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

(+) Yeah! (+)

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (XSX)

It is probably at the top of my second tier of 2025 games with Monster Train 2 and DOOM: The Dark Ages in the top tier.

It was great at setting the stage and tone, very fun to mix and match builds and synergies with various party compositions (what was most effective to me revolved around inflicting burn on opponents), and a great battle visual spectacle that is hard to not get swept up in.

The game did meander a lot, and the vibes were never the same within the party after Gustav died and Verso replaced him. I think there was one to many defensive maneuvers in combat, and I ultimately lowered it to story difficulty (it was my only option for altering the parry/dodge window) at basically the end of the game because of growing frustrations parrying/dodging enemy attacks due to:
- Once I got acclimated to an area's enemy attacks, I was done with the area and had to rinse and repeat with a new area
- Enemies started to get 5-8 attacks in at once
- Borderline absurd time differences in attack speeds by enemies always tripped me up
- The visual spectacle was a double-edged sword with some attacks not having good tells for a response, the tells blending into the background, the cinematic camera angle was prone to obscure tells, the camera angle for whatever reasons would sometimes have one of your party members block the view of the enemy to know when to parry/dodge

While changing to story difficulty I believe doesn't affect your damage output or enemy health, it does affect how much damage you take, and for the final two areas, I was basically never in any danger of dying, so it was a give/take situation. That being said, it made battles so much more enjoyable the rest of the way. It was just a slight increase in parrying/dodging window, and that was all I wanted and needed.

I am not a big plot person when it comes to games, I care more about characters and world, and I must say that this game handled its themes with much deft. It is also cool to realize that the main antagonist is in the right imo. I had no hesitation siding with Verso at the end.

I am currently playing Pokmon Revolution Online and I recently beat the Kanto E4 and Gary, while it isn't the end of the game because there are still three other regions and they are working on a fifth I am counting it for myself as it is the first time I have ever actually finished a game region since Pokmon came out and I've played most of the games.(I started playing PRO in 2018)

Double Dragon (Game Boy)

Ancient Replay. This version is like a fusion of the NES/Arcade versions.
You have all of your moves at your disposal like the Arcade version.
Weapons have been nerfed and not worth using.
Billy is strong so weapons don't really matter.
If you lose a life, it's back to the beginning of the level.
The game becomes serious once you reach Mission 3.
The last part at the end of Mission 3 really sucks dealing with the breakaway floor and Abobo. Similar to Mission 6 in Double Dragon 2: The Revenge (NES) except not as bad.
Mission 4 has the air lock door gimmick borrowed from Mission 3 in Double Dragon 2: The Revenge with the chopper except you have to deal with 3 of them and it's bad.
It took me 6 attempts to beat the game.
It's an ok version.

Robocop Vs. Predator (PC)

Replay. A fun and crazed fan made game. Go play it!

The Pirates of Dark Water (SNES)

Ancient Replay. I beat the game with Ioz and got the 1CC.
I loved the cartoon it was based on. One day I want to play the Genesis version. It's a different game and it gives a proper conclusion to the cartoon.

Super Kiwi 64 (PC)

I really loved this one. I played Macbat 64 last year and this game was done by the same developer.
I got 100%. A very good N64-like game. I need to check out more games from the developer.

KCF0107 posted...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Switch)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (Switch)

I like to separate games into individual posts to pump up the numbers, but I felt that it would be best for these to be in a single post.

I was Donatello in the former and Raphael in the latter. Donatello's reach ended up being a much more suitable weapon for solo play than Michaelangelo, which is why I tried him out first. I think this had more and better uses of environmental objects than the original arcade game, though my issues with bosses still remained.

I went with Raphael with the SNES version, and I was surprised how enjoyable he was. I thought his lack of weapon range would be to his detriment, but it seemed like he hit harder and faster than Michaelangelo did, but perhaps it isn't fair to compare characters from different games.

I am playing via the Cowabunga Collection, and if there's another beat 'em up in it, I will do Leonardo.

Raph happens to be top tier in Turtles in Time SNES. His movement speed and damage output sets him apart from the other 3. It's also crazed on how it's so much better than the Arcade version.

KCF0107 posted...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade) (Switch)

A solid beat 'em up. For being an 80s game, character movement is a lot more limber and the hit boxes are appropriately sized. I played solo, and Michaelangelo didn't seem to be the best pick for that. It doesn't help that the bosses aren't fit for solo play at all. Luckily, I could just spam a button and get extra lives, so there was no issue of getting a game over at least and just had to power through the bosses.

