Expeditions Conquistador

Pretty fun game; some silliness (e.g. women as warriors, which is mostly ahistorical for 16th century Spain), but the basic concept of the game is pretty great, nice exploration mechanics and also meaningful choices in the quests you can get (better than in many rpgs). I played a humane explorer who wants to improve the lives of native peoples and just establish friendly relations, but it seems you could also play a genocidal maniac who's killing every native he comes across and only cares about amassing gold. The turn-based tactical combat was quite good, though I would have like a bit more complexity and more abilities.
It has quite a lot of content, though I would still have liked a bit more. It's sad that the only games where one can find interesting ideas and decent gameplay nowadays seem to be indie titles with limited budget which restricts the scope of such games.
But a pretty fun game, if one likes turn-based combat and a mix of role-playing, exploration and combat, this is a decent choice.
My rating: 4/5.

Did some binge with old school shooters.

Star Trek - Elite Force 1 and 2

I remember my hype for EF2. Great look, good reviews... and dropped from my sight because my PC wasn't powerful enough. Century later I'm playing old stuff and lemme tell you - it's not good game.
Sure looks good but animations are still bad (those sassy running animations, geezus) and your enemies include mostly space bugs and space elves. For such rich universe there should be something more original.
Arsenal is more bland - assault rifle and shotgun, both with grenade launchers. ST EF1 got it better and more in vein of the ST universe. Even that big Klingon blade wasn't enough to give it a good score.
Story is not that great, from gameplay perspective ie. where they send you and what to do.

No One Lives Forever

Masterpiece, hands down. They don't make them like that anymore, not in depression infested gaming industry, not to mention comedies a'la Mel Brooks are not hot topic these days.

Quite long but that wasn't bad since singleplayer was well written and made you won't worn out halfway through.
Most missions were quite hard, especially those with "no alarm", "no deaths", "no detection" mixed up.

Want to play sequel but new league of Path of Exile is coming very soon :<

Garou: Mark of the Wolves (GOG)

I am not big into fighting games, however I'm clearing out my backlog so I thought I may as well give this a shot. The game is one of the standard arcade fighting games that came out in the 90's, you can either spend time learning all the combo's or just spam each button and pray like I did. I did alright until the last fight, where the enemy spams ranged attacks and uppercuts and had to make use of the 'lower difficulty for this fight' option. Without a controller a large amount of combo's are difficult or impossible to pull off, so I'd only recommend getting it with a controller. One note of interest, after I completed the game my anti-virus software came up telling me the game file was 'malicious', this was the first time this had occurred with any GOG game I owned and I'm not sure what caused it.

Jazzpunk: Director's Cut

This game is just plain wacky, very odd and funny. About half of the game is purely optional, just wandering around the Ievels and finding all the gags/jokes. I originally played it a few years ago (pre-"Director's Cut") and I finally got around to playing it again and see what was added. The biggest difference I noticed is that the "Japan" level is much larger now, the rest of the game is mostly the same. There are also more levels in the Wedding Quake minigame.

It was still fun to play a second time, and I'd still recommend it if you enjoy quirky and funny games.

Splinter Cell (UPLAY)

Because Ubi gave it away free some time back. The original Slinter Cell is probably one of the most impressive looking games of its time. Despite simply using the OG Xbox assets, when displayed at high resolution it really is a showcase for the time. By editing the ini file it is very simple to set the game up for any resolution beyond 1600x1200 that the game lets you set through its menu. I ran it at 2160p with the only problem that the game refused to Vsync, instead capping to 200fps.

Unfortunately the graphics were the games best point. I don't feel that it has aged well at all. The controls are clumsy, making Sam Fisher feel like the most useless elite special forces operative in history. Trying to do simple things like get off a pipe and jump onto a ledge was just hit or miss. Everything feels slow, changing weapons or items, trying to sneak up behind some one etc. Worst of all was that, unless I got right up behind someone before trying to knock them out, Sam would pull out his gun and shoot instead. There is a tab in the option to disable unholstering your firearm automatically when you press fire- but it seems to be bugged, since it made no difference whether it was checked or not. This made trying to knock people out severely frustrating.

A few levels were fun, but most were not. They are all linear to an extreme, with no space to try to bypass enemies or use much tactics- basically every situation had one way to progress or maybe two if you choose to use your very limited supply of gadgets. The game started okay but in the end I was looking forward to it ending. The last ten minutes were a crappy save scumming exercise.

