52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

[supremeusername]

11. Skullmonkeys | 1998 | PlayStation 1 | 2/25:



     Continuing from Ghost in the Shell, we have yet another one-of-a-kind PS1 game completed: Skullmonkeys. Off the bat, art direction gets a 10 out of 10 from me. This is actually a sequel to the point-and-click adventure game The Neverhood, released two years prior. You can absolutely tell the same team worked on this one just by artstyle alone: claymation that's been all hand-crafted and worked into most of the game's assets -- from the backgrounds, to the enemies you face, to the stop-motion cutscenes that play every couple of levels. How cool is that?!

     As for the actual gameplay, it's kind of ehh. In the beginning, you have a nice balance of difficulty and fairness as you get used to the game's mobility and mechanics. However, the game becomes exceptionally brutal once you meet the bug enemies. These levels just start to feel monotonous as you're stuck in the same environment, dying to the same enemies over and over. It doesn't help that each level to start with features different types of enemies and vistas (snow, industrial, above the clouds, etc.), while these 'YNT' levels all have gloomy environments with these bug enemies that punish you with their hit detection and speed -- and there's four of them, IN A ROW!

     There's one thing I've noticed with some of these enemies: the standard ones that walk back and forth have no predictable movement cycle. For example: the non-flying bug enemies will stand in one spot until they scratch their heads, which means they are about to move in the opposite direction they're facing. Sometimes, the head-scratching animation will play halfway or not at all when they decide to move. Sometimes, they move the length of an entire platform or move only halfway before they stop dead in their tracks. So for a platformer that requires minimal room for error, you have to face enemies that give you no way to predict when they're going to move and how they're going to move. This harkens me back to some of the problems I've had with Tomb Raider II: where some of these deaths are in no way your fault because you have no way of predicting them. It's worse in this game however, because at least if you replay Tomb Raider II, you will know what to look out for in terms of traps set up to troll you. I have no idea if my jump in Skullmonkeys will allow me to stomp on an enemy or I end up a couple of pixels short and get blown up because the enemy decides to abruptly stop.

     Forewarning: this game is part platformer, part inventory management sim. There are parts in later levels where it feels like you HAVE to use power-ups to make it past. You have a finite number of power-up items that's earned in levels. When you lose all of your lives, you spawn at the start of the section where you died instead of the start of a level. This is very nice of the game to do something like this, expect for the fact that every power-up you've collected over the course of the game is now lost. You may as well start over from the last password save instead.

     Everything outside of the gameplay is intriguing (in a good way!). You get this bizarre but memorable soundtrack to jam out to, with the kind of humor you would expect from a LucasArts point-and-click adventure sprinkled in. You knock your head into an upper platform and you hear a bonking sound. You jump on top of a skull monkey and their body parts will explode towards the player's camera. You have funny cutscenes of your character, Klaymen, eating beans and getting into shenanigans with the skull monkeys. This game is marvelous to look at, just not as fun to play.



Grade: D+

[bikingjahuty]

I decided to jump back into RE2R after beating RE9. I haven't beat it since early 2020 and never as Claire. It's still a phenomenal game.

I literally did the same thing, I'm kinda casually playing that while trying to do some challenges in RE9 I still have, because I played through Grace's section and it gave very big RE2 vibes, so I think I'm gonna do a chill run with infinite ammo through it lol

Because of my experience with RE9, I'm kinda on a RE kick right now. I'm playing through Claire's campaign in RE2 currently, but am considering going back and doing a lot of extras in RE9 after I'm done with RE2. When I actually want to go back and do extra stuff, that's the mark of a really good game imo.

[telly]

Game 4: Subnautica: Below Zero (PS5) - 35 Hours - Platinum

Subnautica is one of my favorite games of all time, so I was itching to dive in (haha) and play this midquel before the sequel comes out later this year. I will say that this game, while still bringing it with the mixture of tense survival and delightful exploration and discovery with an amazing atmosphere, is a little lacking in other departments. First, the arctic setting feels a little superficial. Once you go underwater, the lush greenery and diverse aquatic life makes it feel like you're back in a tropical locale like the first game. No, the cold weather is really used for a new dry land segment, which while fine to traverse, doesn't really feel all that exciting compared to the underwater portion. I found that the story lacked the original tight focus like the first game. Your first mission is to find your sister, then the story takes kind of a 180 and instead you’re trying to resurrect an ancient alien – but neither of these plot points can match what the first game was able to do as a perfect mix between gameplay and story.

