Board 8 > Post Each Time You Beat a Game: 2025 Edition

(+) Yeah! (+)

Just post each time you beat a game throughout the year and the platform you played it on. Do not hesitate to add some discussion in regards to the games you or others beat.

At the bottom of this post is a link to a Google word doc that you are free to edit to immortalize your gaming accomplishments. Feel free to tinker with your color, font, and/or bulletpoint/numbering options, but do know that users are supposed to be in alphabetical order.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19cag3hzL7Avj8DFKrJlpGYNFevpObFCCxiqfZTDwxq0

Balatro (Switch)

The game matched the hype. I'm still going to continue playing this quite a bit and trying to beat it with other decks and unlocking more cards, but on my 7th or 8th run, I finally beat Ante 8 using the green deck.

I foused heavily on upgrading flush, straight, and full house planets and was able to get all three to levels 13-16 at the end (thanks to several spectral black holes and the space joker for upgrading those hands when I played them). My first joker was one that gave you a 50% chance of getting a tarot card when opening a booster pack. At the very last shop before the last boss, there was a joker that gave +2 mult per tarot card used, and I had 17, so yeah I took that with me to the final round. My favorite joker to use so far, and what has been in my two best runs, is the four fingers one that lowers flush and straight requirements to four cards. I got another one early in this run, and it was a foil version to boot.

My joker and vague deck setup:
- Foil Four Fingers
- Fortune Teller (just for the final round)
- Scholar (I had nine aces)
- Drunkard (I kept it just in case I needed an extra discard, but I did not)
- 62 cards, including the aforementioned nine aces, 38 spades and maybe three clubs)

I had to discard a joker as my final boss rule, and I think it was the 50/50 tarot booster one (Hallucination) as it no longer had any use.

Mega Man Powered Up (PSP)
Ancient Replay. I wanted to start the year with a good one.
Very good remake. This game along with Mega Man Maverick Hunter X deserve a modern rerelease.

Minishoot' Adventures (Steam Deck)
A good 2D Zelda, except you're a spaceship and it's a twin-stick shmup. Exploration and combat are both strong, and there's not much else to say except the spaceship characters are cute.

Warm Snow (PC)
Magicraft brought me to this other action Roguelite and it's pretty good. Closest to Hades in gameplay, with the central mechanic of throwing and retrieving swords varying depending on the playstyle you take at the start of the run. Along with boons and passive-effect-granting weapons, you also get items that have different effects depending on what slot they're equipped to. My biggest complaint is the limited slots for these items and one slot for a weapon leads to a lot of passing up rewards instead of choosing between them. Even the store often doesn't have anything of worth if you've already got a build going.

Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles

What if Slay the Spire but with alien mystic aesthetics and also it's Dice Forge?

A bit more tedious to play through in a given run since you need to wait for all dice to stop rolling every time, to say nothing of needing to do tons of rerolls for some strategies, but the gameplay's pretty deep, and the build paths are fun.

Another Crab's Treasure (XSX)

I played this right around its release in 2024, and while I had fun, I'm not a fan of the gameplay loop of souls-like games, so I dropped it. I decided to pick it back up again around the midway point, and my opinion of it has lessened due to late game just feeling like an exhausting experience. I vastly prefer Going Under (Aggro Crab's previous game) to this.

Awakened Evil (PC)

A fun legally distinct Castlevania game. It was pretty good.

Minishoot' Adventures (PC)

Fantastic mix of Zelda and twin stick shooter. It's only 3 days into the year and I might have played my favorite game of 2025.

Blood Orange (PC)

Whatever this was, it was not my type of thing.

Ori and the will of the wisps (series x)

great experience. Matches the first in all ways. Great duology of games

I beat Morior Invictus (DOOM) which was a mildly meh community made map, said to "bring 90s design principles to modern sensibilities". It was okay really, but I think I'm starting to feel the burnout for these things only 80+ ish maps in.

My first real beat is Valley Peaks (PC) which I should've beaten ages ago but the sidequesting was quite a relaxing distraction. Valley Peaks is a comical climbing game with relaxing vibes. I went into this thinking it was a chill game but its oh so fucking stressful at least until you unlock some gadgets to train your climbing and get used to the mountains. I had a blast after escaping the initial skill slump only to find out I had just beaten half the game and the 2nd half had actual unfair challenges. I don't mind that there are spikes and bomb obstacles but why do they punish you by cancelling your entire progress by knocking you back and away from the mountain? You'll be channeling your inner Ben Foddy by the time this game's done.

