A Year of Backlog Fight in Review
Happy New Year again fellow assassins! Best wishes for 2018 both in your life and in gaming.
I can’t believe it’s been another year. Well twice sets up a tradition so it’s time for another massive post where I look back on my year in backlog fight and I share with you my favorite games of 2017. I’m sorry this post is so long so thanks in advance to those of you who’ll take the time to read it. As for my favorites, I played so many good games this year it was hard to pick only 15, so I want to give a mention to some of those games who almost made the list: Why am I dead at sea, Copoka, Concrete Jungle, Tahira, Sharlight… Anyway, enough rambling and let’s get into it.
What about you, what were your favorites in the past year? What are the games you’re the most excited about coming up this year? Feel free to share in the comments, I love to hear about it.
Finished: 142
Beaten: 68
Completed: 74
Gifted games (SG + others) finished: 100 (53+47)
Added to the Backlog of Doom: 162
Best month: May (-44)
Worst month: September (+16)
I almost kept The Backlog tamed!
Hidden Folks
7 hours playtime, 6 of 6 achievements
One of my firm favorite of this year. Best way I have to describe this is "Where's Wally 2.0". I know it might not sound like much, but each scene is packed with tons of details, everything you interact with makes a cute mouth recorded sound and overall you can see all the love the devs have poured into this game. They keep working on updates to add more levels and it's just overall already a great experience for the price. I've given multiple copies to friends as Xmas gifts and they all loved it, even the ones I wasn't sure it would be their thing, so this is clearly one of my highest recommendation (especially if you grab it before the sale is over).
SteamWorld Heist
29 hours playtime, 33 of 47 achievements
I know it was already my top last year, but I've replayed it and after some pondering, I couldn't not include it. So I'll keep it short: if you like turned based tactics and haven't played this yet... Please just go play it!. (If you need more reasons why, you can read this or this)
Pyre
15 hours playtime, 34 of 51 achievements
As the next game from SuperGiant Games, Pyre was one of my most expected game for 2017 and I have to say it delivered. It is always a bit complicated to describe Pyre as it's both: a RPG, a sports game, a visual novel of sorts (or at least a choose your own adventure type)... And yet the combination somehow works really well. Gameplay wise it's miles away from the studio's previous games, yet some elements will look familiar: mind blowing art, amazing soundtrack and of course the voice actor of the narrator from the previous game is voicing several characters in this one. For the rest, don't let the sport-like part keep you away, I don't like sports games yet I loved Pyre. I'd say give it a try, you can always get a refund if you see you don't like it (the gameplay is more or less the same from the start).
Old Man's Journey
2 hours playtime, no achievements
This is still one of the most soothing, relaxing game (along with Hidden Folks) that I've played this year. I'm totally in love with the visuals of this game, the art is really beautiful. Gameplay wise, it's a simple puzzle game where you guide the protagonist through his journey by moving elements of the landscape. The story is pretty predictable but it's ok as it's not supposed to be a mystery. It's both sad and sweet, and pretty short overall.
Tyranny
33 hours playtime, 20 of 70 achievements
Tyranny is my favorite RPG I've played this year, and is everything you'd expect coming from Obsidian if you ever played any of their games. Yes, the game is not perfect, but it had all I wanted from it. Good writing, enticing story and pretty high replayability. It was enjoyable to be on the bad guys side in this fantasy world devastated by war (and where the bad guys have actually won). I haven't had the chance to try the DLCs though, so I can't vouch for them, but if you're into RPG and haven't played this yet, it should be high on your list.
Ticket to Earth
20 hours playtime, 30 of 46 achievements
This game is another weird combo of genre that turned up working pretty well together. It's both a sci-fi tactics RPG and a tile matching game. I know it sounds weird, but as I said it does work pretty well. The tile matching comes when you trace the path to move your characters on the grid, and let you collect energy of different types at the same time, that you can then you in various actions. The game comes from a tablet port but I found the PC version actually pretty comfy to play. Only fair warning, the game is planned to have 4 episodes and only 2 are currently out, so the storyline for now is incomplete (but pretty interesting so far). That being said, gameplay wise you already have a lot to do.
