2025 Games Played Round Up
Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom
I've been waiting for this game since I was like, 12, and I can't say I was disappointed
Pretty much fanservice. It's a series of vignettes and they aren't all good, and the combat system is weird, but. I liked it anyway. It was a fun curtain call.
I would have liked a little more on some of the ~lore~ notes (like a definitive answer about what became of Marjoly and Cherie's brother) because I sincerely care about Marl Kingdom as a setting but I recognize that It's Just Not That Deep.
Murders on the Yangtze River
an Ace Attorney alike with two key differences, the first being a much more realistic hard-and-fast investigative flow where the laws of real world medical science apply and the second being, obviously, the 1800s Chinese setting, informed by real-world history. Both are interesting
Love the way the twist to the core mystery threaded through the game resolves
Translation's kinda rough
A lot of the times games with a reputation for being reflective or cerebral are not really about anything except for. Being a video game. This one's different.
This one's about diaspora, generational trauma (but in a good and concrete and specific way), and connection. It's musing on a very specific event (The Umbrella Revolution) but it's also musing on the ways people hurt each other - when they have power, and when they have none.
Really went "I know you played Nier Automata, now fuckin watch this"
Fun puzzler, you're a nosy person digging up the drama on a famous family just in time for their inheritance hearings
I didn't like the "bonus" mission nearly as much as unraveling the core story, by that point it didn't feel like there were any stakes.
What if you were Ophelia and you were stuck in a time loop until you Solved Hamlet? That's Elsinore.
This is a weird one to review. Strong premise, which I really liked; Really engrossing "time loop" gameplay, which I really liked; but it's a truly terrible piece of Hamlet fanfiction
The writing is. "too woke" is not a real complaint but man, I feel like this hit all of the writing pitfalls that get broadly summarized as "too woke." It ignores a lot of the existing social dynamics and constraints in Hamlet in favour of inventing new ones that are more contemporary to a modern progressive American audience, and usually tedious and out of place. I just really didn't want to see f!Guildenstern making a speech to Hamlet until he realizes that he's a fuckboy with a habit of going after racialized women because they're easier to control. The writers of this game seriously hate Hamlet in particular, the fuck.
Despite general objections to the writing I did like the ending choices, and the unique mechanic around choosing ending choices, and I was interested in uncovering all the mysteries. Chalk it up to good design.
I had no idea what to think of this one but I loved it, it was a delightful surprise through and through.
Set in 90s Indonesia with a lot of gaming nostalgia built in, you wander around the world playing little minigames and solving small puzzles as the big mysteries build around you.
Raya was a really interesting character to me, and the story is excellent with a strong finish. You can see the shape of where it's going for a while before it gets there, but it's a short enough game that it doesn't outstay its welcome or draw anything out for too long.
Trails Through Daybreak II
The worst trails game ever made. what the fuck happened.
horizon better make it up to me.
⭐Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
It won a bazillion awards for a reason.
I expect my thoughts and feelings on this game to evolve over time and I also expect none of the REALLY good discussions are going to happen until it's a little more percolated.
Looking forward to whatever is next from Sandfall
Deserved to steal at least one of those Clair Obscur awards
I'm genuinely too stupid for the Advanced puzzles in this game, but the base puzzles, the "get to room 45" - that was a lot of fun.
This is technically a pick 3 roguelike with gambling mechanics and so it's hard to tell how much of the thrill of drafting is the thrill of gambling BUT! I really had fun with solving the specific challenge of "build a floor plan with limited resources," and I would have liked if the game had a few more modes that were oriented around that rather than around its more esoteric puzzles
I bet the political story slaps if you're smarter than me
⭐Rune Factory - Guardians of Azuma
Rune Factory is BACK baby, honestly I'm happy it didn't suck after RF5 because it would be a shame for this series to get revived after 10 years and immediately get the axe again because they couldn't figure out the jump to 3D
I don't like how streamlined the mechanics are and I miss the complexity of RF4/5, but this is an incredibly, incredibly solid cast
... which makes it all the more disappointing that they do less with them. Please bring back RF4 quality town events! I will sacrifice the voice acting for them!
The village decoration was a lot of fun and I hope it appears in a future RF game, reminded me of dark cloud. I'd like to customize even more but it was great.
Potentially my favourite soulslike? I can't really justify that opinion, it's more like the degree to which I loved Hotel Krat outweighed all of the things I might have liked about all of the other souls games I have played, none of which I felt particularly attached to. Like yeah sure the air of esoteric mystery and ephemeral beauty you get from Elden Ring are missing but I don't mind the fairy tale story you get in its place
It's still a son of a bitch at times though, fuck that last boss.
It's persona 3 but they inexplicably decided to not remake it into a definitive version with team social links and added even more busy work to tartarus. Insane. I bounced.
Good sequel, solid improvement over Hades in every area but the story. And the characters. But I wasn't here for that so much anyway.
I do miss some of the old boons but the two different routes and the variation in weapon aspects make up for it
Wow that ending was bad. But hey whatever, I hated the messaging in the first game and I hated it here. At least Hades 1 had a good ending song though.
Not as good as Hollow Knight.
If the world has any sense this will be the universal consensus in like, 2-3 years.
All that time they spent adding More Stuff to it really destroys the pacing and some of the more intangible qualities of Hollow Knight that made it a special experience.
It's also too hard in a way that's tedious and boring.
⭐Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
A remake that's good? For me?
Ok yeah the translation leaves something to be desired and I miss the Xseed script BUT - this is fine, what we got is good, it's wonderfully faithful with great upgrades and it's easy to fall in love with this game all over again.
SC is going to blow my tits clean off
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
It's Final Fantasy Tactics. Of course it's good.
I like MOST of what they added. Voice acting is a great boon for this game, and so are all the tools they added to help you with following the story. BUT. But. I'll be ignoring the new backstory they've given Agrias, thanks.
⭐The House in Fata Morgana
Yeah this hit like people said it would.
I think my true calling is to be a cursed witch in a haunted house. Most of my problems in life stem from the fact that I'm doing things other than this, seeing as how it isn't a very viable career path, but I know that is where I would excel.
Anyway this took some turns. Different parts of it felt like totally different games at times. Its lack of restraint when it comes to Bad Things Happening is to its detriment. But the core ideas resonate, and I'll be thinking about it for a while yet.
pixelskylines
annaxmalina
blakekathryn
jacobvanloon
kaledo-art
snowghoul
gummygunk
dededos
