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

October Games

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Now we’re talking, thanks to a whole load of Castlevania we can chalk up some completions.

Games completed this month

Ridge Racer 2 – PS5

There is more to do if I want to chase 100% completion, but I rolled the ending credits after unlocking all the courses via World Tours, so that’ll do for me. Might dip in and out of the other content, but it seems to just be 1 v 1 races which I don’t find quite as interesting. Phenomenal racing game though.

Dawn of Sorrow: Castlevania Dominus Collection – Nintendo Switch

I originally completed this on the Nintendo DS back in the day. I couldn’t remember if I did the proper completion or the ‘bad ending’, but now I’ve done it again I’m sure it was the true ending. I think after I play the new game, I might try to finish the replay of Symphony of the Night that I started on PS5, then make time to play the other handheld games in the series.

Circle of the Moon: Castlevania Advance Collection – Nintendo Switch

I got my dates wrong for the launch of Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse. Pushed myself to finish Dawn of Sorrow so I’d be ready to start the new one, then realised I was five days early. I wasn’t ready to stop playing Castlevania though, so I had a look through the various collections on my Switch. I came across my game save for Circle of the Moon (the first Castlevania game on Gameboy Advance). The save was from February 2023 where I’d got 50% through playing the game on holiday, and never went back to it. Of course after that much time has passed it is difficult to get back into games, but with the help of an online walkthrough to figure out the last thing I’d done, I realised what I needed to do next and I was on my way. Very pleasingly managed to finish this one a day before Belmont’s Curse came out too.

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse – PlayStation 5

Well it was a pickup this month, but I rolled credits on the True Ending, so here it goes. I know the game has split opinions but it was pretty much exactly what I wanted. Castlevania by way of Dead Cells. I’ll probably go back and mop up 100% completion at some point too.

I’ve also decided that this can take the place of Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement from my 2026 in Games post. Bloodstained has been delayed into 2027 anyway, and if I’d realised a new Castlevania was coming in 2026 it would have definitely been in the list already.

Games played during October

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Nintendo Switch 2

Played a bit more of this, still ticking off those DLC cups. Not many though, too busy hunting vampires.

Witcher 3 Remastered – Xbox Series X

Barely worth mentioning this, other than to say I tried the fancy new version. Looks nice, I still can’t really be bothered.

October Pickups

Metro Redux Collection – PlayStation 5

Grabbed this on sale for £3. I have played and completed both games before, but I had the physical copy then and have since sold it. I’m not sure if I’ll get round to replaying them, but there is a new free update for modern consoles for them and I want to at least check that out.

TerraTech Legion – Steam

Had my eye on this for a while, and my friend Kevin gave me a nudge that it was on sale for £3. It’s in the “Vampire Survivors” genre, and while I thought I was done with those, it seems not. This one adds a vehicle building element that is not dissimilar to that of the underrated Banjo & Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. After a quick go, I think I’ll probably stick with this for a while.

Station to Station – Steam

Again this has been on my wishlist for a while, and when picking up the above I saw this was 49p. Added it on to check out at some point.

The Shore – Steam

This was recommended from someone on Discord and was on sale for less than £1. It also has a VR version, so not sure yet if I’ll play it on the SteamDeck or save it for when I have the VR headset out of storage.

Games retired during October

Dungeon Keeper 2 – PC

Yep it was fun while it lasted, but those clunky controls got the better of me. Just got too frustrating once I needed to do more micro management of the units.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

September Games

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The slump continued for a bit, but deciding to officially put down Silksong for a while (probably until things have settled down enough for me to rebuild some patience…) has helped and I got a decent amount of gaming done towards the end of the month.

Games played during September

Dungeon Keeper 2 – PC

Have played a few more levels of this. Still enjoying it but the more mechanics it introduces, the weirder the control system gets. The game is crying out for a modern (non-mobile) version.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Nintendo Switch 2

Nintendo dropped a free Switch 2 update for Mario Kart 8 which was a nice touch, supporting 4K displays. It’s lovely and I’ve been back doing some of the DLC cups I didn’t get round to finishing on 150CC. Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart World are quite complementary now, with MK8 being the preferred option for Cup races with friends, but MKW knockout races are still the best way to play online Mario Kart with randoms.