ABZU
4 hours playtime, 12 of 12 achievements
Sure Abzu is pretty short and is "just" an exploring diving simulator, but it's so pretty and so relaxing that it made it to my best of 2017 list. I'd recommend it to everybody except maybe if you're allergic to contemplative games OR if you have a phobia of being underwater, in which case I guess it'd be more stressing than relaxing for you.
Battle Chef Brigade
9 hours playtime, 13 of 25 achievements
I've talked about it in my last post but Battle Chef Brigade was probably my most anticipated game since it had been first announced , as it was gonna put my favorite (and actually the only kind I watch) type of anime: cooking/food anime. As it seems to be a pattern this year, it's again a weird mix of genre: part hack'n'slash (hunting for your ingredients) and then match-3 (cooking your dishes). The cooking part is then judged and rated with various criterias. If this sounds appealing to you, Battle Chef Brigade is really good/satisfying at what it does even though the story mode is not that long. Definitely met my high expectations.
Evoland 2
34 hours playtime, 38 of 38 achievements
One of my biggest surprise this year, maybe because I was expecting nothing out of it, or mostly a gimmicky game. Instead, I found a really cool action adventure game, packed with tons of pop culture references, but also nicely crafted itself. The story was classic but cool, and the use of different visual styles AND gameplays was clever. It might be sitting on your backlog as it's been bundled and you should give it a try if you like zelda-esque adventure games. This game had more to it than I first thought.
NieR:Automata
20 hours playtime, 19 of 47 achievements
Probably the most satisfying Action-RPG I've played this year, which was not a complete surprise coming from Platinum games. Add to that an interesting story, a great soundtrack, a pretty cool designed post-apo universe and a pretty fucked up cast of characters. I wish I had had time to go back to it, but it's still in my gaming bucket list. It has some great replayability too as the story changes the 2nd and 3rd time around. You might wanna give it a try even if you think JRPG are not your thing.
The Banner Saga
16 hours playtime, 30 of 39 achievements
Knowing my love for turned based tactics, I don't know how I've waited that long to play this. With the premise of leading a viking caravan through a desperate time and save what can still be saved, the game is just beautiful (think animated movie quality) and really satisfying for tactics lovers. If you're one of them, check it out if you haven't yet. I've been containing myself to hold on to play the sequel until the third and final game is released because of the cliffanger ending I've been warned about.
Thea: The Awakening
33 hours playtime, 14 of 31 achievements
Another great surprise this year was Thea: The Awakening. Imagine an exploring + crafting game with the mecanics of a Civilization game. You never expand your starting village (you can still improve it) and never go settle elsewhere but you have a whole map to discover, with encounters, quests, secrets and ressources to harvest. It also has an interesting card based battle system which is optionnal (you can auto-resolve encounters) and was pretty fun to play. The game itself was pretty addictive to me, in the "just one more turn and I'll stop" way. I think it's pretty good value for your money, especially during a sale.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
77 hours playtime, 38 of 51 achievements
I haven't played the previous trilogy (Trails in the Sky) but it doesn't matter as the stories are not related, it just happens in the same universe from what I understand. Basically you play as a student in a military academy through the course of a whole school year while in the background a more complex political plot unravels. I really liked how the story was divided into various school tasks plus each month a field assignement in which you get to know more and more of the biggest plot and what's going on in this world. I also greatly appreciated that you don't need to grind at any point unless you wanted to. The cliffanger ending is my main complain about this game, especially because the 2 other games haven't been ported to PC yet (and I don't have a playstation).
SteamWorld Dig 2
15 hours playtime, 26 of 34 achievements
As you can assume by the first game of this list, I love the Steamworld games. Even though I prefer Heist over Dig, I still enjoyed the original Steamwold Dig so I was excited to play the sequel. Well it's basically the same but better: bigger map, new improvements, new collectibles, new challenges... The story is a sequel to the first, so it's better if you've played it first. Enjoyable if you like exploring metroidvania in a steampunky robots universe.
Kona
8 hours playtime, 29 of 35 achievements
And finally, another game I played in december, Kona is a combo between a cold wilderness survival game and a dective/mystery one. I thought the association worked pretty well and the survival part wasn't too extreme (well still you need to take care but not to the point that it's annoying in your investigation). I don't wanna spoil the story for you so I'll leave it at that, but if the combinaison sounds appealing to you, I recommend you give it a try.
