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52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

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supremeusername:
20. HELLDIVERS 2 | 2024 | PC - Steam | 5/23:

Like R.E.P.O., Helldivers 2 will vary in entertainment value depending on who you play with. A lot more different from R.E.P.O. however is the gameplay: where you are armed to the teeth with weapons and varying stratagems, battling and running after monsters like giant bugs, zombies, and robots. Well actually, you will have to run away plenty of times from these monsters given circumstances. You can, for example, have the perfect gunfight going your way and all of a sudden, a giant walker drops in out of nowhere and wipes out your entire team. I was expecting this game to be a lot more like Earth Defense Force -- which it is -- but it does try to keep itself a little more grounded than the other series while still being ultimately fun. I started right when "Super Earth" was being invaded and had a blast fighting off the Illuminate with a couple of buddies. It's an overall glitchy, but fun experience that gets better the more guns and tools you unlock. Grade: B

realpoketendonl:
20. Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies

Also known as Sin and Punishment: Star Successor in NTSC regions. This is the Wii-sequel to the original Sin and Punishment for Nintendo 64. I never played the original, but this series always interested me. It just looked like a cool action game. So when I got the Wii game, I was excited to play it.

This is an on-rails shooter. You are moved along on a set track, on which you move around the screen and shoot at enemies. There are two playable characters, I played as Isa. This game feels very arcade-style in its setup, going from section to section. I had fun with it! I wouldn't say it's the most engaging thing I played this year, but the action held my attention well enough.

The game can be pretty difficult. I died a lot. Most of it felt like a good challenge though: I always felt like I could do it with enough tries and learning the patterns. Only the final boss drove me to points where it felt unfair, though spread over two evenings, I did manage to beat it. I played this game on normal difficulty with the Wii Classic Controller Pro. And with the sensitivity cranked up a bit, that worked fine. Though one tip: for the final phase of the final boss, swap to Wii Remote and Nunchuck. It made that final section significantly easier.

One thing I did find a little weak was the story. Clearly, with its arcade setup, that was just a backdrop for the levels to happen, but I still like there to be something I can latch on to. But I played the whole game and I still barely understand how this world works, what the villains wanted to do exactly and what the main characters even are. Maybe this gets established more in the first game? No idea. A shame, because I did really like this game's art direction. The characters and enemies all looked really cool. With a plot that was expanded on just a bit better, I think I could've fallen in love with this world.

Overall, I'd say the game was all right. If it established its world better, maybe I would've liked it more, but the gameplay was also just all right to me. Who knows, maybe bullet hell just isn't my genre. I liked it for what it was, but that's all I can give it. But still, if you're interested in this sort of game, I do recommend you give it a look. I can see that for some people, there's greatness in here.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a fresh new copy of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond with my name on it.

bikingjahuty:
117. Detroit Become Human (PS4)

I've been wanting to pick Detroit Become Human back up for a while now, ever since I first beat it almost 2-years ago. The promise of its extensive branching story paths with each of the playable characters and how heavily those differences can vastly change the final outcome of the story promised to make my second go around with this game feel like an all new experience. Or so I thought.


There is no denying the impressive amount of choices and branching paths in Detroit Become Human, however with a few exceptions here and there, and especially during the last fifth of the game, I found doing things different to produce mostly inconsequential differences between my first and second playthrough. Despite choosing to play the game vastly different this time while playing as Markus, Connor, and Kara, I'd say 75% of the game felt like mostly like the exact same experience I had the first time I played Detroit Become Human. For some people, different dialogue during a certain part, or seeing something minor happen occur that didn't happen the first time is a bigger deal, but for me it really didn't make my experience with this game during the second play through any more interesting or enjoyable.


This is a real shame since Detroit Become Human heavily leans on the mechanics of choice and branching paths as a heavy component of its gameplay. In fact, Detroit Become Human is the closest thing to a movie game I've ever played. I often wince or roll my eyes when people criticize more cinematic modern games as "movie games" despite these scripted sequences and cutscenes making up a small fraction of the overall experience. However, in Detroit Become Human, the term movie game is absolutely appropriate. The best way I can describe this game is a choose your own adventure film taking place in a scifi setting. The only controller inputs mostly involve trivial button prompts to do menial things like open doors or grabbing an object. There are more demanding QTE events in this game too that can have serious repercussions depending on whether you success or fail, but overall, your interaction with the game is secondary to the story it wants to tell despite those branching paths the game can take.


I will say however, the ending of this game can be DRAMATICALLY different depending on what you do, don't do, who gets killed, and what alternate paths you take one way or another. This is where the real bread and butter of the branching paths really pays off. I really wish there could have been more of these dramatically different scenarios during the bulk of the game, but it's almost worth it just for how different your endings can be. In fact, my ending with 2/3 the characters looked nothing even remotely like it did during my first play through, which I found pretty awesome. Unfortunately some of the writing, no matter what branching or alternative paths the game takes is a bit of a mixed bag.


For whatever reason, I did notice more writing issues during my second playthrough. Character motives and sympathies almost spontaneous changing, events that seem to be trivial having a way more impactful effect on the story than they likely would have in real life, and also some really heavy handed, on the nose social commentary relevant to the cultural/political landscape of the late 2010s really took me out of Detroit Become Humans' story at times. Fortunately, there are many excellent story moments and plot points that will keep you wanting to play, but I'd advise you not to think about things too much during certain parts of the game unless you want to either heavily roll your eyes or throw your hands up in confusion.


