52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

[dhaabi]

59. Split Fiction || PlayStation 5 || 09.23.2025



Looking for another proper co-op experience to play, I decided to play through Split Fiction. At this point, I've come to expect a certain quality from developer Hazelight Studios after having played their previous two games, so their latest game was something both myself and player two were excited to play.

Following the developer's trend of pitting two people at-odds with another in some sort of fashion, Split Fiction follows the plot of two young writers being invited to a large publishing company for the opportunity of being published. However, the general plot is revealed early on to be this company exploiting creative minds through some sort of virtual reality simulation technology which steals not only their submitted works but all subconscious creative thoughts. Unfortunately, there's no in-game explanation provided to how this technology functions which I suppose is fine, though I still am curious how the simulations are manifested. What I mean by this is that, somehow, this technology is able to sift through the user's mind to separate creative works from memories, dreams, and even passive thoughts. The protagonists themselves become fully aware of what's happening early into their adventure, but they're still forced to continue progressing through their own stories which I assume is because they remain bound to the technology until they eventually break free from it. Regardless, the process goes wrong immediately, and the two protagonists end up being sharing one simulation together that's a blended experience that routinely shifts from one character's written world—one fictional reality—to another's. So, there are two thematic genres (science-fiction and fantasy) which provide two highly contrasting gameplay environments and general mood over the course of the game's events.

Despite Split Fiction's story being centered around two writers, the game continues the developer's trend of surface-level writing that showcases their weakest skill set. While there is a narrative, it comes across as being aimless as the story's protagonists journey through a series of two seemingly endless types of worlds. Meanwhile, these protagonists are written fairly weak without much depth to them (or as much as I'd like for them to have, anyway) despite some obvious character development present. Throughout it all, writing balances a lighthearted, feel-good mood against deep trauma and ongoing hardships, and it is evident how the stories and scenarios presented reflect each protagonist's past. After writing this out, it would seem like Split Fiction's protagonists are arguably stronger than the cast of characters from Hazelight's previous two games, but neither of us across our shared playthrough felt a strong connection to either of them. Perhaps the issue lies in the premise itself. For what it's worth, this isn't to say that the writing is bad, but it certainly could be better. Aside from the ongoing narrative, I feel as if the writing concerning level design could have been more engaging, though this is overwhelmingly in regards to the science-fiction half of the game. Unlike the fantasy sections which actually do have some narrative plot and commendable setting differences, nearly none of the science-fiction levels do and instead were far more focused on the basic premise of high-intensity action sequences in space. I'll also mention this: from what I've seen of them, I feel as if director Josef Fares at Hazelight is a little full of himself, and this is quite evident as the decision to include an audio recording from The Game Awards 2024 with him and Geoff Keighley talking was seriously inserted into level design.

Moving forward, gameplay is generally divided up well. While there are some short moments of rest of with minimized action such as when puzzle obstacles are present, action and tension remain high. Still, chapters are lengthy, and each chapter is nearly exclusive to only one character's story theme at a time. Even though chapters are divided into sections, the one overarching theme can grow to be tiring. However, as I just mentioned, chapters are nearly exclusive to one central genre. Optional content referred to as side stories are available to pursue and engage in, which is straightforward to accomplish as it's difficult to overlook them. Usually, there are two or three of these side stories in each chapter, and they serve their purpose well to break up whatever monotony players may be experiencing since the immediate focus is only on one theme, and for a long duration too. So, in a sense, the game offers a very minimal short branching path throughout playthroughs, though the overall narrative is still a linear story. Yet, while these side stories are appreciated, optional activities felt far more integrated in Hazelight's previous two games, and they were also designed with a competitive nature in mind. Unfortunately, this kind of co-op and exploratory play is almost entirely absent in Split Fiction aside from one extremely memorable area.

