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52 Games Challenge 2026!!!
marvelvscapcom2:
--- Quote from: kashell on March 19, 2026, 08:21:26 am ---26. Exit 8
A quick download and about an hour or so later, another game is complete. I love games with a simple and engaging concepts like this. Other than some of the anomalies being hard to point out, this game really delivers with its simplicity. It's also eerie as hell. Something about complete silence in a Tokyo subway hall is unnerving. Then, toss in an Eternal Darkness-esque type of effect and you're left running the opposite direction. I can see myself going through this again just to see the other anomalies.
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I beat and reviewed this game last year and it really is this superliminal creepy vibe that I loved. The seemingly endless void of a tokyo subway was unsettling but I did want to say the Sequel "Platform 8" is as creepy or creepier and also worth a look imo if you already enjoy exit 8. It has a similar premise but different execution if I remember correctly. It was sometimes finding anomolies but a lot of also figuring out what to do given a certain circumstance. I remember it making me very uneasy. Really cool indie games.
dhaabi:
--- Quote from: bikingjahuty on March 15, 2026, 06:11:09 pm ---
--- Quote from: kamikazekeeg on March 15, 2026, 03:18:05 pm ---
--- Quote from: kashell on March 14, 2026, 08:48:21 pm ---23. Resident Evil 3 Remake
I would say this was short and sweet, but there isn't much "sweet" about it. The blueprint is there, but it feels like there's more bad than good in Jill's/Carlos' campaign. I like both of these characters, and both seem like seasoned warriors. And yet, I'm having to once again backtrack often to make space for inventory. The Nemesis thing has the same flaws as other games with "stalkers" in them. It's a bit jarring at first, but then it turns into irritation. Needless to say, this was a one and done campaign that feels good but not great. Kudos for the trophy that referenced Power Stone, though.
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This one was disappointing. They had the blueprint for sure in multiplayer ways, they are coming off two big wins with RE7 and RE2R, and then they just dropped the ball with it, primarily because they cut a ton of content from the original and it felt like a downgrade from RE2R. The original was meant to be like a quick offshoot of RE, abit more actiony, but you can't do that quite the same here, because it needs to still have most of what the original game had. Add to that they attached the awful Resistance mode to the game and it's kind of a double whammy of lame. Just unfortunate that there's all these great new games and remakes post-RE7 and then there's just this huge misstep in the middle. We need a remake of the remake lol
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I was completely oblivious to the hate for this game until after I beat it. I really enjoyed it. Sure, it's different than the original, but I don't see that as necessarily a bad thing. It seems the biggest gripes seem to be how Nemesis was handled and also the game's length. I didn't have an issue with either and thought the game was pretty fun. I actually like it slightly more than the original game.
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I'm a bit late to the conversation, but my understanding of Resident Evil 3 (I've not played it yet) is that is entirely removes the chief accomplishment of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis that is its non-linear level progression. I didn't know about this until after I completed the game, but scenes and encounters vary between one and the other after nearly every singular player action. For instance, should a player visit the substation before the press office, events, opportunities, and even the items that are available to collect will change than had it been opposite. Apparently this system is incredibly robust, so it's ideal for anyone wanting to revisit the game to progress differently. Of course, all of this coincides with the game's Live Selection choices, which are also omitted from the remake.
dhaabi:
13. Resident Evil (2002) || GameCube || 03.16.2026
Before continuing the Resident Evil game series for the first time from one original title to the next, I reached the point where the franchise's first remake game debuted in 2002. For seventeen years, this specific game was an outlier for that status, but it's nonetheless critically regarded not only as one of the best games in the series but also as one of the most influential games of all time. Having known this far ahead of time, I began playing Resident Evil (RE 2002) with tempered expectations.
While my thoughts for games generally avoid discussing anything other than the subject at hand, there's an exception to be made considering the nature of RE (2002) as a remake of Resident Evil (RE 1996). As a successful remake should strive to be, RE 2002 maintains the same framework established in the original title but is different enough so that the experience feels off-putting with unease at times. With that said, the differences presented aren't just visual or parallel upgrades to accommodate for a new era of gaming but instead ones that alter the structure of the game itself. And it should not take long for those who've played RE 1996 to realize these differences either. New maps and environmental layouts have changed, alongside items, enemies and enemy behavior, puzzles, and gameplay mechanics. That final element perhaps most dictates the survival horror experience above all else in my opinion, and the one major change it's undergone with the addition of Defense Items offsets the heightened dangers that lurk throughout the Spencer Mansion estate.
