

 

Then there's the whole ending sequence with Myra.

 

Quite the ride. I was expecting Sebastian to be toast as well, leaving Kidman to take care of Lily.

 

Overall, this is a game I would totally recommend to anyone interested in the series, there's plenty of QoL and gameplay improvements, although at the cost of some of the horror, still pretty creepy though.

 

Grade: A

 

There's also this really important scene you can get if you backtrack all the way to the beginning.

 

 

[Mister Jack]

Metro Awakening 

 

At the risk of sounding weird I'd call this more of a horror game than a first person shooter. A very effective one, too. Oh sure, you use guns and you shoot people and they'll shoot back at you and that's all fine, but the parts of this game that really stood out to me are the segments where you're not fighting against other humans. The mutated animals of the Metro have tunnels all over the place that they use to flank and ambush you, and I'd say at least 50% of the time you'll discover a monster when you hear it skittering in your blind spot and then turn around to find it suddenly jumping at your face. It's extremely tense and it's not a bunch of cheap shots either. The monsters can't just teleport behind you. They have to physically run through their tunnels to set up their ambushes so if you listen closely and have good situational awareness you can make a reasonable guess as to which hole they're going to emerge from. These bastards are quick though, so even if you see them coming you have only a split second to shoot them before they leap at you. Backing yourself into a corner to minimize your blind spots is ironically a good survival tactic when it's available.

 

This is a Metro game so you'll be doing things like using a portable generator to power devices and keep your flashlight lit along with looking for air filters for your gas mask when moving through radioactive zones. There's not a whole lot of VR interactivity outside of your weapons and inventory, but considering this is a world that's been blown to shit by nukes it's not like there's a whole lot to interact with besides rubble and cabinets in your search for ammo. Ammo is scarce too so you best get in the habit of emptying out the guns of everyone you kill. Don't throw away your empty magazines, either. You'll need them to hold whatever spare bullets you find.

 

There's a decent plot here and several segments where you're not shooting anything at all but merely walking through haunted areas and absorbing the story, so if you want constant action this is not the game for you. Traveling through pitch black tunnels while hearing the wails of the dead all around you is pretty damn creepy though. 

 

I do have a few small criticisms. If you want a Russian dub, you're not getting it here. I don't know if the Ukraine situation has anything to do with this decision but it is what it is. Several maps also get recycled. They're different on return visits, owing to the supernatural nature of the metro, but the fact remains that you'll be seeing certain locations multiple times. Lastly, there's one too many turret sections for my liking. Still, this is a very solid VR title and if you've been looking for an excuse to bust out your headset again you could do a lot worse.

 

By the way, I don't have arachnophobia but if you do this game is going to be your personal hell. Giant spiders not only creep all around the walls and jump directly onto your face but they'll also crawl all over your body, forcing you to grab around your shoulders to catch them and yank them off. Sometimes you'll even go to grab ammo or your backpack only to discover that a spider the size of a small dog has clamped itself onto your hand. There's no arachnophobia setting either so you best be mentally prepared for that.

[TheMightyEthan]

Dragon Age: Veilguard

 

This game is very good. It's not what I wanted it to be, but once I let go of that and judged it for what it actually is, I really like it. At its core it feels like a Mass Effect game dressed as Dragon Age, but it's very good at being that. I think it's taken a little too much influence from Marvel movies, especially in the writing, but overall the characters are interesting, I like hanging out with most of them, the factions are cool, the locations are good, the core conflict is compelling, it's very well put together. And, to my utter surprise, they manage to address big lore questions without any apparent retcons, everything fits with what came before. It's really amazing how well this turned out, all things considered. I definitely recommend it to any fans of the series unless the change to full on action really really turns you off. I also recommend it to fans of action RPGs in general, though the story may not hit as hard if you aren't familiar with the previous games.

 

Grade: A

[TheMightyEthan]

1000xResist

 

This is a weird but cool game, that I can't really explain at all without spoiling. It's heavily story-driven, and the story and characters are all great, but unfortunately the gameplay doesn't work very well. It's not that it's bad per se, it's just that it's basically all walking around and talking to people, and it really slows the game down in a way that it does not benefit from. I think it would be a lot better if instead of having full navigable 3D environments it just had the interface of P3P or Citizen Sleeper. That said, it's weird and cool and definitely worth playing.

