And we're back with part 2 of all of the games I've played this year!

Most people post their Game of the Year, Top 5 Games this year, Top 10 Games this year, etc...

I cannot simply choose one or two or ten games that I liked this year. Nor can I choose only games that were released this year because I never play anything in a timely manner. My list is backed up from years long since passed. I have determined to at least pretend to start some of those games I have in my steam library that have gone unloved for longer than I care to admit.

So I'm just going to list off Things I've Played This Year in order of broad categories from least-ish interesting to most-ish interesting. Hopefully, I don't leave anything out.

Anyways, let's jump right in!

"Fine" Games

Well made games that I just didn't personally latch on to. When I think about them, I just think, "It's fine..."

• Boneraiser Minions

  So I reinstalled the game and booted it up this morning to get this screenshot and it was christmas in the game. lol
  
  Another horde shooter/reverse bullet hell in the vein of Vampire Survivors. You're a little lich king raising an army to fight the neighboring kingdom or something like that. The visuals are great, and it has more of a tower defense feel to it, where you can upgrade the defenses of your fortress to aid you in your battles. Maybe a little bit more challenging than Vampire Survivors as well. I spent some hours waiting for it to really grab me, but it kinda never happened... >__>;
  Still a good game (especially for the price) and worth giving it a go if you're a fan of the genre.



• Garden Story

  Honestly, it's such a cute looking game.
  
  A little game from 2021. I wrote a whole blog post about it already, but I'll try to summarize it here. I honestly found it a bit difficult to stomach as a game (at least the first few hours), but the experience does improve as you play it. Not sure if I can really recommend it, but I did actually warm up to it after about 10 hours, and I do really like the actual message of the story.
  -shrugs- Uh, maybe watch a let's play of it or something...



• Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories

  
  The gameboy styled graphics are quite lovely.
  
  Okay. In truth I haven't finished it yet (but I have met the minimum required 50% mark). I was a bit nervous returning to Melon Journey after having revisited the original last year, which felt very... "my first video game"... The original is very cute aesthetically, but the rest of the game feels as if it were made straight through rather than really planned out, which I think is a problem a lot of first time rpgmaker adventure game authors suffer from. There's nothing wrong with taking time to learn your tools and just making something to make something, but it does worry me when your next step is another style/aesthetic heavy project that takes many years.
  I do, however, think that some lessons were learned for Bittersweet Memories. There are a lot of callbacks to the first, so if you've played it an have a fondness for the characters/setting, maybe give Bittersweet Memories a go (but I honestly can't recommend going back to the original).
  I will say, it's a pretty standard rpgmaker-style adventure game where you just wander around and talk to people until something happens. A lot of the "humor" of the game is barely what I'd call chuckle worthy, and the writing is honestly a little boring, but the visuals and music are great and it's just a neat little world to wander around in. An aggressively chill and pleasant time.



• Tiny Echo

  
  
  Okay don't get me wrong, the atmosphere in this game is great. It's a textless game where you're a delivery person of sorts. The art is lovely. I love the noises some of the little creatures make. I think I've just soured on the "walking around talking to people" genre as I've gotten older. But if you really enjoy exploration and esoteric folklore, give it a go.
  Maybe wait for a Steam sale...



• Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

  
  
  Oops, what's this doing up here? Okay, yeah. I admit it. I'm really just kind of lukewarm on this game. I was afraid when the trailer came out that the nature of the puzzle solving in this game would be kind of aimless and sandbox-y, and I know other people didn't feel this way but I kinda do... I was really on board until about the midpoint of the game. Maybe I just burnt myself out, or maybe I fell in lava too many times, but it just kinda lost me on the back half. (I dare you to fall in the lava more than I did. I don't have solid figures, but let me tell you, it was a lot.)
  On the whole though, I think it was a cute little game with a neat sort of inversion to the regular Zelda plot. I think I'm also a little disappointed that there was like... real combat in the game. I know you can get through the game without it (and I did spend the majority of the game not using what is essentially a cheat button), but honestly, some battles really felt like they didn't think about how you would fight them without pulling out a sword. It became more of a test of my patience. I kind of wish they had just found a different work around and gone all in on Zelda being a cool wizard...

Honorable Mentions

Games that I didn't even start this year. Or finish this year. But I feel like I need to talk about them anyways... >_>

• Side Order

  Honestly crazy that I haven't talked about Splatoon at all yet on this blog but also kinda not because I actually don't care for 3 that much oops. Like, it's fine. I do really enjoy squid rolling. Love the improvements to salmon run... Oh that's not what this post is about?
  
