Bioshock 2: Minervas Den, my favourite story from Rapture.

Gone Home

I have to say that I really liked this game and that I think the story was very well written. Can't really understand why many people say it's about homosexuality. For me it was simply about love, about growing up and about making important decisions that can be painful. Would hve worked with any other gender constellation as well. Besides that there was lots of stuff to discover about the other family members, their past and their hopes and dreams.

The soundtrack with a lot of riot Grrrl and Garage Punk stuff was amazing and one of the best I've heard in games so far. It also worked very well with the story that was told.

Complete list of finished games in 2016

<span class="bold">D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die - Season One</span>

D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die contains a prologue and two episodes that make up season one of the series. The game is short with about 4h of gameplay and features a stamina system that depletes by interacting, and replenishes by eating random food you find. Also, there is a set of interesting puzzles and some fun to play mini-games.
The only problem I have with the game is the cliffhanger ending, everything else is great, a fun-weird, well mostly weird story, with a great cast of characters. I would love to see more of this in the future.

Complete list of games finished in 2016.

Late Last Night

Another short game by the makers of Stair Quest (actually LLN was made before SQ), this one is a short point-and-click adventure which can be completed in about an hour or so. The graphics are a bit crude, but the game itself is quite funny and the graphics help add to the trippy atmosphere.

It’s also free (Windows and Mac): http://gamejolt.com/games/late-last-nite/59209

Stardew Valley, GOG.com

This is (apparently) only the second GOG game I actually beat this year, and the first one was a replay. Whoops.

It's a Harvest Moon clone, basically, but I would call it markedly superior to the last Harvest Moon game I played, with the addition of things like sprinklers really cutting down on the irritating busy-work. I mean, games like this basically are busy work, but Harvest Moon (the ones I played) made success a punishment; "I have all these damn crops and animals, time to spend the entire day watering shit and milking cows I guess." I didn't get that with Stardew Valley. I do think it could use another coat of polish; taking care of the animals was kind of irritating, given that the cows are apparently free to wander off to do their own thing while I'm in the middle of milking them, and the combat never felt great. Still, those were really details; a solid thumbs up!

Still, it couldn't last forever. I repaired the Community Center and kicked the evil corporation out of Stardew Valley. My granddad's ghost gave me the best rating, and went off to rest in peace. My greenhouse has the best sprinkler system possible together with crops that never need to be replanted, sown on perfectly fertilized ground, giving me basically infinite money for no work (in light of the fact that I have absolutely nothing to spend it on). I maxed out my friendship with everyone. At this point, there really doesn't seem to be much left to do, so I'm calling the game beat.

DmC: Devil May Cry (Action-Adventure)
This game was has been my introduction to the series.

Before all else; a workaround: IF YOUR GAME LOCKS UP, TURN OFF THE TUTORIAL, then reload from the last checkpoint. You can always turn the tutorial back on... and off again, if you get locked up further in :p

I will mention here that this was my first DmC game, so I don't have the bias (or prejudice) of having played the previous incarnations of the game.

From the Main Menu you can Continue, replay Missions, do Training (very nice way to practice your moves!) see your unlocked Extras, and access the Options.

Options are many: Controller or Keyboard & Mouse, separate sliders for Music & Sound Effects, Subtitles (NOT the default -- be sure to visit the options page before you start if you want them on!) and three difficulty levels with FOUR additional modes of play that can be unlocked.

The Extras include Leaderboards, Stats, Achievements, Concept Art, and the ability to replay the intro without restarting the game/mission.

