Inspired by the other currently trending post, I was inspired by the sheer coincidental fact we both completed the same number of games to make my own thread talking about them.
This is the first year I've actually been keeping an active list and tracking what I'm playing and what I'm beating. And I'm definitely going to keep doing it in the years to follow, because it's not only fun but helps me prioritize my time better and give me a great sense of progress. So that's neat.
This list is *mostly* in order but I jump around a lot.
Life Is Strange 2 - I actually forgot that I beat this in 2020 until I went back and checked my trophy list and yep, January 8th, 2020. It has been so long I thought I had beat this before the end of 2019 but nope.
Anyway, I loved this game and found it to be a big improvement over the original, which I also liked but didn't love. I actually loved this story so much I made an entire video about it, which you can watch here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ISwuIQVsEE After all the hours I poured into that video, not about to repeat myself, lol. I swear I'm not gonna just be plugging videos this whole time.
Specter of Torment / King of Cards - I plowed through both of these expansions to Shovel Knight after going through Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows in 2019. I actually found Specter of Torment a little underwhelming given how much its praised. I liked it, but I didn't think the story was anything super special and while Specter Knight's playset is probably the coolest of the knights, it wasn't by a huge margin or anything. And I actually like Plague of Shadows more than most people because I find Plague Knight's customization and movement to be really fun.
King of Cards definitely has more content than Torment, having an actual map and its own minigame in Joust, which I found pretty fun to beat the optional challenges in. My least favorite campaign is actually the original Shovel of Hope just because I find his moveset the most difficult? Maybe I need to replay it, but I just remember struggling to get through Shovel of Hope whereas I didn't really have that issue with the expansions.
The Messenger - The first half of this game is a perfectly paced, challenging but fair platforming romp with incredibly entertaining and witty dialogue. Not to mention the soundtrack slaps. The second half, while sporting some amazing 16-bit art, isn't as good due to its lack of focus and half-hearted attempts to transform into a psuedo-Metroidvania when the map was only *kinda sorta* appropriate for that. But it's still great and has its own charms. Picnic Panic is alright too. A fantastic game any fan of 2D games needs to play.
The Turing Test - I like Portal a lot. I'm always interested in the many first-person puzzle games that have followed in its shoes. This one definitely scratches that itch but isn't as amazing as say, The Talos Principle... which I really need to finish one of these days. Anyway, The Turing Test has a pretty decent flow to it for most of its run, maybe veering a bit on the easy side for a lot of it but definitely complicated enough to make you think about it and find enjoyment and executing the solution, even if it comes to you fairly quickly. I will say there are some randomly very difficult puzzle chambers that require some batshit logic to figure out, but they are few and far between.
The story is interesting enough to keep your interest but you realize pretty quickly that everyone is a self-righteous prick and that might annoy some people but personally I enjoyed the banter between these flawed perspectives in an impossible situation. I don't think it's *great* but it certainly kept me engaged.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - Possibly the only good game in the series. Good arcade-y fun with endearing narration and style. Not much else to say, far from a top-tier FPS but if you've got a few hours to kill in the west, this will hit the spot.
Afterparty - From the creators of Oxenfree comes, I think a slightly more palatable romp through Hell. This kind of almost improv-esque writing won't appeal to everyone but I enjoy its sort of... faux-naturalism? It's very witty, perhaps to a fault but I liked it. And I don't think it overstayed its welcome either. If you wanna hear funny dialogue while holding the analog stick forward for a few hours, this is a pretty good time.
Coffee Talk - This game gets compared to VA1 HALL-A a lot but I'm not sure everyone who liked that game will enjoy this one. It isn't as stylish or memorable as its clear inspiration and it's a fraction of the length, but if being a bartender (or I guess a barista in this instance) appeals to you and you just wanna chill out to some lo-fi and listen to peoples's troubles, this is perfectly serviceable. You can plow through this in 3 hours, so its a good palate cleanser between bigger games.
