52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

[realpoketendonl]

26. Solatorobo: Red the Hunter

I've been curious about this game for a while. I'll be honest, that was in part just because it's one of the more rare and valuable DS games. I somehow managed to snag it complete in box for just 50 bucks though, and after that I of course had to play it too. And I'll be damned, I'm impressed. This game is fantastic!

Solatorobo is what I think I'd call an action RPG. First of all: its size and scope is legitimately impressive for the DS, with multiple large sculpted worlds, creative tricks for impressive animations, and multiple playstyles with decent depth. This is on par if not above some of the highest quality titles I've played on the system. The creators really put their all into it.

The game has a ton of variety. While the regular combat takes up a good part of the game, the quests are allover the place. You go from combat to doing other tasks with your robot to open-arena flying to flying on rails to walking around and talking to people. It switches up constantly, and impressively remains almost constantly engaging. The game is divided up into two campaigns, and while I admit I started to find the game a tad bit monotonous for a tiny bit towards the end of the first campaign, all throughout the second campaign especially I was totally hooked.

Combat is solid and good fun. You control your robot in 3D space, and use it to pick up and throw enemies. It's impressively unique, very smooth to control, and slamming enemies feels really good. I'll be honest though, especially in the first half of the game it's very largely a button masher. If you can mash A, you'll get through without ever breaking a sweat. At times the enemies are laughable. But in the second half of the game, it gets a lot more engaging, because your combat skills get expanded with extra options. It's genuinely satisfying and fun. It honestly makes me wish we had an expanded version of this combat system with more options at your disposal on a more powerful system, because what's here is unlike anything I've played before.

The characters and story are really good too. Especially in the second campaign, I was completely hooked. There's a surprising amount of lore and worldbuilding here, supported by strong characters and an engaging plot. It really draws you in. This world is captivating and speaks to your imagination. I will say there is a LOT of text and dialogue. It feels like you spend over half of your time reading. But with the solid writing and tight storytelling, I honestly didn't even mind. Never did I find a character annoying.

The game is not difficult at all. I got through most of the game completely ignoring the upgrades I could give my robot, and even towards the end I never really struggled. But low difficulty is not a bad thing at all if the game is engaging and fun, and this one definitely is.

If I had to criticise the game, I can think of three things. One, I don't like how they sometimes outright halt your progress and force you to complete sidequests before you can continue the story. It feels arbitrary, and while the sidequests are fun, they grind the plot to a halt. That could've been worked in a little better. I didn't love the music either, but that's no dealbreaker. The third thing though, there are two very brief moments in the game that really stuck out to me like a sore thumb, and I feel like I have to mention it (CW: inappropriate conduct. If you don't want to read this, skip to the next paragraph) (also spoilers). There's a main character who's hundreds of years old but is stated to look like a kid (yeah, they pull that trick). And while most of the game she's just treated as a good friend with at best completely sfw romantic undertones, there are two really out-of-nowhere scenes where, in a first person perspective, the protagonist opens a shower curtain and she's there, wrapped in a towel. It feels gross and inappropriate, and I have NO idea why it's there. I had honestly already forgotten about it until I started writing this, but it's a real shame, because it's completely unnecessary and I can see some people getting turned away from this game just because of these few seconds alone (and I can't blame them, that'd be fair). It honestly makes me feel a little weird to talk about how fantastic the game is otherwise (but just look at large review sites too, it really is!). I try to view it as some of the inappropriate stuff with Misty in the early Japanese Pokémon anime and manga, or like the suggestive stuff in Totally Spies. It's bad, it shouldn't be ignored, but you can look past it and still enjoy everything else that's there.

But yeah, apart from that, if you can look past that, the game is fantastic, and I highly recommend it. I think I can genuinely say it's one of the best games on the system. I know it's really hard to get a hold of nowadays, but if you have a way to play it, it's totally worth it.

(Also one final thing: yes, it's apparently part of a series, but that's not indicated anywhere in the game and I didn't even know that until I already started playing. You don't need to play the other games at all to understand this game though: it works perfectly on its own.)

