A Pair of Eights between 2009 and 2024

A retrospective on games of them years adjust for recency bias and otherwise

Prologue: Be wary of the rabbit holes

June, 2009 was when I became a “proud” owner of Xbox 360. 16 years later, as I looked at Switch 2’s launch and thought “Nah, I’m good.”, my days of buying video game console is likely behind me for good. I no longer have the fear of missing out, Instead, I am just tired of falling down a rabbit hole then finding out that neither the journey nor the destination is worth spending my precious money and more precious free time on.

So, to mark this er, occasion, I am going to look back at those years when I played more than one then-new release each year and can theoretically make end of the year lists. Something is destined to change and other stay the same, I intend to sort out which is which.

First Eight: Xboxer to the bone (2009-2016)

Upon my rewatch of Terminator 2 Judgement Day back in 2024, I was stricken by this line of Sarah Connor’s in that longest cut: “Micheal Jackson turned 40.” It was about Judgment Day not happening in 1997. Now, now regardless whether Mr. Jackson did what he allegedly did to those lads or not, the man is still one King of Pop for the bangers he made.

Anyway, I got my Xbox 360 just after he past so I always think about that. Three Sixty for better and worse is the only home console I have affection for. I only used those borrowed before buying this one and I regretted every purchase of something that stationary ever since.

The time between 2009 and 2013 can be seen as the back half of Xbox 360’s eight years long life circle. Yet as the sun set on the only Xbox worth a damn, my mentality as its owner did not change for another 4 years even though I switched to PC through Steam. Oh well, it’s not like Windows is not another Microsoft product.

2009 Batman Akrham Asylum

(Unchanged from my 2018 retrospective)

Batman Arkham Asylum also happened to the first video game I bought near its launch and that sure was starting with a bang. In many ways, it felt like the return of “action adventure” back in 2009, mixing the Die Hard with Batman narrative and Metroidvania in 3D environment gameplay together into one very satisfying experience. And my replay of it back in 2015 ruined the so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe for me completely.

Less than 24 hours after I saw credits roll on Arkham Asylum as my playthrough via Steam was wrapped, I went to late night screening of Avengers: Age of Ultron with a mostly adult audience. The sense of being underwhelmed was in the air as the movie ended and people said things like “It isn’t good, is it?” “Nope” to each other. The movie action simply feels weightless. If the general audience felt so, now imagine someone who went through a game of grounded and hard-hitting super hero action felt about that overhyped piece of shit.

Granted, making objects seem weightless to the subject of many actions is just a trick to show strength. Like in last episodes of Andor, making human body weightless to Imperial security droids is effective horror. But the way Age of Ultron did so is just more farcical to intended farce. I played Asylum was more than a decade before the making of this list. That’s just how little I care about comic book branding nowadays. Yep, sucks to be the people who got laid off by EA, but I would not buy that Black Panther game they worked on regardless. That comic book brand would turn me away automatically.

First Interlude: When I still give a shit about EA’s outing (2010-2012)

Speak of the big E who laid off its employees left and right, has it ever been good in the 21^st century? The answer would be “No, of course not” with the Spouses shitstorm in the aughts, Online Pass of the era I am writing about here and whatever they are right now. There is only the difference between things I care and I don’t. Here are 3 things I still give a shit about despite of everything. Guess I just like space game with hard suit wearing characters. You want to take note. Mr. Drukmann? Space is too harsh a place for bomber jacket and sneakers, pal!

2010 Mass Effect 2

(Unchanged from my 2018 and 2021 retrospectives)

One Mister Parkes Harman was born in 1999, went to film school and ended up as video essay maker on Youtube.com. Despite the 9 years long age gap between yours truly and Mr. Harman, we both experienced Star Wars and Mass Effect at the same ages. I dived into Star Wars with the trilogy and Phantom Menace in 1999 while he did so with the Clone Wars CG series in 2008. The man known as ArTorr admitted that he did not play any Mass Effect games himself until 2019 while I played the first 2 games around my 20^th birthday and the launch of Mass Effect 2 in the first month of 2010. Suppose the age of 20 is the right time to be impressed by Mass Effect trilogy.