I thought I'd have a quick lookback on my plan from last year and see how I did. Here we go:
- Have fun! I definitely had a lot of fun!
- Prioritize SG wins and gifts from friends and try to at least play all of them. (Cf. the progress bars above) I think I did ok with that. Not great of course, as I was aiming for trying all of them, but then realized it was not compatible with the finish what I start objective. Also, the improvement on the gifts from friends list doesn't look that good but I blame that totally on xmas gifts.
- Try to improve my completion rate. I didn't reach my target of 75% but I went from 50% to 63% so at least it's something.
- Finish what I started. I managed to keep a small number of games played at the same time, but I wish I had done better at going back to unfinished things. The monthly theme that was exactly that helped me quite a lot though.
- Keep the backlog expansion as tamed as possible. Meh. Not as much as I would have liked, but overall I only have added 20 more games than I finished. Still I would have wanted a negative balance instead.
- Clean the backlog. I did that in May and it felt GREAT to remove all I considered garbage from my steam account instead of just moving them to the won't play list.
Progress in 2017
Won on SteamGifts
Jan 1st (75 games) vs Dec 31th 2017 (140 games)
Gifts & Other Wins
Jan 1st (133 games) vs Dec 31th 2017 (239 games)
Since last year's plan worked pretty well overall, I'm gonna keep a similar set of objectives, but with more realistic goals.
- Have fun! Again, I don't wanna have gaming turn into a tedious task.
- Prioritize SG wins and gifts from friends. I'll try to keep improving my completion rate of those two subgroups in priority.
- Try to improve my completion rate. I'm currently at 63% so maybe reaching 75% by the end of the year is possible. That being said like last year, I won't stress it too much if it's too tedious, rule one is still the priority.
- Finish what I started. I'll keep this one too, and will try to do better in reducing those unfinished games started a long time ago.
- Keep the backlog expansion as tamed as possible. Mostly meaning I'm not activating garbage anymore. The only way a game goes to my steam account is if I'm interested in playing it.
State of the Targets on January 1st 2018 (for tracking purpose)
Won on SteamGifts: 140 games
Gifts & Other Wins 239 games
Abzu is my “feel good game” of all time. Some games can be mind blowing, some games can be enjoyed a lot but some games can give you that real smile and that real happiness, that one may be so used to faking, even if it’s for a very short amount of time. Abzu was that for me. I’ll definitely replay it after I’m done with Age of Empires II.
I’m really interested in Hidden Folks but I’ll buy it during the next sale whenever that is. As a hidden object fan I feel like I’m bound to like it. Thanks for a very enjoyable-to-read update.
I totally feel you about Abzu, it’s really the feeling that it gave me too, such a zen game. Maybe Old Man’s Journey would be fitting you as well, even if it’s a different kind of game it also gave me that peaceful feel.
You can totally hold on for the next sale for Hidden Folks, maybe by then they’ll have added another set of levels too, who knows. It’s really one of the best if not the best hidden object game i’ve played, even though it doesn’t have a story like the ones from Artifex for example, it feels like it’s done with way more attention to details.
Thank you for taking time to read :3
It’s the cute animals that soothe me, I am positive that some old man’s journey can’t even come close to the tranquility I felt from the wonders of the underwater world and the amazing and beautiful creatures it can offer :P Humans agitate me :D Thanks for the recommendation though.
I don’t need to have a story to enjoy hidden object. I just want to find hidden objects :P AM games just scratch an itch, I don’t find them exceptional by any means. I actually don’t even like the adventure/puzzle parts in those games that much. That’s why I loved Under Leaves a lot cause it was pure hidden object, nothing else. Hidden Folks intrigue me because of that. The genre needs more “pure” hidden object games like those two.
Oh then you’re right, old man’s journey is not gonna work as well for you :3 Did you ever play the Shelter series (I haven’t so I’m not sure how it is)?
Then Hidden Folks will be totally perfect for you. I also prefer those to the Artifex type so I should bump Under Leaves up my wishlist :)
I don’t play survival games :P They are not soothing at all, exactly the opposite actually. There should be no risk, no death, no killing. Just cute animals :D
Oh I definitely suggest doing that. Really enjoyable game in my opinion and it has cute animals ^^
Oh, Shelter are survival games? Sorry for the confusion, I never played them and from the screenshots I saw it was looking so cute.
