Played 2021
The yearly list of mostly chronological games played.
In order to show up on this list I should at least have played 3-4 hours of the game. Hopefully most will be completed, or at least with an indication of if i plan to complete them.
List items
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Oh where to start... Never played a dragon quest game before, found out it was on game pass, and that the new Yakuza game is modled after the series, I thought eh why not.
I was not really in love with the story starting out, but I guess it is growing on me, just had a reveal around ~16 hours in in Dundrasil, which kind of makes it a bit more interesting.
So yeah I will probably end up completing this.
Still hope they come back around to what happened to Gemma... That is still such a bummer of a game start, I don't need the game to start with a Aerith like moment.
So have put ~64 hours into this, gotten the "ending", felt a bit rushed at the end, though some of that seems to be touched in the epilogue/post game.
The overall story is filled with classic rpg tropes kind of to a fault.
I really did not like the voice direction / voice acting, most of the characters felt over played / like a caricature, but I guess that are how the characters are in the story as well.
The crafting is neat enough, and the tech trees are kind of interesting, though definitely no final fantasy x.
Btw. Eric is broken with cobra strike, divide and victimize, easy 3x 6-700 dmg.
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Scratching that Left4Dead itch, with a splash of red faction. Very nice coop game, that fit our game group well. At least it still seems fun, and there seems to be some progression.
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So, I have been watching some videos of GeoWizzard trying to walk in a straight line across Wales and Norway, and his how not to travel Europe. That lead me to watching a couple of his very chill videos on GeoGuessr which is what he has been primarily doing, and though eh maybe I should try it out.
It's fun enough and I might just up my per month subscription to a full year, and make it a new hobby for 2021, getting a bit better at geography, well at least the parts that have google street view.
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All it took was Jan doing a stream, and I got the itch to jump back in. Found out I had forgotton someof the mechanics, melee + jetpack boost, storage upgrades can be applied to either of the inventories.
Have hit a point where my inventory is maxed, my ship is A class, and money is nothing due to crashing the systems economy with cobalt.
So short of starting to build a real base, I don't really feel like playing anymore. It is still kind of fun to jump from system to system and break the economy, buy some ships, break them down and turn modules into nanites, but it feels like a clicker now, with no real progression.
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Got trough hades, after having taken a break. It is still fun enough, but I am kind of tired of having to do 45-60 min runs where I feel like I have no progression cause I either die to the labyrinth poison or get trough that to the last fight. And because I had not done a clear run, i could not unlock anything with contracts.
I have cleared a run, thanks to the shield and passive play. But even that fell a bit flat, cause sometimes the game just straight fails to acknowledge where you got to, and instead just talks about oh you beat the bone hydra, like sure 30 runs ago.
Anyway glad I got a run in that was a clear, not sure I want to continue even if there is more story, cause it just feels like grind.
So mixed feelings on Hades, glad to have played it, not sure I will be back.
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Fell into this rogue lite/like/whatever. Clicker heroes meet Rogue. It is fun enough and interesting enough for some time (cough 28 hours), then it tapers off due to progression stopping, and not enough variation.
Liked it ok, wasn't too thrilled about the no info hints.
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Super neat visual novel combined with tower defence. The story is interesting all the way though, and with enough twists and turns that I did not see coming. From time to time my guesses were correct, if only for a short while :)
Time travel stories are always hard to do but I feel like it is done really well here. Exploring and piecing together the story strands as you see events unfold from different characters perspectives.
My biggest complaint might be that from time to time you can get utterly stuck if you missed some detail, looking at you Iori and Takatoshi. Normally you would be able to figure out what to do by looking at the story tree / branches.
I really liked my time with 13 Sentinels, and as always with these kinds of game the characters really help carry the game over the finish line. My save game says it was around 33 hours, and most of it has been done in marathons :)
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Some comment on the Stories of Season quick look mentioned that Stardew Valley and Graveyard Keeper really has stolen the thunder from those games, so I thought lets try it out as it was on sale.