One got to admit that Mass Effect 2 already felt limited when compared to Bioware’s earlier outputs. Party member inventory being only swapping between alternative costumes for starters. Yet such limitation cannot be called “Like JRPG” for it joining of over-the-shoulder orthodoxy. Even 2021’s Tales of Arise, featuring a lass with guns, did not include such design.

My thinking so highly of Mass Effect 2 back in 2010 would retroactively turn into once in a decade anomaly. IGN, Giantbomb and yours truly all consider one same game as their pick for the year. It could have been an ongoing thing for at least 2 years, had I not thought so low of Skyrim in the decade after…

2011 Dead Space 2

(Changed from Elder Scroll V Skyrim in my 2018 retrospective. Unchanged from my 2021 retrospective)

2011 was the year I first heard the Heavy song titled Short Change Hero. Batman Arkham City showed its in-game footage for the first time with that song in the background. Then Strike Back, an action series made me go “What’s the deal with John Wick?” also picked the song as its theme starting August, 2011. Yeah, yeah, I had played Borderland 2 and heard the song in its opening as well, but let’s let it in 2011 here. Funny, lyrics “This ain’t no place for heroes (to call home). This ain’t no place for better men.” of this catchy song would fit Dead Space 2 far better.

After all, Arkham City stars a super hero. While British and American commandoes in Strike Back are no doubt stone-cold killers, the duo also give too much shit about civilian causality to not be seen as heroic figures. Isaac Clarke in Dead Space 2 can only save himself after all, even letting the female lead of this game go is to have a ship picking him up after the final boss fight. Clarke is no hero nor better man, only a fitting survivor of the dying space station.

On the question of whether Dead Space 2 holds up, I would answer yes for it still plays like an improved sequel to 2023’s Dead Space remake with more refined level layouts. The only better thing remake did is mapping some zero-g direction adjustment to the bumpers, other than that it’s a mess compared to the 2011 game. Sorry, EA laid you all off, but let’s be honest about how your company had driven better developers out before shall we?

2012 Mass Effect 3

(Changed from Dishonored in my 2018 and 2021 retrospectives.)

After 3 games, Bioware finally made Mass Effect 3 into “Gears of War in space” with the full move set. It is fine for my 29 years old self in 2019 and my 31 years old in 2021. But my 22 years old in 2012? Let’s just say that the little shit wanted bit too much with a lot of pre-graduation anxiety and seeing the shitstorm about this game’s underwhelming original ending. And oh, the virtual killing was getting bit old by then.

Yet looking back, your truly cannot help but feel a nice warm nostalgia for the flawed coda to the most ambitious trilogy I have the misfortune to give a shit about. The industry trends came and went, yet getting a trilogy done within half a decade had gone for good with the extended development circle of so-called AAA games. So I guess I did give a shit only when it’s time to give a shit.

Second Interlude: Less is almost always better (2013-2016)

Yahtzee Croshaw once coined the term “Jeremy Cockthroat” to describe the Jack for all trades and master of none designs that polygonal extravaganzas has been doing for more than a decade. As I swapped out Dishonored for a “cover based shooter”, I started to realize that I do prefer less options and more focuses in my video games, as the four years after would showcase.

2013 Dust: An Elysian Tail for PC

(Changed from Grand Theft Auto V in my 2013 list and Tomb Raider hard reboot in my 2021 retrospective.)

