Games Beaten 2022

Post by **ElkinFencer10** » Wed Oct 26, 2022 10:31 pm

Games Beaten in 2021 - 62
* denotes a replay

January (20 Games Beaten)

February (1 Games Beaten)

March (0 Games Beaten)

April (3 Games Beaten)

May (3 Games Beaten)

June (11 Games Beaten)

July (14 Games Beaten)

August (2 Games Beaten)

September (3 Games Beaten)

October (4 Games Beaten)

62. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Switch - October 24

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is the fourth chapter of the "Xenoblade Chronicles" sub-set of the Xeno series (which includes the completely unrelated Xenogears and the three Xenosaga games), and it's the end of the Xenoblade trilogy since Xenoblade Chronicles X isn't related at all despite sharing the title. Up until this game, Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 weren't related to one another, either, but this game bridges the two and ties them together into a (mostly) cohesive trilogy.

I wasn't sure exactly how this would connect XC1 and XC2, and the fact that I haven't played either of those games since their launch years didn't help that. You notice pretty much right off the bat, though, that one of the two factions in the game - Keves - has races seen in Xenoblade Chronicles whereas the other faction - Agnus - has races seen in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Still, though, that doesn't necessarily mean they're connected; Final Fantasy games have a lot of references to one another (Cid, anyone?) without being directly related via narrative. Throughout the game, though, there are numerous other relatively minor nods to the other two games. I won't spoil it, but in the latter half of the game, the whole picture starts to take shape, and the curtain is slowly lifted on the overarching narrative and exactly how Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 tie together in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. If you haven't played the other two games recently (or just have a terrible memory like me), you may be grasping at straws to remember all of the details being referenced, but even then, there are some parts that you'll definitely recognize unless you straight up have Alzheimer's.

XC3 makes a lot of improvements over the previous two games and continues some of the quality of life improvements that XC2 started. The music here is the best of the series yet (although I have a soft spot for the bizarre soundtrack in XCX), and the characters are right up there with XC2's character. Rex annoyed me a bit in 2, but Noah is a significantly better protagonist, and the supporting characters in 3 are every bit as fantastic as they were in 2. Especially Mio. Gotta love a girl with cat ears. The quests, while still a bit monotonous after a while, are a massive improvement over the previous two games. They're significantly easier to track and not nearly as tedious as in the first game. The strongest point of XC3 in my opinion, however, is the cast of supporting characters. They are all compelling with interesting backstories and are fully voice acted.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is definitely one of the best JRPGs on the Switch if not the best. It has pretty much everything you want in a JRPG - interesting characters, a fun world to explore, epic monsters to fight, and MORE than enough content to get your money's worth. My biggest complaint is that it's a little *too* massive in my opinion. I also think - and this goes for all series, not just Xenoblade - that they need a recap at the beginning of the of the series so far so I'm not depending on either having replayed the series recently or having a significantly better memory than I do. Either way, though, the game is absolutely phenomenal. It looks astounding for the Switch, and aside from a few performance hiccups, it runs extremely well, too, although the loading times are a bit excessive at times. If you have a Switch, this game deserves as spot on your shelf (or your SD card).

Post by **ElkinFencer10** » Sat Oct 29, 2022 10:21 am

Games Beaten in 2021 - 63
* denotes a replay

January (20 Games Beaten)

February (1 Games Beaten)

March (0 Games Beaten)

April (3 Games Beaten)

May (3 Games Beaten)

June (11 Games Beaten)

July (14 Games Beaten)

August (2 Games Beaten)

September (3 Games Beaten)

October (5 Games Beaten)

63. Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Xbox One - October 26

Horror is my favorite genre of both movie and video game, and every October, I play at least a couple of horror games in the week or two leading up to Halloween as it's also my favorite holiday. I love to be scared, and when a horror game is done well and played in the dark, it can definitely get a good scare out of me. The games that rely purely on jump scares like Five Disappointments at Freddy's are trash, but good atmospheric horror is peak gaming in my opinion. Amnesia: The Dark Descent absolutely falls into that category. There are a few jump scares here and there, but they're not what the game relies on to scare the player.

