The fourth and final entry in the Flowers franchise. Don't have much to add to this without repeating what I said about the previous entries in the franchise, but I will say that it is probably the weakest of the bunch. While I'm not as dissatisfied with the ending as other people, I definitely enjoyed the others more, including Automne which I also read this year.

So why am I including this one here? Because it's the end of the journey. It was something I really looked forward to reading more of, ever since I finished Printemps back in May 2019. It remains my favourite yuri franchise and I'll give it a spot on the list, even if just barely. Ete is still the best though.

I had quite a lot I wanted to talk about for this VN but for once, I actually don't really remember all the details, particularly in regards to several QoL features I liked (probably due to the fact that Riddle Joker outclassed it in that regards, which I read later in the year). I also wanted to make a couple of voice reels to showcase just how amazing the voice acting was in the game but naturally I ended up being too lazy to make the compilation.

Anyway, the title and gorgeous cgs were more than enough to get me interested in this VN and I'm glad it did. Between the superb art direction, the masterclass in voice acting and the different interesting stories converging into the main one made this one of the better reads of 2022. It sold pretty poorly unfortunately but I suppose that was to be expected with the $40 price tag, which is usually much higher than most people are willing to pay for VNs in the west.

As someone that wasn't too familiar with Uchikoshi's works, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this title. Sure, the trailer and screenshots looked like I'd probably like it based on my previous enjoyment of games like Danganronpa, but the only other thing I've seen/played from the director was Punch Line, which was… not for everyone, let's just say.

I do feel like Somnium Files is in a similar position - while I did greatly enjoy my time spent throughout the whole craziness going on in here, I do feel like it has quite a few elements that might put other people off, like the protagonist's personality and a lot of fetish talk. Since that doesn't really bother me and this was also one of the more… unique games I've played last year, it's gonna be getting the 6th spot on this list.

And now we're getting into the really good games of 2022. Any of these could've probably been my goty in previous years for one reason or another, hence why I said my challenge was a success.

MHS2 is… rock-paper-scissors pokemon. That's it, that's the whole game.

No, but seriously, this game's concept is so ridiculously simple and stupid that it has absolutely no right to be as fun and addictive as it ended up being. I laughed when I saw the trailer and how your companions are called "monsties" - like really? what is this child pandering doing in my monster hunter game? And yet… the 2-ish hours long demo was all I needed to know just how badly I was mistaken about this game. It just works so well for such a simple concept (it does get more complex in terms of how you build, weaknesses and all that jazz, but it's still a glorified rock-paper-scissors simulator).

As easily one of the best "monster collector" games on PC, this would've probably been much higher on the list if my 2022 completion list wasn't so stacked.

Elden Ring at… #4? Huh? Am I reading that right? 🤔

Yep, the most anticipated game for fans of soulslikes did not actually make my top 3 this year. It is, however, the highest placement for a 2022 release, so I suppose I do agree with all the GOTY awards this has claimed in the past month.

While this is "pretty low" on my list, it's not really because I didn't enjoy it or anything (as might be pretty obvious by the 200-ish hours of playtime). It does have its flaws, sure, like a lot of reused bosses and such, but it was just outclassed by the others.

I could just repeat all the stuff you might've already heard on the internet but I don't really see a point - this is likely one of the most discussed games of the year, so I'll just say that this is my favourite FromSoft game up to date, no doubt. While Sekiro's combat was more satisfying, the sheer amount of possible builds still make Elden Ring far more appealing in the end.

DMC5 was a really pleasant surprise for me. As someone that rarely plays pure hack'n'slash games, I can't say I have a lot of experience in the genre (I believe my last title played was Bayonetta in like 2017), but it sure as hell ticked a lot of boxes.

Should be no surprise that such a heavy action game is high up my list, especially when it's done so incredibly well, but I can't really say I was expecting it. Between the insane amount of combos, vastly different characters and style, attention to detail, the way everything interacts with enemies with so many unexplained mechanics you can figure out, you can just clearly see the amount of love that was put into this title.

It does not come without its flaws though, particularly being locked to a couple of fairly easy difficulties, having to replay everything (including every mission on every difficulty if you plan to get the achievements, as beating the higher ones don't unlock achievements for the lowest), but it did have one of the most satisfying combat systems I've seen in recent times. Looking back, I would've probably been annoyed if this game didn't win the "best action" award at TGA 2019.

