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Modern Video Games / Re: Help finding a computer game details inside............
« on: July 20, 2026, 03:16:59 pm »
Noted, TY 
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2
Modern Video Games / Re: Help finding a computer game details inside............
« on: July 20, 2026, 12:06:28 pm »
I asked AI for a modern game like High Seas Trader and it suggested:
Port Royale 3
Patrician 4
High Seas, High Profits!
I used the last game as the basis for a search on Steampeek which also produced some promising results:
https://steampeek.hu/?appid=2828490&releaseafter=2010-01-01
Port Royale 3
Patrician 4
High Seas, High Profits!
I used the last game as the basis for a search on Steampeek which also produced some promising results:
https://steampeek.hu/?appid=2828490&releaseafter=2010-01-01
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Modern Video Games / Re: It's officially over.
« on: July 06, 2026, 04:50:32 pm »I definitely think the landscape of gaming is going to change pretty dramatically as a result of all this. I can see a parallel industry forming from this; one that caters to your more hardcore, enthusiast gamer and one that caters more towards the mainstream. The mainstream one will be entirely digital with everything being subscriptions and online purchases. This will be where AAA game studios release their games and the majority of AA studios as well. Meanwhile, a much more vibrant, diverse indie scene will continue to flourish on two fronts. One being the same mass market digital platforms as the big studios and then also in a more niche physical space. If small startups like PixelFX and Evercade can release consoles to play older games, there's nothing stopping indie devs from developing games for these platforms in addition to their online versions on PSN or Steam.
You've summed up what I was trying to say in a couple of sentences. TBH I struggle to articulate as well as you guys and it's something that puts me off posting to some extent, not sure if it's my age or what. I totally agree, it's going to be the FIFA/COD/games as a service crowd and some/many of the triple/double A players with the internet-box consoles who just want easy access and straight into the action, and fair play to them! Then there's going to be sort of middle-of-the-road Nintendo players who want the choice, as well as die-hard Ninty fans, a massive amount of players who just PC Master-Race it through Steam alongside the casual/cosy crowd. Then there's going to be those of us who just want to play old-skool, tried and tested genres and mash-ups which do something different, in a completely nerdy way, complete with physical media. I'm happy with 'nerdy game-box' running Mina the Hollower and those new eldritch pixel-art games like Neverway and Welcome to Elderfield off a cart, that'll do very nicely! Oh, and that new survival-horror built ground-up to be fully Dreamcast compatible that's going to be on Kickstarter soon. That's lovely, can't wait to have it on the shelf...
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Modern Video Games / Re: It's officially over.
« on: July 05, 2026, 06:15:38 pm »
I used to dread this moment. It would be the end of new games and I would have had something I hold dear, which has been my main hobby from being a small boy, ripped from my hands. But in recent years a lot has happened with my gaming habits and the way I view the hobby.
A lack of funds forced me to sell most of my collection a few years ago, the same lack of funds ended up pushing me onto Steam for some new games just because I could do so cheaply, discovering Kinguin made that all the easier, then I concentrated on the Switch which has been a dream console to pick up physical games for, like even compared to the PS2. I once owned a PS5 but never took it out of the box (got sold like so much of my gaming stuff). Xbox hasn't been relevant to me since the 360, the PS4 took a back seat to the Switch and never even got back in the race for me. Now Sony want out? Go for it! The Switch keeps getting releases announced and I'm struggling to keep up, discovering VGP is not helping in this matter either!
The thing is, 'the big players' have been wrong in my eyes since the 90s, like the PS1/N64 era being about 3D, because "nobody is interested in 2D any more". Exsqueeze me? That's not just a perspective, it's a laundry list of video game genres you're flushing down the toilet, one that I'm very much not done with. Physical media and video games with game in them, as opposed to kind-of interactive movies or e-books with nice graphics, are other things 'the game industry' has decided it's finished with. But the consoles aren't 'the game industry', they're just the ones with the most visibility and the budgets, but gaming was never theirs exclusively and what Sony or MicroSoft do does not dictate where this enormous juggernaut of a hobby goes.
Let them go. Let them close or fold-in their first-party studios they paid millions for a year or two ago, let them step away from physical. They aren't the hobby. It's bigger than them. Thousands and thousands of games are getting released every year, most of the exciting ones (to me) resemble games from the 16-bit era and are produced by a handful of people or a solo developer, or they're Nintendo games which I'll get on cart (but not those gamecard monstrosities, thank you). We've got Evercade, we're getting the new/old Neo Geo, Sega just might come back and do their own thing.
I've always thought someone could just produce some kind of game-box with a set standard, with a cartridge slot and low specs to run all these fab indie games we're getting these days and the Evercade shows that it could work. Just needs someone to throw down and go for it, physical doesn't have to die at all.
Sorry, a bit rambly, but I'm content to look at alternatives and the more old-skool style of gaming when it comes to future purchases.
A lack of funds forced me to sell most of my collection a few years ago, the same lack of funds ended up pushing me onto Steam for some new games just because I could do so cheaply, discovering Kinguin made that all the easier, then I concentrated on the Switch which has been a dream console to pick up physical games for, like even compared to the PS2. I once owned a PS5 but never took it out of the box (got sold like so much of my gaming stuff). Xbox hasn't been relevant to me since the 360, the PS4 took a back seat to the Switch and never even got back in the race for me. Now Sony want out? Go for it! The Switch keeps getting releases announced and I'm struggling to keep up, discovering VGP is not helping in this matter either!
The thing is, 'the big players' have been wrong in my eyes since the 90s, like the PS1/N64 era being about 3D, because "nobody is interested in 2D any more". Exsqueeze me? That's not just a perspective, it's a laundry list of video game genres you're flushing down the toilet, one that I'm very much not done with. Physical media and video games with game in them, as opposed to kind-of interactive movies or e-books with nice graphics, are other things 'the game industry' has decided it's finished with. But the consoles aren't 'the game industry', they're just the ones with the most visibility and the budgets, but gaming was never theirs exclusively and what Sony or MicroSoft do does not dictate where this enormous juggernaut of a hobby goes.
Let them go. Let them close or fold-in their first-party studios they paid millions for a year or two ago, let them step away from physical. They aren't the hobby. It's bigger than them. Thousands and thousands of games are getting released every year, most of the exciting ones (to me) resemble games from the 16-bit era and are produced by a handful of people or a solo developer, or they're Nintendo games which I'll get on cart (but not those gamecard monstrosities, thank you). We've got Evercade, we're getting the new/old Neo Geo, Sega just might come back and do their own thing.
I've always thought someone could just produce some kind of game-box with a set standard, with a cartridge slot and low specs to run all these fab indie games we're getting these days and the Evercade shows that it could work. Just needs someone to throw down and go for it, physical doesn't have to die at all.
Sorry, a bit rambly, but I'm content to look at alternatives and the more old-skool style of gaming when it comes to future purchases.
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Modern Video Games / Re: Sony shuts down Bluepoint
« on: February 26, 2026, 08:46:33 am »All of this only reinforces that corporations aren't your friend or should be revered in any sort of way. They neither care for their workers nor the consumer.
To some degree, I think that consumers are becoming aware of this issue, but those who do are still very much the minority. Of course, this issue goes far beyond the video games industry. Consumers have a lot more power as a collective entity than they often fail to realize, but maybe in time the majority will realize that.
This.
My foolish belief that having large corporate entities swallowing development studios somehow provided an umbrella of protection shattered when Microsoft shuttered Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires), their sidelining of Rare only confirmed the worst. These monoliths don't give a darn about 'the product', only how much money they can generate for investors.
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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2026!!!
