Games I Finished in 2023
going to try and go cold turkey on buying new games this year, i think i own enough to last me until i die. will inevitably fail and still play new stuff.
List items
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This was one of the biggest surprises I have had with a game in a while, comparing how much I enjoyed it versus my expectations going in. I started it up on a whim and got hooked pretty quickly. The explicit mesh of point-and-click and platformer gameplay (and many comparisons in-game by the characters) works well. The script is surprisingly funny and clever, with most of the jokes working really well for me, and there are quite a few twists and turns with the gameplay mechanics. Meta-game humor is very hit or miss in general for me, but it works well here.
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Cute little throwback platformer/collect-a-thon. The platforming in some of the later levels borders on frustrating when you are expected to do a bunch of midair grapples in a row, but at least there is pretty decent checkpointing, which blunts the frustration a bit.
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This has been on my "to play" list for quite a while since I know it is such a well-regarded game - and it did not disappoint! Played through it over the weekend and thought it still more than holds up in 2023. It's a nice balance of FPS and squad tactics - I played through on Hard and it was challenging but fair and forces you to be good at both aspects.
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I thought this game was improved across the board from the first game. It solved my main problem with the original, which is that the overworld was very linear and the puzzles were a little basic. I also liked the transition from the grid-based combat to the more free-flowing combat, which was a bit reminiscent to me of Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits on PS2.
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Have now finished the campaign on all difficulties. It's a super well-designed run-based game that reminds me a bit of Into the Breach with how it presents you perfect information and then you are left to use your moves as smartly as possible to succeed. Starting a turn with half your party about to die, and then turning things around after a few clever actions is such a satisfying result. Great phone game as well, allows me to feed my addiction where-ever.
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This game is an interesting mix of gameplay mechanics that tries its hardest. But for every cool thing about it, it's balanced out by a janky or repetitive aspect. The story is more interesting than I expected and the soundtrack is quite good (especially the pause music!), but the shooting is stiff and has hit detection issues, and there also seems to be a weird memory leak where sometimes the draw distance on enemies and objects becomes very short.
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Pretty standard little 3D platformer, not that much notable about it, although the art-style is neat, sort of a flat shaded thing that pops pretty well.
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Basically Hotline Miami x God of War, and your character really does look like an ersatz Kratos from the bargain bin. It was actually a pretty fun yet brainless little thing.
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Very strange that they made a new platformer based on a pretty old and obscure comic (and later cartoon series, which is what I was mainly familiar with), but I thought it was a pretty fun time. Art style is nice and colorful, and the gameplay is very Donkey Kong Country-esque, but it was enjoyable despite being on the easy side until the later parts of the game.
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I think this mostly held up in modern times as someone who is a sucker for a 3D platformer of yore, a handful of the levels have some archaic level design though. Like some of the spaces are way too big yet mostly empty and not fun to traverse while also being a pain in the butt.
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Really fun game, executes on what it is trying to be very well.
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I enjoyed this on the whole, I think the character and environment design is fantastic, the voice acting is really good, and the battle system is mostly very SMT-esque. The story beats are a little few and far between, and there's not a lot of variety in the dungeon design though.
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Fun little prototype sort of game that was worth the 2 bucks I spent on it. Apparently, the follow-up to this is now out (Justice Sucks) and is essentially the full-fledged version of this, so will be checking it out. Murderous Roomba is a fun and goofy concept I can get behind.
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Pretty good VN, starts a little slow but hooked me eventually.
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Really enjoyed this quite a bit. Reminds me a lot of Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, but far less obtuse.
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This was very short and sweet (under 2 hours), but I liked its exploration of some of the more practical consequences of cloning technology. Gameplay-wise, it wasn't too tricky, I kinda wish there were some harder puzzles though - was reminiscent of a far easier The Swaper.
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I was genuinely surprised at how much I liked this game, it's very much an indie Resident Evil 7 that is far more skewed towards puzzle-solving (maybe like 65/35 on the puzzles to combat ratio).
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A good follow-up to the first game, which I was quite fond of. It adds on and feels more open and expensive than the original. Love the look of it, and the combat is a lot of fun.
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This game rules so hard, I think it's an all-timer for me. Love that it came out of nowhere as well.
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Very pretty game, silly little slight platformer.
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This got dropped on Game Pass, so I checked it out. I really enjoyed the first game, but kinda hated the second since they turned it into a co-op loot game. This is much more reminiscent of the first and cribs from the design of the recent Doom games in a lot of ways. I ended up quite enjoying it despite it being surprisingly short - it's maybe like a 4-5 hour game? I finished it in 2 or 3 sittings.
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Pretty fun little platformer, gets pretty challenging by the end.
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I really love these smaller RPGs that Zeboyd is putting out, I have complained a lot in the past about there not being enough shorter games in the genre. The Shakespeare + Sailor Moon thing going on in this game is pretty unique and enjoyable.
