• Beaten
• Completed
• Won

Won July 2024

CrossCode

8/10

41.3 hours

49 of 86 achievements

More

This game had been on my wishlist for years and it always seemed like something I would enjoy, but for some reason I was always hesitant to buy it. Luckily I ended up winning it in a ga.

While I really enjoyed this game (most of it anyway) and would recommend it, I have some mixed feelings about it. The setting being essentially a real life reproduction of an mmo was cool, but I didn't understand some aspects of it (there is a codex that might've answered my questions but I'm really not a fan of those). Additionally this game has the best implementation of a "silent" protagonist I've ever seen in a game (this is a trope I usually hate), Lea is so expressive despite only being able to say "Hello" at the start of the game and there is an in-universe explanation as to why she can't talk. Also this game's combat system is surprisingly deep, by the end of the game you have access to four different elements as well as a neutral mode, that you can switch to at any second in combat even mid-combo, this means that any given point you have access to five different movesets, however certain enemies, especially late game, can only be defeated in very specific ways which makes combat less dynamic than it can be.

I do have some other issues with the game like how nothing happens to progress the story in a lot of the chapters, and how the plot stops in chapter 8 (out of 10 total), so you can do three full length zelda like dungeons in a row, which up until this point, if you had to do one of these it was the only one in its chapter, and these also being the hardest dungeons in this game does not help. I also found some of the puzzles too hard, but that might just be a me being dumb and having limited experience with puzzle games issue, not a flaw of the game itself.

Still, I really liked this game and I will definitely to come back to this game to complete it and play the dlc.

Replay (Kind of), Activated Nov 2021

Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster

10/10

59.1 hours

32 of 37 achievements

More

I played this game years ago on an emulator, finished what I now know was the second to last dungeon, and lost my savefile when moving devices. I bought the remaster in 2021 but I dropped it after 6 hours, don't remember why, I think I just got distracted by other games. Anyway, after 90 hours of SMTVV I decided that I had to finally return to this one, so I requested it as a PoP pick for more motivation.

I loved this game as much I did the first time playing, didn't die nearly as much since I knew what I was doing this time around. The ps2 SMT games have my favourite art direction in the series, and Nocturne specifically is the best when it comes to atmosphere, the world feels so lonely and hostile, and the soundtrack backs this up as well. Gameplay is great too, but I would've liked a run button or something. Also really liked the dungeons in this one, with the exception of the final dungeon, cause what where they thinking when they made a labyrinth with invisible teleporters everywhere??

Will definitely complete this one, I only have some endings left and I already made saves at each turning point so it shouldn't take too long.

Won April 2024

Dead Age

5/10

11.2 hours

69 of 77 achievements

More

One of my games for PoP, I don't think I would've bothered to finish it otherwise, it's ok for what it is but it's extremely repetitive and kind of bland.

It's a game that wants to be replayed, it gives you perks when replaying, and some characters lock you out of getting others so if you want to see everyone, you have to replay, but 90% of the game remains the same slow shallow turn based combat. Might've been better as a phone game.

Also I was planning to complete this one, and I've backed up saves for most endings that have been sitting on my desktop for over a month now, but I'm not sure if I want to anymore.

Activated July 2024

Heretic's Fork

7/10

8.9 hours

22 of 29 achievements

More

This one was a pleasant surprise, I love rougelikes, but I had never heard of this one until it got featured in choice. I liked the presentation and general art direction and also messing around in the desktop area between runs. Gameplay is really satisfying especially in higher difficulties, very solid game all around. Would like to complete it at some point, but not currently a priority

Activated July 2024

Hylics

7.5/10

3.3 hours

no achievements

Won Feb 2024

Calico

6/10

4.1 hours

13 of 13 achievements

More

Another game I had for PoP. It's decent, but it's extremely buggy, so much so that there's a dedicated "potion" for getting unstuck. During the final sequence of the game I had the honour of falling through the map, so I couldn't see anything that was happening.

Achievements looked simple enough, so I completed it.

Activated July 2024

Mail Time

6/10

1.6 hours

23 of 23 achievements

More

This is literally Calico again.