Enter the Gungeon – PS5

I’ve dabbled with this before, it’s definitely a game I think I *should* love. Played an hour or so again but still not sure it’s sticking. I like the gameplay but I think the roguelite stuff is definitely a hindrance.

Ridge Racer 2 – PS5

Technically this is a September pickup, but I’ve already spent a decent amount of time on it so it’s going here instead. It’s a port of the PSP game, which passed me by at the time, but is probably my favourite game in the series now. A sort of ridge racer greatest hits, it has a couple of original tracks, and then tracks taken from Ridge Racer, Ridge Racer Revolution, Rage Racer, Ridge Racer Type 4 and Rave Racer. It looks great upscaled on the PS5 and runs silky smooth.

September Pickups

Castlevania Dominus Collection – Nintendo Switch

Has been on my wishlist for ages as I already have the various other collections. This time it’s collating the Nintendo DS Castlevania games, along with an updated version of the terrible arcade game “Haunted Castle”. It finally went on sale for half price so I scooped it up.

Games pre-ordered this month

James Pond Collection – EverCade

The past few EverCade carts haven’t really appealed to me. Well I was tempted to get Doom, but my continuing position of not giving any money to Microsoft vetoed that, even if EverCade have already paid them either way. I’m not really a fan of the James Pond platformers either, but I love Aquatic Games and decided that the lure of playing that again was enough to justify grabbing this cart. Maybe I’ll give the platformers another shot too.

Games retired during September

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Silksong – Nintendo Switch 2

As hinted at last month, I’m putting this down for a while. Finding myself not having the patience for the boss fights I fancy a break. I think there is a new content update coming along in the near future so I’ll probably pick it up again then if not sooner.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

August Games

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Played a little bit more this month, but still nothing completed. In a bit of a slump, I think I need something a bit easier or at least a change of pace to get stuck into for a while.

Games played during August

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Silksong – Nintendo Switch 2

Well I did wrap up Act 1 at the start of the month, and made quite a bit more progress. I’m finding I don’t currently have the patience for some of the bosses though so I may be putting this down for a while.

Tempest 4000 – PS5

Haven’t played loads more of this, but I have had a few quick bursts this month, still awesome.

Quake II - August Games

Quake 2 – Steamdeck

My playthroughs of all the Quake and Quake 2 content stalled when I dropped GamePass as although I own them all on PC, I was playing the Xbox GamePass versions, initially for the couch comfort, but also for the novelty of the Xbox Live ecosystem. There was a new free expansion released for Quake though, and that motivated me to get back to it, picking up where I left off, but on my Steamdeck instead. Made a bit of a mistake and started the wrong expansion, I have now corrected that and will be playing through Quake II: The Reckoning first. I think I’ll do this and Ground Zero, before going back to the Quake expansions, and then tackling the modern expansions for both games in the order they came out.

Dungeon Keeper 2 – PC

Felt like playing some Dungeon Keeper, for a bit of an RTS fix on my laptop. Partly as an effort to get out of my slump, but just felt like something a bit different. I never really played the second game so I’ve made a start. I’ve done the first few levels, but not sure yet if I’ll play through the whole thing, it does get a bit clunky.

August Pickups

Under the Waves – Steam

Picked this up when a friend sent me the link, it looks interesting but I haven’t managed to play it yet. It was £1.24 though so definitely worth a look. Just might need to tinker with it a bit to get it running nicely on the Steamdeck.

Love Letter to Lovecraft Humble Bundle – Steam

Picked up this bundle as a couple of the included games have been on my wishlist for a while, namely Forgive Me Father 2 and Stygian: Outer Gods. Also I enjoyed Dagon on my PC VR headset, so getting the DLC for that is a nice touch. The other games are a mixed bag, I already bought and hated Sundered on the Switch so I’ll give that a swerve, and Abandon Ship seems to be a poor mans Sunless Seas. However Call of Cthulhu has been on my backlog for a while on the Xbox, so perhaps I’ll finally play that on the SteamDeck.

