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What games did you complete in 2018?

Space Nugget

Guest
  • Dishonored - Tried mimicking StealthGamerBR playstyle, to some degree of success. I love how (and when) the game clicks.
  • Dishonored 2 - There's a lot to like here: level design, art direction, new mechanics. The performance forced me to play stealthly for the most part.
  • Far Cry 2 + Dylan's Mod - If only there's way of getting rid of the FUCKING "go get dem malaria pills lol" missions.
  • Far Cry 5 - What's with canadian game designers and stupid gamey boss fight ideas?
  • Hitman: Blood Money - A favorite. If only had they remade Silent Assassin in this iteration of the engine...
  • HITMAN 2 - Plus Legacy Pack, it's a must-buy.
  • Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Fun. Doesn't waste (much) of your time, unlike Shadow of War.
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl - First time without mods. Can't wait for Metro Exodus.
  • StarCraft + Brood War - Terran campaigns only.
  • Thief Gold - Somehow got over the motion sickness I felt every failed try at playing this one.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines - Spent more time with side quests (stuff I mostly skipped/rushed through). Didn't regret it.

Games that finished me:

  • Divinity: Original Sin 2 - One word: overwheelming. I'm starting over.
  • XCOM 2 - Didn't upgrade my shit soon enough - got my sorry ass kicked hard. Starting over as well.
 
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Villagkouras

Arcane
Joined
Jul 3, 2014
Messages
1,022
Location
Greece
Work doesn't let me play some serious RPG, so a lot of small games this year, except Persona which I played at the start of 2018. From May 2019 things will change...

Bolded are games released in 2018.

:5/5:
  • Celeste
  • Persona 5
  • Broforce (couch co-op)
:4/5:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • Guacamelee
  • Guacamelee 2
  • Risk of Rain
  • Into the Breach
  • The Messenger
  • The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories
:3/5:
  • God of War
  • DOOM
  • Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
  • Pinkman
  • Lara Croft GO
  • Gorogoa
  • Cursed Castilla
  • Minit
  • Frostpunk
  • FAR: Lone Sails
  • kuso
  • Deep Space Waifu
  • Hook
  • Hexcells
  • Refunct
  • Squirm
  • The Walking Dead: Season 1
  • Super Meat Boy
:2/5:
  • Kathy Rain
  • Songbringer
  • Figment
  • Emily is Away Too
  • Chuchel
  • The Deed
  • Q.U.B.E. 2
  • Omensight
  • GRIS
:1/5:
  • Outland
  • Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You
  • SiNKR
:0/5:
  • Donut County
  • Chronology
 

Morkar Left

Guest
I completed not a single game in 2018.

Instead I jumped in and out of some games but nothing I really wanted to finish, mostly because I play my games very slow and soaking up the gameworld etc.
I played this year some PoE and still want to finish it. But then I'm not too interested in starting the damn game. Instead I ended up playing Star Traders Frontiers the most. Still far from completing the story, still mostly discovering all the different gamestyles that are possible and what kind of chars you need therefore etc. Cool game!
Looked into Stellar Tactics and played a bit further than the tutorial. Seems to shape up very, very good. Could become a really great game when coming out of Early Access.
This weekend I picked up Elex again and it's getting even better the further I come. Maybe get some good gaming going on till the end of the year (which means today...).

Someday I will finish games again! Some day!!!
 

toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,023
Ash of Gods Redemption
Ghost of a Tale
Into the breach
Pillars of Eternity 2
Vampyr
Ori and The Blind Forest
Insomnia: The Ark
Mutant Year Zero
Pathfinder Kingmaker
Kenshi
 

Ovplain

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
1,890
Location
Down by the riverside
RPG Wokedex
01 Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition (2014)
02 BioShock Remastered (2007)
03 80 Days (2014)
04 The Walking Dead: Michonne (2016)
05 Murdered: Soul Suspect (2014)
06 The Darkness II (2012)
07 Torment: Tides of Numenera (2017)
08 Dead Space 1 (2008)
09 Expeditions: Viking (2017)
10 The Stanley Parable (2013)
11 BATTLETECH (2018)
12 DOOM (2016)
13 Wolfenstein: The New Order (2014)
14 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)
15 Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)
16 Beyond: Two Souls (2013)
17 Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (2012)
18 Virginia (2016)
19 Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition (2013)
20 What Remains Of Edith Finch (2017)
21 Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015)
22 Limbo (2010)
23 Mirror's Edge (2008)
24 Steep (2016)
25 Mass Effect 2 (2010)
26 Mass Effect 3 (2012)
27 Scribblenauts Unmasked (2013)
28 Transformers: Devastation (2015)
29 Middle-earth: Shadow of War - Definitive Edition (2017)
30 Fallout 4 (2015)
31 Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015)
32 Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Shadows of Hong Kong (2016)
33 Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (2018)