« on: December 28, 2025, 07:18:34 pm »
Games beaten
01] Harem Rush! Impish Fantasy (STM, 2025) | 1 Jan | Action
02] Earth Defense Force 6 (STM, 2024) | 4 Jan | Action | Wing Diver, Normal Difficulty
03] Spy Bros. (Pipi & Bibi's DX) (STM, 2023) | 11 Jan | Action
04] Yohane the Parhelion - Blaze in the Deepblue (STM, 2023) | 18 Jan | Metroidvania
05] Cult of the Lamb (STM, 2022) | 22 Jan | Action
06] Look Outside (STM, 2025) | 4 Feb | Turn-based RPG
07] Dino Quake (STM, 2025) | 19 Feb | Action
08] The Lucky Stray Cat (STM, 2026) | 22 Feb | Turn-based RPG, VN
09] A Dog's Story (STM, 2025) | 25 Feb | Turn-based RPG, VN
10] Resident Evil Requiem (STM, 2026) | 5 Mar | Survival Horror
11] Gal Gun: Double Peace (STM, 2016) | 5 Mar | Lightgun Shooter | Shinobu-Route
12] Succubus Forest (STM, 2025) | 12 Mar | Card Battler
13] Shovel Pirate (STM, 2024) | 20 Mar | Action
14] Earth Defense Force 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair (STM, 2016) | 25 Mar | Action | Ranger, Normal Difficulty
15] Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (NSW, 2024) | 27 Mar | Action
16] Luck be a Landlord (STM, 2023) | 3 Apr | Strategy
17] Lost Ruins (NSW, 2025) | 16 Apr | Metroidvania
18] Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike (STM, 2026) | 5 May | Gambling
19] New Super Mario Bros. U (NSW, 2019) | 12 May | Platformer
20] Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake (STM, 2026) | 29 May | Survival Horror
21] Metal Slug (STM, 2015) | 30 May | Run 'n Gun
22] Metal Slug XX (STM, 2019) | 4 Jun | Run 'n Gun
23] Infectonator 3: Apocalypse (STM, 2018) | 5 Jul | Action, Strategy
24] Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (NSW, 2024) | 12 Jul | Metroidvania
Games Tried/Disliked/Got Rid Of
01] Super Zangyura (NSW, 2024) | 4 Jan | Obnoxious difficulty
02] Pac-Man World: Re-PAC (NSW, 2022) | 25 Feb | Struggled with camera
03] Bloom Paradise (STM, 2025) | 27 Feb | Limited continues, can't beat
04] System Shock (Remake) (STM, 2023) | 21 Mar | Outdated gameplay
05] Ys: The Oath in Felghana (STM, 2012) | 21 Mar | Outdated, grindfest
06] Neo Atlas 1469 (NSW, 2019) | 14 May | Not for me
07] Yomawari: Lost in the Dark (NSW, 2022) | 15 May | Not for me
Previous Years
2025 - 53 beaten, 22 tried and discarded
2024 - 38 beaten, 5 tried and discarded
2023 - 37 beaten, 14 tried and discarded
2021 - 18 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2020 - 33 beaten, 20 tried and discarded
2019 - 45 beaten, 34 tried and discarded
2018 - 44 beaten, 41 tried and discarded
2017 - 37 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2016 - 21 beaten
01] Harem Rush! Impish Fantasy (STM, 2025) | 1 Jan | Action
02] Earth Defense Force 6 (STM, 2024) | 4 Jan | Action | Wing Diver, Normal Difficulty
03] Spy Bros. (Pipi & Bibi's DX) (STM, 2023) | 11 Jan | Action
04] Yohane the Parhelion - Blaze in the Deepblue (STM, 2023) | 18 Jan | Metroidvania
05] Cult of the Lamb (STM, 2022) | 22 Jan | Action
06] Look Outside (STM, 2025) | 4 Feb | Turn-based RPG
07] Dino Quake (STM, 2025) | 19 Feb | Action
08] The Lucky Stray Cat (STM, 2026) | 22 Feb | Turn-based RPG, VN
09] A Dog's Story (STM, 2025) | 25 Feb | Turn-based RPG, VN
10] Resident Evil Requiem (STM, 2026) | 5 Mar | Survival Horror
11] Gal Gun: Double Peace (STM, 2016) | 5 Mar | Lightgun Shooter | Shinobu-Route
12] Succubus Forest (STM, 2025) | 12 Mar | Card Battler
13] Shovel Pirate (STM, 2024) | 20 Mar | Action
14] Earth Defense Force 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair (STM, 2016) | 25 Mar | Action | Ranger, Normal Difficulty
15] Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (NSW, 2024) | 27 Mar | Action
16] Luck be a Landlord (STM, 2023) | 3 Apr | Strategy
17] Lost Ruins (NSW, 2025) | 16 Apr | Metroidvania
18] Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike (STM, 2026) | 5 May | Gambling
19] New Super Mario Bros. U (NSW, 2019) | 12 May | Platformer
20] Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake (STM, 2026) | 29 May | Survival Horror
21] Metal Slug (STM, 2015) | 30 May | Run 'n Gun
22] Metal Slug XX (STM, 2019) | 4 Jun | Run 'n Gun
23] Infectonator 3: Apocalypse (STM, 2018) | 5 Jul | Action, Strategy
24] Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (NSW, 2024) | 12 Jul | Metroidvania
Games Tried/Disliked/Got Rid Of
01] Super Zangyura (NSW, 2024) | 4 Jan | Obnoxious difficulty
02] Pac-Man World: Re-PAC (NSW, 2022) | 25 Feb | Struggled with camera
03] Bloom Paradise (STM, 2025) | 27 Feb | Limited continues, can't beat
04] System Shock (Remake) (STM, 2023) | 21 Mar | Outdated gameplay
05] Ys: The Oath in Felghana (STM, 2012) | 21 Mar | Outdated, grindfest
06] Neo Atlas 1469 (NSW, 2019) | 14 May | Not for me
07] Yomawari: Lost in the Dark (NSW, 2022) | 15 May | Not for me
Previous Years
2025 - 53 beaten, 22 tried and discarded
2024 - 38 beaten, 5 tried and discarded
2023 - 37 beaten, 14 tried and discarded
2021 - 18 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2020 - 33 beaten, 20 tried and discarded
2019 - 45 beaten, 34 tried and discarded
2018 - 44 beaten, 41 tried and discarded
2017 - 37 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2016 - 21 beaten
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Off Topic / Re: How do you deal with getting older?
« on: July 15, 2025, 04:50:32 pm »
My 20s were lost completely to a black hole of depression, from which I only started emerging in my early 30s, a dented shell of a human being with little life experience. I've just turned 44, have a wife and child, but still have a long way to go in terms of forming, not helped by poor life choices and multiple health problems.
Aging was always terrifying, particularly when in my mid-30s I'd realized how much I'd actually lost, I've come to terms with that now but need to re-focus on my health (quickly) and improve my lifestyle while continuing to adult better and faster.
In relation to aging, which in effect is just time, I'd suggest the following:
1) Live full, long days. Don't run yourself into the floor but try and finish the day in a better position than you started it, get something done.
2) Try new things/media to stay at least slightly in the loop, but accept that what you like is largely 'set' now. In gaming terms this means not trying to force yourself to play RTS games when you just want to shoot things.
3) Also in gaming/entertainment, recognize what you used to like as opposed to what you actually enjoy when left to your own devices.
4) Do what you always told your parents etc., which they didn't want to, look after yourself!
5) If something's not happening, whether it's playing a particular game, decorating a room in a particular way, going to this or that destination etc. recognize it sooner and stop investing time and money in stuff that's not going to bear fruit.
Aging was always terrifying, particularly when in my mid-30s I'd realized how much I'd actually lost, I've come to terms with that now but need to re-focus on my health (quickly) and improve my lifestyle while continuing to adult better and faster.
In relation to aging, which in effect is just time, I'd suggest the following:
1) Live full, long days. Don't run yourself into the floor but try and finish the day in a better position than you started it, get something done.
2) Try new things/media to stay at least slightly in the loop, but accept that what you like is largely 'set' now. In gaming terms this means not trying to force yourself to play RTS games when you just want to shoot things.