The two remaining games, Remnant and Whisper Mountain Outbreak, I don’t know anything about so we’ll see..

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

July Games

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Nothing completed this month, and I’ve only really played two games. Pretty quiet one.

Games played during July

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Silksong – Nintendo Switch 2

Firmly back into this now, made quite a bit of progress, but I am currently at a wall where a lot of people seem to have dropped off. “The Last Judge” which is the final boss of Act 1. I’ve been close to bringing him down a few times though, and I can get to his second phase pretty much every attempt so hopefully he’ll fall soon.

Tempest 4000 – PS5

The only other game I’ve put any meaningful time into this month, as a good antidote to any platforming frustration on Silksong. I’m pretty sure I own this on 4 platforms, 5 if you include the original (and best) TxK on the Vita. I don’t think I’ve ever cleared the main 100 levels on any of the Tempest 4000 ports though so have been meaning to rectify that.

July Pickups

Xenotilt Hostile Pinball Action - January Games

Xenotilt – Nintendo Switch 2

This got a Switch 2 version in July, it was a free download for anyone who already owned the Switch version, so I grabbed it. I played a bit on my TV and I’m not sure if I noticed the benefit, it certainly looks spectacular, but then it did before so who knows. The game is still great and easy to recommend.

Rival Megagun – SteamDeck

Played a bit of this at my friends up in Scotland last month, it’s a really fun 2 player VS shump game. Although it runs fairly well on SteamDeck so I have enjoyed playing it a bit on there, the main reason for buying it is to play it on a future arcade machine, that I haven’t built yet.

Hungry Ninja – Nintendo Gameboy

I am dreadful at this, and most precision platformer games. However, I’m in a discord server with the creator and they’re lovely, so I figured I’d show my support and buy their game. I admit a decent amount of it was the novelty that I could just put it on my flashcard and play it on an actual Gameboy Color. You can check it out, and download it from Itch.io here.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

June Games

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Once again I managed to travel this month, this time to sunny Scotland on the sleeper train. Didn’t stop me from getting a couple of completions in though first.

Games completed this month

Mortal Kombat One – Xbox Series X

As started last month, I had a good time with this. I eventually completed both the main story more and the extra “Khaos Reigns” content, wasn’t sure where that had come from though so just counting the whole thing as one completion. I doubt I’ll spend any time with the extra single player stuff, as I don’t think the gameplay is as good as the last two Mortal Kombat games, but I might come back to it for some local versus in the future.

Forbidden solitaire – SteamDeck

This was pretty much everything I hoped it would be. A really fun solitaire puzzle game, wrapped up in 90s horror gaming ala The 7th Guest. It was also perfect on the SteamDeck and I can see me playing more card games on there.

Games played during June

Unravel 2 – PS5

We’ve played the first hour or two of this now, and it is brilliant. A bit of a change from the games we had been playing, and I think we’ll probably see it through.

Paper Train – Nintendo Switch

Forgot I had this but noticed it when I was checking my libraries for train games (don’t ask). I fired it up and made a decent amount of progress through the puzzles before I got bored again. I mostly just love the art style and detail.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Silksong – Nintendo Switch 2

Managed to get a bit back into this. I am finding it much more challenging than I did the original Hollow Knight, but it’s still just as great to play and I adore the aesthetic. I pleasingly managed to beat the boss I had been stuck on when I last put it down, and have made a reasonable amount of progress since.

Regency Solitaire & Faerie solitaire Remastered – SteamDeck

After loving Forbidden Solitaire I found myself installing these from my library. I never played Regency before, and it seems quite fun in a Jane Austen kind of way, and the puzzles etc are very similar to Forbidden Solitaire. Faerie Solitaire Remastered is fun but I don’t know if I’ll stick with it, as I did play through the original game a while back, I think the remastered edition may have been added to my library for free.