Shit what I've finished. Some saves were older (Wolfenstein, Witcher 3, Doom, Tomb Raider,...) but I did finish them this year.
 
Joined
Oct 10, 2014
Messages
900
Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I helped put crap in Monomyth
:5/5:
GTA San Andreas
Darkwood
Mafia II
Deus Ex
Max Payne 2
GTA III
Thief Gold
System Shock 2
Detention

:4/5:
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School (Remake)
GTA Vice City
Max Payne
Shivers
Half-Life
Half-Life Opposing Force

:3/5:
Black Mesa
Half-Life 2
Spec Ops: The Line
Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle Of Flesh
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Half-Life Blue Shift

:2/5:
Rogue Fucking Warrior, you pussies!

:1/5:
Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth
Outlast 2
Milanoir

:0/5:
60 Seconds!
 
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Belegarsson

Think about hairy dwarfs all the time ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Patron
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Messages
1,261
Location
Uwotopia
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
:5/5:
Hitman 2
DUSK
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Finding Paradise
What Remains of Edith Finch
Aviary Attorney
Prey

:4/5:
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
Battletech
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
CHUCHEL

:3/5:
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
Far Cry 5
Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
Warhammer: Vermintide 2
A Case of Distrust
Tacoma
Batman: The Enemy Within
The Division (main campaign)
Orwell: Ignorance is Strength

:2/5:
Ken Follett's The Pillars of The Earth
Black Mirror (2017)
Hand of Fate 2
Battle Chasers: Nightwar

:1/5:
The Bard's Tale IV
State of Mind
Vampyr
The Banner Saga 3
Assassins' Creed Odyssey

:0/5:
Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition
Strange Brigade

I haven't finished Obra Dinn yet but from what I've played, the :5/5: group is definitely having a new entry.
 
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4249

I stalk the night
Patron
Joined
Nov 19, 2014
Messages
1,216
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut Divinity: Original Sin 2
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim
Hard West
The Shivah
The Blackwell series
The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav and Memoria
The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
Swords and Sorcery: Underworld
Mary Skelter: Nightmares
ELEX
yes.png

Stories: The Path of Destinies
Dungeon Siege III (Just the main game)

And another annual playthrough of Fallout 1. Started going through 2 too, but stopped in favour of New Vegas, which I'm currently continuing.

Also finally finished my 5 year or something long BG2 playthrough. Still haven't played through ToB though, just cant muster myself to wade through any more of that kind of game.

Why don't I have time to play vidya games properly any more :negative:
 

HansDampf

Arcane
Joined
Dec 15, 2015
Messages
1,471
This thread should have been posted today and not a month ago. Shame on OP.