I was bummed it was not on sale but it’s cheap anyway so I might end up getting it at any point soon.
Thank you for the update and for a fun read! :D
Based on your recommendation, I’ve added Hidden Folks and Old Man’s Journey to my wishlist. Thanks for the rec!
Also, I noticed you completed A Boy and His Blob 100%. Congratulations! I couldn’t get past a boss (I think it was the second one?) and had to abandon the game. :(
What are “other wins?” I’m just trying to reconcile how you’ve gotten 241 gifts and “other wins.” Maybe you’re just universally loved! :p
BTW, the links in the lookback tab are broken because they’re to the old backlog-deepness site.
Well thank you for reading!
I hope you don’t regret it, they were both really relaxing and visually pretty games, I like to spread the love for those smaller games that don’t get much exposure. Actually I would never have known about Old Man’s Journey if a friend hadn’t gifted it to me in the first place, I hadn’t even heard about it.
Thanks, I have to admit if it hadn’t been a SG win I might have abandonned it earlier. I had nostalgia about the NES/Gameboy versions of this game and thought I’d like the remake but the commands were so frustrating that it was a pain to finish. I totally understand why you’d abandon it.
Others wins are a combinaison of gifts from friends (a big chunk of the list), stuff won in random places (like keys dropped on twitter or contests in steam groups) and finally games I won on a forum I’m on that has a system similar to SG in place.
Thank you, I tried to fix it hopefully I’ve caught all of them.
Huh, the post isn’t that long, no worries :) I think you did pretty well and made a good progress, good luck with your plan for 2018!
what were your favorites in the past year?
Three games come to mind right now: UnderRail, Slayaway Camp and The Walking Dead. Obviously, those are just a few of all the great games I played in 2017 :)
Well thank you!
Oh, that’s nice to know. I think I have a key for Underrail from a bundle somewhere, and Slayaway camp is in my backlog, so I should bump both up the playlist. Wow 135h for underrail? o__o;
You definitelly should! :)
Yeah I spent A LOT of time in Underrail, but that’s because I’m a slowpoke and I always take much longer to beat a game than anyone else on the planet :D
Well I have a huge tendency to derrail when i start playing a game with a lot of side stuff to do (Look at my time on Evoland 2) which is partly why I still haven’t touched Witcher 3, so I feel you. My times beating a game are mostly always a lot over what HLTB indicates.
Oh yeah, the HLTB times are always off in my experience. No idea who is submitting those, must be some speedrunners :D
I suspect so, or people only beelining for the story, which I rarely do as I feel it’s a waste of the game. But then sometimes you get assigned games in challenges supposedly under 5h that end up being more like 20h for me ;__;
I feel it’s a waste of the game.
Agreed, I’m like that, too :) And agreed that it’s a pain if you assume a certain lenght based on HLTB, but the game turns out to be three or four times as long.
Im due to play Banner Saga through soon, Bayonetta first and starting Divinity 2 with Jaye but I’m pretty excited to get stuck into it so nice to see it on your list! Happy New Year!
If you like turned based tactics it should be up your alley. Be warned that the story ends in a cliffanger.
wow, love the effort that went into this. I also love Steamworld Heist (as you know), Banner Saga, and Abzu! I’ve been eyeing Steamworld dig for a while, but I wasn’t sure if it was good. I’ll add that to the wishlist now.
Thank you :3
As for Steamworld dig, just be aware it’s a different genre than Heist. It’s more a digging metroidvania. I enjoyed both, but the second is more interesting/complex, or at least has more to do. I think the first one was bundled a few times, maybe you can find a key for it to trade :)
This is such a lovingly formatted post, like stef I commend the effort you put into this, from the banner to all the tabs and how you laid everything out. It was really nice to read.
I didn’t do a favorites post of my own, and I like how everyone is doing something like it. I think my favorite games I played this year had to be Telltale’s Batman s.1, Trails in the Sky SC, the House in Fata Morgana, and the Lion’s Song on PC, and Persona 5 on PS4.
Thank you (and thanks for reading).