Hollow Knight – Nintendo Switch 2

I didn’t spent a long time playing this again, but just wanted to familiarise myself with the new Switch 2 upgrade for it. I did do the majority of the content when I completed it previously, but there are things I missed. Have been tempted to go back and look for them, but that may depend on how well I do with Silksong in the long run.

51 Worldwide Games – Nintendo Switch 2

Not fully sure what possessed me to go back to this, but I have spent a few hours this month on the various games in here. It is at once a great collection of distractions, but could be so much better in terms of the multiplayer offering. I still like it though.

Pinball FX (various) – SteamDeck

Felt like playing a bit of pinball, so thought I’d try my tables on here to see how they play. They did sour me a bit with the most recent update, trying to make me buy all the tables I owned in the last version again. I think I have over 100 tables in Pinball FX2 (now called classic) and about 18 in the new version. Interestingly, while FX2 runs great on the Deck and had me playing quite a bit, the new one looks amazing, but has terrible input lag on the flippers. I might be able to tweak that in the settings, but it did at least stop me from buying any more tables.

June Pickups

Skies Above – Nintendo Switch

This is odd, and admittedly I bought it because I loved the giant pixel art whale.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

May Games

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Managed quite a bit of gaming considering it was an otherwise busy month, including a trip to the Lake District to touch grass (and lakes).

Games completed this month

Suikoden 1 HD Remaster – Nintendo Switch

I enjoyed this for the most part, but plagued with randomness and unless you want to guarantee failing to get the proper ending, some kind of walkthrough is essential. I used a recruitment guide to make sure I secured all 100 characters, which at least still avoided most spoilers. Good game, but it’s not breaking into my all-time top 5 RPGs. I may need to update that list though as other games I’ve played since probably should have… Taking an RPG break before I start Suikoden 2 now.

The Quarry – PS5

We managed to finally finish this, it does do some things better than the Dark Pictures series, but some of the exploration is a bit weird in comparison. I think we might play the Until Dawn remake at some point, to get us ready for the sequel.

Sektori – Nintendo Switch 2

Yes I know, I’ve played this on the SteamDeck and PS5 already, but I couldn’t help myself grabbing it again when it launched on Switch 2, particularly as that’s kind of my favourite system at the moment. Including it as a completion as I was very proud of myself for doing a 1CC on my first go on Switch 2.

Games played during May

Tetris Effect

Tetris Effect – Steam

My Tetris obsession from last month was still present, and I had forgotten I owned this on Steam. The intention when I bought it was to just play it in VR, but since all that stuff is in storage, I fired it up on the SteamDeck. It’s obviously not as perfect an experience, but it still plays great in the dark with headphones.

Puzzle Bobble / Bust-a-Move 2X & 3 S-Tribute – Nintendo Switch 2

Last month’s pick up, I have been enjoying playing a bit of this as a change from all the Tetris. I think this collection could be the definitive way to play Puzzle Bobble.

Returnal – PS5

Haven’t played a lot this month, but a friend was sharing some reddit threads of tips for people struggling to progress. I figured I’d try some of them to see if it helps when I do go back. Mostly involved setting things like always run and increasing the camera speed. It did make it feel like a new game, but I’ll need to be in the mood for it if I’m going to give it another proper go.

Mortal Kombat One – Xbox Series X

Entirely forgot I picked this up last year, and stumbled across it in my Xbox library when I was reminding myself what I owned on there. Been playing a bit of the story mode, I really enjoy the single player content in these modern Mortal Kombat (even more so the Injustice games) and now I’m hoping the rumours of Injustice 3 being in development lead to a new game soon.

May Pickups

Forbidden solitaire & The Ancient Enemy – Steam

I’d had my eye on the development of Forbidden Solitaire for a long time so was always going to pick it up on release. I hadn’t seen the Ancient Enemy before, but it was in a bundle with Solitaire for an extra £1.50 and sounded like my kind of game. I’ve played a couple of hours on Forbidden Solitaire so far and it’s everything it promised. An addictive card game, with pure 90s PC gaming horror.

