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52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
bikingjahuty:
5. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PS4) - ABANDONED
Full disclosure, I'm not the biggest RPG fan. Beyond the massive commitment they require to get through, I just don't have the patience for them like I used to. My ratio of finished to abandoned RPGs is slightly better when it comes to action RPGs, but it's still not great. Overall, I probably only complete 1 out of 5 RPGs I start, which is a shame because it used to be my favorite genre of games 25-years ago, but for reasons still not entirely clear to me, it's now one of the genres I have the hardest time with. In the case of The Witcher 3, my patience with it met its end over my struggles with the combat as well as me wanting to try out side quests and finding I was woefully outmatched in most of them. I barely struggled with the main quest up until I quit, but even just traversing the world made me feel like a baby rabbit surrounded by rapid, starving wolves. I just got so tired of dying over and over again when my only crime was wanting to explore more of the world, much of which I found fascinating. I also really struggled to get a hang of the combat, specifically the use of signs, exploiting enemy weaknesses, and various other things that have me feeling a bit pathetic, but after dying for probably the 20th time within just 5 or 6 hours in, I just sort of gave up and wanted to move onto something more up my ally. I will say that The Witcher 3's story, writing, and dialogue is incredible and is why I played as much of the game as I did before finally quitting. I actually do plan on giving this game another go someday, but for now I feel like I'm getting more annoyed with The Witcher 3 than I am having fun. Maybe the game just isn't for me, but I'll wait to make that determination for another time. For now, I'm shelving this game. (6/8/25) ABANDONED
marvelvscapcom2:
39. My Name is Mayo [PS4] - finished Jun 10th, 2025
Thats collectively a half hour of my life that I will probably forever be able to locate in my brain as wasted lol... it was self inflicted however somewhere, somehow. Right before I ascend through the clouds living both a moment in a lifetime but a lifetime in a moment. The golden film reel playing in my head. I'll probably have long forgotten this game. But if I didn't. Id just deem wow... If only I had the 37 minutes I collectively wasted of this precious sentient upright walking mammal existence back. Id give up I am Mayo to hug my family again. And that??? Is a shame... never had a game make me this introspective about what really matters. Its so bad it makes you look within yourself as to why you subjected yourself to it. Part of me wants to make this satirical praise of it. I cant. It's just really a bore.
I understood going in that it was less than shovelware. But I somehow expected it to have more satire involved. Comedy. Making fun of itself. Nope.... I expected silly gameplay. Something tangible.
You tap a jar of mayonaise 10,000 times. Thats the game. You tap it.
If you're wondering roughly how long it takes to hit X on a ps5 controller 10,000 times. Roughly 5 times per second average. With maybe 1 break in the middle
About a half hour....
A test of patience. A condiment of favor. Truly a why moment of my completions this year. Luckily it was followed by something polar opposite, story rich and epic.
However it is mayonnaise. And it delivers on its promise of being mayonnaise. Which is somehow still better than Concord lol.
Rating - 27/100
marvelvscapcom2:
40. The Quarry [PS5] - Finished Jun 11th, 2025
STORY TELLING NIRVANA
The Quarry much like Until Dawn shares its mechanics, lineage and soul with its cousin. Both games were made by supermassive games although Until Dawn was under a wider sony studios and super massive sorta did Quarry more independently free from that umbrella. And tbh. In my opinion. The Quarry is 10x better. Which trust me. Until Dawn was fantastic. This game just got snug like a bug under the rug. The characters are rawly believable.
The Quarry is bleeding with 1980s horror tropes. Cabin by the lake (friday the 13th) camp councilor, crazy woman looking for her kid by the reiver (la llorona) it's basically old ghost stories meets a sorta wendigo werewolf monster hybrid meets sicko family cult. Meets EVERYTHING. This thing is a big juicy spook burger and we all can take a bite. But the fun thing is! It doesn't get overwhelming.
Instead of collecting totems. This time you collect tarot cards. Such a much more introspective thing. As tarot can provide insight in similar ways but also plays into the spooky circus level cookyness of the game. It is fun to find knowing the reveals they lead to. But you can also refuse the views into the future if you so choose.
Where Until Dawn had a wider plot of the sisters this game covers the hackett families mysteries. Which I wont share for spoiler sake. But the plot is deep as 7 layer bean dip. Its a glorious presentation.