Mikey is not a bad choice. Don is the Go To Turtle in that one due to his range.

KCF0107 posted...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES) (Switch)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Genesis) (Switch)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (SNES) (Switch)

I think that I played as Leonardo, Michaelangelo, and Raphael respectively. I got used to tweaking the settings in the enhancement screen that I was blindsided by the difficulty upon starting the first one I played of these (SNES maybe?). I lowered the difficulty to like a 1 and abused the rewind feature, but I made it through them all!

They are pretty decent old school fighting games. I wasn't good at them obviously, and I certainly wasn't a fan at how most of the roster has farther reaches than the turtles, but it felt good moving around, which isn't a common feeling that I have toward 80s to mid-90s fighting games, so that means something to me.

I loved the SNES version. Never played the Genesis version but I have seen it played. You can cheese the CPU with a throw loop of some kind. The NES version was very meh.
KCF0107 posted...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Switch)

I don't know, I just don't think that this beat 'em up had it. I think my biggest issue is that instead of having a bunch of stop-and-go scripted fights, they just had you face wave after wave after wave in the same location before rinse and repeat. That got old fast, which is a shame because these bosses were much better for solo play.

If there was one thing I did like about this one, it has a dedicated run button. I also liked some of the exclusive bosses and stages.
KCF0107 posted...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) (Switch)

I have some fond memories playing this as my friends house as a kid, but I know that neither her nor I made it far. It is interesting how you can switch to any of the turtles at any time, and once they lose all of their health, they cannot be used in that area, forcing you to clear it or have to do it all over again.

The turtles have a nice amount of health and do a good bit of damage. Unfortunately, this has the old school game design where enemies aren't fixed, and if you take a step back, you can respawn a whole bunch of them.

The game is at its best in the initial area with a more low-stakes maze-like area, and things are more manageable while not asking you to do much in terms of precision (platforming or combat). Things go downhill fast in the second area with its crappy underwater controls and way too many hazards. The game never really recovers after that. I'm glad that I played this again after almost 25 or so years, but it's not a good game.

Ah yes, Donatello: The Video Game.
I plan on revisiting this game tomorrow.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)

Ancient Replay.
I managed to do a no death run after I studied some vids to relearn the game.
Level 4 was the most nerve wracking level due to the last area where you have to fall down the thin gapped holes with the closing spiked walls (the one with the trap pizza on the right) before you fight the Big Mouser boss.
I stick with Don for most of the game. I still used the other Turtles but to only use Sub Weapons, like the Scrolls that I farmed for in Level 5. I made sure to get 60 Scrolls for each Turtle.
Very interesting on how the RNG is set when you press start on the title screen that sets the location for the Technodrome. If you know when to press start for the desired location, you'll know where the Technodrome is for every playthrough. Otherwise it's random.

It's an ok game if you know what to do. Play patiently, know where to farm the Pizza, Scrolls and you are set.

Sword of the Sea (PS5) (PS++)
Of this studio's games, I've admittedly only played ABZU. This one is even more awesome, in every sense of the word. Good use of the Dualsense HD rumble as well.

Apparently I forgot to make posts about three! more B8 Archipelago months of beaten games. First was June, second in July, and last was this month.

Sonic Adventure 2 (Steam)
Actually really fun Archipelago, but it's certainly a 'test your settings before you go full ham' since sometimes things can be obnoxious. Things like finding specific item boxes and actually collecting them (still don't know how to get the extra life at the top of Dry Lagoon), as well as the RPG elements of "Yeah you can complete the Chao Garden day 1, so hope early sphere progression isn't locked behind spending 3 hours grinding chao stuff."

Minish Cap (GBA)
Probably need to shift settings to be dungeons beaten instead of elements collected, the ability to beat dungeons becomes really awkward.

Tunic (Steam)
Really good Archipelago game tbh, you can lock just the right stuff so the game opens up just like the really good Zelda randomizers. I was the last game so I shared wisdom to win, but would love to fight the final boss sometime too. (but I also beat this for the first time early this year, so not going to put it down a second time)

paperwarior posted...

Sword of the Sea (PS5) (PS++)
Of this studio's games, I've admittedly only played ABZU. This one is even more awesome, in every sense of the word. Good use of the Dualsense HD rumble as well.

This game is short and amazing. Everyone with PS+ Extra/Premium should play it.

Samurai Shodown 1993 (Neo Geo)

Ancient Replay.
I beat the game with Galford.
Used 14 Continues.