3) Also in gaming/entertainment, recognize what you used to like as opposed to what you actually enjoy when left to your own devices.
4) Do what you always told your parents etc., which they didn't want to, look after yourself!
5) If something's not happening, whether it's playing a particular game, decorating a room in a particular way, going to this or that destination etc. recognize it sooner and stop investing time and money in stuff that's not going to bear fruit.
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General / Re: New Gaming Genre for Metroidvanias?
« on: January 21, 2025, 07:14:11 pm »
Being a gamer of a similar age I'd have to say that video game genres are, and have been for probably 20+ years, functionally useless.
The classic wisdom is to use gameplay as the 'tell' as to what genre the game belongs to, with anything more precise than the two massive lump categories (action and strategy) either having more clearly identifiable gameplay elements (platformer, beat 'em up, shoot 'em up) or being an emulation of a real-life activity or game (sports, racing, gambling, board games). Now back in the day when every original idea which found an audience had several identical knock-offs (home computer versions of arcade games in the early 80s for instance) it was easy to do this, although several types of games failed to 'calcify' into genres through nobody's fault, there just weren't many games like 'that', meaning genres were never all-encompassing in the first place.
Then you have the passage of time, technological advancement and changing expectations. My favourite example is Super Mario Bros. vs Super Mario Odyssey - they're both platform games and part of the main Mario series. Do they play the same? Not even close. If games in the same genre in the same series don't even resemble each other then exactly how useful is the recommendation or comparison?
New genres are extremely rare, yet new types of game appear regularly, so why the disparity? Unless a game has a very specific focus then it's very difficult to group them together into that cohesive category. Most of the newer genres I can think of happened in the casual space when Big Fish Games were a thing - time management, hidden object etc. A more recent example is 'bullet heaven' - Vampire Survivor clones, a very simplistic game pattern which has been nailed down accordingly.
Then you have dabbling/mixing within genres - elements of other games being added. Soulslikes/Soulsborne games started appearing after FROM Software's unexpected hits, no sooner to start being messed around with or some aspects (particularly bonfires and being able to reclaim your exp/status) being dropped into other types of games. Nothing stays still for long. Survival horror games, loved them back in the day, hence my tag, but I play very little SH these days, instead playing the TPS influenced games like later Resident Evils or Dead Space. Apparently some 2D games like Claire and Lone Survivor are survival horror. Really? Don't see it myself.
Then you've got the sheer amount of dialogue present in many games, you can't have hours worth of chatter in one game and no dialogue or cutscenes in another and them somehow be the same thing. The singularly useless term 'visual novel' gets bandied around a lot, yet many of these games aren't novels of any kind, they're just games with dialogue!
It's a mess. The whole idea of being able to say "it's like this" by using a term like 'platformer' is bunk, the only way to group games like Streets of Rage, for instance, is to drop loads of other terms and games in, like 'side scrolling' '2D' 'arcade style' 'co-op' and "like Final Fight/Captain Commando". You can't just say "beat 'em up" because apparently that includes everything from Kung Fu Master through to Vigilante through to Devil May sodding Cry and Tecmo Koei's Warriors series.
Nah, would heartily recommend against wading too deep into the murky waters of video game genres, nothing good down there..
The classic wisdom is to use gameplay as the 'tell' as to what genre the game belongs to, with anything more precise than the two massive lump categories (action and strategy) either having more clearly identifiable gameplay elements (platformer, beat 'em up, shoot 'em up) or being an emulation of a real-life activity or game (sports, racing, gambling, board games). Now back in the day when every original idea which found an audience had several identical knock-offs (home computer versions of arcade games in the early 80s for instance) it was easy to do this, although several types of games failed to 'calcify' into genres through nobody's fault, there just weren't many games like 'that', meaning genres were never all-encompassing in the first place.
Then you have the passage of time, technological advancement and changing expectations. My favourite example is Super Mario Bros. vs Super Mario Odyssey - they're both platform games and part of the main Mario series. Do they play the same? Not even close. If games in the same genre in the same series don't even resemble each other then exactly how useful is the recommendation or comparison?
New genres are extremely rare, yet new types of game appear regularly, so why the disparity? Unless a game has a very specific focus then it's very difficult to group them together into that cohesive category. Most of the newer genres I can think of happened in the casual space when Big Fish Games were a thing - time management, hidden object etc. A more recent example is 'bullet heaven' - Vampire Survivor clones, a very simplistic game pattern which has been nailed down accordingly.
Then you have dabbling/mixing within genres - elements of other games being added. Soulslikes/Soulsborne games started appearing after FROM Software's unexpected hits, no sooner to start being messed around with or some aspects (particularly bonfires and being able to reclaim your exp/status) being dropped into other types of games. Nothing stays still for long. Survival horror games, loved them back in the day, hence my tag, but I play very little SH these days, instead playing the TPS influenced games like later Resident Evils or Dead Space. Apparently some 2D games like Claire and Lone Survivor are survival horror. Really? Don't see it myself.
Then you've got the sheer amount of dialogue present in many games, you can't have hours worth of chatter in one game and no dialogue or cutscenes in another and them somehow be the same thing. The singularly useless term 'visual novel' gets bandied around a lot, yet many of these games aren't novels of any kind, they're just games with dialogue!
It's a mess. The whole idea of being able to say "it's like this" by using a term like 'platformer' is bunk, the only way to group games like Streets of Rage, for instance, is to drop loads of other terms and games in, like 'side scrolling' '2D' 'arcade style' 'co-op' and "like Final Fight/Captain Commando". You can't just say "beat 'em up" because apparently that includes everything from Kung Fu Master through to Vigilante through to Devil May sodding Cry and Tecmo Koei's Warriors series.
Nah, would heartily recommend against wading too deep into the murky waters of video game genres, nothing good down there..
9
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!
« on: December 27, 2024, 06:21:16 am »
Games beaten
01] Snow Bros. Special: Anniversary Edition (STM, 2024) |2 Jan| The Switch version of this made me froth, but I've loved it on the PC after finally figuring out how to beat the new bosses.
02] Maiden Cops (STM, 2024) |7 Jan| SoR2 style beat 'em up, playthrough with Meiga the cow-girl.
03] Dead Space (2023 remake) (STM, 2023) |8 Jan| A solid remake of one of my favourites.
04] Maid of the Dead (STM, 2024) |11 Jan| Bullet heaven with aspects of twin-stick shooters, maid cafe girls repel an onslaught of zombies in Akihabara.
05] Metal Slug X (STM, 2014) |11 Jan| Apparently just a tweaked version of MS2, enjoyed it.
06] Resident Evil: Revelations (STM, 2013) |13 Jan| Hasn't aged as well as its sequel.
07] Warriors of Fate (STM, 2018) |16 Jan| Probably my least favourite of the Capcom arcade beat 'em ups.
08] Armored Warriors (STM, 2018) |19 Jan| Did this one next because I'm forever forgetting how good it is!
09] Battle Circuit (STM, 2018) |22 Jan| Wholesome lizard-smashing in space, lovely.
10] Echo Generation: Midnight Edition (STM, 2024) |25 Jan| Snack-sized turn-based RPG with either voxel or similar graphics, evidently influenced by Earthbound and Stranger Things. Not bad.
11] Plants Vs Zombies (STM, 2009) |29 Jan| Jr has slowly been building up to playing this for a year, helped him through adventure mode.
12] Final Fight (STM, 2018) |1 Feb| Should have played this one first or second, the baddies can whip your health in half so easily.
13] Infectonator 3: Apocalypse (STM, 2018) |8 Feb| Nothing better than a good, goofy zombie game to lift my mood, perfect.
14] Hidden Realm of the Enchantress (STM, 2025) |22 Feb| Short NSFW old skool dungeon crawl game, surprisingly good battle mechanics.