It is going to be a big nope from here, the humour is kind of rubbing me the wrong way, and man I was stuck for half the day in the tutorial on the graves, cause I missed the blueprint table and went straight to the graves.
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It's a Klei game, had to try it. Not all that bad, but I already know I suck at this management sim.
It could have been good if there was some kind of hook/story such that I felt like I had a reason to play it. Instead it is just busy work, and some how I feel like I was achieving more when I had 5 clones than now when I have ~10. I am not sure if I will get back to this.
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Oh new protagonist, sign me up.. Oh wait dragon quest battle system, eh... not so sure.
Though one of the things I got kind of tired of in Judgement was the button mashing, so nice enough with something new. Except it is damn janky, like people getting stuck behind things, party members running a marathon to get to do their target, someone getting hit by a car during battle, and now they are just skidding along in front of that car, until the game finally decides: hey get back here. Missing attacks due to environment that you have no control over.
They have added talk to you companions, but it happens real time, meaning you might end up getting interrupted, and having to hear the whole story again, just to get interrupted by yet another fight so you have to do it again... Just have it work like the mission "cut scenes", where people suddenly find out they have better things to do and turn around.
I think this game suffers from way too many systems, some of which are at odds with each other. It's a shame really, cause the story is great so far, the characters are likeable (fuck Namba though), and it is nice to be out of Kamurocho for now. I am sure I get back there at some point, though not as sure now 47hours into the game.
All that being said: Ichiban Kasuga is a very likeable guy! And the game is filled with the quirkiness I know and like the yakuza games for. I just forgot that these games can be heavy on the cut scenes, and this one has maybe a bit too much at that start in order to setup everything, but I guess that is also one of the things I like about them.
I am not sure I like the jobs system that much, guess it is nice that you can choose your characters and just kind of morph them into what you want, but not everyone can be the same things.
After 63 hours FIN scrolled by. Man Ichiban goes through a lot, like, cant the guy get a break.
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This appeared on game pass, and since Vinny had been raving a bit about it, and after my graveyard keeper disappointment I gave this a go.
It is a delightful game, that is not trying to too hard in any way. I enjoyed building using the blue print system, and was actually a bit disappointed when the villagers started building themselves, but I was also a bit relieved in the end, since the finishing projects on every island is quite big.
It was good that the game was not longer than it is, cause i had already kind of hit some fatigue at the third main island, the over all theme of the island did not help me either.
Biggest down side in the game, the buggy controls, and unskippable text that stays on the screen for way too long. Why cant you skip those, you can skip ahead in all the other dialogue.
I might come back to this just to try out building stuff on my own, and discovering the last rooms, and get to the last explorers islands. Still need ~2500 gratitude for what looks like the last, and have not visited buildtopia.
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With Trails to Azure getting its fan translation version 1.0 release, I decided it was time to dive into Zero no Kiseki aka Trails from Zero. I really enjoyed the Trails in the Sky trilogy, though it got a bit convoluted / out there in the 3rd game.
Over the course of my ~67 hours play-through I really enjoyed the characters an discovering their backgrounds. The story is set in the city of Crossbell, and its surrounding area, so travel is kind of limited just like the first game of Trails in the Sky. You play as Lloyd Bannings this time and not as Estelle, but both her and Joshua shows up as well as other characters, which is actually quite nice.
Wish I had figured out that selling sepium shards yielded so many mira earlier than the last chapter of the game. I am very glad that I decided to wait playing Trails from Zero until the second game was translated, since the story still leaves a lot of unanswered questions floating, though I might not jump into Azure right away.
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One of the first games I put on my mental todo list after jumping on the Xbox Gamepass train, since I remember seeing the trailer at E3 one year. It is an interesting premise, and the mechanics are kind of interesting, but boy is it unpolished. It is kind of a proto Horizon Zero Dawn, just more sci-fi up front.
The extract core tug of war is a bit annoying, since you can still be targeted by other enemies, I really wish if they instead had made it a glory kill.
Playing mouse and keyboard is also a bit weird, right click will not zoom your rifle, but instead enters auto aim lock on mode, which I guess is nice if playing with a controller. The controls are also a bit weird with the lock-on target switch being the same as your charge shot. Weird small stuff like that. It really annoys me that the audio logs you find are not subtitled.