Ninja Senki DX (PC)

Replay. The last time I played this game was 3 years ago.
I got the best ending.
One day I'll go back to play this game to get the other endings.
It's a fun action/platformer.

True Lies (SNES)

This got punishing at times, as if to show being a Schwarzenegger hero is not that easy, particularly parts that drift from the movie (a maze-like level in China, another in a refinery that ends throwing lots of enemies, and the final boss not being the main villain, but a guy that takes forever to kill). Still a good time, and these top-view shooters like Smash TV and Hotline Miami are somewhat rare. Now need to think of what games I'll beat in September.

NUTS (PC)

This is a two-hour game that I started in December of last year and took me three sessions to complete (December, March, and now lol). It's hard to describe it, but it was an interesting adventure with a trippy color filter.

Bread & Fred (PC)

I plan on playing this co-op with a friend, but this is a difficult platformer where a piar of penguins (or a penguin and a stationary rock in solo play) scale a mountain. My brain somehow just wasn't fully conceptualizing all the mechanics of solo play as I don't know how I constantly caught onto walls despite nothing touching them. The winds in this game brutal.

Hyper Gunsport (PC)

A cool arcadey 2 v 2 sports game where players uses guns to shoot a ball into goal areas on their opponent's side. First four matches have standard rules, but then the final four have modifications to really change up your tactics. You only control one of the two, and my AI partner was doing well the first seven matches and proceeded to not know how to do anything in the final match, so I had to restart that one a couple of times.

Worms Battlegrounds (XBO)

Worms Battlegrounds is a game that should be played with your friends, not against a CPU. The game offers a story mode with a few levels, but the problem is that...it's just not fun to play against the CPU.

This is because Worms is essentially a frustrating game. It's throwing a grenade that bounces off somewhere you didn't want it to. It's seeing your Bazooka fly off because the wind wasn't right. It's prematurely ending your turn because that drop you made was just a bit too high and now you've taken fall damage. It's sending out a Super Sheep and getting surprised by the controls and having it blow up into nothing. It's sending out a Bunker Buster that doesn't reach the worm you wanted to reach.

These are all frustrations that are easy to laugh about with friends, but when you're against a CPU...The CPU in this game isn't flawless; worms will sometimes do nothing or jump off into water and die. Most of the time however, they'll hint you with pinpoint bazooka or shotgun blasts. The game also isn't in your favour, as you'll generally be outnumbered; any mistake you make will hit you way harder than it will be the CPU. If this is your first Worms game, you can get a bit of information on what each weapon will do in the menu, but a kind of practice mode would've been quite helpful.

The game looks and sounds pretty bland. The humour in the writing really grated on me; you're essentially sent out to stop an evil hypnotist worm through a museum exhibition whilst being aided by a thief, but all her remarks and accent just infuriated me more than it made me smile.

So, if you like Worms, play it with friends. If your friends don't play Worms, don't play Worms.

Guns of Fury (Steam)

That was fun

This is the 5th Metroidvania I beat this year.
May have to do a ranking .... and write writeups lol

This game was so much fun. A Metal Slug style metroidvania.
I 100% it (Not NG+) because late in the game it kinda makes it easy to do, so I went for it.
It's kinda a shame you get a lot of cool things so late tbh lol. But maybe that's what NG+ is for IDK.

Xtlm posted...

Guns of Fury (Steam)

That was fun

This is the 5th Metroidvania I beat this year.
May have to do a ranking .... and write writeups lol

This game was so much fun. A Metal Slug style metroidvania.
I 100% it (Not NG+) because late in the game it kinda makes it easy to do, so I went for it.
It's kinda a shame you get a lot of cool things so late tbh lol. But maybe that's what NG+ is for IDK.

Guns of Fury is a good one.
Yeah, you get a couple of items that get like one or two uses and you never have to use them again. Most of them act like keys to get to new areas. The game does have multiple endings so there is some incentive to do New Game +.

SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance (PC)

It took me 3 days to complete.
16:18:08
Completion Rate: 100%
This game was really good. The combat is very fun, it has some light Metroidvania elements and it was worth backtracking for all the power ups to make things easier, the platforming was superb, the graphics were nice and some of the music was good. Fun boss fights too. Shinobi is back!

198X (PC)

"Part 1 of arcade epic 198X. A coming-of-age story told through multiple games and genres. Experience the thrill of shooting, driving, jumping, fighting and role-playing in 5 full-blown arcade stages combined with cinematic pixel-art storytelling."

