Need for Speed on the Run.

A game i picked up somewhere halfway past last year during a origin sale and played casually right up to the end of last week. Imagine the surprise when i noticed that the game took exactly 5 whole hours to complete. It was a great adventure, that much is true. sequenced action settings, escape your car, escape cops, escape a howling dog ( press a, press b, figure it out yourself which button to press ) next to the crazy driving tracks made for some good testosteron pumping all the way. In the end i am a bit dissapointed by the lenght of the run, i could not fanthom buying this game for 40 back in the days but i guess in a way it does very much deliver and certainly if you have your own crew you are playing this game with.
The game did spur my interest for e-racing again so currently i am giving it a go in NFSU payback wich offers great arcade racing fun too and maybe later look at the new or maybe an older Grid title to finish as well

Games Finished in 2020 Part 1

Games Finished in 2020 Part 2:

145: Ugly, The (Juliano Reina) (2005) (WIN)
146: Frankentory (Abroy) (2012) (WIN)
147: Haunted Castle, The (Jim Curry) (1999) (WIN)
148: True Ghost Stories: A New Bag of Ears – Chapter 1 (実話怪談 新耳袋 一ノ章 (Jitsuwa Kaidan: Shin Mimi Bukuro – Ichi no Shou)) (Jap) (Metro) (2005) (PSP)
149: Higanjima (彼岸島) (Jap) (Now Production) (2005) (PSP)
150: Legacy, The (Pixelatrix Games) (2010) (WIN)
151: Ankh 1: The Mystery of the Pyramid (アンク ～ピラミッドの謎～ (Ankh: Pyramid no Nazo)) (Jap) (Ibis) (1995) (WIN)
152: Ankh 2: The Mystery of Tutankhamen (アンク２ ～ツタンカーメンの謎～ (Ankh 2: Tutankhamen no Nazo)) (Jap) (Ibis) (1996) (WIN)
153: Safecracker 2: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure (Safecracker: Expert en Cambriolage) (Kheops Studio) (2006) (WIN)
154: Malstrum's Mansion (Ace Team Software) (2009) (WIN)
155: Red Bow (Stranga Games) (2020) (WIN)
156: House (Pixelatrix Games) (2008) (WIN)
157: Cameron Files 1, The: Secret at Loch Ness (Galiléa) (2001) (WIN)
158: Cameron Files 2, The: Pharaoh's Curse (Amenophis: La Résurrection) (Galiléa) (2002) (WIN)
159: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – Deadly Intent: The Hidden Cases (Other Ocean Interactive) (2009) (NDS)
160: Art of Murder: FBI Top Secret (Art of Murder: FBI Ściśle Tajne) (City Interactive) (2010) (NDS)
161: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – Unsolved! (Other Ocean Interactive) (2010) (NDS)
162: Psychic Detective (Colossal Pictures) (1995) (DOS)
163: CSI: Miami – The Mobile Game (Gameloft Divertissements) (2007) (J2ME)
164: Forgotten Hill 4: Disillusion (FM Studio) (2019) (WIN)
165: Doom 2 Expansion: Master Levels for Doom 2 (Id Software, et al.) (1995) (DOS)
166: Fright Chasers 04: Thrills, Chills and Kills CE (Mad Head Games) (2020) (WIN)
167: Hospital 46 (Jo99) (2011) (WIN)
168: Gatuno in Halloween (Féderico Rutenberg) (2008) (WIN)
169: Putlestory: Web Picture Book (ピュートルストーリー WEB絵本) (Mangosteen) (2009) (WIN)
170: Case of the Cautious Condor, The (Tiger Media) (1989) (DOS)
171: Pasosuke (ぱそすけ) (Jap) (BELL-DA) (1996) (WIN)
172: Panto's Story (パントス・ストーリー) (Jap) (Mangosteen) (2000) (WIN)
173: Caveworld Saga, The: The Shining Crystal (Die Höhlenwelt Saga: Der Leuchtende Kristall) (Ger) (Proline Software, Weltenschmiede) (1994) (DOS)
174: Caxy Skunk Meets the Monsters (Caxy Gambá Encontra o Monstruário) (Por) (44 Bico Largo) (2000) (WIN)
175: Angelo & Deemon: One Hell of a Quest (Specialbit Studio) (2019) (WIN)
