52 Games Challenge 2021

[kamikazekeeg]

Deltarune: Chapter 1 & 2 (PC 2021) - BEAT - Gonna count this, even though the game isn't actually finished (Three more chapters are coming as a paid release eventually from what I saw), but doing a replay of the first chapter to refresh my thoughts on the game and what I think is a longer second chapter, adds up to a reasonable chunk of time to count it.  I had a good time with Chapter 2, it introduced a number of fun new mechanics, and while the game isn't hitting quite the same way as Undertale did yet, maybe because it is separated into chapters and that the two chapters were released 3 years apart, it still has a lot of that quirkyness to enjoy.  Looking forward to more, hopefully it doesn't take 3 years to release more lol

[vivigamer]

29. CONTROL - PS5
My fears for this game were true, the game was too abstract and a majority of the story content is hidden in 200+ documents throughout the game. The game has barely any story events that happen in real time, it's mostly about figuring out what has happens. Now I can enjoy abstract story telling, but I am sick of games making document collectables as a necessity to understand what is happening - I think it is a misuse of the medium, video games are not books. The story has a lot of interesting concepts but it is just poorly told.

I also had other issues with the game, the map was horrid. There are many times where I'd see on the map I have to go to one location and it turns out to be false. Also, I hated upgrade system, when I gain experience to utilise, I want to do so efficiently, yet this game has you buy perks which are randomised - so 90% of the time I would get ones which were useless. You can recycle the ones you don't want for a lesser amount of points but it is still frustrating.

The combat was tedious at first, but by the time I reached endgame status the abilities made navigation much easier and I actually began to enjoy combat. I will say though I felt  the game was a bit too action heavy for the feel of the game. It too actiony and I felt it should have been toned down to a more survival horror styled system - So you are more vulnerable and less enemies. I just feel the action packed combat conflicts to much with the sense of mystery the setting is going for. Also, I was disappointed to see they only utilize the shape sifting environments for one section of the game - which is also the most amped up section featuring obnoxious rock music.

While i didn't enjoy the game very much now the combat mechanics have opened up I am compelled enough to get the Platinum, it doesn't seem too much effort. But overall I am glad I got this on PS Plus as i don't think i'll be getting this on disc.

[kamikazekeeg]

29. CONTROL - PS5
My fears for this game were true, the game was too abstract and a majority of the story content is hidden in 200+ documents throughout the game. The game has barely any story events that happen in real time, it's mostly about figuring out what has happens. Now I can enjoy abstract story telling, but I am sick of games making document collectables as a necessity to understand what is happening - I think it is a misuse of the medium, video games are not books. The story has a lot of interesting concepts but it is just poorly told.

I also had other issues with the game, the map was horrid. There are many times where I'd see on the map I have to go to one location and it turns out to be false. Also, I hated upgrade system, when I gain experience to utilise, I want to do so efficiently, yet this game has you buy perks which are randomised - so 90% of the time I would get ones which were useless. You can recycle the ones you don't want for a lesser amount of points but it is still frustrating.

The combat was tedious at first, but by the time I reached endgame status the abilities made navigation much easier and I actually began to enjoy combat. I will say though I felt  the game was a bit too action heavy for the feel of the game. It too actiony and I felt it should have been toned down to a more survival horror styled system - So you are more vulnerable and less enemies. I just feel the action packed combat conflicts to much with the sense of mystery the setting is going for. Also, I was disappointed to see they only utilize the shape sifting environments for one section of the game - which is also the most amped up section featuring obnoxious rock music.

While i didn't enjoy the game very much now the combat mechanics have opened up I am compelled enough to get the Platinum, it doesn't seem too much effort. But overall I am glad I got this on PS Plus as i don't think i'll be getting this on disc.

A shame you didn't like the story, I thought it was incredible back when I played it and kicked myself for not playing it at launch, I was so engaged with the setting and everything going on and I didn't personally find it all that abstract, as normally I abhor that kind of story (Returnal).  It could be weird and a little confusing at times, but I thought the story was great to follow and I thought the document stuff wasn't necessary for the story, but added a whole lot to it so I was eager to find as much as possible as you got a lot of great insight into past missions and such and the weird items.