15] Infectonator 3: Apocalypse (STM, 2018) |1 Mar| Second playthrough to unlock all but one steam achievements.
16] Plants Vs Zombies (STM, 2009) |2 Mar| Jr managed to delete the save file so I've flown through the game to make up some lost ground.
17] Recall: Empty Wishes (STM, 2025) |10 Mar| Horror adventure game, enjoyed it.
18] Is It Wrong to Try to Shoot 'em Up Girls in a Dungeon? (STM, 2020) |18 Mar| Freebie mini-SHMUP, not bad at all.
19] This War of Mine (STM, 2014) |18 Mar| Good to return to this again, seems like a long time since I played it through.
20] Snow Bros. 2 Special (STM, 2025) |11 Apr| Disgracefully overpriced, still enjoyed the game.
21] Resident Evil 5 (STM, 2009) |17 Apr| One of my most-played, lovely!
22] Out of Hands (STM, 2025) |4 May| Beautifully crafted spooky card-battler.
23] Dead Space 2 (STM, 2011) |10 May| Overrated on release, it's just OK.
24] Wire Lips (STM, 2020) |10 May| Walking sim/'psychological horror' thing, atmospheric but not exactly mind-blowing.
25] Captain Commando (STM, 2018) |30 May| Good fun, flew by!
26] Spilled! (STM, 2025) |30 May| Beautiful little game where you clear oil spills from a waterway using a little boat.
27] King of Dragons (STM, 2018) |4 Jun| Brilliant as always.
28] Knights of the Round (STM, 2018) |25 Jun| OK.
29] Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (STM, 2019) |28 Jun| A lot better than I remember! Very good fun.
30] Dungeons III (STM, 2017) |25 Jul| Another revisit to an old favourite, excellent on PC.
31] Loddlenaut (STM, 2023) |30 Jul| Undersea cleaning game with cute axoltls.
32] Become the Moon (STM, 2025) |12 Aug| Charming, cartoonish but slightly unsettling deck-builder. Beautiful soundtrack.
33] Fort Meow (STM, 2015) |12 Aug| Build furniture forts to defend against cute kittehs.
34] Dungeons III - Once Upon A Time (STM, 2018) |14 Aug| Tougher but bland.
35] Dungeons III - Evil of the Caribbean (STM, 2018) |16 Aug| Ditto.
36] Dungeons III - Lord of the Kings (STM, 2018) |26 Aug| Ditto.
37] Dungeons III - Clash of Gods (STM, 2018) |5 Sep| 2.5x the size of the other DLC expansions and definitely more fun.
38] Re: Gals Panic 2 (STM, 2025) |5 Sep| NSFW Qix clone, OK.
39] Bakeru (NSW, 2024) |6 Sep| What a journey! Beautiful platformer and a hidden gem.
40] Dungeons III - An Unexpected DLC (STM, 2019) |10 Sep| Back to smaller DLCs, but the Forest Queen puts up a hell of a fight.
41] Legendary Wings (ARC 1986)/(STM, 2021) |11 Sep| Test-flying my purchase of all Capcom Arcade Stadium games with this stinker. Absolutely dreadful, used the rewind so much it made my head spin.
42] Mega Twins (ARC 1990)/(STM, 2021) |11 Sep| Fun little game from back in the day, very Wonderboy.
43] Empty Shell (STM, 2023) |13 Sep| Overhead horror shooter, explore a deserted(?) science facility on a Japanese island, very 'The Thing', also very good!
44] Men Against Lizards (STM, 2024) |17 Sep| Short side-scrolling beat-em-up.
45] Varth: Operation Thunderstorm (ARC 1992)/(STM, 2021) |17 Sep|
Ouch!
46] Dump of the Dead X (STM, 2025) |21 Sep| Short retro-styled FPS with zombies. Fun!
47] BioShock 2: Remastered (STM, 2016) |6 Oct| Buggy mess, long overdue revisit to my favourite series.
48] Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (STM, 2015) |12 Oct| Yet another favourite revisited, sweet.
49] BioShock Infinite (STM, 2013) |25 Oct| Been awhile. Good enough but not a patch on its predecessors.
50] Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim (PS2, 2003)/(STM, 2015) |10 Nov| Odd little game, but one from my PS2 days, definitely need to play more Ys!
51] Void Terrarium (NSW, 2020) |19 Nov| Wow, finally! That's taken a long time to work through!
52] FixEight (ARC, 1992)/(STM, 2024) |26 Nov| Never played this before, nice shooter, and w00t! Hit the 52 for the first time ever, and in such a horrible year!
53] Project Shoreline (STM, 2024) |26 Nov| Small cleaning/nature game, proof-of-concept for a larger game, Muri: Wildwoods, currently in production.
Games Tried/Disliked/Got Rid Of
01] Tevi (NSW, 2024) |5 Jan| Bullet-hell/metroidvania from the developers of Rabi-Ribi, a hot mess of overcomplicated control systems and sparse locations. Absolutely hated every aspect of it apart from the character art.
02] Tails of Iron (STM, 2021) |10 Jan| Basically a 2D combat game with platform elements. Fetch quests, padding, simplistic combat, lots of poor game design, no thanks!
03] Sea Salt (STM, 2019) |11 Jan| Major letdown, controls sloppily, the creatures you 'control' do their own thing and they scamper around and get picked off.
04] SteamWorld Dig 2 (STM, 2017) |14 Jan| The graphics and the almost throw-away nature of the worldbuilding repels me every time with SteamWorld.
05] Cathedral (STM, 2019) |14 Jan| Don't mind a fair thing, but I wasn't into 'Nintendo Hard' in the 80s and I'm not now.
06] Streets of Rogue (STM, 2019) |15 Jan| Does an admirable job of applying some (randomized) structure to a randomized city sandbox, but i yearn for curated gameworlds.
07] Mario & Luigi: Brothership (NSW, 2024) |20 Jan| AKA 'My First Mario & Luigi'. None of the charm or fantastic music of earlier titles. Brothershit.
08] There is No Light (STM, 2022) |20 Jan| Bog-standard hack and slash thing with a bog-standard setting and plot punctuated by incessant yapping by uninteresting NPCs. Christ.
09] Tormented Souls (STM, 2021) |21 Jan| There's nothing wrong with this beyond its budget limitations, it's just that it's a carbon copy of a game I'd rather remember fondly than actually play these days.
10] Night Slashers: Remake (STM, 2024) |7 Feb| I could live with the presentation being so sucky, but not "you failed, restart the level" in an arcade beat 'em up. It's not 1987.
11] Gryphon Knight Epic (STM, 2015) |11 Feb| Inoffensive side-scrolling shooter which bored quickly due to being so S-L-O-W.
12] Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (STM, 2015) |23 Feb| KK, that's me finally through with DR after a 2-decade long rocky relationship, just isn't fun.
13] Bite the Bullet (STM, 2020) |23 Feb| Slow and horrid.
14] SuperTaxCity (STM, 2025) |11 May| Part of the Balatro/Luck Be a Landlord genre/fad, with city building. Fun but far too random.
15] Floppy Knights (STM, 2022) |12 May| Beautiful looking and sounding turn-based tactics with slow and frustrating gameplay.
16] Conscript (STM, 2024) |7 Jun| Generally OK but with far too much dragging back and forth, became dull.
17] Dark Fairy Tale: Dreamland Survivors (STM, 2025) |9 Aug| Another meh Vampire Survivors clone.
18] Morbid: The Seven Acolytes (STM, 2020) |9 Aug| Interesting worldbuilding and bosses, but flawed and imprecise gameplay.
19] Pinball Storm: Lokanta (STM, 2025) |31 Aug| Vampire Survivors with pinballs, interesting setting but undercooked.
20] Rangok Skies (STM, 2021) |31 Aug| Bullet hell, too hardcore for me!
21] Tooth and Tail (STM, 2017) |13 Sep| Cut-down, randomized RTS with chaotic gameplay, didn't gel with me at all.
