This one was long and tough.

Rick and Morty's Rushed Licensed Adventure

Free browser game by Adult Swim Games, It was quite fun. It's 4 chapters long point-and-click adventure.
The game is quite dumb with a lot of puns and breaks the 4th wall constantly but it is dumb in amusing way. Not everyone will appreciate the humour I guess but I found it acceptable.
I had sufficient amount of fun with it and even bothered to get all of it dumb achievements.
It is a short game and also easy. Achievements make it somewhat longer when one is as stupid as I am. With them it took me about 2 hours while I also listened to stream during it. :-)

Full list.

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition

OK, this one took a very long time to beat. But not necessarily gameplay time wise (about 105 hours). It took a long time (more than 6 months) because it was too depressing to keep playing for long hours. Before writing about my impressions, I want to make it clear that I am a Demon's Souls fan. Demon's Souls is in my opinion, the best PS3 game ever made. It took me to a different world, gave me a unique gameplay experience, made me feel very awkward emotions. It was fantastic. So according to almost everyone's opinion, Dark Souls is the better game in every sense. Not for me, it is not. Let me tell you why...

First of all Demon's Souls was the amazing game that no one played. Dark Souls is the amazing game that everyone played. So it is perfectly understandable that the newcomers had a unique experience with Dark Souls which they simply cannot forget. I think it is like how everyone's favorite MMORPG tends to be the first one they have played. So Demon's Souls/Dark Souls series gives you that feeling. It punches you in the face and tells you there is nothing like it out there. True.

My main problem with Dark Souls -in comparison to the first game- was the photographic memory requirement. The level designs are genius and are all connected to each other in a remarkable open world labyrinthine fashion. Imagine something like ICO but much more complex. However, if you don't have a photographic memory, you will forget. You will not remember the shortcut to a specific level. You will try to get there using the 10 times longer route just because you totally forgot about the shortcut. To overcome this, you will consult walkthroughs and gameplay videos (there are basically 1000s of videos on youtube showing how to get from X to Y. Talking about walkthroughs, this is not a game where they are supplementary. Walkthroughs are absolutely necessary to beat Dark Souls. In order to understand how to benefit from your weapon, you will have to check the different upgrade path outcomes of many different players... And how they worked/did not work on a specific boss.

The second thing I liked less was the emotional perfection of the bosses. The game is really improved in the sense of boss combats since cheating your way out of a boss fight is usually not very possible in Dark Souls. However, in Demon's Souls, I remember fighting bosses with a lot of empathy. Demon's Souls made me feel I am a horrible person for swinging my sword. Whereas in Dark Souls, I was more aware that this was a video game and did not really care about who I am killing.

I am not going to talk about all the good things about Dark Souls, which you can find in any review you read. But you should at least know that there are things this series simply perfected. It is the only game series in which backstabbing an enemy makes you feel like you are holding the knife in your hand and really stuck it into someone's back. There is a great deal of realism in terms of how you move and fight. You are really holding the shield on your left hand and the sword on the right. The game lore is pretty good, if you pay attention to details. Everything is designed to make you feel in that hopeless depressing environment. All the NPCs are hopeless. You are hopeless. The environment, NPCs, player, music are all in perfect harmony of enormous hopelessness.

Do I recommend Dark Souls? Hell yes! But it is not a perfect game. I did not enjoy the entire over a 100 hours I have spent on it with a mixed feeling of depression, masochism and satisfaction. I did not enjoy playing it simultaneously checking a youtube gameplay video. But it is a great game nonetheless and highly recommended.

damien score: 9/10

List of all games finished in the last years with best and worst games played in each year

Xcom 2 finshed yesterday.

Amazing game and well worth the buy - didn't experience any bad performance issues (there are some ppl having severe problems with that) expect some casual stutter which didn't annoy me and well this is gonna patches anyway soon.

Memorable scenes:

1. Going on a "Very Difficult" Mission during "low tech phase" with just one experienced soldier and 4 rookies bc main squad was injured with the goal the mission gonna be a success and the experiences soldier survives - nasty save civilian mission which forces you to rush and with many armored enemies without having any armor shred capabilities with me - Outcome experience soldier and 2 rookies survive, enough civilians saved - mission was ultra hard and ultra intense though and i really felt bad using both the dead rookies as pawn to win the mission/save my experienced soldier.