The double jump and air strafe you have out of the gate are nice, I hope they get upgrade during the story since it would be neat to be able to strafe just a bit longer.
Anyway I might see where the story goes and play through it, howlongtobeat says main story is around 12 hours and story + extras is 20 hours, which might be nice for once.
God the combat is infuriating, it is way to easy to get swarmed, it does not feel as if you can kite the enemies as they will just charge you and chain stun you, it feels as if the levelling is doing absolute nothing, that on top of a clunkey control scheme is close to making me just drop this game, just got my third bot and what ever. It feels way to limiting that you can only take two with you, I guess that means I might hit stuff where i need a specific bot and will have to go back and change the load out. It really just feels like bad decisions all around.
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What a lovely delightful little game, glad I finally got around to picking it up. Kind of sad there isn't any more puzzles, it took around an hour and a half, but worth every minute.
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This is not as strong as the previous Subnautica. The story is way to easy to jumble up. The original felt more directed. Also for a game that wants you to be atop the ice for quite some time it really does throw a lot of bad weather at you.
There were upgrades I never got, because the game is so silent about what is available, and it feels way to random the order you end up finding thing, again because there is no clear path. E.g. the defence shock thingy, cause I did not encounter it. Also it gives you a lot of map markers, except for some times it does not, just vague descriptions, especially in the last part. And when you don't have a map other than a static map you cant zoom or see distances on it really is just annoying "Im on an iceberg to the [compas direction]"... sure there are 5-6 large icebergs in that area.
Ended up visiting the Zero base last after having done the first main story, I guess you are supposed to go there second or third.
Oh and void leviathans is the worst idea in the world, lost 3 hours progress to that, because I went looking for a "deep" place, and the game only warns you the first time you are going outside the map. The leviathans are so aggressive that you cant return to the map, so lost everything. Make my character or the intercom say turn back now.
The game could benefit from some quality of life stuff, such as craft from items in chests in base. Give me a 2d map with marker on please :) or at least a map that updates when you visit places so I can find them again, I had so many buoys when I finished.
All that complaining aside, the game is still neat, and exploration with progressive upgrades is wonderful, but the story was way to easy to get jumbled.
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Been on my radar for a long time, finally tried it due to game pass.. It's ok I guess. Feels a bit too aimless and the random drops does not help with that, but the tech tree went places I was not prepared for.
I really don't like the default key mappings, everything feels off on mouse and keyboard. That and the idea that nah no pause (though you can enter non combat areas, and check out your skills which seems to pause the game..).
Spent around 7 hours and unlocked some extra islands, but I don't think I feel it.
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Liked around the world in 80 days, it was fun to explore the different choose your own adventure choices. Overboard on the other hand is static, you are on a ship, you murdered your husband, you need figure out how to get off the hook, and reverse murder investigate, without implicating yourself.
I played one run through it, and I am not sure this will stick with me. On the second loop you get some "hints" on what to try and figure out, but the "trial" just seems so random in what it takes as enough evidence to convict you. I guess that is in the true Poirot style, but I don't think I find a game where I have to lie all the time very compelling. Perhaps if the premise was that you were being framed of your husbands murder... though not sure.
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A friend recommended it to me, and given that I was quite entertained by Bloodstained I bought it on the summer sale.
The controls feels just a bit off for me, the jumps are a bit too.. floaty? I still haven't gotten a double jump, and in general I have no idea where I should go next, which results in me running from one side of the map to the other. The downwards attack to "pogo" on enemies is way to hard for me to hit for some reason.
The hold down LB to show map (which is slow to show up) is a bit annoying as well.
I have played around 4 hours, gotten the dash, not sure if I will get back to this, it feels like there might be a story somewhere, but so far it is just "empty world" drip feed small weird nuggets.
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Uhh not too sure about this one... I like the premise and setting, but man it has a lot of bugs. Like enemies not spawning for missions, or not being able to quit the game...