All of the minor annoyances from the first game were not changed in Below Zero which was also disappointing. Truthfully I didn’t find the monsters nearly as much as a nuisance as the first game so the lack of non-violent deterrents wasn’t that big of a deal this time around. However, I still don’t understand why you can’t have just a basic map that you can mark out places of interest or that shows places you’ve been to. You’re telling me I can make a nuclear power plant with a device the size of a hair dryer, but I can’t have a map??

If you put those things aside, Subnautica Below Zero still provides a great experience even if it’s a step down from the original.

[supremeusername]

12. The Song of Saya | 2003 | Director's Cut | PC | 2/28:



     Well, where do I begin? This game is an experience, and I don't say that lightly. This is one of those games that you have to go in blind and be fully immersed by what the game gives you. And this game will not only give, but put you through a lot within its 6 to 8 hour runtime. It's unapologetically grotesque & deranged in its presentation, yet never feels over-bearing. It can feel overly nihilistic at times, yet beautifully written with a lot of thought and effort. For every shocking moment, there's respite (yet somberness looms in the atmosphere). There's not a moment of waste in The Song of Saya.

     The 'visual' in visual novel is clearly presented here. Outlines of buildings covered in guts and entrails parade the streets in a nightmare world where the sky is endless black. The nasty gore of background environments isn't drawn but created from early-2000s CGI, which feels even more unsettling and uncanny to visualize. This is juxtaposed by moments of real life: pictures taken from everyday places, filtered to look like faded, nostalgic slices-of-life, making up environments for the game outside of the nightmare. There's plenty of unique CG art shown as well; way more than a short VN like this should have. You also have the fantastic soundtrack, with wildly shifts in tone & mood: from something as simple & serene as "Sabbath" to the roaring drone of guitars and distant wails of agony in "Schizophrenia". There's a lot to Song of Saya that makes it feel complete, unrelated to the actual story.

     Speaking of which, let's get into what rounds out Song of Saya for me: the story-telling -- specifically the shifting of perspectives. You start as a victim involved in a tragic accident that has completely changed his view on life, and you see all the disturbing details that he sees from his perspective. Later on, you start to see the story unfold from other viewpoints and foreboding horror starts to occur. I'll try my best to explain a scenario from the game without spoiling anything: there's a scene of murder involved, but to show or even explain the person getting murdered is very taboo in the land of video games. So, this game decides to dehumanize them by showing you the perspective of someone that can't see them as human. Elements of the real world are heavily altered in their point of view. You can make out some remnants of the outside world's humanity as the spectator of the story, but the person you are spectating cannot because they are filled with fear. So you witness and hear the sounds of a tragedy taking place from their muffled POV, but you know the exact context of the crime occurring if the veil were to come off. It's an absolutely fucked-up display of horror, but it doesn't come off as cheap or in poor-taste because of the clever writing and mixed-perspective presentation.



     I'm baffled that this came out in 2003. There must've been nothing like it then and it's still captivating to this today. Apparently, Japan agrees because they're still pumping out all kinds of merch for this game: Posters, figures, plushies. There's also vinyl records of the game's OST, with some colored variants aptly named "Meat" and "Rot". Not bad at all for a 23-year old visual novel with no anime or manga adaptation. Anyways, I'm getting off-topic. This game is really not for everyone and even for the people that its for, opinions are polarizing compared to the other classics of this genre. Most of the "Director's Cut" content I used my arm as a censor bar, but I appreciate it for making the game even more disturbing to read. I don't think there's any correct way to experience The Song of Saya. I'm glad there's options to blur the abhorrent scenery in this game for those that can't stomach it, but still want to engage in the story. I did however, experience this game as any Japanese person would back in 2003 and I did not regret it one bit. This is a work of art in the same vein as games like Pathologic and Deadly Premonition are: completely and utterly its own thing; no sugarcoating it or compromise to appeal to the largest audience. It may not be my favorite game of the year when everything's said and done, but it will probably be my most memorable.

Grade: A

[supremeusername]

Updated: March 5th

[dhaabi]

12. The Song of Saya | 2003 | Director's Cut | PC | 2/28:

I wasn't familiar with Saya no Uta previously (I'm generally unfamiliar with visual novels), but I did become somewhat curious about it after reading your thoughts. Without really knowing the extent to just how explicit this game is even after some shallow searching, I decided to peruse images results. With that said, while it's not a game for me (probably only) because of its eroge content, it's interesting to know that this exists and as is popular as it is.

[bikingjahuty]

20. Resident Evil 2 (PS4)

One major sign that tells me I really enjoyed a game is when I immediately want to jump into another game in the series right after. This is especially true of any game that takes me more than 4 or 5 hours to beat. Such is the case with me playing the Resident Evil 2 remake (RE2) right after beating Resident Evil Requiem just a few days ago.


