I think posting can wait when set against real life (still, nice to have the thread), hope things went well.
Shadowrun: Dragonfall
I finished the game. As a whole it’s a better experience than the previous title, with slightly more interesting writing (both are great), better balance and an expanded format of acting as a shadowrunner. There’s only one issue that really affected my enjoyment throughout and that’s the amount of large combat scenarios (waves or rooms with 10+ enemies attacking at the same time). They weren’t a majority thankfully, but they were common enough to get a little tiring, to say the least.
I like Shadowrun in its small scale and more personal form, anything big (important jobs with tons of enemies, epic stakes) and I lose interest pretty quickly. I don’t know why games feel the need to end with saving the world or equally important scenarios but it’s the most boring direction a story can go for me at this point. Dragonfall did manage to put a reasonably interesting spin on that at least and I think it did it slightly better than Returns so kudos for that at least.
I loved the side character story arcs - small, personal, some more tragic, other ending happily. Advancing them after every run was one of my favourite parts of the game. I wish such mundane and unimportant story beats played a bigger part in RPGs in general.
After finishing two games I think I’m ready to say I really like this series, WAY MORE than I ever expected to. I had some reservations initially, both due to the setting (not because the idea is bad, I just wasn’t feeling it) and jumping in after a long break from isometric RPGs but these games managed to win me over.
I just wish they had more unofficial content. All I have left is Hong-Kong (with its DLC campaign) and 2 user campaigns for Dragonfall (one of them being a remake of the SNES Shadowrun) - once that’s done I’m out of modules. Cant’s say I’m looking forward to that moment.
A.W.O.L.
It’s an indie tactical(ish) FPS made in EDuke32 engine. It has decently feeling and sounding weapons with really nice sprite work, nine levels (of varying quality) and unique hand drawn cutscenes.
Game aims for a more grounded approach, with relatively low health, reloading, aim-down-sights mechanic and 4 weapon limit. Oh, there’s also localised damage system for enemies (well… head shots), simple squad mechanic (with voice acting for combat barks!) and a stealth system.
Enemies are rather brain dead and have trouble aiming when approached from slightly elevated position - they can still tear through your health if you’re not careful though. Levels are a mixed bag, some parts look pretty good, some are a bit undercooked (simple design, broken lighting on certain models, occasional lack of skybox etc). Heck, one of them might cause some Max Payne’s nightmare level related PTSD flare ups due to its design and pixel perfect platforming. On a more positive note, various map elements have pretty cool damage effects, you can really see the your handiwork after more chaotic encounters.
Outside cutscenes some story segments are displayed as dialogue boxes at the bottom of the screen. Unfortunately, these disappear pretty quickly which paired with their tendency to show up in the middle of the action make them easy to miss. It might not be the best story ever but it would be nice to have a chance to enjoy it.
It’s a neat if amateurish project but it’s fun enough way to spend 3-4 hours with. If anyone’s curious about the game it’s free on Steam.
2025 Recap
It’s the final thread of the year so I thought I’d write a short recap. I managed to finish 16 games (that I properly remember) last year, 9 of which were bought this year - I was thinking this kinda puts a dent in the idea of backlog clearing but regardless of their tenure on my “to play” list, the end result is still better than the last few years combined. Backlog is shrinking, if only a little.
Anyway, here are the games I finished in 2025:
A.W.O.L.
Ace Combat 7
Ace Combat Zero
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Halo 1-4, ODST & Reach
Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded
Project Wingman + Frontline 59 DLC
Sam & Max Hit the Road
Shadowrun Returns
Shadowrun: Dragonfall
Umurangi Generation + DLC
There were also other things like visual novels (if you’re interested in those feel free to join us in the [email protected] community) and some smaller indie titles whose names escape me at the moment. All in all a pretty decent number, I’d say.
Can I beat it next year? Probably not but I’ll give it a shot. There are still a lot of titles waiting for their turn so even this pace means a few years of work just to get through everything. I’ll be happy as long as I can finish the year with a slightly shorter backlog than I started it with.
My problem wasn’t that serious (I enjoyed the combat and only dislike the large battles) but I can see how it can be a run killer. I’m not sure if that’s of any help but I saw mentions that Hong Kong has more reading than the two previous titles, I’m definitely looking forward to that.
Just to be clear, I don’t know if it added more reading on top of combat or as a potential alternative since I didn’t play it yet. I just heard there’s more of it (though I wouldn’t say no to improving the ratio between peaceful and combat scenarios).
Nice recap! And thanks for the well wishes. It was a pretty rough move, lots of drama with the previous tenants, but it’s over now and we’re settling in. The cats were very stressed out, which stressed me out, but they love it here now, so I’m happy. My wife seems much happier now too, which makes me happy as well. My daughter is too young to understand what’s going on (still just a baby) so she was happy the whole time, which is really the only thing that kept my wife and I grounded. All in all, super stressful couple of days, but now we’re both very happy.
