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52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
telekill:
Last minute entry. Finished up Double Dragon Revive. It was... well it didn't capture the magic of the NES game but it wasn't horrible.
bikingjahuty:
Wow...what a game to close the year out with.
130. Celeste (Switch)
Other than knowing it was a platformer and it was a big deal back in 2018/2019, I knew very little about Celeste prior to playing it. With me being on a bit of an indie game kick recently, I decided to add Celeste on the Switch to my Christmas list and luckily my wife came through with getting it for me this year. Popping Celeste into my Switch, I didn't quite know what to expect or why this game is so widely loved and praised. After beating it, I now fully understand why.
There really is no other way of saying it; Celeste is a very special game. In a modern gaming industry, or really just the modern world we live in, there is so much nihilism, cynicism, and general negativity that it's a massive breath of fresh air to get something so encouraging and positive like Celeste in the midst of all this. While Celeste does tackle things like mental health heavily in its story, it tells a way deeper and meaningful story than just a generic "be kind to yourself" kind of story. The characters, the setting, the plot, and pretty much every piece of Celeste's story oozes with character and charm. Despite the retro inspired 2D visuals, I was more invested in what was going on during my playthrough than I have been during the vast majority of much more visually impressive, AAA modern games. The story and characters possess a relatability and realness that is seldom seen in any game, let alone a platformer. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't played this game, but you will almost certainly love Celeste's protagonist Madaline, as well as the other characters that really help make this game standout way above most other games when it comes to story. Keep in mind, this is a platformer we're talking about, not an RPG or sprawling adventure epic. That's just how powerful and wonderful the story and characters are.
As mentioned, Celeste is a retro inspired 2D platformer which masterfully uses its sprite based graphics to construct a world that absolutely stands out amongst the hoard of other retro inspired indie titles. Backgrounds, interactive assets, obstacles, enemies, and everything in between look unique and gorgeous. The characters in Celeste are also given cute avatars with text based dialogue, and they regularly change expressions to help drive home the meaning of a particular line of dialogue. Really, my only gripe with the visuals has to do with stages sometimes reusing art elements a bit too much, as well as recycling some of these stage themes and elements later on in the game when it would have been cool to have more unique stages. Still, this is a fairly minor grievance to what is otherwise a very good looking game.
Celeste's music is arguably its best quality. The soundtrack is unreal how good it is! A mixture of classical tunes on a piano, some more upbeat techno like music playing in certain parts, and call be crazy, but some tracks sounding like David Wise of Donkey Country Country fame collaborated on them makes Celeste's soundtrack one of the very best I've heard. I can't think of a single song that felt undercooked or out of place in this game. Other than the OST, characters are voiced similarly to the characters in Animal Crossing. In other words, they mostly just speak cute gibberish. That's fine since it somehow works so well with everything else, particularly the cartoonish, yet very endearing character avatars I mentioned earlier. Sound effects are also great and well implemented as well. Celeste's audio is pretty much a perfect 10/10, no question.
While still very good for the most part, probably Celeste's weakest quality is its gameplay. The platforming in this game is absolutely a challenge and you will die many, many, many times. That is a guarantee. Luckily the game doesn't make you wait through any stupid death animations or continue screens and immediately throws you back at the last checkpoint you hit. Checkpoints are plentiful and are present at every portion of a level section that required a transition to it. There are many stages and areas with far more obstacles that will instantly kill you than safe places to land. A core mechanic of getting through this insanity is using Madaline's dash mechanic which allows you to zip to a higher platform, get past a dangerous obstacle more quickly, or perform some other feat that requires quickness and precision. The dash is also limited, meaning you will need to land on solid ground or hit a variety of dash recharging stage elements to perform more dashes. You'll often be stringing together more dashes and recharges to clear an area, which is almost always way easier said than done. However, the reason for Celeste's gameplay faults have nothing to do with its high difficulty, but rather some of its controls which make getting through some of these sections way harder than they should be.