Initially going into RE2, I really wanted to play as Leon and revisit where it all began for one of the heroes of Requiem. However, once I fired RE2 up and realized the one and only time I played through RE2 back in 2020 was with Leon, I inevitably decided to take the game on as Claire instead. With RE Code Veronica being the first RE game I ever sunk serious time into and beat, I have a soft spot for the sister of Chris Redfield and felt like I wanted to experience RE2 in a fairly different way than I had during my first play through. I have to say, despite undeniable differences, the campaigns are still remarkably similar in how they play out. I suppose if I wanted a much different experience I'd have to play the B scenario with one of the characters instead of just doing back to back A scenarios. Still, some of the changes with Claire were certainly welcome. For one, Claire is the easier of the two campaigns. A lot of this has to do with being able to get a grenade launcher fairly early on which makes real short work of some of the toucher enemies and bosses in the game. Also, the tyrant monster that plagued my first playthrough as Leon, Mr. X, is barely in Claire's campaign. What this essentially meant is playing through RE2 as Claire was a far less tense and stressful affair than it had during my Leon playthrough.


Regardless of who you're playing as, RE2 is an excellent game to play. The remake's upgrade to the original by modernizing nearly everything about the gameplay absolutely helps elevate RE2 remake over the classic 1998 game. Gone are the tank controls, and in its place is a much more engaging, dynamic, and immersive third person perspective that allows you to view your surrounding and aim weapons where you want them. I'm certainly not one of those classic RE tank control haters, but the new style of aiming, shooting, and exploring in RE2 remake is undeniably more appealing and easier to play.


Combat in RE2 is mostly pretty good. Characters are given a fairly wide arsenal of primary and secondary weapons to get this the tense survival horror setting of this game. Primary weapons take the form of guns that you manually aim when pressing one of the shoulder buttons. This allows you to put the bullet right where you want it. However, this is easier said than done since enemies can be very mobile and erratic, making it easy to waste ammo when trying to aim for a zombie's head or leg. As for secondary weapons, thes take the form of knives and grenades mostly. Secondary weapons can be used both when in the clutches of an enemy, almost like a get out of jail free card that will prevent you from taking damage. Or they can be used preemptively to attack enemies before they've got a hold of you. Both weapon types work pretty well, however combat still isn't perfect in RE2.


My main gripes in RE2 have to do with enemy balancing and placement. There are more than a handful of sections in this game that really make it ver difficult, if not impossible to take damage. Most of these issues have to do with how many zombies and other enemies the devs crammed into a fairly tight, small area. More than once, I found myself getting attacked, recovering, and getting attacked almost immediately after with almost not chance to get away, attack, or heal in time. Regardless of whether or not I died, these areas always felt very cheap and poorly designed. This also extended to several boss battles which felt way too confined and restrictive. It was almost inevitable that I'd take damage from the boss, once again making the overall combat experience feel cheap and annoying. It also doesn't help that even when running, Claire (and Leon too) feel like they're wading through sludge with how slow they move. This was a big enough issue to where it did distract somewhat from my enjoyment of this game, but there was too much else present in RE2 remake to make me feel like this game was anything short of amazing.


Puzzles in RE2 are great, resources such as ammo and healing supplies are in short supply, and just the atmosphere from start to finish is outstanding. This game is true survival horror mastery and how you update a 20-year old classic for the modern era. Yes, RE2 remake does lean slightly more into the action side of things more than the game it's based on, but even so, this is still about as good as survival horror gets in the modern era of gaming.


RE2's visuals are near perfect. Every area, section, room, hallway, enemy, boss, and practically everything else in between looks absolutely amazing! The RE Engine is a stunner as seen in so many modern Resident Evil titles since RE7. Unfortunately, where RE2 falls noticeably short is in some of its character models. Some models, chiefly Leon's and Marvin's look amazing, highly detailed, and just have that polish that nearly every character model had in RE7. Then there are models like Claire, pre infected William, Sherry, and a few other minor characters you encounter. During gameplay they mostly look fine, however it's during cutscenes where these specific character just look more flat or even, dare I say, kinda ugly. They just look more flat or their face models just look a bit off. Again, compare this to virtually every model in RE7 and you'll know what I mean. And RE7 came out a couple years before RE2 did, making this downgrade in character models a bit puzzling. But yeah, none of the models are downright terrible and while it is worth noting, it's still a bit distracting as you play through RE2.