Can't say I'm too excited about replaying every mission so many times to see how the highest difficulty feels like, but I'll probably at least go back and play the Vergil dlc at some point this year, as I didn't get around to doing so yet.

As someone that cares more about combat mechanics than the actual exploration aspects, I've kinda kept going back and forth whether Sekiro or the first Nioh was my favourite soulslike for a while. That uncertainty was dispelled rather quickly in early 2021 when I initially started my playthrough of Nioh 2 and saw just how vastly it improved on its mechanics, swiftly surpassing the opposition.

But there was still the question… is it the level design that makes FromSoft the "top dog" in this debate? Clearly it wasn't the rb/r1 spam that made Dark Souls appealing, so it was obviously the interconnected world that made the games so memorable.

A year later, Elden Ring came out to also settle that debate for me. Not because it helped me understand why people love FromSoft's world vision so much, but because it made me realize that… just having "level select" type of areas and missions in the Nioh franchise is perfectly fine. Elden Ring's open world ended up being more detrimental for someone that tries to explore every nook and cranny, so maybe just having smaller areas (that still have the usual shortcuts and such) is perfectly okay. Elden Ring definitely had its "wow" moments when arriving in certain places, but having to fill the oversized map with the same bosses over and over again was by no means a better alternative to having smaller handcrafted levels.

As a result, Nioh 2 is undoubtedly my favourite soulslike up to date. The combat is incredibly fleshed out, NG+ cycles change how almost everything works (from having access to better gear, new enemy placements, new enemy mechanics, changed boss behaviour and so on) and it has one of the best character creation menus (maybe still not quite on CODE VEIN's level, but pretty close). Hell, the fact that the game actually managed to keep my attention all the way to the highest NG+ cycle is more than enough reason for me to praise the game - I pretty much never replay anything (other than roguelikes/lites, for obvious reasons).

My one complaint is that the boss roster is probably weaker than the first game. Not necessarily in terms of themes, but in how relatively simple most of them are. I suppose this is balanced by having less cheesing options compared to the first game.

There is always a bigger fish: The Videogame

If at the start of the year you told me that an indie deckbuilder was gonna surpass Elden Ring and Nioh 2, I would've probably called you crazy, but this game… this game was something else.

It's actually pretty hard to talk about what makes this game particularly special, as the unexpected things are part of what makes this so good. I could tell you all about the amazing songs Mili has put out for this game, but there's hardly anything that would leave an impression out of context. I suppose I could leave the opening cinematic if you wanna get a taste for it.

No, instead I can tell you that this is a game made by someone that added… everything he ever thought of and wanted in the game. Balance? Thrown out of the window. Keeping things simple so people understand the gameplay easily? We don't do that here. A straightforward UI to make every combat encounter feel effortless? Nah, how about over a dozen of dice with multiple arrows spreading across the screen making a complete clusterfuck towards the end of the game instead? One of the most common things associated with the game is that "the difficulty spike is vertical" (in fact googling that in quotation marks just gives you results about this game), and for pretty good reason. 127 hours for my playthrough and at no point did the game stop adding new mechanics, it's actually ridiculous. To be fair around 15 of those hours are fully voiced cutscenes, but still.

Yes, that was 127 hours for a single playthrough. Yes, it's "just" a handcrafted story, not a roguelike deckbuilder or anything of the sorts. And with that, I'll get to the point… Would I recommend this game? Probably not, to almost anyone (although I did gift this to someone for Christmas, sorry). I'm not gonna gatekeep about the difficulty or anything like that but more about the time this game demands from you. Not even the total playtime, but from how long you're kept in a particular session at times. I can only speak for myself, but carefully planning every move made one of the endgame fights take 110min (timed, not pulling a random number out of my ass). No, you can't quit and continue, you'd have to restart. Losing the fight? Yep, back to 0 as well. This is not just one fight either, this happens multiple times throughout the playthrough.

