It is once again the singular time I write about video games each year. Actually it's a bit later than I would normally write this, so I'm going to make it quick. Somehow the number of games played on stream is even higher than last year, even though I don't think I streamed significantly more? Either way, let's get going in whichever order I remembered the games I played.

Blue Prince

Absolutely sickos game, Blue Prince. At first glance it's a roguelike in a weird mansion, with a few puzzle elements. The further you go, the more you realize just how incredibly deep the puzzles go and how the roguelike elements are more in service to them, than the other way around. This was easily my most played game of the year at over 60 hours, and it still feels like I barely scratched the surface on its puzzles.

I've heard quite a few people say that hitting the credits means you've solved the tutorial, and they're absolutely correct. Everything leading up to the credits feels like setup for the postgame. I continued playing a good 30 hours post-credits and filled an extra dozen pages in my notebook. Dozens of clues and threads were left to be connected at the point I stopped.

Why did I stop playing though? At a certain point the random elements begin to become the biggest obstacle. I needed to find a specific key to open a specific door to get another key to unlock another specific door, except the chance to find that first key is entirely random. It was the final key I needed to solve a much broader puzzle, but hours of scouring later, I still hadn't found it.

Perhaps I was simply unlucky, but it was quite frustrating to be stuck knowing what I needed to do, but not being able to do it. I really wanted to see the depths of the game (it seemed to be going in some very interesting directions), but my patience is limited.

Overall though, I think Blue Prince is my favorite game I played this year. It's got plenty of the type of puzzle I adore, and they're all woven into the story in a way that makes them doubly satisfying to solve. 1000% recommended for other Myst and La-Mulana sickos.

Little Rocket Lab

I've never played Factorio and I've never played Stardew Valley, but I somehow was drawn a game that's a combination of the two. Little Rocket Lab is a very cute and satisfying game that tickled the programming puzzle part of my brain.

The story is surprisingly touching as you finish the rocket your and your late mother started. It also has a big focus on community as well, as the various townspeople that you befriend over the game become essential to accomplishing your goal. I really appreciate that message.

It's a game that's very easy to lose time with. I often found myself saying "one more day" repeatedly when I should've stopped playing. The ability to setup factories to make small, permanent, incremental progress over time, along with a steady supply of upgrades to research really stimulates the dopamine.

I probably neglected the Stardew Valley portion of the game a bit more than I should have, without a lot of time spent focusing on character relationships, but outside of Rebecca (the best girl), I didn't see much incentive in it. Even so, the game pushes you to interact with other characters enough that the climax still feels earned and satisfying.

DOOM

Somehow I had never played the classic DOOMs before, so I decided to play them on stream with my pal Altazimuth, who's very familiar with DOOM on both a gameplay level and a technical level.

I had built up an image of DOOM in my head over the decades of hearing about it. The biggest difference from that image is that the level design is much more non-linear and explorative than I expected. That's a type of gameplay that really appeals to me. Combined with the surprisingly solid and satisfying movement and shooting, I can absolutely see why DOOM became the classic that it is.

As much as I enjoyed it, and as much as I loved Altazimuth hanging out, giving me guidance and telling me neat trivia, I'm not sure if streaming it created the ideal experience. I'm very bad at streaming fast paced games because I tend to focus too much on the other things going on, like the twitch chat, thinking of things to say, making sure my avatar/redeems/etc are working. I ended up missing a lot of very obvious things that would sometimes leave me wandering around for a bit in larger levels.

DOOM II

The sequel to DOOM felt a lot like the original DOOM. I streamed this one as well, also with Altazimuth. Pretty much everything I said for DOOM also applies to DOOM II. While DOOM II has some great level design, I think its lows are quite a bit lower than DOOM. Several gigantic levels had me running around for a very long time looking for sometimes-unintuitive ways to progress.

Heartland

Heartland is a map pack for DOOM II that uses the Eternity Engine - an engine that Altazimuth has contributed quite a bit too. Clearly I streamed it with him in tow. Heartland showed me just how far the DOOM community has taken the original concepts and expanded and refined them.

Despite Heartland having massive levels, their design is incredibly well polished. They use the Eternity Engine additions extensively to create some really impressive areas that would be completely impossible in vanilla DOOM. I rarely felt like I was wandering around aimlessly like in parts of DOOM II. I'm still a DOOM newbie, so I played it safe for the stream and played on an easy difficulty, but it seemed like a perfect fit for my skill level. I still died a few times, but never felt like I was bashing my head against a wall.

The game overhauls the weapons and enemies as well. The new weapons are all incredibly satisfying to use (how many times am I going to say "satisfying"...), like the dual SMGs and their absurd fire rate that can flatten huge groups in seconds.

Heartland was on my short list for favorite games this year. It makes me want to investigate the massive DOOM community even more.