Kunai - I *really* like Kunai and I'm upset a lot of other people on
/metroidvania don't. I love its unique visual style (i have no idea how to describe it, it's kinda like if the original gameboy never stopped? But in widescreen? And with more color palates?) and its snappy gameplay. The movement feels really nice and the level design and bosses are good, it's a nice challenge with some fun abilities. It's too linear for me to call it a true MV but as a 2D platformer, I highly recommend it. Also the soundtrack is great.
Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir - If you've never played a Vanillaware title, I HIGHLY suggest playing Muramasa Rebirth before this. Odin Sphere is a lot more complex and if you play Muramasa afterward, it might feel disappointingly simplistic. With that out of the way, this was my podcast game of the year. Because the story is entirely contained to cutscenes, it was a great game to chill out with while listening to videos and podcasts, pausing for the cutscenes that bookend every stage.
I played this on my Vita 1000 and it looks AMAZING on the OLED screen. Definitely the way to go. The story is pretty engaging if a bit tricky to follow (I just started 13 Sentinels this week so saying that about Odin Sphere feels almost quaint but hey, it's all relative). I do gotta warn you though that this game is best played in bursts.
I treated each of the 5 campaigns as their own games almost and took significant breaks between them throughout the year because the combat does get a bit repetitive, even keeping in mind that every character plays differently. So I recommend pacing yourself. Thankfully the game is divided into these clear chunks so it's easy to do.
This game is also a huge nostalgia trip for anyone who watched a lot of dubbed anime in the 2000s because a lot of notable names are here. I liked this more than Muramasa for its more engaging story and more complex gameplay but they're both good and worth playing.
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando - Not as good as the first and this is the game that made me realize I should stop playing this series on Vita, not because it doesn't run well, with overclocking it runs pretty good, but just because it's cumbersome to control in this form factor. I'll give more thoughts when I get to UYA below.
Knightin'+ - This is a short and sweet dungeon-puzzler in the vein of Zelda 1 on the NES. No bullshit, just 4 different dungeons to work through, each capped with a boss. I recommend it.
Ruiner - This is a fun and stylish game that really tests your reflexes. The gameplay feels very smooth and the difficulty gets the blood pumping. That said though, since the game is so dedicated to the Akira-esque aesthetic, environments quickly become samey, not providing much variety even within the cyberpunk space. And the story, while bringing up a lot of interesting ideas is too vague and detached to really be invested in. It gets you through the six hour romp, but not much else. Definitely get this for the gameplay and aesthetic.
Persona 5 Royal - I probably could've gone through a dozen other games if I hadn't played this in 2020. It took me about 140 hours to finish my max confidant run. There's more to say about P5R than could ever be fit into this post but I'll try to sum up my feelings.
It's a definite improvement on the original release in every way. I still think that narratively, Persona 5 suffers from some core conceptual issues that the earlier games didn't have and that keeps me from thinking its a masterpiece but that doesn't change that its still a very good and engrossing game.
I actually have a video discussing why I think Persona 5 lacks thematic applicability if you wanna check that out. I wrote it before Royal released in English, but Royal didn't really change much about the games' themes so it still holds up;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8BgEaHAwWI Prince of Persia: Sands of Time - I played the HD re-release on PS3, which was a decent experience apart from the weird audio mixing and a distracting semi-frequent bug where sounds would repeat indefinitely every few rooms until you got far enough away from their source to de-load them. Otherwise it ran at a hard-locked 30fps and was pretty enjoyable.
It was actually very interesting as a long-time Assassin's Creed sufferer (calling myself a fan these days isn't entirely accurate, ha) to see where some of the core mechanics of that series originated.
Sands of Time has a simple story as a framing device for a very balanced mixture of platforming, combat and puzzle-solving. The adventure is well-paced though a bit unambitious, and it ends at a good spot just before it would've worn out its welcome.
Definitely going to be going through the sequels sometime soon.
Streets of Rage 4 - I haven't played this since launch, so the patches might have addressed some of my criticisms but anyway.
For the most part, I love how this game looks, sounds and controls. A very cathartic and stylish beat'em up that recaptures the essence of the era its imitating while modernizing it.
