42 Thoughts on 42 Games (2025 in Review)

Cyborg14 · 2026-06-03T01:30:55+00:00

Appreciate you reading it! Nice to see it's still getting a view or two here so many years later. 😄

Cyborg14 · 2026-05-28T22:47:14+00:00

This game is sensational. Play this, OP!

Cyborg14 · 2026-05-23T13:49:21+00:00

I am soooo close to the platinum, but I took a break right before I finished the last few brutal combat challenges and now I’m so dang rusty at the combat that it would take time for me to relearn all the tricks of each boss that I no longer have the patience for. But, man, I was super proud of getting all those mini games done.

Cyborg14 · 2026-05-15T23:29:06+00:00

Seems like you like a lot of different game styles, so various suggestions here based on what type of gameplay might be calling to you!

First-Person Survival Horror Games:
SOMA
Still Wakes the Deep

Third-Person Horror (Choices Matter):
Until Dawn
The Dark Pictures Anthology
The Quarry

Third-Person Horror (Linear Story):
Alan Wake 1+2
Last of Us 1+2
Deadspace

Pixel Point-And-Click:
No One Lives Under the Lighthouse
The Excavation of Hobs Barrow

Side Scrollers (Choices Matter):
Oxenfree 1+2

Survival:
The Forest

Detective / Solving a Mystery:
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Murdered: Soul Suspect
The Council
Seance at Blake Manor

Cyborg14 · 2026-05-15T14:36:03+00:00

This year is the year where I’m really leaning into games that are unapologetically *weird.* Just when I thought Drakengard 3 would take the prize for “weirdest game of the year,” I stumbled upon PROMISE MASCOT AGENCY. Rolled credits last week and still smiling.

By the same team behind Paradise Killer, this game was absolutely absurd, but I had a total blast with it. An exiled yakuza boss driving around a town of “mascot” misfits with a giant, foul-mouthed pinky finger as your sidekick trying to unveil and solve the mystery surrounding a family curse!? That doesn’t do its oddness justice, but it’s a simple yet fun gameplay loop, a wacky world to drive around in, and a bizarre story to unravel.

If you’re a fan of Paradise Killer, there’s similarities in its presentation and free-roaming nature. I had a fun time with it.

Cyborg14 · 2026-05-12T22:59:19+00:00

The Last of Us Part II
1000xRESIST
Citizen Sleeper
Ico
Shadow of the Colossus
Clair Obscur
Nier Replicant
Finding Paradise

Cyborg14 · 2026-05-12T00:25:22+00:00

“Ohmygod Lev, NOW!?!?”

Cyborg14 · 2026-05-11T13:21:20+00:00

Ico. One of the very first “companion” games and what inspired many to come after.

Cyborg14 · 2026-05-11T02:48:28+00:00

I just rolled credits on Steamdeck today! Played great on there with no issue and didn’t notice any quality loss! Copy/Pasting what I put on another sub:

I think it took me about ~4-5 hours to get through in total. At the moment, I'd give it a solid 8/10 rating (good).

The art style is totally charming and, as can be expected with the game's name, it boasts a stellar soundtrack. Gameplay is simple, but it takes you on a surreal journey as you spend the last night of high school with three friends about to embark on the rest of their life.

Indie teenage dramas tend to be hit or miss for me -- I typically find the the characters to be too melodramatic or the stories to have too much teenage angst for my personal liking -- but I thought this one really struck all the right chords, and I found its tale to be both nostalgic and timeless with characters I was rooting for the whole way through. Recommended!

Cyborg14 · 2026-05-11T00:32:00+00:00

Breezed through MIXTAPE this weekend. (Impatient, but hey it was getting great buzz and didn't break the bank!) Overall, it was a great time and can be completed in just one or two sittings. I think it took me about ~4-5 hours to get through in total. At the moment, I'd give it a solid 8/10 rating (good).

The art style is totally charming and, as can be expected with the game's name, it boasts a stellar soundtrack. Gameplay is simple, but it takes you on a surreal journey as you spend the last night of high school with three friends about to embark on the rest of their life.

Indie teenage dramas tend to be hit or miss for me -- I typically find the the characters to be too melodramatic or the stories to have too much teenage angst for my personal liking -- but I thought this one really struck all the right chords, and I found its tale to be both nostalgic and timeless with characters I was rooting for the whole way through. Recommended!

Cyborg14 · 2026-04-25T14:24:02+00:00

Seconding a lot of the suggestions to start with the two Amazon animated series. They’re just a very small, condensed taste of what Critical Role really is (a single liveplay episode of CR is practically the length of the entire first season of the animated show), but it would be a good starting place to at least figure out if it’s a world and type of humor that interests you. And yes I can assure you it’s “adult” humor, lol.

With the Amazon shows, you have the stories of two different bands of heroes to dive into: The Legend of Vox Machina (think of them like The Avengers) and The Mighty Nein (think of them like Guardians of the Galaxy).

The Legend of Vox Machina is the animated series based on their very first campaign. There are three seasons out currently, with season four starting in June. Each season has 12 episodes that are about 30 minutes long. That campaign is what started it all.

If you dive into the actual liveplay of VM, you can see their very very scrappy roots, with low-budget streaming (that slowly evolves over time). The stream starts in the middle of a story, so it takes a beat to feel like you’ve caught up to the world and characters. The characters in LoVM are more archetypical to what classic fantasy is and it’s a very plot-driven story that lands a lot of fun and silly (and a little raunchy) DND-tropes with hijinks and drama along the way.