Typinc – Steam

Heard this described on a podcast as being Balatro meets Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Given my love for typing games and that I did have some fun with Balatro I added it to the wishlist. Finally dropped to 50% off so I’ve grabbed it. A quick go on my laptop shows promise, but I need to play it with my proper keyboard at somepoint.

Streets of Rage 4 – SteamDeck

This was just silly cheap, I want to grab these modern brawlers on Steam for when I do my next Arcade Cabinet build…

Unravel 2 – PS5

After finishing The Quarry, this is next up for me and my partner. Never got round to playing the previous game, but I’ve heard good things. Went on sale for £3.99 so perfect timing too.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

April Games

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A couple of completions, but mostly a return to various games I’ve played hundreds of hours of before.

Games completed this month

Sonic Origins Plus – Nintendo Switch

Finished the campaign mode, excellent fun, and a really good way to play these games. I might go and play some of the extra games, but it is still a shame that the included bonus games are all Game Gear versions, when there are much better Master System versions of some of them which would have been more playable.

Tetris Forever – SteamDeck

I’ve fallen down a Tetris hole recently, as you’ll see from some of the other stuff I’ve been playing. This collection is from Digital Eclipse, the same people who brought us the Atari 50 Collection and Llamaoft: The Jeff Minter Story releases. This follows a similar setup, lots of documentary footage and various media accompanying a fairly comprehensive collection of games. You can just dip into any game, but like those other releases, the best way to play it is following the curated timeline. This way it flows like an interactive documentary, where you can sample the games as they are appearing in the history. I very much enjoyed doing that again with this one, but I think I’ll still be dropping in to play the new Tetris Time Warp game too.

Games played during April

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania Edition – PS5

I’m not playing quite so often now, but have made a bit more progress. I stumbled across the “Explorer Rune” which I didn’t know about before. Basically uncovers the full map when you hit a certain percentage of exploration in a zone. Speeds things up a bit!

Zool Redimensioned – PS5

Haven’t spent a lot of time with this, but I did fire it up and clear the first three worlds. It’s not amazing but I do like how fast it plays and I did always think Zool was a cool character, even if his games weren’t the best.

Mario Kart World – Switch 2

This has found a new lease of life now I’ve finally started playing the Knockout mode. The game as a whole is still a disappointment for various reasons, but playing the online Knockout is some of the most fun I’ve ever had with a Mario Kart game so all is (mostly) forgiven. At least the system also has Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to make up for the shortcomings.

The Quarry – PS5

We continue to make slow progress with this, it’s a good game just have to be in the mood for it. Also we can only play at night, obviously.

Tetris 99 - Switch

Tetris 99 – Switch 2

Of course I’ve been playing Tetris again so this has been taking my life over once more. Still haven’t managed the elusive Tetris Royale, my best remains placing 2nd a couple of times. Sadly I doubt I’m likely to manage it now as the people still playing it are pretty good!

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 - PS5

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 – PS5

Continued the Tetris run with this, realised I had barely touched the campaign so I have been back on that. Sadly I might have hit a wall about 60% in, as I still suck at Puyo Puyo and I’m stuck on a challenging versus battle against the CPU. I may persist.

April Pickups

Suikoden 1 & 2 HD Remaster – Nintendo Switch

Picked this up as my next JRPG to play, mostly because people keep banging on about it so I figured I should at least see what the fuss was about. It did annoy me immediately though, as there is no Switch 2 edition physical, and no way to upgrade the Switch 1 game to Switch 2. Knowing I’d want to trade it in when I finish (or bounce off) the games, I needed the physical release, so I’ve got the slightly poorer quality Switch 1 version to play on my Switch 2. I can’t imagine it makes much difference, but still annoying.