Not including some shorter demos, custom maps, and such (* = replay):
  • Hollow Knight - Finished on January 1st, 2018, actually. So this counts. I also beat 100% Steel Soul mode + true ending later this year. Great Metroid game.
  • *Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - Played in Dolphin with glorious HD sprites. I'd spent all level-ups exclusively on badge points to abuse low HP damage bonuses. Funny game, but with too much filler in some chapters.
  • Shadowrun: Dragonfall - First time as a Mage, second time as a Rigger. I had also installed a mod that fixes the retarded AI, and lets it attack with 2 AP. It still didn't know how to handle two extra drones.
  • *Goblins 3 - I normally hate adventures. This is the only one I can play thanks to nostalgia.
  • TIS-100 - This game looks like work, but it's so addicting. What was I thinking?!
  • Anachronox - I'd almost given up after the first hour or so. Thankfully, some Codexers convinced me to continue. Now it's one of the few games that have managed to make me lol out loud.
  • *Beyond Good & Evil - It's a charming game, sure, but I still don't understand the huge amount of hype behind it.
  • Duke Hard - A community episode for Duke Nukem 3D (referencing Die Hard). It's so good, I had to play it twice.
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl - ZRP + Absolute Nature/Structures. This was... interesting. I'm not sure I'd want to go through this ever again, particularly the "hobo stage".
  • Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1998) - With re-orchestrated soundtrack. External software was also necessary for joystick calibration. This game is so huge, I had to divide it into two parts. First the main campaign, and a month later the two expansions. Good voice actor for the briefing guy. And it's a proper challenge, since you can't save during missions. Overall it reminded me that SW used to be cool.
  • *Yoshi's Island - I got hooked while I was messing around with emulators. Using proper and accurate pixel shaders, not one of those half-assed CRT effects, this looks like a modern, quality pixel style game.
  • *Zelda: Link's Awakening - NIE OHNE KONDOM!
  • DOOM - And I mean old Doom in DOSBox. When I tried the new Doom in 2016 I got bored after 1 or 2 hours. This one, on the other hand, I couldn't put down. It also has this abstract level design normally only found in 2D platformers. Nowadays, every FPS has to have realistic architecture.
  • DOOM II - I prefer the first Doom, even though it's so tame in comparison.
  • American McGee's Alice - This game is shit. Cool. But shit.
  • Descent - I bought this after watching ADG's review. As a 6dof noob, this was pretty cool at first. But those hitscan Drillers really hurt this game. The best thing about it, though? It led me to...
  • Overload - Yeah, this is actually great! I eventually finished Insane+ mode with KB+Joystick, and I'm still sad it's over. Maybe I should try the DLC. GOTY.
  • Delta Rune: Chapter 1 - It's solid, but underwhelming compared to Undertale, especially if it continues to go the same old did-you-know-you-don't-have-to-kill-anyone route. I will keep an eye on this.
  • Opus Magnum - Great visuals, and typical for Zachtronics games it's also very addicting. But the farther I got into this, the more details started to annoy me. I'm going to spare you long-winded explanations and will just say, piston arms should have been removed from the game entirely.
  • Celeste - How far can you take simple jump and dash mechanics? This was unexpectedly good, and made me suffer through all the C-Side levels, with almost 6000 deaths in total. I give this game the Best Hair Award.
It was fun going through this list again.
Happy New Year!
j43OUbX.gif
 

Jvegi

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Nov 16, 2012
Messages
5,061
BG1 and IWD.
That's probably it...

EDIT: Big Brother and Milfy City. Of course, how could I forget?
Fml.
 

MicoSelva

backlog digger
Patron
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Vigil's Keep
Codex 2012 Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Divinity: Original Sin 2 Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
By platform:

PC:
A New Beginning
Batman: Arkham City
Day of the Tentacle (Remastered)
Doki Doki Literature Club
Dust: An Elysian Tail
Legend of Grimrock
Limbo
Octodad: Dadliest Catch
Reaper of Souls (Diablo III expansion)
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
SOMA
Titanfall 2

phone:
Back to Bed
Monument Valley
Pokemon Emerald (emulated, obviously)
Prune

Wii U:
Bayonetta
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (aka Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush)
(The) Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

3DS:
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

PS4:
Shadow of The Colossus (Remastered)
 

OSK

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 24, 2007
Messages
8,003
Codex 2012 Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

...yeah, that's it. And I just finished it today.
 

karoliner

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Oct 31, 2016
Messages
5,083
Location
Most skilled black nation
Yakuza 0: GOTY 2018 The most patriarchal game i have ever played. It's more enjoyable if you played the previous games first and can recognize all the references and cameos.

The Witcher 3: Open world and crafting is killing videogames. The blood and wine DLC was better than the main game.

Bayonetta: The bosses and overall art direction are fantastic too bad the cutscenes are awful.

Disgaea 5 Complete: The best gameplay in the franchise and the worst story.

Injustice 2: Surprisingly decent fighting game. Better plot than any of the DC movies.

Titanfall 2: I read this had the best FPS campaign in years so i tried it. Is just okay, not bad but not great either.

Cyberdimension Neptunia: Plutia is my waifu.

Deus Ex Mankind Divided: The Pallisade bank is one best levels of recent years. Unfortunately the rest of the game is dull and it ends abruptly.