This was a pretty good game. It was only 2 hours long I enjoyed it. I got to play Legally Distinct Streets of Rage, Gradius, Outrun, some auto runner in the form of Shinobi and a first person RPG dungeon crawler similar to Wizardry which reminded me of Shining in the Darkness all rolled into one.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Steam)

Meant to post this yesterday and then didn't. And also didn't post when I finished the story, only when I got 100%, which to me is when you beat a LEGO game anyway.

Last Beat Enhanced (Switch)

Replayed. I played this one last year but this time I streamed it.
I got the 1CC.
It's a fun little beat em' up with a catchy OST.
Developed and Art by Oscar Celestini and music by Gianluca Pappalardo. I loved their worked on TMNT Cowabunga and Robocop Vs. Predator!

Trojan (NES)

Ancient Replay.
First Attempt I called a mulligan.
Second Attempt I Game Over'd on Level 4
Third Attempt I got the 1CC.
It's a fun game similar in style to Kung Fu-Master but you use a Sword & Shield.

Kung-Fu Master (Game Boy)

Ancient Replay.
I played it on Hard and used 4 Continues out of the 5 Continues given.
This was a fun one. I like the different variety of the level environments where you fight at a junkyard, docks, train, factory, and a temple with some stage hazards to deal with as well with a side of platforming. Sometimes you can even get a bomb to use as a weapon (lol) and you have a neat flip kick.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey (XB1)

I liked this more than Origins, which I beat early last year and thought was great. Origins had a bit too much vast emptiness, understandable given its setting, but Odyssey seemingly has a lot better location/activity density. It also helps that there are more fast travel options. I wish that I could remember more about the specifics of combat in Origins to better compare the two, but I felt like I had more fun here in that department.

My main issue, and I am not sure that Origins had the same issue or at least to this degree, but I do not like player levels/leveling in this game. The game has a ton of islands/regions all with their own level range, just like Origins, but I felt like Origins stuck to that. In Odyssey, everything basically scales with your level, if you are beyond or within the range specified. I noticed that after awhile seeing early-game islands/regions at or near my level. I don't understand what's the point of levels then?

You level up increasing your damage and health, and higher level weapons have higher attack ratings and DPS (damage per second), but its made irrelevant from enemies increasing health/defense/attack at a nearly identical rate, so what, this is for the small subset of people who like seeing big meaningless numbers constantly popping up in combat? Just make weapon perks/abilities come from something else. It doesn't help that you get very little experience from combat and exploration. The overwhelming majority comes from completing quests, so that imbalance just makes things worse as the game requires a time-padding grind lest you want to risk getting one or two-shot from just being like four levels below your opponent.

Definitely Odyssey > Origins for me.

One of the most annoying things about Origins was that you couldnt assassinate enemies that were more than 1-2 levels above you. They had a little red skull icon and you basically couldnt damage them. That was fixed with Odyssey, where you still might not be able to 1-shot them but it was a least possible to take them on.

I still want to play the future AC games (Valhalla, Mirage, Shadows) but Valhalla is supposed to be bigger and longer than Odyssey! And Shadows too! It gets to be a bit much when you dont have unlimited game time.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (XSX)

I played the Wii remake when I was a kid, and it is just as cromulent as I remember. I have been certified as a flutter jump hater, so I await a game that has an acceptable one.

I Am Your Beast (XSX)

I wasn't feeling this speedrunning/ranking FPS at first. It probably didn't help that I have played great games in that vein like MULLET MADJACK and Severed Steel in the past six months, but it started to grow on me more around the halfway point, and I couldn't put it down.

Klonoa 2: Lunateas Veil (XSX)

They said that I beat the game in just under three hours, but I have a hard time believing that is true. Some of the levels seemed like they took 30 minutes at least.

Anyway, this is a much improved sequel that unfortunately had you play the same level in a slightly different way too many times.

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers (PS4)

An EDF game that uses a Minecraft-like art style for the game and crosses over all of the EDF games prior - all playable characters from EDF1 to 5, Iron Rain, and Insect Armageddon are playable in this game (6 wasn't released yet at the time). It's a pretty basic EDF game - you start by shooting giant ants in the first mission to beating the aliens back in the final mission. I mostly used the EDF 2 Pale Wing with three of the original characters as my team of four. The minor story and banter between the characters is actually funny sometimes, and it's fully voice acted.

Aliens: Colonial Marines

why did I do this to myself?

Took a break after my last post. Actually went to Osaka for a week and have just been trying to beat some big games quietly.