Puzzle Bobble / Bust-a-Move 2X & 3 S-Tribute – Switch 2

Awful title aside, this is a great retro release. Containing the Saturn versions of Puzzle Bobble 2 and 3, and was on sale for £5. Yes of course I’ve played these games to death, have them on my Saturn and the arcade versions on my cab. However, both those things are in storage and I wanted to play.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

March Games

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Couple of completions, some pickups and a decent amount played. Also started two games from my planned list for the year that I subsequently abandoned. At least I tried.

Games completed this month

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2

Finally remembered to play during March and caught a spider crab. That’s the museum completed and all of the posters, so we’ll call that another completion for the game. Still dipping in though for events and bits of the DLC.

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania Edition – PS5

Surpassed my xbox progress in pretty much half the time and less than half the attempts. I have unlocked 3SC but think I’ve hit a bit of a wall again at this difficulty. Not sure if I’ll keep trying, but I might at least drop the difficulty and chase some trophies from the various DLC packs.

Games played during March

Sonic Origins Plus – Nintendo Switch

Really enjoying the Story Mode on this, by the end of February I was just over half way through, having completed the Sonic 1 and CD content. Think that’s the first time I’ve completed Sonic CD at all too.

Ridge Racer 2 – PSP (SteamDeck)

This entirely passed me by when I was regularly playing PSP games, mostly because I was focused on shmups, so I’m not surprised I have gaps in that library. However, in hearing my Electronic Eggs peers discussing it on the recent Ridge Racer episode, I discovered that Ridge Racer (Racers in Japan) 2 is essentially a greatest hits of the series. I’d prefer to be playing it on my PSPgo or Vita, but both of those are in storage. Fortunately the emulator on SteamDeck is straightforward and also does some nice upscaling.

Lamplight City – Switch 2

Haven’t got very far with this yet, but early signs are promising. I do like a good point & click game and it runs nicely on the Switch 2. The aesthetic is great for the setting, so hopefully I’ll stick with this one.

March Pickups

Toaplan Arcade 2 – Evercade

Okay, I was originally going to skip this one, as I already had carts 1 and 3 which have superior line-ups (in my opinion anyway). However, on a trip back to Stoke to visit family in March, I popped into GameZone in Tunstall. As well as generally having a great selection of retro and current games, it was also the first shop I’ve been in that had a selection of brand new Evercade games and hardware. I was determined to buy something, and you can’t go wrong with Toaplan.

Drop Duchy – Steam

Jury is still out on this, I love the premise of a game that crossed city building, strategy and Tetris, so I grabbed it when it went cheap in the Steam Sale. It’s not quite clicking yet though. Would probably like it more if it wasn’t a roguelike, but I’ll give it a bit more time.

Breakout Beyond – Steam

Another Steam sale pickup I’ve had my eye on for a while. It seems good, but not very suited to the SteamDeck. It seems wrong to be playing it horizontally, and the default controls are awful for sensitivity. I’m keen to give it a go with a vertical monitor and my spinner controller at some point.

Games retired this month

Gears 5 – Xbox Series X

A casualty of me not renewing my GamePass subscription. I’ve lost access to the game, but even if I owned it, I wouldn’t be able to finish it anyway as I exclusively play the GEARS series campaigns via online co-op. Sorry Marcus, game over.

Alien vs Predator – Xbox 360

I think this and the next game on the list have suffered by me waiting too long to play them. I’m sure this Aliens vs Predator was a good game for its time, but it immediately evoked that era of FPS games, and I just couldn’t bring myself to sit through that in 2026. I haven’t really been in the mood for any FPS recently though so maybe I’ll get over it.

Card Fighters Clash – Nintendo Switch

Another one that has suffered because I’ve left it too long to play. This Neo Geo Pocket game is great for that system, but the card game feels very basic now. Can’t see me persisting with an RPG where I’m not loving the core mechanic.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

February Games

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Quite a bit of gaming this month, albeit it mostly playing Octopath Traveler 0. I’ve chalked up the win now though so we can start playing something else.