ACTING CAST
These voice actors and body motion performers are excellent. I mean who doesnt love Brenda Song? David Arquette? It covers every trope. Angsty. Confident. Frat extroverts. Emotional turmoil. Jealousy. Its basically every emotion a clan of teens can express exploding outwards onto the viewer. The game really rocks in how it presents characters.
When you place a player into a pov format where you choose dialogue branches. I feel it makes every life or death moment feel more impactful. Like the trolley problem brought to life. Do you risk the A to save the B.
I began to engage deeply like a movie franchise with characters. In particular Laura who is a absolute Claire from.resident evil 2 level BAD-ASS.
Like until dawn theirs dozens of ways the game can end. Which is neat. The decisions you make effect the story unlike with some telltale games where its linear at the end.
The graphics are phenomenal. The layout is neat. The setting is fun to me. And the podcasts you can play in the menu is a cute touch.
It touches on the occult. Its a horror fans dream. I personally think it lured me and kept me gripped in its talons all the way through. Barely put it down in 2 days :)
The QTE events are easier but more enjoyable than others imo. And this is by no means insulting until dawn. Just comparing two games in similar bloodline. Supermassive had no issue with this juggernaut. I hope we can see more epicness like this!
The dread, fear. It's palpable. And this game cinematically is my 3rd 100 of the year. What a great great game! One that sticks with you.
Rating - 100/100
dhaabi:
37. Samurai Shaver || Browser || 06.10.2025
Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what kind of rhythm games were available on itch.io, and stumbled upon Samurai Shaver. I wasn't actually planning to play through the whole game despite its short length, but I found myself playing through it all.
Just as its name implies, the the sole objective of the game is to successfully shave samurais as they're brought before you along a conveyor belt to the center of the screen, one at a time and fully nude. However, it's not just their facial hair that's being shaved. Instead, hair needing shaved is in an assortment of places such as the face, chest, and legs. Patches of hair are randomly present, and the player—who I also assume is a samurai based on in-game art—must take calculated timed swings to remove it, which is executed by a simple button press. Of course, since Samurai Shaver is a rhythm game, music accompanies on-screen action. A falling line moves from each samurai's head to toe which telegraphs when timed swings need to be executed, and timing is naturally synced to the game's music. Before the line moves downward, lines indicating where the hair is appears in the rhythm needing to follow. I didn't think this added UI was helpful at first but saw its importance as the game progressed since numerous patches of hair may be grouped together to where it's difficult to know how many there are.
Inevitably, players will make a mistake while shaving which results in samurai being cut with their portrait changing to them screaming with some blood gushing. It's a funny transition. However, there isn't any penalty for either mis-shaving or missing hair altogether. Stages are short, so a simple score tally system is implemented instead based on how many samurai were fully shaved successfully. Surprisingly, but ultimately to the game's benefit, difficulty steadily increases with each stage. Toward the end, track tempo is considerably fast, and stage requirements reflect that with a faster-moving guiding line to follow and samurai having greater patches of hair to shave. I wasn't interested in perfecting the eight stages and only tried them each once, but the game's arcade-like quality definitely complements gameplay.
This was another game jam project developed which was developed in 72 hours, and it has a lot of quality. I didn't play the game's original version, though, as numerous updates have been published since its original submission. There is a lot of quality, and apparently it was well received within the event. Art is simple, but it's an illustrative style that has fun personality. Music is, naturally, the game's highlight and is well-written while combining traditional Japanese instruments such as the shamisen with some small inclusion of chiptune elements, which the latter brings a frantic level of energy and tension. On the accompanying Bandcamp page where the soundtrack is available to download, detailed estimates for how much time was spent composing each track is provided, which I found interesting from a development perspective.
On a whim, I decided to try out Samurai Shaver, and I was pleasantly surprised by this short project. Beyond the steadily increasing difficulty, there is not much depth to the game, though the developers easily accomplished their goal at developing a comical experience.
kashell:
40. Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II - Bad Ending
41. Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II - Good Ending/platinum
The Spirit Hunter series continues to do all the things I loved from the start. This time, it does it better thanks to a cleaner interface and easier navigation. I got the Bad Ending first just to get a trophy related to it. After getting the Good Ending, I got the platinum. Still, I after finishing the EX Chapter, I'm thinking I'll go through the steps to get the True Ending. The mysteries (which were chilling, gory, gruesome, horrific, and all of that lovely stuff) were mostly solved, but the case wasn't quite closed. I'll be getting a good ol' review ready for this game and I'm excited about it.
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