Telltale Batman was pretty good too, I’m curious about season 2. I added the Lion’s Song to my wishlist after you posted about it I think, it looks pretty interesting :)
what tsuper said this is a nice post >_<
I ended up thinking it was funny that getting new games was done in red cause + is usually a positive outcome :3
and I should really follow your “finish what I start” resolution
esh…my started but unfinished pile is nearly larger than my haven’t played pile last I checked
Thank you :)
The finish what I started point was maybe what helped me most since I joined BLAEO, because I use to start everything and finish very little. That being said I still need to work on finishing those I had started before. I tend to pick stuff from the unplayed list when I decide what game to start next. That will be my focus this year.
Dream Daddy! Absolutely! But then I don’t even know if it was released last year… oh, never mind. It was MY highlight game of the year!
But I still wanna play Nier Autotmata at some point! nod And if I ever manage to play Banner Saga 1 I can totally hop onto 2!
Next year? Well since I never really know what will be released I can’t say - ok, Mass Effect I kinda know when it’s happening, but apart from that I basically never have a clue o.o
Still I’m super sure there will be something I will love and hype and what ever! bounce
Have an awesome year 2018!
GF got me Dream Daddy for Xmas and it’s really great, I’m having a blast so far. Even if Joseph’s kids are creeping me out so much!
Speaking of Mass Effect did you play Andromeda? I loved the original Mass Effect trilogy but after the whole debacle around it I didn’t play Andromeda.
Have an awesome 2018 too :D
Well Joseph is my least liked daddy :(
Although he was great up till a certain point I guess :D
And YES, HIS KIDS CREEP THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYBODY!!!!!!
I did! And still do - if I find time that is. Which I don’t too much sadly, but yep, I’m in playthrough two right now. Somewhere. Stuck, since other game priority. Backlog nagging, yk? ;)
I like it! \o/
I just couldn’t play it in German, because the gem Ryder voice tried to kill me so I instantly swapped to Eng, which is… not new and then new altogether? I played the original in German and love it (apart from the pronouncing of the word “Geth” in the first part, nevermind though) and I would have preferred playing Andromeda in German as well, but ooooh well, right? ;) No, but I think it’s great! It’s not the same lvl as the original trilogy, but it’s still awesome! I’m just kinda pissed, we don’t get DLC but books instead - which I haven’t bought yet shock
So there we go! Play it, but don’t expect Ryder to be Shep, he/she just isn’t. Shep was elite soldier, Ryder… not :]
I will do my best! Will start tomorrow on my first object for selling! \o/ Somehow Blue Lightning infected me with \o/…..
I have no intention of mingling with a religious extremist anyway so joseph was directly out but both the creepy kids and the fucked up wife. I laughed when at the bbq party he told his own kids to stop with the creepy children act though. added to the no no. In any case my mind was set pretty fast on Mat. HE OWNS THE COFFEE SHOP. FREE COFFEE FOREVER!! (Plus he’s really cute and sweet)
Thanks for the feedback on Andromeda, I’ll keep an eye open for a sale. Nobody can be Shep though, so I’m not expecting as much as in the first trilogy. Plus nothing can be the same without Garrus.
Best of luck with your sales, your painted cups were really really cool!
Yeah, I get that. That’s what put me off with him as well a bit and yes, it was hilarious how he is aware of the creepiness :D
Matt was super sweet! <3
Yep, but if you don’t expect a Shep it’s not that disappointing ;) It’s really trouble though if just basically think it’s gotta be the same. Which I never expected, since… Shep died and all that cry
Right, Garrus missing, Liara missing, Tali missing, EDI missing, no Joker aboard… sigh But we get some new cool ppl! :)
Not that cool though….
Yay! Thank you. Made two today - not finished - and they are at the moment basically black. Which they aren’t but surprise! :D
Are you gonna sell online (like on Etsy or something) or just locally?
ETSY! \o/
Nice! Best of luck :D
Thank you! I will even ship over Germany’s boarders if ppl want stuff - I mean, it’s not my money, right? :D
I really liked the fancy banner! ;)
You played some very good games this year. It certainly was a good year. Backlog only won this year by 20 games, I’m sure you’ll have your revenge next year xD
Btw, you must be the first person I’ve seen here who has more gifts than SG wins. Not something you see much around here, where complaing about one’s own SG backlog seems the norm. xD
Your plan for 2018 looks very good. Good luck with it! :D
Thank you :3
I’ll try my best but I have a hard time not adding games I really want to play to my backlog. I AM WEAK.