[kashell]

(Also one final thing: yes, it's apparently part of a series, but that's not indicated anywhere in the game and I didn't even know that until I already started playing. You don't need to play the other games at all to understand this game though: it works perfectly on its own.)

Waffle from Tail Concerto (and maybe some of the characters) make cameos, but you're correct. There's no need to play other games in the series to enjoy Red the Hunter. I enjoyed reading your thoughts on it. It was a fun game.

[kashell]

83. Metaphor: ReFantazio

What. A. Game. It's crazy that I didn't pay this game much attention until after it was released. It's hard for me to think of a negative critique. Maybe some of the dialogue being too wordy? Even that's a stretch. The game really was just that good. Trying to summarize it all here is an undertaking because the game itself is an undertaking. Maybe it'd be more accurate to call it a "fundertaking" because the game never stopped being fun. I'll do a replay at some point due to a trophy but for now I'm going to focus on getting a review going and playing something else that's lighter.

[kashell]

84. Divine Dynamo Flamefrit

I said I wanted to polish off something light, and this was certainly that. Less than two hours. It's a top-down, 2D action inspired both by 90s anime (which I adore) and classic Zelda. I guess Inti Creates had a video of it for an April Fool's joke, but the fans were curious and they ended up making an actual game. That's pretty cool. I only paid a couple of bucks for it so I don't feel totally robbed but maybe one or two more areas would have been fine. Oh well, I had a lot of fun with it.

[dhaabi]

43. Please, Touch the Artwork 2 || PC || 11.22.24



By chance, I came across Please, Touch the Artwork 2 and was pleasantly surprised to find that it's a hidden object puzzle game. Despite being titled as a sequel, I'm unsure of its connection to the developer's previous game as they neither share the same genre nor art style.

Throughout the game, players assume the role of some traveling skeleton roaming the set of real-life historical paintings to locate specific items that are being tasked to find. Instead of single-screen gameplay or gameplay that involves constant camera panning, players instead navigate a 2D, interconnected environment that's divided as a series of paintings. Constantly, the nameless player-character weaves in-and-out of the foreground and background as if they're a part of the painting and not some foreign entity. Despite the environment being a painting, elements (most often live subjects) are animated which makes exploring dynamic and engaging. More often than not, these animated pieces obscure hidden objects. The game isn't interactive, meaning all its information to find is present without player action needing to be taken, aside from obvious secondary puzzles that generally reveal more of the painting environment which I'll later detail.

As the game progresses, several sets of items will often be needed to find at once across a series of rooms. Of course, the player walks around to inspect their surroundings, so that the player-character's body instructs the field is a small but welcomed detail and was one that sometimes kept me from finding what was needed. Eventually, some hidden objects become expertly hidden in plain view. The game's distinctive art style makes the task challenging, as its layered colors and brush strokes create a complex field to navigate. While the field itself is comprised of real-life historical artwork, hidden objects and other miscellaneous set pieces are fully integrated as additions layered above the original piece while disappearing once found. However, an in-game hint system that's always turned on exists. A light bulb shines if an object to find is present in the current room, though players must manually select the icon to know where it's located specifically. At first, I had ignored this UI element until I became unable to find an item, but once I knew how the system worked, I found it to be more preferable to players to have the ability to toggle the system instead of being forced to ignore it.

Alongside the hidden object gameplay, a reoccurring side objective involves repairing a painting's frame which comes in the form of another puzzle. In short, players must connect all paths together without retracing any pieces. In one section, a spot the difference type puzzle is introduced which I enjoyed as well. Lastly, a call-and-repeat type section requiring the player to player a specific series of piano keys is present. Generally, none of the puzzle designs are difficult while the smaller sections introduce varied gameplay that's effective at preventing the player to become bored. As one final aspect to mention, there is a morbid tone sprinkled throughout the narrative that adds to the game's eccentric nature.

By all accounts, Please, Touch the Artwork 2 is far better than it should be. That it's a free game is somewhat perplexing as it's presented and executed with high quality. Compared to other games within the genre that I've played, it easily bests them all.

[kashell]

Thanks to the Marvel vs. Capcom Collection on Switch, I was able to complete some fighters for the first time.

