Well it's the end of 2023 and I'm going to give it another go at making a list. I played some games but upon reflection I did not play that many from 2023. Unfortunately, this will be a list of mostly past releases.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
What can I say, I'm a Nintendo mark. I played Breath of the Wild on my WiiU. Put over 70 hours into it and loved it all. This game, according to the Year in Review from Nintendo, I put in a total of 146 hours. That's nuts for me. I don't usually put in 100 hours of anything. Only other game that reached 100 in my Nintendo account(including WiiU and 3DS) is Pokemon Sword. This game was special. Searching through Hyrule all over again and having all these toys I could make through Ultrahand was a delight. Having the sages be part of your journey as ghostly avatars was a nice touch and really added to the fights. GOTY by far for me.
2. Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn
I started playing this late last year and played up til about the day before the release of Tears of the Kingdom. It was a happy coincidence that my subscription ran out the day before. I got up to the ending of A Realm Reborn and I am really hoping to get back soon. This game really did start out kinda ho hum for me at first but then the story got kicking and in the last act I was hooked. So much happens and to think that there's all these expansions that I have to go through seems daunting but I'm down for it.
3. Super Nintendo World - Universal Studios Japan
If anyone has been to the Super Nintendo World parks in either Japan or LA, you know this is basically a video game. I went there 3 times with my kids and each time I left knowing I hadn't gotten my fill of being there. There are 2 rides, Yoshi's Island and Mario Kart. Yoshi's Island is a pretty chill slow ride where you go through Yoshi's island and see various characters from the game. Along the way you'll see different colored Yoshi eggs and push the corresponding button on your ride to make them glow. Push them all and you get a stamp. Mario Kart is a must go even if the lines are long. You ride with an AR visor and race with Mario and co. against Koopa and the Koopalings. There's SO MUCH going on during the ride it's hard to keep up on the first go. If you look at the achievements you can get you can see there are hidden blocks and items you can get through the map. I just wish the lines weren't 3 hours long so I could try to get them all.
The food and environment is cool but it's the sheer amount of stuff you can do with the bracelets that makes it all worth it. With an app you can track your progress and gain stamps/acheivements that carry over to your next visit. Mini-games to get keys such as turning a handle rapidly to drop a Goomba or going through an underworld area to assemble a key that's been blown up by a Bob-omb or hitting a POW block at the right time to chain react a Koopa shell into a key and other games around the park. If you win enough games and you get enough keys to get access to Koopa Jr's castle where you are able to take on Koopa Jr. and get some more coins and stamps. Some stamps are easy enough to get. Visit Super Nintendo World in December - February, get a stamp. Others are more time consuming such as Collect 1000 coins in Mario Kart(Collectively) and I usually get just over 100 per ride. I'm sure if you did it more and figure out the meta it won't be THAT long but it still takes multiple rides of a 1-3 hour line.
Still looking forward to Donkey Kong Country next year.
Started playing this in the forums and been playing daily non-stop. It's like Wordle but for video games. Each day you need to guess the game based on 6 screenshots. You get 6 tried to guess it right. Each wrong guess reveals anothe screenshot as well as some information about the game: Metacritic score, platform, release date etc. Getting the game in 1 shot is such a rush especially when you know it. Best moment for me is either getting a lucky first guess tha I had no business getting right or making a last ditch guess on a game I've never heard of or seen before. Don't think it's a game? Guess the Game #322 says otherwise.
I haven't really played any fighting game since Soul Caliber 6 but the style and hype around SF6 got me to bite the bullet and go. It feels real good and playing online isn't all that bad. I haven't played that much lately but I do hop in every once in a while to play with a friend. Who then bodies me for 30 minutes and makes me question why I ever played in the first place. Ha!
I just platinumed this the other day. It's....alright. It starts out slow and really started picking up around hour 2 when I got a couple upgrades to my characters that allowed them to chain attacks and hit more than 2 times. But once it starts kicking off the story is all right and the feel of the combat is pretty good. But having to get 160 subquests to upgrade your town to the max level was a slog at times. Worst case was a man saying he just moved to town with his wife and kid and can't find his wife. Go down one screen and find his wife. Go back one screen and talk to the man again, quest complete. Repeated this exact sequence 2 more times for the wife and then the kid. Not the most engaging subquests and makes me wonder if they really needed the 160. I will say though that I received this as a backer reward for participating in the kickstarter to get Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes created so I can't say for sure if it is worth the regular price on it. A sale maybe.
7. Puzzle Quest
I played this after seeing it on Guess the Game. It's alright but it has a bit too much RNG to strategize right. As far as I am aware of anyways. I will admit it's probably me. Match 3 tiles to attack enemies, gain mana to use spells and hope that you can win and continue the story. I lost too many times over unlucky draw with the falling tiles and the computer getting luckier. Maybe the sequels are better but I probably won't try unless recommended.
Honorable Mention:
Only played about 2 levels but my kids have taken control of my Switch and it's like it's no longer mine. Will get to it someday. Elephant Daisy is too good.
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