176: Voyeur 2: Watching Is Not Enough (InterWeave Entertainment) (1996) (DOS)
177: Late Shift (CtrlMovie) (2017) (WIN)
178: Scrabble Complete (Infogrames) (2002) (WIN)
179: Interactive Adventures of Dog Mendonça and Pizzaboy, The (OKAM Studio) (2016) (WIN)
180: Snatcher (スナッチャー) (Konami) (1988) (MSX2)
181: 12 Locks 1: Plasticine Room (RUD Present) (2019) (AND)
182: 12 Locks 2 (RUD Present) (2019) (AND)
183: 12 Locks 3: Around the World (RUD Present) (2020) (AND)
184: Ñ Files, The (Expediente Ñ) (Spa) (Carlos Arts Studios) (2005) (WIN)
185: Nick Bounty 2: The Goat in the Grey Fedora (Pinhead Games) (2005) (WIN)
186: Quest for Water, The (La Quête de l'Eau) (Fre) (Strass Games) (2000) (WIN)
187: Ultimate Music Quiz, The (Mere Mortals) (2006) (WIN)
188: Haunted Hotel 19: Lost Time CE (Elephant Games) (2020) (WIN)
189: Cat the Ripper: The 13th Detective (キャット・ザ・リパー １３人目の探偵士 (Cat the Ripper: 13-Ninme no Tanteishi)) (Jap) (Tonkin House) (1997) (PS1)
190: Paranormal Files 05: Trials of Worth CE (Elephant Games) (2020) (WIN)
191: Corpse Party 2: Dead Patient (コープスパーティー２ DEAD PATIENT) (GrindHouse) (2013) (WIN)
192: House of Seven Gables, The (Greg Hassett) (1978) (TRS)
193: Bonfire Stories 03: Manifest Horror CE (Mariaglorum) (2020) (WIN)
194: Summer Night (Airdorf Games) (2020) (WIN)
195: Voodoo Castle (Adventure International) (1979) (C64)
196: Death Dreadnaught (Biff Mutt, Spud Mutt) (1980) (TRS)
197: Pay Is Nice, The (Oddbreeze Games) (2020) (WIN)
198: Dark Tales 18: Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Devil in the Belfry' CE (AMAX Interactive) (2020) (WIN)
199: Diablo 1 (Blizzard Entertainment) (1996) (WIN)
200: Diablo 1 Expansion: Hellfire (Synergistic Software) (1997) (WIN)
201: Judith (Terry Cavanagh, Stephen Lavelle) (2009) (WIN)
202: Upside Down Asylum (Selfdefiant) (2017) (WIN)
203: Lucifer's Realm (Jyym Pearson) (1982) (A2)
204: Horror House 2 (狂気の館 (Kyouki no Yakata)) (Jap) (Nihon Falcom) (1983) (PC88)
205: Wolfenstein 1: Castle Wolfenstein (Muse Software) (1981) (A2)
206: Wolfenstein 2: Beyond Castle Wolfenstein (Muse Software) (1984) (A2)
207: Candle Light, The: The Love Hidden in the Darkness (Jap) (Ironman #37) (2020) (WIN)
208: Vampire Killer (悪魔城ドラキュラ (Akumajou Dracula) (Konami) (1986) (MSX2)
209: Déjà Vu 1: A Nightmare Comes True (ICOM Simulations) (1985) (MAC)
210: Hide & Seek (カクレンボ (Kakurenbo)) (Moyomoto) (Jap) (2020) (WIN)
211: Kazik and the Ghosts (Braintron) (1986) (CP4)
212: Night Stalker (Mattel Electronics) (1982) (MAQ)
213: Short Creepy Tales 1: 7PM (Cellar Vault Games) (2020) (WIN)
214: Area 51 (Mesa Logic) (1995) (ARC)
215: Hang Up (Jap) (.ID) (2020) (WIN)
216: War of the Dead 2 (死霊戦線２(Shiryou Sensen 2)) (Fun Factory) (1988) (MSX2)
217: Torture Game 1, The (Cmann) (2007) (WIN)
218: Torture Game 2, The (Cmann) (2008) (WIN)
219: Last Rites (Ocean Software) (1997) (DOS)
220: Entombed (Western Technologies) (1982) (A26)
221: Shadowplay 01: Darkness Incarnate CE (Mad Head Games) (2016) (WIN)
222: Demon Archive: The Adventure of Derek CE (TwinCats) (2015) (WIN)
223: Supper, The (Octavi Navarro) (2020) (WIN)
224: Typing of the Dead 2, The (ザ・タイピング・オブ・ザ・デッド２) (Jap) (Wow Entertainment) (2007) (WIN)
225: Hugo 4: Nitemare-3D (Gray Design Associates) (1994) (WIN3)
226: Crimson Ranch (Aiaz Marx) (2020) (WIN)
227: Swarming Hell, The (THE 大量地獄 (The Tairyou Jigoku)) (Jap) (Tamsoft) (2007) (PS2)
228: Cursed Game, The (THE 呪いのゲーム (The Noroi no Game)) (Jap) (HuneX) (2005) (PS2)
229: Twisted Metal: Black (Incognito Entertainment) (2001) (PS2)
