2023 -- Finished
Games (from any year) which I finished playing in 2023.
List items
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01/12 (Normal, Act IV) -- I picked up Gordian Quest in early access because it looked like a story-focused deckbuilder. To be blunt: it isn't. The character art is great, but the campaign has barebones storytelling with almost no character development.
Gordian Quest picked up for me in its progression elements. There's a lot to keep up with (multiple decks per hero, skill trees that you place, gear, crafting, deck building, etc.), but I often found myself poking at new level-ups, skill points, shop items or loot. The combat gameplay is also pretty fun. It didn't always feel balanced, but it has an interesting focus on positioning and obstacles in addition to card combos, status effects and other mechanics.
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01/22 (Hard) -- Slice & Dice has surprising depth for its premise. You gain a little power after every battle, with class and item abilities sometimes interacting in powerful ways. Each round of combat often involves puzzling out options. It's easy to pick up and play (on mobile) and the Normal mode feels challenging but reasonably fair.
02/09 (Loot Normal) -- Regular Normal runs are pretty forgiving, and I'm not a huge fan of the curse-style drawbacks on Hard. I decided to try Loot mode for a challenge. It's tough and you get to see more of the game's items.
I wouldn't call Loot mode "good", though. The item pool is large and a lot of the low-level options are marginal or narrow. It takes a lot of luck to assemble a build that stands any chance in later levels -- most runs stumble through a few early levels and get trounced somewhere in the mid-game.
03/06 (Curse Mastery++) -- I'm still enjoying Slice & Dice (often on the train), partly by hunting down the achievements and challenges.
I tend to dislike curse modes in games. I think partly because they "punish" the player for playing the game -- the endless challenge tends to be generated by gradually weakening the player and player mechanics or synergies and/or introducing annoying negative mechanics. (Hades is one game which offset this by setting goals, gradually ramping difficulty and giving the player enough control to make some interesting trade-offs.)
Cursed-Hyper is similar to Loot mode in the sense that the player is more at the mercy of variance, especially early. Bad curses or bad luck will quickly end a run for a mediocre team. There is an interesting push and pull with the blessings, which can offset curses (like HP reduction) or power up one type of mechanic (like spells) while the curses are weakening others (like melee damage).
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01/29 (Married) -- Having just played Rune Factory 4, it's hard not to compare the two. They do have very similar core gameplay loops, right down to some of the systems and even specific items.
I enjoyed Rune Factory 5 and I actually like some of the changes it tries. The transition to 3D didn't hurt the farming significantly, and I prefer it for the combat and exploration gameplay. The spell seal and the "co-op" activity mechanics were fun and thematic (although the co-op activities were straightforward minigames). There are also a few major quality-of-life improvements (like accessing the crafting and inventory menus).
I think Rune Factory 5 is a much more accessible game than its predecessor, but it gave up some of the content and polish. The dialogue in particular didn't seem nearly as varied or context-aware as RF4. RF5 also has a much shorter and easier post-game (which doesn't match that well with the complicated crafting system it inherited).
The Switch may not be the best platform for Rune Factory 5 -- I've heard that it performs better on PC.
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02/03 (Stormterror arc) -- Genshin Impact's style is certainly part of its appeal, with a pretty cel-shaded look, an anime-inspired roster of characters and a colorful open world.
Though it isn't all style. The world is fun to move around and filled with little objectives. You can build parties of four characters with different combat abilities, using both character skills and the environment itself to create elemental combos. I also enjoyed the setting and the first main story arc (and Paimon!)
The progression slows down after the first area -- it took me about a week of dailies to unlock the next story mission (by raising my Adventure Rank from 19 to 23). There are also an overwhelming number of currencies and upgrade materials, and important gameplay elements (like characters, talents and weapons) seem to be behind the gacha.
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02/06 (Pokémon Scarlet, Area Zero) -- Overall, Scarlet/Violet has a fun core gameplay loop but falls frustratingly short on content and polish. (Pokémon Legends Arceus similarly felt underdeveloped.)
S/V's open world design is a great step for the franchise. Pokémon games are about themed regions to explore and monsters to collect. An open world can offer this with more player freedom -- for example, the three main questlines ("paths") incorporate the series' iconic gym and villain battles in basically any order. The boarding school theme is a good fit for a young adult adventure, and some of the character stories made me smile. (Nemona's antics are pretty great.)