Game’s awesome. I won’t say the combat is the deepest, but I’ve seen some unfair criticisms from action game fans.
Like, it’s not exactly a combo simulator, but you can absolutely do touch-of-death combos on most enemies, and there are ways to work through shields quicker.
Game’s mechanically deeper than most people think, I think. Definitely some replay value there.
Make sure to check out the Peacock Project, a self-hosted Hitman server that, among other things, lets you replay any of the old timed content you want. No more FOMO in your single player game!
Awesome pick! Easily one of my favourite games ever, and second most played game ever, but it doesn’t get talked about nearly enough on here. I try to mention it where I can, in hopes more people try it and love it, and then talk about it here. It’s definitely one of the most confusing games to try and buy, with all the different versions available, but once you figure it out, the game is excellent. It’s probably the only game I’ll actually buy all the small added content for.
You know, after over 5k hours I still haven’t tried survival mode. Most of that playtime is before it was a thing but I’m guessing I probably have at least a few hundred hours after survival was introduced and I never bothered to try it. Maybe someday.
It was a little annoying at first, but now it feels very natural. Night is cold and dangerous and you get tired, so you sleep. You get hungry and food is found everywhere, so you eat. Wear warm clothes and don’t spend too much time in the cold without protection.
It kinda makes me realize that I’ve been looking for this exact thing in open world games, now I’m trying to think up some rulesets for BOTW/TOTK and RDR2 to make them similar. Maybe a survival mod exists for Red Dead?
I played the intro campaign of Wildermyth, and not only is it great as the “fantasy XCOM” I was hoping for, but if you’re the type of person to headcanon little stories and relationships between your party in a tactics game, this game is for you.
Started bringing my 3ds to work for when I’m on break or otherwise not doing shit. Currently playing monster hunter 4. My DS’s growing up were basically just Pokemon machines, so if anyone has any classic gba, nds, or 3ds games you recommend I’m all ears
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is a surprisingly amazing DS game where you hold the DS in portrait mode like a book and control your character with the stylus. I played it this year and was very positively surprised by it.
I reccomend a jack of all trades build where you get 15 in all stats but technical. if you don’t have the dlc just put what you can in it but if you have the dlc then bring it to 20 and make int 16. This allows you to repsec your perks to pretty much do any style of play. also cyberware will get you an effective str of 20 for doors and such and if you have the dlc you will be able to do level 20 doors. just a few int checks will be problematic. if you don’t do an addon to change it then checks increase with level so its sorta good to prioritize str and tech until you reach your max for those stats and upgrade gorilla arms as soon as you are able every time.
yeah I have this power gamer side that comes to the surface even though im not much of a power gamer. Its like I love table top rp but I gotta min max a bit. I will resist the impulse to choose min/max over rp but will min/max to the max within my story line.
Forgot how cool the visual aesthetic in this game is. I feel like it should get a remaster but Im guessing it didn’t sell well enough, could make great use of the ps5 controller.
I’m replaying Devil May Cry 2… man, this game is putting me to sleep 😂 I don’t even know how to describe it… it’s like playing a pre-alpha build of a DMC game made by people forced to develop it at gunpoint. Always a surreal experience.
Still playing Factorio with a friend. We took a break over the holidays but are slowly getting back into it.
Thank Fate for the new tag system, because otherwise I would have no clue what I was working on a month ago.
Also Pyanodon’s mods are more complex than difficult, so if you are interested and able to take your time, I would definitely recommend trying them out.
I thought I’d start the year off by playing through the series using the MCC. Reach is my favourite but I haven’t actually finished any of the other so that might change.
I’ve been making progress on my first playthrough of Bloodborne and am at the Witch of Hemwick. Aside from hearing so much general praise for the game over the years, I’ve gone in blind and it’s been a real treat. If the quality of the game remains constant, I can see this easily becoming my favorite From Software game, and probably one of my favorite games in general.
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Tunic and Outer Wilds
I think posting can wait when set against real life (still, nice to have the thread), hope things went well.
Shadowrun: Dragonfall
I finished the game. As a whole it’s a better experience than the previous title, with slightly more interesting writing (both are great), better balance and an expanded format of acting as a shadowrunner. There’s only one issue that really affected my enjoyment throughout and that’s the amount of large combat scenarios (waves or rooms with 10+ enemies attacking at the same time). They weren’t a majority thankfully, but they were common enough to get a little tiring, to say the least.
I like Shadowrun in its small scale and more personal form, anything big (important jobs with tons of enemies, epic stakes) and I lose interest pretty quickly. I don’t know why games feel the need to end with saving the world or equally important scenarios but it’s the most boring direction a story can go for me at this point. Dragonfall did manage to put a reasonably interesting spin on that at least and I think it did it slightly better than Returns so kudos for that at least.
