Author Archives: kayjoon

About kayjoon

Forty-something geek on the south coast of England. Think I'm sort of smart, but I might just be fooling myself. Player of games, reader, feminist, humanist. One of two podcast hosts called Chris Smith at maximumpowerup.com

August Games

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A couple of completions for August, including going back to a Quake expansion I started forever ago.

Games completed this month

Quake: Dissolution of Eternity – Xbox Series X

With the surprise release of new Heretic & Hexen remakes on all consoles (and GamePass) I was reminded I never finished playing through the content on the Quake 1 & 2 releases. These updates to 90s FPS games are superb. I finished off Dissolution, which is the second of 2 official expansions that were released back in the day, really enjoyed it, including the surprise dragon. Now onto the modern expansions. Unless I get distracted and decide to play Heretic’s campaign first.

Herdling – Xbox Series X

Another game that appeared on GamePass from day one, this is from the team that made FAR: Lone Sails and FAR: Changing Tides. Both games that I loved, so I was looking forward to this. It’s a similar length game, only around 3 hours long, and while it is another enjoyable journey, it isn’t as much fun in the moment as the FAR games were. Enjoyed it, but glad I played it on GamePass rather than spending money on it.

Games played during August

Animal Crossing: NH: Happy Home Paradise – Nintendo Switch 2

Not sure if I’ve done much more on the Happy Home Paradise front, but playing Animal Crossing everyday continues. At this point I just want them to announce a new game, but I am so close to completing my museum now.

The Devil in Me – PS5

We’ve still been ticking along with this, but haven’t made as much progress as I’d expect. Hopefully get back to it in September properly.

Xenotilt Hostile Pinball Action - August Games

Xenotilt – SteamDeck

I was dabbling with my SteamDeck for something unrelated, and spotted this in my library that I had forgotten buying. Very pleasant surprise, so I dabbled with it for a bit. It does run well on the SteamDeck but it mostly made me miss playing pinball on a vertical screen.

August Pickups

Castlevania Requium – PS5

While I have been trying to pick up all the Castlevania collections on the Nintendo Switch, this compilation of two of the best Castlevania games, Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood, is exclusive to PS4/5. I think this is down to them being ports of the PSP versions of the games, and Sony probably have the rights to the emulator that is running them. It popped up on sale for £3.99 and I couldn’t resist. I have started to replay Symphony, but the surprise announcement that Silksong is coming the first week of September means I’ll probably drop that.

Earth Atlantis – Nintendo Switch

I hadn’t heard of this, but watching one of the ‘games coming soon’ presentations recently I saw Earth: Atlantis 2 which looked great. Discovered the first game available for next to nothing, and jumped in. I’ve had a quick play, it’s good fun but feels a bit more of a boss rush than a traditional shmup. I love the graphics too, sort of hand drawn original game boy vibes..

META Quest 2 VR Headset

Not sure I needed this, but my friend did me a deal and I have been wanting to play a bit of VR and all my other stuff is in storage. When I get my gaming pc back out, it should be able to stream my existing VR library to this headset. In the meantime, I’ve just picked up MYST from the Quest store so I can play that for the thousandth time and I might grab some pinball.

Hyper Mega Tech Super Pocket Taito Edition

Just squeezed in at the end of the month, and with a name worthy of a 90s Capcom fighting game, is this delightful little handheld games console. I’ve had my eye on these in the past, but always resisted as I have the games on the arcade cabinet, and although these are also fully compatible with the Evercade games library, I’ve never seen the need for one of those either. All that changed though with the announcement of a Llamasoft collection for the Evercade. Suddenly I had to have a way to play that.

Haven’t done any sponsored links for a while, but I did end up buying this from Amazon – despite my better judgement. Super Pocket Taito Edition*

Preordered this month

Llamasoft Collection – Evercade

No surprises given the above, but after buying my Taito system, I did preorder the Llamasoft Collection from Funstock.

*Links to Amazon are affiliate links and may earn me a small commission if you buy something

July Games

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Recorded my first completion on the Switch 2, which was nice.

Games completed this month

Pinball Spire – Nintendo Switch 2

This is a pretty short game, but a lot of fun. I did only buy this in July, but since I already finished it I didn’t bother including it in the pickups. Reminded me a lot of Sonic Spinball and now I have the urge to play that, might fire it up on the Nintendo Switch Online Mega Drive. Very much hoping Pinball Spire gets a sequel too.