Amnesia is a fairly old game, so don't go into it expecting Resident Evil 8 quality visuals. That said, it looks extremely good on Xbox and even on Switch. It's the first game in a series of four so far, and at the time of its release, I remember hearing that it was a relatively novel type of horror game by relying almost entirely on atmosphere and lighting to build the player's fear rather than hordes of monsters and jump scares. I tried it back in the day on PC, but I got frustrated and gave up with the water monsters (if you know, you know). I wanted to give it an honest second try, though, and seeing the collection of the first three games on sale for $3 on Switch and included on Game Pass, I did the sensible thing - bought it on Switch to sit on my SD card and then proceeded to play it on Game Pass.

You play as Daniel, a British man who's lost all memory except for his name and where he's from. All he has to clue him in as to the situation is a letter from himself before his lost memory, and all it says is basically "Shit's messed up, so find this dude named Alexander and gank him." Well, that's not helpful, but clearly this Alexander fellow is nefarious, so let's get our bearings and remove him. As you make your way through the mansion in which you awaken, you notice a lot of supernatural events - doors moving, disembodied voices, wind out of nowhere blowing out candles, and some weird red pulsating...tissue...of some sort covering walls and floors. That's where the horror begins as the strange goings-on continue and increase in both frequency and severity while you're left in the dark with no idea who or what is causing it.

As you progress through the game and solve puzzles, you'll find diary entries from Daniel that fill in his backstory and how he found himself in this supernatural tribulation. Eventually, you do discover that you're not alone; the manor is also haunted by disfigured horrors that skulk around and will kill you on sight. You have no way to fight them, though; the game is an exercise in avoidance and evasion. That's another aspect of the horror - a foe out to kill you but against which you're powerless to fight back.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent does seem to have start a surge in the "can't fight back" sub-genre of horror games that builds tension and fear from the feeling of complete helplessness rather than enemies that are just hard to kill. Writing that out, it sounds like a difference without a distinction, but playing these games, the difference is very real, and Amnesia is significantly scarier to me than, say, Resident Evil because of it. Because Amnesia walked, games like Outlast and the tragically aborted PT could run...straight into a broom closet to hide from hideous horrors. Given its relatively low price point and its widespread availability, Amnesia: The Dark Descent is definitely a game that all horror fans need to experience.

Post by **Ack** » Sun Oct 30, 2022 2:01 am

1. Record of Lodoss War - Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (PC)(Action Adventure)
2. The Citadel (PC)(FPS)
3. Gothic 3 (PC)(RPG)
4. Witchaven (PC)(FPS)
5. Unpacking (PC)(Puzzle)
6. Firewatch (PC)(Adventure)
7. Perilous Warp (PC)(FPS)
8. The Ascent (PC)(RPG)
9. Borderlands: Game of the Year Enhanced - The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Borderlands: Game of the Year Enhanced - The Secret Armory of General Knoxx (PC)(FPS/RPG)
11. Borderlands: Game of the Year Enhanced - Claptrap's New Robot Revolution (PC)(FPS/RPG)
12. Kingdom of the Dead (PC)(FPS)
13. Monument (PC)(FPS)
14. Bloodwash (PC)(Horror Adventure)
15. Dead Estate (PC)(Isometric Shooter)
16. Lost in Vivo (PC)(Survival Horror)
17. Star Explorers (PC)(FPS)
18. Dark Souls Remastered (Switch)(RPG)
19. NAM (PC)(FPS)
20. WWII GI (PC)(FPS)
21. Necromunda: Hired Gun (PC)(FPS)
22. Quake: Dimension of the Past (PC)(FPS)
23. Quake: Dimension of the Machine (PC)(FPS)
24. Quake: Scourge of Armagon (PC)(FPS)
25. Quake: Dissolution of Eternity (PC)(FPS)
26. Huntdown (PC)(Run and Gun)
27. A.W.O.L. (PC)(FPS)
28. Hands of Necromancy (PC)(FPS)
29. Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
30. Prodeus (PC)(FPS)
31. Tails of Iron (Switch)(Action)
32. Tails of Iron: Bloody Whiskers (Switch)(Action)
33. Arkos (PC)(FPS)