When it comes to the audio in RE2 it's pretty damn good, albeit not perfect. The soundtrack in this game is good, however I actually prefer the original RE2's soundtrack to it. There are some arranged tracks from the original RE2 here, but just overall, the OST is noticeably less memorable or enjoyable as it was in the 1998 game. Voice acting is arguably an improvement to OG RE2; the somewhat cheesy performances in the old RE games have a unique, weird charm to them and somehow just work so well with those games. While RE2 Remake has noticeably more competent voice actors, I guess none of them captivate me like those older performances. Even compared to the performances in RE7 (with Ethan Winter's voice actor being a HUGE exception to this) RE2 just isn't as good. Games like RE4 remake and RE8 prove voice acting can be much better than they were in RE2. And finally, the sound effects, including monster noises are excellent here. The sound of foot steps from Mr. X, zombies moaning further down a hallway, or the banging of zombies clamming against doors and windows is awesome and certainly contributes to RE2 being overall a delight for the ears.


I'm not sure if it's because I preferred Claire's A scenario over Leon's, or perhaps the game just grew on me in the 6 years since I last played it, but I found myself liking RE2 just a tad more than I did back in 2020. The game isn't perfect and there are still several RE games I like more than it, but for it to be better than nearly all the classic RE games as well as a good chunk of modern Resident Evil titles is a true testament to RE2's quality. This is a must play for anyone wanting to play an excellent modern survival horror game, even being so good as to be a substitute for the original RE2, which is undisputed classic. By this logic, RE2 remake is an undeniable modern classic if there ever was one. (3/5/26) [41/50]

[kashell]

21. SaGa Frontier Remastered - Red

We're starting the game that'll eventually grant me my 150th platinum! Naturally, it has to be my favorite game of all time. The first character I finished was the same character I played the very first time I played the original. Red is always a good "starter" hero for those that don't know much about the game and it's mechanics. When his quest finally opens up, the Remaster does a good job of keeping players aware of what they have to do next. I decided to use Gen, Liza, Fuse and Lute along with Red. Gen, Fuse and Lute are available in all of the other campaigns so that'll be handy for the new game pluses. Liza might not be I'm going to build her up as much as I can when she's around. During this play through, I managed to knock out some trophy requirements that I'd normally never bother with. One was for getting a Mariche. The second was for getting a Dullhalan. Red's campaign ended with a fun bang. Up next is Emilia.

[supremeusername]

I wasn't familiar with Saya no Uta previously (I'm generally unfamiliar with visual novels), but I did become somewhat curious about it after reading your thoughts. Without really knowing the extent to just how explicit this game is even after some shallow searching, I decided to peruse images results. With that said, while it's not a game for me (probably only) because of its eroge content, it's interesting to know that this exists and as is popular as it is.

The Steam version cuts down on the eroge content, but I don't know how it's done. I've tried looking into it, but everyone has a slightly different description about what's shown and what's removed. I think you still get the context about what's happening, but the eroge dialogue & nudity is cut out. Some people liked the 'censored' version more after reading both, so you couldn't be wrong looking into the Steam version if you're interested. It's still gonna require some willpower to read though, no matter what version you pick.

[supremeusername]

13. Condemned: Criminal Origins | 2005 | Xbox Series X | 3/7:



     Completing back-to-back horror games for the first time in quite a while, this one is poles apart from the last one I played however. We have here the grungy survival horror action-FPS of Condemned, developed by the late & great Monolith. This game really did not age well in the 'looks department', but it kind of works with the overall aesthetic. Character models with any semblance of being called human just look dreadful in this game. The enemies you face however, look real dangerous and thrilling to fight. This, combined with the closed-quarters level design, really make Condemned shine through all the grit and grime of the game's world. There's also the game's combat, which feels visceral and crunchy when you trade blows with the many thugs and gremlins you're forced to face. Condemned does feel a little stiff to play today, especially with this herky-jerky camera movement that may be due to how it ran on the original 360. Still, it only adds to the claustrophobic layout of levels and not knowing what's around the corner.

     Story was so-so for me. I liked the beginning parts where it felt more like a crime drama, but they lost me with the paranormal crap introduced towards the end. It felt shoe-horned in and not what the game built itself up to be. This was Monolith's 2nd first-person horror game released in 2005, the prior game being F.E.A.R. about a month earlier. These were the studio's first attempts at making a single-player FPS with elements of horror (not counting Blood); and they nailed both. F.E.A.R. is way better though. Grade: C+

[bikingjahuty]

21. Reanimal (PS5)

My first exposure to the Little Nightmares series was watching my wife play through the first two games. I remember thinking the atmosphere, art, and interesting puzzle/platforming gameplay looked interesting enough to where I wanted to try playing these games myself at some point. Well, that point came last year where I finally played the first Little Nightmares game and....it was okay. I honestly thought I'd like it more than I did, but for what it's worth, I still thought Little Nightmares was a decent, spooky game and given how short it was, I found it hard to be upset about not liking it more.