 

Grade: I don't even know how to rate this, the story and characters are A+ but the actual game part is a C-

 

The Case of the Golden Idol

 

This is a mystery game with the interface of a point and click adventure. Basically you click around to look at all these clues and have to put together what's happening in each scene. The puzzles are well constructed, everything you need is there, and it doesn't hold your hand. I did think some of the later puzzles got to be a bit too complicated though, and there's not really a good in-game notes system or anything to keep track of your clues with, so it gets a bit unwieldy. Very good overall though.

 

Grade: B+

 

Still Wakes the Deep

 

This is a sci-fi horror walking sim thing set on a North Sea oil rig in the 70's. There's no actual combat, but there are enemies that you have to avoid/run away from, and they can and will kill you if they catch you. It's pretty neat, very atmospheric, and has a real sense of place. It's fairly short too, only about 5 hours, so it doesn't overstay its welcome. It does have some fiddly controls that can be annoying, but overall it's pretty good.

 

Grade: B

[TCP]

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

 

Fucking hell I love Dragon Quest. I've been playing this game in the past two weeks as temperatures dip and snow starts to fall, and I haven't minded because DQIII HD-2D is cozy AF. I love the way this 2D-HD art style looks, and I would love to see Final Fantasy VI remade like this. Especially with thick depth of field... and the way the lighting engine makes lanterns look at night. It's a ~vibe~ and I'm here for it. I guess this has been the year of TCP playing classic JRPGs as I also beat Final Fantasy VI and VII for the first time as well. And similarly to those two games, I can retroactively see the influence of this game on other games I've played, especially Pokemon.

It's a shame other classic Dragon Quests aren't on Steam. I'd love to play V and VIII. I and II are coming but knowing they won't be as deep as this game has me less excited.

Anyways

 

Grade: A

[toxicitizen]

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

 

I also finished this tonight. Dragon Quest is such a comfy series, it's always a treat to return to it. I never played the original but this felt like a perfect middle-ground between playing a retro JRPG and a modern one. Overall, I thought this one was fantastic although there were a few parts that tried my patience a little. Especially near the end when I had to grind a little bit to beat some of the bosses.

 

Also, playing this one before Dragon Quest I & II means the impact of the big twist is significantly reduced. I knew all about it and yet when it happened I didn't immediately recognize its significance until about an hour or two later when I went "oh wait..." Apparently they're reworking I & II a bit so that there'll be a few new surprises that come from playing the games in chronological order.

 

It was also my first HD-2D game and I realize I'm years late on this one but I'm really sold on the style. The low camera angle and the bokeh DoF end up creating a really cool visual style. And, like Cowboy said, the lighting at night is definitely a mood. I often found myself purposefully waiting until night to enter some areas just to enjoy the vibes while going through them. 

 

6 hours ago, TCP said:

It's a shame other classic Dragon Quests aren't on Steam. I'd love to play V and VIII.

 

It's downright criminal that Dragon Quest VIII still hasn't had some kind of rerelease on modern platforms. The PS2 version stills looks fantastic when rendered at high resolution with an emulator. It would be the easiest remaster job ever. And it's also baffling that S-E never bothered to drop the mobile versions of DQ I through VI on Steam. 

[TCP]

Now here's an interesting one. Beating III HD-2D inspired me to take on an old game, that I've planned on finishing for a long, long time. See:

 

On 3/1/2011 at 2:05 AM, TCP said:

Just beat Little Big Planet 2. Was a little disappointed when the credits rolled, I could have used an extra world or two. Still a great game though. I'm going to use this time now before Dragon Age II to finish off Final Fantasy XIII and Dragon Quest IX.

I finished one of those games back then, but tonight I finally completed my original save file, from the cart, on a DS...

 

Dragon Quest IX

I bought this game when it came out in the summer of 2010. I was 23 then. It was my first Dragon Quest game and I remember really liking it. But eventually I hit the final boss, Corvus, and he easily destroyed my party. I think I tried a few more times got frustrated and as this was the era of $59.99 CAD games ($49.99 Wii and... maybe 30 or 40 dollar DS games? I can't recall) I probably had a bunch of new games to play so I moved on. I always intended to come back and I think I might have tried one or twice, and probably when I made the above post in 2011, but by that point, 8ish months later, I couldn't exactly remember where to go or what to do. 

