MGS V was actually my GoTY in 2015 but that only lasted a couple of minutes because then I played Witcher 3. MGS V can be an extremely satisfying experience for those like me who prefer pacifist and ghost playstyles. There are multiple non-lethal takedowns and they all have different timers before the taken down enemy regains consciousness and alerts not only guards within that camp but also nearby camps. If you play the game in a non-lethal predator style it is essential to destroy their radio communications equipment located somewhere in big camps so the enemies that regain consciousness won't be able to call in for reinforcements. Yes you can also get a tank in mission preparation screen, hell even call down a chopper to aid you but you'd have to ask someone else about that as my playstyle is vastly different. I'm the "do-what-you-need-to-do-quietly-without-touching-anyone-and-get-out-without-a-trace" type of stealther.

MGS V allows you to have buddies that you can take with you during missions, they are basically companions but the game calls them buddies. You unlock these buddies as you complete main missions. Early on in the game you rescue a puppy and extract him to mother base. When you go back to mother base Ocelot talks about the puppy and states that he will train him. Some main missions later the puppy grows and becomes my most favourite buddy D-Dog that can sniff out enemies making them appear on your minimap, lure or distract them by barking or later on in the game even take them down lethally or nonlethally via buddy equipments you can research or unlock. You can also have D-Horse which is just a horse but a very cute one, Quiet who is the highly underdressed sniper and D-Walker which is most likely a great option for loud playstyle because it is equipped with so many different weapons and technologies. You can only pick one buddy to join you.

One of my favourite features about the game is that the enemies adapt to your playstyle. Before starting a mission you are taken to the mission preparation screen where you pick out your equipment from body armour to weapons, from buddies to vehicles etc. Once you pick your gear you will need to select when the mission should start. It could be dark, in the morning or immediately. I always started my missions at night and eventually the enemies started wearing night vision goggles. The game also registers which body part you prefer to hit with your weapons. If you always go for headshots the enemies start wearing helmets or extra bullet proof vest protection if you go for torso.

My biggest gripe with the game is the repetitive side ops. As a completionist I simply have to do everything there is to do in the game and if the game gives me optional objectives, you bet that I will take them on. There are about 150 or so side ops and majority of them are pretty much the same. "Eliminate or extract tank unit", "eliminate or extract heavy infantry unit", "eliminate or extract armored vehicle unit". You do this over and over again like 60-70 freaking times. Same goes for the remaining side ops too. Another thing I don't like is how the score system works. While it is true that you get bonus points when you don't get detected or don't kill anyone, nothing can even come close to the high points you get as long as you are lightning fast. One known way to S rank a particular mission is to simply get a tank with you, rush into the compound with it, rescue the guy, get out, call down a chopper for extraction, use the tank while the chopper arrives, get on it and end the mission. That's it. As long as you are fast it really doesn't matter how you do the mission because you are pretty much guaranteed an S rank regardless of the chaos you create. Whereas my meticulous approach to each mission with a lot of finesse would get like A-B or even C because of how slow I am. I wish time didn't affect it that much and the ranking system employed a similar system to that of Thief or Splinter Cell Blacklist. In those games you get points based on your playstyle, so if you did a lot of stealth takedowns and did not get detected, you get predator and your rank is according to the predator playstyle not ghost.

This is a very big game and I know I did not talk about so many things so if you have any questions about the game please ask ahead.

Little Nightmares is truly a gem. There are hardly any games that make me think about it for a long while even after I'm done playing them and Little Nightmare is one of them. In the base game the player controls a little kid called Six who is kidnapped and being held captive in a massive ship called The Maw. Very early on in the game you realise this is no ordinary ship and it is being used to cater to the needs of a very horrendous gluttony... In the DLC you control a boy called the Runaway Kid who is also trying to escape from The Maw. The base game and the DLC ending are linked in a very chilling and heartbreaking way. The graphics and the OST are simply wonderful. Just taking one look at the art style and the design of the game can tell you how much love and passion went into its creation.