This was also the month all my “pre-paid” GamePass Ultimate credit expired. I’d entirely funded it using the Microsoft Rewards program so I hadn’t actually been paying for it, but given how atrocious Xbox and Microsoft as a whole are these days, I want to start moving away from them. Some of my purchases this month were just replacing the couple of games I cared about on GamePass that I was losing access too.

Games completed this month

Octopath Traveler 0 – PS5

Managed to record two completions of this during February. Both the initial credits roll (which is probably about 45% of the way through), and the true ending. I’ve done almost all of the side and extra content too, the only thing remaining is the optional boss that is exponentially harder than everything else in the game. This was the case with Octopath 2 as well, and I never did beat that one. I may have a few more attempts at this one as it would be nice to have the Platinum Trophy.

Games played during February

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2

Didn’t play loads of this during February, mostly because I figured out how to stream my PS5 to my SteamDeck, so a lot of my handheld time was playing Octopath, but when I did get to the Switch I was still dabbling with the new content. I was mostly looking forward to playing in March with a chance to complete the museum – I just need that Spider Crab!

Sektori – Steam Deck

Haven’t spent loads of time with Sektori this month, but the convenience of the deck means I have at least had a few runs. I want to at least do the same 1CC I managed on the PS5 version.

Static Dread: The Lighthouse – Steam Deck

Was still dipping into Static Dread, and thought I was on for a completion, except I appear to have died. Haven’t decided yet if I should just replay the last night and see if I can get a better result or if I need to start over. Don’t think I realised actually dying was a possibility. Oops.

The Quarry – PS5

We’ve played more of this, it is great but still too easy to lose track of who is playing which character from one session to the next. There must be a better way to do this.

Sonic Origins Plus – Nintendo Switch

We had a few days away at the end of the month, and having taken the Switch with us I went back to playing this on the train. I dabbled a bit with the various Game Gear games included, and then returned to the Mission Mode. I really like the idea of this as a way to play straight through the first four sonic games in order. However my progress was halted with the frustrating battle with Robotnik on Labyrinth Zone Act 3. I need to come back to it when I have more patience.

February Pickups

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania Edition – PS5

I think I missed writing about it, but a few months ago when I decided I wasn’t renewing GamePass any more, I decided to convert my remaining reward points to store credit to use towards picking up the games I originally played on GamePass and might still want to play. I had just over £40, the bulk of it went on Forza Horizon 5 as it was the only game in the series I didn’t own already. I kept hold of the rest for when GamePass expired and I could see what I thought I was missing.

I remembered how much I had enjoyed Dead Cells, and although I didn’t own it on Xbox, I had bought all five of the DLC content packs, so I was going to buy the base game. However, it was more expensive to buy just the base game digitally on Xbox, than to buy this physical collection on PS5 that contains all the content. Also found I was excited about the prospect of starting over, and seeing if I can get further than the 2BC I reached on Xbox.

Turrican Collection – Evercade

Last month’s pre-order, this arrived. I haven’t spent much time with it, just a short blast on Turrican, but it is a very cool collection.

Vampire Survivors and Ball X Pit – Xbox Series X

This is where the rest of my credit went, and I can’t even be bothered to put I picture in. Figured I might as well have Vampire Survivors since I owned all the DLC on Xbox, and although I don’t think I’m going back to Ball X Pit, they are still adding content to it and I might look at it at some point. This could be the end of my buying anything on Xbox, the only game they have coming I’m almost certainly going to buy is Forza Horizon 6, and I think I’m going to get it for the PS5.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.

January Games

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Well the Games to play in 2026 list is off to a great start, I’ve made a start on three from the list already.

Games completed this month

Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me – PS5

After completing Split Fiction, we decided to push on and finish this too. I think we were both mostly looking forward to trying something else. These Dark Pictures Anthology games have been a bit of a mixed bag, we’ve had fun with them all, but none of them quite reached the heights of Until Dawn.