85. X-Men Children of the Atom - Silver Samurai

He's always been my favorite character in this game because he looked cool and because I had his trading card. That's it. I know next to nothing about this guy. The game hasn't aged too well but it's still playable. It showed what was coming up in future installments. Speaking of...

86. X-Men vs. Street Fighter - Ken/Sabretooth

Why did I pair these two together? I have no clue. Ken has always been my favorite SF character. Sabretooth has always been...there? I remember him being a total dirtbag with way too much power and time in the 90's cartoon. Maybe the combination of the two was to show that opposites can attract and work together? Either way, fun times finishing this for the first time ever.

[dhaabi]

44. How We Know We're Alive || PC || 11.24.24



Thinking back, I'm not exactly sure when How We Know We're Alive was added to my library, but I think I may have noticed it as a suggested title from another store listing page which is unusual since I generally ignore that information. Nevertheless, I was curious to see what kind of narrative the game presents.

As an adventure game, How We Know We're Alive is a straightforward experience which emphasizes its mature writing more than other traditional gameplay elements. While playing, players assume the role of Sara, an adult around the age of thirty who's abandoned her rural hometown in Sweden—including her friends and family remaining—for the city to pursue her career. But, after all these years later, she's come back for a brief visit. Generally, the only interactivity lies in walking across a 2D plane with the choice to inspect certain environmental set pieces for commentary. Otherwise, there are a handful of scripted moments to advance the plot. During conversation, there are a few opportunities to select dialogue options for character- and story-building moments, though I'm not sure how much—if at all—they influence the overall narrative, let alone individual encounters. Regardless, that sort of open-ended structure isn't always necessary to tell a story worth sharing, and I think that's true of this game.

Without divulging much of the story, in some small way, it can be described as a mystery, albeit one that isn't expressed reliably through the protagonist. It's a mystery in trying to figure out who a person is—or was, rather. Perhaps it's a mystery, though perhaps it's just a series of unfortunate events. However, more than mystery, themes of interpersonal relationships is greatly explored. The business of adult life. The ever-growing distance between two people as time moves forward. One-sided relationships and a lot of victim-blaming, even. Regret is felt. Mistakes are made. Opportunities are missed, and expectations are ruined.

Aside from its writing, the game's art utilizes a nice-looking pixel style. It omits the finer details such as people lacking facial features, yet it's still able to present an emotional experience as its writing lacks up it. As far as tone, I found it successfully implemented. Throughout most of the game, rains constantly falls during the night. Bright lights from the town's main street businesses shine, even consuming the rain-spattered sidewalks and streets. The brevity of Sara's experience feels reinforced, as it seems as if this is the only moment of time she has available to make this trip.

In the end, How We Know We're Alive presents a thoughtful narrative that's worth experiencing, and perhaps particularly for those who've left a previous life for another, so to speak. Also, I haven't engaged with much storytelling where the protagonist can be regarded as the antihero—and especially so in writing that's more grounded in real-life experiences—so that sort of novelty was engaging.

[Cartagia]

Finished the story of Dave the Diver this morning and liked it quite a bit.  The core gameplay loop is fun and very addictive.  Lots of fun side activities, and cool cosmetic and functional rewards for all the additional content (even if some of it is underwhelming l, like Godzilla DLC).  Like Stardew Valley I had to choose a stopping goal or I would put 100-200 hours in, easy.

[bikingjahuty]

49. Tech Romancer (Dreamcast)

I'm in the middle of a much longer game, but in order to take a break I decided to play something short and for a console that has been woefully neglected by me this past year, the Dreamcast. Tech Romancer was one of those must have games I feverishly pursued when I was in the middle of collecting for the Dreamcast back in the 2010s. My then girlfriend, now wife bought me it for my birthday one year and aside from dabbling in it a few times over the years, I've never actually sunk any considerable time into this arcade port. Well, that changed tonight and the results have unfortunately been disappointing.