Well first I haven’t entered many giveaways on SG in the last months so it helped. That being said not everybody is keeping a list of those stuff either in here, I think since SG was what brought us together, most assassins are focused mainly on their SG backlog (which is good too).
Happy gaming in 2018 to you too :)
I was hesitant about buying NieR: Automata when I read that it’s a bit fanservice-y, then I listened to some of the music on youtube and now I kinda want it. Your description “add to that an interesting story, a great soundtrack, a pretty cool designed post-apo universe and a pretty fucked up cast of characters” (emphasis on “fucked up cast of characters”) makes it sound like my cup of tea. XD
Might get it next time it goes on sale. I’m busy with other games (or rather, a certain game) anyway. :p
What about you, what were your favorites in the past year? What are the games you’re the most excited about coming up this year? Feel free to share in the comments, I love to hear about it.
Dishonored 2 and Prey. I’m not sure which one I like more. XD It’s weird. I normally don’t like stealth but I 100%-ed both games.
Did a buying spree during the sale. Now I’m back to being not interested in anything. I guess it’s my normal state… It’s very rare for me to get really excited about anything.
I guess Nier has a bit of fan service but I wasn’t really care for it so I still think it’s a solid action RPG on its own. As for the weird fucked up characters, you should have your dose of it. I don’t know if you’ve ever saw an interview of Yoko Taro, but if not check one and you’ll see how weird the guy is. Let me tell you, you totally feel it when you play his games. In a good way for me but I realize it can repulse some people.
Both Dishonored 2 and Prey are still sitting on my backlog SHAME! and I think I’ll play Prey this month or the next cuz it’s on my ABC list and I’m currently at “N”. I usually love Arkane Studio’s games so that should be a good one.
Oh yes, I saw you got both Night in the Woods (which i’m about to play, it’s installing as I type) and Sproggiwood which i had a lot of fun last month. I can’t wait to read your impressions about Wildlands too, I don’t have it but I’ve always been curious if it was any good.
I prefer having no fanservice at all but I can tolerate some, as long as it’s not excessive. I kinda like weird and fucked up. I mean, Evangelion is one of my favorite anime. XD
Just a tip for Prey. It’s better to go stealthy and try to avoid combat, at least until you get typhon abilities. Playing it like a regular FPS before getting typhon abilities will most likely result in frustration. I did that during my first playthrough and I was on the verge of rage-quitting before I gave in and got typhon abilities. I started to really enjoy the game when I did my “no abilities” run, where I had to use alternative routes to progress.
I no longer have Night in the Woods. I tried it a bit and didn’t feel like in the mood for platforming so I asked for a refund. I’ll probably re-buy it later if I somehow get in the mood for that. I got Sproggiwood after I saw your screenies. It looked cute and seemed like a good roguelike for beginners. :D And I probably won’t be able to play Wildlands, as well as my other recent purchases, any time soon. Maybe I’ll do so if I get fed up with grinding or rage-quit in Attack on Titan. XD
Then it should be right up your alley, lookout for a good discount ;)
Thanks for the tip, since I always go for stealthy when possible, I’ll gladly follow your advice.
Aww sorry to read you didn’t get into Night in the Woods. As for sproggiwood, it’s indeed a good roguelike to start with. Maybe don’t go directly to the hard mode immediately, the ennemis in hard are way more brutal than in normal. Otherwise, it’s all good and chill once you catch the patterns.
I saw your screens from Attack on Titan it looks soooo weird :D As for Wildlands, no rush anyway as my backlog is all stuffed after the holiday period, so I won’t be buying anything soon.
Yep, that’s the plan for Sproggiwood. I don’t think I’ve played anything on hard mode for the first playthrough. :p
EvilBlackSheep strikes again. Are you secretly a writer? ;) Very sensible plans for 2018. Best of luck :) Also, very nice graph
Haha I promise I’m not. Best of luck to you too ;) The graph is automatically generated by Google spreadsheets, I just put each month balance in a table and this is it. I like graphs and statistics.
Greetings.
On behalf of the company Kaleith Inc. I am pleased to inform you that we’re offering you a full time and unpaid job position as Stat-keeping Sheep effective immediately.