So if that was a challenge in 2011, you can bet it was a challenge here in 2024. But I'm old as fuck now and with that means I've completed like, three Dragon Quest games since then. I'm arguably smarter. More worldly. So I found my wife's old DSi XL, my copy of DQIX, and hoped the save was still there. Turns out it was! And the DS somehow had like half a charge, I don't remember when I plugged that in last. Either way, I googled the best place to fight Liquid Metal Slimes, struggled to figure out how to get there, but eventually spent a few hours slicing those little dudes up. And then I made my way to the bottom of Gittingham Palace and.... nothing. Turns out I must have finished that as it is not the final boss area I thought it was. After consulting a GameFAQ walk through (as per the spirit of this endeavour) I realized I had to go somewhere called the Realm of the Mighty. Which I have no memory of. But I've been there before because there was open chests. Figuring out how to get there took time too, no guides just tell you, they expect you to know because in game you were there like 5 hours ago maybe. It's like the devs didn't even account for someone coming back 14 years later.

Eventually I made my way to the top and accidentally started the final battle with low HP and low MP. Oops. So I got wrecked again. And then a second time with proper provisions. At this point I realized, shit, I should have 4 party members. How the fuck do I find my other party members? More googling, but eventually, much like DQIII I found an inn with Patty, found my fourth party member, a fighter, who, like my warrior, was named after a long gone family pet (). Oh back to slicing up Liquid Metal Slimes for a bit too.

Anyways, long story short, I finally beat this game. 14 and a half years later. I had no idea what happened at the end. There was a bunch of angels and some flash backs. I'm sure it would have been great in August 2010. But at least now, I can finally check this one off the list. I liked it, even if I don't know why or how. For that I will give it a score of...

 

Grade: ?+

 

Also, the DSiXL screens make everything look awful, I can't believe this was an actual product. And the DS is so uncomfortable to hold, how the fuck did I ever play this thing all the time. Bring out a remaster and put it on Steam so I can play on my Deck. This time I'll do it in the span of a few weeks not 1.5 decades.

Edited December 1, 2024 by TCP

[Mister Jack]

Synapse

 

This game might be a roguelike, but it's still a pure power fantasy. It takes a little while to really build up enough permanent upgrades to reach your full potential, but compared to other roguelikes I beat this one completely in just three days of play. I'm not really complaining though because the telekinetic powers are cool as hell. It's hardly the first game to have them or even the first VR game, but something about just looking at someone and flinging them away like trash thanks to the eye tracking hits different compared to merely putting an aiming reticle over them. It sounds like a minor thing but it changes the whole feel of the game. Plus, there's no meter or cooldown or anything like that on your powers. You can pick people up and fling them around as much as you want. Your only real restriction is you can't pick up heavies and you can only hold one object or person at a time. I've cleared entire levels without firing a single shot from my gun, instead just tossing people off of cliffs or into lava or into their own grenades or into each other. Of course, this does make it one of the easier roguelikes out there. You'll still spend plenty of time dying but like I said, once you've bought enough upgrades you are close to unstoppable. It's a pretty satisfying payoff in the endgame. The story isn't very compelling and there isn't much in the way of enemy types or weapon variety, but the moment to moment combat was just so fun that it made up for those other weaknesses in my book. If you happen to own a PSVR2 then you might as well play it if you haven't already, considering it's one of the platform's few exclusives.

[TheMightyEthan]

Stellar Blade

 

This is a cool action game that is definitely not a soulslike, though it does have a few of those elements (mostly just that you have camps that function as bonfires, and resting at them refills your flask and respawns most enemies). It honestly has more in common with something like DMC. It's also pervy in a way that strained my suspension of disbelief, but whatever. The combat feels good, it requires precision without being punishing, and it has the most satisfying parry I think I've ever experienced. All in all, I would definitely recommend it if you like character action games. There is a massive difficulty spike at the end, but aside from that I had fun throughout.

 

Grade: B+

[toxicitizen]

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

 

So, that one kinda came out of nowhere for me. I had been following it and was hoping it wouldn't suck but that was about it. Well, turns out this might actually be my favorite game of the year. I knew I was in for something special when one of the early levels basically played like it was a new Thief game. And then I got to the first major area and suddenly it turns into even more of an immersive sim? Christmas came early this year!

 

Seriously, if you love immersive sims and were as crushed by the closure of Arkane Austin as I was, then do yourself a favor and don't skip this game. It's not a full immersive sim in the vein of Deus Ex but there was just enough of that DNA in there that I couldn't get enough of it. I can't remember the last time I went out of my way to get all the collectibles in a game before even finishing the main campaign just because I wanted to stretch the experience as much as possible. I could tell I was getting close to the end and I wasn't ready for it to be over.