Arkos is a fantasy-based FPS that pulls from the "Everything must look kinda-sorta 8-bit" pixelated school of retro game design. And Arkos is definitely a throwback to pre-Doom days. It is more in line with Catacomb 3-D and Wolfenstein 3D than with what came after. The arsenal shares a singular ammo type, the levels lack any sort of verticality (minus some bosses that move out beyond level confines), secrets consist of simply hitting the right walls, and enemies come in two flavors: run up to hit you or fire projectiles.

The plot of the game revolves around you, Arkos, a wizard apprentice, entering a dungeon to follow in the footsteps of his master. The game is split into 8 worlds, each with several levels and a boss fight. At the start of each level is a text scroll to give an idea of what each world is like and convey the limited plot, which is simply that Arkos' master has turned evil, so you need to go kick his butt.

To do this, you find keys, kill monsters, and seek the portal area to the next level. You also find new magic wands, and while these share ammo, they do have some versatility in when they should be used. One is a teleport wand that is best only used for transit, while another lets you walk on lava and regenerate mana while you do, but it burns through your mana ammo reserve so quickly that it's not worth using unless standing in lava. There is a basic rapid-fire and a more advanced rapid-fire wand, as well as one that shoots a bigger projectile area to do heavy damage. The starting wand is the only one not to shareo, and that's only because it has infinite ammo, so you can keep shooting even when things go south.

Most of the challenge in the game comes from the boss fights, which are big affairs in locked rooms, often against multiple opponents. While certain levels offer interesting gimmicks, such as an expanding lava floor or crushing totems, the overall game is straightforward. You may get hung up on searching for a switch, and a few levels suffer from requiring you locate secrets, but generally it's a rinse-repeat through the game.

Arkos is perfectly fine at what it does. It doesn't blow the mind or take the genre to new heights, but it doesn't have any egregious faults either. I'd point it out to genre fans who have already burned through the big names and are digging deeper through Steam's indie boomer shooter library. Otherwise, it probably isn't worth seeking out.

Post by **ElkinFencer10** » Sun Oct 30, 2022 9:55 am

Games Beaten in 2021 - 64
* denotes a replay

January (20 Games Beaten)

February (1 Games Beaten)

March (0 Games Beaten)

April (3 Games Beaten)

May (3 Games Beaten)

June (11 Games Beaten)

July (14 Games Beaten)

August (2 Games Beaten)

September (3 Games Beaten)

October (6 Games Beaten)

64. Amnesia: Justine - Xbox One - October 27

Amnesia: Justine was originally a self-contained story DLC for Amnesia: The Dark Descent now included in Amnesia Collection. It's a very short game - only an hour or two long depending on how quickly you figure out the puzzles - but it provides a fairly unique experience compared to the first game. Like The Dark Descent, you find yourself waking in a room with no memory. In the room is a phonograph with a recording of a woman named Justine who says that you're about to undergo a test of character. As you progress through the dungeon in which you find yourself, you encounter enemies similar to those in The Dark Descent, and like The Dark Descent, you're utterly powerless to do anything except hide. As you make your way through, you'll encounter three prisoners whose fates are tied to the puzzles you must solve. There are easy ways through the chambers of this dungeon, but those easy methods result in the prisoners' deaths; if you want to save everyone, you'll have to solve these puzzles the hard way.