This game has lots of nostalgic fans, so it will hurt them when I say that I enjoyed Conviction and Blacklist way more than the original. But there you have it. Anyway I'm all out of Splinter Cell games now, so that's it for the series unless Ubi gives Chaos Theory away at some point.

Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

163h according to ingame tracking.

what a game. and its done. maybe one day i can try new game plus?

but not soon.

Stardew Valley

Yes I know, it's not a "finishable" game. You can continue forever. But still, with all the buildings built, most of the crops and production on iridium-level of quality, cheese, wine, cloth, flour, jam, pickles... almost all the secrets uncovered, married, with a kid, the Pelican Town Center fully rebuilt... I must admit that I don't have much incentive to continue playing, even if I could go to spring of year three to get the evaluation from the ghost of my grandfather. But, oh well... ^_^

The game is amazing. With more than 100 hours played (and I know that's rookie numbers! ^_^), it's much much more than what I usually spend on a game. And I spent it because the game made me want to, actually, not because I felt I had to, which is a feat.

I didn't play on a micro-management stance, my aim wasn't to build the most efficient farm possible, but to discover what the game/the world had to offer. And it delivered! I really enjoyed to meet the other inhabitants, to participate to the events, to go to the mine searching for ore...

Yes, I understand that you can not like that kind of game. But for me, very busy recently, it was the very game to go to after a day of work, to just lay back and relax. The pixel art style helped a lot, too, I love it!

I did use a handful of mods, mainly "quality of life" ones, like the one with makes you able to connect chests to your fridge and so actually be able to cook with ingredients not in your fridge. Given the size of the fridge, you can not stock everything you want in it and that mod was more than welcome.
There is one mod, though, I used and thought should have been an option in-game: the ability to set the pace of time and thus the lenght of the day/play. It's just frustrating, when you really start to develop your farm, not to be able to at least to all you have to do in one day. But, with this mod, by setting the lenght of the day at 1.4 the original length, it was perfect: enough time on "slow days" to go fishing or to the mines, enough time on "busy" days to actually have the time to do everything but still feel the pressure of the time passing.

I decided to quit also because, regarding my backlog, it was becoming unhealthy to play only that game all the time. Now that I've reached the point I've reached, I can safely say "see you soon!" to the game. Because I'll let it installed on my computer and I know I'll go back to it, eventually! ^_^

So far in 2019: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2019/post24

The Darkness II

Never played the first game. Enjoyed this "shooter with powers", more so once I upgraded my skill trees to the point where I didn't die as much.

Did you complete the extra side missions with the four side characters?

Highway Blossoms, Jun 10 (GOG)-I imagine visual novels live and die by their stories and for me this story wasn't very engaging. The writing and voice acting were fine but something frequently felt off about Amber's interactions and relationship with Marina. I did quite like Tess though and I wanted to know more about the trio's story. I'm hoping Higurashi is a little more interesting to me.

Full List

I did the Vendetta Campaign and the Vendetta Hit List, yes. Only with the Scottish dude, and it got rather easy once I unlocked his "Short invincibility after execute" skill. Without that, dunno how I could've possibly completed those levels on Hitman, much less Don difficulty.

Didn't do the Online-required missions for obvious reasons.

Darksiders (PS3)

Darksiders is basically what you would get if you combined the combat from God of War and the dungeons of Legend of Zelda. It is a strange combination but works surprisingly well. The story involves you playing as War, one of the four horseman, who has awoken from slumber to find Earth under attack by angels and demons. Your powers are drained and you are tasked with finding out what happened. The gameplay consists of walking from one area to the next, killing many enemies in your path, entering a 'dungeon', killing more enemies, acquiring an item that lets you go more places, killing more enemies, then killing the boss of said dungeon. If you wanted to sum up the entirety of the game quickly, you could just say you did that 5 times then a final section at the end. The game ends on a cliff-hanger, which is where Darksiders 2 & 3 follow from. The game does have several advantages over God of War: you aren't swarmed by enemies every time you climb, falling off a ledge isn't a instant kill and there are very few 'kill all enemies within time limit' moments. Overall it was a good game, there are some minor issues with hitboxes and the camera but nothing rage inducing. I'd recommend it.