Given my lukewarm reaction to the first Little Nightmares was, I was in no rush to play Little Nightmares 2 and after my wife's fairly negative appraisal of Little Nightmares 3, I had no intention of playing that one. Enter Reanimal. Yes, I'm aware that Little Nightmares 3 is pretty much a Little Nightmares game by name only given it was developed by an entirely different team. On the flip side, Reanimal is essentially the real Little Nightmares 3 despite having a different, unrelated name. This was enough for my wife to want to pick up Reanimal and due to the inclusion of a local co-op option, I was willing to play it with her during our first playthrough. At only around 4 hours to beat, we blew through this game in a few evenings, beating the game tonight. And well, I feel about the same towards Reanimal as I did the first Little Nightmare games.


Like Little Nightmares, you control one of two children who are forced to navigate through a dreary, horror-filled world in a state of ruin. However, unlike Little Nightmares, there seems to be a bit more emphasis placed on some sort of story involving a well, sheep, and a bunch of other crap I was never able to wrap my head around. Luckily, the avant garde horror plot barely matters and instead the game's focus seems to be more on the experience of getting through each of the nightmarish sections that comprise Reanimal's world.


I actually didn't care for this game during the first quarter of it. You're being chased in a dilapidated city surrounded by a forest while a guy who looks like Coraline's Other Father collects skin suits from a bunch of unnamed inhabitants of the city. This section didn't really scare me or put me on edge, and honestly I just felt sort of bored. Luckily the game quickly picks up right after this part and outside an ending that was somewhat annoying to play through, the game does accomplish being a fairly interesting, unique horror setting. This setting is rendered pretty well in the game's visuals, however I have to point out that some areas become difficult to navigate or avoid obstacles due to how dark they are or how the fixed camera seems to be in the wrong place at times. Also, given how zoomed out most of the game is, there were a handful of times where I mistook my character I was controlling for the one my wife was controlling, or a few NPC characters that join you sporadically throughout your journey. These issues came up enough to where they certainly impacted my overall enjoyment of the visuals in Reanimal, but not enough to ruin the game or for me to even consider the visuals just decent. No, Reanimal's visuals are pretty good as is the overall art direction.


The audio in Reanimal, while pretty good from a sound design perspective, has little else to offer beyond that. Yes, there is an original soundtrack here, but outside enhancing the horror atmosphere, I never found it to be particularly alluring or good. There is a touch of voice acting in Reanimal, but honestly it's so infrequent and the characters speaking are practically whispering that it might as well have not been included. No, the best part of this game's audio is its sound design and effects which do a pretty good job of ramping up tension or anxiety as some hostile creature is running after you or something creepy suddenly appears out of nowhere.


This leaves Reanimal's gameplay, which is umm, pretty good...mostly. Anyone who has played Little Nightmares or its sequels will be familiar with how Reanimal controls. As one of the playable characters, your abilities remain fairly limited. You can essentially run, jump, and interact with a plethora of objects using an action button. Reanimal also gives the player an extra source of light in the darker portions of the game, just like its predecessors of a different name. However, Reanimal also offers the ability to fight, allowing you to use a variety of weapons to handle specific situations you run into. Unfortunately, these weapons and how often they're used does reduce some of the anxiety and tension the game is trying to make the player feel. It's also worth noting that due to some of the visuals issues I mentioned earlier, it's easy to get hung up on something or accidentally get detected when you thought you were hidden in cover. I also found the movement controls to be a bit vague and even floaty at times, which was an issue when I needed to make a jump or quickly change direction while trying to escape something. These were certainly issues, but on the whole, Reanimal is absolutely playable and mostly a well crafted experience to get through.


While I do have a decent amount of good things to say about Reanimal, I still unfortunately feel like this game just didn't land with me much like the first game. I'm at the point where I'm fairly certain these games use aren't for me when it comes to horror video games, a genre I'm typically a big fan of. Reanimal is not a bad game, not at all. However, it's a game that fails that really draw me in or give me anything objective to heap praise on, which means this will almost assuredly be the first and last time I ever play Reanimal and possibly be the last Little Nightmares-like game I have it in me to play. (3/8/26) [34/50]