Weird, self-righteous, self-indulgent bullshit. This game has the audacity to call itself an “essay” but doesn’t do anything except attempt to teach you some basic video game philosophies, which even then it does poorly.

On top of its holier-than-thou approach, the game making itself is done poorly. My game broke about 15 minutes into it;. Restarting the game or the checkpoint didn’t even fix it. I had to reset the entire save data and almost didn’t even want to waste the 15 minutes to do so.

Gameplay was boring and the design of it was trying too hard. I don’t like rating games this poorly but man this was a drag. I went back and pumped up Gigabash a few numbers because I was reminded what a bad game actually is.

10/100 / 15th game played / ~1 hour

Ehhhh. I guess some of the mini games were kind of fun when playing with friends, but even then the enjoyment of them was carried by the camaraderie, not the game itself. Overall... ehhhhhhhhh.

18/100 / 4th game played / ~1hr

Supergiant Series 2 of 3
I am so saddened about this one. I couldn't finish it. The primary culprit was the combat system, which I just did not enjoy. I tried to power through it and gave it a few good hours, but it didn't get any better. The combat system was slow, awkward, and didn't flow very well. The primary stopping-of-time system was a neat idea, but every time you used it you were punished by not being able to attack for a few seconds (which is a long time in a game that wants to be fast paced) and it didn't sit well with me that the defining system in the game punished you for using it.

It wasn't completely without merit, though. As always with SueprGiant games, Darren Korb delivered a fantastic score with a few tracks I will be saving down. It also had appealing visuals throughout, another thing SuperGiant excels at. The story had some intrigue, but my god the Transistors voice was so dry it was putting me to sleep and he never shut up. Like literally he felt the need to comment on every little thing I was doing. The narrator in Bastion was much better.

Ahh well. I'm still glad I gave it a shot. This doesn't make me lose any respect for SuperGiant and I'm still excited to give Pyre a shot.

32/100 / 18th game played / 116 minutes / Did not finish

It’s cute, and kind of felt like a roguelike in a way. But also it just doesn’t have the charm that the old games did. I played it once and don’t have a desire to play it again.

38/100 / 10th game played / ~1 hour

Man... why can't I just like Soulslike games?! This game had a wonderfully well-realized design and aesthetic, but that wasn't enough to save it from the traditional Soulslike tropes that I don't like. By all accounts I don't think this is a "bad" game, it just wasn't for me. I can't believe I spent $50 on this just to play it for 2 hours...

40/100 / 11th game played / ~2 hours / Did not finish

I am more upset about this one then Lies of P. I really wish I could've loved it. It was close, but I just wasn't in the mood for a text-based RPG no matter how hard I tried to force myself. It had a super cool setting and good writing, but the writing was also longwinded with too much fluff and not even gameplay.

43/100 / 13th game played / 2.5 hours / Did not finish

My friends and I were desperate for a poker game on PS+ and this is all we could find. It served it's purpose. Bonus points for a surprisingly robust character creation but negative points for p2w bullcrap.

45/100 / 22nd game played

I mean, it's another Madden game. Dicking around and making ludicrous plays with friends always seems to breed an ardent laugh, at least.

50/100 / 3rd game played

Supergiant Series 1 of 3
In anticipation of Hades II, I'm going through the entire Supergiant Games catalog, starting with their first release: Bastion. Had I played in 2011 I think I would've loved it... but I didn't, and unfortunately the gameplay did not age well. It was an unevolved, boring version of Hades, which boasts some of my favorite gameplay of all time. The visuals also lacked originality. But there were some aspects that did age well; the soundtrack was incredible, the world was interesting, and the narrators voice was absolutely mesmerizing. Even though I didn't like it as much as I would have hoped, I am still very glad I played this.

61/100 / 6th game played / 4.9hrs

This was cute. Me and my friend have really gotten into this niche co-op escape room genre games, and while this one didn't impress us as much as the We Were Here series (especially the last couple) we still had a good time with it. It wasn't quite as tightly crafted but still had some unique puzzles.

65/100 / 16th game played / 5 hours

Short, sweet, and to the point Inscryption-influenced romp. I only played 3 runs of this game; lost the first, won the second, then tried the double or nothing mode on the third.

It was a fun idea for a game. I'm glad to see solo-devs rewarded for new and creative ideas like this, and am happy to support them. Even though it was less than hour, I still enjoyed my time with it and felt the $3 was worth it, especially to support a solo-dev.

66/100 / 20th game played / 0.6 hours played

Another summertime mistress to distract me from my one true love (Slay the Spire). On the real though, I do enjoy niche little roguelikes and this game did enough cool and unique things that I had a good time with it. It didn't addict me like some others have but it was worth the few dollars I paid for it.

67/100 / 17th game played / 10 hours

Maddy Makes Games aren't the devs we deserve, but the devs we need. This free little bonus game was just what my heart needed. I thought this love letter to classic N64 platformers was surprisingly well built for how little time went into it, even though the camera was a bit janky. And it was great fun seeing all the classic Celeste assets in N64-style graphics.