Call of Duty 2 (PC)

My friend tells me that this is the best Call of Duty game there is, after playing it I can see why he'd say that, but I would have to disagree and say Modern Warfare 2 is better. Like the first game in the series you have a American, British and Russian campaign, but this time the game starts with the Russian and ends with the American. Each campaign consists of 3 'missions' usually split into 3 or 4 'levels' each. The biggest difference is the FPS staple that is regenerating health, after playing games with health packs for the last 2 years, it was such a great relief to know I wouldn't have to strain by hand by strafing quickly or spending ages leaning out from behind walls. The Russian campaign, once again, focuses on pushing the Nazi's out of Russia and Poland, it's still good and you always feel overwhelmed, however it doesn't compare to the 1st game's campaign. The British campaign marks a change in setting, set in the deserts of Northern Africa it makes a change from the French Countryside and bombed cities of the other levels. The American Campaign is heavily based around D-Day and the opening of Saving Private Ryan (Though taking place at Point du Hoc instead of Omaha), this campaign is notable for probably being one of the few times in a FPS your overwhelmed and have to retreat, which is a nice change in gameplay. The ending focuses on the crossing of the Rhine, which while still an important moment, doesn't compare to the last game with the siege of the Reichstag. Regenerating health and grenade indicators are staples in modern FPS's and I for one greatly appreciate the addition, I would recommend this game.

Finished a few ones since last time:
- Milkmaid of the Milky Way: Nice and short point'n click.
- Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb: An average beat'em all with bad platforming.
- Whispers of a Machine: A very good point'n click with an excellent story. I highy recommend it.
- Un voisin d’enfer: (Neighbour from Hell) A nice and short "puzzle" game but really easy.
- Batman: The Enemy Within: An excellent Telltale game with a perfect story, good dialogs and characters. I highly recommend it (but I don't know if it can be bought somewhere anymore).

Full list here.

Resident Evil 5 (PS3)

I played X-Com:Enemy Unknown the other day, trying for the 4 man squad achievement of beating the game without buying squad upgrades, with the RNG in it I thought I'd never sworn more while playing a game, that changed when playing this. Resident Evil 5 is another res evil game, this time set in Africa and focussing on stopping the selling of bio-weapons to terrorists. It borrows the same 'smart' zombies from RE4, and this time they're smart enough to use AK47's. The game is split into levels with a grade given at the end, quest/puzzle items no longer fill inventory slots and crates and enemies loot is random. The game is heavily focused on 2 player co-op, puzzles and certain enemies require decent co-operation to defeat, if you don't have another player available an AI will control the other person, this is the reason for the swearing.

The AI is alright at certain things, it has almost 100% accuracy, never fails QTE's (There are loads of these btw) and can equip a healing item faster than any person could. If this was a normal shooter, this wouldn't be a problem, however this is a survival horror game that includes three things the AI can't handle: Ammo Conservation, enemies that require distracting and Instakill attacks. Ammo Conservation is an essential part of any survival horror, headshotting enemies is almost vital to save those few extra bullets, however the AI will almost always aim for the chest, even when the chest is armoured, wasting precious bullets, it was rare for the AI to have more than 30 bullets at any one time (Normal enemies take about 3 - 10 shots to kill). There are at least 4 bosses who require one person to distract them (it is possible to kill them, they are just very tanky), however one of two things will happen: The AI will ask you to distract them whilst continuing to follow you or the AI will leave you alone and get knocked down and need saving. Instakill attacks are a pain, a lot of them appear after failed QTE's, a few enemies however will instakill if you get too close, and the AI has a tendency to get stuck on corners and proceeding to get instakilled. The game is meant to be played by 2 people, I imagine it is a great game with 2 people, but playing by yourself is rage inducing.

It's fairly difficult for a RE game taking the AI into consideration, one particularly difficult moment involved sniping people whilst you were on a rotating platform. I only died to instakill attacks, which was incredibly annoying but the checkpoints are (Usually) fair. The enemy AI is worse than the companion AI, it has a tendency to get stuck on corners, including the final boss, in fact the developers obviously knew this because unless you fight the final boss away from edges, he will send a barrage of instakill attacks at you. If you have a friend who'd be willing to play with you, I'd recommend this, if not, I wouldn't.

Tom vs. The Armies of Hell

Very funny game (just watch that trailer doubling as opening cutscene!) Gameplay wise it's a decent isometric action game. Can be either hard or not so hard depending on the items you are lucky enough to. With the right equipment bosses go from "WTF?" to "well, that was easy". Compounding the issue is that you drop all your gear (aside from remaining ammo) on death, which is not very good for your chances against a boss that comes right after a checkpoint.

The dev is real good people and actually listened to my bug reports and concerns, and fixed some issues including adding 2 big treasure chests for looting right at the checkpoint to the final boss battle, making it go from "Well, guess I better restart the level from the beginning to get some good gear before the final battle" to "Ok, this is now worth retrying directly from the checkpoint." And this is 3 years after the game's release!