230: Innsmouth Case, The (RobotPumpkin Games) (2020) (WIN)
231: Gurobu (Aiaz Marx) (2020) (WIN)
232: Test 3, The: Final Revelation (Randumb Studios) (2020) (WIN)
233: Summoning 1, The (Randumb Studios) (2019) (WIN)
234: Summoning 2, The: The Twins (Randumb Studios) (2020) (WIN)
235: Doorways Chapter 1-2: Prelude (Saibot Studios) (2013) (WIN)
236: Horns, The (Fluttermind) (2019) (WIN)
237: Grandfather, The (David Szymanski, Mikeypoo's Games) (2016) (WIN)
238: Doorways Chapter 3: The Underworld (Saibot Studios) (2014) (WIN)
239: Doorways Chapter 4: Holy Mountains of Flesh (Saibot Studios) (2016) (WIN)
240: Vlad the Impaler (Section Studios) (2014) (WIN)
241: Toybox (Lucasz W.) (2009) (WIN)
242: Legacy, The: Realm of Terror (Magnetic Scrolls) (1992) (DOS)
243: Subterraneans (Full Moon Digital Media) (1996) (DOS)
244: Water Womb World (James Hallett) (2020) (WIN)
245: Discover My Body (James Hallett) (2020) (WIN)
246: To Do List (Four Quarters Team) (2017) (WIN)
247: Scarlet Hollow Ep. 1: Monday (Black Tabby Games) (2020) (WIN)
248: Stone House Orphanage (Pixelb) (2020) (WIN)
249: Sally Face Episode 1: Strange Neighbors (Steve Gabry) (2016) (WIN)
250: Sally Face Episode 2: The Wretched (Steve Gabry) (2017) (WIN)
251: Sally Face Episode 3: The Bologna Incident (Steve Gabry) (2018) (WIN)
252: Sally Face Episode 4: The Trial (Steve Gabry) (2018) (WIN)
253: Sally Face Episode 5: Memories and Dreams (Steve Gabry) (2019) (WIN)
254: Bevel's Painting (ベベルの絵 (Bevel no E)) (Maninu) (2014) (WIN)
255: Classic Sudoku (Studio Goya) (2019) (WIN)
256: Sin Expansion: Wages of Sin (2015 Games) (1999) (WIN)
257: Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest (Different Tales) (2020) (WIN)
258: Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York (Draw Distance) (2019) (WIN)
259: Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York Expansion: Shadows of New York (Draw Distance) (2020) (WIN)
260: Paranormal Files 06: The Trap of Truth CE (Elephant Games) (2020) (WIN)
261: Kathy Rain (Clifftop Games) (2016) (WIN)
262: Donald Dowell and the Ghost of Barker Manor (Ape Marina) (2013) (WIN)
263: Pity Party (Martina Marchio) (2020) (WIN)
264: Black Water (Makegamergirls) (2020) (WIN)
265: Missed Messages (Angela He) (2019) (WIN)
266: Terror Within the Mines, The (Hero_ic, MoistPigeon) (2020) (WIN)
267: Urban Witch Story (Postmodern Adventures) (2020) (WIN)
268: Related: Chapter One (Dariia Babchuk, Andrii Petrov) (2020) (WIN)
269: Cursed (JetDogs Studios) (2016) (WIN)
270: Wages of Darkness, The (Baron, Kastchey) (2012) (WIN)
271: Frame on the Wall, The (Hortencya12, Blondbraid) (2017) (WIN)
272: Man That Only I Can See, The (Nathan Hamley) (2015) (WIN)
273: Mysteries of Stiego Moors Volume 1, The: The Wicker Man (Jake Stephen Jackson) (2006) (WIN)
274: Deity (Toimia) (2010) (WIN)
275: Emerald Eyes (Sinitrena) (2006) (WIN)
276: Enypnion (Sinking Sheep) (2020) (WIN)
277: Dark Plague, The (Gurok, CatPunter) (2016) (WIN)
278: Illumination Diminishing (Jackey Anderson) (2017) (WIN)
279: Christmas Nightmare, A (Alan Drake) (2019) (WIN)
280: Wound 1: Heartland (Chris Taite) (2006) (WIN)
281: Wound 1: Heartland (Remake) (Chris Taite) (2006) (WIN)
282: Wound 2: Unbound (Chris Taite) (2007) (WIN)
283: Satan Quest (Neil Cicierega) (2002) (WIN)
284: Dakota (James Spanos) (2014) (WIN)
285: Night to Remember, A (Ethan Damschroder) (2009) (WIN)
286: Noisy Mountain (90° Winkel) (2005) (WIN)
287: Vampire: The Masquerade – Night Road (Choice of Games) (2020) (WIN)