2. Final mission - while it was quite easy for me and quite a straight play-through in the final room with about 5 enemies still alive one of my soldier becomes mindcontrolled with no means of removing the mindcontrol for my team next turn and that given soldier is in a crucial position on the way to advance for my team to kill the remaining boss and also in a position that he would flank my entire team if i do the necessary advance. My sniper has the "team member" in his scope with a 65% crit chance which would mean an instant kill. Still deciding not to kill the mind controlled soldier and doing the "advancement". In enemy turn 3 out of my 5 remaining soldiers get disarmed, 2 soldiers get down to 3 Hp and the enemy who mindcontrols and whom i have to kill moves to a position were he is very hard to kill for my team as not visible for 4 out of 5 squadmembers. Forcing the boss to relocate with a lucky shot and then killing it with an "impossible" crit shot with my last action that turn (without a kill next turn 3 out of 6 squadmembers would have died). Boss died, mind control removed , all squadmembers alive - well worth the risk despite killing the mindcontrolled one would have been the easier way ^^.


Well now it's time for a Legendary Difficulty Ironman Run ^^

Finished Rise of the Tomb Raider and I really liked it. It's like the previous one but better.

Full list here.

Vektor Wars

Arcade Wave-style FPS with vektor graphics. My favorite is the Survival mode where you pick a level and enemies just start appearing non-stop for you to deal with. You're unlikely to last more than a few minutes, never a dull second. Arcade and Story modes, on the other hand, can get dull while you're spending a large chunk of your time searching for weapons/ammo. The recent addition of adding weapon pickups to the radar help a lot, but not quite enough, especially when the pickups tend to expire (yup) right before you get to them.

Condemned: Criminal Origins

I've finished the game many times in the past but now was a time as good as any to do another run, since the game was given away for free and it's been a long time since I last played it. I think it's still about as good as when it first came out. Sure, it looks a little bit dated but not so much that it would bother me. I absolutely love the melee combat because you can't take any enemy for granted; you can't get cocky. And when there's two or more attacking you at the same time, it's better to take a step back and let them fight each other.

The game, even though it's great, is not flawless however. There were a couple of issues in the PC version that I don't remember the X360 version having. First, the physics seem very broken. Especially the lighter (skinnier) enemies start resembling airplane propellers when they are killed, which looks really funny but breaks the immersion. One enemy in particular once started flying all across the room in circles with breakneck speed when I shot him with a taser, and even the heavier enemies flew two meters in the air when I gave them the punch fatality. Also, stairs made Ethan walk sooooo slowly for some reason, like if he was extra super careful as to not trip and fall on his face when he ascended or descended them. Again, not something I remember from the X360 version.

And the biggest issue and one I've raged about multiple times on this forum: the main plot with the Oro. I guess it's not as bad with this game, but I genuinely believe it was one of the reasons why there never was a Condemned 3 (and that Condemned 2 didn't sell enough). In Condemned 2, the plot gets incredibly ridiculous with Ethan's "sonic super powers" - how do you even make a Condemned 3 if by the end of Condemned 2, the main character can explode any enemies head from a distance just by shouting at them really angrily? If there ever was a case where the writers write themselves into a corner, it's Condemned 2.

But I digress, Condemned 2 is what it is, this review is about the first one. I really recommend it despite its flaws, for the awesome melee combat and incredible atmosphere, if not anything else. My advice is to ignore any firearms: it makes the game a lot more tense, but it's doable. This is definitely the best game made by Monolith and one of the better horror games in general: it's a shame it's so underrated. Turn off the lights and play this game, now!

Yeah, I quite liked it on the Xbox, although I was never able to finish it because my disc had a defect that caused the game to crash right as the final boss came out. I guess I'll have to revisit it soon since I got the free Steam version.

Include me if you wish

The Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky

I really, really enjoyed it: story was pretty interesting and unexpectedly deep despite the utter density of Estelle. Although I found the game rather simple in terms of gameplay and mechanics (orbs system had a feel of a half-assed FFVII matter system), that ending crushed me: not because the ending itself as it was easy to guess what was it about if you read between lines, but because of "who" was revealed in it and the aftermath of such revelation.
Saving to get Second Chapter in the near future as well.

Shadowrun: Hong Kong

I only played Shadowrun: Returns before HK, and I must say... they are worlds apart of each other.
This is a magnificent one, and the only runner I had troubles with was Is0bel... I can't just get around her: both her attitude and even her personal siderun were impossible for me to bear, so I ditched her after that. Aside from that, fantastic game.
Saving to get Dragonfall in the near future as well, but I doubt it will get better than this one for me.

Bastion
Soooo pretty. A fairly light action RPG, but with enough depth to be interesting. The player takes control of "The Kid" who is trying to rebuild after a terrible calamity. You have a couple customization options; two weapons, a secret skill (basically a super weapon), and various spirits, which are passive skills. The game story is told entirely through the narrator, which has been done really well. I knew I would like the game when, after spending a couple minutes destroying terrain to get used to the controls, I was told the "Kid just sorta rages for a while..."
I surprised myself by spending time getting all the achievements, something I normal don't care about.
Would definitely recommend.