Anyway, it's edgy, it's gruesome, and it's super satisfying to figure out builds and how to overcome the difficult fights. It's hard for me to say if this overtook Darkest Dungeon as my favourite game of all time due to how different they feel (outside of the brutal difficulty found in both), but it certainly had many more memorable moments than any other game in recent times. Fortunately you can have 2 "favourite game" showcases on steam for now so I'll leave this problem for future me to solve, whenever a 3rd contender appears :)

Oh right, I'd also like to give a special shoutout to the ProjectMoon community in general. Never before have I seen such disciplined fans in a gaming community, doing their absolute best to keep everything spoiler-free even when someone asks for help. Everything is an abbreviation or just a general direction of which path you might wanna take before tackling another fight that you might be stuck on at the time.

Ever since I played Muse Dash last year I kinda have the urge to play a rhythm game every now and then, although most of the time it just means going back to the aforementioned title. I did end up getting this as a gift when it was in a bundle since a certain cat didn't care for it so I ended up giving it a shot. After all, I was already into deckbuilding roguelites so with my new found love for rhythm stuff it seemed like a good opportunity - and, well, it kinda was. The game does get incredibly fun when you understand it but man, the learning curve on this is… something else. Might feel weird to claim that considering I've already gotten the "true" end after a mere 13 hours, but the first 2-3 hours of playing this probably got me killed a few dozen times on the first floor, sometimes the second.

Still, the game does offer plenty of beginner choices such as decreased damage from enemies, slower projectiles and stuff like that. I really enjoyed my time with it, but it definitely takes a bit of motivation to get into the swing of things.

Ok first of all, this game may very well be the best VN I've read on a technical level. Of course, you have the "usual" game speed options, don't skip dialogue until next voice line, various volume sliders for every character but one thing that stood out is the ability to save a voice line. It might feel like a trivial thing, but considering they added that I'm assuming I'm not the only one that grabs soundbites and other things from games/anime/whatever to reuse in other various projects.

As for the game itself, it has gorgeous CGs, a decent soundtrack (this one didn't click with me as much honestly, but others seem to really love it), and a good mix of slice of life/serious story. At roughly 10-15 hours depending on your reading speed, it also didn't overstay its welcome (it's mostly kinetic, with only a couple of obvious choices to change the ending).

After me experiencing the Tales franchise for the first time with Symphonia back in 2018, I was honestly pretty tempted to give up on the idea of playing any of these games in the foreseeable future. Not having nostalgia goggles on made that game a massive chore to go through.

Still, Berseria did look up to be pretty departed from that style of gameplay and since I also happened to get this from a bundle a while ago, I figured I could at least give it a shot. The combat did turn out to be much better with a lot more freedom, Velvet ended up being a pretty damn good protagonist (although I can't say I cared too much about all the other side characters - only one of them really) and well, I just simply enjoyed it a lot more. Tales of Arise combat is even more polished but unfortunately that one couldn't make this list due to the rules I have in place, but maybe next year… :)

A Summer's End feels like a VN that's gotten a lot of love put into it. With its unique visual style, theme and a very fitting soundtrack to put you in the mood for this sensual yuri story, this one felt like it ended in a flash (to be fair, it is only ~5 hours long). Speaking of it being super short, this game also puts heavy emphasis on its fashion. Might feel like a minor detail, but I don't think I've read another vn with so many outfit changes before, and this one barely even has any length behind it to justify all the effort. I definitely appreciate it though!

A very late addition to this list, having finished this just a couple of days before the end of the year. I didn't care too much about the raving reviews when it initially came out as, well, it's a co-op game. I just don't play those. But then the game awards happened, this one took the GOTY trophy home, I won a copy from the massive giveaway EA had going for the show itself and well, everything just seemed to align to make me wanna play it, you know?

And I'm glad I did. While it's not even my favourite 2021 game that I've finished (as you might see a bit further in this list), I had a blast going through this. It just has so many cool ideas, charming characters and so on. It's kinda hard to put into words as it's just one of those games you have to experience for yourself if possible.

I've always felt like I wanna get into 3d platformers but they always just felt too… childish? They all seem to have these cute animals or whatever that just don't seem to appeal to me. This one on the other hand has you playing as this smug kid dealing with the mafia - is it still kinda childish? Well, yes, but anyway… (Hell, this is the description of the game: A Hat in Time is a cute-as-heck 3D platformer featuring a little girl who stitches hats for wicked powers!)