With that said, gameplay is split into a large array of genres throughout the entire game but revolves around 3D platforming foremost. Chapters are divided into sections, and each section has numerous segments usually separated by rooms or an enclosed area of sorts that may each provide a different play experience. During some specific boss encounters, this is also an accomplish feat as some battle phases may be separated once more into phases. It may sound daunting—and it certainly will be for any inexperienced player—but this versatile structure excels at maintaining player interest. Simultaneously, player engagement is driven to remain high as there's almost always something new being presented or learned. In spite of its ever-changing differences, Split Fiction succeeds in adding varied gameplay onto the existing platforming mechanics. As previously mentioned, Split Fiction is a co-op only game. So, fortunately, there is a natural back-and-forth between the two players that requires steady teamwork, though there are still plenty of gameplay sections where it's just two players progressing on their own individually. For puzzles or obstacles which require teamwork and player communication, they're designed in a way that it's not just one player doing the bulk of the work. Instead, passive and active tasks delegated to each player are balanced evenly.

However, there were many moments throughout my playtime when it felt like there were few moments of break between all the action. This isn't even necessarily true, but it did feel that way as the two protagonists are forced to progress without much idle time, if any, really. As I hinted at before, Split Fiction is not the kind of game where an inexperienced player can easily be carried by a more adept one. Even with two proficient players of various genres in my shard playthrough, we frequently found ourselves failing. Fortunately, both players must fail together for the game to reload the latest checkpoint—otherwise, there is a brief window of time the player who's failed must wait to respawn. Until experienced, some obstacles are difficult to avoid or overcome simply because there's regularly so much on-screen action going on at once at any given moment that's only made worse by the halved screen. This isn't outright a critique on level design, though the amount of failures we experienced whether individually or together did negatively work toward removing us from any tension currently taking place.

In the end, Split Fiction is an exemplary co-op experience that really doesn't come as a surprise considering what else Hazelight Studios has developed in the past. While there are certain aspects of the game I find stronger than those previous works, there are also aspects I find weaker. Nevertheless, player two and I enjoyed our time playing, and I am looking forward to whatever next project follows. As one final concluding thought, I'll also mention that, strangely, this is now the second game I've played within the past full year that I've been tasked with completing CAPTCHA security tests which is an interesting detail to think about.

[marvelvscapcom2]

52. Call Of Duty Modern Warfare: Remastered [PS4] - finished Sep 28th, 2025




As many will know, the echoing of sentiment. From 2005 to 2016ish Call of Duty hit a stride that can be likened to the golden age of comic books, the silver screen age of cartoons, popeye the sailor man and Lucy and Ethyl or even the industrial boom of America. You had gamers by the millions who lived and breathed Call of Duty. Every double XP weekend, each and every map pack was like christmas. Begging my dad for the 20 dollar xbox live cards to be the next to join my friends in cool kid circle. It also had it's naysayers. But each and every year it became clear.  COD was untouchable in military based first person shooters. Battlefield crumbled in it's wake, multiple times. It even made Halo itself into a shrew mouse after long been standing as a titan of industry... trey arch and infinity ward both went back to back like lethal weapon. Just coming up with new fresh maps. Cool guns. The game was flawless... but only temporarily.  Very quickly COD last its balance. But overall for many years it was the funnest time. Red dot sights. The leveling and prestige system was genius, the killstreaks were addictive. And leading a team of mountain dew chugging 10 yr olds to victory was some of my greatest memories in gaming.  When I say COD defined my childhood in many ways. I'm not exaggerating.  Call of Duty also had semi responsibility in my love for militaria, history, and education endeavors that followed.  I have since

1. Gone to 2 presidential libraries, 2 WW2 museums, a civil war museum and many boston massacre related attractions.

2. Studied WW2 speificially for decades. Books. Movies. And now vietnam.

Would my interest in WW2 have existed without world at war? Possibly. My great grandfathers served at both Germany and North African Campaigns. My great grandfather on my grandmother's side was even a POW in a nazi concentration camp.  Then went on to become a professor of behavioral sciences.  His name is Ogden Lindsley.  My other grandfather George A. Muggleton served at Kessarine Pass. These things were engrained in me at a young age. GI Joes, Toy army men. I just love the historical importance.  But would that passion have cultivated into the multi media arm of my personality it is today? Without my formative years being playing call of duty world at war with my friends? Maybe not.  What I enjoy about these games. Is they actually try to be historically accurate. Do they always get it right? No. Do they embelish? Of course. But they get the heart down. The horrors down. The way wars occured and how battles progressed. None might be as important to that trajectory of the franchise as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Which was known as COD 4 when I was a kid.