My only complaint is that the difficulty often felt cheap and unbalanced and varied wildly depending on who you playing as. Some characters were just too damn slow and had no real good options for mitigating damage, and trying to play effectively, particularly at higher difficulties meant playing in very unintuitive, restrictive and just plain un-fun ways.
Maybe that's been patched since, idk yet. I hope so.
Mark of the Ninja - This is an example of a game I started previously and just decided on a whim to return to and wrap up. And I really love this game, probably the best 2D stealth game ever made, to this day. And as we'll discuss later, I really enjoy stealth games. Great visual style, very intuitive UI for the genre, the story's kind of an excuse plot but the presentation is snappy enough to make it fun to go through. Have not played the DLC yet, I should probably get on that sometime.
Shantae and the Seven Sirens - The best Shantae game, in my opinion. Although this is coming from someone who enjoyed Half-Genie Hero more than the criminally over-rated Pirate's Curse so you're free to disregard my opinion if you want. Sleek presentation, funny writing, a return to a lite-metroidvania structure. It's fun to figure out how to traverse the map, which has a good variety of environments.
I think it does suffer from the difficulty being a bit too fast-and-loose. Some stuff feels designed to basically do cheap nearly-unavoidable hits just because "hey, the player has a ton of food and healing items so why not". I guess it's more about resource management? But it feels a little unsatisfying at times. But this has been a long-running problem in the series so it isn't exclusive to this game.
It definitely could've been more than it is, but they seem really intent on keeping things simple and light-hearted so it's hard to criticize them for that.
Chaos;Child - I played this visual novel on-and-off over a few months on some friends' recommendation. It is immensely difficult to discuss without spoiling it and I have a lot of nuanced thoughts, both positive and negative. I would definitely say it is a notable and interesting experience that has more pros than cons, so give it a shot if you're prepared to have your brain broken.
Death Come True - As the world's biggest Danganronpa fan, I am obligated to experience everything Kazutaka Kodaka works on, so here we are. This is definitely him watering himself down for the masses, but it still results in a decent product. Death Come True is an FMV game, weird as that might be in the modern era. I almost feel more comfortable talking about it as a film than as a game, because as a film I actually think it's pretty decent especially in the production and cinematography. It's definitely overpriced for what it is (you can beat this and see all bad ends in easily about 3 hours), but if you see it on sale, definitely worth checking out.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps - Huge step-up from the original game. More to see and do than just basic platforming, incorporating a lot of proper MV elements. I still feel it's too linear to be a *true* MV and a lot of the side content doesn't have really meaningful rewards but atleast that stuff is *there* as a fun distraction.
The artwork and music make for an almost transcendent experience. It almost makes Blind Forest feel like a tech demo. The artists employed by Moon Studios are so goddamn talented. I'm definitely on the watch for whatever they do next.
While I'm not as big into the narratives of the Ori series as some people (I think it's mostly carried by the cathartic presentation and emotional pathos, which is fine but some people talk about it like it's way more than it is and I just have to shake my head), these are absolutely a pair of games anyone fan of 2D needs to experience.
Halo CE Anniversary - I'm gonna be brutally honest... I think this might be one of the weakest games I played this year. I had never experienced the Halo franchise before, being a playstation guy, but when my brother left his Xbone with me over the summer, I decided to, well number one, buy Will of the Wisps, but ALSO pick up a used copy of the Master Chief Collection and see what the series is all about.
Halo CE... it has its moments but man, all I remember is just being consistently frustrated by random difficulty spikes, weirdly placed checkpoints, repetitive levels that were aggravating to navigate because of their lack of distinct landmarks. And some levels just absolutely starving you of ammo, causing you to need to just run past everything hoping you hit a checkpoint before you're killed.
I don't understand why this game is so revered, it's so incredibly average to me. Like this is a pretty flat 5/10.
That said...
Halo 2 Anniversary - A MASSIVE improvement. Fixes it pretty much every issue I had with the first. Better level design, better combat flow, less getting hopelessly lost, better checkpoint system, more interesting story. And the anniversary glow-up makes the game feel practically modern, especially those gorgeous cut-scenes.
