1) Cyberpunk 2077 - PS5
2) Medium - PS5
3) Ghostwire Tokyo - PS5
4) Jedi Fallen Order - PS5
5) Forspoken - PS5
6) Shadow Warrior 2 - PS4
7) Hogwarts Legacy - PS5
8) Scarlet Nexus - PS5
9) Oninaki - PS5
10) The Pedestrian - PS4
11) The Forgotten City - PS5
12) Valkyrie Elysium - PS5
13) Far Cry New Dawn - PS4
14) HFW: Burning shores - PS5
15) Erica - PS4
16) TMNT: SR - PS5
17) Dead Island 2 - PS5
18) Gotham Knights - PS5

Just Finished: The World Ends With You Final Remix (Switch)

This is my attempt to try more JRPGs and expand beyond Kingdom Hearts (and Pokemon). It helps that TWEWY is similar to Kingdom Hearts in many respects and Nomura's work on it is clearly evident. Heck characters from this game even appeared in the last KH game I played. I played completely in handheld mode which meant using only the touchscreen to control everything. For the most part it works well but the game can confuse touch inputs and it seems convoluted to have movement controlled by the same touch input as well. The combat is mostly satisfying and thankfully there aren't any random encounters. The game has manygreat features that I would welcome in other JRPGS  or games in general such as autosave, giving you experience points for time not spent playing, and the ability to swap difficulty levels easily and without consequence. Tying your stats to fashion customization is a strange and not engaging mechanic. The story is strange and melodramatic. The main character Neku is almost unbearably emo. The crisp HD 2D hand drawn graphics are a delight. I think it would have been hard for me to play the original DS version. As someone still not accustomed to long JRPGs the game's lengths was right about the sweetspot for me. The game world is a loving recreation of Shibuya. I used to live in Tokyo and spent quite a bit of time in Shibuya so I felt strong nostalgia for that neighborhood while playing. I would consider playing the sequel some day but I have my doubts that the game will be as charming in 3D. THE MUSIC IS FIRE!!!!!

Score: 7/10

Full Completed 2023 List:

• Super Mario World (NSO)
• Star Fox (NSO)
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PS5)
• Donkey Kong Country (NSO)
• The Legend of Zelda (NSO)
• Gran Turismo 7 (PS5)
• Grand Theft Auto V (PS5)
• The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe Edition (PS5)
•  Bioshock Infinite: Complete Edition (PS4)
• The World Ends With You Final Remix (Switch)

I dont have as much free time as I used to years ago and with the free time I do have, I spend it mainly with family but I do squeeze in time for games lol

Anyways these are my stats for 2023 so far....

Month wise

January 2023 (1)
-Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty (PS3)

February 2023 (1)
-Gears of War Ultimate Edition (XBO)

March 2023 (1)
-Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (PS3)

April 2023 (1)
-Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker (3DS)

May 2023 (2)
-Astro's Playroom (PS5)
-Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster (NS)

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Platform Wise

3DS (1)
-Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker

NS (1)
-Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster

PS3 (2)
-Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty
-Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time

PS5 (1)
-Astro's Playroom

XBO (1)
-Gears of War Ultimate Edition

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Total Game Completion Hours

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker (3DS): 86 hours
Gears of War Ultimate Edition (XBO): 15 hours
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (PS3): 11 hours
Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster (NS): 7 hours
Astro's Playroom (PS5): 5 hours
Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty (PS3): 3 Hours

Grand Total: 127 Hours

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Total Hours on Platform

3DS: 86 hours
XBO: 15 hours
PS3: 14 Hours
NS: 7 hours
PS5: 5 hours

Grand Total: 127 Hours

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Total Game Score List

3DS
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker - 96

NS
Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster - 87

Playstation 3
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time - 88
Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty - 74

Playstation 5
Astro's Playroom - 85

Xbox One
Gears of War Ultimate Edition - 86

Out of every one-hundred games I play these days, probably ninety-nine of them will be retro games (PS2 era and back). But I did recently play and beat the "new" Ninja Turtles game and I loved it. Felt as close to the games of the past as you can get without actually releasing physical carts for the SNES or Genesis.