Throughout the game you have to use your small form as a kid to hide from the many horrific monsters that The Maw doesn't have a shortage of and wits to solve puzzles. Each monster has their own strengths and weaknesses and most of the time you will find yourself sneaking in order to get away from them. However I found the controls a bit annoying as it's a 2.5D platformer, so there are times when you think you are aligned correctly but you end up jumping to your death as you barely miss the platform you need to jump on. I also wasn't a fan of having to hold the grab button pretty much the entire game as you fall if you don't hold the button. On the controller it's R2 and I always hate having to press those buttons as it gives my hand cramps. So the whole process of sprinting while pressing square and then suddenly switching to X to jump and pressing R2 to grab on a ledge jolted constant pain to my right hand.

I should also mention that there is absolutely 0 words being uttered in the game to tell the story. The narrative is completely wordless but the visuals and the soundtrack are more than enough to immerse you into the story so much so that I didn't even want to read the free comics at first because I thought "words" would break the immersion. I've never had such a thought before. The atmosphere of the game is very dark not only in graphics but also in the themes it deals with. A lot of the characters as well as the universe the game takes place in are surrounded by such a mystery that one can't help but ask thousands of questions and nit pick every detail they can find inside each room in order to catch clues and form their own theories. Dogmas and I have exchanged theories for hours on end and didn't even realise how time has passed. This is not something many games can succeed in doing.

Hellblade tells the story of Senua embarking upon a journey into Helheim to defeat Hela and save the soul of her loved one. Like having to fight all kinds of horrific otherworldly enemies and overcoming the challenges set by the gods are not enough, she also has to do all of that while dealing with psychosis. I found the combat quite clunky and I greatly disliked the auto target system which is something I always despise in games. However I did not play this game for the combat, I played it because of the story and because I wanted to know how they incorporated the subject of psychosis into the game and that's exactly where the game shines so bright that it'd be enough to blind anyone.

The developers were in constant contact not only with neuroscientists and mental health specialists that became an expert on the subject but also people who actually deal with psychosis. The people who live through this every day shared their experiences with the developing team and all these experiences are in one way or another implemented into the game. Then during further testing, the game is tested by these people so that they can critique if the implementations were accurate enough. So basically the game was developed while being monitored by those who know exactly what psychosis is. The result is absolutely astonishing because we, as the player, can really experience the world like these magnificent individuals do. They can see shapes and make connections in the most amazing way so we also have to find shapes that are formed by different elements in order to progress. They hear voices and therefore we also do which is why playing Hellblade with headphones is strongly advised. Sometimes they can have very limited vision so a chapter is played solely in darkness. Sometimes they see colours in the most lively and vibrant way and we also witness this.

What Ninja Theory achieved with Hellblade is a remarkable proof of what games can accomplish as an art form and as an educational tool. I also would like to give a standing ovation to Melina Juergens, the video editor of Ninja Theory who has never done an acting job in her entire life. She performed the role of Senua in the most perfect way possible and I can not think of anyone who could ever outdo her astonishing performance and all the awards she has won with her performance as Senua are completely justified.

Pillars of the Earth takes place during the Medieval period in a fictional town called Kingsbridge, England. The story it tells spans over 40 years. The world is full of power hungry clergymen who are using the word of god and their high position within the church ranks to meddle in politics, abusive leaders like kings and earls who mistake fear for respect and loyalty, war, hunger, drought, conspiracies, treason, massacres, romance... You name it. Among all of this are one selfless Monk who wishes to repair the Kingsbridge Cathedral to make it worthy of god, one stonemason whose dream is to build the most beautiful cathedral anyone has ever seen and an outlaw boy who finds that life has a lot more in store for him than just hunting and surviving in the forest. Fates of these characters are intertwined for a common goal; to turn their hopes and dreams of a majestic "Kingsbridge Cathedral" into a reality. The game allows us to witness the story from the perspectives of 4 playable characters: Philip - Prior of Kingsbridge Cathedral, Tom Builder - the stonemason/master builder, Jack - an outlaw boy who grows up to be a brilliantly talented architect, stone carver and a sculptor and Aliena - Earl Bartholomew's daughter who has to fight alongside her brother, the rightful heir, Richard to take back control of the Earldom of Shiring.