I had to actually create a 2nd save file and restart it on "Story Mode" which gave me a slew of advantages like double jump, autoaim, and a more forgiving climbing window, to train myself for the default challenge. I wish they didn't have to give you all these advantages and just made each one modular and toggleable. Instead, I've had to essentially play the game twice just to truly beat it. But anyways, the music is great, the worldbuilding is great, just walking around and talking to everybody and all the tons of sidequests you encounter to distract you from your task of climbing mountains brings an extra layer of completion to this game but also removes a bit of that frustration.

The Fall of Elena Temple (PC)
A little disclaimer
---
"The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:
Backgrounds were created from AI generated images, which were then modified by hand to obtain their final pixel art form."

I didn't catch that message when I purchased this game a long time ago at the bottom of the screen on the Steam Store. I felt kinda lousy about it and it was a little too late to refund. Thankfully the background of the game is not the main focus and by background, it was just for a silly screen border which I don't even have to look at. I can just zoom in on the game. Still very questionable they used AI of all things for background borders.

Anyway, this is the sequel to The Adventures of Elena Temple. It plays very differently compared to that game. It plays like an LCD game (like a Game & Watch/Tiger Electronic Handheld/etc). You guide Elena in a puzzle platformer as you make her fall down and grab coins. You can find a crystal that allows her to rewind her previous fall.

I still think the game is pretty good. I'm just bummed about the whole AI thing.

Beard Blade (PC)
You play as Branson, a man with a magical beard. He has to rescue all of his sheep that was captured by Smuglins. His beard can transform into weapons. It's a very fun action/platformer that is inspired by various 16 Bit Classics. It has a little bit of Mario mixed in with some Donkey Kong Country. It has a neat Day and Night system where you can take different paths in a level. It's like it's really 2 levels in one. It has an upgrade shop to get new abilities with coins. Many Collectibles to find like Smuglin Coins, Treasures with item descriptions, Cards with enemy bestiary descriptions and Music Records to find (which is utterly useless cause the Sound Test is bugged and doesn't work).
Some decent boss fights (My favorite was the first boss fight) and a somewhat catchy OST.
I liked the game enough to 100% it.

Quick Quest (PC)
This game is awesome. It's a roguelite action/platformer where you go through procedurally generated levels with boss fights. It plays like a modern Zelda 2 with the battle combat sequences with a touch of Mega Man thrown in. It was fun figuring out the boss fights and it has a handy arena where you can learn the boss fights so that you can do better against them when you tackle your next run. It took me many attempts my first time playing the game but I prevailed. It was very fun!

My results
---
Full Run
00:31:15
Hits: 24
Kills: 171

Balloon Kid (GB, via 3DS VC)

I mean, I used save states/restore points, which I normally don't like doing if it wasn't an intended feature of the original release, but I really wanted to finally bang this one out and the penultimate level is just insanely difficult. I can go in with 17 lives and 2 continues and not make it out the other side. Game is just too slippery for the precision required in the last few levels.

Star Fox (SNES)
Replay. Completed Course 1. I lost to Andross a few times but did not Game Over.
For the fun of it, I also went to Out of This Dimension to beat the Slot Machine boss.

Date with Falco (Game Boy Color Homebrew)
A cute little 15 minute dating sim/walking simulator where Fox goes on a date with Falco.

Mighty Gunvolt

Short Mega Man game.
Easy as well, minus 3 of the 4 extra bosses.
It has 3 characters which is neat. But kind of odd considering how short the darn thing is. But it also explains why there are no extra powerups (Which is a shame)

It's 9 levels long. 5 main levels and 4 extra. None of the stages really pose any threat and like I said earlier, only 3 bosses were tough. I spent just as much if not more time beating those three darn bosses then the rest of the game lol. I am probably bad though and others could probably take them down faster.

Timespinner

I beat this on the first. It was a short Metroidvania. Great art, good music, solid gameplay, it's a fun time, really easy though. I never want to hear anyone talk in that game again.

