2
3.8%
36h

17
32.7%
290h

14
26.9%
252h

12
23.1%
120h

7
13.5%
30h

Inscryption

Buy it and do not look up anything about it before playing. It’s an e̵̩̔ẍ̷̗p̸͖͊e̸̹͆r̸͙̄í̵̱ḛ̷̓n̷̤̕c̴̹̔é̵̥

Everhood

Might be my favorite game I played this year. It hits all the right spots for me: confusing looking gameplay, banger soundtrack, silly humor, rhythm game.

Coordinating visuals with music and gameplay is the ultimate experience. It hits you right in the feels by speaking it's mother tongue.

Atomicrops

Beautiful art and it feels so good having to overclock your brain to understand what is happening at the screen.

Baba Is You

Mind-blowingly clever. Puzzle games devs are gods

Vampire Survivors

Very simple and fun, it scratches a very specific itch of “countless enemies getting wiped out and dropping countless coins for you to pick up”. It’s so satisfying

Dungeon Warfare 2

Great TD with tons of freedom and viable strategies, it’s quite possibly the best tower defense game I’ve ever played. I love it!

The only thing that I think it lacks is a crafting system, most often my strategy feels hostage to RNG drops. I wish I could disenchant the items I don’t want to craft items with better odds of having the mods I want.

FFXIV - Heavensward

Hype machine, cool story that just keeps on giving and even cooler boss-fights and OST

FFXIV - Stormblood

Monster Hunter Rise

This one has my favorite combat gameplay in the series! My absolute favorite mechanic in games is parrying attacks, before in the series you could do it by playing specific weapons or by slotting in Evade Window allowing you to dodge roll through some attacks with precise timing, but now almost (if not all) weapons have a parry mechanic making the game so much faster, aggressive and satisfying to play.

My only complaint is that with the increased power level of the weapons, maybe most monster designs got a little outdated? The game is so easy I finished it without even crafting a proper set

Monster Hunter Sunbreak

Bloons TD 6

monky

ShellShock Live

Worms but filled with so many options, strategies and better and more precise shooting mechanics. None of the charm though. But it’s definitely the best artillery game I’ve ever played, I would love to see a more polished version of it

Power Bomberman

Fan creation compiling everything that’s awesome about bomberman and mashing it into one game. I take back what I said about Party-Edition, this one now is BY FAR my favorite bomberman game. It also has an online mode! Absolute perfection

Rogue Legacy 2

The first one was a great game and this one leaves absolutely no reason for you to play the first. It’s better in every single way IMO

Teamfight Tactics: My second try

My first try

I knew this one was going to hook me at some point. The problems I had with the game still persists, but on my second try I actually tried to properly learn it and by doing so I was able to better appreciate the design decisions within the game.

I was also biased against it since I dislike LoL’s design philosophy. To me every champion feels the same and each role has super strict gameplans that don’t allow you to be creative and explore crazy ideas. This does not apply to TFT at all. The game has an abundance of items, emblems and arguments that not only change your ~numbers~ but add entirely new mechanics to your match. And even though they’re all random, this encourages you to understand the inner workings of the game and think outside the box to make the most of what you’ve been offered, often resulting in silly ideas that also work in a competitive scenario.

The game is great, and the developers seem to be really passionate about their project, I’m glad I gave it another shot

The Witness

What I really like about this game is that the solution to almost all the puzzles uses common sense in a clever way. No daunting list of mechanics or logic webs (I call these programmer games), just some intriguing problems with clever and intuitive solutions. It’s so good

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak

Monster Hunter Rise

The weapon’s power level is even higher now. Each one of them has so many things to do it took a while to wrap my head around the switch skill system, but I really like it!

MonHun’s combat is really simple, so more options are a welcome addition IMO. Also, the difficulty was increased! Monsters have new and more aggressive movesets and a new afflicted variant which spikes the difficulty even more, I wasn’t able to finish the game without crafting this time. And also, Gore Magala is back TvT

MTG Arena

I’m not sure where to put this one, I’m a newcomer to Magic and I’m absolutely loving it. The only card game I really played was Hearthstone, and coming from there to Magic is a similar feeling of coming from Street Fighter to anime fighters. It’s just so much crazier, it seems there’s no actual limits to what you can do. It’s so complex, intricate, satisfying… I really really like it.

HOWEVER, the Arena client is absolute crap, half of the stuff doesn’t work properly, playing with friends is infuriating because of how broken it is, the economy is super unfair to new players and I feel the current daily rewards system is destroying my relationship with the game. It’s absolute trash. But Magic is so good that you will put up with it, and you will enjoy it.