  Putting this here, since it's an expansion and I'm not really sure if you can count it as a game in its own right... I'd nearly given up on ever seeing Splatoon 3's dlc because the updates about it were so sparse and I'd paid for the expansion pass ages ago, but it finally came out near the beginning of this year.
  I know some people were a little disappointed with Side Order, but I honestly thought it was pretty fun. I only wish that there was a larger variety of bosses, especially for as many times that you fight them in order to beat it with each weapon.



• Potionomics

  
  
  Okay, so I actually bought Potionomics when it came out in 2022, and then spent the better part of two years playing a lot in short bursts but not actually finishing it. I really need to. I've been so close to the end since like, July or something and just haven't picked it back up. Mostly because I was playing with a friend, but we haven't been playing together as often. (It's not 2 player. She just watches while I play.)
  Anyways, Potionomics got a major update this year when it debuted on console. The Masterwork Edition added--among other things--voice acting (which I actually didn't even miss in the original). I have to say the voice cast they got is stellar! I don't know what I thought everyone sounded like before, but they nailed it.



• Wilmot's Warehouse/Wilmot Works It Out

  
  Top: Wilmot's Warehouse
  Bottom: Wilmot Works It Out
  
  I didn't know they were even making another Wilmot game until basically the week it came out. I haven't started it yet, but I'm so ready to.
  For those not in the know, the original is an organization game. You're Wilmot. You have a warehouse. You must stock and sort goods as well as retrieve them when requested. It's a really unique little game--partly chill in the breaks where you can simply sort your stock and partly extremely nerve wracking as you try to remember where you put the thing that looks like eggs but you're on a timer and losing stars because the guy who wants them is really impatient. Wait, I put them next to the targets??? Why would I do something like that?? They're so much more similar in color to these other blocks than they are in form to the targets??? AAAAAAAAAAH.
  Anyways, Wilmot Works It Out is actually about completing jigsaw puzzles where they don't quite arrive complete and sometimes the pieces are even mixed in with the pieces for other puzzles! It looks great. Sitting there in my steam library. Begging me to play it. I promise, I'll return to you soon, Wilmot.

Interesting Stuff

This is the cream of the crop, baby. 😎
My favorite games that I played this year in no particular order.

• The Case of the Golden Idol/Rise of the Golden Idol

  Two images of a puzzle being solved in The Case of the Golden Idol. Though it's a bit different in Rise of the golden Idol, they're pretty similar mechanically.
  
  I played both of these games this year with my friend, and they're so good. Similar to Return of the Obra Dinn (but 2D), you are introduced to each chapter in a vignette--a single frozen moment in time. Usually, a crime is either in progress or has just been committed. You must search the scene for clues of the who, what, why, and how and then fill in the answers mad-libs style. Some of the puzzles can be a little esoteric and take some 4-dimensional thinking, but figuring out each piece of the puzzle and keeping track of the overarching narrative is quite engaging. A+++ I will say that the console controls are a bit janky and annoying at times, so if you can, snag it on PC for a slightly more pleasant experience.



• Mouthwashing

  MOUTH WASHING MOUTH WASHING MO UTHW ASHI NGMOUTH W ASHIN GM OUTHWAS HINGMO UTHWA SH INGMOUTHWA SHINGMOUTHWASHINGMOU
  
  I've already written about Mouthwashing in my Spooky Month Recs post, so I won't say a whole bunch about it here, but please play Mouthwashing. If you're a fan of lo-fi horror (or just horror in general), this is for you.



• Nightmare Kart

  
  
  I had been following the development of the game formerly known as Bloodborne Kart for quite a while, through it's many ups (and few downs), through all of the insane looking trailers. For a long time, it felt like a fake game that was only meant to exist in concept videos. A cool thing to look at and dream about. Except it became real. And let me tell you, it's actually super fun to play. The controls feel sooo good even without a controller, and the different types of matches and tracks are really fun. It's got a great sense of humor, a wonderful atmosphere, and delicious PS1 inspired graphics. Also it's free! I only have good things to say about it. This one is an honest recommendation to anyone who likes video games.
  If you haven't yet, go play Nightmare Kart, I implore you.



• Persona 3 Reload

  The only way I have fun in these games is by making friends with the really wacky and terrible characters. Like the ones you're supposed to hate at first.
  Anyways, I chose this image for no particular reason.
  