I loved the side character story arcs - small, personal, some more tragic, other ending happily. Advancing them after every run was one of my favourite parts of the game. I wish such mundane and unimportant story beats played a bigger part in RPGs in general.
After finishing two games I think I’m ready to say I really like this series, WAY MORE than I ever expected to. I had some reservations initially, both due to the setting (not because the idea is bad, I just wasn’t feeling it) and jumping in after a long break from isometric RPGs but these games managed to win me over.
I just wish they had more unofficial content. All I have left is Hong-Kong (with its DLC campaign) and 2 user campaigns for Dragonfall (one of them being a remake of the SNES Shadowrun) - once that’s done I’m out of modules. Cant’s say I’m looking forward to that moment.
A.W.O.L.
It’s an indie tactical(ish) FPS made in EDuke32 engine. It has decently feeling and sounding weapons with really nice sprite work, nine levels (of varying quality) and unique hand drawn cutscenes.
Game aims for a more grounded approach, with relatively low health, reloading, aim-down-sights mechanic and 4 weapon limit. Oh, there’s also localised damage system for enemies (well… head shots), simple squad mechanic (with voice acting for combat barks!) and a stealth system.
Enemies are rather brain dead and have trouble aiming when approached from slightly elevated position - they can still tear through your health if you’re not careful though. Levels are a mixed bag, some parts look pretty good, some are a bit undercooked (simple design, broken lighting on certain models, occasional lack of skybox etc). Heck, one of them might cause some Max Payne’s nightmare level related PTSD flare ups due to its design and pixel perfect platforming. On a more positive note, various map elements have pretty cool damage effects, you can really see the your handiwork after more chaotic encounters.
Outside cutscenes some story segments are displayed as dialogue boxes at the bottom of the screen. Unfortunately, these disappear pretty quickly which paired with their tendency to show up in the middle of the action make them easy to miss. It might not be the best story ever but it would be nice to have a chance to enjoy it.
It’s a neat if amateurish project but it’s fun enough way to spend 3-4 hours with. If anyone’s curious about the game it’s free on Steam.
2025 Recap
It’s the final thread of the year so I thought I’d write a short recap. I managed to finish 16 games (that I properly remember) last year, 9 of which were bought this year - I was thinking this kinda puts a dent in the idea of backlog clearing but regardless of their tenure on my “to play” list, the end result is still better than the last few years combined. Backlog is shrinking, if only a little.
Anyway, here are the games I finished in 2025:
There were also other things like visual novels (if you’re interested in those feel free to join us in the [email protected] community) and some smaller indie titles whose names escape me at the moment. All in all a pretty decent number, I’d say.
Can I beat it next year? Probably not but I’ll give it a shot. There are still a lot of titles waiting for their turn so even this pace means a few years of work just to get through everything. I’ll be happy as long as I can finish the year with a slightly shorter backlog than I started it with.
Yeah, I couldn’t finish Dragonfall because of combat fatigue. Returns was nice though.
IIRC, I think Returns, Persona 1, and South Park: The Stick of Truth are the only turn-based RPGs I actually beat.
My problem wasn’t that serious (I enjoyed the combat and only dislike the large battles) but I can see how it can be a run killer. I’m not sure if that’s of any help but I saw mentions that Hong Kong has more reading than the two previous titles, I’m definitely looking forward to that.
It didn’t help my tolerance for turn-based combat and RNG is not very high.
Good to hear Hong Kong moved in another direction. The Shadowrun world is cool, so I may revisit at some point.
Just to be clear, I don’t know if it added more reading on top of combat or as a potential alternative since I didn’t play it yet. I just heard there’s more of it (though I wouldn’t say no to improving the ratio between peaceful and combat scenarios).
Nice recap! And thanks for the well wishes. It was a pretty rough move, lots of drama with the previous tenants, but it’s over now and we’re settling in. The cats were very stressed out, which stressed me out, but they love it here now, so I’m happy. My wife seems much happier now too, which makes me happy as well. My daughter is too young to understand what’s going on (still just a baby) so she was happy the whole time, which is really the only thing that kept my wife and I grounded. All in all, super stressful couple of days, but now we’re both very happy.
All’s well that ends well then. Congrats on the move!
Thank you!
Currently trying to give the ‘legacy of thieves’ collection a go. I’m not sure how long it will hold my interest, but it’s pretty good so far.
Hi fi rush has me enamoured!
Game’s awesome. I won’t say the combat is the deepest, but I’ve seen some unfair criticisms from action game fans.
Like, it’s not exactly a combo simulator, but you can absolutely do touch-of-death combos on most enemies, and there are ways to work through shields quicker.
Game’s mechanically deeper than most people think, I think. Definitely some replay value there.
To me it’s the animations, the whole world being on a beat and just how lively everyone is.