Metroid Prime 4

Oh boy, here it is. Metroid Prime 4 is a game that means a lot to me. A huge reason I got into drawing is the many, many metroids I drew as a result of the teaser trailer announcement of Prime 4 back in 2017. It's still kind of surreal that it's a real game that's available and that I've played it.

I'll just be direct with it. I think Metroid Prime 4 is a very well made and fun game, but it's missing many of the elements that make Metroid my favorite video game series.

There are some very high points that definitely feel Metroid-y though. Volt Forge and Ice Belt both had incredible atmosphere. The massive towers of Volt Forge, with the dark, swirling clouds, constant lightning and sickass motorcycle paths make it one of the coolest feeling areas in the Prime series.

Ice Belt leaned less to the bombastic and more to the moody. It created a lot of tension in the first half with the Lamorn logs and the pods containing Grievers that feel like they could jump out at any moment. All of that atmosphere turned out to be setup for the second half after you restart the generator. The cold, dead tunnels suddenly spring to life with warm lights, melting ice and those Grievers finally jumping out at you. To top it off is maybe the strongest piece of the Prime 4 soundtrack, incorporating industrial sounds and a choir that perfectly compliment the area coming back to life. That walk back through the re-energized facility was maybe the most Metroid-feeling part of the whole game and it was glorious. If every area felt like this, it would be in the running for my favorite Prime game.

I could go on about how the level design is extremely linear and barely classifies as a metroidvania, but I've become a lot more open to what Metroid can be over the years. Metroid Fusion especially made me realize that not every Metroid game can (or should) try to be Super Metroid. While I do have some issues with the structure of the game, they're relatively minor.

Metroid Prime 4's lowest points, I think, come from forsaking the sense of loneliness, isolation and independence. Prime 4 features a whole supporting cast that's new to this game. Myles MacKenzie is basically your hint system for the game, letting you know where to go next. Except he can't be turned off; he'll tell you where you need to go no matter what. The game is afraid of letting you explore on your own, and I think that takes away from the overall experience.

Myles is only one part of the issue though. The bigger issue to me is having actual escort missions where the other characters well-being is your responsibility. I distinctly remember an NPC going down, the game telling me to help him up, and thinking "alright, I don't need him anyway" and getting a game over because of it. Making NPCs a central part of gameplay, rather than just a voice in your ear, or part of the story, feels especially distasteful as a Metroid fan. Flare Pool, Great Mines and Chrono Tower all play like this. The game clearly wanted me to form an attachment to these characters, but the exact opposite happened. I ended up hating most of them.

I could talk about some more minor gripes, like the unnecessary random battles in the desert or the green energy collection quest, or I could talk about some minor... whatever the opposite of a gripe is, like Vi-o-la, the megastructure theme and the Lamorn story, but I think I've made my opinion clear and don't need to ramble endlessly.

In conclusion: good game with high highs and low lows, but it doesn't quite scratch the Metroid itch.

Pokemon Legends Z-A

Z-A has a unique battle system that takes place entirely in real time. I quite like the idea of this, but in practice it has a few problems. First off, the game feels even easier than most Pokemon games. Maybe the speed of the battles is altering my perception, but only 2 or 3 battles in the late game felt threatening in the slightest. The purely real-time aspect makes it much harder to follow exactly what's going on as well. When a battle lasts 10 seconds it's much harder to notice the effects of the various status effects, for example. I still don't know exactly how confusion and sleep work.

The game takes place almost entirely on the Lumios City map it's a pretty fun map. Exploring the rooftops was pretty fun, as they could often lead to nice TMs or new areas you might not have access to otherwise. The main map does get old after a while though. It made me really appreciate the rare moments where you explore various "dungeons".

Z-A definitely doesn't live up to the highs of Legends Arceus, but its climax is still quite impressive. I don't know if I'd say it's worth the entry price, but I'm glad I played it.

Hollow Knight Silksong

Silksong is good. Movement feels great, most of the bosses are okay. My second most played game of the year, I think. It's way too long though. I managed to get to the final chapter 3 boss and gave up because I was too tired of the game to spend another hour or two learning a many-phase fight.

Monster Hunter Wilds

I debated even putting this on here because I feel like I didn't play enough of Wilds to get a good feel for it. I hit the credits and only played a few hours of high rank.

Low rank feels quite odd compared to other Monster Hunter games. It's extremely story focused and on rails. I don't mind this in principle, but it does significantly complicate playing with friends. It feels to me like Wilds was designed as a single player in low rank, then a multiplayer game in high rank.

I like most of the weapon changes that were made for Wilds. The focus mode might even be too strong, since it removes the need to aim carefully before unleashing attacks. The changes to bow in particular I think are wonderful, especially coatings becoming effectively unlimited.