In hindsight, 2013 is the worst year for video game industry. Its immediate successor 2014 is close with a handful disappointing releases and bloody Gamergate, but the year twenty thirteen was when what can be seen as Four Riders of Apocalypse were all out:

First Rider of the Apocalypse: The Last of Us pretty much cement the “production value over interaction” trend of this industry;

Second: Grand Theft Auto V pretty much moved the needle towards corporate Matrix style dystopia;

Third: Xbox One and PS4 both dragged the plug and play approach of consoles behind some shed somewhere then shot it dead. The former simply did not sugar coat the method as well as the sinister latter.

Fourth: Do not get me started on the butchering of Gamespot by CBS Interactive that year! That revamp was merely a foreshadowing of how greedy corporate overlords ruining video game outlets in this roaring twenties of ours.

Suffice to say, the year absolutely does not deserve a game of its own. So, time to pull a PC Gamer and award a new to that year PC port. For the stubborn little shit that was my 23 years old self, putting the port on an end of year list was a struggle. I did put it on the list then edited it out. Now as a thirty-five years old who does not give a flying fuck, I am naming the port my game of the year 2013 since nothing gave me as much as joy that year.

I got to admit, I do not care about “indies” as someone who never made a purchase on itich dot io. No matter how interesting the story and interaction are on offer there, the games simply lack the spit and polish that would have been incentive for me to pay. Dust on the hand does have such spit and polish to look and feel more expansive while avoid the tropes like talk during fights of those package goods. The best of both if you must.

2014 Transistor

(Changed from South Park: the Stick of the Truth in my 2014 list. Unchanged from my 2021 retrospective)

Guess this is the only outlier here since Transistor is not on any Xbox. As Dust provided the experience of sprawling landscape populated with full-voiced NPCs, Supergiant had gone down the Prestige route with more efficient use of assets. (Funny both feature talking swords, though) They never provided alternative sources of information until they had to in their first 2 games.

To me Transistor is definitely better than 2011’s Bastion. But May, 2014 was simply a worse time for Supergiant’s first self-published title, while double boost from Warner and Microsoft back in summer, 2011 lifted Bastion out of this world. Still, it’s nice to May. 2014 being a time when successors of Valkyria Chronicle branched out, Wolfenstien New Order doing the science fantasy World War Two thing and Transistor doing the turn-based action thing. Of course the one I played back in 2014 took the GOTY spot.

2015 Metal Gear Solid V the Phantom Pain

(Changed from Ori and the Blind Forest in my 2015 list. Unchanged from the 2021 retrospective)

In many ways, Phantom Pain is the poster child of “making a desert and call it sandbox” practice I am so tired of in these days and age. However, it still pulls that bullshit better with smooth character movement (Something thrown out by Kojima Productions “under SIE” as well.) and steady framerate, all to create the experience as spy commando.

For some reasons, desert does enhance the gameplay for Phantom Pain. As alarms going off in one enemy camp, it’s always viable to see how far into the wild one can go before the task at hands can be resumed. There are the goals and the wild in between. Looking back, I sure do appreciate the lack of friendly NPCs and Kojima cut scenes in Phantom Pain more after seeing both made back with vengeance in Death Stranding…

2016 DOOM soft reboot

(Unchanged from my 2018 unorded list and 2021 retrospective)

Speak of games made better with sporadic cut scenes yet the sequels to which doubling down on the wrong aspects, 20216’s DOOM is among that sorry lot. The game certainly added in everything id learnt from Quake games to modernize DOOM. Yet after that id Software got very far up its own ass to create a so-called DOOM universe. They might fare better if they added new rouge galley for all the new places, but alas.

Second pair of eight: When I still thought Nintendo (2017-2024)

The next 8 years particularly made up the life circle of a hardware platform known as Nintendo Switch. More than 12 years had passed since Playstation Portable came out with the promise of “home console experience on the go” by then, Switch made good on such promise, not only because its own horsepower but due to PS4 feeling like diminished return. Anway I quite like that Mario on it. A shame about the pricing going forward.

