I think the items were there to give to specific NPCs at specific times, but I don't remember or know whether that would have resulted in any rewards apart from some extra dialogue, and I disliked that you could miss the right time to complete quests without the game giving you any heads-up about it.

And you can select what friends accompany you not just based on who you like best, but also on what abilities you prefer, and then you can assign specific companion abilities to specific combo shapes, in a menu somewhere. It's just that there's hardly any need to pay attention to these mechanics, since I think you can beat the game without ever making use of them. The healing ability was a useful one, but it made the combat even more trivial ...

Life is Strange 2 (XB1X)

Pretty good follow up to the first game. This time there is probably less actual light puzzle solving, due the fact that the character you play is not the one with the superpower- it's your brother, who you have to guide and keep out of trouble. The overall story is pretty good though. It kept me invested enough to complete the 18 hour story- well it's 18 hours if you're like me and insist on clicking on every single point of interest.

It's most definitely set in the same universe as the earlier games, especially the free Captain Spirit game. As well as ending the story of the runaway brothers, it also eventually gives some closure to the first game and many of its characters...for example you learn which of the endings from the first game is considered canon and even get some news on some of the earlier games characters. That stuff was almost as good as the games own story. Worth playing if you're a fan of the other games in the series. It's on Xbox Game Pass.

You can definitely beat the game without knowing how to do this. I did it since I only used the swap tile ability.

Don't quit now. There's still a few days left. I'm planning on beating at least one more game this year.

Chasm

I had fun with it and it kept me playing to the end, but I think I understand why people were disappointed with it.

I felt like nothing really stood out in it and the combat was, more often than not, annoying (though I'm usually not a fan of the combat focus in metroidvanias). Magic system felt underdeveloped and I can't understand why was it so hard to have some health items appear more frequently.

I think the random level generation also affected the design in a negative way, contributing for a lack of memorable places/experiences.

But, again, I had fun with it and it kept me playing to the end. And I think that was good enough.

So yes i finished Earth 2150 escape from the blue planet main game with all 3 factions. GOG counts the main game as 1 game and the 2 add-ons as each game so all are 3 games instead of all combined like in earth trilogy 2140 counted as 1 game.

Pretty good game sure ED had a very hard time with them as i played them first, but ended quite prematurly in Egypt i believe since i got the one million credits, much thanks to ufo, had somewhere 80 days left or maybe a little less.
UCS was at least for me more fun and sometimes air crafts can really decide in this game who gets the upper hand, their special units i got in one mission 3 grizzly i think pretty much tanked the whole game when i upgraded them with a repairer to shields. There is one downside though, you better not have too many units or important units like those grizzly on the mission field when NEO shows up in a few missions.
He steals your units and it can get annoying, but since i had prior knowledge about some lets play of this game i didn't lose that many units. You kinda find out what happens to him in the LC campaign and you can get rid of his annoyance in the UCS by destroying the base or his main base quick enough. Except the first time you meet him he takes all units from you when you defeat his first main base on the mission field so better not have many units.Other missions he steals your units every 15 minutes.
Also UCS defense structures are the strongest in the game when you get fortress and those plasma weapons are very good with them. Anyway i finished the game at having somewhere 114 days left i believe, the goal was also one million credits.
LC the campaign i should have played first but got last to it. They only need 500000 credits and are kinda easier. Had like 140 or 130 days left when i just finished the game. Think they got the strongest shields and those energy weapons can get pretty usefull since they charge themselfs, other type of ammo still needs suppliers. They can hover over water which is cool, are allied with UCS in some mission but hardly is this of any use, since NEO can annoy UCS.
Also you get FANG as a hero unit, pretty strong has a very powerfull beam weapon which shoots a few times and then needs to recharge is faster then most units and in one mission i got a shield for him, but he should not die or you lose.
The LC are all women Fang is the only male in the team. Also with LC i at least managed to use the super weapon weather control which at last missions plops down asteroids on enemies.

I found out how the resource collecting works if you want to finish a mission faster and still get all credits from the missions:
ED you need a mine and ore transport base and at least one ore transported, then you have to defeat all enemies and buildings to get credits transfered to your main base space port dependable on what the mission was. But i don't know if you need a mine at each ore location, try at least finding all the ore on the map.

UCS has harvesters and needs at least one of them and one ore transport base, you need to discover all locations with ore and then it will count them when you defeat all enemies.
LC which just brings the buildings from the sky need ore transport buildings. The buildings do the minning but you need at least one at every discovered ore location and then defeat every enemy to bring it to home base.