The time gimmick is neat. Though it's extremely sad and kinda frustrating to think about....because other then like 2 or 3 instances where it was really cool, literally never used again. They could have done so much with it...the game just has this feeling of being rushed during development. Like there are a lot of systems in place, but not a lot of items. After the first like 15 minutes, you don't find much gear until late game, heck I never found another magic spell. The orbs are fun, but you have to level them up, it's almost better to just stick with one you like. The game is so easy it's almost not needed to change weapons anyway.

Though overall the game was fun. It just could have been so much more. And they need new writers.

Edit - Oh, the game does have a newgame+ and a true ending if you do all the sidequests. But I have not done a single sidequest and honestly don't think I'll be going for that.

Yeah I agree about Timespinner. It was pretty underwhelming, and for being so unique in some ways, it was surprisingly forgettable.

It's been a few years since I played it so I might be remembering wrong, but I think the best writing was in a few of the sidequests. That's not necessarily an endorsement of actually going and doing them, but y'know.

Timespinner is on my backlog. It's just tough when there's been so many great Metroidvanias in the last 3-5 years.

Xtlm posted...

Mighty Gunvolt

Short Mega Man game.
Easy as well, minus 3 of the 4 extra bosses.
It has 3 characters which is neat. But kind of odd considering how short the darn thing is. But it also explains why there are no extra powerups (Which is a shame)

It's 9 levels long. 5 main levels and 4 extra. None of the stages really pose any threat and like I said earlier, only 3 bosses were tough. I spent just as much if not more time beating those three darn bosses then the rest of the game lol. I am probably bad though and others could probably take them down faster.

Oh Ive had this sitting on my 3DS for a decade. Got it for free through something. I ought to just bang it out soon.

Mighty Gunvolt (3DS)

Thanks for getting me to finally play this one, @Xtlm , although evidently I'm not as good at this type of game as you are as I actually found this a bit harder than you said. Specifically, the 2nd and 4th bosses took me a few tries each, and the final boss took me close to 20 tries (I never figured out how to reliably dodge the attack where she turns into a crystal and shoots balls at you, which was evidently her favorite). I did play/beat the first Azure Striker Gunvolt back in the day and even bought both soundtracks. I should play the sequels soon.

Minishoot' Adventures (Hard mode replay)
A very worthwhile hard mode.

Pampas & Selene: The Maze of Demons (Steam)

Okay this comparison is wild but bear with me. Imagine Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin as an MSX or ZX Spectrum game that then gets remade on the 3DS. That's Pampas & Selene. It's very old school in certain ways but with very modern QOL, and the non-linearity and character switching keep the game interesting. Unfortunately I've heard the co-op mode doesn't work great and I can believe it. Recommended nonetheless for metroidvania fans.

Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting (Arcade)
I did my first Bison Tuesday stream for the year 2025.
Replay. Completed it with Bison. Too bad the Psycho Crusher got nerfed in this one but it's all good.

Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (Arcade)
Replay. The AI gave me some trouble a little. Some of the AI fell for the Devil Reverse (Charge Down, Up + Punch, this was one of Bison's new moves that debuted) a lot when I finally caught up to the AI's shenanigans.

Street Fighter Alpha (Arcade)
Replay. Bison seemed very strong in this one with his damage output.

Capcom Vs. SNK 2 (Arcade)
Replay. Got the 1CC with a Ratio 4 Bison. I only got the normal ending. I didn't get to fight Shin Akuma or God Rugal, something I used to consistently do in the past but eh, it's whatever.

Street Fighter II (Game Boy)
Replay. This version is kinda funny and a little playable. The framerate took a little getting used to with the movement. Got the 1CC with Bison.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 (SNES)
Replay. It's still somewhat of an impressive feat that they even managed to somehow make this port kinda...work. There are much better options to play Street Fighter Alpha 2 compared to this one. Loading the matches took a little longer and the music in this version took a big hit as well. Got the 1CC with Bison.

Kenri posted...

Pampas & Selene: The Maze of Demons (Steam)

Okay this comparison is wild but bear with me. Imagine Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin as an MSX or ZX Spectrum game that then gets remade on the 3DS. That's Pampas & Selene. It's very old school in certain ways but with very modern QOL, and the non-linearity and character switching keep the game interesting. Unfortunately I've heard the co-op mode doesn't work great and I can believe it. Recommended nonetheless for metroidvania fans.