Games played during July

Animal Crossing: NH: Happy Home Paradise – Nintendo Switch 2

Realised I now have access to this DLC since I got the family Nintendo Online with Expansion Pass for me and my partner when I bought my Switch 2. We’re still playing Animal Crossing everyday, and I’m occasionally making progress with this expansion content too.

Mario Kart World – Nintendo Switch 2

Still enjoying this, but the niggles are keeping me from playing it as much as I’d expect. Once a few more of my friends get the console I imagine I’ll start playing the online modes.

Split Fiction – Xbox Series X

This continues to be great, but progress has slowed down as we’ve started the game in the pickups collection below.

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD – Nintendo Switch 2

Slightly concerned I may be going to bounce off this again, I’m a couple of chapters in at a boss fight. I’m getting a little frustrated with some of the difficulty though. Taking a bit of a break now and I think when I pick it back up I’m going to do some of the side quests to build up the other ‘jobs’ and a bit of xp.

July Pickups

The Devil in Me – PS5

Despite loving the first two Dark Pictures games, we found the third one to be a slog and gave up. This one had a much more promising synopsis though so I had been keeping an eye on it. Popped up on sale recently so we jumped in. We’ve only played the first hour or two but it’s great so far.

Brotato: Abyssal Terrors DLC – Xbox Series X

Got suckered into this with it being a Lovecraftian expansion, Brotato is always fun though, if not quite as good as Vampire Survivors. I’ve had a couple of goes on it and managed one clear, so at least it counts as bought & played…

Games retired this month

Monster Train 2 – PC GamePass

As suspected, I think I’m done with this now.

June Games

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June accidently became a very spendy month, but there was lots of gaming and even a completion.

Games completed this month

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Xbox Series X

So after last month, I did manage to go on and roll credits on this. Loads of post-game I could still do, but I was ready to move on for now. I was still struggling with The Paintress and in danger of abandoning the game altogether in favour of my new toy (spoiler) so I dropped the difficulty down to story mode for the remainder of the game. It’s a fantastic game, and if I don’t come back to do the extra stuff off my own back, I almost certainly will if they drop an expansion.

Games played during June

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2

Very much back on this one now. Another year of comedy timing where I didn’t play in March / April so I still can’t catch a spider crab, the only sea creature I’m missing. Chipping away at collecting the art for the museum though. Mostly I’m waiting for Nintendo to announce a new Animal Crossing.

Mario Kart World – Nintendo Switch 2

Yes, I got on board for day one (as below) and this game is mostly as good as they say. I don’t really like the open world stuff, which is broadly invisible anyway, but the weird driving between courses counting as laps of the race is odd. It’s generally great fun to play though so hopefully we’ll get some improvement via patch as it goes on.

Split Fiction – Xbox Series X

I picked this up as now I’ve moved in with my partner and things are settling down, we were ready for something new to play together. Split Fiction is superb, a worthy follow-up to It Takes Two. I’d assume we’re about half way through but not really sure.

Monster Train 2 – PC GamePass

I have played a little bit more of this, but it’s not really sticking. I’ll be surprised if I complete a run before this gets retired.

June Pickups

Orb Tower – SteamDeck

I’ve had my eye on this for a bit, as the premise of a roguelike Puzzle Bobble game was very appealing. Thanks to a sale and steam credit from the weird gift card things, I managed to get it for 22p. I completed one run on it, and it is really good fun, but unfortunately you can only aim with the mouse, which restricts you to the track pads on the SteamDeck. This feels clunky and sadly means I’m unlikely to stick with it.

Orbital Bullet – SteamDeck

Kind of broke my commitment to only buy games I’m going to immediately play, as I’ve picked it up and not touched it yet. However it was only £1 so not going to worry about it too much.

Nintendo Switch 2 with Mario Kart World

Despite talking myself out of pre-ordering the console, and mostly being convinced I didn’t need one, I do find myself owning a Nintendo Switch 2. I had decided I’d get one later when the hype had died down and they were readily available. Then I was thinking about a future Animal Crossing game and how we’ll need two consoles once that appears, and obviously it’s more sensible to spread that purchase and buy one sooner, and the next one when Animal Crossing comes out… Next thing I know, it’s Switch 2 launch day, a friend mentions Argos have day one stock available. I had a quick look online at my local store, and had one delivered by the end of the day. Oops.