The controls are tight, the various movement options feel good, the humour is pretty nice as well. Also the stages are all fairly unique so you'll never really feel bored of going through "more of the same". I've also gone through both of the singleplayer dlcs - seal the deal was… okay-ish, could probably skip that one if you decide to get this, but nyakuza metro was just as good or maybe better than the base game.

This is one of those games I kinda wish were longer (although I have 20 hours and could technically have an infinite amount with workshop levels) - that feeling is only exacerbated by the severe lack of other 3d platformers with themes that interest me (maybe I'll get Demon Turf to scratch that itch at some point)

Oh boy, where do I even begin with this one?
ENDER LILIES kinda arrived out of nowhere and swiftly made its way onto the list of best metroidvanias of all time. With its gorgeous aesthetic, pleasing soundtrack by Mili (which some people might recognize from anime, other videogames or just original tracks on youtube), satisfying combat and plenty of build variety, it just has so much going for it.

It also has this unique concept of using spirits to protect your (mostly) defenseless, fragile priestess (your main character). Spirits provide both your combat options as well as various backtracking skills as is usually the case in metroidvanias, making you think both about your fighting prowess and your movement options when picking out your build.

All in all, I don't think I can do this game justice with my vocabulary, so maybe just try it out yourself if you're into metroidvanias and don't mind relatively difficult boss fights :)

As with many people that are into VNs, I usually check VNDB to see how well received they are (or were, in the case of old japanese VNs that got an english localization much later) - this one happens to be in top 30 best VNs of all time. Now see, the thing is, my taste does seem to vary quite bit from the usual crowd so I'm a bit more skeptical after reading a couple of incredibly high-rated VNs that just didn't really click with me, however…

…I really didn't think a day would come when a VN published by Sekai Project of all things would end up taking the number one spot in my yearly list. Now this does come in a mostly disappointing year of gaming for me that led to a challenge I'll have for myself a bit later this week (but more about that in my next post in a few days), but it still feels incredibly weird to me.

Now, about the game itself - First thing's first, the game focuses a lot on classical music, hence the g-string in the title. Yes, there is 18+ content if you download the patch separately but after reading this, honestly? I think I'd recommend you to just play it without if you do decide to read this. I've pretty much skipped every sex scene because I just wanted to see what happens next, not to read what felt like scenes added just to please the horny crowd - literally nothing of value was to be gained from those extra scenes.

This game did get me back into listening to classical music for a while, so I should probably start with mentioning that the entire soundtrack is based off of various pieces of classical music (modified quite a bit but still). I personally enjoyed it, but I can see why others might get tired of roughly 30 hours of classical music playing in the background while reading this.

Secondly, playing the voiced edition of this vn is a must. I'm sure it can be enjoyed without it, but it should be a crime to sell this game without the voices considering just how much it adds to every character's personality. Speaking of which, this also happens to have really well written, relatable characters that don't necessarily fall into the usual cliches found in this genre. You also have a route for every character and while normally I'd probably encourage people to just do stuff spoilerless, I think it's best to follow that one guide with optimal choices for once. This game's structure is fairly different and endings would likely feel off if you read it in whatever order you happen to stumble in by accident.

Overall, the game kept me hooked throughout pretty much its entirety despite its fairly predictable plot twist through the rest of its writing and character interactions and while it may not be the best game I played in 2021, it certainly ended up being the best game I finished, as well as making it pretty high up the list of my favourite VNs (maybe I'll make one of those at some point too, but probably not).

This one's kinda weird. It started off great and was supposed to be tied for the #4 spot, but somehow ended up being less fun with each update (added a bunch of grinding to the game mostly and nothing was retroactive - won't affect new buyers but it certainly felt like my first 30 hours went down the drain). It also increased in price compared to how much I paid for it initially, so that also makes it harder to recommend. Now you might think this sounds pretty negative for something that made the list, but it's still one of the better roguelites on the market both in terms of gameplay itself and unique ideas, although it does have its flaws - particularly, it's trying to be a story-based roguelite except it gets kinda stale after a few runs which defeats the point of a roguelite. Yes, you will meet new characters but no, you won't necessarily have new encounters - it'll likely be the same ones with a different character name/model. The new ones are pretty clever but that's going into spoiler territory so I won't talk about that

As you might be able to tell, my first impression of this was really nice - not only was it one of the cheapest roguelites you could buy, but also one of the best. Over time it just felt like they were trying to screw over early buyers which just killed my mood to play it, but I still felt like it deserved a spot on my list, even if it was the last place. Of course, my complaints don't really apply to new buyers, but this may be the first time I felt like I got boned for trying to play it early.