S/V lacks fit and finish. Its technical issues made news (Nintendo even offered players refunds). Slowdown and pop-ins certainly hurt the game's feel. The visual style often feels like a step down from all (three!) of the Switch's previous Pokémon titles -- not just technically, but some of the characters and Pokémon are relatively stiff and bland. Mechanics (like the picnics), gameplay elements (like the shops) and the open world in general also don't feel fleshed out or complementary.
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03/09 (Steam Deck) -- Potionomics seems to be directly inspired by Recettear (a game I enjoyed quite a bit), but it has its own set of mechanics which work pretty well. Negotiation in particular is a pretty cool idea -- it's a card game, but social activities (where Sylvia can spend her limited time with friends and business partners) unlocks new negotiation ability cards. The 3D art is also charming, with animations adding a lot of expression to negotiations, conversations and contests.
Potionomics can be pretty hardcore. Brewing potions is a combination of resource management and math puzzle and the UI doesn't quite keep up with the demanding inventory management. (I had a much easier time after I wrote out a cheat sheet.) The complexity ramps up quite a bit, too -- I felt like I was on my toes up until the final stretch.
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03/14 -- It was cool to try out Iron Marines for free (by the makers of the Kingdom Rush games), but I didn't get past three or four missions. My phone screen felt a little small for the tap-and-drag RTS controls -- I had trouble selecting and moving the right units.
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03/17 (Final, Final Boss) -- Stacklands is a light survival RTS using cards, which has positive and negative quirks. Reading and stacking cards is easy and crafting (by stacking) is generally intuitive. On the other hand, space and organization become a problem. New resource cards and moving enemies frequently push card stacks (food, equipment, items, etc.) in haphazard directions.
I had fun with Stacklands and enjoyed the crafting and "travel" side quests (like the portal and island).
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04/23 -- Phantasy Star Online has a long history (especially in Japan), but NGS is the first one I've played. (I did try to play PSO2 when it first launched on the Microsoft Store. That launch was famously broken.)
I can see the appeal. It's stylish, featuring Sega's aesthetic (both visual design and music), a sci-fi setting and some cool combat animations. (My Gunner would stop and strike poses mid-air.) The third-person action gameplay is also pretty fun. The Gunner specifically rewarded staying close-range, timing dodges and building up hits to set up a temporary boost. Customization options include ranged and melee classes and sub-classes, an interesting "multi-weapon" concept and some weapon and armor augments.
I enjoyed NGS for about 30 hours. The daily progression didn't seem too slow, although I decided not to invest the time necessary to reach the current level cap.
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05/09 (Give Me No Mercy) -- Ragnarök is a solid follow-up to its predecessor. Kratos and Atreus still work well together, however, Atreus' is becoming a teenager(?) and new threats (like Fimbulwinter and Ragnarök) are appearing. The other characters are also still interesting and sometimes surprising (especially Odin and Tyr).
Ragnarök's gameplay mostly iterates on the previous entry, which was fun to begin with. There are a few tweaks to progression and the companion characters (and a really cool new weapon). The loot system still had some problems -- I was arbitrarily "gear scored" out of some side challenges (which felt like a frustrating punishment for exploring). The full armor sets did offer some interesting build options (like my parry and stun build, or an interesting "realm shift" option), but there felt like a superfluous number of sets and relics.
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05/12 (Action) – I'll admit: I was intrigued by Stranger of Paradise when I first saw the reveal trailer. A modern interpretation of the original Final Fantasy sounded cool (even a dark one), and I felt like there was room to fill out or experiment with its story.
Stranger of Paradise delivers on some of those ideas surprisingly well. I really liked its take on characters such as Princess Sarah, Bikke and Astos. The story plays around with familiar themes (such as Lufenian prophecy, Chaos and a time loop) with clever twists that fit its dark, cynical tone. There are also some fun nods to the franchise – the names Jack, Ash, Jed and Neon would fit in the original Final Fantasy, and many of the area maps are based on location from later games. I don't want to oversell it – the world map is a menu and the story delivery isn't always great – but I did like a lot about it.