2020 List Part 3

Final Fantasy IX (XB1X)

The highest rated game in the series apparently- not VII like many would assume. The new "ports" of FF IX actually appear to be just the PS1 game running under emulation with higher resolution 3D elements and some improved assets injected in with the emulation. So it all looks like what it is, a PS1 game running higher resolution, sharp and simple 3D over older and blurrier looking 2D backdrops. The cutscenes either use some amazing upscaling technique or the originals were something for their time, as they are way higher quality than the rest of the presentation.

Story is pretty good. Like most JRPG's, the story is front and centre, with quite a few mini games and collection side stuff if you want to rest from the story progression. It's totally linear. I definitely think the story is worth it even today.

Gameplay on the other hand doesn't hold up as well for me. It's a throwback game in many ways, stubbornly sticking to some very outdated mechanics even though by the time of release there were better ways to do things. Encounter design for example. FF IX still uses the appear out of thin air random encounters. In some places these start getting to the point of pissing you off severely. They are also compulsory though, because they are pretty much the only method of levelling your characters- you don't get story progression XP, you don't even get XP for killing bosses. By the end this ends up in a massively unbalanced party- I had characters at level 50 along side party members still level 23! The game forces party composition at many points, making this a problem. The only real way to balance the party back out is to grind random encounters. But the game doesn't always make this easy to do since it can go for long periods of chained and scripted story sequences without the opportunity to re-equip and grind levels.
Then the ATB combat system, I honestly don't see the point of it over the traditional turn based method.

Right before the end I accidentally found out that the game has built in "cheats" that can be toggled anytime to make combats go far easier or to simply skip random encounters at any time. I assume this applies to all modern versions of the game. If I had of known about this earlier then I would have used it to speed things up and concentrate on just getting through the story, as that is this games main draw and I am still glad I played it for that reason. Now waiting for the next entry I the series to hit Game Pass I suppose, my guess is FF XIII trilogy.

Control ( EPIC )

Great adventure game that was right up my alley. Enjoyed almost every part of the game ( even the invisible Hiss though ... could have done without that one ) Had a distinct bioware dejavu from the P7 ( N7 ) label to some of the puzzles incorporated throughout the game. Not to mention how the whole game is setup. The enemy a.i. felt short here and there though most of the time the whole setup ensured there to be enough challenge. Having 3 guided rockets fired at you at the same time is always a bit tedious. "Boss fights" is really something the whole scene needs to rethink. I do understand the problem. Its either you create something soul like or you forfait that and try to create an intelligent boss with a high reservoir of health points which then is limited by the a.i. and still needs to keep interesting during a 5 to 10 minute fights is quite the challenge. I belief the player specced bots opponents you can find in Anthem that mimick your own style/make use of the same skills are gestures in the right direction. The overseer opponents from Mass Effect andromeda are not, in that respect their previous parts made more sense.
Stylwise, The RTX effects are certainly adding to the game in a good way not to mention the impact some of the horror parts of the game which really impact the nerves... my nerves that is. Character progression is while small pretty much enjoyable. Choices do matter and.. it is possible to create a character which will turn out almost useless ( if your really really dumb ) which is always a good sign in my book. Weapons are a bit boring but certainly work out. With the 2 options you have during a fight ( while grabbing a gun from your 8 choices is almost done in an instant ) you are sort of forced to take into consideration which gun you want to use in which enviroment though in the end i'd favor the auto-rifle and shotgun combination almost anywhere. Lore is present and pretty much oke, the choice for the presentation at a certain point becomes a bit tedious. If you have 30 or more documents already found and you need to scroll very slowly through your documents in fear of missing out the red dot signalling the last addition you could say bad devvie in a sort of irritated matter. If the documents databasefor example would scroll from the middle of the database instead of focussing on the last document on the page it would be already easier to determine which document you wanted to read... photographic memory is not customary for every gamer you know!
All in all this game deserved atleast an 8 or and A without a plus. The whole game is interesting enough for me to consider getting the season pass and see what this world has more to offer.