DOOM Stuff:

Whispers of Satan - Last year, I beat a mapset whos main thing was that it was very "safe". Well made but generic as hell I barely remember a thing about it. This was his other project. I believe it was better because it predates his generic design style (this guy has been making maps till now since 2002). So I was a bit more into it until I was told how symmetrical it was and I was like omg you're right meh.

Interception II - This one took awhile. The first one was amateur hour kinda forgettable this was had more vision (a TNT remake) and it slaps. DareIsay better than the beloved TNT remake of the same skein. Loooong ass maps tho esp the last 3.

DBP01: Monuments of Mars
DBP08: MINDBLOOD GENESIS
DBP13: Alien Bastards!
DBP11: Lilywhite Lilith
DBP09: Legend of the Hidden Tech
<The rest>

Just beat one DBP so far. We're still in the experimental era of this saga. Alien Bastards' theme is actually based on oldschool DOS ggames. A fun theme with fun maps and I believe the first total conversion, mired only by its overstimulation of custom sounds. Insufferably, lower than DBP08 which was just unfairly good because only 2.5 people worked on it so it was less a community thing but meh. There will be more coming in this list that I'm sure will dethrone DBP08, much less 01.

ZPack: Reignited - This was a series of amazing mapsets created for a controversially divergent fork that makes DOOM less DOOM and more something else. GZDOOM has been like the basis for most retro revivals I've played in the past: Ashes, Hedon, Necromancy which if anyone is paying attention are on top of my rankings. ZPack though is from when this engine was in its primal infancy. And its age shows. But I played it for its historical value and it did in fact have some infamous maps the community loves. Enjoyed my time with it.

EPIC - This is a mapset of 5 maps based around Indiana Jones shennanigans. I only played this in preparation for the more insiduous EPIC2 which I am still suffering through. More on this when I beat that game.

Right that out of the way, here's my big game beats:

Dead Island 2
I actually beat this game before I went to Osaka. Some of the best zombie physics I've ever seen; you can actually see the sinew and everything on these guys when you whack em. I'm planning to beat Dying Light 2 later this year to compare but for now I can say definitely better than the first one. Fixed alot of things like less zombie waves and more of them hiding instead. More emphasis on one on one combat at least until you get guns later. I didn't quite like how they gated crafting behind late game questing. And also it sort of just ends without answering alot of questions---the one thing the first game was better at. I don't think I'm playing the DLCs until much much later. I need a rest from this one. Contender for my personal pick as game of the year but...

TOEM + Basto DLC
Lol no, not this one. This is just a little intermission game that I had already beat last year, but the DLC left me hanging on it until I finally got back into it. TOEM is a chill af game. Great soundtrack lofi beats to chill to. And wouldn't you know it just as I had beaten it, a sequel is coming around the corner next year.

Hell Is Us
Okay, step aside Dead Island 2, this is my contender for my game of the year. I don't think I've ever been so engrossed in the lore of a soulsclone ever. Like not even Dark Souls was I interested much in knowing what was going on lol. Hell Is Us isn't just wonderfully world built, the way you slowly find things out is well-designed. I am literally willing to excuse everything bad about it; the shallow combat system, the backtracking for puzzle solves and quests, the dark-soulsly nature of not knowing if a quest has a time limit or not leading to some unintended casualties, a cop-out cliffhangered ending. I really didn't know what I was expecting having played so many janky soulsclones in the past. I thought this was going to be another seeing the dev's track record of crappy warhammer games. But the art director of Deus Ex (the new ones) is behind this which is great. Glad to see some companies willing to put their game on the burner for far longer just to put out some quality shit.

Forgetting its flaws, this game is a breath of fresh air. Has some Control and Death Stranding vibes. I haven't felt this way about a game since the first The Surge. The game doesn't shy away from the horrors of war (as the cyclic nature of human conflict is the game's main theme), even showing and telling women and children being involved in the casualties. This is probably the first soulsclone that's actually set in a modern setting and in the middle of a cataclysm instead of the aftermath of one. So there's a very jarring human element in this amongst other things. Striking Visuals. A compelling plot and worldbuilt lore. And an intriguing play all the way through. I was sucked in.

Oh yeah one more thing. I don't know why they decided to name prominent lore characters in their game after Final Fantasy 6 characters but here you go:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/67403f50.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d779d322.jpg

And like not really a spoiler, but the Sabinians are a major faction in this game as is their rivals the err Palom-inians.

Yeah Idk why they decided to do this. It's not a dealbreaker but if you've played FF6, this is just going to stick in your mind for the rest of the game.