In terms of gameplay, Stranger of Paradise is an action RPG with franchise-inspired job trees. Each job has access to certain weapons, which have different playstyles. Trying out and leveling the different jobs was fun. (Early on, I used magic jobs like Black Mage and Sage but for a few boss fights Paladin helped with survivability.) Some of the tougher battles had me learning when to parry, use the ability-stealing "Soul Shield" or call on my allies.
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05/20 (Hard Classic) -- I enjoyed Fire Emblem Engage, even though it's probably one of my least favorite entries so far. My biggest complaint might be that it's too big. Its long campaign, huge character roster and "exploration mode" draw out the experience, which isn't well-supported by the weak storytelling. The mini-games also quickly become tedious.
On the bright side, Engage is still a fun Fire Emblem at its core. There are tweaks to traditional mechanics (like weapon breaks and Calvary) and the featured Emblem mechanic offers a lot of customization and surprising interactions. (There are also fun series references, including quotes, mechanics and even mission maps.) The updated visual design is outstanding -- Engage's combat choreography is impressive and even the 2D character portraits have been made fully 3D (complete with hero poses for unit selection). There's also a cast of colorful characters with fun support conversations (supported by solid voice acting).
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05/31 -- Dredge's ending was kind of unsatisfying and felt abrupt. Its gameplay was fun, though, and the setting is interesting and kind of creepy.
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06/11 -- Breath of the Wild was a tough act to follow, but I think Nintendo managed to pull it off with Tears of the Kingdom. A lot of the original game is still there, but new mechanics and major areas create a brand new adventure. I also enjoyed Tears' story and had fun with its new powers and combat elements.
Many of the frustrations I experienced in BotW were still present in Tears, though my experience felt a little smoother overall. I had an idea of what to expect and I looked up a few specific things when they became frustrating. (Gameplay systems like weapon durability, fiddly physics and shrine puzzles wear out their welcome over time for me, especially over the length of these games.)
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06/13 (Downfall mod) -- Downfall is impressive for a fan expansion, adding eight new characters (one normal and seven Downfall) each with different builds and almost entirely new mechanics.
The new characters and campaign had a similar feel to the base game. It's still challenging -- I rarely found easy lanes and had to try out individual cards and learn the synergies for almost every character.
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06/25 (Jedi Knight) -- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is very much a sequel to Fallen Order. It's been upscaled for the current console generation and has some iterative new ideas, but largely maintains the structure, strengths and frustrations of its predecessor.
It is worth mentioning that I encountered a lot of technical issues, including a handful of crashes and other forms of lost progress.
Broadly speaking, Jedi: Survivor has a great setting, excellent character acting, cool locations and pretty good dueling combat. It often doesn't play to these strengths, instead focusing on annoying group combats and on-rails climbing. The platforming, navigation and puzzles are also frequently clunky.
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07/04 (Post Game) -- Kirby and the Forgotten Land is well-designed, but I would describe it as... constrained? There are plenty of power interactions, for example, but almost all of them felt intentionally placed. The camera also is usually fixed. I did really like the copy ability upgrades, and I was more interested in scouring levels and playing mini-games for upgrade money. (At least until rare stones became overly restrictive.)
It also has a lot of charming Kirby touches. My favorites included waving at Waddle Dees, fishing and sleeping.
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07/23 (Moral route) -- Digimon Survive is an unexpected game which I enjoyed quite a bit. (At least personally, I didn't expect a somewhat dark visual novel/SRPG hybrid based on Digimon.)
The visual novel is a big part of Digimon Survive. You play as Takuma, a middle school student drawn into a kami realm along with several other kids. Elements of this world want to kill them... and sometimes succeed. They're normal kids reacting to the dangerous situations they face. While I didn't feel like I had much control over the story, I often found their struggles and decisions convincing. (Your choices can eventually impact the story, although it's rarely obvious in the short term.)
The SRPG Digimon battles are mostly light but still fun. You're able to collect different types of Digimon and I had fun exploring the evolutions. Visual novel decisions mostly have an indirect or long term impact on combat (like the Affinity and Karma systems), although certain ones directly affect a subsequent battle. There are also exploration sections (but they mostly lead to random consumable items).