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD – Nintendo Switch 2

While I did bounce off the original version of this on the 3DS (for more on why, see my JRPG post) I am interested to give it another go. Mostly because of how much I enjoyed Bravely Default 2 and the two Octopath Traveller games which use the same Brave/Default system of gameplay. After finishing Clair Obscur I’m ready for a new JRPG on my new console. I was deciding between this and the Suikoden 1 & 2 remaster, and decided on Bravely Default as it’s exclusive to the console and Suikoden is on other platforms (and could even turn up on GamePass). It also didn’t hurt that it was only £33 brand new for the physical ‘Game Keycard’ release, which I’ll be able to resell if I end up hating it.

Mortal Kombat 1: Definitive Edition – Xbox Series X

As usual with these big fighting games, I like to wait until there is an edition that collects all the DLC characters for less than £20 total. I managed to get a key for this one for £17. I don’t think it’s as good as MK X or MK 11, but it’s fun enough. I’ll play through the story content and occasionally beat up my friends as Conan the Barbarian.

May Games

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A pretty light month while I was moving out of my flat, played a bit but didn’t finish anything sadly.

Games played during May

Vampire Survivors: Emerald Diorama – Xbox Series X

Played quite a bit more of this, I have finished some of the content, but still achievements and unlocks to go after. They have added a cross save function, which might see me also playing it on the SteamDeck now I can link my progress. We’ll see.

Quilts and Cats of Calico – Xbox Series X

Still haven’t played this as a local multiplayer game, but I have done a bit more of the solo content. There is a deceptively challenging puzzle game in there too.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Xbox Series X

This is pretty much where all my gaming time went this month. A phenomenal game that feels very much like Lost Odyssey (from my top 5 RPG list fame) but French. I had hoped I might even complete it in time for this post, but I am currently stuck on the boss at the end of Act 2. Really enjoying my time with it though and hopefully will go on and finish it.

Monster Train 2 – PC GamePass

Didn’t even realise this was coming, but it was a nice surprise as I’ve only recently been playing the first game. Initial impressions are that it’s more of the same – time will tell if I like the changes or not though.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch

Yeah. Sue me.

What’s been on the arcade?

As predicted, the arcade has gone to live in a new home until my fiancé and I get our own house with room for it.

Games retired in May

Monster Train – PC GamePass

Only really stopped playing this because the new one came straight to GamePass. It hasn’t gripped me quite the same, but it has taken me off this one.

April Games

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Managed to tick off another completion, just as some big releases are starting to appear on GamePass.

Games completed this month

Planet of Lana – Xbox Series X

This was a fun little distraction, very similar in style and gameplay to Limbo and Inside, but with a cat like assistant. Played it at just the right time too as they then announced it was leaving GamePass.

Games played during April

Vampire Survivors: Emerald Diorama – Xbox Series X

Sure enough, a new free update appeared for Vampire Survivors, this time as both a content patch and a full addon DLC, which was also free. Have been playing a bit of it, apparently it’s based on some RPG I haven’t played so I don’t recognise any of the content, but it’s fun all the same.

Monster Train – PC GamePass

Still dropping in and out of this. I do find it quite satisfying to play, but I struggle with some of the factions. Getting pretty reliable with the Fishmen & Plant people combo, but not great with the others at all. Think I’ve still got one more to unlock so it will be interesting to see how I get on with that one.

Blue Prince – Xbox Series X

This seems fantastic, a ‘proper’ puzzle game in the MYST style, I just need to find time to dedicate to it with a pen & paper. Might be something I play on my laptop once I move.

What’s been on the arcade?

I played a bit of Strider as the Ten Pence Arcade game for the month, but with preparing to move home I haven’t been on it much. It’ll also be going into storage for the foreseeable future so may be without arcade updates altogether after May.

Games purchased this month

Quilts and Cats of Calico – Xbox Series X

Picked this up to play immediately as it seemed like a very solid adaptation of the board game. I’ve dabbled a bit with the solo play puzzles and had a fun go online. I’m looking forward to playing locally with my partner once I’ve moved in, since the actual boardgame will be in storage.

Games retired in April

Returnal – PS5

Made some nice progress with this, and enjoyed a few co-op sessions with a friend. He’s left me a bit behind though and I’ve kind of fallen off. It was easy to get back into last time I stopped playing though so will hopefully come back to it again.