The aspect of character choice is what makes Justine stand out to me; I love games that have either a morality system or at least definite moral choices. Do I escape easily at the cost of a man's life, or do I put in extra effort and save him? Do I risk bloody dismemberment to save a man, or do I ensure my own safety by leaving him to die a horrible death? These sorts of choices make a game shine for me because it gives me some agency and makes me feel invested; even if they're just game characters, these men's lives are in my hands.

Justine is extremely short and can easily be completed in a single sitting, but don't let that dissuade you; Amnesia Collection is already quite affordable, and its story is self-contained, so you don't need to play The Dark Descent first if you don't want to. It's a great little bite-sized horror game if you need a little spoop in your evening.

Post by **Note** » Sun Oct 30, 2022 4:50 pm

1. Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth (N64)
2. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Arcade)*
3. Metal Slug 6 (PS2)
4. Time Crisis II (PS2)*
5. Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown (360)
6. Shining the Holy Ark (SAT)
7. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (SNES)
8. Soul Blazer (SNES)
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES)*
10. Warriors of Fate (Switch)
11. Knights of the Round (Switch)
12. Armored Warriors (Switch)
13. Battle Circuit (Switch)
14. OutRun (GEN)*
15. Kirby's Adventure (NES)
16. Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
17. Shadowrun (SNES)
18. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (PS2)
19. Ratchet & Clank (PS2)
20. Final Fight 3 (SNES)
21. The House of the Dead (Arcade)
22. Die Hard Arcade (Arcade)
23. Final Fantasy II (SNES)

24. Streets of Rage 2 (GEN)*

I've finished and written extensively about Streets of Rage 2 multiple times in this thread over the years, so I'll keep this review short. The other day I was feeling under the weather and was in the mood for some comfort food gaming. With SOR2 being one of my favorite games (if you couldn't tell from my avatar), I decided to break it out again for the first time in a while and traverse through one of the best beat 'em ups of the 16-bit era. Of course, the gameplay, sound effects, and music have stood the test of time! This is one of the best total packages for fans of this genre. My favorite character to play as in the game is Axel, and I selected him for this go around, with the settings at normal difficulty. It was great to revisit this classic, and I'd like to play it co-op with my partner again sometime soon, as this was the game that also got her into beat 'em ups when I introduced it to her years ago. Highly recommended!

Post by **ElkinFencer10** » Mon Oct 31, 2022 1:38 pm

Games Beaten in 2021 - 65
* denotes a replay

January (20 Games Beaten)

February (1 Games Beaten)

March (0 Games Beaten)

April (3 Games Beaten)

May (3 Games Beaten)

June (11 Games Beaten)

July (14 Games Beaten)

August (2 Games Beaten)

September (3 Games Beaten)

October (7 Games Beaten)

65. Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs - Xbox One - October 29

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is the direct sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descent and takes place a few decades after. The tone and focus of this game are a bit different than the first one, and while I personally think that's to the game's detriment, by no means does that mean that this is a bad game or a bad sequel. Rather than focusing on the supernatural as the first game did, Machine for Pigs focuses more on man-made horrors, and while it makes a very salient point, I'm personally more partial to supernatural horror (same reason that slasher flicks aren't as enjoyable for me as a good demonic possession film).

The game takes place in London, and as the title hints, is focused around a massive and complex machine in a meat packing facility. I won't say more than that so as not to spoil the story - a story which is actually really interesting as you progress through the game and unravel its mysteries - but that machine is the root of the horror here. Machine for Pigs is much more focused on making a point than Dark Descent was, and as a result, the emphasis is put on revealing its horrors to you more than making you hide from them. There is no sanity meter to degrade from looking at enemies, so feel free to gaze at the game's monstrosities to your heart's content. There are also significantly fewer enemies than in Dark Descent. You'll still have to run and hide from some, but it's much common in Machine for Pigs. There's also no static health status here, either, so if you're injured, just hide for a few à la Call of Duty.

