A Green Mushroom

What is Blaugust? 2023 Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 15:00:00 +0000

I jumped right into the previous post without actually explaining Blaugust. So... what is it? Blaugust is an excuse to get people blogging... in August. Hence, Blaugust!

I'm not the best person to pitch it, but Blaugust is put on by a long time friend of mine, Belghast. Here's what he had to say about Blaugust for the 2023 kickoff:

Blaugust is a month-long event that takes place in August each year that focused on blogging and other serialized content. The goal is to stoke the fires of creativity and allow bloggers and other content creators to mingle in a shared community while pushing each other to post more regularly. For years blogging has been dwindling, and in part, Blaugust was my attempt and reversing that course by compiling a bunch of veteran bloggers in one place and making it super easy to ask questions and get answers. The idea is that this festival of blogging can help reignite dwindling fires for the next year and give folks a sense of kinship as a result. Each year has taken slightly different forms and shifted to include more than just blogs, but the core mission is always the same. In this year of corporate internet staples seeming a little less sturdy, it is all the more important that each of us carve our own homes that we can call our own… that gives us a sense of permanence.

You can find out a lot more about the Blaugust event over on his site Tales of the Aggronaut especially in this post about Blaugust 2023.

Honestly, the most appealing thing to me about Blaugust is the sense of community. When I started blogging (almost 15 years ago) there was a vibrant blogging community that had all sorts of interactions. Google Reader helped foster the sense of community and gave a common platform to grow on. But, Google Reader was killed off and Social Media has been on the rise ever since.

This event gives a once-per-year boost to the community aspect of blogging, and I love that about it.

It's not too late to join! Feel free to sign up over at Belghast's site!

Kicking off Blaugust with Blog Template and Layout Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 15:00:00 +0000

I decided to participate in Blaugust this year for the first time in a few years. My intention is to write 1-2 posts per week. I don't have the time in my day to day life for daily blogging at the moment, but I thought this might be a nice blogging jumpstart after being dormant since the end of last year.

Also, it really feels more important than ever to have your own little piece of the internet that you control. With everything going on with social media lately, I thought it would be a good chance to look at this blog again with fresh eyes.

The first thing that immediately jumped out to me was that my blog's website theme isn't really up to modern standards. It was still serving up a different specific mobile site, and that's just not how things are done anymore. I decided it was time for a new theme.

For reference, I'm still using Google Blogger. WordPress is actually the better toolset for owning and customizing your own blog-like site... but I used to be a professional WordPress developer and it just feels too much like work to me. Google Blogger is extremely simple and still generally delivers decent results. If I ever wanted to turn this site into a more fully featured SEO-driven revenue stream... I would migrate to WordPress. But, honestly, this is just my little corner of the internet to jot down thoughts over time. It's not meant to be a job or a source of income.

All of that to say, for the first ~14 years of my blog existing it used a customized variation of the "Simple" Blogger theme and looked like this:

You're now reading it on a much newer template. This one is called Contempo Dark and looks more like this:

Not only does this template work and play well with all screen sizes including mobile, but I also rearranged the layout of the site to make the content front and center while pushing off other info and links into the sidebar.

If I were doing this in WordPress, or another more customizable system, I would keep tweaking and making changes. There are a lot of improvements I see that I could make, but I'm limited by Blogger's customization options. Just to reiterate, I see this as a feature and not a bug. This prevents me from going too far down a rabbit hole and accidentally turning this into work.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to write about the rest of the month, but I feel like I have a good soft-reset of the site now so I'm ready for Blaugust.

Games of the Year 2022: In Conclusion

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 16:00:00 +0000

This running Games of the Year list has been an interesting experiment. I decided to start this series right as we were shutting down the Geek to Geek podcast as a way to keep creatively broadcasting some gaming thoughts out into the world. I learned a few things from sticking with it this year.

The main thing I learned is... I just don't have as much desire to broadcast my thoughts out in public as I used to when I started this blog or when I started podcasting. I still love to have in-depth discussions about current games and general geekery, but I feel less and less need to broadcast those thoughts widely. Honestly, it's been over a decade of blogging and podcasting at this point. It would be more surprising if my relationship with the media landscape hadn't changed.

