by munnyshh
Showing 1-10 of 10 items
I finished quite recently, and it hit on all fronts. I'm still digesting my feelings, but I know it gave me feelings. The positives of course are it's well-rounded qualities - music, visual style and graphics, story and characters. The game left me with deep grief and emptiness at the end. That's something I typically avoid but appreciate I can experience from a game. I need a good night (or more) of sleep to really digest how I felt at the end.
Promise Mascot Agency completely took hold of me in August. This genuinely competes with Clair Obscur for my GOTY, it is a tough call for me. This game left me a lot happier throughout my time with it, but that's just the nature of the tone each game has. That all said, Promise Mascot Agency really felt cozy - somehow blending the vibes from their collaboration with Ikumi Nakamura with some yakuza crime drama, and just goofy mascots and humor. The writing and characters really bring a lot (helped with great voice acting, including the VA of Kiryu from the Yakuza franchise). I think one of the reasons I really liked it is that - while it had some stakes - it was ultimately low stakes. The mix of driving around in a hopping/surfing/gliding/fence-rail-grinding Kei Truck with card-battle minigames and persona-esque conversations/relationship-leveling was super chill. This was a really pleasant game to play on Steam Deck in bed to wind down from the days.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth came to PC early this year, which is why it's on my list year. Really, it's just a great time and feeling going through that (reimagined) journey. Zones definitely got repetitive later, but it's great to adventure with the crew along the way. I'll look forward to the final installment and expect to sink a ton of hours into it.
As the timing was late in Dec, I considered this for 2025 as the cutoff for many is a weird timing, + I played it into January over the holiday! This really felt like playing a movie. It was great all the way. I was extremely doubtful of this game being 1st person. I honestly had no interest in this game but word-of-mouth of this being good and not being about shooting got me curious. MachineGames really nailed the experience, and Troy Baker was incredible. I really like games to immerse myself into as a break, and this game fit the bill.
Short and sweet. I played this on a half-country flight and it was a blast. Öoo is brilliant in how it uses its mechanics and in how it teaches you puzzle logic. It was a small experience but worth every second.
Skate Story gave me the exact vibe I needed. Sam Eng did amazing work in his design, the feel of the skating, the choice collaboration with Blood Cultures for the OST, and the overall story. I hope eventually adds some modes to just skate freely with music, as I really want to vibe more with this.
Kunitsu-gami: Path of the Goddess was in my backlog and something I'm glad to finally get to. It's a beautiful game with a really fun design level-to-level with some twists and turns in level-objective. Objective-wise, you are a sword-swinging protector escorting the Priestess across each mission level - using some tower-defense placements and assigning villagers 'jobs' to play and managing them on the field. It's a fun mix of strategy, stress, and beauty.
I did not grow up with soccer, but because of this, I am enamored at how the developers tell this story and have me experience it. The ending in the park was amazing and deeply moving. It's a simple experience that both humbles me and fills me with nostalgia - even if it wasn't my own experience
I heard of this seeing a short video from noclip_2's channel. It's a very short game, and - perhaps if i think about it, has a similar space as Powerwash Simulator 2 about cleaning things. It's a small game by a single dev living on a small boat, and it was quite satisfying to play through. No real conflict or challenge, but it was comforting.
Thanks to Mike for his streams this year, I finally got around to playing through Katamari on my Steam Deck. It was a great pre-bedtime game to unwind with.