22] The Coma: Recut (STM, 2017) |31 Oct| About the third time I've tried this. Like the story and graphics but hate the pointless wandering without a clue of what to do.
Previous Years
2024 - 38 beaten, 5 tried and discarded
2023 - 37 beaten, 14 tried and discarded
2021 - 18 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2020 - 33 beaten, 20 tried and discarded
2019 - 45 beaten, 34 tried and discarded
2018 - 44 beaten, 41 tried and discarded
2017 - 37 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2016 - 21 beaten
01] Snow Bros. Special: Anniversary Edition (STM, 2024) |2 Jan| The Switch version of this made me froth, but I've loved it on the PC after finally figuring out how to beat the new bosses.
02] Maiden Cops (STM, 2024) |7 Jan| SoR2 style beat 'em up, playthrough with Meiga the cow-girl.
03] Dead Space (2023 remake) (STM, 2023) |8 Jan| A solid remake of one of my favourites.
04] Maid of the Dead (STM, 2024) |11 Jan| Bullet heaven with aspects of twin-stick shooters, maid cafe girls repel an onslaught of zombies in Akihabara.
05] Metal Slug X (STM, 2014) |11 Jan| Apparently just a tweaked version of MS2, enjoyed it.
06] Resident Evil: Revelations (STM, 2013) |13 Jan| Hasn't aged as well as its sequel.
07] Warriors of Fate (STM, 2018) |16 Jan| Probably my least favourite of the Capcom arcade beat 'em ups.
08] Armored Warriors (STM, 2018) |19 Jan| Did this one next because I'm forever forgetting how good it is!
09] Battle Circuit (STM, 2018) |22 Jan| Wholesome lizard-smashing in space, lovely.
10] Echo Generation: Midnight Edition (STM, 2024) |25 Jan| Snack-sized turn-based RPG with either voxel or similar graphics, evidently influenced by Earthbound and Stranger Things. Not bad.
11] Plants Vs Zombies (STM, 2009) |29 Jan| Jr has slowly been building up to playing this for a year, helped him through adventure mode.
12] Final Fight (STM, 2018) |1 Feb| Should have played this one first or second, the baddies can whip your health in half so easily.
13] Infectonator 3: Apocalypse (STM, 2018) |8 Feb| Nothing better than a good, goofy zombie game to lift my mood, perfect.
14] Hidden Realm of the Enchantress (STM, 2025) |22 Feb| Short NSFW old skool dungeon crawl game, surprisingly good battle mechanics.
15] Infectonator 3: Apocalypse (STM, 2018) |1 Mar| Second playthrough to unlock all but one steam achievements.
16] Plants Vs Zombies (STM, 2009) |2 Mar| Jr managed to delete the save file so I've flown through the game to make up some lost ground.
17] Recall: Empty Wishes (STM, 2025) |10 Mar| Horror adventure game, enjoyed it.
18] Is It Wrong to Try to Shoot 'em Up Girls in a Dungeon? (STM, 2020) |18 Mar| Freebie mini-SHMUP, not bad at all.
19] This War of Mine (STM, 2014) |18 Mar| Good to return to this again, seems like a long time since I played it through.
20] Snow Bros. 2 Special (STM, 2025) |11 Apr| Disgracefully overpriced, still enjoyed the game.
21] Resident Evil 5 (STM, 2009) |17 Apr| One of my most-played, lovely!
22] Out of Hands (STM, 2025) |4 May| Beautifully crafted spooky card-battler.
23] Dead Space 2 (STM, 2011) |10 May| Overrated on release, it's just OK.
24] Wire Lips (STM, 2020) |10 May| Walking sim/'psychological horror' thing, atmospheric but not exactly mind-blowing.
25] Captain Commando (STM, 2018) |30 May| Good fun, flew by!
26] Spilled! (STM, 2025) |30 May| Beautiful little game where you clear oil spills from a waterway using a little boat.
27] King of Dragons (STM, 2018) |4 Jun| Brilliant as always.
28] Knights of the Round (STM, 2018) |25 Jun| OK.
29] Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (STM, 2019) |28 Jun| A lot better than I remember! Very good fun.
30] Dungeons III (STM, 2017) |25 Jul| Another revisit to an old favourite, excellent on PC.
31] Loddlenaut (STM, 2023) |30 Jul| Undersea cleaning game with cute axoltls.
32] Become the Moon (STM, 2025) |12 Aug| Charming, cartoonish but slightly unsettling deck-builder. Beautiful soundtrack.
33] Fort Meow (STM, 2015) |12 Aug| Build furniture forts to defend against cute kittehs.
34] Dungeons III - Once Upon A Time (STM, 2018) |14 Aug| Tougher but bland.
35] Dungeons III - Evil of the Caribbean (STM, 2018) |16 Aug| Ditto.
36] Dungeons III - Lord of the Kings (STM, 2018) |26 Aug| Ditto.
37] Dungeons III - Clash of Gods (STM, 2018) |5 Sep| 2.5x the size of the other DLC expansions and definitely more fun.
38] Re: Gals Panic 2 (STM, 2025) |5 Sep| NSFW Qix clone, OK.
39] Bakeru (NSW, 2024) |6 Sep| What a journey! Beautiful platformer and a hidden gem.
40] Dungeons III - An Unexpected DLC (STM, 2019) |10 Sep| Back to smaller DLCs, but the Forest Queen puts up a hell of a fight.
41] Legendary Wings (ARC 1986)/(STM, 2021) |11 Sep| Test-flying my purchase of all Capcom Arcade Stadium games with this stinker. Absolutely dreadful, used the rewind so much it made my head spin.
42] Mega Twins (ARC 1990)/(STM, 2021) |11 Sep| Fun little game from back in the day, very Wonderboy.
43] Empty Shell (STM, 2023) |13 Sep| Overhead horror shooter, explore a deserted(?) science facility on a Japanese island, very 'The Thing', also very good!
44] Men Against Lizards (STM, 2024) |17 Sep| Short side-scrolling beat-em-up.
45] Varth: Operation Thunderstorm (ARC 1992)/(STM, 2021) |17 Sep|
Ouch!46] Dump of the Dead X (STM, 2025) |21 Sep| Short retro-styled FPS with zombies. Fun!
47] BioShock 2: Remastered (STM, 2016) |6 Oct| Buggy mess, long overdue revisit to my favourite series.
48] Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (STM, 2015) |12 Oct| Yet another favourite revisited, sweet.
49] BioShock Infinite (STM, 2013) |25 Oct| Been awhile. Good enough but not a patch on its predecessors.
50] Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim (PS2, 2003)/(STM, 2015) |10 Nov| Odd little game, but one from my PS2 days, definitely need to play more Ys!
51] Void Terrarium (NSW, 2020) |19 Nov| Wow, finally! That's taken a long time to work through!
52] FixEight (ARC, 1992)/(STM, 2024) |26 Nov| Never played this before, nice shooter, and w00t! Hit the 52 for the first time ever, and in such a horrible year!
53] Project Shoreline (STM, 2024) |26 Nov| Small cleaning/nature game, proof-of-concept for a larger game, Muri: Wildwoods, currently in production.
Games Tried/Disliked/Got Rid Of
01] Tevi (NSW, 2024) |5 Jan| Bullet-hell/metroidvania from the developers of Rabi-Ribi, a hot mess of overcomplicated control systems and sparse locations. Absolutely hated every aspect of it apart from the character art.
02] Tails of Iron (STM, 2021) |10 Jan| Basically a 2D combat game with platform elements. Fetch quests, padding, simplistic combat, lots of poor game design, no thanks!
03] Sea Salt (STM, 2019) |11 Jan| Major letdown, controls sloppily, the creatures you 'control' do their own thing and they scamper around and get picked off.
04] SteamWorld Dig 2 (STM, 2017) |14 Jan| The graphics and the almost throw-away nature of the worldbuilding repels me every time with SteamWorld.
