List items
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It's Monster Hunter, so it's at the top of my list. To be honest I burned out on Rise quicker than most MonHuns (only spent about 200~ hours playing) but it was a fun ride while it lasted. I played Sword and Shield and did dragon punches on big monkeys. I am v excited for master/g rank to come.
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I started and failed finishing disco elysium 2 and a half times before I started it in 2021 and finished it. it is a v good crpg. i wanted kim to approve of me so much i just couldn't let him down kim kitsuragi is the character of all the years.
of all the games on this list i think about this one the most. i think i will play it again sometime.
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the best visual novel i played this year and one of the best game stories i have encountered. play this game!!
the coolest thing is that this is a story that can really only be told in this medium. it wouldnt work as a show or a movie or a book, the fact you can jump around with light guidance and solve the mysteries you're presented with at your own pace is very cool. it's also amazing how well designed the story and plot points are doled out, so that depending on how you play you'll probably jump to conclusions other players wouldn't, or figure things out that other players wouldn't.
something i've noticed is how games with a lot of freedom and procgen stories are enjoyed, but seem to hold less cultural cache overall. people remember parts of linear story-based games, people commiserate over them and get excited for new players to encounter them. games where you can change the story, or even go on story branches kind of lose this. that isn't to say it's bad, its just different and something I've always noticed in having a shared experience vs having a personalized one.
for instance, i love that i did a ton of things in disco elysium based on my choices--that the characters and eventual finale were based on what I did. That's cool! but on another level im loathe to talk about certain moments with friends who didn't encounter them. will it spoil them?? will they understand the context?? the same goes for them telling me about things that I didn't experience. its sort of a double sided blade, in my opinion.
13 sentinels avoids this tho by letting you weave your own story in a personalized way, while having everyone end up experiencing the same events, just with different contexts. while playing that makes it very exciting to talk about with friends, cuz you're curious about what they know that you don't, but at the end everyone meets up having a shared experience by the finale.
idk i wrote a lot of words but I just really like this game!!! i think its really neat from a design perspective!!
the tower defense stuff is OK.
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i love metroid and it's a good metroid so i love it. the dread suit looks cool, samus is so fun to control, and i felt the difficulty was perfect. i never got stuck for long but every win felt earned. just a v solid game throughout.
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i liked psychonauts 1 back in like 2002 or whenever. i did not think psychonauts 2 would be as good but it was very good!!! the characters and writing were A++. given how the first game was a mostly comedic sorta thing i was surprised at how well this one dealt with different kinds of issues and mental trauma and certain moments really got me. the most ç ´é˜²äº† game on the list.
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im combining both games cuz they feel like 2 parts of a whole. im v glad these came out cuz i think theyre my favorite ace attorney games. herlock shlomes is the new gold standard in himbos and susato is better than most of the original AA cast.
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i played this game for like a week straight during spring festival 2021 after it came out on PC. its my 2nd favorite souls-y game and its just so fun to play but its soooo long.
that said, I loved being a demon lady using a big transforming glaive to sonic the hedgehog spinjump on fools and casting magic spells while doing ninjutsu.
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this was on game pass and I randomly started playing it and damn it owns. the last time i got this into reading emails and junk was like deus ex 1 back 20 years ago. i also liked the powers and weapons. i felt they had enough variety to make everything feel different while not giving you choice paralysis or pigeonholing you into certain roles. sneaking around every corner felt rewarding and the world was a real joy to explore.
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this game is good but uneven. i think it starts and ends well but has a weak middle which takes it down a lot. also at one point i found that I was not really engaging with the card game as much as I was trying to break it just to beat it ASAP, which was kind of a downer cuz i was SO INTO the card game early on.
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i cant pick + bowsers fury here but super mario 3d world is v good and bowser's fury is short but v cool and im very excited for whats coming next from whoevers making marios.
also the last few levels in 3d world are v hard and good and fun to play.
toad is clearly the best character, with mario being the worst.
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i have to include it cuz somehow i got really into apex legends this year. its the game i play to decompress after work. i have played it for hundreds of hours, and its my most-played game on this list. i like the shooting and i like most of the characters and i like how quick you move around.
valkyrie is cool cuz she can fly and she has one skin i got where she looks sorta like the suit Alto gets into and flies around in in Macross Frontier??? That's a deep cut for all you macross frontier fans out there.
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