MTG: Dominaria United

This is the first set of Magic I’ve ever played, and in my newcomer’s opinion: it’s great. I probably only like drafting so much because of this set. Mechanics like Kicker and Domain, plus the common dual lands brings SO MUCH variety and complexity not only to the drafting phase but to the gameplay too. I feel there’s a ton of viable strategies you can go for and every draft feels unique. It’s really a shame drafting is so damn expensive in Arena, if it wasn’t I would be doing this shit every day.

Constructed thoughts: I don’t know. I’m way too poor to play competitive decks, and way too new to understand the meta and how DMU impacts it.

Rimworld

I have to say I've been playing Dwarf Fortress on-and-off since 2014, it's one of my comfort games. So it is really hard for me not to compare them.

At first I was very underwhelmed by Rimworld. It looked like Dwarf Fortress, it played like Dwarf Fortress, it even somehow have some of the same terrble menus, but it has none of the depth and richness. It felt like a nothing burger.

But the more I played the more I was able to appreciate their differences. Rimworld for sure was made to feel more like a ~game~. The gameplay loop always revolves around combat, you have a very limited amount of colonists so you can remember their names and get attached, there's even different "AI storytellers" that scripts events for you to go through and makes your time playing feel like you're getting somewhere, this is also further reinforced by having to progress through a tech tree and linear gear upgrades.

It's impossible to scratch the same itch that Dwarf Fortress scratches, but Rimworld does a pretty good job picking only the most fun parts of DF and presenting them in a very simple and enjoyable way.

Dwarf Fortress: Steam Release

As mentioned above, I've been playing Dwarf Fortress for a long time now, so I obviously love the game and the steam release is not actually a fresh experience for me... but I'm just happy that it is way more accessible now! This game is a gem and I wish more people would give it a chance

I don't have much to say about the ~new stuff~, I kind of miss the ASCII graphics, it had its own unique charm to it, but the quality of life changes are all super welcome. I'm having a hard time adjusting to the new menus and controlling the UI with the mouse, but it does feel more intuitive to interact with. And I'm all for it.

If you're reading this and thinking of trying DF for the first time, I would suggest for you to think of it more as a life simulation than a game. It is more about the stories that unfold rather than winning or losing. You will always lose, but losing is fun :-)

Hypnospace Outlaw

This game, alongside Vinizinho, are the reasons why this page exists at all. I've played it twice in the past but even though I didn't finish it, this game never left my mind. I knew I had to replay it to completion this year.

For me, Hypnospace Outlaw brings the best feeling out of the early internet days: a maze full of mystery where every page is full of personality and charm. And that is just because the pages were made by real, regular people.

I miss this, I want to be a real person too! Or at least be on a platform that allows me to express it

My Life as an Archeologist

Short and sweet, coming up with builds was cool

Gunbound WC (season 1)

Just as good as I remembered! The gameplay is super fun and charming but the systems and menus are just sooo bare-bones, it really feels like you're playing a 20yo game.

Good fun mechanics-wise but shallow strategy-wise, hit the enemy=win miss=lose. Not much more than that.

Zero Escape (9 hours 9 persons 9 doors)

I was enjoying the game until we had to open up the wiki to backtrack and bounce around the chapters to unlock a satisfying ending

Bomberman: Fantasy Race

Super broken, slippery controls and poorly balanced. But it’s just so charming and creative that I love it. Might be nostalgia but this game makes me happy

Bomberman: Party-Edition

Single player mode is pretty bad, but it has my favorite versus mode yet! Cool maps, cool variety of items, mounts and characters. It’s poorly balanced though, but it’s to be expected from a game from the 00’s. My favorite bomberman game to play with friends for sure

Astronarch

Cool game with cool characters and cool items that enable cool strategies. It felt like it ended way too soon though, when the run starts to get interesting and you’re starting to make your build work, poof! It’s over. I wish it got super convoluted with a full team of 8 upgraded characters that hold more than 3 items each. I want to explore stupid sinergies to overcome stupid bosses

FFXIV - Stormblood

FFXIV - Heavensward

I just cannot make myself give a shit about political drama, forcing myself to pay attention to follow the plot was exhausting.

But, I ADORE (almost) all the characters introduced in this expansion and the cheesy anime vibes throughout. Every minute of political chitchat I had to endure eventually paid itself with awesome locations, music, also the best dungeons and raids yet.