Around mid-year I started trying to use Twitter as more of a microblogging platform to do very short quick-hit thoughts about games but didn't get much traction or conversation going which was what I actually was looking for. After that, Twitter started imploding and I flipped over to using it as a purely consumption platform. I don't really post there anymore.

Instead, I'm posting a lot more on Mastodon. You can find me at masto.ai/@void if you're interested! It feels much more approachable, has lower stakes, and the chances of actually having someone respond to a conversation starter on a topic are exponentially higher than when I blog here. Blog comments and conversations are essentially dead in our modern media landscape, social media is where those types of interactions happen instead now. I'm hoping Mastodon can be a fun new home to have some more public facing conversations around gaming, but only time will tell.

Even moreso than social media, I'm finding myself more and more drawn towards walled garden conversations in private Discords, Slacks, and text message groups. It's almost like reverting to the early days of the internet... and I'm honestly kind of ok with that.

Because of the reality of blogging in the current media landscape, I've decided not to keep this series running into 2023.

Even though I'm not going to write about it here, I actually do like keeping a running list like this. My intention is to start doing a running Games of the Year list every year going forward. It gives me a feeling of accomplishment and conclusion when I take the time to think about where to put a game on my list in relation to other games. It's even a fun exercise just trying to decide if a game is interesting enough to add to the list in the first place.

I like the entire exercise around the running GOTY list itself. The main difference is that I no longer feel the need to broadcast the process or write out exactly why I'm putting a game at a certain spot. The act of keeping the list is going to be just for me moving forward. It will most likely simply end up as a private Google doc for myself.

Hopefully some of you found this entire exercise interesting! Thanks for reading and sticking with me as I sorted out what I wanted to do going forward.

I'm not disappearing forever, but you can generally expect this blog to be much quieter again after this post. If you need to get in touch, you can find me experimenting over at Mastodon or it's possible I'll still be watching my Twitter DMs too. If I don't post for a while just know... I hope you're having fun geeking out about whatever is making you happy!

Games of the Year 2022: The Final List

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Here it is, the final ranked list of every video game I played this year that I found interesting enough to write about!

Elden Ring
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
Marvel Snap
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Gotham Knights
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Playdate Season 1
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
God of War Ragnarök
Kaichu
Tinykin
Splatoon 3
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Shovel Knight Dig
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

Looking back at the year, there are a few games I would move around in hindsight. But, part of the fun of doing a list like this and building it as I go is that I don't allow myself to do that.

That being said, the one game I want to give a special shout-out here is Vampire Survivors. When I initially ranked that game, I was really only ranking the early access version. Me and my family got back around to playing the full release version in early December and it's just such a fantastic game now. It was always good, but now it's great. I was tempted to change the current ranked version to "early access" and write another post about the 1.0 release, but ultimately didn't. It gets this little blurb instead!

There are also a few games I'm still actively playing but not ready to rank. That cutoff always happens at some point in December. The way I handle it is to make those games eligible for ranking on next year's list instead. They're typically the first games I add to the list in the new year.

Well, there you have it. The full 2022 year ranked. It was a really solid year for video games.

Expect one last post in this series before the end of the year as a wrap-up!

Games of the Year 2022: God of War Ragnarök

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 16:00:00 +0000

It's interesting when I can see that a game has a lot going for it but fails to connect with me personally. God of War Ragnarök is extremely polished and has incredible production values. I can absolutely see why so many people love it so much.

But, for me, the game failed to click.

The parts I enjoyed were the story and performances. Unfortunately, the core gameplay mechanics weren't doing it for me. The traversal puzzles wore out their welcome almost immediately. They weren't ever hard, they were just annoying. And the combat left a lot to be desired. It felt very hack and slash. I'm wondering if Elden Ring spoiled me and now I just expect more from my action combat systems.

There's a ton written about God of War Ragnarok, so I'm not going to go deep here. You can find tons of reviews of this game around the internet.

In my personal Games of the Year list, this one actually lands fairly low down in the bottom fourth of my list:

Elden Ring
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
Marvel Snap
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Gotham Knights
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Playdate Season 1
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
God of War Ragnarök
Kaichu
Tinykin
Splatoon 3
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Shovel Knight Dig
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

That was one of the last few curveballs that may have thrown off the top of my list. At this point, the top 10 entries are looking fairly solid. The only game I'm currently playing that may bump them around is Marvel's Midnight Suns, but I honestly might not play enough of it by the end of the year to add it to this list. That may qualify for my next year's list instead simply due to it's release date and how much of it I still want to play.