70/100 / 7th game played / 1.33hrs

What a delight the Portal fanbase is. I’m so glad there’s a community out there that not only loves Portal as much as I do, but actively makes entire games as free mods. Huge kudos to the team that made this. Their dedication and love of Portal was crawling all over this game. It was well-made, though there were some technical issues and a few inconsistent puzzle designs. But I can forgive these considering it’s a free, community made mod. This scratched the Portal itch that Valve refuses to expand on.

71/100 / 1st game played / 11.8hrs

Mario just never disappoints. This game may be imperfect, but what it does right it does better than most other Mario games. It has a fantastic sense of humor and I found myself laughing throughout my time with it. The visuals were also breathtaking at times and the quality surpassed my expectations. The story was so delightfully charming and had a lot of fun playing around in its setting. The turn-based combat, however, was severely flawed and this game gets knocked down a lot because of it. Thankfully the in-combat music and animations were amazing, so that helped. Overall, Mario just knows how to put a smile on my face and this game was well worth it as an avid and longtime fan of the series.

73/100 / 5th game played / 9hrs

This game is just so wholesomely freaking fun. The 3rd person combat is fluid and satisfying and the ult-patriotism themes are hilariously implemented through their use of in-game propaganda. Admittedly it it isn't very enjoyable alone and you need a group of friends to maximize the fun, but I don't think that's a bad thing. It's an entertaining, easily digestible PvE co-op game that you can drop-in and play with ease. The game leans into the chaos and the devs definitely had this in mind when developing their brilliantly simple stratagem system. This was the hardest I've laughed playing a game in a long time and was exactly what my heart needed during a few tough weeks this year.

75/100 / 9th game played / 30 hours

Oh yeah, this is exactly the fix I needed. This kind of game is like a drug to me. Like a summertime lover. I love Poker, I love deckbuilding, and I love Roguelikes, and this game combines them with excellent style and presentation and addicting gameplay. It was, however, still just a fling, as my one true love is and always will be Slay the Spire. Although this game was fun, it was too snowbally and imbalanced for me to enjoy it in the long term. I put a good chunk of hours into this in a short amount of time and then went back to my baby, but it was a great fling while it lasted.

76/100 / 12th game played / 20 hours

Man... I've been single for too long. I shamefully got the "simp" ending, or at least that's what I'm labelling it as.

This game was super cool. The visuals were eerie and serene at the same time. The music and presentation complimented each other in both the horror and romantic elements. The hand drawn art had and an incredibly unique and consistent style. I appreciate the varying degree of choices the game allows you to make, too, it's not just "do the good thing" or "do the bad thing." In a visual novel it's important to allow room for the gray an this game did that very well.

81/100 / 21st game played / 3 hours 30 minutes

This game kicks so much ass. It has everything you want in a mecha by boasting satisfying combat, epic moments, and literally unlimited customization. I was also surprinsgly invested in the story. Most of the boss fights felt similar, but there were a couple particularly awesome ones that will live in my memory. It also had the high-level challenge you expect in a FromSoftware title. I almost quit on the final boss because she was so difficult but it felt sooo good to finally beat her. I don't crave challenges like this much anymore in my games, but I'm glad I went all the way with this one. I was getting too soft and needed some gaming humble pie.

82/100 / 2nd game played / 23hrs

At the beginning of this game there is a trigger warning for those that suffer from mental disorders like mental psychosis or schizophrenia and, I gotta say, I think those warnings are justified. This game was stressful. Gorgeous visuals, flawlessly executed sound design, and one of the best video game acting performances ever lend to this games stress-inducing effectiveness. It is very arthouse, and hard to recommend to the average gamer due it's lack of gameplay variety, but I think it sets out what it's trying to accomplish by delivering a powerful tale of fear, anxiety, and loss. Even if it is a depressing game, there are uplifting messages that can be taken from it's story and characters.

87/100 / 19th game played / 5.9 hours

Okay, yeah, I get it now. This game is as good as everyone says it is and in most ways even exceeded my high expectations. My experience with Baldur's Gate 3 in 2024 feels similar to my experience with Skyrim in 2011; a fantasy based cRPG that boasts "unlimited" freedom that all of my friends play and talk about. Slyrim walked so this game could run. It was admittedly a little janky at times, but I think that's attributed to me playing on PS5 when it's clearly optimized for PC. I think given the insane levels of depth in the gameplay, the devs actually did the best that anyone could with bringing the UI to consoles.

A lot of RPGs dream of having this incomprehensible amount of branching narritive paths, but only very few can stand up to this. It feels like my experience was completely unique to anyone else's, and I think that's so cool. This game is amazing and it will live on in my memory forever.

96/100 / 8th game played / 86 hours

Now this is how you do a sequel. I really liked The Blind Forest, but I did have a few quarrels with it and they were completely stifled in this sequel. This game has some of the most fun side scrolling platforming I've ever played, has an enchanting story that made me cry several times, is the perfect length, and is absolutely magnificently stunning in visuals and music. This is my new Golden Standard for the Metroidvania genre. It also may be in my top 5 ever in terms of artistry - the visuals and score are incredible and were enough to make me very emotional just by its beauty.

97/100 / 14th game played / 10.5 hours