That all makes it sound like the game isn't particularly scary, but that's definitely not true. The setting and atmosphere of the game is still extremely disconcerting, and while the enemy encounters are much less frequent than in Dark Descent, there's no indication when an enemy might appear, so you're pretty much always on guard. It seems like as soon as I got into the swing of things with puzzle solving, it would turn out to be a false sense of security soon the be shattered by the discovery of an enemy. Still, though, exploration and puzzle-solving are the name of the game here more than enemy and darkness avoidance. You have a lantern that doesn't run out of fuel, and there are no finite tinderboxes to light candles; if you see a lamp, simply turn it on. That, admittedly, does detract a bit from the horror, but again, the focus this time seems much more on unraveling the mystery of the story than on sprinting from light source to light source.

To be clear at the start of this conclusion, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is a good horror game and absolutely worth playing. That said, it falls short of the original. Its story-telling and enemy AI are rock solid, but there just isn't enough danger to the player or fear-inducing environments to provide the degree of horror that the first game did. Fans of the original game will likely be disappointed with this one but not to the extent that they should skip it. As I said, it's a good game, and I thoroughly enjoyed unraveling the story and the message the game is trying to convey. It's definitely worth a play; just don't expect it to be more of the same. It's definitely its own beast that doesn't allow itself to be confined by the structure or design of the original game. It may not be "as good" as the original, but by no means does that make it "not good."

Post by **ElkinFencer10** » Tue Nov 01, 2022 5:51 pm

Games Beaten in 2021 - 66
* denotes a replay

January (20 Games Beaten)

February (1 Games Beaten)

March (0 Games Beaten)

April (3 Games Beaten)

May (3 Games Beaten)

June (11 Games Beaten)

July (14 Games Beaten)

August (2 Games Beaten)

September (3 Games Beaten)

October (8 Games Beaten)

66. Amnesia: Rebirth - Xbox Series X - October 30

Amnesia: Rebirth is both a sequel and a reboot of sorts of the series. It's a sequel in that it directly follows The Dark Descent and A Machine for Pigs chronologically, and it directly references some of the characters and events mentioned in The Dark Descent; but it's also a reboot in that it requires no knowledge of the previous games to enjoy and understand, and looks and plays significantly more like a modern game. That makes sense considering it was released in 2020 whereas The Dark Descent was released in 2010.

It takes place a few decades after A Machine for Pigs and follows Tasi as she wakes up alone and confused in the Algerian desert following a plane crash. As she searches for her companions, she finds evidence of their having passed through but seems always to be a step behind them. As you make your way through the game, you'll uncover some of Tasi's memories as well as notes and journal entries left behind, both of which serve to uncover the truth of the game's story. Pay attention to these, too, as the characters and their development via these memories are a major part of what gives the game its dramatic impact.

Each of the Amnesia games seem to have a different focus. With The Dark Descent, the focus was very much on mood, ambiance, and an atmosphere of horror. With Justine, it was on moral choice. With A Machine for Pigs, it was on the overall narrative and the message of that narrative. With Rebirth, it seems to be on characters, although there's sort of a blend of the others, as well. Some parts of the game don't feel like a horror game at all, like wandering through the desert, but other parts feel just as scary as The Dark Descent if not more so. Like Justine, what determines your ending is a key moral choice in the game. Like A Machine for Pigs, the story - in this case, the characters specifically - are given supreme importance. As far as storytelling goes, I think Rebirth is hands down the best of the four. As far as horror goes, it still falls short of The Dark Descent, but it's a solid #2.

Amnesia: Rebirth is a solid follow-up to The Dark Descent and A Machine for Pigs, and it's definitely worth playing for fans of the series. I, personally, don't care for the desert setting for the most part, but some of the interior environments you explore - a French fort, for example - are EXCELLENT and supremely creepy. Enemies play a much larger role in the horror than they did in A Machine for Pigs, and I honestly think the use of enemies to enhance the horror experience is executed better in Rebirth than it was in The Dark Descent. Overall, the Dark Descent is a scarier game, but Rebirth is still a fantastic experience, and given that it's a decade newer, it looks and sounds significantly better, and those are both improvements and enhance the player's fear. The price point is fair considering that it's the longest game in the series, at least based on my playtime, and it's on Game Pass as of the time of writing, so definitely check it out there if you've got a horror itch that needs scratching.