recommeded system would be something like an i5/r5 combined with a 2070Super or up

Just beat Scanner Sombre. The first game I beat in almost two months as work has been very intense over the last couple of weeks. I actually only fired this game up to see if it would be potentially interesting to my rather non-gaming wife. I guess it kinda is?

Anyway, it's really just another variation on the walking simulator genre with one twist. You explore a very deep cave without any sources of light. The only tool that allows you to see is a headset which can display point cloud data recorded with a scanner. So what you constantly do in this game is scan the world, effectively painting the environment as you go. As you keep scanning you get an increasingly dense amount of points until you can recognise walls and objects quite clearly.

What sounds pretty fascinating at first soon turns out to be kinda banal. It basically all boils down to having "slow vision" and an untextured environment. You occasionally find upgrades but they are quite underwhelming. The most "interesting" one is a map that allows you to freely observe everything you've scanned so far.

The sad thing is that the game does not at all play around with its very concept. There's no puzzles here, you don't have to understand some fundamental difference between scanning and regular human vision to get ahead. The game does not even require you to rescan the environment in case anything in it moves or changes - if something moves (which happens only once in a blue moon) the data almost magically automatically reflects this which is kinda stupid. I was sure there'd eventually be situations where you have to play around with different equipment or configurations because what you start with fails to record anything but that never happens.

There's a bit of a story here and even some horror elements but this stuff is kinda badly delivered and frankly feels forced and out of place - and it also doesn't really utilise the game's formula.

That said, the game still does give you a bit to think about. About how we see the world and how much (or rather little) we really know about it from just looking at it - that maybe we're naive to trust light and our eyes. I wish they had more thoroughly and honestly explored this theme but at least it's something.

Anyway, the game is very short and luckily does not overstay its welcome. If you have a few bucks to burn it's a decent distraction for two or three hours but the less you expect the better. There are many far better games in the genre.

Return of the Obra Dinn - Solved all 60 fates without need of a guide. Marvelous game, but saying anything else would ruin it.

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Venture and Nosferatu are my favorite clans.

Damn, such a long break and now I beat two games in a row. Today I finished Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice on PS4.

I have somewhat mixed feelings about this one and have a hard time describing if I really enjoyed it or not. Let's get it out of the way: gameplay-wise it's a pretty simplistic and somewhat archaic game. The gameplay effectively has two modes: a walking simulator with very basic puzzles and pretty mediocre wannabe Souls-like melee combat. The adventure part was a bit underwhelming in that it's utterly unoriginal. I love environmental puzzles but Hellblade's are very basic and don't do anything we haven't seen tons of times since Soul Reaver and such - I found that surprising and somewhat depressing since it's a game with mental illness as its central theme and which uses tons of visual and audio trickery. One would think they'd come up with something more interesting than "walk through this portal to change one detail in the environment" or "look at these glitches from the right angle to make objects appear". Truth be told I still enjoyed this part of the game a lot but the moment it occurred to me that it's a game with environmental puzzles I was counting on more.

As for the combat: There was surprisingly little of it in the game, to be honest. I don't even mind that fact but the combat that's there is very simplistic, with a very limited set of attacks and very few different types of opponents that barely differ mechanically. And of course countering + spamming dodges is the answer to almost anything the game throws at you. And what annoyed me is that it's one of those games that in my opinion get motion in combat utterly wrong. I guess they wanted to go for a certain "weight" in everything, so EVERYTHING moves ridiculously slowly. Like, seriously - if you build up the smallest bit of distance it takes forever for the enemies to reach you and they tend not do anything unexpected on the way. What really annoyed me, though, is that Senua herself handles just terribly during combat and her attacks don't seem to move her at all. It just feels awkward and robotic. That said: the combat isn't shit and it has its satisfying moments. Sometimes it looks spectacular and trying to maintain any situational awareness is a challenge with the camera being super close to Senua. It's also where the voices in Senua's head really come into play as they warn you about attacks from behind. A pretty cool touch.

