December 2025 Wrap-up - What I played
The yellow circles indicate that I haven't finished the game.
(spoiler-free discussion below the cut)
"Geometry Dash"
Late last month, I really needed something I could do with my brain completely off because it was preoccupied with so much other stuff that it couldn't handle anything more, not even entertainment. I was also looking for a mobile game I could play while on the tram or lying down in bed. All that led me to getting extremely hooked on "Geometry Dash" for a couple weeks.
"Geometry Dash" is a rhythm platformer where you guide a cube through a level of obstacles by jumping to the beat of the music. I haven't really played rhythm games, the only one I've touched is "Crypt of the Necrodancer", but I really like gameplay that relies on dexterity and learning patterns so I might check out more of the genre in the future. I was struggling a bit at the beginning because I would just start vibing with the music and tapping to the beat of the song, which is not what you're supposed to do, but I got used to it. I also really like games that don't have a lot of mechanics, and "Geometry Dash" practically only has one: tap screen to jump. Well, there's also apparently "hold screen to jump continuously", which I didn't realize until I watched a YouTube tutorial because I was struggling so bad with "Dry Out". I don't think I'm dumb for that one, it's not an intuitive thing to figure out and there should've been some note that you can do it in the game that's not buried in menus! Aside from that, I think each level does an excellent job introducing you to the obstacles you'll be facing throughout it at the start and the escalation of the difficulty feels very reasonable as it builds upon things that have been introduced before.
I stopped halfway through "Jumper" because I just kinda forgot about it (and I got a new phone with a case that's a bit uncomfortable to hold while playing), but I do want to play more in the future. I at least have to master those damn upside-down flying sections!!!
"Shadowrun Returns"
This actually isn't my first time playing this game. Last year, I picked up the Shadowrun trilogy because I heard they were good for newbies to turn-based combat. I was never a fan of the idea of turn-based combat but I wanted to actually try it out before solidifying my opinion. Let's just say, getting stuck on a combat in "Shadowrun: Dragonfall" where I kept having to repeat the battle over and over because of RNG just proved my prejudices correct. After ragequitting that, I played a bit of "Returns", but I abandoned it quickly. Recently, I gained the resolve to give the trilogy another shot, in order this time (and hopefully I won't get stuck and ragequit again).
The Shadowrun trilogy takes place in the alternate universe Earth of the Shadowrun TTRPG, where a portal opened in the past that let through magic and magical creatures into our world and we are now living in a futuristic cyberpunk society intertwined with magic. I have issues with both cyberpunk and classic fantasy, but somehow the blend of the two is so fun to me. In "Returns", you are a shadowrunner (mercenary) whose friend has mysteriously died and it's up to you to find his killer to get the money he's left you. The plot so far is okay, with one pretty interesting reveal. I had hopes that for once the horror of a mental institution won't be "ooo look at these scary crazy people" but the actual mistreatment of the people trapped there, and while there was some of that (and it was horrifying), they just had to go the "dangerous lunatic" route too, which sucked quite a lot. I'm also not sure about the portrayal of Native Americans. I'm not too familiar with indigenous issues, but from what I know, portraying them as uniquely mystical is not great.
I ended up playing "Street Samurai" because I wanted the most straightforward option, and after I loaded up on guns it was smooth sailing. I love that you don't need to buy bullets, you just start each encounter with full ammo (one less thing to keep in mind). For party composition, I found it crucial to have a Mage, for their attack spells that ignore armor and Haste. I haven't run into a combat yet that's been too difficult or frustrating, but I think the graveyard encounter was poorly designed. The NPCs tell you to spare one of the enemies to interrogate, which naturally led me to try to do exactly that (and I got overrun and died for the first time in the playthrough), but you're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to fight as normal and one of the enemies just happens to survive after the encounter finishes.
I stopped after the graveyard encounter, but I'm planning on eventually finishing it and the rest of the trilogy.