Post by **Limewater** » Tue Nov 01, 2022 7:19 pm

ElkinFencer10 wrote:As far as horror goes, it still falls short of The Dark Descent, but it's a solid #2.

Much better than a liquid...

Post by **prfsnl_gmr** » Tue Nov 01, 2022 10:23 pm

Limewater wrote:
ElkinFencer10 wrote:As far as horror goes, it still falls short of The Dark Descent, but it's a solid #2.

Much better than a liquid...

Post by **ElkinFencer10** » Wed Nov 02, 2022 5:47 pm

Games Beaten in 2021 - 67
* denotes a replay

January (20 Games Beaten)

February (1 Games Beaten)

March (0 Games Beaten)

April (3 Games Beaten)

May (3 Games Beaten)

June (11 Games Beaten)

July (14 Games Beaten)

August (2 Games Beaten)

September (3 Games Beaten)

October (9 Games Beaten)

67. Outbreak - PlayStation 4 - October 31

Outbreak is a retro-style horror game from indie developer Drop Dead Studios. It is heavily inspired by Resident Evil, and while it is a little bit on the nose with that sometimes, it does enough different to keep it from being written off as a copy.

Outbreak bills itself as a co-op retro-style survival horror game. It has a top-down perspective that feels similar to Robotron, but it adopts tank controls similar to Resident Evil. It does have three variations on these tank controls to suit your desires, but given that every system's controllers have two analog sticks, the use of tank controls rather than dual stick controls just feels awkward and wholly unwelcome. That said, the controls do work just fine and don't take long to get used to even if they are far from ideal. I do have to give them credit for supporting not just co-op but local co-op, a feature disturbingly absent from many modern games and one that I always love seeing included.

The story is told over the course of four or five levels by finding journals and notes spread throughout the world. The game's levels take you through a hospital and its underground facilities as you try to make your escape following an outbreak of a zombie infection of some kind. Pretty generic totally-just-Resident-Evil-2 stuff except replace the police station with a hospital. Still, though, while it does nothing to reinvent the wheel, it does what it does pretty well. One major grip I have, though, is that the "full" story is locked behind difficulty. There are three difficulties - Normal, Hard, and Nightmare - and to get the full story, you have to play on the hardest difficulty. As the patron saint of Bitch Mode, I call shenanigans on this entire premise. Your inventory is also woefully small - you can only hold a maximum of four items - but that's pretty standard for survival horror, I guess.

The game is pretty short - probably around four hours for a full playthrough - but the fact that there's co-op makes it worth playing through more than once with friends. There are also some short self-contained story levels as well as endless horde levels to give the game some extra replay value. I, personally, didn't enjoy the combat enough to care about playing those horde levels solo, but I could see how it could be fun if you have a friend to play with.

Outbreak is a competent indie horror game, but it's definitely not going to fool you into thinking it's made by a big studio or with a big budget. It wears its limitations on its sleeve. Still, though, for what it is, it's an enjoyable zombie romp. I'm not sure I'd use the term "horror" as I didn't find it scary at all, but horror is also my favorite genre, so it takes a bit to scare me; folks who don't play a lot of horror games might disagree with me on that one. If you find it on sale for, say, $8 or less, I'd say it's worth it. At the usual price of $10-$12, depending on your platform, though, it's a harder sell unless you're big into couch co-op. Wait for a sale, but if you're into couch co-op, this is a solid choice for the season of spoop. I will say, though, the couch co-op is what cemented my rating at 3/5; I was really torn between placing it at a high 2 or a low 3 without the local co-op element.

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