Dishonored 2: Similar as above the clockworm Mansion is an interesting level but the rest of the game is just okay, the DLC on the other hand is total crap.

NieR: Automata: A brown and grey open world game with crafting and backtracking. Standart enemies are bland manlet robots and the bosses are shirtless bishōnen. This is what got all the weaboos excited?
 

Servo

Arcane
Joined
Aug 7, 2013
Messages
1,479
Location
1988
Some of these might have been last year or even the year before. Time really flies when you're old.

PC:
Alan Wake
Beyond Good and Evil
Deus Ex
Divinity 2
Fable - The Lost Chapters
Fable 3
Gemini Rue
Gothic
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
Stacking
The Secret of Monkey Island
The Stanley Parable
The Walking Dead
Thief: The Dark Project
Trine 2


PS(3):
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty HD
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD

DS:
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Chrono Trigger

NES:
Metroid

SNES:
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Wii:
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
 

MaskedMan

very cool
Patron
Joined
Jan 9, 2008
Messages
1,864,628
Codex 2012 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
  • Battlefield Hardline
  • Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
  • Chuchel
  • Conarium
  • Deus Ex Mankind Divided
  • The Dream Machine
  • The Evil Within 2
  • Ion Maiden Preview
  • Mafia III
  • Middle Earth Shadow of War
  • Nioh
  • Prey 2017
  • Secret World Legends
  • Watch_Dogs 2
  • Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
...:M
 

SpaceWizardz

Liturgist
Joined
Sep 28, 2018
Messages
1,048
  • Monster Hunter World
  • Kingdom Come Deliverance (Twice!)
  • DOOM 2016
  • Far Cry 5
  • WH40k: Space Marine
  • Dying Light: The Following
  • Replayed Metro 2033/Last Light
  • Replayed Dead Space
  • Shadow Warrior 2013
  • Shadow Warrior 2
  • ELEX (!)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2
 

Beggar

Cipher
Joined
Dec 7, 2014
Messages
718
This year I managed to complete only one game - Age of Decadence. By everything else I got bored through the way
 
Self-Ejected

IncendiaryDevice

Self-Ejected
Village Idiot
Joined
Nov 3, 2014
Messages
7,407
Really good year for me. Finally upgraded to a new system after letting my 2009 machine run for a bit too long, so all the new titles opened up for me:

Completed:

Baldur's Gate 2
Blackguards
Blackguards 2
Slay the Spire
Shadowrun Returns
Lords of Xulima
Dungeon Rats
The Banner Saga
Banished
Tropico
Avernum 3
Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull
…………………………..Escape From Ravenhearst
…………………………..Shadow Lake
Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill
………………….The Phantom of Venice
………………….Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon
………………….The Final Scene
………………….The Haunting of Castle Malloy
Civilisation 3 & Plants vs Zombies (replays)

Abandoned out of boredom at about halfway:

Shadowrun Dragonfall: Director's Cut
Legends of Eisenwald

Like last year, I'd started BG2 at about the beginning of Dec but hadn't completed it by the end of the year, likewise this year I'm in the latter stages of Divinity: Original Sin, so next [this] year for that one hopefully.

So yeah, really good year & this year should be just as good as I bought a good load of the new incline in the winter sales :bounce:
 

zapotec

Liturgist
Joined
Feb 7, 2018
Messages
1,495
Thief Gold
Thief 2
Icewind Dale 1
Icewind Dale 2
King's Bounty the Legend
King's Bounty Armored Princess

Almost finished Fantasy General, but i rage quitted in one of the battles in the last continent and deleted everything. :dealwithit:

Ohh i forgot:

Deus Ex Invisible Wars, not bad for 2$
 

RoSoDude

Arcane
Joined
Oct 1, 2016
Messages
727
I'm going to take this opportunity to reflect (and ramble) on my gaming experience in 2018, since I was convinced it couldn't measure up to 2017, which was the year I played Doom, Half-Life 1, System Shock 1 and 2, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Dark Souls. Following HansDampf 's format (* = replay), but also with ratings because TL;DR and this is for my own sake anyway.