This is essentially a near-final list. We're almost to the end of the year!

Games of the Year 2022: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Pokémon Scarlet (and Violet by extension) was the rare Pokémon game that hooked me and kept me interested all the way through.

I'm not doing a full review, but I do feel the need to call out how much this game struggles on performance. It chugs along, has tons of bugs, and the frame rate is just brutal. Although, none of that really detracted from my overall enjoyment. Your results may vary.

The two things that truly let this game get its hooks into me were the open world and the new quality of life feature auto battle feature. The open world fairly quickly gave me three main story progression paths to go down and complete freedom in the order I wanted to pursue them. The typical Gyms are here but so is a storyline about Team Star and a completely different storyline about Titan Pokémon.

Given the freedom of the open world and the ability to do almost instant auto-battles for experience, I quickly threw on some podcasts and audiobooks while just running around the world. It was a ton of fun.

And, in the end, the story had me invested. All three storylines come together and do some cool things towards the end. Ultimately, I'm not sure how much (if any) endgame content I'll do now that I've rolled credits... but this game was great.

It doesn't quite make my top 5 but it easily slots in just underneath it at number 7. This is easily above two other strong open world games, Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Horizon Forbidden West. I went back and forth a bit on almost putting this at number 6 but The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe just kinda blew me away. They're such different games that they're hard to compare, but it's my list and this felt right to me:

Elden Ring
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
Marvel Snap
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Gotham Knights
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Playdate Season 1
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Kaichu
Tinykin
Splatoon 3
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Shovel Knight Dig
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

There's really not much of the year left so you're looking at an almost complete list at this point. The last few games that I think have a real chance of shaking things up near the top of the list are God of War Ragnarok and Marvel's Midnight Suns. God of War Ragnarok is one I started but I literally put it down to play Pokemon, so we'll see how it feels to return to it. Midnight Suns is out later this week.

There's always a chance that one of the last minute indie games or Game Pass games that I'm catching up on over the holiday break crack the top 10 too, but those typically come out of left field.

I'm excited to see what the final list looks like in about a month!

Games of the Year 2022: Marvel Snap

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Marvel Snap is the best digital card game I've ever played on mobile. In general, it's one of the best digital cards games I've played in years.

Their are a few key factors here. The two biggest of which are the speed of play (fast) and the monetization (cosmetic). This isn't a trashy mobile pay to win game. If you want to spend money, you can spend it on cosmetics but you can't spend it on power. As you "upgrade" cards you're just upgrading how cool they look, you aren't upgrading how good they are against other players. Which means this game can actually be balanced and fun for everyone.

The speed of a single game is also super fast. Most of my games last 2-5 minutes and that's just about perfect. You only ever play six turns and then the game is over. It's enough time to engage your brain and feel like you actually did something mentally stimulating, but short enough that it's not a big deal to lose and you never feel like you're on tilt in a negative way. I've been able to consistently find ways to fit this game into my life because of the approachable match lengths.

Compare this to something like MTGA, which is another excellent digital card game, but the match length of a MTGA is so much longer. It requires more of a commitment and, if you lose a few in a row, it's so easy to fall into a bad headspace about it. Marvel Snap is breezy and lightweight in comparison.

There's also so much room here for interesting interactions. I bought the first battle pass not because I wanted the cosmetics but because it had interesting challenges in it. I love a good mini-challenge to work towards and Marvel Snap is constantly throwing those my way. Not to mention the new locations they are rolling out regularly which change up the gameplay without fundamentally messing with your cards or decks.

Marvel Snap is still very new in full release but it comes roaring out of launch and into my top games of the year at number five:

Elden Ring
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
Marvel Snap
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Gotham Knights
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Playdate Season 1
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Kaichu
Tinykin
Splatoon 3
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Shovel Knight Dig
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

I'm pleasantly surprised to be adding a game this high up the rankings this late in the year. There are really only a couple games left to come out this year that might land higher than this. There's a chance this could slip to spot six or seven by the end of the year but it could just as easily stay at number five through year end.