Phrases like "switching to your pistol is always faster than reloading" and "Nice! Your fruit killing skills are remarkable" both birth themselves just in the prologue of this game. Have become sort of lexicon in the gaming community. Gold skins on AKs? This game. Care packages? This game. Noscoping? As far as I know. This game. Well over a decade before fortnite even dreamed of such. It did it all without micro trans (aside from optional map packs that came about a year into launch).  It was gaming paradise. It truly was. But now into this games campaign mode.

Call Of Duty 4 is definitely inspired by the war on terror mixed with a bit of Russian civil war. It's less directly based on real wars like the WW2 games are. But it clearly has a very "nuclear" seal team 6 vibe to it.  The game manages to make you feel part of batallion.  By the end of the game. You remember captain price (recurring character) and people like sgt briggs on first name basis. Like they were your men you actually served with. Because the game does well at subtly reminding you of commanding orders while still being present in the very arcadey vibe.  The controls are smooth. Missions like "all ghillied up" are franchise staples that almost all love. The missions has you in pripyiat ukraine where chernobyl happened. It's a front to back stealth mission where you gotta maneuver without being detected this russian operated snowy badlands of poison.  Tunnels.  Sinking ships. Nukes. Tanks. Fighter jets. Cobra attack helicopters. It's all in this game. German Sheppards even. The game is a campaign masterclass.  I feel there are many moving moments. Deep reflections of society. But also humor. Night visions missions. Collecting intel ect are especially fun. It also has a nice trophy system that has fair but intriguing challenges to get outside the game UI. Even the mini game that begins the game is an absolute blast attempting to get the squadron record time. 

Call of Duty 4 is one of the greatest call of duty games. It predates world at war. As a cohesive unit? It has amazing footing. And I enjoyed every second.

Welcome game 52! I've made the mark.  I was well on pace for high 90s. Now my new final year goal is 75. Lets see what we can do.  But 52 is in the bag.


Rating - 93/100

[kashell]

63. Little Hope

That's the last of the Dark Pictures! This one had the best plot twist at the end; very unexpected. Otherwise, it was more of the same in terms of gameplay. The characters were a lot of fun. One was super insufferable but she got properly wrecked. The only one that died was someone I somehow kept making a jerk. So, I guess he had it coming? I think I'd rank them: Man of Medan > The Devil in Me > Little Hope > House of Ashes. The Quarry and Until Dawn are kind of their own things.

[kamikazekeeg]

24 - Time for Bed (PC 2025) - BEAT - Starting off the season with some spooky games, as I want to try and maybe pick up some more indie horror games if I can, though I was hoping more Five Nights at Freddy's stuff would go on sale, maybe later in the month, but starting with this little game. 

It's a unique gimmick to me in terms of gameplay you are a kid trying to play your Game Boy at night without being seen by your "mother", so you have to play through an actual pixel art, retro game on the game boy, while having an awareness around you for when "mother" is looking at you, and if she is looking at you with her red eyes, you have to pretend to sleep.  I think some of it is maybe an asset flip, I think "mother" is not a unique creature, but it works, it's generally abit creepy and there's some nice variety to the behavior and retro games. 

It is only 3 levels and a special bonus level, but you have to play through stage 3 to get the special stage and I kinda hate that, so not sure if I'll attempt it again.  I can't complain too much about only 3 levels, just because it's a 5 dollar game I got for 4 bucks and got an hour and a half out of, but I think there's a great idea here that can be expanded.  The second level is the best, it's the most creepy, though I like the little Zelda-like game you get in Stage 3.

Got a handful of spooky games to play ready to go, particularly Little Nightmares, Signalis (I've had this ready to go for a long time now), Bendy and the Ink Machine, FNAF 2, and might grab Crow Country since I just refunded another game that didn't really work out.

[kashell]

64. Lost Soul Aside

This game has a PlayStation-like plot, PlayStation 2-like gameplay, and PlayStation 3-like graphics. And it's on the PlayStation 5. It's quite the bizarre combination, and mind-boggling to think that its development began in 2016. I have a soft spot for 2000s action games like Shinobi or Blood Will Tell, so I didn't mind some of the gameplay issues. But, it's hard to ignore some of the game's other issues. I'll get a review written for it at some point, but for those wondering: no. It's not worth the full price tag.