Never thought I'd put a rhythm game in any of my lists in this lifetime, but here we are. Maybe the easiest rhythm game to recommend currently on the market as you only have 2 buttons basically (up and down) which makes it super easy to learn at first but somehow also ends up being incredibly difficult for the "endgame" songs (There are far more difficult ones, this one's just popular in every rhythm game ever). Very cheap as well, sitting at $3.49 for the base game which has quite few songs (there is a $30 dlc which includes a bunch of extra songs already in the game as well as all the future ones, which keep getting added every other month - I bought it personally, but you could technically play all of these for free if you're fine with playing them during the weekly rotation).

Another Klei game, huh? Feels like cheating to add this one as I've played the original version years ago and only ended up replaying this after buying the dlc earlier last year, but honestly the game deserves it. I've had a stealth binge for about a month or so during 2020 in which I've played a bunch of stealth games and honestly I felt like nothing really came close to being as satisfying as this one. Probably because it's also one of the few that caters to every playstyle instead of forcing you into one. Wanna be a ghost? Cool. Wanna terrorize and murder the entire map? Be my guest. Maybe a mix of both? Sure, why not? Point is, outside of some optional objectives, you can play however you so desire without missing anything just because a girl slipped on a banana peel near a pier and ended up bashing her head, going unconscious, falling into the water and drowning. Too specific? well, it's not a made up story for the most part. Anyway, this probably tops the list in terms of stealth games for me, especially when it comes to 2D ones.

Back when I played Flowers -Le volume sur printemps- I mentioned that it was my favourite yuri VN at that point and it was for a long time - now this game happens to be a sequel that focuses on my favourite character from the first game so naturally I ended up loving it even more so. Same gorgeous aesthetic, OST and of course voice acting. Already looking forward to reading the 3rd game in the series, but I'm not in a rush considering I'd still have to wait for the localization of the 4th and final one to even be announced.

This one was a massive surprise for me. Now some people might've seen this abomination of a trailer they've had for the game that makes it look like a p2w mobile game and turned away instantly - and honestly? I really can't blame you if you did. But still, behind that atrociously misleading trailer hides my favourite deckbuilder currently on steam (yes, I've played Slay the Spire - yes, I stand by what I said). The 3-lane system, double-faction decks and all the upgrades make this one so much better in terms of strategy and replayability without feeling burned out. There are just so many weird combos you can make that probably sound bad on paper but can still work. Really looking forward to the next updates just to have an excuse to put some more hours into it.

Now uh… how do I even describe this one? This is probably the most "alive" kinetic novel I will likely read in this lifetime. I know you might raise your eyebrow when someone tries to describe a visual novel as "action packed" or something along those lines but… that's what Marco & The Galaxy Dragon is (the killer soundtrack definitely helps in this regard as well). Feels a bit weird for such a short game (unfortunately only 5-6 hours of reading) to become my favourite VN of all time considering how many other well-writen stories there are in this format but ah well, I'm not gonna complain. Certainly a very easy VN to recommend if you're into the genre and maybe even if you're not, considering it throws some cartoon network-style animation in there as well (Well, unless you're from Japan where for some reason it costs $60 instead of $20 - in which case maybe it's a bit expensive for its length :) ). Anyway, I wasn't expecting a VN to make my top 3 this year considering all the amazing roguelites I've played.

Oh right, it also has a fairly lengthy demo on the store page if you wanna try it out (the first 2 hours or so)

Metroidvania meets Pokemon, or so is how most people describe this. Now I've never played a pokemon game so I can't really compare it to that and give you detailed info on what this does better or worse, but what I can tell you is that this thing kept me glued to my PC for about 5-6 days or so - saying it was addictive is a massive understatement. Now I've talked about Mark of the Ninja earlier mentioning the ability to play how you want and such, right? Well see, the thing is - in this game every single monster is viable at any given moment, more or less. Sure, you won't obliterate every boss fight with your team of 6 blobs you got in the first area of the game, but can you finish the game with it? The answer is… probably yes. This game managed to strike a pretty amazing balance which gives you so much freedom of choice in building your team it's actually disgusting (of course, you can still counter/get countered to some extent). Combine that with some pretty satisfying combo systems, metroidvania style of exploring that unlocks based on your monsters' "map skills" and well, you get one of the more unique experiences currently available.