Oh and i always had like 70000 credits mostly at my base the annoying part is that each 10000 credits to space port get send to space i usually collected the credits from the space port when i had those resource missions.
Each faction had different ways of how they manage power also.
Anyway i really loved this game, wonder what the add-ons have to offer.
Think that ED only felt a little behind in the technological department that is why the missions were kinda hard.

Ori and the Blind Forest (Switch)

After completing Hollow Knight I decided to have a go at another of the recent metrodivania's that everyone's raving about. Ori and the Blind Forest is a metroidvania, though with a stronger emphasis on platforming, it has a number of unique features in regards to gameplay that make it standout. First off, you can save at any point, but it costs mana, which means in some areas you have to be careful how often you save, as objects to replenish your mana can be far apart. The other main selling point are the graphics, the design of the forest and the creatures in it are incredible. Now, if you don't like platforming, don't get this game, there are a number of mechanics which involve perfect timing, falling into a chasm, or into fire is an instant kill and sends you back to the start. The game is fairly frustrating, it seems to enjoy putting you into chase sequences where you have to run away from a flood or monster, and will make these sequences long with no checkpoints, and often include traps designed to punish you and send you back to the start. The story is... well I imagine some people will enjoy it, I didn't, it's a cutesy woodland tale focusing on friendship, some people might cry, but the story wasn't for me. As I said earlier, if you enjoy platforming and testing your self, then by all means get it. If you like the combat in metroidvania's the best, you may want a second thought, the attack's are homing, which means combat is simply dodging around enemies while spamming the attack button, and there are no boss fights in the game. I did enjoy the game, but I think Hollow Knight has it beat hands down.

Lemma

A rather pretty parkour/platformer/climber/light puzzle solver in a voxel-like setting. There are a lot of collectibles, many of which I missed, and a story that I don't quite understand. The game is far more forgiving than the likes of Mirror's Edge as falling or being otherwise "killed" typically teleports you to the last place you were on solid ground, so the frustration is kept to a minimum (something I liked). Towards the end I spent a lot of time looking for the items needed to finish the game. Got 2 of the 4 endings, 5 out of 13 achievements.

Thief (1998)
Warhammer 40.000: Chaos Gate
The Ball
FEZ (I reached the end but haven't collected all cubes, and I'm not sure I ever will)
Turok (1997)
Half Life 2: Episode 2 (now I'm waiting for HL3)
Battle Isle 4: Incubation (I haven't tried the Wilderness Missions, and from what I've read I'm scared to do so!)
Painkiller: Battle out of Hell (on "Insomnia", so I haven't played the extra level... yet!!!)
Puddle (on "extreme")

Good luck! ;-P

God of War, Dec 28 (PS3)-The HD version of the original game. I really enjoyed the puzzles and the combat and finding all the hidden areas and powerups. The game just oozes that PS2 feel. Which also means it has an outrageously hard final boss. The difficulty of the final boss (on normal mode) was so far beyond any of the previous combats in the game it really soured the experience. Couple that with 3 final battles with no save points in between (thankfully there were check points) and I ended up spending about 2.5 hours on the last sequence. In the end I had to change to easy mode to finish the final, final boss because my hands started hurting and I didn't want to keep playing. Easy mode was predictably easy and I finished it on the first try. I really think save points between the final battles would have been enough for me.

Full List

I played GoW Ascension earlier this year and loved the combat and the progression...but loathed the QTE's at the end of major fights. I'd be in a rhythm kicking ass when suddenly a QTE chain appears that I miss because I'm concentrating on fighting, then I have to repeat the combat to get back to the QTE. So, are the earlier GoW's the same like that? It's the main reason I'm hesitant to get them and play them.

Also Ascension had the same difficulty spike near the end, three separate rounds made up of multiple waves, with QTE's to finish each enemy. No saves, or even checkpoints and you cannot change difficulty. All you can do is restart the entire game at the easier difficulty, which makes the rest of the game a pushover.

Yes there are some QTEs. All but three of them (I think) are optional. Most enemy types can be stunned after you do a sufficient amount of damage then you have the option to engage in QTEs to regain health/magic instead of just killing them through normal means. The hydra boss, the giant minotaur boss, and the Ares end boss have required QTEs. I think that's it. I don't think any of the boss QTEs are too bad. On some of the regular mooks the buttons changed so quickly I had to just fight them in regular combat and forego the powerups.

A very very late entry, but Include me if possible :)

This year has been very busy, so not much time for gaming. However I've bought an Xbox 360 and Nintendo DSi managed to play I bit

I have beaten:

Need For Speed The Run (Xbox360)
Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360)
Driver San Francisco (Xbox 360)
Spyro a New Beginning (NDSi)

I will also use this post as a shameless way to ask for NDS(i) recommendations.
I have no moral qualms with getting DSIWare games from elsewhere either as they have shut down the store.