Games of the Year 2022: Gotham Knights

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Gotham Knights is an interesting entry on this list. As much as any game can be measured objectively... this one isn't great. It feels like a solid 7 out of 10 type of game and it's hard to argue for it to be rated much higher than that.

But, for me, this is one of the 7 out of 10 games that just hit right and kept me interested. I was craving an open world game and I enjoy the Batman/Gotham setting. This hit at the right time and was good enough to keep me coming back to play more.

It's extremely rough around the edges, doesn't always feel great to play, is full of compromises and odd decisions... but I had fun messing around in it. Honestly, this is probably higher on my list than it would have been if any other open world game hit around the same time. The release timing on Gotham Knights was right around the time we typically get Assassin's Creed games which tend to scratch the same itch for me. Without one of those around this year, my attention was put into this instead.

So, although it's hard for me to recommend this one to anyone else, I ultimately enjoyed my time as Batgirl roaming the Gotham streets and digging into the Court of Owls storyline. This one ends up slightly higher than the middle of my ranking, right next to Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin:

Elden Ring
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Gotham Knights
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Playdate Season 1
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Kaichu
Tinykin
Splatoon 3
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Shovel Knight Dig
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

Similarly to Maneater in 2020, I wouldn't recommend this one to many people but I personally had fun with it. I really don't expect to see it on anyone else's games of the year list, but that's totally ok with me.

Games of the Year 2022: Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope was an interesting game to play around with. I made it through the first world and a half before realizing the game wasn't what I was in the mood for. It has a lot of interesting things going on with it, but ultimately didn't click with me.

Which is interesting, because I could also see this game being the game of the year for certain people. It's trying new and interesting things in the turn based strategy X-COM-like game space. I loved the move away from a grid and instead having a certain radius distance you can run. The addition of movement abilities that don't use your two "actions" each turn was super cool too. It was consistently fun to do a slide dash through a bob-omb, pick it up, throw it at a group of enemies, watch it explode, and then realize I still had my two primary actions left to play around with that turn.

In the end, it was the Rabbids and some minor annoyances that turned me away. The game takes a long time to load anything, the animations are too slow, the enemy turns are too slow, the menus are slow and clunky, there's just a lot of tiny friction throughout interacting with the game. That friction was a major reason why I put the game down. And, not to hit on this too hard, but... the Rabbids just don't do anything for me. They actively make me less interested in the world and story. I think this game would be so much stronger with just the core Mario cast.

With all of the above being said, I still wouldn't be surprised to see a strategy game fan have this high on their list of favorite games this year. For me, it ended up near the bottom of mine. Still worth an entry since it held my attention for awhile, but not very high up the list:

Elden Ring
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Playdate Season 1
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Kaichu
Tinykin
Splatoon 3
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Shovel Knight Dig
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

Now that it's November, we're getting close to the end of the year. Not much time left for things to shift around but there are a couple big releases I'm still excited for. We'll see what kind of impact those have.

Games of the Year 2022: Shovel Knight Dig

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Shovel Knight Dig is a game I almost didn't add here but, in the end, decided to capture some of my thoughts about it.

Shovel Knight Dig is a roguelike take on the core Shovel Knight platformer gameplay. As much as I still love the core platformer gameplay on display here, the roguelike nature of this one caused it to not land well with me. I was hoping for some consistent meta progression that would help me make my way deeper into the game at regular intervals. There is some meta progression but it wasn't consistent enough or interesting enough to keep me hooked.

I wish I could see more of the game without feeling like I'm just grinding the same thing over and over. I know that each run is actually unique, but it all has that typical roguelike feel of "I've basically seen this before" that quickly wore out it's welcome for me.

If you are a Shovel Knight fan and a roguelike fan, you will most likely love this game. For me, it managed to make it on this list, but just barely near the bottom:

Elden Ring
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Playdate Season 1
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Kaichu
Tinykin
Splatoon 3
Shovel Knight Dig
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

Shovel Knight Dig did beat out Total War: Warhammer 3 and Tunic but that's not saying much based on my personal tastes. At this point in the year, I doubt anything will come in lower on the list so we're most likely going to see it drop further down as games get added somewhere above it.