Playing Hitman World of Assassination! I love causing chaos as Santa
Make sure to check out the Peacock Project, a self-hosted Hitman server that, among other things, lets you replay any of the old timed content you want. No more FOMO in your single player game!
That’s awesome thanks!
Not the person you replied to but I’m definitely checking this out. Thanks for the comment!
Awesome pick! Easily one of my favourite games ever, and second most played game ever, but it doesn’t get talked about nearly enough on here. I try to mention it where I can, in hopes more people try it and love it, and then talk about it here. It’s definitely one of the most confusing games to try and buy, with all the different versions available, but once you figure it out, the game is excellent. It’s probably the only game I’ll actually buy all the small added content for.
Skyrim
Still relatively new to the game (started playing it in the last couple of years) and I’m trying my first run on survival mode, currently loving it!
Oh nice!
You know, after over 5k hours I still haven’t tried survival mode. Most of that playtime is before it was a thing but I’m guessing I probably have at least a few hundred hours after survival was introduced and I never bothered to try it. Maybe someday.
It was a little annoying at first, but now it feels very natural. Night is cold and dangerous and you get tired, so you sleep. You get hungry and food is found everywhere, so you eat. Wear warm clothes and don’t spend too much time in the cold without protection.
It kinda makes me realize that I’ve been looking for this exact thing in open world games, now I’m trying to think up some rulesets for BOTW/TOTK and RDR2 to make them similar. Maybe a survival mod exists for Red Dead?
I’ll probably give it a shot the next time I have an itch for Skyrim. I’m not usually one for survival games but it seems worth trying.
Protect your knees.
I played the intro campaign of Wildermyth, and not only is it great as the “fantasy XCOM” I was hoping for, but if you’re the type of person to headcanon little stories and relationships between your party in a tactics game, this game is for you.
Started bringing my 3ds to work for when I’m on break or otherwise not doing shit. Currently playing monster hunter 4. My DS’s growing up were basically just Pokemon machines, so if anyone has any classic gba, nds, or 3ds games you recommend I’m all ears
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is a surprisingly amazing DS game where you hold the DS in portrait mode like a book and control your character with the stylus. I played it this year and was very positively surprised by it.
If you can get a copy:
Rythm heaven gold (ds)
Mega Man Zero (gba)
Any nds castlevania
Cyberpunk 2077
I got it on the Steam sale. Runs great on CachyOS without any fiddling in the settings.
I reccomend a jack of all trades build where you get 15 in all stats but technical. if you don’t have the dlc just put what you can in it but if you have the dlc then bring it to 20 and make int 16. This allows you to repsec your perks to pretty much do any style of play. also cyberware will get you an effective str of 20 for doors and such and if you have the dlc you will be able to do level 20 doors. just a few int checks will be problematic. if you don’t do an addon to change it then checks increase with level so its sorta good to prioritize str and tech until you reach your max for those stats and upgrade gorilla arms as soon as you are able every time.
Thanks for the advice, I’ll keep that in mind. But I don’t play for efficiency, I play just for fun.
yeah I have this power gamer side that comes to the surface even though im not much of a power gamer. Its like I love table top rp but I gotta min max a bit. I will resist the impulse to choose min/max over rp but will min/max to the max within my story line.
broke: I use Arch, btw
woke: I use CachyOS, btw
sincerely, someone who uses CachyOS, btw
and a happy pacman -Syu to you too
Just reinstalled it for the third time. The expansion is great if you like the main game.
Mirrors Edge from 2008
Forgot how cool the visual aesthetic in this game is. I feel like it should get a remaster but Im guessing it didn’t sell well enough, could make great use of the ps5 controller.
Nice! I love that game. Now I wanna replay it…
Still holds up for the most part. Funny to think it’s a Dice (the studio) release.
I’m replaying Devil May Cry 2… man, this game is putting me to sleep 😂 I don’t even know how to describe it… it’s like playing a pre-alpha build of a DMC game made by people forced to develop it at gunpoint. Always a surreal experience.
Still playing Factorio with a friend. We took a break over the holidays but are slowly getting back into it. Thank Fate for the new tag system, because otherwise I would have no clue what I was working on a month ago.
Also Pyanodon’s mods are more complex than difficult, so if you are interested and able to take your time, I would definitely recommend trying them out.
Halo: Reach
I thought I’d start the year off by playing through the series using the MCC. Reach is my favourite but I haven’t actually finished any of the other so that might change.
Playing through the collection in order is it’s own fun, but Reach is another level.
I’ve been making progress on my first playthrough of Bloodborne and am at the Witch of Hemwick. Aside from hearing so much general praise for the game over the years, I’ve gone in blind and it’s been a real treat. If the quality of the game remains constant, I can see this easily becoming my favorite From Software game, and probably one of my favorite games in general.
Uncharted 4/5