#january
Video games are great. There's never enough time, but rarely do I feel like it's time wasted. I'm fortunate to keep this hobby going as I get up into my late 30s. Gone are the days of the late night binge. Nevertheless, rolling credits on 13 games this year is a feat I'm quite proud of (sorry to everyone who says reading books is how you should spend your time).
Now, in no particular order:
Persona 5: Royal Edition
The most stylized game on this list. Fantastic acting, a banger soundtrack and goodness how cool are the menus? When do you say that about a video game, let alone an RPG that takes well over 100 hours to complete. At first this was an excuse to turn on my Xbox Series X, quickly realizing this is a game Made for portable systems. I was bouncing between my gaming PC and Steam Deck for the life-sim bits. Fantastic JRPG. Give us Persona 6, you cowards.
Resident Evil 2 Remake
A constant fear battle trying to avoid Mr. X. The addition of his presence throughout the police station caused so many jump scares both from the game and being surprised by my wife while in broad daylight. Highly looking forward to the Resident Evil 4 remake I just acquired. Maybe one day we'll get Code Veronica!
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
Another 100+ hour endeavor. The lineage to Xenogears comes very late in the game. This MMOesque single player experience can feel padded at times, but I can't forget how sprawling the landscapes were and ginormous the world felt at all times. Especially on the the Nintendo Switch. These games should not look this good. Let's see if I can attack #2 soon.
Final Fantasty XVI
A Game of Chocobos. Final Fantasy meets Devil May Cry and George R.R. Martin. Did the story stick the landing? Not always. But I'm all for Clive's brooding nature and was all for the Clive x Jill romance. Watch out for that last boss battle. It'll kill you hands.
Lost Judgement / Lost Judgement: The Kaito Files
Finally getting around to Yagami's latest detective story from RGG studio. The story was a tad weaker than the original Judgement, the case itself not as exciting, but as a total package I'm always going to show my bias for the Like a Dragon + Judgement world. Love that there is more acknowledgement of each series. Hope we get a 3rd, but the Kaito Files expansion felt as definitive as you could get when it comes to closing the book on a series (or at least shelving it for a while as we sort out the oddities that come from using real actors). At least we have Gaiden and Infinite Wealth to hold us over.
Tales of Arise
First time playing this Action RPG series. It wore it's anime-influences on its shoulders. The interesting bits of the story were saved until the last quarter of the game and we never got enough. I'll be waiting for the expansion pack to go on steep discount before revisiting this series.
Eiyuden Chronicles Rising
Suikoden fan purchases action rpg series to holdover until Hundred Heroes drops in April. This game was REPETITIVE. Some of the characters were fun. Get it for cheap.
Golf Story
What if Caddyshack was an RPG? That's Golf Story in a nutshell. An irreverent story with addictive golf gameplay that brings back faint memories of Mario Golf. It's worth the price of admission even if the sequel Sports Story may be too ambitious for its own good.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
Steam Deck emulation FTW. Ivalice provides yet another interesting backdrop full of political conspiracies, rivalries and plots. Final Fantasy 16 doesn't hide it's love for Yasumi Matsuno's works that came before. As the originator, this game looked gorgeous in emulated form and still holds up considering it's based on a 26 year old game.
Starfield
I'm stealing from this review because it so perfectly captures my feelings for this game.
Starfield is a game that has an excess of nothingness.
An open world RPG that is so overstuffed with meaningless content that the seams are starting to split and the empty calories are spilling out.
Sonic Frontiers
Banger of a soundtrack. Solid open-world gameplay. Story was a little average, but I had so much fun playing this across my PC and Steam Deck. It's been ages since I played a Sonic game and I did not walk away disappointed.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
As a longtime comic fan, it's hard not to see where the story is going. Insomniac's spin on the web slinger was highly enjoyable and I have to admit there were many moments that caught me off guard. Kraven was the presence that never fully met his potential. Venom is Venom. If you're a 90s kid, he's awesome. Loved being able to switch between Peter and Miles. Both had interesting threads and I like the system they setup in this game. Here's hoping it can take some inspiration from Batman: Arkham Knight and allow for realtime switching in battle.
Also, RIP Howard. That mission made me ball my eyes out and hug my wife.
Games are amazing.