Wilds is a game I want to experience more of, but I don't think I'll find the time in the near future.

Deltarune

I'm not sure what to even say about Deltarune. It's a game that evokes so many thoughts and emotions.

Chapter 2 is probably my favorite, with Queen's constant hilarious antics, but 2, 3 and 4 are all pretty close.

Something that jumped out to me is the biggest difference between Deltarune and Undertale to me. Deltarune gives a much stronger feeling of familiarity, with Kris and Susie and everyone in the light world already knowing each other in a world that they know well. In Undertale, everything is foreign and bizarre and unpredictable. I think this diminishes the sense of wonder slightly for Deltarune, but it trades this for a more character-focused story, which has its own appeals.

In short, you shouldn't directly compare Undertale and Deltarune.

Anyway, Ralsei is a perfect, beautiful, adorable fluffy boy that I strongly relate to.

Bladechimera

It's another Team Ladybug metroidvania. Really great polish and active gameplay with multiple interlocking systems. They've only gotten better at creating gorgeous spectacles, but overall I'd say Bladechimera is slightly weaker than Luna Nights or Deedlit. It does have one big advantage though: you get to play as a dog for a while.

Zombie Dinos From Planet Zeltoid

Zombie Dinos is the most 90s-ass game you'll ever see, with a way-too-catchy theme song with puppets and wild FMVs. This is all to hide the fact that it's actually an edutainment game trying to teach you about dinosaurs. The gameplay is very simplistic. You check areas on a map looking for clues to which type of dinosaur you're tracking, and when you're done, you pick which dino matches all the clues. You only need to identify 3 dinos, so there's not a whole lot of substance to it. The vibes and style are the real focus.

Upwards Rain

Upwards Rain is a short, cute and sweet VN about a post office that receives letters from the deceased. I had almost no idea what to expect going in. I had never seen any of Studio Elan's games before, but the key art of Rain, the bird girl, felt Qwarq-core enough to make me curious.

Studio Elan is known for their yuri, and you could call Upwards Rain yuri, but I didn't really feel much romantic energy between Rain and Mila; their relationship felt much more platonic. Despite being only about 3 hours long, the pair builds a very close, believable bond that makes the climax that much more impactful. I cried a little bit. More than once. Not, like, full on sobbing - more like getting a little misty-eyed. Those yuri folks are pretty good at writing girls.

It's not strictly a visual novel as well. There's some minor puzzle solving as well, which goes a long way to getting you invested in these girls' antics. It's well worth the price if you're in the mood for something cute and wholesome.

Chex Quest

It's a game from a cereal box. I can't really judge it too harshly with that in mind. Chex Quest is a short and slightly janky conversion of DOOM. It's pretty straightforward and quick. It doesn't do anything especially interesting, but this was free and likely many kids' first exposure to first person shooters, so it gets a thumbs up.

Mega Man 6

I finally played a classic Mega Man game, and I did it in one sitting on stream. I somehow got the idea that classic Mega Mans were quite a bit harder than they actually are, so I was always hesitant to try them. I wanted to rectify that so I asked on Bluesky which game people thought was the easiest. MM6 got the most votes by a narrow margin, so I went with that.

Most of the bosses and stages were surprisingly straightforward. The POW and JET forms were super cool and powerful as well. Plant Man's stage, Blizzard Man himself and Power Piston (had to check the wiki for that name) were the only parts that gave me any significant issues, which seems like a pretty good ratio, since there are TWO Wily fortresses... sorry a Mr. X fortress and a Wily fortress.

Despite the game seeming longer than I expected, it only took about 3.5 hours to finish it. I abused E tanks all day, but I guess that's why it's one of the easiest.

Tails Adventure

My first Sonic game! Nevermind that Sonic isn't in it. I really enjoyed the almost metroidvania structure. Tails is adorable and has some lovely animations. He also has a massive arsenal of very deadly weaponry. Please don't have napalm bombs to small fox children.

Finding new items and figuring out how to progress with them is pretty fun, but it's also a bit awkward because many of the items aren't actually used for progression, so you could easily wander around for a while using your knuckles punch on everything when it doesn't do anything special.

Overall it's really charming, but maybe consider checking a guide if you're not sure where to progress next.

Tails Sky Patrol

My second Sonic game! Nevermind that Sonic isn't in this one either. This is a weird sort of shmup/puzzle hybrid where you guide Tails to the end of the level and sometimes fight a boss. There are multiple different paths, some of which can be quite deadly, and plenty of objects to avoid or interact with on each. Finally figuring out the way through a level without running out of fuel is pretty satisfying, especially when you've died on the dang cave level 10 times. It's a very short game though. Even with a number of deaths on each level, it likely won't take much more than an hour to finish. Really neat little game.