Howdy partners!
Since the year is closing out and this is still (ostensibly) a gaming board I thought it might be kind of fun to talk about what we played this year, what our GOTY was, the biggest disappointments, etc.
I didn’t really purchase many new AAA titles this year, I think Elden Ring and The Callisto Protocol were it. Of the two Elden Ring met my expectations and was excellent, and TCP was monumentally disappointing.
I spent most of my gaming budget on indie titles this year, and while I loved Elden Ring it was narrowly edged out by Infernax as my Game of the Year. Infernax was a huge surprise for me, I don’t usually expect much from the indie-retro-nostalgia bait but it blew me away. A love letter to classic NES titles like Castlevania 2, Link’s Adventure, and Faxanadu, it combines gorgeous pixel art with a banger of a soundtrack and a fun story with multiple endings and unlockable characters and I can’t recommend it enough.
A close second would be Cultic; some people have complained that Boomer Shooters are reaching over saturation by now but I play the shit out of every one and I think Cultic is the best of the lot. The shortest way to describe it would be Blood crossed with Resident Evil 4; you’re a cop fighting a crazed cult and demonic monsters in the seventies, there’s a fun arsenal of upgradable weapons, cool levels to explore, and a shitload of monsters to kill, everything a fps ahould have in other words, go nuts.
As far as what I thought sucked ass The Callisto Protocol is the only big letdown I can think of, and I’ve bitched about it enough so now I want to hear what you guys have been playing, what surprised you, disappointed you, and what you recommend.
Cheers all, and have a Happy New Year!
I didn't really buy any games this year, I actually either went through my backlog of games or re-examined old ones.
I had a lot of fun for a while going through Stronghold 2 and checking out the custom maps and scenarios available, finally played and finished my Metro 1 & 2 deluxe and enjoyed playing off and on C&C Kane's Wrath
As for current games that get new updates, I did drop R6S because it got WAY too sweaty to not being fun anymore, I got back into GTA5 since they made some changes that means you don't need to deal with griefers at all, play Smite now and again and Warframe improved since they had a team shake-up with the old guys leaving to create a new game and guys like Pablo known to be great at rebalancing more prominent.
The games listed I haven't spent money on, if I was going to buy a new game, maybe Elden Ring, that new Dune game or Starship Troopers but I've been reading more so unless they come on sale no need to rush.
I’ve been meaning to get into the Metro games for a while, especially now that Stalker 2 has been delayed. I haven’t touched Warframe in a long time, I can’t imagine how different it would be if Instarted again now. I would absolutely recommend Elden Ring, as long as you kind of know what you’re getting yourself into with FromSoftware games.
I really enjoyed playing the Metro trilogy earlier this year. I got the first two game for free through various promotions and I liked the first two enough that I paid for the third.
My enjoyment of the metro games decreased with each subsequent installment. The series began as charmingly janky, but then it slowly morphed into a typical AAA FPS. Couldn’t bring myself to finish exodus. It’s just nonstop yapping. I wanted to shoot everyone in the head.