There were a *few* troublesome sections and as I'm pretty sure everyone in the world knows, the ending is infamously abrupt, but overall, a much better experience than CE. I'm looking forward to playing Halo 3 in the near-future.
Superliminal - Definitely a unique game that manages to really capture the feeling of being lost in a dream. Sometimes I'd even forget I was awake while playing this, it was that convincing at times. Check this out if you want something experimental. It's just the right length too, bailing out before the gimmick got old.
Carrion - A good game, but a bit of disappointment, I think. I dunno, I guess I just assumed this would be more of a metroidvania from the trailers but the reality is that its a pretty linear affair moving from one area to the next, each new room something of a puzzle to figure out. There's a lot of catharsis to be had from being the monster in a horror film, but the novelty does wear off eventually.
What holds this game back is that its sometimes very confusing to navigate, since it lacks any kind of map, and that it sometimes feels like you never get to truly play around with your abilities, every upgrade you get is more to circumvent an obstacle than provide new fun toys to play with and that kinda deflates the fantasy a bit.
But the atmosphere is really well done, when you're in a groove, I don't know that any other game has succeeded in making you feel as vicious and unstoppable as this one. If you've ever fantasized about being a forty-foot long glob of biomass chomping on scientists for breakfast, this is the game for you.
Psychonauts - Where has this game been all my life, I love it. So weirdly at some point during the summer, this game was accidentally made free on the Xbox store for like a day. I managed to snag it during that period and I almost feel bad for not paying for it because damn is this game fantastic. So great I made a whole video to talk about it, which you can find here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AvY19p0v6s Psychonauts 2 is one of my most anticipated releases of 2021, it can't come soon enough.
Styx: Master of Shadows - I actually tried this game about a year and a half ago and I dunno what it was but I just wasn't really feeling it at the time. I didn't get very far in before quitting. On a whim, I decided to start over and try again and Idk what my problem was before because the game immediately clicked with me.
This is a pure stealth game, getting caught isn't game over in most circumstances but depending on how exactly you were caught, you might as well reload because fighting your way out isn't a great option. Styx is half the height of the guards and while he can fight off one, maybe two of them if he's lucky, any more than that and they'll quickly bash his skull in.
Master of Shadows takes place exclusively in one big location that Styx sneaks his way into and then has to sneak his way out of it. This naturally means that the latter half of the game is mainly comprised of earlier levels, but played in reverse with some alterations. While this makes logical sense with the plot, it does come across a little bit like padding.
I personally didn't mind it that much since again, it does make sense and the increased familiarity with the level layout lets you more effectively traverse it. But it's definitely a notable annoyance some people have with the game.
The biggest issue I had, playing this on base PS4, was the loading times. As a pure stealth game, you're gonna be reloading saves a lot. It's part of the genre, it's what you do. But holy fuck, this game is gonna really test your patience. Now, to be fair, I had this installed on my 5400rpm external HDD. Which is slower than the PS4's internal 7200rpm drive, so that probably added unnecessary frustration that could've been avoided on my part if I thought ahead a little, but like I said, I returned to this game on a whim.
But in my experience, loading screens took anywhere from 25-40 seconds. Every single time. And depending on your skill level or just how much you wanna experiment, you could be reloading dozens of time per level. This adds up. I think the game is worth it despite this annoyance, but make sure to keep your phone handy because you're gonna have a fair bit of down time with this one.
Styx himself is a really enjoyable character that actually goes through a pretty satisfying arc over the course of this game. The world he inhabits seems really stock at first but it actually has some pretty imaginative takes on staple fantasy tropes. I'll talk about that more later, because spoiler alert, I went through every game featuring him this year, but suffice it to say that Master of Shadows is definitely something any stealth fan should check out, even if its rough around the edges.
Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit! - I feel like this game got lost to time. A 7th gen downloadable title that never quite made the headlines as far as I remember. I had always been fascinated with this game so I decided to give it a go after I installed a bigger, faster HDD in my PS3. And I gotta say, it's a fun time.