05] Cathedral (STM, 2019) |14 Jan| Don't mind a fair thing, but I wasn't into 'Nintendo Hard' in the 80s and I'm not now.
06] Streets of Rogue (STM, 2019) |15 Jan| Does an admirable job of applying some (randomized) structure to a randomized city sandbox, but i yearn for curated gameworlds.
07] Mario & Luigi: Brothership (NSW, 2024) |20 Jan| AKA 'My First Mario & Luigi'. None of the charm or fantastic music of earlier titles. Brothershit.
08] There is No Light (STM, 2022) |20 Jan| Bog-standard hack and slash thing with a bog-standard setting and plot punctuated by incessant yapping by uninteresting NPCs. Christ.
09] Tormented Souls (STM, 2021) |21 Jan| There's nothing wrong with this beyond its budget limitations, it's just that it's a carbon copy of a game I'd rather remember fondly than actually play these days.
10] Night Slashers: Remake (STM, 2024) |7 Feb| I could live with the presentation being so sucky, but not "you failed, restart the level" in an arcade beat 'em up. It's not 1987.
11] Gryphon Knight Epic (STM, 2015) |11 Feb| Inoffensive side-scrolling shooter which bored quickly due to being so S-L-O-W.
12] Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (STM, 2015) |23 Feb| KK, that's me finally through with DR after a 2-decade long rocky relationship, just isn't fun.
13] Bite the Bullet (STM, 2020) |23 Feb| Slow and horrid.
14] SuperTaxCity (STM, 2025) |11 May| Part of the Balatro/Luck Be a Landlord genre/fad, with city building. Fun but far too random.
15] Floppy Knights (STM, 2022) |12 May| Beautiful looking and sounding turn-based tactics with slow and frustrating gameplay.
16] Conscript (STM, 2024) |7 Jun| Generally OK but with far too much dragging back and forth, became dull.
17] Dark Fairy Tale: Dreamland Survivors (STM, 2025) |9 Aug| Another meh Vampire Survivors clone.
18] Morbid: The Seven Acolytes (STM, 2020) |9 Aug| Interesting worldbuilding and bosses, but flawed and imprecise gameplay.
19] Pinball Storm: Lokanta (STM, 2025) |31 Aug| Vampire Survivors with pinballs, interesting setting but undercooked.
20] Rangok Skies (STM, 2021) |31 Aug| Bullet hell, too hardcore for me!
21] Tooth and Tail (STM, 2017) |13 Sep| Cut-down, randomized RTS with chaotic gameplay, didn't gel with me at all.
22] The Coma: Recut (STM, 2017) |31 Oct| About the third time I've tried this. Like the story and graphics but hate the pointless wandering without a clue of what to do.
Previous Years
2024 - 38 beaten, 5 tried and discarded
2023 - 37 beaten, 14 tried and discarded
2021 - 18 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2020 - 33 beaten, 20 tried and discarded
2019 - 45 beaten, 34 tried and discarded
2018 - 44 beaten, 41 tried and discarded
2017 - 37 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2016 - 21 beaten
10
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!
« on: May 28, 2024, 03:45:00 pm »
Yesterday I played through Cadillacs and Dinosaurs with my 5 year old son, taking it in turns to play. It was a little emotional because it's a game my Dad took me to play at the arcades back in the day, felt odd playing it through with my own youngster. I've deliberately avoided getting SHfan Jr. interested in video games, others have done so, so it's a great feeling that I can start to introduce him to games I love which might interest him. Now I know how you gaming dads and mums feel 
11
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!
« on: December 28, 2023, 02:37:34 pm »
Ditto, if I beat it in X year then that's when it's counted, not when the game is started (terrible for half-finishing games).
12
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!
« on: December 27, 2023, 09:23:22 am »
Previous Years
2023 - 37 beaten, 14 tried and discarded
2021 - 18 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2020 - 33 beaten, 20 tried and discarded
2019 - 45 beaten, 34 tried and discarded
2018 - 44 beaten, 41 tried and discarded
2017 - 37 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2016 - 21 beaten
Games beaten
01] Geneforge 1 - Mutagen (STM, 2021) |2 Jan| Remake of a game from 20 years ago, still lo-fi but still delicious and with modern compatibility, nice.
02] FlipWitch - Forbidden Sex Hex (STM, 2023) |5 Jan| Extremely naughty metroidvania, excellent music and SNES-style graphics, well designed, liked it.
03] We Love Katamari REROLL (STM, 2023) |10 Jan| Another favourite from wayback re-jigged, had fun. Good start to the year but can't get complacent.
04] Livestream 2: Escape from Togaezuka Happy Place (STM, 2023) |20 Jan| Adventure/survival horror where cute anime livestreamers get pursued by a crazed orangutan mascot in an abandoned shopping mall.
05] Stasis: Bone Totem (STM, 2023) |2 Feb| Quantum leap ahead of its predecessor, excellent horror adventure.
06] Kirby and the Forgotten Land (NSW, 2022) |25 Feb| Easy but nonethless another work of art from Nintendo.
07] Rain on Your Parade (STM, 2021) |5 Mar| Task-based fun mixed with a little sandbox and score attack for flavour, nice.
08] Age of Empires III: DE - The African Royals (STM, 2021) |8 Mar| Interesting new battles and civs, divisive for the multiplayer crowd but that's not me
09] Remothered: Broken Porcelain (STM, 2020) |12 Mar| Survival horror, a broken mess which I won't be replaying, nonetheless it was an interesting experience.
10] The King of Dragons (STM, 2022) |15 Mar| Beautiful retro beat 'em up.
11] Wife Quest (STM, 2021) |18 Mar| Comical grumpy Wonderboy type game, save that husbando!
12] Maneater (STM, 2021) |27 Mar| Managed to outstay its welcome despite its relatively brief playthrough, these open-world games really do grind my gears, not even being able to scoff screaming hoomans relieved the dullness.
13] Knights of the Round (STM, 2022) |1 Apr| Another favourite beat 'em up.
14] Earth Defense Force 4.1 Wingdiver the Shooter (STM, 2018) |10 Apr| Gets a lot of hate but I enjoyed this SHMUP in railshooter clothing, a lot!
15] Dungeons 4 (STM, 2023) |26 Apr| Pretty samey but nonetheless enjoyed it, a test for my new non-potato PC
16] Dungeon Vixens: A Tale of Temptation (STM, 2024) |29 Apr| Dungeon crawler with bonus monster girls to .. er.. interact with <.< educational.
17] Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (EMU, 1993) |27 May| One of my all-time favourite arcade games, good to revisit.
18] Donut County (STM, 2018) |2 Jun| Relaxing inverted Katamari with a cheeky raccoon, not bad.
19] There's No Dinosaurs (STM, 2024) |8 Jun| Monochrome 'Where's Wally' game where you look for dinosaurs.
20] Fingun (STM, 2022) |29 Jun| Cheeky boss-rush shmup, fun little game. Now running a full month of games behind 0.0
21] Fearmonium (STM, 2021) |17 Jul| Extremely high quality indie metroidvania, loved it.
22] Trick & Treat (STM, 2016) |24 Jul| Fun free download RPG Maker game.
23] Earth Defence Force 6 (STM, 2024) |14 Aug| Massive, not quite as fun as its predecessor but still very glad to have it and to have played it through, Ranger play-through on normal.
24] Captain Firehawk and the Laser Love Situation (STM, 2024) |20 Aug| Sexy SHMUP that was indeed both.
25] Geneforge 2 - Infestation (STM, 2024) |22 Aug| Excellent remake, loved it.
26] Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (EMU, 1993) |26 Aug| and again, why not? Darn, at the halfway point nearly 3/4 of the way through the year :/
27] Marfusha:Sentinel Girls (STM, 2021) |3 Sep| Interesting little static shooty-game with anime girls at war.