South of Midnight – Xbox Series X

Bounced off this one on GamePass. To be fair when I first saw trailers I didn’t think the gameplay would be my kind of thing. I really like the look of it and the story appealed, but ultimately I didn’t enjoy actually playing it.

March Games

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Couple of bits of progress on the year, another round of Vampire Survivors DLC completed – potentially just in time for another update due soon.

Games completed this month

Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania - March Games

Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania – Xbox Series X

Think I’ve finished with this again for now, 100% of the unlocks done. There are a few more hidden characters I can unlock but I’ll probably revisit those when the next patch drops. I’ve heard we’re due another huge free update, so I’ll wait and see.

Monster Train – PC GamePass

Bit of a surprise to me as I was looking for something to dip into that would run nicely on my laptop. Enter Monster Train, a recent ‘roguelite’ addition to GamePass which I’d best describe as HearthStone meets Slay the Spire. I managed to clear a run on my first go, which was possibly more luck that judgement. As usual with these rogues I’m counting that as a completion, but will continue to play until I either hit another completion milestone, or get bored. Whichever comes first.

Games played during March

Returnal – PS5

Made some nice progress with this, and enjoyed a few co-op sessions with a friend. He’s left me a bit behind though and I’ve kind of fallen off. It was easy to get back into last time I stopped playing though so will hopefully come back to it.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 – PS5

When I heard the remake of 3 + 4 was coming day one to GamePass, I got a bit excited and went back to my copy of 1 + 2. As much as I love these games, I really suck at the 2 minute runs that the early games are built around. Hopefully I’ll get further with 3 + 4, otherwise I’ll keep waiting for the remake of Project 8…

House of the Dead 4 & Darkside Chronicles – PS3

I’ve been finding the Sinden lightgun config a bit frustrating, and as they were only temporarily in the lounge anyway, I thought I’d revisit them when I had a more permanent home. In the meantime I decided to set the PS3 back up in their place for some light gun gaming via the move controllers. Had a fun afternoon playing some House of the Dead, and doing the first couple of levels of Darkside Chronicles. Jury is still a bit out on whether or not I actually like these Resident Evil games, or if I just like that they’re not the traditional survival horror games that I know I don’t enjoy.

What’s been on the arcade?

As per the PS3 games above, I’ve put the Sinden guns and lounge pc away pending a future house move and at some point building a new arcade cab for them. In the meantime I’ve been back on the cabinet and playing a bit of Strider as the new Ten Pence Arcade game, and dipping into some random games on the cabinet that I’d forgotten about.

Games retired in March

Balatro – Xbox Series X

I recorded it on HLTB as completed in Feb, just to acknowledge that I did clear a run, but I’m done with it now. The heavy reliance on luck feels appropriate for the poker theme, but takes away from my enjoyment of the game.

*As usual, these links are affiliate ones (if I’ve actually included any), which may earn me a small commission if you buy something.

February Games

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Nothing completely new on the completed front, but I did see out the Platinum trophy I hinted at last month and brought a game out of retirement.

Games completed this month

Spider-Man: Miles Morales - PS5

Miles Morales: Spider-Man – PS5

After I finished playing the Spider-Man remaster, I went on to play one of the other games further down this list. Unfortunately for that game it wasn’t what I was in the mood for at all, and I came back to Spidey. I’ve now fully completed this one as well, and picked up the Platinum Trophy. I’m not that big on chasing trophies, and this one only brings my total platinums to 12. It is somewhat pleasing that the Spider-Man trilogy now represents 25% of my current total.

Games played during February

Returnal – PS5

I only retired this in January thinking I’d had enough, but a desire to at least try the co-op mode pulled me back in. Didn’t get a lot of time with it in February, but the gameplay has clicked again so I think I’ll stick with it a bit longer if I can start making some progress. You might say I returnaled to it. But don’t, don’t say that.

Balatro – Xbox Series X

This seemed to be all anyone was talking about for a while last year as the new breakthrough addictive indie game. It largely passed me by as the theme and what I’d heard of it didn’t sound like my kind of thing. It dropped on GamePass this month though so I thought I’d give it a go. I’ve played a fair bit, it certainly has a “one more round” hook and some very satisfying gameplay. However, now I’ve cleared a run I’m not sure how much I’ll stick with it. It definitely feels like I should be playing it on a handheld device rather than my lounge TV.