Personally speaking, I was a bit put off by the intro... OK, a lot. This world of excess and corruption disturbed me, and I wasn't sure that I would be able to stomach the game. Happily, there's only one other scene in the game that really bothered me [spoiler]seriously, I did NOT need to see a closeup of that guy's face whilst he was having sex with his mistress... *shudder* [/spoiler] At least it wasn't too graphic! As a side note, I L-O-V-E-D the sequence where Dante was "getting dressed." SO funny! Should I link it? Oh yes, I must!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWRmH_Uyu6U

Yes, it's totally ridiculous, but I grin every time I so much as think about it. XD

So if you watched that video above, you might have noticed three things:

- Language (there is a LOT of cursing... Oh, and innuendo... and disgusting imagery sometimes, too)
- Psychedelic lighting (Seizure warning! There are a lot of locations without it, but one in particular is INTENSE)
- Grunge (Oh yes, that music is peppered throughout the game)

My first impression as I was getting into the gameplay is that DmC is kind of a cross between the </i>movies and <i>[url=http://genkisgamegab.forumotion.com/t1117-the-hollows-series-by-kim-harrison#2074]The Hollows book series by Kim Harrison. (I know that won't make sense unless you're familiar with them, but I wanted to put in here, anyway.) Gradually my perception changed as the title took on a feeling that was entirely its own.

Cutscenes can be skipped by pushing the <| back button on the controller twice (I'm unsure what the keyboard shortcut would be.) Very handy for when you replay levels.

The primary thrust of the game is the combat. There's definitely more to it, but I'll come back to that in a bit. You can slice, you can dice, you can absolutely pulverize your enemies in the most stylish ways imaginable. I'm not being flippant; this game truly has some of the most beautiful battle mechanics I've ever seen in a game. I cannot imagine how the game could be played without a controller, as there are so many moves and combos that I'll only touch on them here. I gathered from the intro that two of Dante's weapons are standard: His sword, Rebellion, and his guns, Ebony and Ivory. In addition, there is also a demon axe, an angel scythe, a gauntlet, a pair of shurikan-type weapons, a shotgun, and more! You're not limited to one or two weapons at a time, no no. You can switch between them at a touch of a button (or several :p), and ALL of them have multiple upgrades!

So how do these upgrades work? I'm glad you asked!

Every time you defeat an enemy or take out possessed scenery (like lampposts, motorcycles, etc), you will get red orbs, which are used to buy items such as health stars, gold orbs (to revive if you've died -- won't lose progress in the fight if you use these), health crosses. TIP: This isn't an RPG, so if you want to increase your maximum health, save up for the health crosses! They increase your maximum by 10%!

Green orbs renew a portion of your health, and can be obtained from green pods and killing enemies (though you won't see them very often.)

White orbs come from slaying enemies and by completing levels. Each level is scored, so to speak, and gives you a white orb bonus based on the total points you've accumulated during the level. These orbs are used to purchase ability upgrades, both for yourself and for your weapons.

There are two ways to access the shop & upgrades: Through the menu between levels, or by finding Divinity Statues during gameplay. Here you can not only upgrade and buy items, but you can also practice your moves... You can even try out new abilities before upgrading! Not only that, but unlike other games I've played, the upgrades are not permanent... If you decide that you'd rather put that upgrade point somewhere else, just take it off and reassign it; it's that easy~

During each level there are multiple items to look for. Finding them will not only give you more orbs, but will also earn you some achievements and increase your level score. Things to look for:

Lost Souls - Destroy them to release their souls
Keys - There are multiple kinds to look for: Gold, Copper, Ivory, and Argent.
Secret Doors - You'll need one of the hidden keys to unlock its corresponding door (ie. copper key for copper door.) Behind each door you'll find a secret mission, which will gain you orbs, extra combat, and achievement progress.

There are 58 Achievements to be had, ranging from things as simple as acquiring new weapons to completing the game on the hardest difficulty.

The story, while not earth shattering, was very enjoyable, and the cutscenes are just beautiful (although not all of the content was! lol~) Our character Dante is cocky, but somehow lovable, whereas the antagonist is not just evil, but manages to evoke the purest disgust possible. *shudder*

If you're looking for a game of exploration and discovery, you'll find some here, but if you're looking for some righteous, kick-ass combat, Congratulations! You've just hit the jackpot!

Games finished in 2016 HERE

Which difficulty did you play on?
I really recommend a second playthrough on Dante Must Die.
Enemies get some new moves, how many and which enemies you face where changes etc.