I was unable to determine whether it was the game's fault, my Switch's Joycon analogue stick, or something else, but I found the act of changing directions mid air during dashes to be inconsistent about 75% of the time, especially during diagonal dashes. When trying to dash up-left or down-right, or some other diagonal direction, the game would register my analogue stick input as just up or left, or down or right, leading to my death the vast majority of times. I always would get past a certain section eventually, but this inconstancy really made a few sections rage inducing to get past. I was literally having this issue all the way until the very end of the game so I know it wasn't just me getting used to the controls or whatever. It makes me wonder if I'd played this game with a Pro Controller or on another console if I'd have had the same issue. Maybe someday I'll see.
My only other compliant with Celeste's gameplay had to do with a few stage elements making certain parts of the game far less pleasant than they would have been without them. These mainly include these cloud platforms which are supposed to make you bounce and give your standard jump greater height. I had a hard time getting consistent height off these clouds when using them to propel Madaline higher, which made using them pretty annoying at times. Another stage element which I hated was the win mechanic that was mostly only present on stage 4 I believe. Dealing with the wind is what made this stage memorable I suppose, but in some ways for the wrong reasons. This wind stage was my least favorite, mostly because of how obnoxious the wind pushing you back or forward made an already very challenging level even more so.
Despite these gripes with Celeste's gameplay, the vast majority of my time with this game was spent blissfully getting through the game's hard as hell stages. The term, "tough, but fair" absolutely applies to Celeste's level design; you can tell an insane amount of time was put into testing and fine tuning each part of each stage to as close to perfection as possible. Even after dying over 20 times in certain sections of Celeste, I always felt myself improving more and more until I finally cleared it and was able to move on deeper into the level. This trial and error is a huge part of Celeste's charm and enjoyability which definitely had me coming back for more, despite dying a total of nearly 1200 times by the time I reached the end credits.
Games like Celeste are why I adore video games. They are able to achieve a level of meaningfulness while also being fun, interactive entertainment. In this regard, Celeste nails what makes the very best games so amazing. The game's heartfelt story, unique gameplay and visuals, and beautiful soundtrack all mech together in near perfection to create one of the most unforgettable, enjoyable games I've ever played, let along this year. What a wonderful way to close out 2025. (12/30/25) [43/50]
bikingjahuty:
With tomorrow already booked out and busy, I'm calling it for the year. 130 games beat...wow. I aimed for 100 games beat at the beginning of 2025, but never imagined I'd clear my goal by THAT much! I don't know if I'll ever beat this many games in a single year ever again, but I have to say it was one hell of a ride. See you all in 2026!
telly:
End of Year Stats
Total Number
Total games played: 43
Total games finished: 29
New /replayed: 31/12
Play Time
Longest time to beat a game: Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (51 hours)
Shortest game beat: Astro's Playroom (3 hours)
Average to finish a game: 19 hours
Games Played per Platform
Switch: 11
Wii U: 1
GameCube: 2
SNES: 1
GBC: 1
DS: 1
PS5: 8
PS4: 8
PS3: 3
PS2: 4
PS1: 2
Genres
RPG: 10
Survival horror: 9
2D platformer: 4
3D platformer: 4
Adventure: 4
Action: 3
Action RPG: 2
Arcade: 1
Exercise: 1
Sports: 1
Tactical RPG: 1
Simulation: 1
FPS: 1
Developers
Konami: 8
Nintendo: 6
Square Enix: 3
Midboss: 2
All others: 24
Top 5 Best Games Finished in 2025
1. Pokémon Legends: Arceus
2. 2064: Read Only Memories
3. Silent Hill 3
4. Eiyduen Chronice: Hundred Heroes
5. Silent Hill f
Top 5 Worst Games Finished in 2025
1. Silent Hill Homecoming
2. Silent Hill Downpour
3. Dragon Quest IX
4. Read Only Memoires: Neurodiver
5. Bloodborne
dhaabi:
--- Quote from: telly on January 01, 2026, 01:39:32 pm ---Top 5 Best Games Finished in 2025
2. 2064: Read Only Memories
3. Silent Hill 3
5. Silent Hill f
Top 5 Worst Games Finished in 2025
1. Silent Hill Homecoming
2. Silent Hill Downpour
4. Read Only Memoires: Neurodiver
--- End quote ---
It's always upsetting when a series with such grand highs manages to produce polarizing lows.