...fine, I'll add it to the backlog! The look reminds me a little bit of Astalon.

Half-Life: Opposing Force (PC)
Enjoyed it well enough. Better than Blue Shift. Not as good as the real game, but that's the way it goes. Not sure if I'll do Half-Life 2 next, I know everyone loves it.

EDIT: I just checked my playtime for both OF and BS. I was shocked that OF took almost twice as long, they felt like basically the same length to me.

Seanchan posted...

...fine, I'll add it to the backlog! The look reminds me a little bit of Astalon.

It definitely has some Astalon vibes!

Antonball Deluxe

I so wish this game was longer, it was a complete blast.

There are two modes, Antonball and Punchball
As well as a VS mode.

Antonball is a take on Breakout. It's a side scrolling single screen platformer with tight controls. You use your character as the paddle (Just run into the ball or hit a button to smash the ball). It's got double jumping and air dashes. It's just wonderful lol. Most of the game is mostly easy, but the final stages are tough. Man I wish there were twice as many stages it was so fun.

Punchball is a take on Punch Ball Mario Bros. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27aPBx-g3_w)
It's fun, but it's also very very easy lol. Also the shoulder triggers allow you to throw the opposite direction of running, it never explains that.

VS looks like it's a lot of fun. It's Antonball but in Pong form. Shame I'll probably never get to play anyone and ther is no CPU opponent lol

However it does have online Multiplayer! But yeah, that was dead.

It's a high score game clearly with how short it is and it does have online leaderboards, so that's fun.

Also, it has like 30 unlockable skins or something. I beat the game as Peppino. Can't beat that lol

I know there are two DLCs, they have good ratings but this game cost me 2 bucks, the one that has extra levels is 5 bucks, but reading the description it's only 10 levels or so. So yeah, maybe if it ever is on sale for pennies I'll get it lol.

If the game had a level creator and steam workshop, that would be the best.

@underleveled
Hmm, I noticed for the final boss, I was Beck and stood at the left corner and never moved other then jumping to dodge her bullets in her crystal flying form. The 4 mirrors could not touch you in the corner
nor could the Crystals that dropped.

I never played the Azure Striker games, are they good?

It has been a couple of years since I played it, but I dropped Antonball early and played through the entirety of Punchball

Carrion (Xbox Game Pass)

This game looks great and you can definitely play it and have fun, but it's kind of like three square meals of just popcorn, i.e. tasty but insubstantial. Also top 10 games that needed a map.

Seanchan posted...

Astalon

Funny you say that.
I bought this during the Steam Sale and it's probably going to be my next game. (Well, it's either that or the other one I bought)

Xtlm posted...

Funny you say that.
I bought this during the Steam Sale and it's probably going to be my next game. (Well, it's either that or the other one I bought)

It was a GotM selection at some point in 2024. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I noted satisfying exploration, controls well, easy bosses.

Xtlm posted...

@underleveled
Hmm, I noticed for the final boss, I was Beck and stood at the left corner and never moved other then jumping to dodge her bullets in her crystal flying form. The 4 mirrors could not touch you in the corner
nor could the Crystals that dropped.

I never played the Azure Striker games, are they good?

Interesting. I played as Gunvolt. I wonder if there was any major difference.

The first Azure Striker game is really good, although I played it when it first came out more than a decade ago so it's not super fresh in my memory but I remember liking it enough to be excited for the sequel, though I never got to it due to my enormous backlog.

Seanchan posted...

It was a GotM selection at some point in 2024. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I noted satisfying exploration, controls well, easy bosses.

Vouch, Astalon is great. Hope you enjoy it Xtlm!

Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe (3DS)

Yet another short 3DS game that I've had sitting on my console unbeaten for years. Got gold on every level. The last level (the true last level) was infuriatingly difficult and took me probably something like 200 tries. But it felt super satisfying to finally get gold on it. Not even going to try for platinum, as it requires complete perfection and even the most dedicated players have had to try for years to get it. Anyway, glad to finally check another one off.

Infested (PC)

"In INFESTED you must find your way through an infested space ship and discover a way to escape by using the resources and environment around you."

"Infested is a point and click game in the style of NES Classics Shadowgate (1987), Dj Vu (1990), and Uninvited (1991) which were developed by ICOM Simulations Inc. and published by KEMCO Corp."