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07/23 (Action mode) -- I enjoyed Final Fantasy 16 enough to finish every Hunt and (almost) every side quest, but I have mixed feelings about it. The moment-to-moment gameplay was usually fun and most of its elements seem strong individually. I think its pacing, length and a shift in story focus make it overall weaker than the sum of its parts.
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08/07 -- Trinity Trigger isn't shy about its inspirations. Three playable characters, local co-op, item wheels and music by Hiroshi Kikuta (among other JRPG veterans) could describe a SNES Mana title. And that certainly piqued my interest!
Overall Trinity Trigger is a light, fun ARPG. Its combat doesn't have the hit reacts or parries of many modern games, but it leans into its weapon variety in interesting ways. I often juggled weapons to exploit weaknesses, attack from a distance, or to recover health or stamina. I enjoyed playing it single-player, but managing the AI allies in real time was tricky. It can also get tedious in a string of tougher fights.
I wasn't expecting much in terms of story, but I was pleasantly surprised by the main story. (Many of the side quests were still pretty bland.) The world of Trinitia has an interesting backstory and there are a few unexpected plot twists. I also enjoyed the light banter between Cyan, Elise and Zantis (which was delivered with solid localization and voice acting).
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08/19 (Diamond rating) -- Dave the Diver's eclectic cast of characters and pixel art cutscenes made me smile. The core gameplay loop (of action-based diving to collect ingredients alongside more sim-like restaurant management) is also pretty good. The varied minigames and events were sometimes awkwardly-paced (or kind of weird), but they did help keep the core loop from getting stale.
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09/02 -- I don't plan to finish The Nephilim Saga, but that's mostly because of a technical issue. (My Steam Deck's local saves were overwritten with two-week old cloud saves. Ouch.) I enjoyed what I played of it.
SoW's pixel art and SRPG gameplay remind me of a GBA Fire Emblem, but its squad-based combat is a lot different. Growing units and assembling teams based on unit types, leadership, movement and other mechanics was an interesting element.
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09/03 -- Baldur's Gate 3 feel reminiscent of its predecessors, despite being modernized and mechanically very different. It's set in the Forgotten Realms with fun and familiar characters. It's also filled with story decisions, gameplay options often determined by party abilities and strategic class-based combat.
I have complaints with BG3, some of which aren't entirely new. This style of CRPG rewards completionists -- I found myself underpowered early-game until I circled back to side quests (and used a guide). Dice-based challenges allow unexpected outcomes, but failure is also a constant. (Failing a DC10 check with a +8 modifier is virtually never fun, encouraging tedious save scumming.) I also encountered my fair share of technical issues, including missing quest triggers, disappearing items and UI clunkiness (especially around pathing and verticality).
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09/28 (Dragon Ruins) -- After enjoying both Rune Factory 4 and 5, I was happy to jump on the bandwagon for Rune Factory 3 Special. It does feel like a slightly earlier entry in the series, with a mix of mostly familiar farm sim and ARPG gameplay elements. It has great character stories, too, including a few stand-outs.
RF3 does lack some of the polish and QoL features of the newer games (like post-marriage events or inventory management). Rough edges in the action gameplay (particularly stuns and a lack of invincibility frames) also kept me from grinding out the final post-game dungeon. In some ways, though, RF3 benefits from being less complex. I found the more straightforward versions of systems like crafting and building a refreshing change of pace.
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----- BACKED ON KICKSTARTER -----
10/10 -- While there are important differences in the details, my summary of Everspace 2 probably sounds similar to the first game -- there are core elements which I really like, combined with design choices which can be a chore to play through.
On one hand, the combat held up pretty well. I targeted buffing/debuffing drones, hid from enemy destroyers and cycled through missiles and powers to handle fighters -- sometimes all in the same fight. The incredible environments were also sometimes fun just to explore, whether skimming over asteroids, twisting through caves or boosting in and out of storm clouds.
On the other hand, I started avoiding side objectives. I found myself circling over and over for an entrance, or unable to find my way out of a building or cave. I gave up on hunting for unmarked objectives after two or three passes of an area. And none of the drone sections were particularly fun.
(A recent patch had some quality of life improvements, including a perk that can reveal secrets. It's possible that future versions will smooth out some of the issues.)
