This year I unsubscribed from FFXIV. Speaking only for myself, Dawntrail was a massive drop in nearly all aspects after Endwalker. The music and environment were great, I was positively giddy when I reached Solution Nine… but the characters are unlikable, the antagonist is boring and one-dimensional, there is hardly any payoff for setups, one of the most significant conflicts gets resolved with a fucking pep talk, most of the first half of the main story only exists to extol about how much of a chad the current monarch is. Somehow the second half gets even worse with multiple contrived plot points relying on characters being idiots and the player being a passive observer, including the reintroduction of a high profile issue that had been present for the entire DECADE of the game’s existence and resolved in a high profile way in Shadowbringers. Wuk Lamat was fine. Overused and dumb as a pair of boots, but fine.
I got to the final region, got the “I will now genocide the multiverse because my obviously unsustainable economy is running out of resources” monologue, and just stopped playing. Unless 8.0 sees some massive improvements, I have no plans to finish Dawntrail.
On the completely different end of the spectrum, Warframe is in the best place it’s ever been. The last four major updates (1999, Isleweaver, Vallis Undermind, and The Old Peace) have been fucking phenomenal, both in terms of story and gameplay. The Old Peace (released literally a few days ago) also contains the most valid crashout in history. Rap tap tap, little piggy. The new gamemodes are fun, fast-paced, and so far haven’t outstayed their welcome, although like always, I’m worried about their longevity since they’re essentially content islands.
Warframe’s music is exceptional. I’ll always appreciate the works of Keith Power (he gave us We All Lift Together and This Is What You Are), but the current composer Matt Chalmers has elevated the game’s music both in quality and variety. Starting with 1999, there are no songs that I ever want to skip, and that includes the virtual boy band. Even if you have no interest in the game, you shouldn’t skip the music: TennoConcert 2025 (Matt is the eternally chilled out dude who sings From The Stars), Tethra Jahrak, Lullaby of the Manifold, and (potential spoilers) Roses from the Abyss.
In terms of smaller games, I fell off the wagon and had several all-night benders in Factorio. If you’re anywhere near the spectrum, that game is like crack cocaine. I had a lot of fun in Project Wingman and the biggest furball in history, I replayed Star Wars: Republic Commando, and rediscovered my appreciation for games where the player is not the Chosen One. Against all wisdom, I finally played The Mystery Of The Droods. Even knowing what awaited me, I was unprepared for the absolute jank.
On osu!, finally achieved my player goal of achieving 400pp, then saw a drastic fall on my play time exploring other games. Still doing mapping for two different osu tournaments, but maybe i’m not there forever :)
Balatro became really addictive to me. 200 hours in, still haven’t achieved completionist, but I definetly will. Fuck black deck
Marvel Rivals. Really good game overall, my initial expectations were really low considering Marvel has repeatedly fumbled my expectations on their games, but honestly the game felt like I was playing a game par with Overwatch 1 with Marvel characters.
I’ve got hooked into Trackmania very interestingly this year, my previous racing game experience was stuff like Most Wanted/Carbon, but appearently the osu! style “keep the improve grind” games interest me still. Aside from TM2020, I also got Stadium and Turbo, might get Canyon on a future sale to play.
Rhythm Doctor 1.0 came out, the last two chapters blew me away! I would hate to spoil anything, but let’s just say they have used the tricks they did on Act 5 Boss Stage exceptionally well, again.
Last Command B-Side DLC was very enjoyable. Got it the day it came out, the included content was very fun. Story was meh, but again you don’t really follow the story on a bullet hell game. The new stages were really cool.
I wasn’t expecting to play Megabonk at all, but gave it a shot thanks to my Steam Family Library. Honestly it’s a fine game, gives similar vibes to Balatro as a mob slaying game.
Lastly, got into Tetris: The Grand Master 4. It is unbelievably difficult, but have managed to unlock 3.1 on TGM mode, and on standard mode achieved 800 Master. TGM Master still feels way too tough, but I’m seeing improvements here and there.
