Darashiva on 10 October 2023
Finished Games:
- Monster Hunter World (+Iceborne) (PS4) My rating: 9/10
- I spent roughly 150 hours playing through MHW, and I never once got tired of hunting monsters and trying to find more materials to craft new weapons and armor.
- Superhot (PS4) My rating: 8/10
- A fun puzzle game with a unique gimmick and a clever twist to its story.
- Control (PS4) My rating: 9 / 10
- Remedy's best game so far. I love the setting, story, characters, and gameplay. The developer has created a world that is wonderfully twisted in various small ways, leading to a constant sense of unease as nothing feels completely right, from the way characters act to the Oldest House itself.
- Katamari Damacy REROLL (Switch) My rating: 8.5 / 10
- A wonderful game to just lean back and relax for a while. Something delightfully cathartic to just roll everything in sight into a giant rolling ball of destruction.
- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PC) My rating: 8.5 / 10
- Been on a really good roll when it comes to video games lately, and Senua's Sacrifice was another great game to add to the list. Ninja Theory have long been one of my favourite developers, but I didn't get around to this game until now for whatever reason. Still, I'm glad I finally did because it's great. The story is well-told and intriguing, but the true star here is Senua herself and her characterization as a person losing her grip on reality and suffering from psychosis.
- Cadence of Hyrule (Switch) My Rating: 8 / 10
- A fun, rhythm action game with a few shortcomings that keep if from true greatness. The Hyrule setting is great, and the gameplay is a lot of fun once you get accustomed to it. I played the game through with my wife in co-op, and for the most part it's a great for that. There are a few battles that feel a bit unfair in co-op, but otherwise no issues with the game.
- Cosmic Star Heroine (PC) My Rating: 7.5 / 10
- Basically a tribute to classic SNES era JRPGs with some modern concessions. The battle system is fast-paced and fun, the story moves at a very brisk pace, and the characters are instantly identifiable as separate people. However, the pace of the story is bit too fast, as very few moments get time to breathe, and as a result end up lacking in impact. It also leaves many of the characters woefully underdeveloped. The game could have taken a little more time to let the story develop.
- Super Mario RPG (SNES) My Rating: 7.5 / 10
- I had never actually finished Super Mario RPG before. I had played the very beginning a long time ago on an emulator, but I figured that since I have the SNES classic I should finally get around to playing it properly. I did, and it's good. It's a simple, lighthearted, RPG with a nice, quirky sense of humour and an enjoyable battle system.
- Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout (PS4) My Rating: 8 / 10
- The first game in the Atelier-series I've actually played, though I've had my eyes on it for a long time. A relaxing, relatively easy RPG with a decent storyline, good cast, surprisingly varied battle system, and an item creation system that actually becomes very deep as the game progresses. Overall, I had a lot of fun with this one, and I'll probably come back for the sequels too at some point.
- The Legend of Dragoon (PS4) My Rating: 10 / 10
- I've talked about this one enough already. One of my favourite games ever. I do wish they would have done a little more with this rerelease, even if it was just an updated translation, because the English language script is just awful, and is easily the worst part of the game. The voice acting is the one other notable shortcoming, though that's more a sign of the era it was released in than anything else.
- Pinstripe (PC) My Rating: 7 / 10
- A 2D platformer with a cool art style and responsive gameplay. Not very challenging either. The story is quite good, with a few nice twists thrown in near the end. It is, however, very short, my one playthrough clocking in at barely 2.5 hours. There are two endings, so you can get more out of the game if you want.
- AER: Memories of Old (PC) My Rating: 7.5 / 10
- A relaxing open world game where the focus is heavily on just flying around the world solving simple puzzles and listening to the story unfold. A nice little game to just wind down and experience once. The idea of a character being able to just turn into a bird at will and fly around the world freely is something I'd like to see explored more in games.
- Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PS3) My Rating: 9 / 10
- The third time I've played through DS2. Still the weakest in the series, still great, though I have to admit the game's flaws become more and more apparent as time passes and new games show how things can be done better. Will probably fall down a bit in my year end top 50.
- Astro's Playroom (PS5) My Rating: 8 / 10
- Finally bought a PS5 for myself, and it felt fitting to play Astro's Playroom first. A genuinely fun, nostalgia-filled journey through the history of PlayStation. An easy game to play, but it's a perfect showcase for the controller, and I had a smile on my face through most of the game as I came across all the little nods, references and Easter eggs to past games and consoles found everywhere.