2017 Super Mario Odyssey

（Changed from NieR Automata in my 2018 and 2021 retrospectives.）

Being 27 back then, yours truly could certainly be seen as too old for physical toy boxes. Virtual ones, less so. And Mario’s last 3D out as of 2025 is full of virtual toy boxes complete with virtual manuals as in-game maps. The game is fun and more importantly fair-priced. Now, the company think they can charge “Ultra 64” price, again? In this economy, they can shove the price tag up their nostrils.

Third interlude: Turned-based tactics, different suits of armors and the one voice for several Snakes (2018 & 2019)

And by “the one voice for several Snakes”, yours truly of course by a frequent Hideo Kojima collaborator named Akio Otsuka. Despite being old and respected, the man was a Junior. As a part of MGS4’s stunt casting, the late Papa Otsuka was brought in to play a explaining Big Boss. With President John McClane confirmed by IMDB to appear in Death Stranding 2, guess the man’s collaboration with Kojima is far from over.

However, Kojima is a fucking criminal for only letting Mr. Otsuka doing voice-over narration on 2 occasions: the end of MGS2 and that tape in Phantom Pain. Otsuka Jr.’s gravitas loaded narrations were key to my games of the years followed. Provided that only one of those was in the game.

2018 Into the Breach

(Changed from Hitman 2: Make the World Your Weapon of my 2018 list and 2021 retrospective)

The year 2018 was when my perspective on mechs in media shifted. I no longer wanted to see Hollywood’s photo realistic take on that kind of science fictional bullshit after Pacific Rim Uprising and Avengers Infinity War. The former is just bad while the nano machine Iron Man suit is pure fucking magic in the latter. Also, I guess as a mech fan I put my money when my mouth is as I finally watched trough 1979’s Mobile Suite Gundam that year.

Well, the way I saw would surely got “order of release” sicko like Abnormal Mapping crew to pull their hair out: I went in after the digital heavy prequel series Origins. Now, now, the only reason I wouldn’t have picked the old series had one Akio Otsuka not said “Will you survive it all?” by the end of Origins as the voice-over narrator. So, I thought “Challenge accepted, ‘Snake’!” to only find out that the line is after every “Next time on” of the show.

Watching an animated series made almost 4 decades earlier made me realize that a viewer’s imagination is always needed to appreciate anything. The scale alone needs the viewers to see something else in their minds’ eyes. I certainly thought I need to imagine as much watching Gundam as playing the pixelized mech versus monster of Into the Breach.

Into the Breach gave me the impression of “can run on anything”. The Surface Pro I started this piece on is notoriously unfit for gaming, it cannot even run 2014’s Transistor properly. Yet I got through Into the Breach, on the lowest difficulty, with the laptop like tablet just fine. There is of course a sense of chess like elegancy in simplicity, the game later patched in numbers and letters to clarify tiles on grids after all.

The game also tasks player with protect infrastructure, one would rather let a unit take a hit to protect a building or something on the power grid for fixing up a unit is always cheaper. Comparing that to Pacific Rim sequel’s final fight where buildings were pulled intentionally by Rangers in Yagear to stop a monster sure makes one go “Good god, Hollywood!”

2019 Fire Emblem Three Houses

(Unchanged from my 2019 list and 2021 retrospective)

My fate of purchasing the first proper Fire Emblem on Switch was pretty much sealed in early, 2019, when a Japanese Direct showed a trailer for Three Houses starting with Akio Otsuka’s voice-over. One Dr. Austin Walker once said that Three House is not epic fantasy on Waypoint Radio. All due respect to the doc, but how can this not be epic with this man narrating!

With my being in the last year of 20s, the potential for youth this game celebrates feels especially intoxicating. Any party member can be trained to wield any weapon here is about the only game I see something unique in a Nintendo exclusive. Compared to made-in-China Banner of Maid’s its way or the highway design, one cannot help but think of the expense being justified here. And the turn-based high school reunion in which party member appear pair by pair which turn is just a mechanic enhancing drama moment I might not see the likes again.