The setup is that you're Ash. Prince of Hell. The paparazzi snaps pics of you playing with a rubby ducky in the bathtub so now you need to kill the 100 monsters it was sent to before your embarrassing pics get leaked and ruin your reputation. If you've ever played Disgaea, the tone is kinda like that except without the actual serious storyline that creeps up on you through all the meta-humor and irreverence.
So yeah, in this game you gotta hunt down 100 monsters. They're spread through several different levels and each one has some kind of trick to killing them. Many of them also have brief amusing anecdotes to exchange with Ash, which are all a joy. The visuals aren't the highest resolution, but the artstyle is clean, sharp and vibrant and the soundtrack is surprisingly catchy.
The controls admittedly take a little getting used to but once you do, there's nothing really wrong with them, they're just a little unusual. If you enjoy quasi-metroidvania titles, this might be a hidden gem. There's little else like it. It's a very amusing game from start to finish.
Shadow Warrior 2 - I enjoyed the Shadow Warrior reboot quite a bit, rough around the edges though it was, but I held off on this one for the longest time because the idea of a shooter like this being procedurally generated didn't sit well with me. But I gotta say, it actually works pretty well.
The visuals look great and the gunplay is quite a bit smoother than the first game. The Borderlands-style loot system, I mean, I could've done without it but it has its charms. I enjoyed modding weapons with different effects and such. Some of the weapons are really badass looking and fun to use.
The story isn't as good as the first, largely because Kamiko, while an appreciably different companion than Hoji, doesn't have quite as enjoyable a rapport with Lo Wang. And I know the dialogue is really divisive in this reboot series, but I personally love it. The irreverence, the energy, it's great.
Now the procedural levels *mostly* work, but there were a few occasions where I'd see stairs that lead to nowhere or objectives that were kind of obtuse to figure out how to reach, but it wasn't the dealbreaker I assumed it would be. And I can't speak to how frequent the little issues are, because again, procgen. You might have a flawless experience, someone else might get a really weird buggy one, who knows.
Excited for Shadow Warrior 3. I actually don't know if the procgen levels are returning for that one, can anyone confirm?
Thomas Was Alone - So I actually wanted to play Volume because I was kind of on a stealth kick but figured, hey, why not play Mike Bithel's earlier game first? So I did, the puzzle platformer, Thomas Was Alone. A *very* engaging and brilliantly paced story about differently shaped colored blocks.
The narration makes this game. Like the levels are good and all but the added context makes going through level after level way more engaging. I'm actually really jealous of Bithel for coming up with this ingenius trick. Wish I'd thought of it first. Haven't yet played Benjamin's Flight though, I'll get around to it eventually.
Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal - A good time. I switched to PS3 for this one and I'm glad I did because it felt a lot better to control than on Vita. This is the weakest of the 'trilogy' in my opinion and I feel like I can just recommend Gaming Brit's video on it to perfectly encapsulate why. I pretty much agree with everyone he says. Good game, but has a lot of weird drawbacks probably owing to its rushed production.
Jak & Daxter - So I was kinda trapped in World of Warcraft during most of the sixth console generation so a ton of classics of that era past me by. That's why I've been gradually catching up with them through the HD collections on PS3. And this was a super enjoyable platformer.
I find it really interesting how this game is a more accurate successor to Super Mario 64 than any actual Mario game that came later. Not even A Hat In Time fully replicates the design of these games despite aping a lot of their style. (AHiT almost made this list but I did finish it in 2019).
There's some uneven difficulty spikes here and there but for the most part, I had a smile on my face the entire time I went through Jak & Daxter. Definitely going to go through Jak 2 soon, which I hear is really difficult, hopefully it doesn't turn me off from it.
Yoku's Island Express - A metroidvania-lite controlled ala pinball should not work as well as it does. This game is short, but a very fun and unique experience. You haven't played anything quite like this before. Now, admittedly, sometimes the pinball navigation makes it a little more challenging to figure out how to reach certain locations and it can make backtracking a little more involved than you'd expect, but otherwise, a good time all around. My only complaint is that by the time you can get stuff to customize your ball... the game is basically over. That kinda sucks.