Horizon Forbidden West

So, was just playing the PS4 version, already platinumed the PS5, so just platinum the PS4 version for the fun of it. Got the Plat in 37 hours and this included me being pedantic and wanting to buy certain outfits and doing certain upgrades or optional missions I didn't need to do. Went back to PS5 version after to compare looks, PS5 better is noticeably graphically superior.

As for my thoughts on the game as a whole, I'd say even though it's superb, it wasn't as superb or at least the effect of HZD had on me. I like the way they handled the level and abilities, like Aloy already knew the stuff from the last game, so just make it so everything is more powerful so she is. New machines are great, and Tallneck missions were better than first games.

However the crafting and weapons... urgh, why do I have to farm machines to then exchange for weapons to then farm machines to upgrade them when I've already upgraded a weapon and it's currently more powerful than the weapon I just got/purchased? HZD had a much better simpler system. There's so much farming in HFW. Upgrading the New Game plus weapons is just a chore. Plus they seriously nerfed the rope caster but maybe for good reason, rope caster in HZD was op, worked on basically everything, even the birds. I barely used it if at all in HFW.

As for the plot:

Eitherway, look forward to Horizon 3.

Finished Games:

1. 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. I'm not sure what else I can say. Very few games can hold my interest for such a long time. An excellent game, and without question the best game in the series I've played.
2. Superhot (PS4) My rating: 8/10
   • A fun puzzle game with a unique gimmick and a clever twist to its story. 
3. 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. With two very good DLC releases as well, Control turned out to be one of the better games I've played in a while. In terms of complaints, the Hiss end up becoming slightly dull as enemies by the end of the game, and the upgrade and mod systems don't feel as impactful as I'd like. Regardless, this is an excellent game.
4. 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. It's an utterly silly game, but the only other option would be sheer horror, so it's perfect.
5. 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. Melina Juergens does an exceptional job in the lead role. It's genuinely one of the best performances I've ever seen in a video game. I also love how the environment adds to this sense of lost control, as it shifts around Senua and makes her see things that might not actually be there. The puzzles where the player has to find patterns in the environment or align certain parts of it are also fitting considering Senua as a character. The weakest aspect of the game is definitely the combat, which while fun in small doses, gets really repetitive after a while, and fighting more than one enemy at a time can be exceptionally frustrating. That's the one aspect I hope the sequel improves upon.
6. 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.
7. 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. Now, even after doing most of the sidequests, I finished the game in little over 10 hours. It could have used just a few more hours for its story. Still, this is a fun game that definitely doesn't overstay its welcome.
8. 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. Not among the console's (or Square's) finest RPGs, but a thoroughly fun time regardless.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Pinstripe (PC) My Rating: 7.5/10
    • 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. Nothing groundbreaking or exceptional, but a solid title nonetheless.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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. 
15. Horizon Forbidden West + Burning Shores (PS5) My Rating: 9/10
    
    • Still a bit unsure about the score I would give the game, but to put it simply, if Elden Ring wasn't a thing, Forbidden West would be my new all-time favourite open world game ever. Now its "only" second best. 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. In addition, Burning Shores is a frontrunner for the best DLC of the year thus far. 
16. 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. 

Actively Playing:

• Ori and the Will of the Wisps (PC)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero (PS4)

Games in Queue:

• Persona 5 Royal
• The Witcher-trilogy
• Nier: Replicant
• Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age
• Tales of Vesperia
• Yakuza Kiwami
• Kingdom Hearts III
• Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir 
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses
• Xenoblade Chronicles Remastered
• God of War: Ragnarök
• Stray
• ...and too many others to list

Half of the year done almost and not enough games finished 🤣 Although, I do play long ones, but I expect after my TOTK playthrough to be able to run through faster on some releases or backlog stuff I have to finish.