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very fun and silly game
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fun little compact metroidvania
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Finally got around to playing this now that I have a Series X. This is one of my favorite series, but didn't have an opportunity to play this entry until now. It's actually pretty good, definitely better than DR4. Playing through some of the DLC now that I finished up the story mode.
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I thought the change in art style from Momodora still looked good, although it made the game chug a little bit on Switch since it looks to be 3d models even though it's a 2D game. Combat was a little easier than I would have liked as well. Although on the narrative side, I thought the story was intriguing and well told without being too obtuse.
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Very slight game, only a couple hours long, not too memorable.
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Cute little isometric stealth game, would have enjoyed it more if the controls were less finicky. I felt like I got caught sometimes because the controls were not responsive enough or animations were overly long.
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Pretty good kaiju beat-em-up - a little repetitive by the end, but still fun.
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Ended up playing this on a whim since it was super cheap in a sale, and came away really liking it. Very strange twin-stick shooter with a lot of anthropomorphized animals (you play the titular snail) with a surprising narrative focus and oddly good writing/localization. The music is a big highlight too! (I now have the twangy, laid-back main menu theme in my head.)
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solid Metroidvania with a lovely art style
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I was pleasantly surprised by this game after checking it out on a whim. It's a twin-stick shooter made up of a ton of bite-sized levels with interesting gameplay mechanics and a very creative art style with bizarre enemy designs (especially the bosses).
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Game was okay, looses steam quickly since you don't get any new abilities past the initial ones you choose.
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Was very impressed with this game, enjoy a shmup that is a little more narrative focused and has a longer story mode. Doubly impressive since this is Team Ladybug's first attempt at a shmup.
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Fun overall, but got a little frustrating by the end where the difficulty of the levels outpaced the preciseness of the controls.
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Sort of a mindless "checklist" game, but the gameplay loop still got me fairly hooked.
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Recompile was a little uneven for me, some good ups but low lows. Some of the biomes are more fun than others, and there are some interesting gameplay mechanics that feel undercooked or underused.
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Interesting take on a modern Castlevania-type game. I enjoyed the wealth and diversity of subweapons, especially once they start having mobility/platforming uses as well.
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Really great puzzle game with a nice look to it.
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Definitely the worst of the Fatal Frame games IMO. Not all that spooky, and a lot of the chapters are extremely repetitive and same-y and often drawn out. I played Fatal Frame 1 a couple years back and it was miles better than this.
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Glad I finally played the first season of these games, still thought the humor and writing held up quite well.
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more please
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This was okay...another one of those very abstract puzzle platformers (that may have had an emotional message, I dunno, it's always so abstract it is hard to tell).
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Gotta say, I enjoyed this way more than I expected to despite the gameplay being different from a traditional Bayonetta. Plays more like Astral Chain from an isometric view and slightly less complicated. Really nice art style and presentation too. The last couple hours of the game go buckwild with new gameplay and a lot of boss fights, it was great - made me remember I was playing a Platinum game, haha.
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Loved this game, felt very unique in a lot of ways, from the concept to a lot of the game mechanics. Probably one of my biggest surprises from this year.
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Love the look of this game, comes across like a long-lost Saturn platformer. Controls super well and has nice music. You can blow through it quickly, but it has a little more meat to it if you go for the true ending and S-rank all the levels (which I did!). You also unlock new characters with different mechanics that I haven't tried out yet.
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God bless Square for continuing to put out these smaller, under the radar releases (although I wish they would advertise them SLIGHTLY more). I think this is probably one of my favorite visual novels I have ever played, and it gets it all done in around 12 hours or so (instead of a lot of the very drawn out VNs out there). Great art, music, sound design, localization, character design - even the camera work is really neat, sort of at a low angle and you can fully pan it around in scenes (and there is some gameplay stuff that uses it smartly too). The core mystery is satisfying, and the (true) ending wraps up everything well.
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Hard to make a funny game, but this game really succeeds by constantly upending your expectations and being very silly about it.
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Decent little survival horror game, very good-looking game at least.
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Loved this game, 100%-ed it, a puzzle game that is extremely my jam.
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Did not know that this was a secret Pikmin game, nice to sneak this in before the Pikmin 4. I thought it was very charming and heartwarming with a very nice art style, and a lot of fun to play.
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I enjoyed this more than expected, gotta say. Spellcasting-focused, Souls-adjacent game (although it isn't nearly as punishing in you losing resources on death) with more mechanical depth than I anticipated. Bosses are pretty challenging as well.
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Had been meaning to play this old CyberConnect2 game for a while, it's quite fun with some delightfully goofy English dubbing .
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Had a hankering to replay this for some reason, still pretty darn fun! Where the heck is my Joe Danger 3, dammit!?! You've wasted enough time on No Man's Sky, Hello Games - give the people (me) what they want.