Games of the Year 2022: Splatoon 3

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Splatoon 3 is both good and disappointing at the same time. At its core, Splatoon 3 is a solid game. It still has lots of fun with squid kids, octolings, and fresh styles.

All the fun from the past Splatoon games is represented here and there are nice quality of life features that are notable improvements as well.

But, unfortunately, it doesn't actually do much new. There's new gear, a new single player campaign, and one new (time gated) mode. Besides that, it's basically the same game as Splatoon 2.

So, although the core gameplay is fun, this one ends up fairly low on my list since it's not really doing anything new:

Elden Ring
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Playdate Season 1
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Kaichu
Tinykin
Splatoon 3
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

Maybe they'll drop free updates or DLC that is more novel in the future, but I'm a little disappointed by what this game has on offer.

Games of the Year 2022: Kaichu

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Kaichu is a cute and lightweight game about Kaiju dating. You take on the role of a Kaiju looking for love. The core premise is that Kaijus date through destroying landmarks together.

The gameplay quickly shows itself to be a fairly simple game about trying to guess the right answer for compatibility on your dates with other Kaiju. It's not a complex game... but it's cute, it's cozy, and it has a lot of heart.

This one was a quick hit but I had more fun with it than I thought I would. It ends up near the bottom but... not in a bad way:

Elden Ring
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Playdate Season 1
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Kaichu
Tinykin
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

I'm happy to be adding this one to this list! It's just such a quick hit of a game that it doesn't rise to the heights of many others on the list.

Games of the Year 2022: Xenoblade Chronicles 3

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 blew me away in a completely unsuspecting way. I love a good JRPG but had previously bounced hard off of the first two games in this series. This one looked like it had some good quality of life improvements and the story hook was more interesting than the previous games, so a few friends were able to convince me to give it a shot.

I'm so glad they did. After about 70 hours and rolling credits, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is currently sitting as my runner up game of the year right behind Elden Ring:

Elden Ring
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Playdate Season 1
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Tinykin
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

I loved the story, combat system, class system, open world exploration, setting, premise, and so much more about this game. I'm not sure if I'll go back to the previous entries that I already bounced from, but I'm definitely a convert and will be excitedly awaiting any future Xenoblade Chronicles games they make.

My running GOTY list isn't intended to be full on reviews, otherwise all my thoughts about this one would take up way too many words.

Instead, I'll just say... if you're a JRPG fan, I can easily recommend this one to you as a game I absolutely loved!

Games of the Year 2022: Playdate Season 1

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Playdate is a weird one to cover in this list since it's a game system and not a game itself. But I decided to wrap in all of "Season 1" as an item on this list.

If you haven't heard of it, Playdate is an experimental 1-bit handheld game console that came out earlier this year. They have a cool site that gives the basic rundown so I won't reiterate all of that here.

I've had a lot of fun poking around and playing on this console. I've played a bunch of games I downloaded or bought from itch.io but I've now also completed their full Season 1 content which is why it felt like a good time to add it to the list.

Season 1 is a set of 24 games that were included with the purchase of the console. Each week on "new game day" they deliver the next 2 games to your console. That must mean I've had this for about 12 weeks. The games themselves ranged from tiny arcade games, to full on adventure games, to little experimental music generators. In some ways, it felt almost more like a toy than a console... but in a good way.

I really love the potential of the Playdate and I'm super excited for the future. That being said, none of the games actually held my attention for more than a few days before I got bored and set my console down to wait for the next week's games. The one exception is Pick, Pack, Pup. That game rocks.

In my rankings, this one lands around the middle for being a super interesting experiment with a lot of potential but didn't end up higher because I feel like that potential hasn't been fully realized through the games on offer:

Elden Ring
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Playdate Season 1
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Tinykin
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

I'm still very excited about the potential future of this little experimental console. If they end up doing a Season 2 of content, I will definitely be there on day 1 to try it out!

Games of the Year 2022: Immortality

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Immortality is a hard one to write about so this may be short. But, I have to say something about it become it is most definitely interesting.

Immortality is an FMV game, but you discover the FMV clips through free association of objects that you click on within any given freeze frame of any scene. The scenes themselves are clips from a series of made up unreleased movies that all star the same actress.