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10/19 (All faerie orders) -- I enjoyed Harvestella enough to nearly "100%" it, but it dragged at times. I didn't enjoy most of the story in its long main questline. Both sides of the gameplay also ramp up slowly and can feel stiff.
There are things I really enjoyed about Harvestella, too. As a farming/ARPG hybrid, it offers different gameplay layers which sometimes support each other (similar to games like Rune Factory). The farming is solid and its combat does have cool ideas (like job mastery and "breaks"). Harvestella's world is also a visually striking place, with mysteries like the crystalline "Seaslight" and the deadly Quietus. Many of the side quests highlighted this setting or local character and friendship stories.
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11/19 (All Wonder seeds) -- Mario Wonder kind of reminds me of... a Saturday morning cartoon? The Wonder Flowers are wild -- enemies sing and dance, mechanics twist and you can count on something strange and colorful. The talking flowers also could have been annoying, but they made me chuckle.
I've heard Wonder compared to classic 2D Marios, but it didn't quite feel that way to me. The Wonder Flowers were fun but felt like a jumble of one-off gimmicks. (Not to be derogatory, but the mechanics are too varied to practice.) They also split up the levels, cutting into some of the free-form platforming.
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11/26 -- Sea of Stars is pretty good, but I had frustrations. The action-based combat was tedious and fiddly in many of the regular encounters, even though it was great in the boss fights. The game was also very linear until the late-game.
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12/09 -- I enjoyed Star Ocean: First Departure R, and it feels like the series hit more of its stride in The Second Story. The first story segment starts strong, moves quickly and really takes advantage of the sci-fi and fantasy juxtaposition. The character relationships also fit the Private Action mechanic nicely. The Second Story R also includes handy tips, skippable animations and other great quality-of-life features.
I wouldn't say it blew me away. It started strong, but the later story arcs felt much more like a cheesy and contrived space fantasy. The systems from the first game are also still present. They're fun and interesting, but also complicated and easily break the pace of the game.
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12/10 (Advance Collection. Encountered Zombie Dragon) -- I'd been interested in the GBA Castlevanias off and on for a while. Circle of the Moon was OK, but I found myself more interested in playing newer Metroidvanias. I wasn't a fan of its stiff controls combined with its difficulty level and slow RPG progression.
(The card system is interesting but it's also confusing and clunky.)
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12/25 -- My first impression of The DioField Chronicle was pretty good. I enjoyed the hero-based RTS gameplay. Its modern period setting offers a unique aesthetic and is a good fit for a war story. Its low-drama story presentation was also sort of refreshing, and effective for certain characters (like Lady Waltaquin).
The gameplay unfortunately doesn't hold up over the length of the game. There is some variety in the main mission design, but almost all of the side missions are copy-pasted. (Low rewards and slow progression also make optional missions feel unrewarding.) The ending was also unsatisfying, leaving several of the twists and subplots completely unresolved.
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12/25 (Fires of Raven) -- Solid. Armored Core 6 has a cool mech aesthetic. Its storytelling is a bit straightforward -- a lot of it is delivered through direct narration -- but it's well-done, interesting and has a few gameplay tie-ins.
AC6's gameplay is almost arcade-like -- mechs "skate" around, boost quickly and lock on to enemies. Missions offer pretty good variety and I enjoyed many of the variations. I was also pleasantly surprised by how many of AC6's bosses felt like "fair" mech fights. (A couple of superbosses were actually low points.)
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12/30 (Normal Classic) -- Three Hopes is fun in many of the same ways as Fire Emblem Warriors. The class, pair-up and tactical map mechanics are great additions to the musou gameplay. The gameplay and progression held up pretty well for about 15-20 hours, but there are a lot of similar missions.
Three Hopes kind of twists Three Houses' familiar setting and characters. There are a few things I like about it -- like crossing swords with Byleth -- but I'm not sure how I feel about it overall.
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12/30 -- At its best, Star Trek Resurgence felt like an episode of Star Trek. It does a good job of capturing the Star Trek aesthetic, and I enjoyed the character performances. I also found myself increasingly interested in the story (after a bit of a slow start).
The gameplay is kind of a mixed bag. I don't mind the lower fidelity graphics, but it still had texture pop-in and motion lag. It's also missing some modern quality-of-life features for this type of game (like dialogue skips).
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