It was pretty fun and very short. I recommend it if you are a fan of any of those games.

Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit (Switch)

It's funny... the subtitle of the unofficial fan translation, Prosecutor's Path, was FAR more suitable and I'm kinda convinced that the only reason they didn't pick that name is because the fan translation used it.

Anyway, this was a pretty amazing Ace Attorney game. I tried playing the fan translation on DS many years ago and got about 3/4 of the way through the second case and I still see why. The cases in this game are far longer than average and the first two cases in particular are pretty slow, but once the game picks up in case 3 it never takes its foot off the pedal! Those last three cases are some of the best in the series, and even though I was kinda spoiled that Simeon Saint was a bad guy, I still didn't know that he was the BIG bad and seeing his transformation and taking him down was amazing. Until the end of the fourth case I expected either Verity Gavelle or, less likely, Eustace Winner to be the big bad. It's incredible how well all five cases in this game tied together. This isn't just a case of "no filler cases." The entire story is totally intertwined and in this instance I loved it. That being said I'm not sure I'd love it in EVERY Ace Attorney game. I do like having a filler case here and there, or even an entire game like JFA that's "just some cases" with a very loose overarching plot thread connecting them all. But this one REALLY made it work. I also love how they really dove into Edgeworth's psyche and had some really meaningful philosophical discussions about the inherent contradictions in a system of law. This is definitely one of my new favorite games in the series. Not sure how I'd rank it, but it's gotta be at least top 3 of what I've played (AA1-4, up through Case 4 of AA5, and AAI1 and 2).

Arietta of Spirits (PC)

This was an ok Zelda-ish game that had an ok-ish story that was the main selling point.
Not a bad game but there are much better worth your time.

I beat that three years ago, and I took felt that it was just average across the board

Kirby's Blowout Blast (3DS)

Another very short 3DS eShop game that I bought super cheap many years ago and never touched. It's pretty fun. You go around 3D levels racking up as many points as possible by defeating as many enemies in a single move as you can. It can be interesting figuring out how to suck and blow (lawl) to optimize your score. Mostly pretty easy, but a few tricky levels, but the final level is a beast that took me several days and many, many attempts to finish. Got at least gold on every level.

Silent Hill 2 (Remake)

Fantastic.

Terranigma (SNES)

This is the kind of game that I stumble on every so often that causes me to reflect on my thoughts on the entire medium. In my experience, there seems to be a growing amount of strict ludologists in the world of gaming, even for RPGs, who will opine that these are games, so the only thing that truly matters is that they're fun to play from moment to moment. Anything else, like a good story, is a nice bonus but ultimately unnecessary. Or, to put it differently, games with poor stories can still be good, but games with poor gameplay can't. I think about that perspective a lot, because even though I think I have more regard for the storytelling potential of video games than even most fellow hardcores, it's a difficult to stance to find significant fault with sometimes.

But then I play a game like Terranigma, and I can't help but think of such opinions as being anything but shortsighted and reductive. This is decidedly NOT my style of Action RPG. Cryptic plot progression, grindy combat (the type where you're either steamrolling the game or doing 1 damage out of hundreds with each attack), no abilities to learn or interesting decisions to make... It's a bad combo for my tastes, and I eventually had to give in and do something I rarely do anymore by playing with a walkthrough open.

The narrative, though, is wonderful. It sneaks up on you with how heartfelt and poignant it is, especially with an incredibly affecting ending that had my eyes pretty misty late at night thinking about my life and (massive spoilers, obviously) the idea of getting to spend one last perfect day in my favorite place with the people I love if I knew that was all I was going to get.

That sort of thing just doesn't hit the same way if it's being viewed through any other medium, and I feel fortunate that I'm not one of those aforementioned hardliners that would have dropped this a quarter of the way through and never thought about it again just because I wasn't enjoying the gameplay much. Like, I get it. Everyone has limited time, and when you see the word "game," there's an expectation that its success can and should be measured by how fun it is to play. But man, people are missing out on some great experiences when they view things so narrowly.

Look, I'm not saying Terranigma's story is in the running for my favorite video game narrative ever. Far from it. And if I'm rating the game as a whole, I'd probably give it a six or seven out of ten - somewhere in that range. So I don't even look at it as some shining example of what I'm describing here. But it got me thinking, so I felt like getting on my soapbox for a bit. It bums me out that some amount of people who share some or all of my mechanical sensibilities might look at this game and find it to be entirely lacking value because of its weaknesses, because if they're doing that, there definitely ARE some shining examples out there that they'll never get a chance to appreciate.