On it's face, the game is about uncovering movie clips and mentally putting them together to see this actress's career. But, underneath, there's a ton of hidden stuff going on. There's a whole secondary story that I didn't stumble onto until I had uncovered a large majority of the clips.

This one is really strange but is so unique that I needed to acknowledge it in my list. Personally, I was pulled into the game for one session where I played through the entire thing until I hit credits. I have a feeling this will be some people's game of the year this year. For me, it's worth acknowledging but lands somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Here's where I ended up putting it:

Elden Ring
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Immortality
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Tinykin
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

In my mind, this is just "below the cut" for my mid-range ratings on this list. It's holding fairly strong there in the middle of the pack but I expect it to get bumped down as more games hit this list.

Games of the Year 2022: Tinykin

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Tinykin is an interesting game that I almost chose not to write about for this list. You'll see shortly that it ended up near the bottom of my list. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was doing something interesting that deserves some acknowledgement. And that was my goal with this running this during the year. I wanted to highlight my favorite games while also highlighting games that ultimately didn't click with me when I tried them but were doing something noteworthy.

Tinykin reimagines what a Pikman style game can be and do. That's the reason I wanted to give it some acknowledgement. Pikman doesn't have many games like it and all of the Nintendo Pikman games follow a very similar formula. You collect Pikman within a level and have to accomplish some collecting objectives within a time limit.

Tinykin takes the core idea of Pikman, that idea of gathering a small army of different and useful creatures that follow you around and are at your command, and places it into a much more open structure. It's not exactly open world but it's more like an open level design of something like Banjo Kazooie. It's a really interesting take on what you can do with these core mechanics.

If any of that sounds interesting to you, this one is out on Game Pass to try without a lot of commitment. In that respect, it's an easy recommendation. Go sample it if you're interested!

That being said, for me, it's landing third from the bottom on my list:

Elden Ring
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Tinykin
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

I played a few hours of Tinykin and appreciated what it was doing, but didn't actually have a ton of fun with it. I needed the platforming to be more compelling or the level design to be more interesting. I would honestly love to see what they do with a sequel if they end up making one.

Games of the Year 2022: Cult of the Lamb

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Cult of the Lamb was surprisingly gripping. It's a cute/horrifying roguelike with town building elements. There's a lot going on with it and I'm not quite sure if that description does it justice.

There are almost two distinct games in Cult of the Lamb, but they each inform the other.

One of these two elements is a top-down action roguelike experience with semi-randomly generated maps and levels. The combat is solid and no one run ever overstays it's welcome.

The second main element is a town building (cult building) game that is both cute and disturbing. Everything is presented in a cutesy aesthetic but it's dealing with real cult-like ideologies and behaviors. The discrepancy between the two is one of the compelling parts of the game. In this second piece of the game, you're recruiting followers, getting resources, and building out your town amenities.

If Cult of the Lamb had leaned too hard one way or another, I'm not sure I would have liked it as much. But, it seemed to strike the perfect balance to hook me and give me that "one more turn" feeling. I finished the whole game over the course of the first weekend it came out.

Cult of the Lamb lands in the lower part of my top ten for now, right above Neon White and below Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition:

Elden Ring
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

I'm really surprised to put this more than half way up my list but I enjoyed my time with it a lot. I kind of doubt it will stay in the top ten by the end of the year, but chances are good it will still be in the top half of the list.

Games of the Year 2022: Multiversus Pre-Season

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Multiversus is what happens when you take the core gameplay of Smash Bros, give it a slight twist, and then set it in a world of Warner Brothers characters instead of Nintendo characters. I've been surprised by how much fun I've had with it.

I'm calling this my rating of the "pre-season" since I joined when it was in late closed beta and have been playing fairly consistently through open beta too. The game just went into "season 1" but I actually think I'm going to take that as an opportunity to take a break from it.

The core gameplay here is good but could use a little more refining. I also wish matchmaking was more even since I've had lots of matches where I just get steamrolled and feel like I can do nothing. But that's kind of a general fighting game thing, not necessarily specific to this game.

The part I'm really interested in is seeing how they support this game over time. If they treat it like a Fortnite style live-service game, it could get super interesting as time goes on. Especially if they continually add new characters, stages, and modes to play around with.