28] Monster Run: Downfall of the Empire (STM, 2024) |11 Sep| Kinda beat 'em up monster cat game, very addictive to mow down mobs and knock down defences.
29] The Excavation of Hob's Barrow (STM, 2022) |13 Sep| Solid, well-voiced retro point 'n click adventure game, enjoyed it very much.
30] Maiden Cops (STM, 2024) |23 Sep| Streets of Rage 2 with added blocking and all enemies and player characters are monster-girls etc with large.. eyes. That's a yes from me!
31] Book of Demons (STM, 2018) |28 Sep| Third playthrough, this time with the mage. Beaten with all 3 characters now. Not giving up on hitting 52 this year.
32] Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (NSW, 2023) |30 Sep| Got to beat this one at last, owned it on Wii for years before picking up the Switch version to be able to play in English.
33] Omusubi (STM, 2024) |4 Oct| Sad but beautiful dialogue-focused 2D horror game, heavy on the Japanese mythology, love and running away from fleshy monster things.
34] Yokai Art: Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (STM, 2022) |31 Oct| Didn't realize I'd finished this till the achievement popped. Plants Vs Zombies with Japanese mythology and naughty yokai.
35] EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 6 - Additional Mission Pack 1 Lost Days (STM, 2024) |3 Nov| Short and sour, not a brilliant mission pack at all.
36] Cotton Reboot! (NSW, 2021) |14 Nov| Nice horizontal shooter.
37] Cotton Fantasy (NSW, 2021) |15 Nov| OK.
38] Sea of Radiation II (STM, 2024) |14 Dec| Overhead Feeding Frenzy with mutating sea critters, great fun.
Games Tried/Disliked/Got Rid Of
01] Delivery from the Pain: Survival (STM, 2019) |3 Jan| Zombie survival stealth/base building, not bad but it had shown all its cards within a couple of hours. Apparently a converted mobile game which would explain the limitations.
02] Super Bullet Break (NSW, 2022) |31 May| Ultra-stripped back turn-based RPG combat with deckbuilding. Didn't like it at all.
03] The Knight Witch (NSW, 2022) |31 May| Bullet-hell/SHMUP mixed with metroidvania, hated the character art, hated the 'penned by a 16 year old' dialogue, hated the gameplay. So much yuck.
04] Toki (STM, 2019) |11 Sep| Seems to be a very faithful remake, looks and plays nice, it's just that I didn't play Toki back in the day and this is just too old skool for me now.
05] Princess Peach: Showtime (NSW, 2024) |7 Oct| Was not expecting to be bailing on a Nintendo game, but this one is unplayable. Constant needless dialogue from identikit NPCs and constant breaks in flow means it feels more like a mini-game grab-bag even within individual stages. Big bad didn't even have any reason to be there except "because". Dreadful!
2023 - 37 beaten, 14 tried and discarded
2021 - 18 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2020 - 33 beaten, 20 tried and discarded
2019 - 45 beaten, 34 tried and discarded
2018 - 44 beaten, 41 tried and discarded
2017 - 37 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2016 - 21 beaten
Games beaten
01] Geneforge 1 - Mutagen (STM, 2021) |2 Jan| Remake of a game from 20 years ago, still lo-fi but still delicious and with modern compatibility, nice.
02] FlipWitch - Forbidden Sex Hex (STM, 2023) |5 Jan| Extremely naughty metroidvania, excellent music and SNES-style graphics, well designed, liked it.
03] We Love Katamari REROLL (STM, 2023) |10 Jan| Another favourite from wayback re-jigged, had fun. Good start to the year but can't get complacent.
04] Livestream 2: Escape from Togaezuka Happy Place (STM, 2023) |20 Jan| Adventure/survival horror where cute anime livestreamers get pursued by a crazed orangutan mascot in an abandoned shopping mall.
05] Stasis: Bone Totem (STM, 2023) |2 Feb| Quantum leap ahead of its predecessor, excellent horror adventure.
06] Kirby and the Forgotten Land (NSW, 2022) |25 Feb| Easy but nonethless another work of art from Nintendo.
07] Rain on Your Parade (STM, 2021) |5 Mar| Task-based fun mixed with a little sandbox and score attack for flavour, nice.
08] Age of Empires III: DE - The African Royals (STM, 2021) |8 Mar| Interesting new battles and civs, divisive for the multiplayer crowd but that's not me
09] Remothered: Broken Porcelain (STM, 2020) |12 Mar| Survival horror, a broken mess which I won't be replaying, nonetheless it was an interesting experience.
10] The King of Dragons (STM, 2022) |15 Mar| Beautiful retro beat 'em up.
11] Wife Quest (STM, 2021) |18 Mar| Comical grumpy Wonderboy type game, save that husbando!
12] Maneater (STM, 2021) |27 Mar| Managed to outstay its welcome despite its relatively brief playthrough, these open-world games really do grind my gears, not even being able to scoff screaming hoomans relieved the dullness.
13] Knights of the Round (STM, 2022) |1 Apr| Another favourite beat 'em up.
14] Earth Defense Force 4.1 Wingdiver the Shooter (STM, 2018) |10 Apr| Gets a lot of hate but I enjoyed this SHMUP in railshooter clothing, a lot!
15] Dungeons 4 (STM, 2023) |26 Apr| Pretty samey but nonetheless enjoyed it, a test for my new non-potato PC
16] Dungeon Vixens: A Tale of Temptation (STM, 2024) |29 Apr| Dungeon crawler with bonus monster girls to .. er.. interact with <.< educational.
17] Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (EMU, 1993) |27 May| One of my all-time favourite arcade games, good to revisit.
18] Donut County (STM, 2018) |2 Jun| Relaxing inverted Katamari with a cheeky raccoon, not bad.
19] There's No Dinosaurs (STM, 2024) |8 Jun| Monochrome 'Where's Wally' game where you look for dinosaurs.
20] Fingun (STM, 2022) |29 Jun| Cheeky boss-rush shmup, fun little game. Now running a full month of games behind 0.0
21] Fearmonium (STM, 2021) |17 Jul| Extremely high quality indie metroidvania, loved it.
22] Trick & Treat (STM, 2016) |24 Jul| Fun free download RPG Maker game.
23] Earth Defence Force 6 (STM, 2024) |14 Aug| Massive, not quite as fun as its predecessor but still very glad to have it and to have played it through, Ranger play-through on normal.
24] Captain Firehawk and the Laser Love Situation (STM, 2024) |20 Aug| Sexy SHMUP that was indeed both.
25] Geneforge 2 - Infestation (STM, 2024) |22 Aug| Excellent remake, loved it.
26] Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (EMU, 1993) |26 Aug| and again, why not? Darn, at the halfway point nearly 3/4 of the way through the year :/
27] Marfusha:Sentinel Girls (STM, 2021) |3 Sep| Interesting little static shooty-game with anime girls at war.
28] Monster Run: Downfall of the Empire (STM, 2024) |11 Sep| Kinda beat 'em up monster cat game, very addictive to mow down mobs and knock down defences.
29] The Excavation of Hob's Barrow (STM, 2022) |13 Sep| Solid, well-voiced retro point 'n click adventure game, enjoyed it very much.
30] Maiden Cops (STM, 2024) |23 Sep| Streets of Rage 2 with added blocking and all enemies and player characters are monster-girls etc with large.. eyes. That's a yes from me!
31] Book of Demons (STM, 2018) |28 Sep| Third playthrough, this time with the mage. Beaten with all 3 characters now. Not giving up on hitting 52 this year.
32] Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (NSW, 2023) |30 Sep| Got to beat this one at last, owned it on Wii for years before picking up the Switch version to be able to play in English.
33] Omusubi (STM, 2024) |4 Oct| Sad but beautiful dialogue-focused 2D horror game, heavy on the Japanese mythology, love and running away from fleshy monster things.
34] Yokai Art: Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (STM, 2022) |31 Oct| Didn't realize I'd finished this till the achievement popped. Plants Vs Zombies with Japanese mythology and naughty yokai.
35] EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 6 - Additional Mission Pack 1 Lost Days (STM, 2024) |3 Nov| Short and sour, not a brilliant mission pack at all.
36] Cotton Reboot! (NSW, 2021) |14 Nov| Nice horizontal shooter.
37] Cotton Fantasy (NSW, 2021) |15 Nov| OK.
38] Sea of Radiation II (STM, 2024) |14 Dec| Overhead Feeding Frenzy with mutating sea critters, great fun.
Games Tried/Disliked/Got Rid Of
01] Delivery from the Pain: Survival (STM, 2019) |3 Jan| Zombie survival stealth/base building, not bad but it had shown all its cards within a couple of hours. Apparently a converted mobile game which would explain the limitations.
02] Super Bullet Break (NSW, 2022) |31 May| Ultra-stripped back turn-based RPG combat with deckbuilding. Didn't like it at all.
03] The Knight Witch (NSW, 2022) |31 May| Bullet-hell/SHMUP mixed with metroidvania, hated the character art, hated the 'penned by a 16 year old' dialogue, hated the gameplay. So much yuck.
04] Toki (STM, 2019) |11 Sep| Seems to be a very faithful remake, looks and plays nice, it's just that I didn't play Toki back in the day and this is just too old skool for me now.
05] Princess Peach: Showtime (NSW, 2024) |7 Oct| Was not expecting to be bailing on a Nintendo game, but this one is unplayable. Constant needless dialogue from identikit NPCs and constant breaks in flow means it feels more like a mini-game grab-bag even within individual stages. Big bad didn't even have any reason to be there except "because". Dreadful!
13
General / Re: A Year in Review - 2023
« on: December 14, 2023, 06:56:31 pm »
Favorite 2023 Release: Pikmin 4, hands down. Sublime game design with additional tweaks to a pre-existing format which already works brilliantly, absolutely loved it.
Least Favorite 2023 Release: Atomic Heart, what an absolute shoddy mess, I was so looking forward to a new BioShock type game too.
Favorite Game Played in 2023: Probably Age of Empires II's new expansions (loved em) or Geneforge I: Mutagen, a revamped version of one of Spiderweb Software's best games which takes me back 20 years, fond memories.
Least Favorite Game Played in 2023: Atomic Heart. I mean, there's a few games on Steam I bought for pence from Kinguin which I spent less time on and deleted, but as far as actually investing money into a game and expecting to play it that one was a heart-breaker.
Favorite Gaming Moment in 2023: Fully beating Pikmin 4 and sitting watching the end sequence.
Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2023: Slashing and burning most of it in order to raise cash and trade for some delicious Nintendo releases on Switch.
Least Favorite 2023 Release: Atomic Heart, what an absolute shoddy mess, I was so looking forward to a new BioShock type game too.
Favorite Game Played in 2023: Probably Age of Empires II's new expansions (loved em) or Geneforge I: Mutagen, a revamped version of one of Spiderweb Software's best games which takes me back 20 years, fond memories.
Least Favorite Game Played in 2023: Atomic Heart. I mean, there's a few games on Steam I bought for pence from Kinguin which I spent less time on and deleted, but as far as actually investing money into a game and expecting to play it that one was a heart-breaker.
Favorite Gaming Moment in 2023: Fully beating Pikmin 4 and sitting watching the end sequence.
Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2023: Slashing and burning most of it in order to raise cash and trade for some delicious Nintendo releases on Switch.
14
General / Re: Your Own Opinion About Collecting Today
« on: August 26, 2023, 05:26:40 pm »
Where I am now is pretty similar to BikingJahuty. As far as retro collecting is concerned the horse bolted many years ago now, they're not in the wild any more they're either in collections, in lofts (in a minority of cases now I expect) or in the retail sphere in one way or another.
I had to dispose of 2/3 of my collection due to debts, and when its boiled down to it most of it was stuff I didn't even look at let alone play, despite video games still being my primary hobby. It's just not a priority any more. I still have stuff which has memories, still collect current-gen stuff (in the sense of trading my stuff for other stuff which I want to play and keep). I went from being a fanatical physical-only gamer up till about 3 years ago to primarily being a Steam gamer. Most of my games are bought cheap off Kinguin with a few cheaper titles from Steam or ones on my wishlist which go on sale by a good 50% or more.
Still happy with my collection, but still downsizing all the time and trading for more modern games (Switch physical is out of this world, there's stuff on there now which would struggle to get released post-PS2 era). Need to update my collection here and especially on Backloggery as there's much less.
I had to dispose of 2/3 of my collection due to debts, and when its boiled down to it most of it was stuff I didn't even look at let alone play, despite video games still being my primary hobby. It's just not a priority any more. I still have stuff which has memories, still collect current-gen stuff (in the sense of trading my stuff for other stuff which I want to play and keep). I went from being a fanatical physical-only gamer up till about 3 years ago to primarily being a Steam gamer. Most of my games are bought cheap off Kinguin with a few cheaper titles from Steam or ones on my wishlist which go on sale by a good 50% or more.
Still happy with my collection, but still downsizing all the time and trading for more modern games (Switch physical is out of this world, there's stuff on there now which would struggle to get released post-PS2 era). Need to update my collection here and especially on Backloggery as there's much less.
15
General / Re: The gamer you were when you joined VGcollect vs. the gamer you are now in 2023
« on: April 14, 2023, 04:59:04 am »
Joined at the beginning of 2016, difference between then and now is massive.
Got rid of the bulk of my games and got them back again several times over a period of about a decade, before finally settling back on collecting as much as possible within my interest areas, that was before i joined the site here. By this point I was aware that getting rid of games now means I can't afford to get them back and have zero chance of finding them cheap in the wild.
Then in 2018 my wife became pregnant, pretty much squashing my interest or ability to collect or even play games much, then in 2021 I lost a parent and had to sell a lot of games due to expenses, then continued to sell them to help with household expenses.
That leaves me where I am now, completely out the other side of retro-collecting beyond games which really appeal and ones I used to own and value as memories. Still picking up modern games where I can for the Switch and PS4, but a couple of years ago I crossed the picket-line -- I was staunchly anti-digital and would only play physical versions of game releases. I had to change that a few years ago due to lack of funds, its changed me from a console gamer into a pc gamer, its where I spend 90% of my playtime. Instead of hunting for non-existent treasures in the wild I scour Kinguin every now and then for cheap game codes, but just like my physical game collection I'm constantly pruning my Steam games so I just get left with the replayable or just plain excellent and bin the rest.
The actual types of games I play haven't changed - still hate the idea of online multiplayer and 'games as an experience' type guff, but everything else is on its head.
Got rid of the bulk of my games and got them back again several times over a period of about a decade, before finally settling back on collecting as much as possible within my interest areas, that was before i joined the site here. By this point I was aware that getting rid of games now means I can't afford to get them back and have zero chance of finding them cheap in the wild.
Then in 2018 my wife became pregnant, pretty much squashing my interest or ability to collect or even play games much, then in 2021 I lost a parent and had to sell a lot of games due to expenses, then continued to sell them to help with household expenses.
That leaves me where I am now, completely out the other side of retro-collecting beyond games which really appeal and ones I used to own and value as memories. Still picking up modern games where I can for the Switch and PS4, but a couple of years ago I crossed the picket-line -- I was staunchly anti-digital and would only play physical versions of game releases. I had to change that a few years ago due to lack of funds, its changed me from a console gamer into a pc gamer, its where I spend 90% of my playtime. Instead of hunting for non-existent treasures in the wild I scour Kinguin every now and then for cheap game codes, but just like my physical game collection I'm constantly pruning my Steam games so I just get left with the replayable or just plain excellent and bin the rest.
The actual types of games I play haven't changed - still hate the idea of online multiplayer and 'games as an experience' type guff, but everything else is on its head.