Of Orcs And Men - This is the RPG that Styx originated from before Cyanide decided he should be the star of his own stealth series, which might be the wisest decision anyone's ever made. The existing Styx games are actually prequels to this game. I actually imported this from France since it never got a physical release in North America. Was it worth the $24 I paid for it? Well, for collection's sake, yes but as a game? It's pretty mid.
This game was actually primarily developed by Spiders, yes *that* Spiders. The notorious eurojank RPG factory who didn't get much of any real acclaim until their latest game Greedfall. And this is them *pre-Bound By Flame* just to give an example of the timeline.
Of Orcs And Men is a very strange affair. The world it presents is interesting but doesn't get expanded upon much. The strongest part of the game is the dynamic between Styx and Arkail, which is legitimately good and makes me wish for the big lug to get his own game at some point, maybe a God of War style hack'n'slasher? I dunno.
The gameplay is fairly clunky and unbalanced. There is some joy in figuring out how to effectively control both characters at once and strategize through the game, but not only does the adventure feel unpolished, it feels outright unfinished.
The game *claims* to have 5 Chapters, but really it has maybe 2 and a half in actuality. The first two chapters are fairly fleshed out with multiple missions, a number of sidequests and give the impression of a grander RPG than it ends up really being. Chapter 3 is basically a bunch of cutscenes, a short dream sequence and a quick escape sequence. Chapter 4 takes place on a really cool looking island but it's essentially one slightly-longer-than-average level. And than Chapter 5 is a dashing sprint to the finish line, fighting your way up two floors of a tower before the final boss fight.
It really gives off the impression that Spiders had much bigger plans but just ran out of money and had to scramble together than second half of the game. I've never seen a game rush to an ending like this before. There's also features that feel kinda pointless, like the equipment. There's... barely any of it. Lot of the time you'll talk to a new trader and they just have nothing new to sell you, it's so bizarre.
There's some heart to the writing, which carries over into Styx's own games. But you don't *really* need to play this to understand the Styx games, and even if you're curious, I'd recommend watching a Let's Play or something. It isn't the worst, but it's a very mediocre game overall.
Shadow Complex Remastered - I decided to plow through this after hearing it wouldn't be compatible on PS5 for whatever reason... not that I'm getting one anytime soon because the US government won't give adult dependents stimulus checks but whatever. Anyway, this game is good. Shorter than I expected it to be, honestly, but I see why it became a hit in the early XBLA days.
My only real complaint is just that shooting at enemies in the background is really finnicky, which is everyone's complaint about this game. Otherwise, pretty solid Super Metroid clone.
Tokyo Xanadu EX+ - Another game I started on a whim. I'll just start by saying that if you've never heard of this game, that the promotional artwork is WAY more epic and edgy than anything in the actual game. It's borderline false advertising.
I'd never played a Falcom game before and rather than dive headfirst into the massive Trails series, I figured this standalone game would be better. All in all, I liked it, enough to finish it, which took me about 65 hours. But be warned, it is exceptionally anime. This might be the most anime game to ever anime.
By which I mean, it's pretty standard fare stuff. I did grow to like the characters, but none of them are especially complicated people. The game is so easy-going it's difficult to feel a sense of tension even when there's clearly supposed to be. If you go into this expecting Persona, I think you'll be a little disappointed. It just isn't that good, it plays itself too straight and too safe.
They should definitely make another Xanadu game though. I think a new game with a different cast and more ambition poured into it could be really good. As it stands, this game *is* decent, but can I really recommend you pour 65 hours into something that's just "alright"? That's a hard sell, I think.
What I did find interesting about this game is its design. Instead of long, arduous grindy JRPG dungeons, the game plays more like an arcadey brawler with short stages that you're encouraged to speedrun your way through. It doesn't overcomplicate itself, and I found it a joy to plow through because of that.
Also Hazy Moon might be the best track I've heard all year, give it a listen.