Oh right also, your character doesn't actually have any health so if you're worried about any difficult platforming sections or whatever, they're not a thing. You have maybe 1 or 2 optional chests that have some pretty tight timing, but that's about it. Don't go near the PvP part of the game though. This would've been my game of the year but alas, I am a roguelite addict so…

…can't have it any other way now, right? I absolutely hate Hades. I hate Supergiant for making Hades. Why? Because there is nothing they can make to top this game for me. This is their magnum opus. Not only is this ludicrously good, but it's also in my favourite gaming genre? How is this fair? How is anything they make from now on supposed to compete with this? Supergiant's usual artstyle, soundtrack by none other than Darren Korb, characters with so much personality coupled with some super fitting voice acting and a story that progresses at just the right pace to keep you doing run after run after run after run…

sigh I hate Hades.

This was a weird one for me. I started this game back in february and I played it for about 2 hours combined within a week or so - ended up dropping/postponing it for another time. This was probably a result of reading that the gameplay is trash prior to starting the game.

Fastforward to August's "Unfinished Business" monthly theme, I decide to give this game another shot - the result? I play another 20 hours within 3 days and end up beating the game - I was absolutely hooked. Looking past its gameplay flaws, the game perfectly recreates the charming, lighthearted atmosphere from the anime, which is exactly what I wanted from a LWA game. Sure, it's pretty difficult to recommend this to someone that isn't a fan of the anime due to fairly lackluster combat - but if you do want some more LWA after finishing the anime, you should consider picking this up at some point (especially since it's getting fairly deep discounts by now)

Played this mostly because it was the only game I had for "J" on the ABC Plan. Felt more like a visual wikipedia rather than a visual novel, honestly. It wasn't bad, but it's pretty much just experiencing random japanese culture throughout a school year. If you're into anime/VNs, you probably know 90%+ of the stuff they teach you too, so it's not particularly useful either. And if you're not into this media, you probably aren't interested in the culture either so… I have no idea who the target audience for this VN is supposed to be ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Maybe the most unsatisfying bullet hell on the market at the moment.

I got this one because I sometimes feel masochistic enough to play a bullet hell game despite being pretty bad at them in general and the artstyle looked gorgeous, but that's about where the praise stops for this one. The dev completely missed the entire point of this genre by allowing unlimited continues and always having your character fully powered up. As a result, you literally cannot lose and you will 100% the game on your first attempt. With only 2 characters available, this doesn't offer much replayability either - I was done with all the content in 1.5 hours (2 runs + boss rush). Unless you like making up challenges for yourself, this is very much a hard pass - there are much better games in this genre. Actually, no - this might be something you could pick up if you want to see what a bullet hell is like if the challenging aspect was completely removed from the game.

One of the weird things about having a comically small wishlist on Steam is that everything on it is doomed to infinite delays I often wonder if there's any real reason not to buy games on release. In an alternate world where I hadn't bought Blasphemous right away, I would have probably acquired it in some bundle 2 years later and wondered why the hell I've waited so long. Luckily for me, in this world I did decide to buy it on release with some store credit I had, and also got a certain friend hyped enough to do the same.

There have been many attempts at recreating the "soulslike" atmosphere ever since the first game came out, with most of them being fairly unsuccesful. In the metroidvania scene, I would argue that only Salt & Sanctuary managed to properly nail the aspects that make a soulslike both horrifying and rewarding - that is, until Blasphemous came out.

This game holds nothing back in terms of visual design - they wanted to have a twisted world and they fully committed to it. Brutal mutilations from finishers, malformed enemies, bosses and so on - it's all in there. What the game lacks in terms of combat due to its simplicity, it more than makes up for when it comes to map design. While it may not be on the same scale as something like Hollow Knight, exploring the world of Cvstodia was far more satisfying for me just based on the shortcuts you may find, let alone other items and upgrades.

All in all, it's definitely one of my favourite games of 2019 and I'm glad I decided to pick this one up.

I'm almost done customizing my character now - really looking forward to playing the game!