Finished games :

- Live A Live, 100%(Switch) 

- Pacman World Re-Pac (Switch)

- Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (Switch)

- Octopath Traveler II (NS) - The finale of this journey was just oh sooo worth it ! Seriously my top game of the year so far with the latest Xenoblade DLC

Currently playing :

- Zelda Tears of the Kingdom (NS)

- XC3 Future Redeemed (NS)

- Digimon Survive (NS)

To be played : 

- Master Detective Archives : Rain Code (NS)

- Kirby Return To Dreamland Deluxe (NS)

- Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (DS)

1) Cyberpunk 2077 - PS5
2) Medium - PS5
3) Ghostwire Tokyo - PS5
4) Jedi Fallen Order - PS5
5) Forspoken - PS5
6) Shadow Warrior 2 - PS4
7) Hogwarts Legacy - PS5
8) Scarlet Nexus - PS5
9) Oninaki - PS5
10) The Pedestrian - PS4
11) The Forgotten City - PS5
12) Valkyrie Elysium - PS5
13) Far Cry New Dawn - PS4
14) HFW: Burning shores - PS5
15) Erica - PS4
16) TMNT: SR - PS5
17) Dead Island 2 - PS5
18) Gotham Knights - PS5
19) Neo: The world ends with you - PS4

Mass Effect
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3
Octopath Traveler 2 (Platinum)

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

FFVII Remake: Intermission

I finished up the platinum for Octopath Traveler 2, which was surprisingly pretty short, though I did kill the secret boss with a guide because I was feeling tired of the game. The amount of effort to grind my characters to be strong enough to sufficiently pull off the strategy was enough of a final boss fight for me. I can confidently say that I would have NEVER learned about all of the strategies without looking it up because my mind can be thinking too much in the box. The grind itself, as said before was kind of brutal with levels 1-60 being standard JRPG leveling and then 60-90+ being an absolute ridiculous amount of xp. There were some strategies posted for grinding xp, and I tried to do some of them several times, and then I compared it with my own standard grind. In terms of time and xp gained, my strategy always came out on top in efficiency. Relying on RNG will always lose for me. All in all I am just glad Temenos was my main and didn't need any grinding whatsoever, so I fed him the rest of my seeds and completely demolished the final secret boss.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a fun game, my 2nd JRPG of the year. I was happy to revisit the Three Kingdoms again, but with closer to Nioh style combat. However, the combat is just plain worse than Nioh 2. Being a mix of Nioh 2 and Sekiro in my opinion. Most bosses came down to "parries" which while flashy and makes one feel good, always feels like the lower skill option to me than fighting the boss in other ways. The hardest boss in particular forced me to play the game by Wo Long's rules rather than playing around with my stupid strategies, which I don't find nearly as fun. It definitely felt nice basically perfecting the boss, but disappointing that I couldn't just smash my head into the wall and win in the end. 3 kingdoms wise, I was very happy with the early game showing a lot of love to Wu, and then extremely disappointed when they skipped a lot of Wu stuff and ignored them in the 2nd half. Overall a good game, but I hope they focus better for Rise of the Ronin to reach the same or better quality as Nioh 2.

FFVII Remake: Intermission is DLC, and I don't normally buy DLC. But I really felt like using my PS5 for FF while waiting for FFXVI. I don't think it was worth $20 if I was in my normal state of mind. But I absolutely loved FFVII remake, and I needed more FF. Basically more FFVII Remake but with Yuffie, who is awesome. Excited for Rebirth.

The Great Backlog Expedition continues.. Probably 8-10 years worth of a few dozen games I'd like to beat or at least get deep into.. Much of the 2010s was a lull in gaming for me. I fell behind quite a bit compared to the 90s and 2000s. Partly b/c of working a lot, grad school, going out more. Plus as a Nintendo fan I just didn't like the Wii U. When I did game, most of that time was taken up by Overwatch online.

Finally making a dent but still quite a bit of progress to be made.

Far Cry 4
Far Cry 5
Far Cry New Dawn
Far Cry Primal
AC Odyssey
Rayman Legends (On that Ubi kick lately..)
Grandia 2 Remastered
Inside
Donut County
StarCraft Remastered
Batman Arkham Knight
Steamworld Heist (I mean I cut it off during the final boss b/c frankly he was utterly impossible, so as far as I'm concerned I beat the gd game :P)