Marvel Rivals – PS5

In feeling the urge for some multiplayer gaming with a couple of friends and in missing Spider-Man since wrapping up Miles Morales, we decided to give this a go. We had a fun evening playing online against bots, I can see why it’s doing so well. I discovered I really liked playing as Adam Warlock, but I’ll be surprised if we play regularly. I expect I’ll keep it installed to see what characters get added before deciding to go back to it.

What’s been on the arcade?

The cabinet itself still hasn’t had a lot of gameplay this month, my retro tinkering has been more with the Sinden lightguns and in setting up the software on the gaming PC I moved into the lounge. I think the longer term aim is for that PC to be built into a future arcade cabinet along with the guns. That’s probably a year or more away though so for now I’ve just been playing around with it.

Games retired in February

The Ascent – PC / SteamDeck

As much as I was enjoying my time with this, it wasn’t properly hooking me in. My friend who was much more engaged with it seemed to have all manner of bugs and problems with his playthrough though and that pretty much put me off. I’d already had a few hard crashes myself and couldn’t be bothered to see more.

The Sinking City – Xbox Series X

The game I tried to play after Miles Morales. I enjoyed myself for a couple of hours, I love the theme and setting. I just couldn’t see me continuing with the pace of the game when all I actually wanted to do was play more Spider-Man. Maybe it’ll also get brought out of retirement at some point.

*As usual, these links are affiliate ones (if I’ve actually included any), which may earn me a small commission if you buy something.

January Games

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The year is off to a pretty strong start with multiple game completions including two from the 2025 list to play. Can’t imagine I’ll maintain this momentum.

Games completed this month

Spider-Man: Miles Morales - PS5

Miles Morales: Spider-Man – PS5

I almost didn’t include this, but now I have it might end up counting as three completions. I have now finished all the story and districts, so my game save thinks I’ve 100% completed it. There are still things to do for the platinum however, so it may show up again if I do that.

Spider-Man Remastered - December Games

Spider-Man Remastered – PS5

Once I hit 100% on Miles, I got stuck into this. As I originally played Spider-Man on the PS4, I hadn’t spent any real time with the remaster since picking it up. I got as far as importing my old game save and looking at how pretty it was. Turns out aside from finishing the main story, I had done very little side content. I got properly stuck in and managed to get the platinum trophy too.

Spider-Man The City Never Sleeps – PS5

Another bonus of the remaster above, it includes the full DLC content that I didn’t have on PS4. This was a fun story diversion so I completed it too while I was at it.

A Way Out – Xbox Series S

Another co-op completion for my fiancé and I. I had played this one before, but it really held up for a second playthrough. It’s not quite as polished as It Takes Two though. Really looking forward to their next game, but in the meantime we’ll probably be playing The Quarry* next.

Dredge - The Iron Rig

Dredge: The Iron Rig – Xbox Series X

One from the 2025 list, and a really solid expansion for the main game. Had a lot of fun with the new content, this expansion added a lot more than the previous one.

Dredge & The Pale Reach – Xbox Series X

Playing The Iron Rig had me finally mopping up all the side content and catching all the fish from the previous content. Have now 100% completed all three releases. Ready for a new game please.

The Darkness II – Xbox Series X (Xbox 360)

The other one I’ve ticked off this year’s “to-play” list, I finally finished this. A pretty short game, it is good fun to play but the sequel isn’t as good as the first and I think it suffers some from the change of art style to cel-shaded. Fun, but I think if it had been much more than 6 hours long I’d have given up again.

Games played during January

Sea of Survivors – SteamDeck

As an Early Access game, this has had some more content added since I last played it. I’ll probably keep dipping in and out at least until it gets a full release.

The Ascent – PC / SteamDeck

A game I purchased this month (for less than £1), but in line with my resolution for the year, it was so I could immediately play it. My friend has been raving about it for a while so I was keen to give it a proper go too. I was also convinced I’d tried it when it was on GamePass but now I’ve been playing I suspect I never got further than installing it. I’m enjoying The Ascent, but it’s very buggy and has hard crashed my PC a few times. It seems a bit more stable on the SteamDeck but doesn’t run as well. I suspect this will stop me from getting to the end, but I’m enjoying it for now.