 

And if you're a fan of Indiana Jones, then it's the best Indy story since Last Crusade and it's not even close. This feels like a true Indy adventure in a way that Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny simply didn't. I finally got around to watching the latter last week-end and it's just not the same. It was alright for a final send-off for the character but it's pretty clear that Harrison Ford is way too old to keep making these. Most of the action is just chase scenes, I'm assuming because having a man in his 80s doing more elaborate stunts would be fucking irresponsible, and they got kinda boring after a while.

 

My one complaint is that the game is kinda stupid with its checkpoints. It doesn't save after you pick up a collectible, so it's possible to spend like 10mins exploring and picking a bunch of stuff up only to die and lose all of it because you didn't hit a checkpoint. There were a few times when I was going back through areas to get whatever I had missed and found stuff I had already picked up hours earlier but lost because of this bullshit. So if you die, you need to remember to grab stuff again otherwise you'll need to come back for it later. I hope they'll fix this in a patch because it was kind of annoying. Especially when you missed stuff in isolated areas like tombs and caves because getting back there can be tedious.

 

That was my only issue with the game, though. Overall, I absolutely loved it! MachineGames was not the studio I would've bet on to pick up the immersive sim mantle but this was a very pleasant surprise. I really hope they'll make a sequel to this because I'm definitely down for more.

[TCP]

Red Dead Redemption

I have a lot of nostalgia for this game and it's still a ton of fun to play in 2024. I haven't touched it since it came out originally and I was surprised that there was less jank than I was expecting. 

Here's a random collection of thoughts:

That said, the game has aged poorly in some respects. Characters are racist, antisemitic, sexist, homophobic, etc and no one gets their comeuppance. I get that they're trying to paint a realistic portrait of what common beliefs/attitudes would have been like in 1911 but this is also a game where John Marston kills like, over 1000 people, in a one month span. So it's already not realistic. They could have just... not done included that? Instead a random shopkeeper will just say like 5 horribly racist things during a single transaction and doesn't get challenged on it, nothing bad happens to them, it just is. I think my biggest gripe has to be with the representation of indigenous people. Off the top of my head I can think of one Native American with speaking lines in this game, and he is unceremoniously killed off after a few missions. Meanwhile Dutch's gang is mostly indigenous men and you kill so many of them. I suspect Red Dead 2 is probably better for all this, which I'll probably be playing next, after Undead Nightmare. 

Gameplay wise, it was more arcade-y than I remember but it's still a ton of fun. I love the world they crafted even if it does feel kind of small. The soundtrack is great (love all that Fender Bass VI you can hear).

I'm glad this game is available to play again, it worked really well on my Steam Deck.

[TCP]

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

Want to talk about vibes? This game has vibes. The gothic surf rock, especially with this song, is so fucking good. I never finished this back in the day and I couldn't recall why... until about half way through I hit a familiar spot. You have to grab 10 flowers (two types, five of each) for West Dickens and there's no other missions at the time. The flowers are a pain in the ass to find. Still not worth dropping the pack for, but definitely something that should have been adjusted to one of each. I probably had to wrap the game up early to play Uncharted 3 or something.

Outside of that the game is a ton of fun and definitely earned it's reputation for being one of the best expansion packs of all time. It's too bad Rockstar refused to do anything like this for RDR2.

[TheMightyEthan]

Gothic surf rock has a name, gothabilly, and it is my favorite genre name of all time.

[Mister Jack]

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

 

Boy oh boy this one really came out of nowhere and surprised me. I had written it off as an Uncharted clone when I heard the announcement but it really feels more like Dishonored and that's not a bad thing. If there's one thing where nobody could fault this game, it's in capturing that Indiana Jones spirit. It really does feel like a proper story in the series and the writing and characterization and setpieces are on point. The PC port was very well optimized too, despite me running it on a 3060 Ti that is beginning to show its age. My only complaint is that in some segments it's not clear where you're supposed to go and sometimes it got so dark all of a sudden that I had no idea which way to even look, and I'm pretty sure this wasn't intentional because it would even happen underwater of all places. Maybe my hardware had something to do with it, I don't know. Still a great game though. I'm just pissed because I was supposed to get it for free with my 4070 Ti Super but my order was canceled. When I reordered the card a few days later the promotion was over and Nvidia would not even pretend like they were going to cut me a break. Thank god for game pass, at least.