Activated July 2024

Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery

-

1.6 hours

19 of 19 achievements

• CrossCode
  

  41.3 hours playtime

  49 of 86 achievements

• Wounded - The Beginning
  

  0 hours playtime

  0 of 14 achievements

• Talk to Strangers
  

  1.9 hours playtime

  18 of 18 achievements

• Deep Sky Derelicts
  

  0 hours playtime

  0 of 68 achievements

• Time on Frog Island
  

  0.3 hours playtime

  3 of 35 achievements

• Little Orpheus
  

  0 hours playtime

  0 of 26 achievements

• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
  

  82 minutes playtime

  2 of 16 achievements

• Resident Evil Revelations
  

  20 hours playtime

  13 of 50 achievements

• Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
  

  77 hours playtime

  no achievements

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This game is essentially a prelude and tech demo for MGS:V, it's a single level but I really enjoyed playing it. The level itself felt a lot more intricate and coherent than most of the MGS:V levels. I would have liked to see more levels similar to this in the full game. Didn't really do any of the side content but I might return to it later.

A trope I love in games is when the entire game takes place in one location, and this game takes place in a boatship (mostly anyway). I loved exploring every corner of the ship and scanning for secrets, definitely this game's highlight for me. I don't really remember the story, like at all, which I think speaks for itself, but not that big of a downside for me since I don't play RE games for the story. I do remember that I did not really like the new characters (I think Parker and Jennifer? Can't be bothered to look them up), and I still find Chris boring, I thought this was a solo Jill game so I was very disappointed when I started playing as him. Overall I had fun, very solid game in my opinion.

I played the original SMTV on an emulator up until the first major boss and dropped it because playing a game at 15 fps and 24 fps at its best is not something I was and am interested in, but I still really wanted to play it so I just held out and hoped for a pc/ps port, so I was very excited when this rerelease was announced. I loved this game so much I ended up making guides for it, which I've never done before (although I was partially motivated by how much of a pain it was to look up anything about it). The character, demon designs and general artistic direction are amazing, the combat system is extremely fun, and oh my god the soundtrack is just so good it sets ups and builds the boss fights and atmosphere of the game perfectly. I also loved the new addition of the area where you can talk with your demons, I already liked the dialogue during the negotiations in this series but this feature really takes the demons' personalities to a new level. This game was pure fun for me. Probably my GOTY (at least for now) and it already had some strong competition. Okay, I'll stop fangirling now.

• Resident Evil Revelations 2
  

  10 hours playtime

  13 of 43 achievements

• Old School Musical
  

  6 hours playtime

  2 of 13 achievements

• Balatro
  

  31 hours playtime

  19 of 31 achievements

• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
  

  37 hours playtime

  23 of 42 achievements

• Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy
  

  58 hours playtime

  26 of 32 achievements

I really enjoyed this game. I thought the episodic format worked really well and I liked how each character had their use and you had to switch between them during both exploration and combat. My only real complaint is that Claire doesn't get enough screentime, and also this is on me but Hades 2 dropped while I was 20mins from the end so I ruined the end for myself by opting to play 30+ hours of that before returning to this.

I'm not usually one for rhythm games but there are always exceptions, this game was very charming and the music was good. The only other rhythm game I've played is Everhood (which I love) so I can't really judge this game on gameplay, but I personally liked it.

Balatro was an impulse purchase but not one I regret. To be honest I didn't get it at first, I had to do 3-4 runs before I started having fun, but once I got it I started staying up til 6 am.... Overall very well put together rougelike (rougelite?), it doesn't always feel fair but that's because it uses poker, which is entirely luck based but it remedies that part a bit by giving you a few discards to work with (at least on lower stakes). A game I will probably return to.

This was my first Metal Gear game so I didn't know any of the character's backgrounds and stories, but I plan to replay this once I've seen more of the series. I had a lot of fun with this one, extracting an entire outpost should not be as fun as it is (or extracting a car while someone is driving it). Some things I didn't like were how long you had to wait between missions (why do I have to watch snake sitting in a helicopter for so long?), and how in later missions tranquilizers become useless, but overall I really liked this game, and I will probably play more of it.

I will talk about the 3rd game in this collection; Spirit of Justice, since I played the other two in March. I have two gripes with this game keeping it from being perfect for me. First is Case 4, which is entirely out of place and reduces Athena's character to an incompetent rookie (and I was so excited to see her lead a case again </3) but even with that the case by it self is solid and the witness (Uendo) is great, but I have to wonder why this was even placed there since it doesn't connect with the rest of the game (and case 5 could easily be split into two cases like DD did, so why was there even a need for this case?). My other small complaint is Nahyuta, the other AA prosecutors are so iconic and memorable, and having finished this game two days ago I cannot tell you a single thing about this guy that doesn't relate to Apollo or his dad and his redemption feels entirely unearned. Even still, I loved this game, case 3 and 5 especially, but especially 5. Not gonna talk in depth about it here since this is already too long, but they really outdid themselves with that one.