The gameplay was definitely the weakest for me, though much like for you, it improves greatly when you get cooler weapons and more mobility.  They definitely need to just chuck the upgrade and stat bonus stuff in the trash though for the sequel, I found collecting the random bonus improvements really tedious.

[vivigamer]

I did continue to play The Foundation DLC as I heard it continued the story, yet it was all still abstract nonsense to me - I followed the game structure as I cleared 4 corrupted spheres but I still don't know what the context of it all meant... nor was I still willing to read the 200+ documents that accumulated by the end. But as an extension of the gameplay I did enjoy the new abilities they added, along with the fresh paint of colour which the main complex lacked.

A similar recent game that comes to mind is Death Stranding, that game too had hundreds of emails you could read explaining in-depth lore. Yet despite not reading that I had a decent understanding of what was going on - even know i'd say it was more convoluted.

[kamikazekeeg]

I did continue to play The Foundation DLC as I heard it continued the story, yet it was all still abstract nonsense to me - I followed the game structure as I cleared 4 corrupted spheres but I still don't know what the context of it all meant... nor was I still willing to read the 200+ documents that accumulated by the end. But as an extension of the gameplay I did enjoy the new abilities they added, along with the fresh paint of colour which the main complex lacked.

A similar recent game that comes to mind is Death Stranding, that game too had hundreds of emails you could read explaining in-depth lore. Yet despite not reading that I had a decent understanding of what was going on - even know i'd say it was more convoluted.

I actually didn't like The Foundation DLC.  I never finished it, I found that one kind of boring, pretty repetitive doing all the spheres, but the other DLC was pretty great if you knew Alan Wake at all, it actually shows up mid game I think, so you might've already done it.  I will say, I was reminded that I hated the ending, it just sorta stopped and that didn't sit right with me.

[kamikazekeeg]

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PS4 2018) - BEAT - This might technically be the only Castlevania I've beaten "legit" since this version of the game doesn't have save states like the Anniversary Collection does lol This kinda annoyed me in a few parts, but I'd actually say this game was generally easier than the previous Castlevania's I played that released before this one.  My only major negative is that this game does not have diagonal attacks like Super Castlevania IV, which is an outright downgrade gameplay wise.  But I gotta say, I had some fun, this one is up there in my top 3 Castlevania games so far with Super Castlevania and Castlevania 3.  On to Symphony of the Night...

[Cartagia]

Rondo is definitely the easiest of the Classicvanias, especially if you play as Maria. But it's still really good. I might put it at my #2 slot.

[tripredacus]

Re: Control: I do not know if it makes a difference, but I tend to always play games with subtitles turned on. In Control, I could immediately tell that if a person played with them turned off they would miss a lot of dialog. When the computer or whatever talks, the sound is gibberish but the subtitles actually have text.

44. The Banner Saga
This is basically a mix between The Oregon Trail and whatever genre Disgaea is. There seems to be many ways to handle it, and in this I had changed my methodology half-way through the game. As the main currency is acquired from winning battles and rarely from completing story events, and the currency can be used to buy food (for the Oregon Trail portion), to level up characters or to buy equipment. The first part of the story has you with one caravan that is well off and you rarely have to buy food. So you can then enjoy the level up and buying the gear. Then the second half of the game you have not a lot of money and not a lot of food, and you spend almost everything on food. This would be ok except for the issue that your characters cannot get any better because you can't afford it. There is no way to make money otherwise, such as you can't sell unused gear. So in the second half (maybe it was the last third) of the game I actively switched to getting into as many fights as possible.

The interesting thing about this series is that it appears that you can import your characters from this game to the sequels. This mechanic sounds similar to that in Eye of the Beholder II and hopefully Banner Saga 2 is better than EOB2.

Only bug I encountered is that during the end credits, if you bring up pause menu and then resume, the video stops playing but the audio continues. Because of this, I may have technically not beat the game as far as the game was concerned. Since I was playing on easy, there is no achievement for beating the game on this difficulty. I am considering it to be beaten either way.