Games played during January

Octopath Traveler 0 – PS5

This firmly has me in its grasp now as I’m approaching 50 hours in. It’s excellent, and I love the changes to the formula and the returning characters from earlier (later) in the series.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2

Well the Switch 2 patch arrived, alongside a new content update, and did not disappoint. Very much enjoying the new stuff and the improved quality of life bits. I was also quite happy to pay the £4 to have the improved resolution, it looks lovely.

Sektori – Steam Deck

Since Octopath took over my PS5, Sektori on there hasn’t had a look-in. Not to worry though, I’ve still found time for a few runs on the Steam Deck. This, and the other Steam Deck games I’ve been playing this month have all benefited from my new earphones below.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion – PS5

Managed to have a good evening on this at a friends house, as suspected, it’s superb in co-op and probably the best of this kind of thing. My preferred combo of Beta Ray Bill & Cosmic Ghost Rider is very satisfying. Just annoyed that it didn’t give me any trophies despite signing into my PlayStation account. Humbug.

Cast N Chill – Steam Deck

Now my Steam Deck is getting more regular use again, I’ve got over the disappointment that I didn’t get this on Switch instead. It’s just as described, a relaxing fishing game.

Static Dread: The Lighthouse – Steam Deck

A pick up from last month, I didn’t think I’d play it on the Steam Deck so was saving it for the big screen. However, with earphones it’s perfect / creepy for playing in bed before sleep. Very much enjoying running a lighthouse and keeping the horrors at bay. Although with how my 2026 is going, the horrors very much persist.

The Quarry – PS5

After wrapping up The Devil in Me, we were ready to finally make a start on The Quarry. We’re not far in yet, but it’s already feeling closer to Until Dawn as an experience. More concerned about what we’re going to play after. The next Dark Pictures game is sci-fi, so my partner has already wielded her veto.

January Pickups

Vertical Grip – Switch 2

I had the FlipGrip for my original Switch and loved it. I have been holding out for the creator to release the promised Switch 2 edition, but I heard about this Vertical Grip from Etsy. To be honest I now prefer it to the original. I paid the extra for the Ergo grip, and I’m very happy with it.

Xenotilt Hostile Pinball Action - January Games

Xenotilt – Nintendo Switch

When I found the above vertical grip, I decided it was time to double dip on this so I could play it properly. I think I prefer the theming of Demon’s Tilt, but this is still a superb pinball table.

Moondrop CHU II Earphones

My friend Kevin recommended these as a generally good bit of kit, and probably better than my Anker Bluetooth ones that I use everyday. While I’m not yet ready to give up the convenience of wireless when out and about, I had been thinking about something wired for my handhelds. Until now I had been using my PS5 Pulse 3D headset with the optional cable when gaming on my SteamDeck, and while the sound is great, it’s not the most subtle for a bit of gaming in bed. These in-ear phones have a good sound though, and are much less intrusive. Think they’ll help me spend more time with both the SteamDeck and my Evercade Super Pocket.

Piko Collection 4 – Evercade

After another bad day in January, I needed a pick-me-up. This cart wasn’t really on my radar until I discovered the Zero Tolerance game on it is effectively unreleased levels, and I have such fond memories of the Mega Drive game that I wanted to check them out. I’m also a bit of a Street Racer apologist so it felt worth a punt. I’m quite pleased with it so far, except I’m much worse at Street Racer than I remember being, I suspect it’s from a different platform than I played first time round.

Games pre-ordered in January

Turrican Collection – Evercade

Aside from the Codemasters Collection, which is now legacy and prohibitively expensive, I now own all the Evercade cartridges I want. This will hopefully make it sustainable going forward as I cherry pick and pre-order the new releases. Next up is this gem in February. I’ve always passively enjoyed the Turrican series, but the only one I’ve spent a lot of time with is Mega Turrican. Delighted to be getting the directors cut of that one, along with a bunch of other console entries from the series.

*There are no links to Amazon in this post and probably won’t be going forward. When I can be bothered I’m going to remove the old ones and burn my affiliates account.