Styx: Shards of Darkness - I was actually going to save this for later but I got a new display and figured, what the hell, right? This game is a BIG improvement on Master of Shadows, basically everything about that game that didn't work was either improved or removed. The janky old engine is gone, replaced with a pretty-looking and slick-feeling UE4 game.
The gameplay is smoother, the level design is better, but the biggest improvements are quality of life stuff. This game reloads VERY quickly, even on PS4. I'm talking about 7-10 seconds, it's good stuff. The menus are snappier, you can actually see your progress in the various challenges rankings as you're playing the level, no longer restricted to the results screen.
I felt compelled to replay levels immediately after beating them to experiment with new abilities or go for different challenges and I can't say that about a lot of games. This is a stealth classic.
The big thing fans debate about this game is the different direction they took Styx himself. While he doesn't do it constantly, he now seems keenly aware that he's in a video game and routinely makes meta jokes and breaks the fourth wall. After two fairly straight-laced games, this is a little jarring but I actually don't really mind for two reasons.
- It is MOSTLY contained to the death screens, which mock the player ala the Arkham series.
- As far as I recall, Styx NEVER breaks the fourth wall when talking to other characters, only in his internal narration during gameplay, which keeps it between him and the player, so to speak. The actual storyline is not derailed by the existence of this Deadpool-esque humor.
Shards of Darkness does end on a bit of cliffhanger, so I'm really hoping for a third game. Arkail even makes a brief cameo in this one, which makes me think Cyanide might not be done with him either. They seem pretty busy with other projects these days, but one can dream, right? I'm glad I gave this series another shot because Styx is awesome.
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*phew* And THAT is the 35 games I beat this year. There were other games I spent substantial amounts of time in but I won't discuss them since I haven't beaten them yet. (Games like SMT IV, Yakuza 0, Dicey Dungeons, the MediEvil remake, Hades, and Ghostrunner).
Currently, I'm going through the Destroy All Humans! Remake and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, both of which I'm enjoying immensely. There's a LOT of stuff I'm looking forward to in 2021 which will be a struggle to balance with the backlog. My most anticipated games atm are Hollow Knight: Silksong, Psychonauts 2 and Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny. But there's like fucking 20 Metroidvanias planned for release this year which makes me nervous as that genre is my obsession.
Lemme know what you thought of any of these games. I'm definitely going to keep keeping track of my progress so I might make more posts here in the future.
submitted by Feiern Sie die Saga von Kazuma Kiryu mit Yakuza 3, 4 und 5 in neuem Glanz. Mit wiederhergestellten Inhalten und aktualisierter englischer... Die Yakuza Remastered Collection ist ab sofort für Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass (Android, Konsole und PC) sowie auf Windows 10 und bei Steam erhältlich. Die Yakuza-Sammlun … The Yakuza Remastered Collection will be available starting January 28, 2021, on Xbox One, Steam, and the Windows Store. It will also be a part of Xbox Game Pass when it launches. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life will be available on March 25, 2021, for the same platforms. That may be a few months away, but it's not too long of a wait. The Yakuza Remastered Collection hits Xbox Game Pass today, bringing Sega classics Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 restored in glorious HD to Xbox Game Pass members!. The first of three games in this collection, Yakuza 3, picks up from where the events of Yakuza Kiwami 2 left off (also available on Xbox Game Pass). But for those just swearing into the family, the games provide just the right amount of ... Yakuza Remastered Collection. Yakuza 3 Remastered (Android, Console, and PC) – January 28 In a quest to abandon their bloody past, Kazuma Kiryu and adoptive daughter Haruka Sawamura leave the unforgiving streets of Kamurocho for the island of Okinawa to run the Morning Glory Orphanage. Yakuza 0. The unbridled decadence of the 80s is back in Yakuza 0. Play as Kazuma Kiryu and discover how he finds himself in a world of trouble when a simple debt collection goes wrong. Then, step into the silver-toed shoes of Goro Majima and explore his “normal” life as the proprietor of a cabaret club. Publisher Sega and developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio will release The Yakuza Remastered Collection for Xbox One and PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store on January 28, 2021, followed by Yakuza 6: The ...