If you're a fan of Smash Bros, I can easily recommend checking out Multiversus. It's free to play and it scratches the same core itch.

For me, it's landing a little lower on my list. I've had a good time with it, but competitive multiplayer wears on me after awhile. If this had a full single player mode built out I would be ranking it higher, but for this "pre-season" it's landing down near Mario Strikers.

Elden Ring
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Multiversus Pre-Season
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

Being in the lower half, it will probably get pushed down the list a bit more as the year continues.

Games of the Year 2022: Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 15:00:00 +0000

I always hesitate to put DLC on a list of games of the year but I had a lot of fun with this one so I felt I needed to include it!

The Hot Wheels DLC is the first of at least two new DLC areas that is included in the Forza Horizon 5 add on pass. When Forza Horizon 5 came out last year I tried it because it was on Game Pass and was surprised that I got pulled in enough to play the entire game and do every event. By the end of my time with it, I was essentially out of things to do.

The Hot Wheels DLC not only gives me more to do, it also includes an entire new map with multiple biomes and it's all tied together with gigantic life-sized hot wheels tracks. It's so incredibly evident how much fun the team was having when making this DLC since they were getting to play around with all the Hot Wheels love from childhood but bring it into a completely new context within this game.

I loved my time with it and it has made me even more excited to see what they do with their next DLC map for this game.

If I were adding just the base Forza Horizon 5 to the list it would be very high up, but I'm putting this one more around mid-list ranking since it's a DLC instead of the full game. I really enjoyed my time with it, but a lot of that comes from the core mechanics already established by the base game:

Elden Ring
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Cyberpunk 2077
Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

At this point, I'm curious how long this running list will get by year end. I'm also starting to think about whether I want to do this exercise again next year. I'm not sure yet.

Games of the Year 2022: Stray

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Stray was both amazing and a disappointment for me at the same time. This is a great example of a game being a mixed bag for me.

The part that's amazing about Stray is the fidelity of the cat. The animation, sound, behavior, motion capture, interactions, and everything having to do with being a cat are executed incredibly well. This is probably the most well realized cat in a video game ever. Every time I got a chance to just be cat-like I was having a great time.

My disappointment comes from the gameplay. The trailers made me think this was going to be some kind of cyberpunk setting platformer game but instead it's just kind of an adventure game. There's nothing wrong with adventure games but they're just not my favorite. In terms of adventure games I've liked over time, this one is high up the list... but the genre just doesn't click with me very much.

If you're an adventure game fan that is also a cat lover, I can't recommend this game enough. For me, it ended up in the lower quarter of my running list at number 16 for now:

Elden Ring
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Cyberpunk 2077
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
Stray
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

I fully anticipate more games coming in above Stray and pushing it down the list further as the year goes on.

Games of the Year 2022: Neon White

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Neon White is a first person action platformer with shooting elements. It's hard to describe, but if you watch a video of some gameplay you can grok it quickly. Essentially, the game is all about platforming, but it also incorporates FPS elements along the way. There are items you pick up in the form of cards and they each have two abilities. One functions as a primary ability with ammo while the other one is a secondary ability based around movement but it requires you to discard the item.

Again, a lot going on there, but quick to pick up if you actually play.

Neon White was extremely fun... until it wasn't. Based on the achievement list I took a look at, it seems like I made it to about 60% or 70% completion of the main story before I stalled out. I didn't hit a brick wall of progression gating with difficulty. Instead, I hit the point where I was having more stress than fun so I decided I should be done with it.

For the right kind of speedrunning or platforming fan, this could easily be their game of the year. I would not be surprised to hear people arguing for this as GOTY during end of the year debates on podcasts and on gaming site articles.

But, for me, it was fun while it lasted but ultimately didn't have staying power. That's why it's ending up right around the middle of the pack on my running list:

Elden Ring
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Neon White
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Cyberpunk 2077
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

I do look forward to seeing people master this game and destroy record times in the future. It could be a cool speedrunning game to keep an eye on.

Geek to Geek Finale

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 15:00:00 +0000

The Geek to Geek podcast had our finale a few weeks ago. We wrapped it up after about 7 years of episodes. We covered everything in the episode and I can't do it justice here but it feels like I should acknowledge it on the blog.