Games retired in January

Returnal – PS5

As much as I love this, I haven’t played since I got into Spider-Man 2, which feels like too long to carry on. I might go back to it at some point, I expect it’ll feel like starting over when I do – for now it’s back on the shelf.

Full Throttle Remastered - December Games

Full Throttle Remastered – Xbox Series X

I was playing this as my game to tick over the ‘daily achievement’ xbox reward that pays for my GamePass Ultimate subscription. They’ve changed how the system works now though, and unlike other games I’ve played for this, I wasn’t enjoying Full Throttle enough to keep it going. It’s certainly no Day of the Tentacle.

*As usual, these links are affiliate ones (if I’ve actually included any), which may earn me a small commission if you buy something.

2025 in Games

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Usual annual post. What did I play last year, what do I think I’ll play this year. What might I play if it comes out. Also the annual attempt to manifest a Hollowknight: Silksong release.

This year we’re going to try a novel new goal, of only buying games we’re ready to play. That Silksong release looks pretty likely compared to me pulling this off. Wish me luck.

Top 5 played in 2024

Spider-Man 2 - PS5

1. Spider-Man 2 – PlayStation 5

This might be the best game I’ve played in years, but it’s definitely the best one I played last year. I did play both the first Spider-Man on PS4 and Spider-Man: Miles Morales on my PS5 previously, but on both of those I just completed the main story and skipped most of the side content. With Spider-Man 2 I got completely hooked until I’d done everything for the Platinum trophy. Led me to go back to Miles and finally play the PS5 remaster of the original. I expect to be updating the blog with a couple more platinums for those two this year.

It’s due out on PC this year too, the PS5 version is here – Spider-Man 2*.

Alan Wake II - 2024 in Gaming

2. Alan Wake II – PlayStation 5

Well when I finished this I couldn’t imagine something else taking the top spot. Alan Wake II entirely deserved all the positive press it received. The first DLC is really good too, but the second one lost me a bit. I’m excited to see what comes next from Remedy, well after their upcoming multiplayer game anyway.

3. Dredge (and A Pale Reach DLC) – Xbox Series X

Very much ticking most of my boxes, with Lovecraftian horror, fishing minigames and a lighthouse. Dredge manages to balance a ‘chill’ relaxing game, with a creeping unease and moments of dread. I love this game and hope we see more of it. I’ve already picked up the next expansion to play in 2025 when I’m done with various Spider-Man games.

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story - 2024 in Gaming

4. Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story – PC

Applying the polish and format of the Atari 50 Anniversary Collection, to the history and back catalogue of Jeff Minter, my favourite game developer. Like the Atari collection, this was a great videogame documentary to play through, and now a library of some of my favourite games easy to play on my SteamDeck. Superb. The new collection is Tetris, which is potentially excellent, except the finest Tetris games are excluded due to licensing. Maybe I’ll wait for a sale.

God of War: Ragnarok - PS5

5. God of War: Ragnarok

As one of the highest rated PlayStation exclusives, I expected this to be higher. I really enjoyed myself with Ragnarok, but it didn’t really stay with me after completion. Almost forgot I played it this year. It is certainly an excellent game, and deserves a place in the top 5, but just hasn’t had the impact of the above titles.

Also mention:

Inscryption – Xbox Series X

A real surprise hit this one, and probably would have broke the top 5 if I’d enjoyed the endgame roguelike mode that unlocked after finishing the story. It didn’t really land for me though, so the game hasn’t quite made it.

Just the stats ma’am

10 games for 2025

Usual vague attempt to line up games to play this year. I managed to play and finish 4 titles from this list last year, which all made it onto my Top 5 above. I also played but ultimately abandoned Axiom Verge 2 and Sea of Stars. I did think I might go back to Axiom Verge but I’m not convinced, the moment has probably passed. I’ve scrapped the others to start fresh this year. Well slightly fresh, decided to put the remaster of the original StarCraft on my list instead of rolling over Legacy of the Void again. Mix things up a bit.

Also I’ve given up putting Silksong on here, maybe that’ll make it finally appear. I will be playing that whenever it arrives anyway.

1. StarCraft: Remastered – PC

Here we go, a change of tactic for getting to some RTS gaming this year, and should run nicely on my new laptop. Haven’t decided yet if I’m going to play it with the cartoon reskin or not. We’ll see.