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Pretty fun and chill puzzle game, enjoyed it!
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I was surprised how much depth there was in this game considering it is turn-based and you just slide your character in 1 of 4 directions every turn. You are exploring pretty big and intricate levels, fighting, solving puzzles, all with a pretty limited set of mechanics. Wish it was a little longer, is only a 3-4 hour game, but I definitely would have played more.
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One of the better classic point-and-clicks I have played as of late. Puzzles that actually make sense (barring one I had a lot of trouble with), good writing, and a main character that tows the line pretty well between being abrasive and charming - you start to feel for her more and more as you get additional backstory.
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Did not know this was secretly a Mystery Dungeon game, it was surprisingly good! Playing the sequel now!
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Game was a'ight.
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Fun LttP-like, was a lot longer than the original game, unless I am mis-remembering.
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Really enjoyed this, interesting mix of twin-stick shooter and Metroidvania. Really gorgeous art and good writing too.
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I found the lore dumps in this game painfully boring, but playing it is a lot of fun. Good sense of movement and you get to explore some cool-looking areas.
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A weird, insightful visual novel with a bangin' soundtrack.
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Fun little compact Metroidvania (same dev as Sheepo, so not surprised). I like the game/world-building mechanic of having to glue the world back together, it makes backtracking and having to approach the map from different angles/entrances an interesting task.
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Glad this finally got localized, really enjoyed it. I just love spending time in this universe with all its elaborate (but still interesting) world-building. It never feels like a lore dump or anything like that. The characters are charming and engaging and the localization is really great as well.
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Cute l'il platformer with some really fun movement mechanics, feels great to swing around.
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Was not expecting this Game Boy-style platformer to be so story-heavy and take a bunch of wild narrative twists and turns, but it does. Also surprisingly long, about 20 hours or so. Every time I thought the story was going to conclude, some wild stuff happened.
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Really funny writing in this game.
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Very clever game that tries a lot of different mechanics and variations on them, and pretty much succeeds across the board.
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Very cool cinematic platformer, was not frustrating like they can sometimes be with their apparent stiffness coupled with asking too much of the player (see: the most recent Oddworld game).
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Was really surprised by how much new stuff was in this one, Oatchi is a pretty big addition. My only complaint is probably the lack of new enemy designs, it's pretty much just every enemy from 1-3 brought back. The one notable exception is the final boss, which is fantastic, probably the coolest fight in the whole series.
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RIP Mimimi Games, hell of a sendoff though. Y'all put out 3 fantastic games in a very niche genre that I have adored. The announcement of the dev closing honestly gutted me, especially being right after they put this game out.
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Super funny game, even years later. The remake/re-release is really nice.
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Extremely charming and cute game, great animation and art. Very cozy little point and click adventure.
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Really good Metroidvania.
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Decided to dig the ol' PSP out for this one. Was nice to play a shorter JRPG, this one is only about 20 hours long. Has a unique art style and surprisingly good localization - the overall story is sorta rote, but the moment to moment character writing is fun. The random encounter rate is WAY too high, that was my only beef w/it.
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There is a good kernel of an idea here, but it is pretty rough around the edges.
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Kinda bad/janky/insane/weirdly hard Ps2 throwback action game. The English voice acting is bonkers and I can't tell what anyone's accent is supposed to be. There are a bunch of inexplicable minigames. One of the main bad guys basically looks like Tom Cruise and has a twin brother/clone? Very glad I played this.
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The last 30 minutes or so of this almost ruined the whole experience for me. It's a huge overly pained/overly explained info dump that feels like they were trying to rush through 80% of the story at the very end.
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I weirdly enjoyed this, it's a pretty fun take on Frogger with a ton of weird/interesting level designs. 3D effect is nice as well!
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Had a weird urge to check this out after forgetting it existed for a decade. I had to pull out the ol' 360 and make a purchase on what seems like a barely functioning storefront. Definitely feels like an XBLA game of that era!
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Great little Ys-style (specifically in the Ys-3/7 vein) Trails spinoff!
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Continuing my Joe Danger revisit! I forgot about all the new vehicles and jetpack stuff in the sequel, not sure how much I like it. I think I prefer the main motorcycle levels.
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Truly loved this game. Lovely exploration of womanhood, community, being yourself, and MAGIC!!! Fantastic writing, some real emotional gut-punches, and a ton of choices that are quite meaningful.
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Really cute game that feels like you are playing through a D&D campaign with a very silly DM.
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Surprisingly effective 2-3 hour horror anthology. Really liked the different gameplay styles and how everything comes together at the end.
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A PSP "classic"????
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Boy, the humor in this has aged SOOOOO poorly (or maybe it wasn't funny at the time).
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Wonderful!
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Man, this game is way better than Maiden of Black Water, I think it might be my second favorite in the series behind FF2. Really glad this finally came to the West.
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