So, if you want more information, the link to the episode is here.

Also, I've embedded it below:

Games of the Year 2022: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is extremely fun for what it is. It's a brawler in the old 90s arcade style of beat em up games.

Don't get me wrong, it has some modern conveniences and additions as well. You can mix and match local co-op play, online co-op play, and online matchmaking. It makes it super easy to get a lot of co-op players on screen quickly. You can go all the way up to six players instead of just four. There's a whole story mode with some meta-progression and unlockables. There are difficulty modes and minor differences in character stats.

But all of that is secondary to the fact that this is a TMNT beat em up at its core. If you liked the old TMNT games in this style (like I do) then you'll probably like this one too.

My son and I played through the entire main game the first night we checked it out on Game Pass. Most of that time was with a full crew of six co-op players. We had an amazing time and it only took about 2 hours all-in. Since then, my kids and I have been randomly picking up the game and playing a few levels at a time just for fun.

This is one of the more enjoyable multiplayer experiences I've had this year so it lands surprisingly high in my rankings coming in just below the top five:

Elden Ring
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Cyberpunk 2077
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

I love easily accessible multiplayer games with some depth to them that my kids and I can play together. This one definitely hit the mark for my family.

Games of the Year 2022: Mario Strikers: Battle League

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Mario Strikers: Battle League was a mixed bag of a game for me. The single player experience leaves a lot to be desired but the multiplayer experience was a lot more fun.

The single player modes and options are very shallow. There's not much in terms of progression, direction, or really much to do outside of the core gameplay loop. It's like the made the gameplay and then forgot to build everything else around it. There are a few cups you can participate in but, beyond that, not much else. It honestly reminds me of Mario Kart in that way, except even more shallow.

Where the game actually comes to life is the multiplayer. I've now played this game with two, three, and four players locally and every player we added only added to the fun. Compared to how lifeless and dull the CPU controlled teammates are in single player modes, having everyone on your team independently controlled by a human player was so much more fun. We played through a couple of the cups this way and had a great time!

But after experiencing both sides of it, I think this is a game I would only pick up in situations with 3+ players. It will stay on my Switch but essentially just slot into the same play space as games like Mario Kart and Mario Party. Something to break out when you have the right people around but not something you pour hours into on your own.

Mario Strikers: Battle League ends up in the bottom third on my running list but not all the way at the bottom:

Elden Ring
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Cyberpunk 2077
Triangle Strategy
Mario Strikers: Battle League
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

It's possible games could come in under it, but I honestly think most games worth writing about between here and the end of the year will come in above it and push it down further.

Games of the Year 2022: Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

noreply@blogger.com (Void) — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has a wild and non-descriptive name that you almost instantly forget as soon as you here it. Which is kind of fitting for a series with spin offs that are extremely hit or miss.

This one is no exception. In a lot of ways, this game is extremely rough around the edges. So many things aren't up to modern standards including the graphics, voice acting, story, script, level design, and more. But, despite all that, there's something here that hooked me and kept me playing until the end.

The core of what kept me interested was a combination of the story and the job system. The story isn't well told but it does function as a true prequel to Final Fantasy I. There are almost no spin-off games that tie directly into mainline games. Because I'm so invested in the mainline Final Fantasy games, just knowing that this tied into the very first one of the series had me intrigued.

The other piece that held my interest in the moment to moment of gameplay was the job system. This game has a ton of jobs and they all pull from series history. At any point you can have two different jobs equipped and swap between them with a push of a button. It encouraged me to change things up and experiment with different jobs while always working on leveling into new, more advanced, jobs as well. It scratched the same kind of itch that previous Final Fantasy job systems did.

With Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin being such a mixed bag, it ends up in the middle of the pack for me, slotting in right underneath Vampire Survivors and above Cyberpunk 2077.

Elden Ring
FFXIV Endwalker
Citizen Sleeper
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
Horizon Forbidden West
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
Halo Infinite
Vampire Survivors
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Cyberpunk 2077
Triangle Strategy
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Nobody Saves the World
Unpacking
Total War: Warhammer 3
Tunic

This feels like a very middle of the pack game and I expect it to stay fairly middle-ish as this list continues to build out in the back half of the year (we're almost half way through the year already!).