52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

[kamikazekeeg]

54. The Last of Us Part II Remastered

This game was a lot longer and heavier than the first, which is saying something considering all of the themes of heaviness the first one dealt with. In terms of gameplay and combat, I have to give all the props to Part II; loved all the new weapons and being able to be even more stealthy. In terms of everything else, it's the first one all the way. It doesn't have anything to do with the way the events played out in the second game. It was mainly due to pacing issues and the inevitable monotony. I play stealthy, so it was sneak, strangle, gather, repeat. If things got hairy, it was because of all the guns and me panicking about where stuff was. I actually grew to like the second character that you control and their arc. Finally, hell yes to all the LGBTQUIA+ representation. We love to see it.

That pacing was my biggest issue with the game, because spending hours playing one character, just to shift to playing hours with another character, before shifting back to the other for the ending, it never felt right to me, it comes off as clunky.  It was honestly what I was looking forward to most with the second season of the tv show, which would allow to create a better narrative between the two characters, but I've heard nothing particularly good with Season 2 and I didn't like the casting for Abby so kinda stopped caring about that lol

[Cartagia]

54. The Last of Us Part II Remastered

This game was a lot longer and heavier than the first, which is saying something considering all of the themes of heaviness the first one dealt with. In terms of gameplay and combat, I have to give all the props to Part II; loved all the new weapons and being able to be even more stealthy. In terms of everything else, it's the first one all the way. It doesn't have anything to do with the way the events played out in the second game. It was mainly due to pacing issues and the inevitable monotony. I play stealthy, so it was sneak, strangle, gather, repeat. If things got hairy, it was because of all the guns and me panicking about where stuff was. I actually grew to like the second character that you control and their arc. Finally, hell yes to all the LGBTQUIA+ representation. We love to see it.

That pacing was my biggest issue with the game, because spending hours playing one character, just to shift to playing hours with another character, before shifting back to the other for the ending, it never felt right to me, it comes off as clunky.  It was honestly what I was looking forward to most with the second season of the tv show, which would allow to create a better narrative between the two characters, but I've heard nothing particularly good with Season 2 and I didn't like the casting for Abby so kinda stopped caring about that lol

Pacing is my big bugbear with the game as well.  I thought for sure that the show was going to take the opportunity to address it, but it is structured just like the game, which makes it worse by the fact that it will be at the very least a year before we start the second half of the story.  And we thought the game dragged things out!

[dhaabi]

20 - Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach (PS5 2021) - BEAT

I don't think you've mentioned it outright, but are you planning to play through the entire Five Nights at Freddy's series after having completed three of them back-to-back?

[kamikazekeeg]

I don't think you've mentioned it outright, but are you planning to play through the entire Five Nights at Freddy's series after having completed three of them back-to-back?

I'm working my way there lol I've technically played most of FNAF1 at this point, I'm on Night 4, I'm just struggling to motivate myself to get through it because while I don't adore the classic FNAF camera gameplay, it's not helped by how terrible feeling it is to play that first game.  Gonna try and finish it this week.  I'm a little more interested in getting the Help Wanted games, just waiting on a sale, but I will be eventually going through the whole series as I've been quite hooked on FNAF stuff lately. 

I'm also part way through FNAF World, specifically one that is a fan remastered version that overhauls it abit with additions and improvements, as the original FNAF World is really poorly designed with awful load times.

[realpoketendonl]

9. Metroid Dread (second playthrough)

First replay of the year. I first beat this game when it came out, but I hadn't played it since. I had been wanting to for ages though, and now felt right. I've finished playing all the 2D Metroids since then (well, except NES but still), and I wanted to replay Dread to see whether it would still hold up as my favourite.
And yes, I still think it does. This game is absolutely fantastic. Everything flows together so beautifully. Exploring and finding new paths is a joy, the boss fights are great, it just feels good to slowly grow more powerful as the game goes on. I'm quite tired right now so maybe I'm struggling a tad with finding the right words, but Metroid Dread is still every bit as good as it was when I first played it. I was a tad doubtful at the beginning as there were a few things irking me, but the rest of the game more than made up for it. In terms of pure gameplay feel, Metroid Dread is unmatched amongst the 2D Metroids if you ask me. And some of the moments late in the game made me shout or gasp (in a good way). If you haven't played it yet, I cannot recommend it enough.

And I suppose that makes my definitive 2D Metroid tier list:

• Metroid Dread
• Super Metroid
• Metroid: Samus Returns
• Metroid Fusion
• Metroid Zero Mission
• Metroid II: Return of Samus
• Unplayed and thus unranked: Metroid (NES)

(not ranking the Prime games amongst these because they are so different in style)

[bikingjahuty]

54. The Last of Us Part II Remastered

This game was a lot longer and heavier than the first, which is saying something considering all of the themes of heaviness the first one dealt with. In terms of gameplay and combat, I have to give all the props to Part II; loved all the new weapons and being able to be even more stealthy. In terms of everything else, it's the first one all the way. It doesn't have anything to do with the way the events played out in the second game. It was mainly due to pacing issues and the inevitable monotony. I play stealthy, so it was sneak, strangle, gather, repeat. If things got hairy, it was because of all the guns and me panicking about where stuff was. I actually grew to like the second character that you control and their arc. Finally, hell yes to all the LGBTQUIA+ representation. We love to see it.

That pacing was my biggest issue with the game, because spending hours playing one character, just to shift to playing hours with another character, before shifting back to the other for the ending, it never felt right to me, it comes off as clunky.  It was honestly what I was looking forward to most with the second season of the tv show, which would allow to create a better narrative between the two characters, but I've heard nothing particularly good with Season 2 and I didn't like the casting for Abby so kinda stopped caring about that lol

I'm surprised to hear people mention the pacing as an issue. I have some issues with Part 2, but the pacing was never one of them. The game had me hooked from start to finish. I will also say the second part of the game is better than the first, which seems to be the popular opinion.

[kamikazekeeg]

I'm surprised to hear people mention the pacing as an issue. I have some issues with Part 2, but the pacing was never one of them. The game had me hooked from start to finish. I will also say the second part of the game is better than the first, which seems to be the popular opinion.

I don't know, something about spending hours with one character, just to shift to hours spent with another, then finish up the first character just came as clunky for me narratively.  It's not even outright bad, just felt kinda jarring to me.  I thought it was a weird complaint to have until I saw others agreed with me on it lol It doesn't hurt the story at all, I still liked the story, I just felt like it could have been executed a little more differently, jumping between the two more than just large chunks.

[Cartagia]

I'm surprised to hear people mention the pacing as an issue. I have some issues with Part 2, but the pacing was never one of them. The game had me hooked from start to finish. I will also say the second part of the game is better than the first, which seems to be the popular opinion.

I don't know, something about spending hours with one character, just to shift to hours spent with another, then finish up the first character just came as clunky for me narratively.  It's not even outright bad, just felt kinda jarring to me.  I thought it was a weird complaint to have until I saw others agreed with me on it lol It doesn't hurt the story at all, I still liked the story, I just felt like it could have been executed a little more differently, jumping between the two more than just large chunks.

Yeah, pacing is generally the most consistent (legitimate) criticism levied at the game, and the I think the bifurcated structure is big reason of why it feels so noticeable. You spend like 6-7 hours with one character, and their story, to then immediately run back another 6-7 hour story that hammers home the exact same themes.  It makes it start to feel like a slog, which feels even more draining because of heavy the story is.