[MetalCaveman]

Since I don't think I'll be able to finish Sekiro before the end of the year, here's my list for 2024:

 

1. Onechanbara Z2: Chaos
2. Taboo Trial
3. Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
4. The Typing of the Dead: Overkill
5. Bullet Girls Phantasia
6. Palworld
7. Borderlands GOTY Enhanced
8. Borderlands 2
9. Maid of the Dead
10. Borderlands 3
11. Warhammer 40000: Gladius
12. Warhammer 40000: Mechanicus
13. Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade
14. Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm
15. Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II
16. Elden Ring
17. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
18. Space Marine 2
19. The Callisto Protocol
20. The Evil Within
21. The Evil Within 2

Much better than I thought, was sure I'd only finished 14 games or so, also, earlier in the year I thought this would be a fanservice heavy year for me, ended up being more of a WH40K kind of year.

[deanb]

Hidden Folks

 

Cutesy little game I think I've had for an age. Was good "pick up and drop" type game during the weird times that is Christmas and the preceding and proceeding days.

I've played similar "Where's Wally" type games before (played Hidden Through Time on my phone recently too). This one is entirely mono-colour* (and you can change the background, which has made it a bit easier on my eyes), but you can interact with things that sometimes spark other elements (towards the end you have to adjust a lot of elements to get like tracks running that will maybe deliver your item or similar).

I did have to google solutions for a handful for items (one felt a bit cruel as I'd got 80% of the way to the clue, except unless you were zoomed out you wouldn't see what you were triggering). Given there's hundreds of items/folks to find across many levels most are very manageable on your own, ranging from simple and obvious to devious but make you go "woohoo" on completion. Took about 10hrs to complete (according to steam play time, though some I think is distracted playing).

 

*turns out it's part of a bundle of 2-bit colour games
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/9897/The_Black__White_Indie_Games_Bundle/

[Mister Jack]

Alien: Rogue Incursion

 

Last game of 2024 for me. I bought it on steam at first but the PC port at launch was pretty rough and Virtual Desktop didn't even work, which is pretty much the objectively best way to do PCVR if you're using a wireless connection, so I refunded it and got the PSVR2 version instead, which ended up being the much better version for once. Technical hiccups aside, this is pretty much the definitive Aliens experience for me. If Isolation was the definitive Alien experience then this one embodies Aliens as in the more action based sequel film. Yes, you have guns that can actually kill the xenos this time, but what I like is that you're still not going to be mindlessly mowing them down like in Colonial Marines. Xenos are still a big threat and can kill you in two hits tops. They will also try to sneak up on you by crawling along walls and ceilings and through vents. More than once I've turned around to find a xeno clinging to a wall and staring at me from three feet away. This game really demands that you use the motion detector but I swear sometimes it feels like the xenos try to deliberately seek out your sweeper's blind spots so they can get the jump on you. I do appreciate that if a xeno is nearby you'll hear the motion detector start pinging even if you aren't holding it so you don't always have to have it in your hand at all times. Of course, you can't effectively use any gun except the magnum while holding on to it, so when shit hits the fan you're either going to have to drop the detector quickly or start blasting and hope you can manage the recoil with one hand. 

 

I don't want to spoil the story but it does offer up several moments where you get to experience iconic Alien tropes firsthand. The two main characters are alright. I was rather fond of my android companion, who goes to great lengths to protect you from the hellish situation you find yourself in. However, while the game is a decent length on its own I have to knock it for suddenly revealing at launch that this is just part one of a two part story. Seems rather shady to hide that until the last minute.

 

For most of the game you're just fighting xenos and facehuggers. They didn't make up new subtypes for this that didn't exist around the time of the original Aliens film. That didn't really bother me since it's lore accurate and the standard xeno is a very well designed enemy but the fact remains that you don't have a whole lot of enemy variety if that sort of thing bothers you. You also have only four weapons: a magnum, a shotgun, grenades, and the iconic pulse rifle. Again, the pulse rifle was the whole point for me so I didn't mind but maybe you would feel differently. I will say the rifle feels great to shoot on the PSVR2 with the controller haptics rattling against your hands every time you fire it. 

