This was certainly a year I played A LOT of games, but didn’t finish hardly any for various reasons. This year I experimented with home streaming beyond steam link. While steam link is very impressive technology, Moonlight with Sunshine is a vastly superior experience both from a fidelity and game performance standpoint (i.e. less to no hitching). Out of all the games I played this year, it was tough narrowing down to the 10 best.
- Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader
- I spent most of December playing Rogue Trader following the large 1.3 update. I played it at launch last December and struggled with a few of the bugs and my knowledge gaps on the lore / mechanics of the game. They refactored a lot of the systems in the last year and fixed hundreds of bugs. As of this writing, I’m in act 4 of 5, and over 80 hours on this play through, and am absolutely loving the game.
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Yep, BG 3 will probably be in my list for next year too. I didn’t finish act 3 this year… though I did play a few different characters through act 1 which was a lot of fun!
- TCG Card Simulator
- TCG Card Simulator is a very simple but fun simulator running a trading card game shop. I intensely played this game for about 2 weeks and loved it.
- Metaphor Refantazio
- I’m a bit over 20 hours into Metaphor, from what I’ve heard it’s a long game (60 to 80 hours) and have really enjoyed what I’ve played so far. The art style is great, and I’m enjoying not playing a high schooler a la Persona or Shin Megami Tensai series.
- Fantasian Neo Dimension
- I’m in act 2 of this game, you can very much see the pedigree of the Final Fantasy games. I bounced off because of the updates to Rogue Trader, Metaphor and other games, but I’m really looking forward to returning.
- Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
- I adore the Yakuza / Like a Dragon series, this game had me hooked beginning to end. The Pokemon-like mini-game and Dondoko island, which is an animal crossing mini-game. This entry kinda-sorta put an end to Kiryu’s story, told a heart-warming story about Ichiban connecting with his mother and stopping Hawaiian based Scientologists doing evil. I finished this game and was thrilled the whole time, what a great experience!
- Astro Bot
- If you could bottle innocent joy in a 3d video game platformer, you’d have Astro Bot. This game was delightful. I finished everything it had to offer (at least at the time I played, since then they’ve added some bonus levels) and obtained the platinum. I’d recommend this to about anyone!
- Lost Eidolons
- This is a double-A or indie type of title that borrows heavily from the mechanics of fire emblem and places it in Unity. I’d honestly like to see more games like this.
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
- Second of a three game remake of the 1997 classic. I am over halfway through this, just need to return to it, especially since I have the PS5 pro now.
- Rise of the Ronin
- Really fun combat mechanics a la Nioh couched in an open world. I enjoyed it as a ‘turn your brain off and complete the checklist’ kind of experience. This game didn’t 100% hit, but if they follow it up, add up some storytelling production value budget and smooth out the mechanics a bit.