Doom 4 - I finished the original Doom right before the new year, so I figured I'd finally put my new graphics card of one year to the test and see what the fuss was about. Was thoroughly fine, worth a play, but I was far less enthralled than I was with Doom. Anyone saying that it's a similar experience doesn't know anything about old-school level design. Granted, there are some cool aspects of the new design direction, and I'm generally happy to see it bust the balls of the stagnant excuse for FPS that the modern genre has come to. :2/5:
*System Shock 2 - After installing F:NV with a bunch of mods, I discovered a nasty audio bug that caused ear-rape skipping and popping sounds. So I replayed SS2 on Impossible with these conservative mods instead. Still my second favorite game after Deus Ex, and I still notice myself daydreaming about its atmosphere, systems, and story at least once a week. Went for Heavy + Psi + Repair, no Hacking/Research and Maintenance only at the end since I could afford it. Muh "necessary skills" BTFO :5/5:
Fallout: New Vegas + Old World Blues DLC - I did eventually get the audio issue sorted... mostly (needed to install a new audio codec through ffdshow, Snap Crackle Pop still happened after every hour or so). Had a good time with it, played mostly vanilla but installed QoL mods as I went. Regretted not using JSawyer. My favorite part was the brilliant open world quest design, which managed to branch me out into exploring the entire wasteland in a very organic way. The RPG systems are also quite impressive, and I loved exploring in OWB. However, there was a period of a month where I didn't play anything at all, partly because I was bored of the game at Freeside with overpowered companions and also because I started working on my GMDX addon, so it didn't grip me quite like I would have hoped. :4/5:
Doom 2 - When I finally started playing games again, I knew I needed a jolt in the arm before I resumed F:NV. This hit the spot, picking up right where Doom left off and fixing many problems I had with Ultimate Doom's (IMO pretty crappy) E4 with the super shotgun, new enemy types, and some insane level designs. Didn't care for some of the Earth levels, but I love the hell levels, even the gimmicky ones like Barrels O' Fun. Played with GZDoom with vertical aim like I did with Doom, don't care who's triggered:4/5:
Quake - My new favorite old-school FPS. It was no surprise to me that I found the atmosphere immediately engrossing since I own almost every NIN album (haven't gotten around to buying the recent EP trilogy), but the gothic horror visuals and general spooky audio design accomplish a lot too. Though there are aspects that could be narrowly viewed as downgraded from Doom (fewer enemies on screen, fewer unique weapons), I find that the game manages to accomplish more with its intricate enemy AI behaviors and tighter gunplay that emphasizes masterful weapon switching and resource management. Episodes 2, 3, and 4 ramped up in difficulty and gave me some genuinely tense and adrenaline-pumping moments at their conclusions. Finally getting to and surviving the elevator ride at the end of E2 only to find myself up against a totally new enemy type was terrifying and thrilling. Played with the DarkPlaces sourceport. :5/5:
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - I'm pretty sure I got through at least half of this game six years ago, but I finally picked it up again and had a blast. It's now one of my favorite Igavania games (though with no involvement from Igarashi) just for how challenging it is. It's definitely on the clunky side, with more deliberate Classicvania-style movement, but the experience is deftly crafted around that, with a nice sense of exploration and progression and a very fun magic system. My only gripes are that the item drop rates are obscenely low, so you'll not get to play with most of the magic card combinations or use nearly any healing potions, and the Dracula bossfight is so ridiculously hard that I broke my rule against using save states just to defeat its second half. :4/5:
*Prey - My highly anticipated Survival Mode patch was finally released during E3, so I jumped back in to see the changes. I came away from the game with a much more positive impression this time, though I found that the Survival Mode options were poorly tuned and ceased to matter after the first few hours. Still, something clicked with me the second time and I believe its potential can be semi-realized with a few tweaks to its gameplay systems through a mod... which I guess I plan to make now. More impressions here. :4/5:
Prey: Mooncrash DLC - After having my faith in Arkane's principles somewhat restored, I jumped into the new Mooncrash DLC and was pleasantly surprised. A lot of the the base game's underutilized systems find their proper footing here, and come together to form a tightly coherent and hardcore experience... for the first half. Again, the ball was dropped with overpowered character progression, which is bafflingly maintained across resets despite the general Roguelike structure, and the meta resource economy is totally out of wack. Still was the best thing I bought all year, though. Impressions and analysis from before and after the halfway point. :4/5:
