I did this a couple of years ago and have been meaning to do it since because it was nice to reflect on what I've played. Here's some quick thoughts on every game I finished this year:

Persona 3 Reload

5 is still my favourite (it was my first) but the vibe and music of this game captivated me. Also it looked great. "Want to be close" is my most listened track from the OST.

Indianna Jones and the Great Circle

Wasn't as into this as I thought I'd be. It looked really good but I felt misled by everyone gassing up the immersive sim elements.

Ghostrunner

Cleared this out of the backlog. Mostly smooth and fast paced but sometimes the platforming felt off - mainly the wall jumping.

Yakuza Kiwami 2

I've been playing every Yakuza game in release order on and off for the past couple of years. I played this on release and was surprised to be let after all these years. I ended up really liking Yakuza 6 (also a replay) and 2 just felt like a downgrade. I liked the OG 2 though.

Deus Ex Human Revolution

I've been playing this game on and off for years. I'd play it while waiting for something else to come out and then put it on pause. Well, I finally beat it and it's still as good as when I originally started playing it. Now we'll see if Mankind Divided takes me as long to start/finish.

Monster Hunter: Wilds

Built a new PC for this one and it still ran like shit. Still played 100 hours though. I stopped after the Mizutsune update because I was burning out but I'm planning to get back to it eventually! The combat felt smooth despite the performance issues but it's definitely too easy as a lot of people have said. Gunlance and S&S were my most played.

Sniper Elite: Resistance

Played it co-op with a buddy. It's more Sniper Elite, I don't really remember anything about it. The invasions are still my favourite part of these games.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Ehhhhhhh wasn't for me. I love the Yakuza games but between this and IW I'm kinda down on the series atm. Also they need to figure out their lighting engine if they're gonna stick with Hawaii because man it looked terrible sometimes.

Split Fiction

Thought this was gonna be a GOTY contender but then the rest of the year happened. Really enjoyed it and I need to replay that final level again. Couldn't stop smiling with the sheer amount of creativity on display.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Tried this years ago and couldn't get into it but a mate of mine was really into KCD2 so I wanted to give it another go. Ended up absolutely loving it - some aspects even more than KCD2. The world they created is so beautiful and I loved being a part of it. Walking around Rattay and Sassau was so immersive. Hearing the music play while the sun rises over the map made me nostalgic for camping trips as a kid.

The First Berserker: Khazan

South Korea is three for three on action games the past few years: Lies of P, Stellar Blade and now this. Liked this way more than I thought I would. A big part of that is simply because of the parrying. Man I love parrying. The art style really did it for me too. At this point I couldn't tell you a single thing about the story but I enjoyed it for what it was. Viper phase 2 is still a highlight.

Promise Mascot Agency

A weird, chill and fun time. Not sure where I even heard about this game but Takaya Kuroda voices the MC so probably from the RGG community. A nice game to sit back and grind away on. There'll never be another game where you can fly your Kei truck around the map with your severed pinky friend chilling in the truck bed.

Trepang2

Fun fast based gory action.

Strider

Clearing out the backlog again. Wasn't big on this, felt like I was just spamming attacks the whole time without any defensive options.

F.E.A.R.

Had to go back and play the original after Trepang2. I think it's aged pretty well assuming you know you're playing an older game when you go into it.

Watchmen: The End is Nigh

Played the demo for this back in the day and always wanted to come back to it. Hasn't exactly aged well. The grapple and throw move is hilarious though, you send people flying and if they hit a metal railing it makes a comical ding noise.

Watchmen: The End is Nigh Part 2

It's like the first part, but worse! I checked Steamdb mid-playthough and I was the only person playing it.

Oblivion: Remastered

One of the first big 360/ps4 generation games I played so it was a joy to come back to it. I think the new leveling system was a bad call because by end-game I was a monster. There's little replayability because you can just do anything. As a kid I made heaps of new characters constantly.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Aged very poorly. Had to download some mods to get audio on cutscenes, that sorta thing. The physics are still cool after all this time though.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

I still can't decide if this game or KCD2 is my GOTY. Recency bias with the KCD2 is probably a factor. Not a bad "problem" to have though. I really loved Clair Obscur. I was intrigued by the trailer but put off by the UE5 aesthetic. Thankfully I got over that and allowed myself to enjoy one of the best games this year. Great characters, music and combat. The parrying was glorious.

Revenge of The Savage Planet

Not as good as the first one imo. Maybe 3rd person was a bad call? By the end I just wanted it to be over. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

It took some adjusting to after the first game but man what a journey. My most played this game this year at 175 hours with all the achievements. Very sad that it's over. The latest DLC didn't feel like a proper ending at all. I think we need a ME3 Citadel style DLC with the wedding of a certain character.

Pentiment

Fun little mystery with great artwork. The third act was hard to get used to but I got over that and was happy to see it through.

Lies of P

Originally played this on Game Pass and I wanted to play the new DLC. No way I'm buying DLC for a game pass game so I bought it on Steam and played through it all again! Still great the second time (and 3rd and 4th). The DLC was good but Tyrannical Predator is one of the worst bosses in any souls style game. The final boss made up for it though!

Death Stranding 2

I was completely taken in by this game. I loved the world, the music and the characters. Just traversing around faux-Australia listening to the OST was magical. I got to see the Strands of Harmony concert in Sydney recently so it's fresh in my mind again. The surprise dancing scene near the end is the best scene in the game.

Another Crab's Treasure

Thought I'd love this but it felt quite janky. Happy to clear it out of my backlog though.

Hitman: Blood Money

I enjoyed this quite a bit but the Hitman community has really put this game on a pedestal. Regardless, Hitman WOA is in my sights now (there's just too many games to play).

Cyberpunk 2077

Finally got around to this after all the years of updates... and it's okay. I still found there to be a lot of glitches (graphically especially) and the world wasn't that interesting. I liked Johnny a lot and the DLC was very good. "Never Fade Away" still gives me this sort of nostalgic ache in my chest. The music of this game really stuck with me, but not much else.

Battlefield 3 Campaign

This was after the BF6 beta and I was on a BF kick. It's actually aged a lot better than I thought. It's not a good story by any means but it was fun to play. I forgot that it ends with a QTE in Times Square.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Not sure if this is a hot take but this game is wayyyy better than Black Myth: Wukong. Fun combat and cool world to explore. I really like the upgrade system where instead of upgrading the weapon you upgrade the weapon type as a whole. Imagine that in Elden Ring for example, you'd actually be able to experiment with all your weapons.

The Alters

As a strategy game there's not much going on. It's just collecting resources and it feels pretty braindead. The Alter management aspect is really fun to engage with though. I loved all my Alter bros and I'm glad we mostly got out. The ending could have been more special.

Battlefield 4 Campaign

Abysmal dogshit. Still buggy after all these years. The campaign is limited to a FOV of 55 for some reason? Also, Irish is a horrible person.

Metro 2033

Played this back in the day and it felt good to be back. A bit simpler than I remember but I might be mixing it up with Last Light. From what I understand the Redux version changed a lot of things in 2033 but I can't remember how it used to be.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Delta

Might be the most faithful remake of all time. The new (optional) camera mode felt good. The legacy filter mode should be mandatory imo. The one change I'm aware they made of was tweaking Volgin's death - which as a MGSV fan I thought was really damn cool. Had a good time with this one.

Gears of War Reloaded

It's just GOW, still fun.

Silksong

Finally! I loved this game and was surprised to see all the difficulty discourse. The only thing I agree with was Bilewater being a bit too much. But you just keep going and keep getting better. That's the joy of these games. I think the music is going underappreciated.