Very recently I had a chance to read The Pillars of the Earth from Ken Follett. I made sure to read it before playing the game just to have more information about the story. I can easily rank it among my most favourite novels of all time. When it comes to adapted works, my heart always wants the adapted version to stay as loyal to the original as possible but my brain is aware that this is not a realistic wish. The game is absolutely fantastic and it can easily stand on its own even for those who haven't read the novel. I guess this is a good place to state that you absolutely don't have to read the novel to understand the game because everything is laid out in a comprehensive manner and explanations are always provided to the player. However for those who read it, there are some big differences in regard to certain characters which can really be off putting. Overall story wise the game stays very loyal to the book. It's the creative freedom they took with certain characters that I found inaccurate enough to bother me. I will not be spoiling anything of course so don't worry but I'd like to give a vague example. Alfred who is Tom's son is my 2nd most hated character in the novel. Yet he can be quite decent in the game. While he isn't a saint by any means, he is definitely not someone to hate as much as I hated the novel version. My most favourite characters from the novel are Jack and his mother Ellen. Especially Ellen is portrayed to be an incredibly strong and badass woman, but sadly in the game she can be somewhat weak and passive with the exception of a very few scenes. There are some major personality differences in the character Prior Philip too. Considering these are my most loved or most hated characters, such conflicts kinda annoyed me but again I know it isn't realistic to expect 100% loyal representation even though for the most part this game IS indeed loyal to the book.

As far as the gameplay goes it's quite limited. It feels more like a walking simulator than a typical point and click adventure game. Yes you pick up some items along the way but they are minimal in numbers. There are no puzzles with moon logic and the game progresses very smoothly. It's pretty much impossible to get stuck as your instructions are very clear, not to mention items and people to interact with are very limited. There are many locations you will be visiting but each chapter takes place in one location with very few areas to visit so you won't have this one huge map in which you need to travel from one place to another clicking everywhere frantically and using every item you have on every interactive point in hopes of getting something right and therefore progressing, like the way it is in most point and click adventure games. Things really are not vague like that at all. Think of it as one of the recent Telltale adventure games but with a bit more gameplay involved. There are 3 books in total, each one containing 7 chapters. If you don't fastforward any dialogues and try to do some small side objectives which are not required for main story progression, you can expect a total of 20-23 hours of gametime. I finished the game twice but during my 2nd playthrough I skipped majority of the dialogues except when I made different choices so I have around 31 hours played overall.

I can easily rate Pillars of the Earth among my top 3 point and click adventure games. It boasts beautifully designed landscapes and sceneries. I couldn't help but take screenshots from like 90% of the game. Personally when I think of Daedalic, one of the first things that come to my mind is bad voice acting (and moon logic puzzles but I already established that they don't exist). This is definitely not the case with Pillars of the Earth as the voice acting is absolutely fantastic. Daedalic definitely went all the way in for this game which is further proven by the fact that even the bestselling author Ken Follett himself gave his voice to one of the minor but recurring characters. My top highlight is Philip voiced by Glen McCready and 2nd one is adult Jack voiced by Alex Jordan. Music throughout the game also feels very chilling and fits the overall historical romance theme of the game perfectly well. My only criticism when it comes to gameplay would be not having the option to pause or go to the menu during dialogues. I should also mention that cutscenes and animations can't be skipped, dialogues in cutscenes can't be fastforwarded and double clicking doesn't make the character run. However double clicking when it comes to location changes makes you travel there instantly.

Trine 2 is a very colourful and lighthearted platformer in which you can control one three characters with different abilities and can switch between these characters whenever you want. Unless you are playing in a group and character mode is set to "classic" which means a player will always play the character they are assigned to and won't be able to switch until the end of the chapter. However if the character mode is "unlimited", anyone in the group is free to switch between three characters whenever they want which can be chaotic in a hilarious way as you might have let's say 3 Zoya in your screen and you don't know which one is you. It's a very visually pleasing game with an enjoyable soundtrack and smooth gameplay. It's one of the very few platformer games I really enjoyed in a genre I truly hate. I also liked that it allowed me to play in a pacifist way with the exception of boss battles. Amadeus is my favourite character and he has an ability to put enemies in boxes. So instead of killing I had the chance to utilise my pacifist playstyle into the game as much as it allowed me, trapping enemies in boxes so that I could progress without being harmed myself or harming any enemies. There is a limit on how many boxes you can create so when I go far away and trap new enemies, the previous enemies I trapped in previous locations will be untrapped as their boxes will be destroyed. No real harm done to anyone! :P