Fourth Interlude: Roaring twenties’ three cases against Stellar Blade (2020-2022)

Yours truly and demos with importable save files do not gel too well. Besides the overlooked Bayonetta Origins in 2023, all others either underwhelmed by the time the credits roll (2024's Metaphor: Refantasio) or I did not see credits roll at all(2018's Valkyria Chronicle 4). So, after I tried Stellar Blade Steam demo, the game just felt another overhyped product published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Scripted event of gateway collapsing already feels overused in the first hour of that fucking game!

2020 Hades

(Unchanged from my 2020 list.)

As I was slowly writing this piece, the major update for Hades 2 called Unseen just dropped as I made this far down the list. Guess a couple of days before Summer Solstice can be seen as “Late Spring”. So before I forget, the only thing about original Hades I can say here is this: after reading Emily Wilson’s translation of Iliad, I did feel compelled to reunite Achilles and Patroclus again by playing through Hades on Steam.

Okay, now onto the comparison between Hade 2 and Stellar Blade. No, I wouldn’t get in the stupid culture war. Instead, I was just reminded of days when I borrowed a PS2 in 2006. 2 pieces of software were on offer: Prince of Peria: Two Thrones and 2005’s very own God of War. I couldn’t play the former past the tutorial while the latter was the first one I saw credits on PS2.

Why? Well, the tutorial in POP is a boilerplate platforming section with bad camera angle. On the contrary, GOW opened with a bang and the camera angles were considered during puzzles. The same contrast repeated itself between Stellar Blade and Hades 2, yet my only prejudice here is that I prefer the isometric angle of the latter.

2021 Scarlet Nexus

(Changed from Tales of Arise on my 2021 list)

Suppose it’s being underwhelmed by Stellar Blade’s demo on Steam made me think about this one. Both games share a leading lady in Japanese, Asami Seto. Yet, only Ms. Seto’s performance in Scarlet Nexus was mentioned by reviewer of IGN Japan, describe her role Sanae Randall as a “nature born pain in the ass” (The original katanata says “heart breaker”, but the 2021 action game does not have enough romance to warrant the expression.). Not one word was written about Eve as a character in Stellar Blade.

Anyway, there seems to be hope for a Scarlet Nexus so I can finally see what’s the deal with the Moon in that universe. Now Code Vein 2 was announced, one can hope that a sequel to Scarlet Nexus is up next. Or maybe the sign of life needs to be shown if there will be a Switch 2 port or not…

2022 Sifu

(Unchanged from my 2022 list)

Time for one final dunk on the Stellar Blade demo. When I tried it on the Steam Deck, I felt an obvious delay on its parry. Thought it’s due to the inferior hardware I used, then PC Gamer’s review confirmed that there are bizarre delays. Well, guess I can give up on that made for wankers for wankers piece of junk completely. I mean the delay is on top of the grotesque creatures’ attack pattern not being the most readable thing in the game. Sony Prestige titles’ production value over interaction priority is alive in that one.

All right, to all you “Git gud” yelling wankers out there, I play Sifu very well. I put in 28 hours into it back in 2022 when its PC version was exclusive to Epic. Then “Fifth Day of the Fifth Lunar Month” vacation came along in 2025 and I bought it on Steam. Got through in one long sitting of about 4 hours. Granted the human bodies in Sifu are much more readable. Still what were people Shift Up thinking to include the delay against those monstrosities?

The fifth and final Interlude: Days of future past (2023 & 2024)

Well, this long-winded piece is to going to end with both a whimper and a bang. Here is the whimper. Yours truly simply got too disinterested in newly released video games for last couple of years since they felt worse than a lot in that imagined Golden Age we call “the PS2 Generation”. To reflect my overall feeling, I am swapping out an improved sequel in spirit with that era for a remake.

2023 RESIDENT EVIL 4

(Changed from Armored Core Six Fire of Rubicon on my 2023 list.)