Half-Life 2 - I came into this game with middling expectations, and I still managed to walk away disappointed. I seriously don't get the hype for this game, and would rather replay HL1 any day. It's hugely competent on a technical level, and there are certainly some fun and cool scripted moments, but I did not connect with this game's gameplay on anything but the most surface level. The combat is mediocre or even bad by my standards, mostly characterized by hordes of the same hitscan enemies over and over who are 10% as fun to fight as the marines from HL1. Challenging first-person platforming is gone, the puzzles are stupidly obvious, resource management is all but sanded down to nothing, the arsenal is boring, and the gravity gun wears out its welcome very quickly. I did like the boat section, the antlion sandtraps, and Nova Prospekt, and Ravenholm was pretty fun. Screw the buggy levels, the entirety of the return to City 1, and the Citadel though. I won't say it's a bad game, I just don't really like it. More gripes here in the Doom 5 thread for some reason. :2/5:
*Deus Ex - Replayed to test the beta version of my GMDX addon. I was surprised after working on the game for 8 months that I still loved it -- I think the difference was that I turned the music off for testing, and all of my old feelings for the game came rushing back when I re-enabled it. It's hard for me to be objective anymore since I've dug through the game's code and design so deeply now, but I don't think I'll ever not love this game. My beta sucks though; I barely spotted and fixed some enormous bugs before launch and there are some massive oversights still there. Back to work, RSD! :deadhorse:
*System Shock - Tried it out a bit to give some impressions after the source port came out, and I ended up replaying the entire thing in only a few days on the max difficulty settings. The game is still incredible, and an amazing achievement for its time. Read here about my harrowing experience finishing the game with only 59 seconds to spare. :5/5:
*Goldeneye - Forgot I replayed this. I first played it many years ago on the N64, and later Perfect Dark became one of my favorite shooters. Since I've been replaying PD for several years now on an emulator with 720p 60FPS and mouselook support (RIP Stolen), I was curious to see how GE held up. Both PD and GE feel like proper PC shooters with mouse aiming and autoaim disabled. GE is honestly still quite fun, though definitely more basic in every way. Missions are well structured but not terribly interesting, combat is less varied with weapons being rather samey, and level design is occasionally more open but less intricate overall. Still had some cool moments of strategy and a few tense firefights on Secret Agent. Used the new Carnivorous Build of the 1964 emulator. :3/5:
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Heard this one is the black sheep of the Igavania games, but I actually liked it quite a bit. It's a tad too easy, and the music and audio are downright awful on a technical level, but it looks vibrant and plays great. The magic system is a huge highlight of the experience, adding a ton of combinatoric breadth and variety -- honestly, it's the best use of subweapons in the newer games. Too bad the upgrade progression is boring, the bosses are mostly crap, and the A/B castle layout can get confusing.:3/5:
*Quake - I liked it so much that I played it again. It probably helps that I have plenty of circle- and strafe-jumping practice from Quake Live, so I have a lot of fun rushing headlong into enemies and treacherous platforming gauntlets with reckless abandon. Second time was just as much fun as the first, with a greater focus on secret hunting and optimizing quicker runs. Yes, I'm listing it twice, buzz off! :5/5:
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Just barely completed this as the New Year hit. What a game. At first I wasn't getting the hype, but the game just got better and better, with a heavy focus on player-driven exploration and an expressive combat system that continues to expand and reward the player for their curiosity. There's a huge amount of variety, the game is extremely polished, it actually ramps up to an appreciable level of challenge, and there are a bunch of clever little aspects to the world design that nudge the player in the right direction while still allowing them to make the experience their own. Plus, I actually found myself invested in its shonen anime-tier narrative, which is almost unheard of. :5/5:

Sadly, I have not yet finished Ultima Underworld, which I got halfway through and was greatly enjoying but generally cannot play in the short bursts of time I have for other games. I don't know when the grind will end. That leaves a lot of incline for 2019, at least, as I plan to play Arx Fatalis, Dark Souls 2, the Thief games, Fallout 1/2, Final Fantasy 7, the Build engine FPS games, Hollow Knight, and maybe a marathon of the Classicvanias.

EDIT: Added Goldeneye
 
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