The difficulty seems all over the place, some times you just plough through enemies, and other times the game just chooses to throw enemies that are 6-10 level above you... Granted I might have gone into an area that was higher level, but I can't really see it from anything but the enemies, and it was the quest path tracer that sent me though those levels, resulting in a lot of reloads/respawns.
I hate that I cannot save, auto save is fine, but give me the option to trigger a save so I don't have to wait for a timer, or checkpoint.
Missions are also all over the place level wise. Like here is a level 2 mission, oh but you need to be level 6+ to actually get to where you need to go.
Have gotten to the appropriate the ag ops data vault mission, and I am clearly not good enough to play this game. Again the mission levels seems so off the mark it is infuriating. I will probably try again later, but man this game is rough.
At least it is on game pass.
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Picked this up earlier this year when it launched on switch (or was it last year?).
It said Fire Emblem and Persona on the tin, so thought I would probably like it enough, and yeah there is something there, but the characters are extremely tropey, and the main character is really a wet blanket. The story really reminds me of Total Overdose, guess it is just because of the idols and vocaloids angle.
Gameplay wise you got a turn based battle system with sessions, which is chain combos that trigger if you hit an enemy weakness. Healing is done by buying food/drinks and can be bought from 160yen, so like persona 5 subway, the amount is so low that you wont think twice (especially later when with enough sessions a battle will pull in 70-100k yen).
They also added a bunch of utility spells, such as escape out of a dungeon, highlight traps, more enemies, less enemies, only stronger enemies. All of these are very nice to have, Another nice thing is you can always swap out your party members during battle without missing your turn, and you can do it multiple times, so if you accidentally switch to the wrong member, just switch again.
The addition of a level, skill and "items" dungeons that you could use at any time was neat, it helped me trough a couple of side stories which I was not levelled for.
Finished in 64 hours, mostly because I ended up grinding a bit at the end.
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Picked this up at the Steam summer sale. I have jumped into the hackers memories story... It is a bit jumbled so far, with story fragments you find that fill out some backstory. The digimon part is probably the least interesting for me, and it is a bit weird having played a bunch of pokemon gen 1 as a kid. It feels a bit all over the place with digimons having level caps, then you can "evolve" them but you choose to do it.
I am not sure if the story will ever give you any real choices, or if it is just 100% linear. How long to beat is mentioning that the hackers memory is aroun 40 hours... which to be honest is too long for me i think, unless the story gets really interesting. And I am guessing the other part is another 40 hours.
The interface is a bit sluggish, and the game does not seem to detect my xbox controller until I change the resolution, which is just plain weird. The game is really not made to be played without a controller so it is very weird that it does not seem to detect the controller on startup.
Anyway not sure if I will finish this anytime soon...
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Oh boy here we go again.
Mass Effect 1 is one of my favourite games of all time, the amount of lore dump of a dense cool universe. I am a avid defender of the weapons cooldown, and was so bummed when they added thermal clip ammo in ME2, I really wish they had kept the cooldown, and perhaps added the thermal clips on top, so you never ran out of ammo. Especially when playing infiltrator (sniper rifle). Sure ME1 cooldown had some annoying bugs, where the weapon could get stuck in overheat, but man it was neat that the weapons just shaved a thin layer of metal off a block and launched that as a projectile.
Anyway started ME1 again, and I still love the universe.
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Game Pass at it again. Decided to try this out after hearing Austin Walker talk about it... I do not understand the game mechanics at all, so I kind of bounced hard after one session.
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Boy did I not enjoy this. I thought it would be an interesting game, but man I don't enjoy the loop, and after hearing a spoiler cast about it I don't care for the story at all. Good thing it was on game pass.
I feel like game pass is worth its price just as a try it out service these days. I have hit a lot of games lately that looked interesting but turned out to not be my jam.
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Psychonauts 2 is finally here, backed it on fig and all, and was actually rather happy that Microsoft picked up Double Fine, even if it marks an end of an era.
Anyway, it is way too long since I played Psychonauts 1, so here we are. The controls are still a bit wonkey, but man the game has style and charm!