Your goal will be to keep track of backlog and videogame stats for the company, gathering them and organizing them into a nice monthly recap, as well as preparing an end-of-the-year post with graphs and tables.
You lost me at “unpaid”. Sorry I’ll have to decline :p
All this talk and not a word for the guy who gifted you Hidden Folks, the game on top of your 2017 favorites ?! :p
Honestly, I understand you didn’t since you look like you usually receive a heck of a number of games (either from SG or from somewhere else ;) ).
Anyway, pretty nice 2017 recap post : kudos for the graph (BTW, what happened in May 2017 ? You removed games from Steam ?) and layout. And equally nice comments.
Like said earlier, my GOTY is probably Pyre but I have a soft spot for Lego Jurassic World and Football Tactics.
For 2018, I will try to stay reasonable on my backlog adds and to dedicate myself to my ABC project.
Don’t think I forgot you’re the one who got me Hidden Folks. Sorry if it looked ungrateful :(
Thanks, the graph is actually generated by googlesheets you just have to put the numbers in a table and boom. And yes in May is when I purged my account from all the “garbage” I added back when I didn’t care about the backlog. You know, stuff like adding the whole bundle when you actually just want one or two of the games, or those free keys that you add “just for the cards”. It actually felt extra good to purge all this from my steam account.
Oh, you’re right about Lego Jurassic World! I’ve beaten it last month but I’m still playing it to 100%. Like I said somewhere else, I find Lego games weirdly therapeutic when you just need to empty your mind. What about Football Tactics, I saw you were planning to give it for the xmas gift swap on the forum. I read it’s both a tactics game and a football manager thing, how much do you have to like football to get into it?
Best of luck with your plan for 2018, you’ll see how it goes for you but I actually found that the ABC project was helping me with motivation.
I totally understand you don’t quote every person who gifted you a game. I was just teasing you. :p
You could not be more on the money when you talk of Lego Jurassic World’s therapeutic function. I don’t want to expand on it but it did exactly this job to me back in Spring 2017 when I played : turn off my brain and forget real world pains. On a lighter note, it also makes you fall back in childhood, and I was also able to play a big chunk of it with my kids.
I’d lie if I say you can play Football Tactics completely without knowing football (soccer for our US friends) but I think you can enjoy it even if you don’t really like football since I’m personally not very keen on real football (I can’t stand all the nastiness and acting involved anymore). You can for instance simulate the games and focus on the management, and just forge a nice team in a RPG way (XP points, specialization). That said, the gameplay during games is the tactical part of RT, so you’d obviously miss this side if you skip the games. FT being still in EA at the moment, you can still wait to make an idea about it.
If you’ve enjoyed that one by the way, you can also try the other Lego games depending on what universes you like the most. I really enjoyed the Star wars complete saga, the batman ones, LOTR and the indiana jones too. Weirdly the most disappointing one was the Lego Movie one even tho I enjoyed the movie itself.
I’ll have a look at some gameplay from FT, maybe even if I don’t like football it might be fun to play as I love tactics and management games. Thanks for explaining ;)
I like that 2017 graphic you made.
I’ve overlooked Hidden Folks in the past because I didn’t realize it was good. It’s nice to know you like Trails of Cold Steel without previously being a fan – since I have played the other ones, I assume I will like it even more when I get to it. And I’d never heard of Kona, but now it’s on my wishlist. :)
Hidden Folks is easily disregarded but it’s really my high point of 2018 (of course it’s no AAA but it does what it does really well).
For Trails of Cold Steel, I assume you see how the 2 connect as they’re supposedly in the same universe, but it didn’t need any pre-requisite either. Now i can’t wait that they port part 2 & 3.
I picked up hidden folks in the sale, and beat it today. I agree that it’s a lot of fun. I do hope they add more scenes to it though, as it was over too quickly.
The banner saga was also one of my highlights of last year’s completed games. Not the most amazing gameplay, but that epic story had me hooked. I’ve got the sequel in my 2018 game list.
They seem to be working on more content, even if the Snow ones just got added 2 weeks ago and it seems like a lot of work for each new level (they’re only 2 guys working on that). At least they’re extremely nice and they seem dedicated.
I’m trying to hold out til Banner Saga 3 is out to not be crushed by the cliffanger and the need to wait. I’m not even sure if they announced WHEN it will be ready but I’m excited.