Monthend – Page 2

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: October 2023

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Gal Guardians: Demon Purge (Switch) – Ran this one into the ground with the 100% clear. Read many more words about it here! Somewhat spooky.

Pikmin 1 (Switch) – It feels a little rough, coming directly from the incredible Pikmin 4, but man, it’s still such a good game. Would have been nice if Nintendo had added a few of Pikmin 4’s quality-of-life features for this re-release. Oh well! No spooks here.

Mercenary Kings: Reloaded Edition (PC) – After a little over a year of playing it on and off, it’s finally done! A little grindy, yes, but despite that, it was still pretty fun. And I got a nice, long YouTube series out of it. Hardly spooky at all.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: September 2023

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TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge (Switch) – Played story mode once to clear the game with Usagi, a second story mode run with my family on my birthday, and spent a bunch of time playing the new DLC survival mode.

Wario Land 3 (GBC) – Wrote some words about this here. TLDR: I had fun, but the game has a couple of very annoying issues that may prevent future replays.

Pikmin 4 (Switch) – Completed all post-game content. Except for getting gold/platinum medals on all the Dandori Battles, because honestly doing well in those feels more dependent on RNG than skill. And nuts to that.

Peglin (PC) – We will Peglin ’till we die!

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: August 2023

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Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) – While I don’t think it’ll make the list of my favourite FFs, I did thoroughly enjoy this one. The combat is exciting, the story is great, and it’s easily got the best Cid in the franchise. Also, Torgal! Can’t forget Torgal!

Paper Mario (N64) – I sometimes wonder if the reason that I hate the modern Paper Marios less than most people is because I’ve never really revisited the original. Now I have! And, well… I think I get why people want a “true” sequel. It’s got an excellent foundation, but I did get annoyed by a lot of little things throughout the journey. Like how slow Mario is, and the limited inventory, and the booooring Peach segments.

Dr. Mario 64 (N64) – It’s weird that I’ve never played this before, right? Anyway, it’s Dr. Mario. Played the classic mode a bunch, and story mode twice.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: July 2023

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Akane the Kunoichi (PC) – I remember playing the demo of this waaaaay back on Xbox 360. It’s a very 2011 indie platformer. Which is to say that it’s very simplistic in both visuals and gameplay. Not bad, but nothing special.

Peglin (PC) – Peglin a while, Peglin forever!!

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) – What an incredible ride. In my opinion, there’s absolutely no competition for Game of the Year 2023.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: June 2023

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Peglin (PC) – Well, it’s a roguelike. And therefore highly replayable. Especially since it’s got a mode that adds a new handicap every time you beat it.

Inhabit (Switch) – A cute puzzle game about taking care of yourself. It took less than two hours to beat, so it was really just a li’l appetizer of a game, but it was fun. Also, I recorded my playthrough for YouTube.

Gargoyle’s Quest (GB) – An action-RPG spin-off of the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series, and much more enjoyable in my opinion. While it’s got blind jumps and cheap deaths for sure, I did have fun revisiting this one for the first time in well over a decade.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: May 2023

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Peglin (PC) – Imagine Peggle, but as a roguelike. Not something I’d normally give a second thought, but it’s so much more fun than it has any right to be. It’s a bit short, but still in Early Access, so there’s potentially a lot of room to grow.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (Switch) – Now THIS is the heaping helping of fanservice that I was hoping the base game would be. Simply being able to go on another adventure with Shulk (and Rex too, I guess) made my heart so happy. Plus they added a similar system as the last few Ys games had that tracks all the collectibles and treasures you’ve found, which really should be in every RPG.

Lost Alone Ultimate (PC) – I watched let’s plays of all three chapters of Lost Alone when they were originally released last year, and really enjoyed them, so I was very excited to play this remade collection. Easily one (three?) of my favourite Steam horror games in recent years.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: April 2023

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Ghost of Tsushima (PS5) – I wasn’t too sure about this one for the first few hours, but it really grew on me over time. An excellent game in most regards, though it does feel very repetitive, as open-world games usually do. My favourite parts by far were the side-stories of Jin’s allies. Folks who ignore side-quests in games would absolutely be missing out on the best parts of this game. Norio and Masako in particular were characters that I really liked adventuring with. Platinum trophy’d.

Super Mario Land 2 (GB) – Yes, again. But this time, the colourized romhack! It’s… the same game, but looks nicer. Also, you can be Luigi!

Resident Evil 4 (PS5) – Everything I could have hoped for. It’s generally a very faithful remake, but remixes a lot of the content in different ways to keep veterans of the original on their toes. That plus a whole bunch of new elements, and MUCH improved boss fights across the board. Basically exactly what a remake should be, in my opinion. It also fleshes out the story and characters way more than the original, which is definitely a nice-to-have. I’ll absolutely be playing this a few more times before the year is done.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: March 2023

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Windbound (Switch) – I want to say nice things about this game, since it’s all about exploring and building a boat and sailing that boat to explore more. A very fun gameplay loop, in my opinion! However… there’s combat, and it’s slow and janky and not very fun. Also the game tended to crash at the end of each chapter in my playthrough and that’s… that’s really bad. You can watch me suffer here!

Kwaidan ~Azuma Manor Story~ (Switch) – A survival horror set in Meiji-era Japan, where you’re tasked with saving a mansion from being occupied by yokai (or yoki, as the game calls them). The controls are truly mind-boggling, but it’s otherwise a pretty good, if very short and small, game. Also, made by a single person!

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: February 2023

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Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2) – You know how in FNAF, there’s “the one you shouldn’t have killed”? Well this is “the one I shouldn’t have played.” To be fair, it wasn’t that bad, and while I did enjoy some of my time with it, it was an absolute struggle to play much more often than I would have liked. Also the ending was poop. The biggest shame of it all is that I likely would have been totally ga-ga for this game if I’d played it back in 2004, but it just feels rough in 2023.

Picross S6 (Switch) – What more can I say than “it’s more Picross”? No, like, literally, it’s exactly the same format as the last two but with different puzzles. Which is all I ask for, but it doesn’t make for a very interesting review.

Kirby’s Dream Land (GB) – With the release of the Game Boy Online app on Switch… I took the opportunity to revisit some old favourites.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: January 2023

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Mega Man X (SNES) – The annual tradition continues.

The Night of the Scissors (PC) – A very short -and surprisingly easy- hide-and-seek style indie horror. There are like three items to find, one puzzle, and a killer who just doesn’t seem to be around all that often. Needs some more meat on its bones.

Nightmare of Decay (PC) – Indie survival horror FPS that wears its inspirations on its sleeve. I really liked it, though it could be a bit frustrating at times. See here!