On that note, perhaps the game's most noteworthy and horrifying new feature is that certain zombies will reanimate. While this is something I knew about prior to playing, I was not aware that reanimated zombies are not the same slow-moving enemies who lurch toward you. No, they instead return as raging undead referred to as Crimson Heads which sprint toward the player in a way that was absolutely terrifying the very first time one spawned, and every subsequent time was just as tense too. As previously mentioned, not all zombies mutate in this way, and there are ways to avoid the scenario altogether. While players always have the option to avoid killing zombies, it may not be ideal. Still, players may wish to delay this action, if only until the next encounter. The reason for this is because the mutation process from zombie to Crimson Head is a timed process that's determined by game difficulty but is also randomized into several different minute intervals. Meanwhile, another new mechanic introduced is the ability to burn undead bodies. However, this ability is restricted to a finite resource that must be collected at various locations and also requires temporarily relinquishing two of the eight inventory slots available. More than anything else, this one altered gameplay mechanic adds a considerable amount of strategy to navigating the environment.
Regarding the game's survival horror elements, I actually feel conflicted. Despite the differences introduced in this remake, there obviously is much that is carried over from its source material. And since I was familiar with that earlier title, there are certain advantages I held over someone who's not familiar, such as being able to plan routes to avoid encounters or to know when obstacles that are needing to be overcome will be introduced; of course, being familiar with the source material isn't necessarily advantageous and may even be detrimental as expectations are subverted. So in this regard, RE 2002 is exceptional. However, it is the game's execution of difficulty balance that I'm most critical of. As I reached the game's midway point, my ammo supply was in cautiously meager amounts; by contrast, the health restoratives available to me were in such overly high quantities—over a dozen, in fact. So, it seems to me that RE 2002 wants players to prioritize non-combat at the cost of taking damage. If it were that alone, I think I could adjust my play style to accommodate this sort of rigid approach to play, although it doesn't make sense from a mechanical point-of-view since certain enemies have been introduced by this point that can kill the player with one strike even at full health. (Maybe that's just a factor toward reaffirming the genre, though, even if it comes across as entirely unfair.) Of course, limited resources as a design philosophy is the crux of the survival horror genre, so are my criticisms valid? Well, once the second half of the game is in full stride, the game's difficulty sharply veers toward being relatively effortless. Instead of a limited supply of weapon resources and challenging encounters, too many items are now supplied altogether alongside enemy encounters becoming a lower threat level. Overall, the game's balance is something I find to be not only the weakest design element in this installment but also the worst among every game in the series leading to this point. Had balance been generally consistent or to not such opposite extremes, I don't think there would be much to fault. Nevertheless, I personally would have felt much more satisfied had I been forced to persevere as a result of my own decisions and play style than the game being designed in this way.
Meanwhile, there is more to RE 2002 than just its survival horror elements, or perhaps the following are just aspects which reinforce the genre. As with the titles preceding it, this remake features a non-linear level progression—particularly in the game's first and final environments. Although for some reason throughout my playthrough, this open-endedness felt more pronounced. Generally, players are free to explore areas collecting key items until a certain roadblock is faced. Usually, what this means is that another route must instead be explored as additional key items are found, until eventually the player is able to explore every room. As a result of the game's genre features (namely limited inventory space and a finite means to save progress), not knowing exactly how far one must go to reach where a key item may be found or where one may be used greatly elevates the experience as the thought of backtracking to resupply resources or to explore somewhere else was always something I considered. Fortunately, the game's map system that's slightly more detailed than the games before it helps the act of navigation, and it even informs players when a room has been cleared of items to find. However, this too is an aspect of the game I both appreciate and disregard, and it also feels like an issue relating to balance. This function coincides with items that are mostly found out in the open; very few are actually hidden among environmental set pieces that will require persistent clicking to pick them up. These types of unseen items also contrast to the number of items that gleam and are largely unmissable. That several item types by a visibility metric exist is something that I feel could have been implemented better with more efficient environmental design, but perhaps this opinion is grounded in more modern expectations.
As this is the fifth title in the game franchise I've played now, there is a certain threshold of quality I've come to expect regarding presentation—both from a sensory and narrative perspective—and exploration through puzzle-solving. And, mostly, this game doesn't fail to meet that standard. To be succinct, RE 2002 is graphically impressive. While I've not played many GameCube games, this seems to be one of the better-looking ones that attempt to emulate real-world fidelity. Likewise, audio demonstrates quality, though I'll admit I was particularly captivated by the game's use of silence and natural sounds such as thunder and even the sound of birds to be more effective toward establishing a heightened horror atmosphere than song tracks. As I progressed through the game, it was evident that the developers chose to largely abandon the campy writing style and performances to elevate it. Some level of this still exists, particularly through one character across my playthrough as Jill who still has a disposition that's amateurish, demonstrated through both attitude and demeanor. To my surprise, updated written notes and an entirely new narrative sub-plot has also been included. The latter especially was interesting to read as it unveils some of the earlier experiments Umbrella conducted and the long-lasting effects of them. However, is has an incredibly unsatisfying resolution that ends abruptly. Rather, it doesn't even end. It's never properly addressed within the game again, and instead, it isn't for another six years later that this sub-plot is concluded exclusively within a real-world art book featuring story notes. And based on my observations having interacted with Resident Evil materials despite not having played the games, I believe this is one of the earliest instances within the franchise when outside reference materials are used this way. And to be brief, the game's puzzles are adequate. Overall, they're actually designed more as puzzles to be solved than the simple act of finding an item and then figuring out how it's used as these obstacles tend to be designed, though they still don't reach the level of thoughtfulness that I think would benefit the series.
