Earlier this year, I made a list of games I own on PC but haven't played yet, a curated list of ones I told myself I was going to play this year. I then proceeded to play two games off that list and drifted away from it. Oops. So that's definitely not happening now, but I certainly have played a number of new games this year. "New" as in "I've never played them before." Year's not over yet, but it's still been quite full.
It started with Halo 2: Anniversary, which is a bit of an asterisk seeing as I've played the original multiple times. After beating Halo Infinite late last year, I began a little journey of replaying all the Halo games in chronological release order (though intending to end with Reach), via the Master Chief Collection. It was also the first time I played through the original's Anniversary version, though I wasn't too impressed with the aesthetical changes in that one. With 2, I was far more satisfied, though I often did swap back and forth between graphics and found there were a few areas that had better atmosphere in the original. Also, they replaced "Blow Me Away" in the new graphics, but it's still there if you swap to old graphics? I kept it on old graphics entirely for that segment. Anyway, this journey stalled out because I wanted to play Halo 3 co-op with a friend and it took us a while to get to it, although technically beating that co-op was a first for me as well. Good times.
NiGHTS into Dreams... a game I've also owned forever, but wasn't actually on the list. I just know of its cult following and its references in the Sonic games. And I'm gonna be honest... I hated it. It was disorienting and confusing. I did not bother getting the true ending. I beat each available level normally and stopped playing. More power to its fans but I could not stomach it.
Then there was Celeste, a game I've long thought didn't look like my kind of thing. Looked like your typical Newgrounds Flash game in gameplay. Just gameplay, I should stress, I always thought it at least looked way nicer than any of those. Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised, it was not only a fun game mechanically but also had a charming and endearing story, quickly cementing Madeline as one of my favorite protagonists ever. I haven't done either of the postgame chapters yet, but I intend to return to it eventually. The final main game chapter's song is a contender for my current song of the year, against another later game...
Octodad: Dadliest Catch was a silly game I had intended to play for a while. The controls are ridiculously awkward, which is the point, and thankfully I felt the game ended at the right point before the joke wore thin. I for one thought it was charming and enjoyable, but probably would've lost my mind if it went on much longer. This was... also the second and last game from the above-linked list.
Back when I first got my Switch, when I didn't have very many games for it (a situation thankfully long-since remedied), I bought a $5 eShop game called Kamiko. It was a decent little arcadey game, but there wasn't much to it. I'm struggling to say much honestly, it left that little of an impression on me. I remember there being a mechanic or two that I didn't like, but also the game was so short it wasn't a major complaint.
I started Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker on the Switch not long after it released before falling off it. I picked it back up this year and started from scratch, even streamed the whole playthrough. Very fun game! Some of the bonus missions were a nightmare and on that note I did not do every single one, but otherwise I really enjoyed this game. Kinda wish it didn't remove the 3D World-inspired levels when it added the Odyssey-inspired levels, but alas.
The first game actually released this year that I played? Kirby and the Forgotten Land. And... I'm not going to lie, this is possibly my new favorite Kirby game. I haven't played Return to Dream Land or the 3DS games yet, which I hear are also fantastic, but, wow. For their first foray into 3D, Kirby knocked it out of the park. There are some minor issues I have, mostly with the game not revealing all the objectives in each level immediately, and a part of me misses a few of the powers, but with what's here? It was so good. It was so delightful. It was so cute! Until the end, but that's nothing new for Kirby. Super Star was always my favorite but I think this may have barely edged it out.
After this I fell into a rabbit hole and streamed a ton of Kirby games, ones I've played and ones I haven't, or at least haven't beaten. Which is an embarrassing amount, but, better late than never? Thus, I have now completed Kirby's Adventure, Dream Land 2, Dream Land 3, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and Nightmare in Dream Land. Of these, I'd played 64 extensively as a child, but never actually beat it until now. I enjoyed them, but the lag and slowdown in Adventure was infuriating, thankfully remedied in its remake. Dream Land 2 was fine, unless you were trying to be a completionist, in which case it got frustrating. Dream Land 3, I understand why people like this more than Super Star, as it was quite a charming game. 64 is pretty great overall, though sometimes frustrating when going for 100%. But, still a great time. I love this series. I was planning to play Return to Dream Land but took a break to stream Metroid games in May ("Maytroid," heh); thankfully, a remaster's on the way! I'll just wait for that one.
Then, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. Actually, I managed to play through the campaign cooperatively with... at least four others? It supports up to six players at once but now I'm blanking on if we had all six, or just five. Either way, great time, very fun beat-em-up. Makes me want to invest in the Cowabunga Collection to play all those TMNT games I missed. I only played the original on NES, sadly. I mean, I remember liking that one, but I'm led to believe there are much better ones.
When I was visiting my friend in Rhode Island, they introduced me to a little game called Kuukiyomi 3: Consider It. It's a goofy little lesson in being considerate, from a Japanese perspective. It's kind of hard to describe, but there's three of these and they're inexpensive, so worth checking out. I plan on playing the other two soon, just need to find a good day to stream them. Lots of laughs were had.
Then... the big daddy... Xenoblade 3. The announcement had me intrigued, and from then on I intentionally avoided all media centering around it until release. And, oh boy, did it have my attention. Maybe too much of it. I invested 160 hours into that game until I was mostly sure I had taken care of everything. Some mechanics I didn't fully develop yet, deciding I'd wait for the DLC to trickle out to get to those. I was also mostly certain I had completed all sidequests, but at the time it felt too early for any online guides to have a complete list, so I plan on consulting one at a later time. But, god, was it fulfilling. The combat has been perfected, the music as always is incredible, the story is great... There's some parts of me wondering if the plot's as good as either 1 or 2, but I've as of late been leaning towards "It's a different kind of plot than those, and it succeeds at it." It's just... what a great game. So looking forward to the story expansion DLC.
Following that, I've been meaning to play this next one for a while. I've owned it since 2020, just waiting for the right time to play it. After hearing many people talk of the parallels between it and Xenoblade 3... I knew it was the time. Xenogears is the first JRPG for the PS1 I've beaten, and the second multi-disc game I've played after The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age on GameCube. Xenogears, the first game led by Tetsuya Takahashi, and would go on to influence his later works... like Xenoblade. I can definitely see those parallels to... frankly all the Xenoblade games, even X. This game is definitely dated in ways and have some actually infuriating segments, but on the whole I really enjoyed it. Its memorable characters, its convoluted plot, its fantastic music... It wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea now, but I appreciate it a lot. Compressed second disc and all. Now to read through the Perfect Works...
And that covers my 2022 thus far. Now I'm working on a few Castlevania games for my yearly Castlemania stream event, but I'll get to those later and elsewhere...
