F.I.S.T. Forged In Shadow Torch (XSX Game Pass)

Very unfun game. Got about1/3 way and just too many tedious saw traps whilst platforming. Combat was okay initially, then that became tedious as well. My main regret is not realizing that it wasn't for me earlier.

Hero of the Kingdom II

I really understand the idea of casual games. I like and play some of these from time to time. But this one is simply terrible. The story and dialogues seems to be written by 10-years old kid, full of naive cliches. The gameplay is boring (just click everything and grind your way forward).

Not to say that I've found some game-breaking bug. I've managed somehow to stuck in this game. With 21 breads (25 needed) and 24 stars (25 needed elsewhere) I have no options left and cannot progress. Which is fine, as I find the game being waste of my precious time.

By the way, I somehow managed to complete HotK1, but this one – trying to be bigger and better – is definitively the end of my adventure in this world.

Yep! Can confirm.

Lovecraft's Untold Stories

It was my third approach to this game. And the lost one.

This time I've managed to get to Chapter 4 (and entered some sub-level there). It's just much more difficult that I can handle, sorry. Perhaps I use bad control schema or sth, but there're not enough resources and fire-power for me to keep progress. The last half an hour I've spend in the game with some cheats (inventory file is a json, easy to modify), but even with such boosts it's not easy (as you can multiply owned items, but it does not solve enemy spam, friendly-fire and bad controls issues).

I liked the setting, I appreciate how it changes from chapter to chapter. The music and are top notch. Unfortunately, "easy" story mode is not easy enough for me to enjoy the full story :(

That reminds me of how I used the editor for Book Of Eschalon to rush though the rest of it because I was tired of the solo MCs's plodding foot pace, terrible magic regeneration rate, and lack of terribly useful resources & stats.

Turns out pumping the stats doesn't make the game any less of a dire slog, because you still have to navigate mazes and get to places.

It's amazing how much people will put up with to be able to play a game they like. If it weren't for addiction a lot of these games would die tomorrow.

I don't really keep track of games I ditched because why bother, but I do recall playing Hammerting and dropping it this year.
I remember it because of how poorly designed and unfinished it is. It's a perfect example of how not to design logistical systems in a town builder game.

I also took a hiatus from Terraria. Not because it was bad, but it was because I was playing a summoner and then discovered in the next patch they are releasing a bunch of summoner gear, so I didn't think there was any point in continuing a summoner build until then.

Dark Legions

I like the idea of the game, but the absolute lack of something like a campaign or story killed it for me. The only thing the game has are pre-defined skirmish battles or sandbox skirmish battles.

My first attempt at playing Ark: Survival Evolved was a low-framerate disaster on ultra-low settings, but then I was gifted a GTX 3k for Christmas.

On my second attempt, the game's design flaws showed themselves: difficulty sliders include 1 unacceptable lie, the dino-poop frequency meter works opposite as described. But even if I make everything very easy for myself, I can still be ambushed by a high-level predator out of nowhere and be killed before I can get to the alien tower, sometimes before I even open my eyes! And then once I do reach the alien tower, the console at the center of the base seems meant to assist in building structures; but if my inability to work it is because I always turn off tutorial text-boxes, a total lack of direction is still invoked because I've never once encountered a non-creature and no UI ever tells me what should be done despite the main menu and opening cutscene implying a story. I can't even work the inventory system to equip weapons or craft items!

All of that would be something I'd try harder to overcome, were it not for a realization with the third attempt, where I forego Steam's 330 GB giveaway and download a pirated version for an extra 120 or so GB. Predictably, the inclusion of extra levels that would cost $15 didn't make the start any easier and I hardly see the point in skipping over the start if I can't figure out such basic features, so I never even touched the levels I stole before deleting the entire sordid affair. My hopes of enjoying Ark were brutally murdered by the game itself, but at least I saved myself $15 and pulled a few hundred GB up from the drain in service to better games.

I didn't really like the first Bioshock. I hoped 2, being developed partly by Arkane, would have played better, so I decided to give it a try.

Yet, as expected... the shooting is dreadful, even worse than Fallout 3 in its messy jankiness; you spend all day scavenging stuff in trash bins because ammo economy makes you waste a trillion of bullets for no damage (and nonexistent accuracy, you have to shoot point blank with machine guns and soak damage because you can't dodge or sprint), upgrades are too far between, the map design is uninspired and powers feel strong like a wet fart.
I don't understand how these games got so hyped.
And audiologs with pretty uninspired "philosophical" talk everywhere - I say it in brackets because it's as basic and in-your-face as it gets. Evil Capitalist overlord bad, socioal darwinism worse, counterpush of religious-collectivist fanatics too... all so devoid of subtlety they don't feel like satire or parody, just shallow writing.

Uninstalled.
I know most will likely disagree, but both are garbage. Not worth a play with so many other great games around.

Returnal (PS5 PS Plus)

I always get bored in roguelikes within about 2 hours. I've tried all the really well rated ones in recent years- like Hades and Slay the Spire...and got bored within 2 hours. But Returnal is a shooter roguelike, and everyone says it's the roguelike for people that don't like roguelikes. No, it isn't. It was fun for 2 hours, then I got bored doing the same thing over and over- just like all the others. Probably a great game if you like this genre though.

Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights

Looks and sounds great. Too tedious and time wasting. A Metroidvania where you get a new ability then look at the map and see countless paths that were blocked...with no idea which ones you may now be able to traverse. So, you have to go back everywhere and brave the mobs of enemies with homing missiles all over again, only to find you still cannot traverse anyway. Too much time wasting.

Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel

Tried for second time (with gzdoom), but for second time finished by game braking bug.

I happened across a most wonderful advice on r/Borderlands 3, that you can delete all voice-work to save space and make the game playable. I employed this work-around for Horizon: Forbidden West and in the very first area, there's a cliff that must be jumped up to progress anywhere; jumping is conspicuously absent exclusively at the foot of this cliff. Well played, Sony; that's another 120 gigabytes free for games where I like to hear the voices and not a penny wasted.

Celeste.
I'm too old for this kind of frustration, younger me would have probably appreciated the B side (and the dreaded C side) much more, now I simply don't have the patience to retry things a million times until I get perfect.