30: Correct series, wrong game.

28: Correct.

27: Well, correct series, but the last hint says it's the first game in the series, so Grandia.

Ah, I missed that hint about Grandia, the new world line kinda let me think of a sequel.

And #30 is VC 4 then

The continent most of the game takes place in is called The New World, that's all. And yes, it's Valkyria Chronicles 4.

I'll throw out some more clues

#38 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
- A game that was retconned by the man who was heavily involved in introducing the gameplay model it uses... so much so that many of the games in this series with this style are commonly referred to using a portmanteau that has part of his name, and part of the series the games are from.
- In addition to the standard game, there are four different modes that can be unlocked, each of which will change the way you approach the game.
- Features a magic system that involves combining two cards for a desired effect.

#36 (incorrect guesses: A Short Hike)
- Do you want to go hiking or mountain climbing?
- I killed him earlier, why’s he still on the floor? Oh well, I’ll walk past and… no, wait, he’s alive, and more deadly than before.

#35
- If you rest long enough in a certain place on that train ride, you will get a nasty surprise.
- The Switch version of this crowdfunded game got off to a rough start.

#34
- The guy who dies shortly after you arrive on location shares his name with a guy who suffers a similar fate in a movie franchise that no doubt influenced this game.
- Whether you get more puzzles or more combat depends on which team mate you choose to follow at certain points.

#33
- Smelling of urine isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
- And looking at the guard’s butts can be advantageous at one point too.

#32
- That damned doctor can make or break a run for a frustrating unlockable.
- No doubt countless arguments broke out because someone decided to be the little guy.

#31 - Donkey Kong Country 2
- People often get this game’s subtitle slightly wrong.

#30
- Now you have to collect stat points and equipment upgrades, rather than finding / earning the money to do so like in the previous game.

My list so far

#38: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

#31 : Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Correct on both counts

#31

(-2)

Startin off December strong hell yea (this is the 2016 one btw). Just an absolutely badass game, love how quickly you get into the action. I can't say anything that already hasn't been said but this is such a ridiculously fun game that's so tightly packed all the way through. Need to get to the sequel soon

I was kinda sad when Microsoft bought Obsidian, because they were making good games, and I thought that moe would make them inaccessible to me. But I got over it, got an Xbox and could play Grounded. And the mix from survival with crafting and exploring to gain access to more stuff and push the plot forward worked really well for me.

Basically you play as one of four teens in the 90s, that were shrunk by an experiment and landed in the backyard. And the small and familiar space turns into a horribly dangerous big world, once you are the size of an ant. Luckily you can pick up stones and other stuff, slurp icky water... or better dew drops manufacture a spear and hunt down some bug to make a tasty bug steak. And then you craft an axe to cut down some grass and build yourself a castle.

The game has an ongoing plot with a misunderstood scientist who only wanted to explore the shrinking stuff and some other things. But you can explore the plot at your own pace, as you can any time stop and build or expand your base. Or bases. One needs more than one, after all this backyard is gigantic.

Night time gets terrifying, with lower visibility, all the strange noises and hunters on the prowl. The ones that will make you shit your pants are the spiders, these are really terrifying foes. Running into a spider while not expecting anything bad and just exploring can be a nasty surprise.

You can explore the in some places really beautiful garden, find out the secrets of Dr. Wendell Tully and Ominent practical Technologies, build your palace or just goof around. The game supports coop online multiplayer, which I as usual did not try as I don't like multiplayer most of the time. But the game is completely fine to be played in single player.

The garden contains a surprising amount of different environments and as a few meters are a major travel, you probably want to build at least minor bases in different places to spend the night and store food.

Even though I certainly didn't expect a game like Grounded from Obsidian, it certainly is fun and convinces me even further of Obsidians qualities. Pentiment is next to check out, although it comes to late for this years list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8fO-eTk25k&ab_channel=IGN

Grounded feels like this years surprise entry, surprisingly good. But more titles are ahead:

#31: guessed by coolbeans: Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV

#30: Your heroes grow old and retire - if they aren't killed on the battlefield.
They also can acquire strange body parts, like a fire arm, a wolf's head or crow's feet.
The mages can manipulate objects in the battle stage to do damage.
Age of Ulstryx
This indie game feature pop-up book like graphics for it's tactical fight sequences.
Stories of the Yondering Lands

#29: guessed by UnderwaterFunktown: Persona Q
Draw the map of the high school yourself on graph paper.
This is a mashup of one game series, with the gameplay of another.
This 3DS game got one sequel.
The game features characters from game series A 3 and 4, that meet in this game through mystical circumstances.

#28: Silver haired girl.
The Dawn Brigade rebels against the occupation by the Begnion Empire.
Although generally in a long running series, it is the direct sequel of the previous game that was on the console before.

_{ranking in the guessing game, list so far}

Guessed by @kenjab

Yes, I finally played it.

I'm not much into roguelikes, and by "not much" I mean not at all really. I didn't even know about this game prior to its release, despite nearly two years of it being in early access. Then it came out on the same day of the Ori and the Will of the Wisps port to the Switch, and this is petty, but I carried an envy, a negative feeling towards Hades for stealing the spotlight, if you will. Which to some extent I still stand by, in that Ori was absurdly omitted from a lot of major awards for that year, but whatever. It was all pretty stupid, obviously I knew it was back then too, but if I were to ever enjoy Hades, I had to give it time. I did, and it was worth it.

This game is beautiful to look at, has a delicious soundtrack, amazing characters in a less amazing but still pretty good story, and most importantly, it's super fun to play. And to play for long, too. Even though I got to the true "ending", over 90 hours in, I still feel like I left it somewhat unfinished. And I'm sure it'd feel that way if I'd played it three or four times as much as I did - it's just that kind of game, it keeps you coming back. It always has something new to offer whether you're doing your 10th or 100th or 1000th run.

So basically, what everyone else always said. Hades is awesome. Also, Charon is the best.

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