However 100% completion in this game is like something that you don't wanna see even in your darkest and worst nightmares. I have finished this game ages ago and enjoyed it thoroughly. But it was when I saw someone achieving 100% on it that I came up with the brilliant and genius idea that "if this person can 100% it, so can I!" With that ridiculous motivation I went into the game to unlock the last 3 achievements I needed, one of which required completing the DLC on hard difficulty + hardcore mode and the DLC is already significantly harder than the base game even on the easiest difficulty. Inanimate objects were punched, skins were bruised, swollen fists were submerged in cold water, hair was torn out. After a lot of self mutilation I got it but I'm seriously asking myself if it was worth it because now I am despising a game once I really enjoyed. I'm pretty sure it wasn't worth it. If you are a completionist and not a platformer expert, tread carefully with Trine 2.

Last Day of June tells the sad story of Carl reliving the day of a fatal car accident that took his wife June. He is doing everything he can in order to stop it from happening to save her life. You get to play with different characters and try to undo whatever part they took that caused the car accident. The Groundhog Day effect is very strong in the game because even when you are done with a character doesn't mean you are done with them for good. For example you play with the Kid and get through his part and then do the same with the Best Friend or the Hunter and then you need to replay the kid again to open some path that the best friend or the Hunter will need to progress further into their stories and so on. The actions these characters take are interconnected to the actions of the other characters, therefore you will often need to replay a character just to be able to do another act with another character. Each character has two endings to their stories with the exception of Tunter who has 3 endings. To give a more concrete example, you need to end the day with the Kid by doing something other than picking up the rope and flying a kite with it so that the best friend can use the rope to end her story in a different way. This goes on and on...

The actions the characters take are quite limited and the world is rather small so it's pretty much impossible to get stuck in a story as you can only interact with very few number of objects that will unlock one of two endings for a character (or three for Hunter). Unfortunately it's impossible to skip cutscenes so everytime you switch between characters in order to progress with another character, you need to live through the same car accident cutscene over and over again. If the cutscenes were skippable the game would have been much more of a joy to play, and when I mean joy I don't mean in the traditional sense because it is still a sad story as the developers Ovosonico did a great job of conveying the messages of loss, grievance and not to mention denial.

Hidden Paws is an adorable 3D hidden object game in which you find missing kittens and their yarns to protect them from the cold environment. The game features about 12 or so beautifully designed winter landscapes and there are a set number of cats and yarns to find in each of them. When you are playing a level the game shows you how many you need to find and by hovering over the cat or the yarn icon you can get a hint as to the general location you need to search to find them. The developer is quite involved with the player base, constantly replying to comments and questions not to mention fixing or adding anything the players are talking about. A broken achievement was fixed in a matter of hours, new camera options were added when players criticised it, a hint system for yarns was implemented when someone suggested it and camera moving when game is idled was removed when a player mentioned how annoying it made the game. If that developer is not an angel that should be supported then I don't know who is.

However, there is a major flaw in the game; though I don't know how the developer could have avoided it, maybe he isn't even aware of it. It induced some serious "motion sickness" to the point of making me rush to the bathroom because I overplayed it even though my body told me I should stop. I know some members of BLAEO experience motion sickness so I strongly urge you to play the game in very short bursts if it's something you are interested in. If you take breaks after finishing each area before the motion sickness takes its toll, you will be able to easily manage the condition while also experiencing this wonderfully crafted game overloaded with cuteness.

When describing The House of Da Vinci, saying that "it's like The Room but longer and with more complicated puzzles" would be pretty accurate. It's a "let's escape" type of game meaning in order to leave the room you are in you must solve a number of puzzles and do the same thing in the next room and then the next etc. The game has a bunch of mechanical puzzles with intricate animations. As the locations you need to work on are far bigger than the ones you deal with in The Room, the player has to pay a little more attention to the clues or a new object they obtain. That being said as long as you explore each and every area carefully, it's pretty tough to get stuck and it has a rather well designed hint system that gives you a more definite clue each time you use it after it recharges over time. The first hint hypothetically could be something like "this handle I just picked up has to fit somewhere", basically meaning it is usable provided you find where it fits (sometimes objects you pick up may not be readily usable). The next hint will be less vague and then the 3rd which is usually the last hint will tell you the exact location you need to use the object on.