Anyway, I know I'm rambling. Just don't underestimate video games, folks.

Terranigma is one of those games I would hear about all the time 20 years ago about being a cult-classic SNES game. Given that I loved Secret of Mana, it should have been right up my alley, but sadly I've never played it.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (PC)

The non gameplay parts of The Great Circle are fantastic and really do a great job of capturing the Indiana Jones vibe. The gameplay was good but nothing special; a mix of puzzle solving, stealth, and melee combat.

Kingdom Shell (Steam)

This is actually a pretty good metroidvania (and one with legitimately great music and pixel art), but it's aggressively forgettable. I was forgetting stuff about this game while actively playing it. It also has a few pretty significant flaws: the story is either translated poorly or just really badly written; it has a Dark Souls-like healing system but you only get one health flask and it doesn't recharge at "bonfires" though mid/late-game upgrades fix both these problems. As a result it's hard to give a big recommendation to, but I'd recommend it to fans of the genre.

Batman: The Video Game (Game Boy)
Replay. This version is way different than the NES version. It's a simple action/platformer with the Super Mario Land aesthetic but with Batman wielding a gun .I also like the Batwing levels they put in for variety. It's a fun one by Sunsoft with a great OST to go along with it.

Altered Beast (Genesis)
Replay. I booted up my Sega Genesis Mini the other day and was just compelled to go through it again.

Super Ultimate Fighters (Switch)
Replay. I was going through my Switch library to see if there were any updates to any games I owned and I was surprised this game got yet another update. They added 5 more new characters each with 5 different fighting styles: Hung Kuen, Silat, Lethwei, Matador and Martial Arts. Completed Arcade Mode with the new characters.

Balacera Brothers (PC)
"Balacera Brothers is a run-and-gun action game set in a world plagued by crime and darkness. Join heroes Harold and Benny as they take a break from their ska band to battle the merciless Nugnur and his army of evil skeletons in this adventure inspired by classics like Sunset Riders and the original Contra."

It was very good. It took me 4 attempts to finally beat the game. I had a little difficulty on Normal. I turned it down a notch on Easy but the game told me to play it on a higher difficulty level when you beat Level 5. I went back to Normal and conquered it.

There are 6 Levels in the game. The Laser and Flamethrower are very strong, they are the boss killers. Spreader is decent crowd control and while Homing is weak, it does a good job of shooting targets at least. Game has a good OST music as well if you like Ska. I recommend if you're looking for another game like Contra.

Sunset Riders (Arcade)
Replay. After finishing Balacera Brothers, I was still in the mood for a few more games and Sunset Riders was one of them. Cormano FTW.

Contra (Famicom)
Replay. Played via Contra Anniversary Collection (PC). After finishing Balacera Brothers and Sunset Riders, I showed off the Famicom version of Contra to one of my viewers on my stream and they were very surprised about the existence of this version. It is a really cool version of the game with the extra story and the small little graphical differences. Got the 1CC.

VVVVVV (PC)
I'm finally glad I got to play this one. Switching between the floor and ceiling is fun. "Pressure Cooker" is my fave track in the game.

Sonic Mania (PC)
Finally got around to playing this one as well. I used to watch this game played a lot on many streams when it first came out. I didn't have the means to play this game until a few years later. I had it sitting in my backlog along with the DLC. I finally found the time to play this game for myself

This game was solid. My first time around I was only able to get 2 Chaos Emeralds during my normal playthrough. I even 1CC'd it for the first time. I then went back to get the rest of the Chaos Emeralds and got to fight the true final boss. "Lights, Camera, Action! - Studiopolis Zone Act 1" is my fave track.

Doom:

Ad Mortem - Halloween wad by the retro community on 4chan. A mixed bag as these community projects go but really well done. More good maps than bad. Came with a ton of custom textures to really give that spooky vibe.

Road to Hades - A rare TNT made map by a newcomer for 2024. I find the same energy in the Moonblood trilogy I played last year which is a focus on semi-experimental, semi-unconventional, low monster maps relying on underestimating how easy it looks only to give you a nasty surprise.