Just as I prefaced my thoughts with the global attitude held toward Resident Evil (2002), I'll reiterate that it's a game that many consider to be the best in the series. But as someone who holds no nostalgia for this title and has only experienced it for the first time nearly twenty-five years later after its release, it's not difficult to recognize its shortcomings in spite of its strengths.
kashell:
27. SaGa Frontier Remastered - T260G
I feel like T260G's quest is one of the less talked about, which is a shame because it's one of the most intriguing. The set pieces unique to their journey (the game uses they/them) are epic in scope and pile on the mystery as more stuff is revealed. Just what was this important mission? Their quest also has one of the more challenging final bosses. I was cutting it close in the end, relying on one person using DCS to do DPS. Part of that was me wanting to use Engineer Car in the final party. Mecs are a lot of fun to use, but healing them can be tricky because the only item that can do the healing only does about 400 HP at maximum. Still, this was a good time. Gen, Emilia, and Lute rounded out the party. Emilia learned Life Sprinkler during the final encounter which was pretty damn epic. Up next is Lute.
supremeusername:
14. Donkey Kong Bananza | 2025 | Nintendo Switch 2 | 3/8:
Well, I finally finished it. My #1 reason for wanting a Switch 2. To start of, the Nintendo EPD team perfected the feel, the weight of Donkey Kong's punches. DK crushes and crumbles his enemies with perfection -- knocking them out and blowing up parts of terrain with their body's splash damage. Punching through terrain is so much fun and it's crazy how natural it feels in this game. You can just level out environments with only Donkey Kong at your disposal and the entire map layer as your oasis. Each layer is this giant sandbox pit for you to make your own. You can surf on rocks that you pulled from the earth and use that same rock to throw at an enemy getting ready to attack. Not all enemies are designed to be hit by your punches or with any terrain: some will require you to use certain abilities or stronger terrain to do damage.
The boss battles are maybe my single favorite aspect of DK Bananza. They kind of just show up randomly: either at the end of a layer or somewhere in the middle. They all make use of the voxel destruction technology in various ways. One fight will have you rip off chunks of terrain to throw at a flying boss to slow them down. Another boss will require you to look towards the ground to see where they go when they're invisible, so you won't want to mess with the terrain at all. And then you have some bosses that do away with the typical three-phase battle and just require you to run up and punch the crap out of them and anything else in sight.
If there's ONE thing that holds this game back from being an all-time great for me, it would be the collect-a-thon nature of the game. There's a little of what I would call 'DK64-syndrome' in this game and that there's way too many things to collect. Yes, both Banana and fossil collectibles are not required at all to beat the game, but it doesn't feel as special to collect as the moons did in Super Mario Odyssey. What really made Mario Odyssey shine was the discovery of finding moons. The maps of Odyssey are smaller and more linear, but felt large and rich with everything you could potentially find in some off-beaten path or hidden corner. You are also granted the powers of Cappy, which amplify the joy of discovery even further as you could potentially control anything: Goombas, frogs, a tree?! Most of the bananas you uncover in DK Bananza meanwhile, are either in challenge rooms or just buried in the earth's crust. It could be by design, but DK Bananza is still a collecthon-a-thon game -- with a list of every collectable banana you could get shown in the pause menu. I just wish a little more creativity was put into the placement of collectibles. The animal abilities you get are cool, but hardly required in comparison to Cappy. You'll need to use them a few times in the layer that they're introduced, but are not required much after that. And when you need to find collectibles, it's just easier to use the Elephant to suck all the terrain up then to use any other ability. It took me under two weeks to 100% Mario Odyssey, whereas it took over two months just to beat Bananza (I did get about half of the game's collectibles to be fair). I guess I'll have to replay Odyssey later in the year just to see if it's as good as I remember.
I still really love this game despite it not exactly being as hyped up as I wanted it to be. This is just Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction on steroids and that's a great thing. It's an idea that I could never imagine but seems so obvious with the character of Donkey Kong. There's a surprising amount of storytelling going on with the design of Bananza's world and the signs left behind in each layer. You are slowly drip-fed some details and lore behind some of the game's layers and NPCs like the Fractones. I wasn't sure what to think about a bunch of animate rocks with cute googly-eyeballs sticking on them, but I really liked them by the end of the game. And the last couple of hours this game ends on are something to behold. I won't spoil it, but it's really special.
Grade: A-
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