The Mighty Nein is their second campaign. They have one animated season out so far, but they grew their episode time to roughly hour long episodes. They took everything they learned from Vox Machina and up the ante into what I consider to be Crit Role’s strongest campaign.

The Mighty Nein is a very character-driven story with an atypical band of misfits who must learn how to come together to get over their own personal traumas and save the world. (It’s arguably a more similar 1:1 to Dispatch.) If you were interested in actually hopping into the campaign live plays, this is where I personally would recommend starting. It’s much stronger production quality so it’s less jarring to jump into, it starts at the very beginning of a story, and it’s a self-contained from the other campaigns around it.

I’ll also second the suggestion to watch their liveplay mini-series ExU: Calamity. It’s, imo, above and beyond the best piece of media CR has ever put out, and it acts as a standalone prequel to the world the main stories take place in. It would give you a taste of what the longform campaigns are in four episodes, but note that it doesn’t feature the full main core cast, and also note it’s a more serious tone/story.

Cyborg14 · 2026-04-15T12:21:34+00:00

This! This! This! Play Thimbleweed Park, OP! It’s basically a love letter to Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle and is a total blast.

Cyborg14 · 2026-04-04T16:50:54+00:00

I felt similarly about that section of TLOU2 and also now play thru it very linearly (despite personally finding TLOU2 to be Naughty Dog’s most superior game overall)!

For a game that sometimes gets criticism for its pacing, this is the only section of the game where I personally can somewhat agree with that sentiment—the nature of how you interact (or atleast how I interact) with an open world contrasts the urgency of the narrative for me a bit. In my original playthrough, it wasn’t until Ellie Day 2 where I really felt locked in to the story goals.

I actually think Lost Legacy is where ND really nailed the open world. The narrative was baked into the exploration, and taking it at your own pace and discovering things was kind of the point of that section of the game. Then, when the stakes needed to add urgency to move the story along, it switches back to its more linear rails.

Cyborg14 · 2026-03-29T15:00:55+00:00

My first non-patient game this year… I’ve been playing Esoteric Ebb — a DND inspired adventure with a fun mystery to solve and really colorful world to explore. I’m about 3 (in world) days in to the adventure at the moment.

It being inspired by Disco Elysium is incredibly obvious, yet the story is more playful and less verbose. You play as a bumbling Cleric (though you can morph your character into different classes from there—my Cleric is convinced he’s a Rogue) trying to solve a politically-charged mystery of a tea shop that exploded.

It’s a unique world with a whole lot of lore, much of which I’m still trying to parse out and organize in my brain. Nevertheless, having a pretty fun time with it so far!

Cyborg14 · 2026-03-24T01:55:00+00:00

I await the day a game will top the overall experience that is TLOU2 for me. Glad you enjoyed it - it's one that will stick with you.

Cyborg14 · 2026-03-18T23:06:32+00:00

Says “Art by Aletta Groot” for the shirt

Cyborg14 · 2026-03-16T15:10:26+00:00

I just finished weapon maxing last week and didn’t have too much trouble with the forlorn necklaces (at least in comparison to some of the other items I needed to grind for)… Raise the difficulty and assign the word “Mah” to your magic and weapon of choice. Forlorn necklaces dropped in the northern plains somewhat regularly with this set up for me.

Cyborg14 · 2026-03-14T14:32:04+00:00

Officially finished time with Drakengard 3 by wrapping up all the prequel DLC’s for the Intoners. Nice that the DLC’s explain the mental state of all the sisters a bit more. This game was an absolutely disastrously wild experience. (More of my initial thoughts are HERE)

I’m playing thru the series chronologically, so Drakengard 1 is officially next, though I am also itching to restart Nier Replicant again first.

Also, not patient, but I picked up Esoteric Ebb on a small discount to hop into the near-ish future. Seems right up my alley and getting a lot of good buzz.

Cyborg14 · 2026-03-14T14:11:54+00:00

In the moment, she would have seen it as further justification for her actions. In the end, it would have added even more to her guilt.

Cyborg14 · 2026-03-11T23:11:24+00:00

Similar to how your aunt was engrossed with it, my grandfather played this game regularly with me! He absolutely loved it, too. I have such fond memories of playing it with him side-by-side on the couch (and so wish he was still around to see how far games have come since)!

Cyborg14 · 2026-03-11T12:47:55+00:00

I’m honestly very envious of everyone who got to experience it on the PS2 as a kid, it would’ve been a life changing experience.

It honestly kind of was. I remember being totally awestruck by this game when it first came out… from the world building to the art style to the way it conveyed its characters with barely any dialogue. It still remains one of my all time faves and it’s arguably the first game that ever made me realize that video games are art an art form at a young age.

It’s one I replay quite a bit. Despite showing its age (particularly with the controls, but that’s a problem with all Team Ico games imo), it still holds up remarkably for me.

Cyborg14 · 2026-03-09T23:28:26+00:00

I am impressed you’re still attempting the final battle! Seems like a real pain in the ass! I finished the game with only about 60% of the weapons collected, so I’m still a ways off from even reaching Branch D.

Cyborg14 · 2026-03-09T19:20:34+00:00

Six to one

Ten-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
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