Tech Romancer is one of the more shallow, mindless fighting games I can remember playing in recent years. There is essentially no depth, strategy, or fluidity to the gameplay at all. You simply just bludgeon your opponent with a series of attacked faster than they are doing it to you to win. There is also a fairly inconsequential power up system where you can level up your attack, defense, and abilities by picking up power ups that are dropped after attacking your opponent or destroying something like a building in the stage you're fighting in. The game just felt mindless and boring, with the only saving grace being the period appropriate 3D visuals which look pretty good. The OST, voice acting, and sound effects are not bad, but they're not that great either. There are much, much, MUCH better fighting games on the Dreamcast, 3D or otherwise that are more worth your time than Tech Romancer. Really, Tech Romancer is little more than a collectors item as a somewhat rare Dreamcast title, as well as a obscure mech fighting game from a period where few of those existed outside Japan. (12/1/24) [26/50]

[kashell]

87. Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven

This year has been a disaster politically but incredible for gamers. Especially RPG fans. This revamped version of what is considered the best in the series is another notch on that bedpost. To start, the new look and enhanced soundtrack fit perfectly. I think for the first time since the series began, Tomomi Kobayashi's artwork is actually used for the in game graphics. Or at least, it's inspired by it. There's no sketch animation or deformed figures. Avalon looks how it should on a modern console. Speaking of modern, the new additions make this one of the more user friendly entries. It's still challenging as hell, but at least there's not as much "Where the heck do I go now?" happening. I think my biggest complaint is with the combat. It's a blast, but enemies are EVERYWHERE. Sometimes, you just want a break. Having an option to turn off encounters just to explore in peace would have been nice. But, otherwise, solid game. I can't wait to get a review up for it!

[kamikazekeeg]

29 - Dredge (PC 2023) - BEAT - Gotta love casual and lightly creepy indie games.  This reminds me a lot of Dave the Diver, get fish, upgrade your gear, follow through a story, nothing too crazy or challenging, but overall nice.  I actually experienced some elements of Dredge in Dave the Diver with a collab DLC they did that made a ton of sense to do.

Basically you are a guy on a boat that goes around catching fish to sell, making money, gathering scrap, upgrading your boat to get better gear, all while there's this creepy thing happening in the area that you need to solve the mystery of.  There's not much challenge to the game, you can certainly get hurt (Hull gets damage which causes gear to break and become unusable or damage and ruin fish/items, losing them in the process, though you can get it repaired at shipyards.  Very solid length, doesn't overstay it's welcome and while there's two DLC expansions, I think I'll save those till next year.

Overall had a good time, I do like Dave the Diver alot more if I had to pick as they are very similar ideas, just different executions of it, and there's just a lot more variety to do in that game compared to Dredge.  I do recommend Dredge though, solid time, been meaning to play it since last year, but Twitch came through with the rare free game I actually want to play.  I get so many free games from different platforms and almost never play any of them lol

[kamikazekeeg]

20 - Astro Bot (PS5 2024) - BEAT - Didn't realize I was right at the end of this game too lol Overall I think this is a pretty solid experience, it's kinda funny how it still feels like a tech demo, despite being a full length game, because a lot of the game is just like, "Here, looks at all these pretty visuals and physics items".  Not saying that in a bad way, but the game really loves showing that sort of stuff just for the heck of it.

I don't think I would put this game over something like a Super Mario Odyssey, but I had some good fun with it, no real complaints, they tried to have a lot of gadget variety and some of the bosses were pretty fun.  I feel like the only weak point I have is that there's so much just "REMEMBER THIS CHARACTER?!" and that can be nice in its own way, but I would've loved more of a focus on  outright Sony history characters, more levels built around them and their kits. 

We do get stuff like that with God of War, Horizon, Uncharted, Ape Escape, and there might have been one other I'm forgetting, but I personally would've loved way more of that.  Give me a Crash Bandicoot level, Jak & Daxter, Twisted Metal, whatever, that's more fun than having 100+ cameos.  There was a comment I saw that kinda hit it on the nose, where all these characters are treated more like "parade floats" than truly celebrating their history, which isn't terrible and I don't mean all this in a negative way also.

Good bit of fun though, I didn't 100%, might go back and finish up  the levels, I'm probably like 80 to 85% complete if I had to get, but I'll do that on my own time.