The main feature of the game is obviously the narrative which is centred on mental illness and the tools the developers used to "realistically" convey it. The game is riddled with details that reference real phenomena, be it voices in the head, things going out of focus, recognising faces in objects or whatever and it's all based on research and consultations with experts or mentally ill people. It just didn't quite do it for me. This may be the game that has represented these phenomena most realistically yet but it didn't do so most authentically. At no point did the game manage to make me, the player, start questioning what I see or remember and all these details felt like cinematic tools or technical trickery. The problem is that we've seen other games pull this off more effectively (Silent Hill 2, The Suffering and Eternal Darkness come to mind), making such phenomena part of their design and not just coating. I also feel that using a setting that is heavy with mythological themes only weakened this delivery. When I'm fighting shadow vikings while literally trying to reach Hell, hearing a few voices or things being a bit blurry is the least of my concerns as a player - in my eyes the setting utterly trivialised all of the game's achievements in delivering an authentic and respectful peek into mental illness.

And sure, the delivery is great, all actors delivered great performances, the cutscenes are beautifully orchestrated, the soundtrack is at times mind-blowingly good but the story itself wasn't groundbreaking and, frankly, didn't utilise the mental illness theme properly. Perhaps my opinion on that will change after I play the upcoming sequel but as it stands the story is frankly just... conventional.

Aaanyway, I've given it a lot of shit but it is a pretty good game. I simply was counting on more, though.

The Journey Down: Chapter One (2013) (Linux)

I finished the game about a month ago. I really loved the music, but the game was rather meh. Not sure why, but I'm far from being intigued or attracted by the story. I liked the classical gameplay and I hope Chapter Two will be better...

List of all games completed in 2020.

1. Outcast (v1.1)(PC) - 7
2. Milon's Secret Castle (GB) - 6
3. Ultracore/Hardcore (MD, 1995) - 7
4. King's Bounty (MD, 1991) - 7
5. Desert Strike (MD, 1992) - 6.5
6. Rolo to the Rescue (MD, 1992) - 6.5
7. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (MD, 1992) - 5
8. Gemfire (MD, 1992) - 7
9. Micro Machines (MD, 1993) - 7.5 sp/8 mp
10. Gauntlet IV (MD, 1993) - 7 (Quest mode, 1p)

11. The Punisher (MD, 1994) - 7 (SP, Normal)
12. Pepenga Pengo (MD, 1995) - 7 (SP)
13. Ecco Jr. (MD, 1995) - 5
14. Tiny Toon Adventures: ACME All-Stars (MD, 1994) - 7? (6.5 SP)
15. Road Rash 3 (MD, 1995) - 7 (SP)
16. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (MD, 1996) - 6.5? (1p)
17. Xeno Crisis (MD, 2018) - 7 (1p, Easy - there's no normal, just hard and easy)
18. Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shougun Magginesu/Go for it! Goemon 2: The Strange General McGuinness (SNES, 1993) - 8 (1p, no difficulty options)
19. Ghost Sweeper Mikami (SNES, 1993) - 7 (default)
20. Sonic Blast Man II (SNES, 1994) - 7 or 7.5? (normal, 1p)

21. ​Gokujou Parodius (SNES, 1994) - 7 (default, beat the extra levels as well)
22. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (PC, 2000) - 7.5 (beat it as allies, beat almost half the soviet campaign, normal)
23. Odyssey (AMI, 1995) - 6.5
24. Shadow Man (N64, 1999) - 7 (~97/120 dark stones, 9/10 HP, 1 violator)
25. Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (PC, 2016) - 7.5 (normal, 98% - all but two MP upgrades)
26. Global Defense/SDI (SMS, 1987) - 6.5
27. Rayman 2 (PC) - 7 (80-ish % collection completion)
28. Rygar (NES, 1987) - 6.5
29. Ikachan (PC, 2000) - 5.5
30. Wario Land 3 (GBC, 2000) - 7 (got about 80% of the treasure)

31. Banjo-Tooie (N64, 2000) - 7 (70 jiggies)
32. Blaster Master: Blasting Again (PS1, 2000) - 7 (normal)
33. Metroid Prime (GC, 2002) - 7.5 (normal/default, v1.02, about 72% completion)
34. Shantae (GBC, 2002) - 7 (got most hearts and warp squid babies, some fireflies)

Mini-reviews: https://minirevver.weebly.com/
Platform Adventure/MV retro guide entries: https://platformadventure.weebly.com/

Resident Evil 5 (Gold)

I"m going to check out some of those bonus missions now...
I'm glad I played it on easy... I think it's the perfect balance between "fun" and "frustrating".
Anyway, I liked it! Still a very different game from RE4 or Revelations. Maybe it has the most in common with the Leon mission in RE6 - but not *that* linear.