Sadly this game also made me suffer a lot from motion sickness. The way the camera zooms in and out or moves to a location you clicked on induced some serious motion sickness but not as much as Hidden Paws did. I still had to take breaks while playing this game to manage my condition though. This kinda surprised me because The Room has similar camera movement and I didn't get any motion sickness from it but maybe that was because it's far more limited in terms of where the camera can go and the chapters are significantly shorter than The House of Da Vinci. I can't say for sure. Fortunately the game saves every action you take immediately so if you have to take a break, you can return to the exact state you left the game at. The achievements require you to find collectible items in the form of real sketches belonging to Da Vinci which are hidden in almost each chapter. But fear not because even if you somehow miss them (they have a glow), upon completion of the game you will have access to every previous chapter from the main menu so you don't have to start the game from the very beginning.

Marie's Room is a free walking simulator which tells the story of an unconventional friendship between Maria and Kelsey. We play as Kelsey and visit the room of Maria 20 years after something happened in their friendship. Upon interacting with Maria's journal in the beginning of the game, Kelsey goes back 20 years to remember the memories that took place in the past by interacting with various objects in Marie's room and ultimately the revelation about their friendship is provided to the player. Marie's Room has incredibly pretty graphics for a free game. The story is quite intriguing and the voice acting is very impressive considering that this is a short and a free game. I respect the developers for making Marie's Room available for everyone free of charge especially because I could definitely see myself paying a couple of dollars for this game. I played the game twice to get the achievements I missed during my first playthrough. So the average play time for Marie's Room could be somewhere between 30 to 35 minutes.

Robin is a free game that deals with the subject of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) in which each playthrough takes about 3-5 minutes. Being someone who is self diagnosed with CFS, it naturally piqued my interest greatly. In the game you have a bunch of tasks waiting to be done but you have only a limited amount of energy so you are physically unable to do all of them. You have only the weekend to do what you want your character to do and you need to strategically use your energy wisely in order to make your character happy at the end of the weekend with your progress in terms of getting your house chores and work done while also not dismissing your personal needs. Feeding the bird, taking a shower, cooking, washing the dishes, checking social media, working, watering the plant, reading, tidying the pile of clothes on the floor and so on... It's all up to you to find a balance between your professional and personal responsibilities as well as leisure activities. It's a very simply designed game with very basic gameplay mechanics so don't have high expectations. I liked it a lot though, as I found it greatly relatable.

Before The Longest Journey I considered Amanita Design's Machinarium as my most favourite point and click adventure game of all time. The Longest Journey easily surpassed any game I played from the same genre and it's gotten so far ahead that I need to play something that's seriously on a masterpiece level to replace it (Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth comes very close). Its protagonist April Ryan is such a funny and adorable character that I felt a special bond forming the more I played the game. I actually felt quite emotionally distressed when it ended because I did not want to say goodbye to the game and April Ryan herself. Lovable protagonist with a sense of humour, gripping narrative, immersive storytelling, very well written and informative dialogues, knows when to be funny and when to be sad or emotional; The Longest Journey ticks all the boxes of what a point and click adventure game needs to be. But it is not all good because one of the boxes it also ticks is "moon logic". There are so many games in this genre that go out of their way to make their puzzle solutions ridiculous so I don't know if it's something the genre naturally should have or avoid, if it's the former The Longest Journey has plenty of those. Unfortunately some of the puzzles are so totally bonkers that I had to glue myself to a walkthrough in order to progress. Without a walkthrough I can easily see myself clocking over 50 hours in this game and that is not even a guarantee whether I would get to see its end or not.

I went into the franchise head on by playing the last installment, Dreamfall Chapters, first. This was a big mistake. I had so many questions about so many things once I was done with Dreamfall Chapters. The Longest Journey fills in a lot of the blanks and provides insane amount of information about the universe the franchise takes place in. It's an invaluable game that should not be overlooked, ignored or skipped by all point and click adventure fans or players who want to play the franchise no matter how old it is. I should admit that I became quite angry once I found out that iOS has a remastered edition of The Longest Journey with better graphics and for some reason this is not available on PC. Nevertheless play it even if you think its graphics might hurt your eyes. Besides April Ryan has some very important inventory management skills she needs to teach you.