 

While I wouldn't call this a survival horror game, I'd say it's survival adjacent at least. Ammo isn't rare, but there's a limit to how much you can carry and I was forced to fall back on my magnum more than a few times. I have a suspicion that the xenos spawn infinitely if you screw around and waste time. I never felt like it was more than I could handle, but the only places that are completely safe for you to relax and take a breather are the panic rooms, which also count as save stations. Autosaves are rare and you can't save if xenos are neaby much like in Isolation, so if it's been a while since your last save you'll be feeling the pressure of losing progress if you run out of supplies and die before you find another panic room.  Looking at your map is also done in real time on a handheld datapad you have to scroll with your finger so you better make sure you're safe before you start looking for directions. Sometimes you also have to use computers or repair electronics to progress and the xenos will absolutely not show you the courtesy of waiting for you to finish so you best listen for your motion detector while doing any puzzles. 

 

PC performance and Part 1 issues aside, I have a few small gripes. It is a metroidvania so you'll be doing a lot of backtracking and using tools to unlock new areas, but a fair bit of it amounts to upgrading the security clearance on your key card. There were a few times when xenos would clip through doors, and while they couldn't attack me from the other room it did at least give away their presence. The full body model could also get a bit awkward at times depending on the position you're in. Still, I can't deny this was the kind of Aliens experience I've been wanting to have in VR for a good while. Isolation is a great game sometimes you just gotta shoot a pulse rifle.

[Pojodin]

Not too bad this year all things considered. A few longer entries which made for a budget friendly year.

1.       Gylt

2.       Earthbound

3.       Silent Hill: The Short Message

4.       Persona 3 Reload

5.       Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

6.       OXENFREE II: Lost Signals

7.       ActRaiser 2

8.       Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider

9.       Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

10.   Another Crab's Treasure

11.   Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

12.   Sifu

13.   Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts

14.   Sable

15.   Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

16.   Little Goody Two Shoes

17.   Nobody Saves the World

18.   Thymesia

19.   Battletoads/Double Dragon

20.   A Plague Tale Requiem

21.   Astro Bot

22.   Silent Hill 2 (2024 Remake)

23.   Neva

24.   The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

[TheMightyEthan]

End of the year wrap-up time!

I beat 31 games this year, down from 54 last year. As always I only count games I beat for the first time this year.

 

 

PC was far and away my most-played platform last year, with a whopping 87% of my games and 78% of my playtime.

 

 

 

For the first time at least since the Switch released, I had no Nintendo games whatsoever. Xbox barely got in, because I was replaying the old Splinter Cell games and discovered I'd never played the Kola Cell DLC.

 

Playstation won for longest average game because of the 3 games I played on the platform, one was FF7 Rebirth.

 

 

All in all I'd say 2024 was a pretty decent year for games for me. Bring on 2025!

[toxicitizen]

I stopped tracking my games on a spreadsheet a while back, so I just went back through this thread and made a list lol. Some stuff may be missing, I guess, but probably nothing major.

 

1. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
2. Horizon: Zero Dawn – Complete Edition
3. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – Master Collection Version
4. Persona 3 Reload
5. Persona 5 Strikers
6. Kingdom Hearts Final Mix
7. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
8. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
9. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater – Master Collection Version
10. God of War: Ragnarok
11. Silent Hill 2 Remake
12. Metaphor: ReFantazio
13. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
14. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
15. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

 

I was gonna try and do Space Marine 1 -> Boltgun -> Space Marine 2 before the end of the year but I got distracted from Boltgun after finishing the first chapter.

 

Everything was played on PC. Honorable mention to P5 Strikers for being so forgettable I had actually forgotten I'd played it. I'm surprised that I managed to get through two of Atlus' long JRPGs without getting burned out. In fact, I feel like in both cases I went through them much faster than usual. I wonder if that would've changed had I tried to fit SMTV Vengeance in there.

[TheMightyEthan]

Goddamn, you started the year off with some bangers.

I love P5 so so much but I bounced off Strikers at like the second world.

[deanb]

Not a wrap up, just a belated "Game I beat in 2024".

Machinika Museum

 

I actually got this back in May when they were doing a giveaway, so better late than never. It's basically "The Room" (if you've played that series) but a bit sci-fi rather than cosmic fantasy (admittedly the gif looks like an elder scroll). I think it was originally designed for phones so it works really well with the touch screen on the steamdeck (which is kind of rare for games to work with the touchscreen as a "touch screen" and not just for like typing on a keyboard or picking objects in some menus). Only major hiccup was no obvious method for "back/zoom out" so did have to cludgily use the B.

Was about the right length. I spent about 4hrs playing it, and the sequel could be cool but not currently £12 worth of cool. (£12 got me Midnight Suns). Puzzles were pretty logicial, no moon logic (just aside from "why are military researchers putting puzzles on their crates locks"). You get stumped but not frustratingly so.