Man the milkman level is still wild, and very punishing with the bad controls + camera angles... As well as not even hinting what powers to use. Got stuck at the sniper, and really really stuck at the door bell, like even when invisible the rainbow girl saw me, and when hiding she does not give you any time to line up a shot.
Finished it, but man that meat circus is just punishing, and that is after they have changed it so you don't loose lives for voiding out. The "escort" part sucks so much. Anyway I want to play Psychonauts 2 in the near future, but will probably put it off for a bit until they get through a couple of patches.
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Picked this up on a whim, and I am extremely into it, visual novel + picross. Apparently I like picross...
Man the ex-husband Ryan is a gas lighting mf.
After around 50+ hours for full completion, without hints for the story, I still like this game, but I got a bit annoyed with the "accuse with a minimum of information". It was fine in the first chapter, and perhaps in the second one as well, but every chapter, same pattern.
The picross is still awesome, and nothing feel better than figuring out the next step when you are a bit stuck. Even having to press reset, because you either miss clicked or just made a mistake 10 minutes earlier, is kind of fun.
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With tales of arise gennerating alot of buzz, and being a bit burned out with murder by numbers. I ended up picking this up on a flash sale.
I really don't like the story so far, and the combo system feels a bit clunky. Just got through the tutorial / prelude, and have arrived at an ice island.
I will probably give this a spin again later, but for now... not so sure.
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Curtsey of Mr. Austin Walker I picked this up since I was yearning for a bit of Fire Emblem on the PC. I got to chapter 8 and I am kind of stuck there, due to not being able to save a character... (I can of cause just let him die, and take the penalty... So for now I am stuck, and have moved on, and I am eyeing fire emblem awakening (since I played Tokyo Mirage Sessions earlier this year).
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This hit gamepass and heard good things about it, quite chill, and I really like that it conveys a story just through unpacking of things.
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Bought this back when it landed, and finally got around to play it. It feels a lot more reeled in that original Ace Attorney, probably mostly due to the characters not being as wacky.
The characters so far are well put together, and I somewhat like the whole come up with an alternate explanation/reasoning in chapter 2. The Jury system in chapter 3 kind of stressed me out a bit, though it ended up not being very relevant in that case...
I am probably just getting older, but I am not really fond of the whole, lets kill a character close to the protagonist to give them some motivation. Even though that is what happens in the original Ace Attorney as well.
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Fun enough. Reached level ~45. Playing through the missions. Just cleared the V10 act 95. Apparently if the difficulty setting is set to anything above "average" the bugatti will just absolutely floor you, and finish in less that 1:20, where the 3 star rating is 1:45... Some of the missions seem to not have been playtested at anything but average/easy.
That being said, there are a lot of different stuff to play around with, from stunt and speed challenges, to off-road and gymkhana and of cause normal racing. I think street racing is the hardest, simply due to it being filled with small tight turns.
Don't know how much more I will play, but it kind of scratches that Burnout Paradise itch, and the game is pretty enough.
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Though a bit sluggish/slow in movement, I enjoy this game, the sense of exploration, and so far no combat, is really chill. The story bits and the sense of trying to figure out the world is so far great.
I haven't gotten any new masks yet, and it seems like some of the stuff is gated by certain masks (looking at you salt plains).
Still enjoy this.
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Named the same as an album from my teen years (by theDanish band Kashmir), this journalist sleuth photo op game is so far a bit entertaining. You quickly get your two transformations, that allows you to access different parts of the map.
The controls are wonky, but there is something Hot Fuzz about the story, I am not sure if i will ever finish this, but it is on gamepass and I spent a couple of hours with it, currently looking at a mountain.
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Not sure where I land on this yet, only gotten through the first boss the prospector, and I still feel quite a bit lost at the card mechanics. From what I heard the later acts goes off the rail as expected from a game made by the Pony Island guy.
The question is if I can stick it out... I don't really care for the deck building genre.
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From 0-100 km/h right in the feels in the god damn tutorial, that is quite a feat. But it also kind of almost made me quit the game then and there. I might need to steel myself for this one.
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