[kamikazekeeg]

Death Stranding: Director's Cut (PS5 2021) - BEAT - With this being my second proper playthrough, I think it's cemented itself pretty high as a favorite game at this point, top 20 for sure.  It just absolutely hits the kind of grind I can get into, where it never feels frustrating and I get new stuff on the regular that adds variety and options, while also having an incredibly unique and interesting story to follow along with.    I struggle to have something to compare it to, but I sorta feel like it's the same as vein as a Animal Crossing, where the game can be quite repetitive with what are considered menial tasks, in Death Stranding's case, having to spend 60 to 70% of the game just delivering packages of various amounts across treacherous terrain.  Sure there's combat, but it's a relatively minor part of the game and much of the game is about expanding the network, creating new roads and traversal paths, and getting new gear and items to facilitate better deliveries, while experiencing a crazy post-apocalyptic story.  I don't know why I like it so much, but with this playthrough, I've put over 150 hours into the game at this point and still gonna put more time in to try and finish up most everything again.

As for the Director's Cut version, it doesn't add a whole lot new beyond the big performance boost (Which was already available on PC), but it does run fantastically on PS5.  The new stuff is mostly just bonus traversal items, side content with the firing range and race track, and some bonus side mission stuff along with the Cyberpunk and Half-Life crossover missions.  I wouldn't recommend someone to replay it like I have unless you are a pretty serious fan of the first game.  I think you could do all the new content with a transferred endgame save, but it's not something you'll be likely dumping a ton of hours into.

For anyone that hasn't played it, I would recommend it if you love the wild story stuff that Kojima does, or want what is mostly a walking/delivery simulator as while it does have action and threats and all that, it's such a minor part of the game.  It's a temporary hazard you have to experience while pretending to be the USPS during the apocalypse...So basically you are Kevin Costner from The Postman lol

[Cartagia]

September Update

Games Beat in September
Call of Duty: Black Ops III (PS5) - Beat / Sept. 3 - Plays great, but subtle as a bag of hammers.
Far Cry 3 (PC) - Beat / Sept. 15 - An improvement on part 2 in every way.  The story still drags, but at least the characters are more interesting, even if Vaas should have been the main villain.

Games Played in September
Darkest Dungeon (PC) - Incredible minimalistic (and difficult) strategy RPG, but gets a tad too grindy in the middle.

[bikingjahuty]

40. Silent Hill 2 (PS2)

I played Silent Hill 2 several years ago with fairly low expectations going into it because of my somewhat negative opinion of the first game. However, I was absolutely floored by how good the sequel was and knew I had to replay it, not only to properly review it, but to also kick off my plan to play at least a couple scary/horror themed games during the month of October.


Silent Hill 2 is maybe one of the most atmospheric and dare I say beautiful games I've ever played. The fog filled setting of the town, combined with abandoned building like apartments and hospitals that slowly become more and more decayed as you progress through the game is absolutely awesome. Combine that with the constant surreal horror that's present everywhere and it's hard not to appreciate, and get creeped out by this game. The story of the game really keeps you guessing and wondering what the hell is going on to as you're a man searching for his dead wife upon getting a post humous letter from her to meet her in the town of Silent Hill. The audio absolutely lends itself to everything above with not only its amazing OST, but all the strange noises you'll hear when exploring rooms, hallways, and dark streets. This game frankly makes my skin crawl at times which is something that's very hard to do when it comes to horror. You'd think Silent Hill 2 was a perfect game with how I'm describing it, and it might be if not for it's pretty bad gameplay.


Yes, I meant what I said; the gameplay of Silent Hill 2 is pretty bad. It utilizes similar tank controls found in the classic Resident Evil games, but actually finds a way to make them feel even more sluggish, cumbersome, and clumsy. This really gets irritating in almost every enemy encounter, which is luckily offset by the game giving you plenty of ammo and health items. Another thing that mitigates that bad gameplay is the fact that in a strange way it kinda adds to the feeling of dread that constantly follows you wherever you go. If not for these aspects and how amazing everything else is in this game I'd probably have disliked this game quite a bit, but you know what? I don't. In fact, I adore this game. It made me sad, depressed, anxious, scared, terrified, and down right creeped out throughout the game. I never felt bored or feeling like I wish things were different despite those bad controls. Silent Hill 2 is an outstanding game and definitely makes me want to try out more titles from this franchise even though I've heard there a mixed bag beyond the first three games. (10/3/21) [41/50]

[bikingjahuty]