My current completion list for 2016 includes: (All Steam games currently)
* Redshirt
* Despair (Feb 4, 2016)
* Half-life: Opposing Force (Feb 16, 2016)
* Half-life: Blue Shift (Feb 18, 2016)
* Space Trader: Merchant Marine (Jun 5, 2016)
* Aztaka (Jun 13, 2016)

I've written reviews for some/most of these on Steam if anyone is curious what I thought about them.

Got a tonne more games (both GOG and Steam) that are in progress or currently idle, many of which I hope to finish before the end of the year.

Can you give a link to your Aztaka review or post it here as well. I'm really curious about that one.

Sure, here it is:
http://steamcommunity.com/id/skeletonbow/recommended/37100

There is a free demo of Aztaka available on Steam too I just noticed, so one could try before they buy as well.

Here's all my Steam reviews: http://steamcommunity.com/id/skeletonbow/recommended/

Thank you for the link. I have the game in my backlog and thought about playing it. But after reading your review, I will probably choose something else.

If the game was stable and didn't crash or have screwed up graphics show up so often - basically if it had zero technical problems, then I would have been able to possibly recommend it to people who love platformer type RPGs of Metroidvania style, but for the instability I have to give it the thumbs down for sure.

Such a great game. Its probably time for me to play through the Half_life series again.

I had a tonne of fun playing through OpFor and BlueShift. Way back in the day I played through Half-life when it came out, but when I got the other two titles I only played them briefly in the single-player and some multi-player but never finished them. Always intended to, just got sidetracked or whatever. :) So I was determined to finally complete them a few months back. :)

<span class="bold">CLARC</span>

This is the very first game I bought here on GOG, almost two years ago when they began selling Linux games, so finally getting to play it through has been quite special for me.

It's an isometric puzzle game with a bunch of action elements. It basically combines traditional puzzle-y mechanics like moving blocks around to activate switches/open doors, or to guide laser beams so they can power other contraptions. Of course, those laser beams are lethal: they insta-kill you if you plan your movements carelessly and end up crossing their path. Luckily, usually there's no rush and you can take all the time you want to ponder how to solve a particularly tricky room full of lasers. But that's not always the case, as soon enough you'll find sections with timed lasers or, worse still, autonomously moving enemies that hunt you relentlessly. Now, according to many comments I've read about this game, people tend to give up on one of their first encounters with those Tankbots. Although I agree those sections mean a sudden spike in difficulty, I think that with a little practice they can be easily overcome if you learn how to "trick" them so you can outmaneuver them (or even trap them with some blocks).

The only exception I found was during one of several "escort missions". In a similar previous mission I had to protect some small bot from being destroyed, but this time around the minibot was hostile (though harmless) so I had to follow it at a distance to avoid triggering the alarm. This approach worked quite well for me until nearly the end of the mission when the minibot, upon traversing an archway, released two quite deadly guard bots that killed me almost on sight every single time. After retrying that particular section again and again, I finally resorted to a walkthrough video to find out what I was doing wrong. Guess what? I couldn't have gotten past that section even in a million tries: turns out that I shouldn't have left that much distance between the minibot and myself so I could block the doors from which the guardbots were going to emerge before the minibot opened them. But the thing is that every time I respawned, the minibot was already by the archway and I had literally no time to block those doors. Fearing that I would have to nail that section on my first try (or else risk getting trapped in the same loop I was before) I chose to restart the level. As I anticipated, I failed to block the guardbots the first time around but thankfully when I respawned the minibot had also gone back quite a bit, allowing me to finally beat that damned room.

Apart from that little setback, I can only write good things about this game: the puzzles are well designed and varied enough as to keep the player interested during the 25 levels, the backstory is perhaps a little simplistic but full of charm (and so are all the characters you meet in your adventure), and the music fits perfectly the tone of the story at every moment. 100% recommended to fans of puzzle games that for some strange reason have so far skipped this little gem. Unfortunately (at the time of writing) it hasn't been included in the Summer Sale, so you may want to wait a little in case it gets a discount. On the other hand you don't seem to have any other option if it doesn't, as this game's PC version is still only available here on GOG, despite having been Greenlit on Steam ages ago...

My list of finished games in 2016