[telly]

Game 23 - Silent Hill: Downpour (PS3) - 10 Hours

Silent Hill: Downpour was a very mixed experience for me. It's certainly better than Homecoming, but still falls short in a lot of ways to the main four games and the other western developed games like Origins and Shattered Memories.

For me, what this game succeeded the most in was the combat and exploration, The combat, while frustrating, felt like the right level of difficulty and the ability to run away from fights made it more interesting. Breakable weapons are back, which were annoying, but not nearly as aggravating as having to search for specific weapons to access high ladders or chop through boarded up doors. Exploring the town was probably the best thing that this game has to offer, because it’s the biggest, most expansive town out of any of the other previous games. While the level design was not the best, I did find the final prison level to be pretty good and I also appreciated the return of series staples like puzzle difficulty. I also really liked the addition of side quests. Although most of them really aren't worth completing, they add a little bit of spice when you're trying to explore the town and could have been a great idea if it had been executed a bit better.

Alas, the problem with Downpour at its core is that the developers really tried to broaden this game’s appeal to the mass market, and so the game play feels like it's been injected with a heavy dose of Uncharted or Assassin's Creed. I mean come on, an elevator fight sequence? Moving past timed hazards like spikes and swinging blades? Quick time events for climbing and opening doors? Regenerating health? Autosaves and checkpoints that completely restore your health after you die? These things should not be in a Silent Hill game. Compounding the effects of these gameplay changes is an overall aesthetic that is way too bright, way too overdone, and most of the horror comes across as a haunted house baby-tier spooky thrill ride. The Otherworld in this game features a lot of strange level design choices that feel more surreal than scary. For example, large floating clocks and moving between the floor and ceiling. As a result, just like in previous games, it really doesn't feel like Silent Hill.

As much as I dumped on Homecoming for just being a terrible experience at least it had better monster design than Downpour. Most of the monsters in Downpour just look like regular people, except for their faces are a little messed up, but they really aren't that scary. The “boogeyman” in this game featuring a slick raincoat and gas mask is not effective at scaring you at all, and he just looks silly. This game also features a lot of chase sequences like in Shattered Memories, but it's even worse because it's just a red and black rift and it's really dumb when you think about it. Not to mention it’s given no contextual explanation whatsoever.
The game unfortunately is also brought down by being built on Unreal, so a lot of the character textures load in AFTER the models have been loaded in, and it looks awful. On the topic of looking awful, this game performs terribly, and it might even be worse than Homecoming. it is especially in the town the game is constantly stuttering and excessive amounts of screen tearing particularly with high amounts of movement.

And at last, we get to the game’s story. Ultimately, it's one of the most confusing stories in the series, and I don't think that's a good thing. The problem is that the story plays very fast and loose with it’s timing of certain events. It’s completely unclear whether things happened in the past, versus the future, versus whether they happened at all, if they are a dream, if they are a manifestation of the town, or the other world, etc. Not to mention that you appear to die at least 3 times during the game, so you don’t know if the events following are real or purgatory or whatever else you want it to be. If you listen to the developers of this game, this was the intention: keep it as open-ended as possible so that multiple different conclusions can be drawn from the same story material. But all it ends up doing is just contradicting itself and the result is a total mess. This was particularly apparent for me because I got the worst ending on my first playthrough where the entire game was revealed to be a dream of Ann Cunningham. If you disregard that ending, the big problem with this game’s story is that Murphy’s big mistake that he’s supposed to feel guilty/repent for sometimes didn’t happen, which makes most of the symbolism irrelevant. You can tell that they really tried to copy the story of Silent Hill 2, while forgetting that the bad thing James does in that game is always the same, and the different endings are instead how he reacts and either redeems himself or not despite the thing he did.

I’ve now gone through all the Silent Hill games in the series up until the present day, just in time for Silent Hill f (not including book of memories or some of the more obscure titles). Once I finish that, then replay 2 and the remake, I’ll be able to give my ranking of the series.