Jonathan Ferguson, the Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries (Microsoft Office considers this one as a typo while let “Barbenheimer” slide. One D J Trump must be very proud!) Museum in the UK is a brave man for calling out Hideo Kojima’s bullshit. After a former Fandom employee telling him about weaponization of piss and blood in Death Stranding, Mr. Ferguson’s “What the fuck is wrong is this man!” is the only rational thing to say about the so-called video game auteur.

The man also criticized the too obvious Three-gun design John Wick sequel, not once but twice, pointing out that all a commando assassin need is a rifle with pistol plus loads of bullets for both. Which is fair, but what if rifle bullets are few and far between, like they are in Resident Evil 4.

During the Lunar New Year vacation in 2025, I tried a Three-gun run during my third playthrough of RE4 remake. Well, more than 3 guns actually, since I never said no to using explosives, including one-shot killing 3 bosses with RPG. The run was more about never using submachine gun and magnum while selling their bullets for money. The rifle I used was of course the added for remake CQBR assault rifle with 30 round capacity, rarely a full clip throughout the 13 hours.

The gun was a blast to use, from the village before the late title card (Body count is at 2 digit by then after all.), I can get into Bingo time without stepping in. Bosses gave me in the first 2 playthrough, half a clip and kill cam came in. Of course the shotgun for shields, being more in line with John Wick 1, 3 and 4 to justify the buck shots.

2024 Persona 3 Reload

(In line with my old game list of 2024)

I guess played 3 Atlus epic length RPG within 12 months was one way to turn one off on them. Between November, 2023 and October, 2024, I got through Persona 5 Royal, Persona 3 Reload and Metaphor: Refantasio. Guess the fatigue is still keeping me from diving deeper in Persona 4 Golden and that announcement of remake is not helping either.

Still Persona 3 remake was played at the sweet mid-point, around the Lunar New Year vacation in 2024. Atlus developers took a filer and file off all those rougher edges. I guess the game set between April, 2009 and March, 2010 just reminded me of my happier days.

Epilogue: the Earther who tries to drink less

An Earther goes to a bar and says “Give me a shot of the finest Belter liquor you have. Best the Belt has to offer.” The Bartender asks: “Because drinking like your enemy helps you think like your enemy?” The Earther replies: “No, got Martain Whiskey for that. I’m just trying to drink less since the best the Belt has to offer is terrible.”

------Abridged joke in the Expanse’s “penultimate” season’s penultimate episode

The thing about long jokes is that different people take different parts as the punch line. Take the one above for example, the original intention is that people in the United Nations of Earth and Lunar looking down on Outer Planets Alliance in the solar system of Expanse. I already started to laugh on the bit that the Earther went to a bar yet they tried to drink less. Maybe I am projecting since that’s my relationship with video games right now. I cheered every time I did not get to play.

There was the aforementioned “being underwhelmed by Stellar Blade demo”. I installed Genshin Impact on my newly purchased Android tablet I am typing on right now, found out that it runs like shit on said hardware and yelled “Well, your ‘casino’ will never lure me in, miHoYo!” within. I bought and tried the Alters on the Deck, while its Prologue teased an interesting enough science fictional story, the game crashed to desktop on its Day 1 chapter. I simply requested a refund for the crash and won’t risk finding out that I may not like that game.

As June, 2025 came and soon to be gone, my 35 years old cynical ass is turning back into what it was when I was 15. I read in my leisure time back then, I prefer reading in my leisure time now. I am also more willing to pay for video game media coverage than for video game themselves.

Hearing Toby Capwell explaining things in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 on EXP levitate the burdens of chores in my actual job like a good history podcast would. Playing the bloody thing is likely a chore on its own. As Nintendo and Microsoft adjust their pricing for inflation, I am more than happy to adjust expanse on their products out of my life for the same reason. This Earther will not drink the so-called best you lot has to offer.