I beat FTL twice. On easy. Can't really say I "finished" the game as I plan to give it a few more runs, but I consider beating it is enough to get it on the 2015 list.

Now for the game. I read some reviews and saw a few video reviews which lead me to believe that the game is very hard and should be attempted on easy. Well, easy was just that, easy. On the first try I only lost on the 3rd stage of the boss fight. The second time I finished it. Of course those video review helped me get a good feel for the game and basic tactics before actually playing it, so that might have been a factor.

I now wish I had this higher in my backlog queue. The game is fantastic. I actually forgot about sleep while playing it. It's just one of those "one more turn" games, in this case "one more jump". The thing I love about this game the most I think it's that there are many valid strategies from macro level to micro level. And I also like there's a lot of "risk vs reward" involved. Every little choice can end you game. Love it!

Warhammer 40K: Soulstorm

I would have to say that this is one of the biggest hackjob, copy/paste, let's get it out the door as quickly as possible with as little QA as possible, boring, obnoxious, overly padded games I've ever played in my life.

I've been sitting here trying to compose my thoughts after putting 175 hours into nine complete playthroughs, but it's all coming out in one great ball of venomous hate, and since I'm fairly certain that no one wants to see me pick this game apart down to its last idiotic detail, I'll try to keep it succinct.

The developers should be ashamed for making it, the publishers should be ashamed for releasing it.

Hell, I'm ashamed of myself for renting the fucking thing.

6 and a half dollars for 175 hours, and I still feel like I paid for someone to take a shit in my mouth and force me to chew while the person constantly ridicules me and tells me what a lunatic I am for paying them to do such a thing.

In the face of its awfulness, its laziness, its obvious, blatant and inept copy/paste rehash of virtually everything that it's composed of, its boredom, its padding, its absolutely moronic design choices, its utter squandering of something with potential, I find myself very very happy that both Iron Lore and THQ are no longer in business.

I think less of the entire Dawn of War series after playing through this.
I think less of Relic by sheer association after playing through this.
I think less of 40K as an overall brand because of this, and I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY think less of many other people, both random consumers and professional outlets, after the experience of playing through this.

I would not, under any circumstances, recommend this to anyone, whether a 40K fan or not, whether an RTS fan or not.

There are far easier, cheaper, less time consuming ways to hurt yourself.

Streets of Rage Remake! I finished it thoroughly, completely! Only the special missions i couldn't beat, not even one of them... Am going to try some mods, too! I don't know if i have enough time, but i will try to beat the Grim Fandago Remake and the Witcher 3 too, while still in 2015.

Words for Evil
Only played the Zen mode and even that wasn't easy for me. Guess the game is much harder for non-native speakers, because several of the words you have to find are quite obscure. But in the end I created 985 unique words (even if I have to admit that I was wild guessing some of them) and was able to complete the game. Unlocked most of the characters while playing and fought most of the monsters. It was fun, but in the end it got a little repetitive.

Complete list of finished games in 2015

My only game of the year so far. Definitely repetitive at the end. I took all 18 characters to Level 9.

I wondered while I was playing what non-native speakers would be able to do with it. I reached almost 3000 unique words. However I also played a browser-based word game for many years that helped out with this game a lot.

That game had words of maximum 6 letters, so saving my heroes in Words for Evil (7-letter words) was tougher than the rest of the game. :)

Saving the heroes was indeed the most difficult part. I failed to do so most of the time (except for the last battle that I won with just a level 3 Santa Clause and I was able to bring him back three times in a row, before he finally slew the fire dragon).

Slow, slow year so far.

Just beat Another World: 20'th Anniversary Edition. There have been plenty of five-star "masterpieces" where the review section is breathlessly declaring a game to be the best ever, and I'm just sort of like "Uh, it was OK, I guess?", but I don't think I've ever been quite so unimpressed by such a well-regarded game. Insta-death trial-and-error gameplay with stiff and unpleasant gun combat. OK? There's obviously some sort of historical context I'm missing (I guess the art style was novel?), but I didn't like it. Actually, I started it months ago, then put it down, but I was in a completionist mood today.

Damn. I guess I'll mark that one down in the "avoid" list.
Graphically it was very stylish for its time, and I think the relationship you develop with the alien prisoner really grabbed people. It's one of the rare instances in which most players came to genuinely care about a video game character and it was pulled off without any dialogue or exposition.

Plus, when you do learn the trial-and-error stuff (I agree that part of it hasn't aged too well), it does have a nice cinematic quality. You can race through it in a relatively short time and feel like you're playing a movie you enjoy.

One word: nostalgia. Back in early 90s this game was mind blowing. I still love it to this day but I doubt I would love it if I didn't play it back then so I'm not surprised you don't find it amusing. BTW: the original version has ~1/3 of checkpoints so sometimes you had to repeat long sections several times. I've already mention it somewhere but what the heck, I'll brag about it again: back in 90s I've finished the game without dying at all :) It was a bet ;)

Why? Why would you torment yourself for 175 hours if the game is so shitty?

That's what I kept asking myself too.

He may need help. O_o

Finished Mirror's Edge.

It was kind of a paradox of a game. Part super awesome, part frustrating and self defeating.

So, worth playing. ^^b

South Park: The Stick of Truth

I'll be honest, i wasn't "feeling" the game early on, it looked really simplistic (especially how easy the combat is) but is one of those games where it grows on you and become one of the best games of 2014 (1 - Valiant Hearts, 2 - South Park: TSoT, 3 - Wolfenstein TNO).
It's just a rewarding game, sure, you will take most of it if you're a fan of the series but still you will be amazed how crazy the game is, i really REALLY want to mention the background of one of the battles but i wont because it would ruin your moment but if i said it, trust me, you would buy this game today! ;)
Oh man, seriously, i had so much fun with it, the humor, the perfect jabs to the genre (rpg/jrpgs), etc.

Like i said, the only problem is the combat, it's really easy and broken, have some bleeding effects on your attack and you're set for the game... But hey, if you don't have much time for gridding and/or feel that rpg's are too hard for you, there you go, this is perfect for you.

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Resident Evil Remastered/HD/Whatever

Again, had a ton of fun with it, never played this one before so i'm glad that this was released. It took me around 13 hours so i would say that it was worth the 18€ i've spent, i was scared it would be one of those games where the nostalgia would trick me but no, the game is genuinely good and the proof that horror games can work with guns involved.

It also showed what the recent resident evils are missing, the puzzles and the map design. I want to investigate a place, run around clueless of where to go or what to do but in the process i'm learning the map so i know where is the key items or locked doors.

The only thing that could improve this game is a better inventory (i'm sorry, i understand that it makes the game harder and can be considered a key feature for the "horror" aspect but no, it's more of a nuisance) and a system where i could write stuff on the map (kind of like dungeon crawlers).