Resident Evil Code Veronica X, May 25 (PS2)-I had been itching for a good horror game since I played Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space a few years ago. I played Soma and Bioshock last year and both are undoubtedly good games but they weren't quite what I was looking for. After watching some REmakes on Twitch I decided to give this one a shot. I originally thought this was a spin off in the vein of the RE Chronicles games and would be quite forgettable but I ended up really enjoying it.

I haven't played anything like the first few REs before so the larger emphasis on puzzles and exploration and less on combat was new and exciting. I enjoyed exploring the areas finding keys and puzzle items to progress further. Having to juggle ammo, health, and puzzle items added a degree of difficulty to the game that I liked. Fighting to get that extra ammo or healing herb felt like a real victory up until the later half of the game where I seemed to have plenty of both. The limited save mechanic (both locations and number of uses) added to the tension although I ended the game with 20+ unused ink ribbons and that was after liberal saving at the end.

The first half of the game on Rockfort was excellent. The atmosphere was tense and you never knew what was going to jump out at your as you explored. Finding all the keys and items to open up each new area was fun and challenging due to lack of ammo and health. This wore off by the time you get to Antarctica. There the map is must less mazelike and you generally have plenty of resources. But I really liked how the designers incorporated Chris's playthrough. Destroying familiar areas to remake the map as well as adding new areas kept everything fresh. It also didn't help that I gave all the resources to Claire so Chris was constantly underequipped. But that just added to the fun. The only real quibble I have would be with the terrible control scheme but even that I got used to after a bit.

This type of game I hadn't really experienced before with its mix of puzzles and gated exploration underscored with resource management and tense horror theme. But I loved it and definitely want to play more. This was one of the best games I've played this year and I've enjoyed quite a few so far.

Full List

It is, Chapter Two is the best in the series in my opinion. (Chapter 3 was a bit of a let down however).

Dishonored 2 (XB1X)

Played it to a Low Chaos ending with Emily Kaldwin. It's actually a fine game, at least as good as the first game but I'd say the level design has improved. Fun game for people that like to really explore each environment for different ways to advance and to find all the bone charms and runes. Perfect for slow thorough players like me, maybe not so well suited to people that like to go straight to each objective in the straightest line possible.

Very little negative points, only thing I can think of is the sometimes artificial feeling AI. You can scope people out for as long as you like, then as soon as you move and cross over a line on the ground you will often trigger a scripted AI sequence that will have them suddenly decide to move right towards you even though you watched forever before and they just stood there. Lots of games do things the same way, it's just that type of scripted AI annoys me more in stealthy games. Everything else was good. It ran well, looked good and had no glitches or problems at all.

Darks Souls III (Steam)

New Game +. That makes 4 play throughs in a little over 12 months. So I guess you could say I love this game. Got the standard link the fire ending. First play through took 60 hours with full exploration and all items found. NG+ took only 11 hours, since I already have all the equipment, so just took the straight path to all the bosses, often just running past enemies to unlock shortcuts. May still play it again for the final ending yet.

Hollow Knight (2017) (Linux)

The game... Simply speaking – one of the best games I've ever played. And definitely the biggest gaming surprise in my life. I expected, you know, interesting platformer xD I swear I had no idea that I'm opening one of the most fascinating journeys of my gaming life, one of the most unique worlds created by human imagination. And the challenge!

I've reached 2 of 3 possible endings and I don't believe I'll be able to reach the third one. That's the reason I'm placing the game here, as completed, after 89 hours of gameplay :) However I'm still going to try from time to time – perhaps someday I can do what need to be done in this story.

Oh, and if Team Cherry keeps their pricing policy, I'll take Silksong day one. Or day zero. Or pre-order.

Doc – the game was a gift from you. There are no words to express my gratitude.

List of all games completed in 2020.