41. ReDux: Dark Matter (Dreamcast)

With us being in the last stretch of the year I needed to play some catch up if I'm ever going to hit 52 games this year, so I figured what better way than to play some SHMUPs! On top of that I started playing my next spooky game to celebrate October, but just wasn't feeling it today for whatever reason. Unfortunately this game wasn't much better in terms of entertaining me. Redux: Dark Matter is a remake/sequel of sorts to the wildly mediocre, and borderline bad DUX games that were independently released on the Dreamcast by HuCast. Redux really isn't all that better, with bland, forgettable gameplay that is more or less ripped off from R-Type, and graphics that while colorful are fairly generic and uninspiring. Fortunately ReDux does have a pretty cool OST, but it does very little to make this game more enjoyable. Redux isn't terrible, but just very forgettable and boring as far as shooters go. (10/4/21) [24/50]

42. Shikigami No Shiro 2 (Dreamcast)

The Castle of Shikigami games are a series I have wanted to jump into for A LONG time, and while my Dreamcast was fired up I decided to finally give one of them a shot. And wow! While Castle Shikigami 2 is no masterpiece, it was way better than I expected! For one, this game has pretty good graphics for the time, and also has hand drawn anime characters to deliver dialogue between stages and right before certain boss battles. I do somewhat regret not playing the US version on the PS2 since it has some of the worst voice acting ever in a game, but otherwise the audio is pretty awesome and the OST was definitely great! As for the gameplay it was surprisingly dynamic with the various characters having different attacks and abilities which certainly gave certain characters an edge depending on what you're up against. I certainly found some characters to be way more useful than others, but the diversity in gameplay styles between them was definitely welcome. I've certainly played better SHMUPs, but this game was surprisingly good and one I definitely plan on returning to down the road some more. (10/4/21) [35/50]

[bikingjahuty]

43. Trizeal (Dreamcast)

Trizeal is a game I've known about for a very long time, but I'd just never got around to playing it, mostly because it's always cost an arm and a leg. I finally got to sit down and play it and while it isn't the best looking SHMUP on the Dreamcast, it's still a great game, mostly due to its great gameplay and awesome OST. (10/7/21) [35/50]

[bikingjahuty]

44. Triggerheart Exelica (Dreamcast)

I feel like weird gimmicks in shooters rarely work, and unfortunately the grab/throw mechanic in Triggerheart Exelica is no different. This feature allows you to grab other ships and use them as a shield, projectile or spin them around and destroy a bunch of enemies around you. While this sounds fun in theory I never found it to mesh well with the action taking place on screen and was often killed before I was able to effectively utilize a ship I grabbed. Honestly this game would have been better without it, but it does allow it to stand out somewhat i guess. I also had an issue with the hitbox which was hard to define. I guess this wasn't a huge deal since it's pretty small, making it easy for you to dodge most things with a little skill. Graphics and Sound are pretty good for the most part, but nothing remarkable or memorable. Overall, this is definitely not a great shooter, actually a fairly mediocre one that is only memorable due to a mechanic that isn't even that much fun to use, nor does it work incredibly well in this game. (10/8/21) [28/50]

[kamikazekeeg]

Metroid Fusion (GBA 2002) - BEAT - I thought after Zero Mission was kinda middling and I actually dropped Super Metroid as too much was annoying me, I ended up really enjoying Fusion quite abit.  The only major negatives I had was that the game is abit more linear than the other, set into sections you explore and then eventually backtrack abit through, it comes across abit more hand holdy than it needed to be.  That being said, I'll take progression I can more easily figure out than the obtuse way they did it with Super Metroid.  The good was that the story was actually interesting, you get just enough to be interested, nothing amazing, but it worked well and the pacing.  One annoying thing was the drastic difficulty spike the game gets, where it goes from like a 3 or 4 to like an 8 a little over halfway through the game.  I'm fine with a gradual increase in difficulty, but the challenge a lot of the time was kinda the cheap way of doing it where everything just does a lot of damage mostly.

I was glad I kept going after Zero Mission and Super Metroid, as I wasn't enjoying myself a ton before that, but I'd say Fusion is quite good and definitely my favorite of the three so far.  I'll probably get to Samus Returns in the next month or so, and no clue if I'll ever check out Dread or not as there's just too much to play right now to then go and grab another 60 dollar game.