2. Dredge: The Iron Rig – Xbox Series X

First of two DLC packs on this list, I’m very much looking forward to getting back to Dredge and catching some more monstrosities.

3. Lamplight City – Nintendo Switch

Added this partly because I’ve definitely been neglecting the Switch as late and I want to make some time for it. Must be able to get through one or two more games on it before the next Switch console comes out.

4. The Sinking City – Xbox Series X

Heard mixed things about this game, but ultimately curiosity won out and I picked it up last year. Now I actually have to play it.

5. Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn – PS5

The other expansion I want to play in 2025. Partly because I wanted to make sure I get to a JRPG again, but also because I loved the main game. Only reason it’s taking me so long to get to is because I traded the original game back in when I finished it, so I need to buy it again as well as the expansion. Holding out for a bargain on that count.

6. Split Fiction – Xbox Series X

First of two games on the list that aren’t out yet but should be releasing in 2025. This is the new co-operative game from the team that gave us A Way Out and It Takes Two. Played through both of those with my fiancée and we’re excited to play this too. Even the sci-fi/fantasy split suits us nicely.

7. The Quarry – PS5

More co-operative gameplay for us, I’ve had this one ready to go for a while but we were playing the Dark Pictures games first. The third one of those was a bit of a disappointment after we really enjoyed the first two though so we abandoned it. Now we decided to play this before we get to the fourth one, spoiler for next game below…

8. Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me – PS5

The conclusion of the Dark Pictures Anthology titles, hoping it’s better than the third game.

9. The Darkness II – Xbox 360

One firmly from the backlog, that I also keep forgetting about. Popping it on here to try to remind myself to give it a proper shot on the Xbox Series X.

10. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Xbox Series X

Finally something I know very little about aside from a very interesting looking trailer. It’s due out this year and hopefully I’ll get to playing it. It’s due to launch on GamePass so no excuse really.

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December Games

December Games

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Closing out the year with two more games completed, and surprising me as much as anyone, a Platinum trophy on the PlayStation 5.

Games completed this month

Spider-Man 2 - PS5

Spider-Man 2 – PS5

Well, this took over my life until I finished it, and then went on to do all the extra stuff for the platinum trophy. I think this is my favourite of the 3 Spider-Man games, but it has also inspired me to go back to the other two.

Day of the Tentacle: Remastered - October Games

Day of the Tentacle Remastered – Xbox Series X

Enjoyed this for Xbox rewards achievement farming, helping me tick those along. Don’t think I would have had the patience to sit and play it properly though.

Games played during December

Colin McRae 2.0 - PlayStation

Colin McRae 2.0 – SteamDeck (PS1)

I did play a bit more of this, but didn’t make it out of Australia and I’m probably done with it. Haven’t definitely given up yet, but we’ll see if I load it up again over the next few weeks or not.

Snowball! - PC

Snowball! – SteamDeck

This is an enjoyable tiny pinball game that I bought ages ago, though for some reason didn’t get it to run properly on my computer. Given the festive season, I gave it a go on the SteamDeck and it worked perfectly. There isn’t a lot of content, but it’s good fun and worth the few pence it costs.

Spider-Man Remastered - December Games

Spider-Man Remastered – PS5

After finishing Spider-Man 2 I loaded this up next. When I bought the remastered edition all I really did was import my save from the PS4 game and then turned it off. Turns out I didn’t do very much of the side content once I cleared the main story. So far so me to be fair. Seems like a good plan to play it now, and enjoy the fancy upgraded graphics and performance of the PS5 version. But first…

Spider-Man: Miles Morales - PS5

Miles Morales: Spider-Man – PS5

Next I loaded this to have a look at how much side content there was to play. Then remembered that the whole game is covered in snow and set at Christmas, so thoughts of playing the first game are on hold while I play this.

Full Throttle Remastered - December Games

Full Throttle Remastered – Xbox Series X

With the completion of Day of the Tentacle, I needed a new achievement farming game. Seemed like a sensible next step to stick with this genre and another from Double Fine. Never played this one first time round either.

Games purchased this month

Dredge - The Iron Rig

Dredge: The Iron Rig – Xbox Series X

This latest DLC for Dredge popped up in a sale so had to grab it. Not sure when I’ll get to play it yet but it’s such a great game I’m sure I will.

*As usual, these links are affiliate ones (if I’ve actually included any), which may earn me a small commission if you buy something.