  I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty hot and cold on the Persona series. I think the way the games treat their female characters in general always kinda rubs me the wrong way and legitimately makes it less enjoyable for me... especially because it's such a story-driven series and interacting with your peers is always such a large part of it.
  It's a gripe I have with every Persona game I've played (3, 4, and 5). But having played 4 and 5 first, 3 is kind of interesting to me. Structurally, 4 and 5 are pretty similar, I think. The progression through dungeons. The rising and falling action of the story. P3 almost feels like a different beast to me. The themes--though they take a while to fully present themselves--are much heavier, and the game up to a certain point kind of lulls you into a false sense of security. I could probably write a lot longer about P3R, but I'll just say: thus far, it's the only Persona game to surprise me... and I kinda like it. Also, it's so goddamn stylish, it's insane.



• TOEM

  Some of the pictures I took on my TOEM adventure.
  
  
  What a sweet little game. It's been on my list to play since it came out back in 2021. You set out on a photo taking adventure with your Nana's trusty camera to capture the mysterious phenomenon of "TOEM". It's a truly cozy game that doesn't overstay its welcome and that I could see myself returning to in a couple years.
  Also, wow! They just announced a sequel a few days ago! I'll be keeping my eye on its development. 👁👁



• Railbound

  
  
  Railbound is just a cute, well made, train track placing puzzle game. Each set of levels introduces a new mechanic, increasing in complexity, adding things like extra carriages, switches, gates, and tunnels. Some of the more complex puzzles take some real brainstorming to solve, but watching the cars roll along the tracks perfectly in sequence is oh-so-satisfying.



• Chants of Sennaar

  
  
  
  You climb a tower inspired by the mythical tower of Babel and learn to navigate different cultures by learning their languages. Unlike cryptography games where you're breaking codes (basically just learning a one to one translation for letters), Chants of Sennaar teaches you the rules of language through context clues. Each "word" is a single character, the meaning of which you must determine yourself through either repeatedly viewing it in different contexts, comparing it to other words of the same language, or direct comparisons to other languages that you've learned already.
  Highly recommend for people into puzzle games.



• Balatro

  
  
  Holy hell how long has this year been??? I almost completely skipped over Balatro because I honestly didn't realize it came out this year until I looked at someone else's end of the year game list. (also, i wrote this sentence before the game awards happened and everyone started yelling about balatro again.)
  Anyways... What is there left to be said about Balatro? It's a delightfully addicting poker-based roguelike where I think most of the fun is just learning different silly ways to break the game. It's great.



• In Stars and Time

  maybe i'll write a full blog post about ISaT later, but for now...
  
  So last year, about a month before In Stars and Time came out, I played Start Again Start Again Start Again: A Prologue. Start Again is an rpgmaker time loop rpg where you basically play a rogue leading their party through a dungeon to face the final boss. You're party is oblivious to this fact, but for days... weeks... maybe even years, you've been reliving this final walk to the boss. It's not a perfect game by any means, but it's a pretty juicy little proof of concept for ISaT with a very poignant end. I would recommend it had I not played it last year... and also had I not already been recommending In Stars and Time.
  In Stars and Time picks up where Start Again left off... and runs. You don't need to play one in order to understand the other, but I do think my time spent with Start Again has somewhat enriched the experience of ISaT. There are so many pretty smart little improvements to the gameplay that really make the loops more of an exercise in puzzle solving than the bit of a slog that they were before. Lots of little conveniences that make the game more enjoyable (though there are still some hitches where retreading certain paths becomes a bit laborious). Highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a good character driven time loop story.
  Also, it's a plot point that Siffrin (the main character) has memory problems and I really felt like I too was having memory problems as I constantly took wrong turns and misremembered what floor certain items were on in subsequent loops. my goodness!!! lol, I should maybe have just drawn a map or something...

So that's it. That's my list of all of the games I've played this year. Of course, there are still some that I've started and have not yet made substantial progress in that I might write about next year (or maybe never), and there are more still that will not make this list simply because I revisited them after playing them initially some time ago (DELTARUNE, Devil May Cry 3, Tales of the Abyss, Deadly Premonition, and probably some others...).

Anyways, happy holidays! I'll see y'all in the new year. 😎

Stay fresh. 🎊🎉🍾

Here, have some little Siffrins I doodled last year when I was really excited for ISaT to come out.