One final piece of the limited gameplay of Detroit Become Human I wanted to mention was the inconsistency in some of the dialogue choices while playing. Detroit Become Human gives you alternate ways of responding to characters when interacting with them. These decisions and their outcomes aren't always the most intuitive, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, what is bad is selecting an option, let's say to be "sympathetic" while conversing with another main character and your intentions of selecting that option don't align with the intentions the game had in mind when programming what the character you'e controlling is about to say. This happened mostly with the character Markus for some reason, but it happened more times than I would have like, resulting in certain parts of the game being fudged up for no good reason. Despite this, the dialogue options will typically align with what you were hoping to get across as the character you're playing, but be prepared for whoever you're speaking with to take your meaning in a very different way than what was intended at times.


The audio in Detroit Become Human is mostly reliant on its voice cast and their acting abilities. I can't say there's a single bad or even okay performance in this game. Everything from a vocal presentation standpoint is good to outstanding. This will definitely enhance your immersion and personal investment into what happens to the various characters throughout the game. The music is mostly somber classical sounding tunes with a mix of more high energy tracks reserved for the more action focused or tense situations throughout the game. The score is excellent and there is very little not to like about it.


Finally, from a visual presentation, Detroit Become Human is a very impressive game. Character models and animations are the highlight of this game especially. Emotions and intentions of characters while looking at their face alone will tell you precisely how they're feeling at any given time during the game, and this is all thanks to the facial captures and visual fidelity of the game. The world around you in general is very well done for the mostly is well crafted and dynamic. However, there is a plainess or flatness to some of the environments which can feel a bit gamey in a game that's trying to be as realistic and lifelike as possible. There are enough of these more flat visual parts and areas to prevent this game from being nearly perfect from a visual perspective, but overall they are a relatively small blemish.


I still enjoyed my time with Detroit Become Human during my second playthrough, but I'd be lying if I said the often worm shaped outcomes (limited option in the beginning and the end, but more variety and variations in the middle) during the majority didn't hamper my enjoyment just a little. Even choosing to dramatically alter my approach with each character did little to give me the fresh experience I was hoping for, save the vastly different endings I got with each of them. For some, this will be enough and all that is needed to motivate multiple playthroughs which is something Detroit Become Human heavily relies on. For me, I'll likely not play this game again for some time. It's still a game I'd enjoy replaying in 5 or 6 years once my memory of what happens in it have faded more than they have in the two years since I last play Detroit Become Human. (12/7/25) [36/50]

bikingjahuty:
118. Deathsmiles IIx (PS4)

I pride myself on the fact that I've played and beat nearly every SHMUP the developer Cave has put out since they became their own company back in the early 90s. They are elite when it comes to the STG genre and have created some of the best shooters ever made, even some holding that honor for literal decades. Still, that's not to say all their games are gold or that they haven't put out the occasional turd during their history. With Christmas rapidly approaching and me trying to find games to get in the mood, I decided to satisfy both this and to play one of the last few Cave SHMUPs I've never played before, Deathsmiles IIx. I went into playing Deathsmiles IIx only knowing that its predecessor is one of the best SHMUPs in Cave's catalog, but also that it wasn't as loved as the that first game. If only I'd known how big the power gap in quality was between the first and second game, it may have braced me for how bad Deathsmiles IIx actually was.


I can't think of a single aspect of Deathsmiles IIx that it does better than its predecessor. Gone are the charming, well done 2D backgrounds and pre-rendered 3D enemies and bosses, and instead we full 3D enemies, bosses, backgrounds, and even the playable characters which look okay at best, and absolutely terrible at worst. You also have an OST that's not as good and just overall sound quality that leaves a lot to be desired. Gameplay does fare much better, with the same basic mechanics of the first Deathsmiles returning, but with less polish, balance, or intention. However, out of all these things, it has got to be the lazy 3D visuals which are by far the most jarring downgrade between these two games. What sucks too is I decided to play Deathsmiles IIx this month to get in the Christmas spirit more, but outside the first stage and main villain, this game might as well not have Christmas in its title at all.


Deathsmiles IIx is unfortunately a pretty boring, dull, half baked SHMUP that serves as one of Cave's worst. Do yourself a favor and play almost any other Cave shooter and you'll likely be playing a better game. Deathsmiles IIx just isn't even worth the 25 minutes or so it takes to beat. (12/7/25) [23/50]

kashell:
79. Grandia HD - platinum'd

I went through the HD version of Grandia on the PlayStation 5. The voice acting was worse than I remember. (Keep in mind that in 1999 when I first played this I was blown away by the concept of voice-acting in an RPG). It wasn't phoned in, but sounded more like it came from a puppet show thrown by some troubadours doing a side-hustle. Also, the game outstayed its welcome a bit near the end, especially as Justin and Feena became really powerful. Otherwise? Great, great times with this replay. I appreciate RPGs that do linearity the right way, and this is one of them. The entire game really brought me back to not only a simpler (and dare I say golden) age of RPGs, but also gaming in general. Going one step further, it reminded of when I was heavily into anime. Grandia's story and characters really reminded of all that joy. From a trophy perspective, doing everything would have been nigh impossible without guidance. One could argue that you just to be thorough and talk to everyone around town twice, but that would still lead to some missing events. Also, there was a lot of missable content like side-dungeons and Mana Eggs. But, a good guide helped ensure the ground was properly covered.

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