So your staple games seem to be focused on gameplay (or you’re at the part where the story is done) while the games you think you want to play are story heavy with gameplay locked behind looking at cutscenes and listening intently to dialogue. If the first actual playing happens after only 30 minutes, you might not have the energy to sit through that. Maybe look into indie games that get quickly to the gameplay. You’ll probably find that it’s not that hard to play new games if they’re built for playing instead of mass appeal and story
There are two games I never would have considered if I hadn’t explored new / different genres from what I usually stick with, 1000xResist and Pentiment.
The latter might be my favourite by a slight margin, but either way I’m so glad I went out of my comfort zone and discovered games which aren’t my typical RPGs, action-adventure or shmups.
I’ll keep experimenting next year, I might even put together a list of genres or games I’d like to try.
I play a lot of games every year and nowhere complete anything so whatever I do complete they go into great games I recommend to friends.
Clair obscure expedition 33 was my highlight of the year. Long time since a game made me cry and laugh like this one. Completed chapter 2 but then I had enough but I want to return and look more at this and the next chapter.
No rest for the wicked is in EA but it totally captivated me for a couple of weeks. Had a lot of fun and looking forward to multiplayer and playing with my friends. I love that the devs are following their own vision and doing stuff a little bit different.
Reality Break. This one is a bit odd. I managed to buy the wrong game somehow but this was totally a hidden gem for me. No regrets and they had some big updates after I was done so I plan to return one day.
Metaphor Re Fantazio. My first game like this one and while I never completed it it made a mark.
Heart of the machine will get a small spotlight also. Very different game and something that I really have to visit again when it releases in 1.0.
I guess my 2026 will be a lot of revisits and (hopefully!!) less buying games. Another good overhaul mod of Factorio would save me a lot of money and Guild wars 2 occupies quite a bit of my gaming time.
I didn’t pick up any new games this year that I can think of despite how good of a year it’s apparently been for new releases. I almost exclusively play multiplayer games with lots of replay value, so I don’t mind going a few years without a new game. I’ve mostly played a lot of Helldivers 2, Phasmophobia, Remnant: From the Ashes, Risk of Rain 2, Terraria, and Tabletop Simulator.
Risk of Rain 2 in particular has been a lot of fun recently. It got a new DLC about a month ago, so I guess I did technically get something new. It’s easily the best DLC for the game yet, and the new boss fights are a massive step up in quality compared to any others in the game.
The only singleplayer game I’ve been playing a bit of is Minecraft. I picked up GregTech: New Horizons, a minecraft modpack, a bit earlier this year just to see how far in it I could get before getting bored. GT:NH apparently has a ridiculous average completion time of 2,500 hours of active gameplay for experienced solo players, and I have quite literally never touched a tech mod in my life, so I have no delusions about ever actually finishing it. But it’s been fun so far.
Even though I did not like it at first because of the (optional) management and (also optional) zoomed out cut-out camera view. I loved Silent Hunter and was hoping for a modern take but the above mentioned features of the game kind of clashed with my expectations. Luckily, there is a captain 1st person only mode and walking through your super detailed boat as the captain while listening to 40s radio stations (through mods) and blasting British freighters with well calculated torpedo shots is a lot of fun.
Skyrim VR ( MadGodsMod)
It is always fun to play Skyrim from time to time, but this version has to be my favourite, and after finally having a PC that is beefy enough for VR makes this ancient game one of my highlights this year.
Metroid Dread left such an impression on me after playing earlier this year that I bought and modded an OG GBA with a better screen. It was fun and frustrating all at once! My first time soldering since I was a teen. I proceeded to beat Metroid Fusion for the first time despite having the cartridge for probably as long as it had been since my last time soldering. I’m now playing Prime 4, although I’m not yet sure if that qualifies as a highlight.
Besides that, I also got sucked into Hades 2. I didn’t get the true ending to the first game but I did roll credits on this one! What a game. Pokémon Unbound romhack was also on the list of time sinks, but I gotta get back to beating that.
bin.pol.social
Aktywne