- Horizon Forbidden West + Burning Shores (PS5) My Rating: 9/10
- I spent almost 90 hours in this game over the last few weeks, and I never once got bored of playing it. I loved the expanded gameplay options from the first game, the increased focus on character development, the continuation of the story to some really unexpected directions, and the setting in general. While the first game felt like Aloy's journey to discover the history of the world as well as her own past, FW was much more about her learning to trust others and forging closer relationships with people, while obviously also fighting to save the world.
- Valkyria Chronicles (PS4) My Rating: 9.5/10
- This was my third time playing through Valkyria Chronicles after I realized that it had been almost ten years since I last played it. Still remains one of my all-time favourite games, with a great story, excellent characters, beautiful visuals, a satisfying battle system, and one of Hitoshi Sakimoto's best scores, which is saying a lot.
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero (PS4) My Rating: 8.5/10
- The 8th game in The Legend of Heroes-series I've finished, and I have to say it's one of the weaker ones as a whole. Admittedly, the bar for me is quite high when it comes to this series, and even a game this good isn't among the best in it. Basically, this is still an excellent game in just about every aspect, but the characters, storyline, and music just don't quite reach the heights of the Trails in the Sky or Trails of Cold Steel subseries.
- Gravity Rush (PS4) My Rating: 8/10
- Another replay I decided to do when I realized it'd been almost six years since I played Gravity Rush. Still a thoroughly enjoyable game, with unique gameplay revolving around the use of gravity, a fascinating world, and an interesting set of main characters. Need to replay the sequel at some point as well.
- Stray (PS5) My Rating: 8/10
- Another game with a wonderfully realized world, a beautiful visual style, and certainly a unique perspective from which the player experiences it. Stray may not be a masterpiece, but it certainly warranted the hype it received from being "the cat game". A fun journey that lasts just long enough, and doesn't overstay its welcome.
- FAR: Lone Sails (PC) My Rating: 7.5/10
- A simple, quite intentionally straightforward game that lets the players' imagination fill in the finer details of the game's world and story. A short experience as well, as my first time playthrough was done in well under three hours. Very much a game where the journey matters more than the destination.
- Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Switch) My Rating: 8.5/10
- A mixed bag of a JRPG that gets great over time, but takes too long to get there in my opinion. Could have easily been 10 to 15 hours shorter and very little of value would have been lost. Still, I am looking forward to getting to the sequels at some point.
- Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) My Rating: 9/10
- As of this writing, FFXVI is my GotY for 2023. While I can't call it flawless, I absolutely loved the vast majority of what this game had to offer.
- The world of Valisthea is a wonderfully crafted place where each region has a very distinct look and feel to them, all the way down to their dialects and naming convention. I rarely see games where so much thought has gone to something as simple as location names being consistent.
- The story is great, starting out as a pure tale of revenge and over time morphing into something more noble as the main characters learn more about the truth of the world and its history. The characters themselves are also really well rounded and feel like actual people, especially if you take your time to do the various side quests that flesh out the world and the various people you meet. In general, I love how the side quests, while not always massively exciting or intriguing in terms of gameplay, almost always add details to the game's world, so even if you might not otherwise be inclined to do them, learning more about the backstories of your companions made them more than worth doing.
- The action-based gameplay was a lot of fun, and the sheer scale that the Eikon fights grow to is genuinely awe-inspiring. I don't think I've seen anything quite as epic in a video game as some of the later boss fights in FFXVI.
- The music by Masayoshi Soken is also exceptional, one of the best original video game scores of 2023.
- As far as the game's shortcomings are concerned, I wish there was a bit more enemy variety to be found. While the enemy designs are often really good, and the bosses in particular look amazing, there isn't all that much variety to them in the end. You end up fighting quite a few of even the bosses more than once, especially if you do the side quests or optional hunts.
- The game could have also been slightly more difficult. I died a total of maybe four or five times throughout the whole game, and at least a couple of those were more my mistakes rather than the game being actually difficult. At least a few more challenging optional fights would have been a nice addition.
- Overall, FFXVI is an excellent game. Close to some of the series best entries in fact, though not quite at the very top tier.
Actively Playing:
- Alan Wake Remastered (PS5)
Games in Queue:
- Persona 5 Royal
- The Witcher-trilogy
- Octopath Traveller II
- Demon's Souls
- Nier: Replicant
- Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age
- Tales of Vesperia
- Yakuza Kiwami
- Kingdom Hearts III
- Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses
- God of War: Ragnarök
- ...and too many others to list