Also, you can add me to the list.

Final Fantasy Viii - Loved it, i guess they dont make game like this anymore

Sacred Citadel (Xbox One)

Actually a 360 version, but played on Xbox One (better controller you see). A side scrolling beat-em-up that only has average reviews, but i started it up to have a look at it anyway since it was one of last months GwG games. Well i couldn't stop playing it, even though it doesn't excel in any way, it's competent, it's quick, it's short and it's the sort of thing i felt like for a quick blast. It has RPG elements tacked on as well, like most games these days.

The combos are simple, but like always in these types of games i came to use three or four combos that worked for me, over and over. But i suspect that's how most people play games like this.
The art is nice enough and though it's side scrolling, you can move about 3 rows in and out of the screen as well.

It was fun, enough fun that I even paid A$1.90 for the DLC which added another 8 levels (the base game has 20). Whilst the game wasn't exceptional or especially noteworthy in any way, on the other hand the only negative issue i can think of was that in some of the really busy fights it could be difficult to see your character which makes it hard to know what move to make. But it only caused issues occasionally.

It's published by Deep Silver, so i'm not sure why the PC version isn't on GOG....maybe it's average Steam reviews hold it back from approval?

Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure (DS)

You play the charming gentleman treasure hunter Henry Hatsworth, who hasn't let old age slow him down. In one particular temple you find an old hat, but not just any hat, the hat of 'The Gentleman', the greatest and most dapper gentleman who ever lived. Upon putting it on, you reawaken the magic inside, opening the door to the puzzle realm, a world full of monsters, that start to invade earth. Your goal is to recover all the pieces of 'The Gentleman's' outfit in order to close the portal to the puzzle realm once and for all. Along the way you go through dangerous ruins, face a variety of eccentric bosses and attempt to stop your rival, the dastardly Weasleby from beating you to the suit. It's a standard platforming adventure game, getting from one end of each level to the next, whilst defeating enemies, but once you to defeat an enemy, it's not gone yet, it reappears in the puzzle realm on the bottom screen, a realm of multi-coloured blocks that must be matched up 3 in a row in order to fully kill them. Your skill in the puzzle realm affects your ability in the real world, allowing you to become younger, perform special attacks and become a giant robot.

This game was actually better than I expected, however it does have a high difficulty curve, particularly towards the last levels and especially the final boss. You use item based advancement, most of which you buy at a shop with the treasure you collect. The boss fights were the best part in my opinion, but maybe that's just because I'm bad at platforming. There's a good twist at the end for good measure. I don't really have anything bad to say about this game, except maybe if your prone to ragequitting this game might not be for you. Anyway I highly recommend this game.

SUPERHOT

You have to check out this game. It's the most innovative shooter I've played in years.

Finished the story mode but that doesn't mean I'm done with the game. There's tons of challenges I still want to do, and I bet those will keep me busy for a long time. The story was... weird, VERY weird, but I won't spoil anything. Those who are interested should see it for themselves. Of course, the core gameplay relies on the fact that time only moves when you move (granted, it doesn't completely stop, you can still see bullets slowly flying towards you, but it is slowed down to like milliseconds per second). This enables you to pull off all kinds of ninja moves on the fly. Stab a guy, turn 90 degrees, throw your sword at a guys face, pick up his gun while it flies through the air, turn another 90 degrees, shoot a guy in the elbow, throw the gun in the guy's face, punch him while he's recoiling - all that stuff, in a matter of seconds in real-time. Speaking of real-time, once the level is done, you can watch a replay of what happened in real time, which is pretty cool.

I really like it! If the initial price is too much for you, definitely pick it up at least once it's on sale. It will keep you entertained (and haunted) for a long time, I dare say.

RC Mini Racers:


It's an OK RC Cars racer built in unity (it seems). it's fun, but the bugs and dumb AI kills it unfortunately. there are cars to upgrade and purchase, but the game is simplistic that it's never needed to upgrade. And the difficult level is Easiest, easier, and easy, wou will win 99% of all races without fail.

Soldier Of Fortune:

Just finished 1 and 2, cracking games even for today. Good old school shooter, blow bits of the enemies off. Obvious storyline, but it doesn't matter, it keeps you coming back until you finish it. Good selection of weapons, though I stuck with automatic shotgun and M4 which did me th whole game. Get them!
There are many wishlist entries, here's one:
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/soldier_of_fortune_1_2


I also spent about 15 minutes on the follow up Payback, I have quite happily added that one to the worst games of all time list. It removes everything good about the original two. Then adds in a team member, glitchy graphics, no story. And also I unload two clips from an automatic rifle at a terrorists head, and eventually he exploded. Total garbage.