Can’t wait for an expansion with encounters this good but also with a bearable storyline because I sure CANNOT go through another one of these. If I hear Ala Mhigo once again Imma lose it

Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator

I love this game for its uniqueness. The concept is cool, art is cool, music is SO COOL, but it just gets old quick.

The gameplay loop is fun and it takes a step in the right direction with the stock market and competitors, but it still needs more breaks in between trading sessions. It’s very high intensity and ultra fun to do, but doing one after another, after another, after another, just gets old quickly. I also don’t know if the “Papers Please-esque” plotline with multiple endings was the best choice for this game

MultiVersus

Good fun with friends, but I cannot see myself going hard on this one.

I really like how funny the game is and how different it is from Smash. It’s the first smash clone that I can’t really say things like “oh, Finn is just a Link clone”, all the characters are unique and full of personality. I don’t really know what it takes to make good and snappy gameplay, but this game does not have it.

Movement feels “floaty”, attack animations don’t feel very good (maybe ‘cause of too many startup frames?), and there’s some weird buffer that doesn't allow you to play too fast. Flicking the right analog stick doesn't register as an attack, going neutral too fast also takes the previous direction for the attack. So I constantly have to think around the buffer and hold actions so my desired move comes out. I spent way too much time playing smash, so maybe these problems affect me more than they should since I’m directly comparing both games and I love how smash gameplay feels

The Looker

“If you like The Witness, then you will like The Looker. If you hate The Witness, then you will LOVE The Looker.”. Some of its puzzles are way too confusing for a parody game and this is one of those games that gives me motion sickness. It’s a short game but the later half of it was really hard for me

Thimbleweed Park

I really enjoyed this one. A fun and a kinda frustrating ride through a pretty basic but enjoyable story. It’s quirky 4th wall breaking humor is not for me, but the vibes are nice. It’s a comfort game

Samurai Bringer

Great game with tons of freedom and possibilities, I really like these games where you have a set of rules and you’re encouraged to explore them, exploit them and go crazy. It DESPERATELY needs some QoL features though, the menus are a bore to deal with. It also suffers from the same problem all of these games go through, it’s so much fun until you figure out a really overpowered combination that carries you through the entire game. After that it is pretty pointless to play unless you engage in some self-imposed challenges. Great 15-20 hours of high quality fun though.

Overwatch 2

They scraped all the filth out of the game, turns out it was still good all along. It’s a shame I really don’t have the mental fortitude to play team-based competitive games anymore, but if my friends were to get into it I would play it daily for sure.

Webbed

A wholesome game that doesn't try to be what it is not. A short and sweet experience where you have fun controlling a cute spider slinging around.

I quite enjoyed my time with it, but Webbed has some rough edges that makes it really feel like an indie title. In my opinion the biggest problem with the game is visual clarity, the game is not hard but it feels very confusing due to a lack of visual cues. I solved most of my problems with: MORE WEB, and I just can't know if I was supposed to play like this. It worked, but it sure looked weird spamming 30x webs on the same spot.

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon

It's a very good looking game and to be fair it's pretty fun at the beginning, but it gets very repetitive. I lied to myself thinking I would finish it later, but I closed the game and never thought about it again.

Dorfromantik

It’s so chill that it gives me anxiety

Automon

Has potential but lacks depth. It also made me realize why having a “x8 speed” button in your game might be a bad idea, because once you get to click the button the game becomes meaningless. Everything becomes about a quick math for a quick outcome, zero charm, zero ~immersion~. I don’t know how to describe it better

Let’s Build a Zoo

Nice but is too janky and lacks a ton of QoL

Luckitown

Great concept and good fun, but lacks visual clarity and the turns start getting way too big and boring mid/late-game

Graveyard Keeper

Lacks QoL and a run button, more than half of the game is you staring at your guy slowly crossing a continent by foot. Also the ending is cheeky and bad

Worms Armageddon

This one hit me. I used to love this game so much! But it does not hold to today’s standards.

The gameplay is nice and fun, making worms kill each other will always be the best thing ever, but the map designs are just awful! Your worm can spawn inside the terrain making you have to waste a whole bunch of turns just to make a hole to get out of it, I hate this. The UI and menus and their animations also are atrocious. Makes me want to try the many remakes and remasters and new editions Team17 made of this game and see how they attempted to fix this.

Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward

This game’s aesthetic, characters, dialogues and puzzles are SO BAD. And the entire gameplay happens to be watching characters talk and solve puzzles. So yeah, it’s a disgrace of a game. But I’m not putting it lower because even though it was awful in every way, I still had fun. A perfect game to play with friends and trash-talk it the entire way. I would never get past the first few screens if I was playing alone

The Sims 1

The emergent storytelling will always be the best part of it, it’s awesome even on this older game. But the sims are way too dependable and dumb and the systems are very janky, making the gameplay super boring and demanding. Played for a couple of hours, then fast forwarded the time to watch everyone die. Good fun, but I wouldn’t play again.

Teamfight Tactics: My first try

I can see myself going crazy on this one under the right circumstances. The only thing that really bugs me is that, this is a game about interacting with menus and managing stuff with your mouse, so why the hell do I have to move an ugly ass avatar around to pick stuff up?? Just let me click it or put it directly inside my inventory! Also the game is already very cluttered with information, it’s very hard to tell your units apart, having an extra avatar just makes it worse!! I hate it so much. It’s not a bad game by any means, it looks very complex and filled with possibilities, but these problems make me prefer the DotA one

My second try

Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Ugly, slow and linear, but kinda fun. Couldn’t make myself finish this one, it’s too slow and boring.

I wish you didn’t have to follow that stupid plot and just wander around catching pokémon and interacting with fun side mechanics, like PoE has. I want to sink hours in expanded versions of berry blender or the beauty contest, maybe go to a casino, build a secret base, go mystery dungeon or take photos. Pokémon has already introduced many side activities that I would love to see expanded into proper mini-games, and Arceus looks like the perfect game to do it, but once again Game Freak under delivers and sticks to the most bland solution to a great idea.

Quaver

The name is bad but the game is okay, but I see no reason to play it when there’s osu!mania and stepmania out there, which are also free, have a decade’s worth of incredible content and way more features. At this moment this game doesn’t have much going for it, unfortunately.

Defender’s Quest: Valley of the Forgotten

I remember playing this one back in ~2012ish? And I REALLY LIKED IT. But it aged very poorly, maybe the gameplay still holds but the menuing and overall feel of the game is so rough I couldn’t make myself get to the “good part”. I need to come back to this one when I feel patient

Bloons TD Battles 2

Probably my biggest disappointment this year. Greedy devs made what could be a nice, fun and competitive game into a loathsome grind just to push a subscription model. You have to grind for hundreds of hours (not an exaggeration) until you unlock every tower and upgrade, imagine having to play hundreds of hours of chess until you unlock every piece and get to start playing the actual strategy game. This shit sucks

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

Got lured in because of “it’s like monster hunter”, but sigh… there’s way too much walking, the storyline sounds like any other generic rpg and the combat does not feel good. This one is not for me.

Elden Ring: My first try

I guess I’m so fed up with souls games that the “souls-like energy” completely turned me off. I need to revisit it in another occasion, with a clearer head

Idle Slayer

One of the worst idle games I’ve ever played.

They added “minigames” to incentivize you to not minimize the game, but they’re so boring and shallow, and the rewards are in the sweet spot of being good enough to make you feel bad for minimizing and bad enough to make you loathe every second that you’re playing.

Also the game is so stingy to give you anything that the calculations look straight up wrong. Looks like this once was a nice 2-3h game, but they stretched it to be a month long just because it’s an ~idler~, sucking out every drop of fun it could have. I hate it

Seraph’s Last Stand

One of the worse “snowball games” I’ve played. Exploding the enemies is satisfying and all, but there’s only a handful of possible builds and only one stage that gets boring pretty fast. I got it almost for free, and I would say it wasn't even worth it if I wasn't supporting a brazillian dev.

Intergalactic Fishing

There’s some systems that look fun to interact with but it all boils down to watching and reacting to a “tension meter”, and that’s not very appealing to me unless I’m deep into roleplaying mode. Which I am not atm

Fishing Planet

Again, it’s really hard for me to enjoy a fishing game that’s all about watching a buoy and a tension meter.

But on this one I appreciate the effort to make the hook exciting by making you research, set up your whole gear, invest currency, but I think it crossed the line when they decided to make you WAIT. A LOT. I get it, it’s a ~realistic~ fishing game and the hook gets more exciting the more you invest into it, but the amount of waiting this one requires just broke me. And the payoff is not that exciting anyway, yes the stakes are high, but it’s just you managing a tension bar once again.

I don’t know maan, how can you make a game more boring than fishing in real life? Are fun fishing games forever locked into minigames inside bigger games?