50 Shades of Graytall - What started as a joke---to make a map using only 3 textures---became one of the greatest mapsets of all time when a bunch of big names come together to make it work. All in all a smorgasboard of talent showcasing what they each do best in the most non serious theme ever.

ConC.E.R.N.ed - A mapset for doom1 by a guy whos trilogy I played last year. This was a look into the past; when he was still rough around the edges and didn't know exactly what kind of mapper he was going to be. All in all I enjoy exploring a mapper like this and looking at the interesting design choices moving forward.

THT Threnody - A tribute mapset for Ty Halderman which if you're not familiar is a big deal in the community. Website maintainer, mapper, and a grandfather for level design that would spawn for decades to come. THT is peak and one of the all time favorites, hosting a bunch of famous mappers to do what they do best while mimicking old design principles into a modern shine. Its host to one of the most memorable maps in doom history and I can see why. At the same time though, that map and a few surrounding like it came at the middle which all but killed my pacing on this as previously it had been smooth sailing. It should've been the final map in the set or one of anyway but yeah.

Perdition's Gate - One of the few shovelware doom mapsets back in the 90s. Perdition was an unofficial expansion created by a third party, now released for free 30 years later. Playing this like all the classic wads before it is just me touring doom history and feeling for its roots not particularly enjoying it for its aged design choices. Perdition did something fascinating back then which was make the maps more frantic and run and gun as opposed to just a monster shooter. And that's it really; there are maps that spawn 75-80 monsters and are just tiny tiny setpieces but back then the idea that you just had to power through shooting and dodging, where a tiny room couldn't have more than a 30-50 things to shoot at was a novelty for its day. Perdition's Gate also had interesting narrative and scripted choices of which I've never really seen ever again. I enjoyed my time with it but I'm ready to move on.

Non-Doom:

Anger Foot (PC) - Arcadey frantic fps where you kick down doors and baddies oh and some hotline miami inspired shooting as well. The main feature of this game is the physics engine and all the ways it can easily make a run fail or succeed. Also despite the premise of a chase and the clear focus on timed runs, Anger Foot paradoxically demands an attention to detail and is a host to a ton of achievement-related collectibles and side gags if you choose to be a tourist about it. I'm impressed that there's even boss levels given this type of gameplay, much less a capacity for 60+ levels of mayhem. Could use a community based level editor.

Lies of P (PC) - 8 months in the making and finally finished. I had intended to make 2 playthroughs but after unintentionally triggering the "true" ending the first time through, I decided to hang it up. I havent played a soulslike in ages and this game was a nice way to get back into it but also a terrible way to get back into it as mechanically this was more sekiro where parry is everything and the window to parry is even smaller. I really appreciate all the qol things they did in this game and coming out after so many soulslikes is definitely an advantage. Story and aesthetic-wise its decent; I'm not particularly a fan of the inspiration but I'm told several character adaptations fit the bill. And it doesn't take being a fan to know that certain characters were evil all along and I completely expected their betrayal. No giant whale though or was that just a Disney thing?

Anyway, apart from the sheer difficulty I would say pacing is a big problem with this game. I enjoyed that most of the levels were not labyrinthine in nature and at best had 2 shortcuts and 2 deviations (mostly 1 actually). If you're going to make a shorter soulslike where the 1 on 1 battles matter (even with mooks; very rarely was I ever mobbed) this is the way to go. But then. You go ahead and make an entire chapter dedicated to an hour-long dungeon with 4x the bonfires thinking that would make it okay. Yes its the finale, its epic, but its also dragging and uninspired as soon as the novelty wears off. Then you go fight the big bad and his second form and you're done. The end reveals that Wizard of Oz is their next game (either a dlc or a spinoff) coming out this year so maybe haha if its different enough, sure.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Steam Deck) (Replay from Switch)
I'm impressed all over again. This stands with the greats of the modern Metroidvania genre in every way that matters. The fact that it was practically sabotaged in sales by Ubisoft and then they closed the studio is kind of infuriating. If you haven't played it and you like Hollow Knight or anything similar, put aside any reservations you may have about who the money goes to or the DRM or whatever else and play it.

Hopefully there's a good sale on Steam later in the year on that one. Or maybe it gets added to Game Pass or PS+...

I bought it recently for $20. That should be the standard price during a sale, if not better.