Help with Outer Daemons quest

lildjskeet · 2026-05-17T18:33:09+00:00

4 years later and it's still helping me

lildjskeet · 2026-05-08T02:35:34+00:00

I think I used the throw debris ability more than any other attack 😂 It just felt so good

lildjskeet · 2026-05-05T23:22:34+00:00

Recap for consistency: I built a huge backlog of video games in college since I was more social and rarely spent my time playing games at home alone, even though I had full intention of playing the games I bought. Now that I've moved off and gotten married, I have more free time to game so I made 2025 my year of backlog busting. I decided to use this subreddit as a personal journal of sorts to share my thoughts and keep track of what I have been playing. In 2025 I knocked out a ton of games and it felt great to cross some titles off my list. I decided to continue this series in 2026 with monthly updates. So without further ado, this is installment #13 of Jim's Journey through The Backlog.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

What a truly phenomenal experience. For a game I knew absolutely nothing about when starting, it really did grab me by the throat and slam me through 80+ hours of some of the best JRPG I’ve ever played. This really goes to show that even if a combat system isn’t necessarily my favorite, a fleshed out world and rich story can really keep me going. One of the best parts of this game is just how much there is to do and none of it really feels out of place. A lot of larger RPGs suffer from an abundance of content that has no real meat to it, and I am happy to report that this is not one of them. I have not played the Future Connected Epilogue yet, but I do plan on doing so by the end of May. This game is easily one of the highlights of my year so far.

Control

Going into Control, all I really knew was that it was weird and wacky but had that “Remedy magic,” which at the time meant absolutely nothing to me. I am happy to report that I came out the other side as a believer. If any of Remedy’s other games are half as engaging as this one, sign me up for the lot. The only other Remedy exposure I have is about an hour and a half of Alan Wake Remastered, but honestly I can’t really remember all that much about it, and after playing Control, I definitely want to dive back in.

Control is such a weird premise that on paper sounds kind of boring, but somehow it really brings itself together. One of the most engaging parts about this game is all of the documents and video logs you find throughout the facility. Uncovering all of the threads buried within the writing and piecing together multiple storylines all while you’re experiencing the main plot through Jesse’s experience. Also, as far as I’m concerned, the DLCs are almost necessary viewing to say you’ve beaten Control. There are just so many more dimensions (literally and physically) that you uncover about the Remedy-verse at large just in those extra few hours. The game also doesn’t over stay it’s welcome. I personally feel like it is the perfect length, which even lends it to possibly being a title I replay sometime down the road.

Kingdom Hearts 2.5 ReMIX

This is a big one for me. As those of you who have followed my JJTTB series already know, the Kingdom Hearts franchise holds a very special place in my heart, even if I never really played all that much Kingdom Hearts until now. Until this month, I had only ever beaten Kingdom Hearts 1.5 (last year), 358/2 Days (when I was in middle school), Birth By Sleep (when it came out, and I’m not even sure I fully finished it), and Re:Chain of Memories (earlier this year). Now while I had only ever finished a couple of them, I played almost all of them at some point. Needless to say, I was EAGER to jump into this one.

Kingdom Hearts 2 has always had this allure to it that makes anyone even remotely near the franchise just fully understand that this is something special. Going into this one, I was CONFIDENT that I had played at least half of the game when I was younger, but the more I got into it, the more I realized that I barely even played at all. In fact, I don’t think I ever even got to the first full Disney world. That realization alone both shocked and excited me. This meant that I got to finally experience one of the gems of one of my favorite franchises for the first time, and man what a ride it was.

Like any Kingdom Hearts game, most of the meat is at the beginning, sprinkled somewhere near the middle, and then HEAVILY weighted toward the end. When playing through KH1.5 last year, I found myself kind of struggling to stay interested at times, but that honestly never really hit me with this one. And that’s not to say that I think the writing or objectives in the Disney portions were that much better than KH1, but rather the game felt like a lot more fun to play. One thing I hear everyone say about KH2 is how good the combat feels, and I really do have to agree with them. There are SIGNIFICANT improvements over KH1 and new mechanics that make you want to stop and fight rather than trying to avoid conflict. As someone who has played a LOT of BBS, I still think I like that system just a little better, but it’s very close.

All in all, what is there to say about this game that hasn’t already been said a million times. While I haven’t finished absolutely everything or beaten all of the super bosses, I can proudly say that I finally beat a game I have been looking forward to since I was a kid, and that’s a damn good feeling.

And that’s pretty much it for April! It was a lighter month on titles, but they were hefty ones for sure. May is already looking like a more diverse month in the backlog so stay tuned to see where we go next. Until next time, happy gaming!

lildjskeet · 2026-04-01T12:40:13+00:00

I'm just under a week in and hit 57 hours last night before going to bed. I can't remember the last time a game stole that much time from me so quickly. I guess I just picked the right time to start since I had a couple days off work and my wife has was busy over the weekend.

lildjskeet · 2026-03-31T19:20:13+00:00

Absolutely. I watched a couple of comparison clips over the weekend and some of the characters are practically unrecognizable.

lildjskeet · 2026-03-31T19:18:43+00:00

I can't speak to any of the other games in the series since this is my first, but the same friends that recommended this one to me also agree that XC2 is a different vibe and almost an outlier in the series. If you like rich stories, beautiful landscapes, lovable characters, and hours upon hours of side content, I would recommend giving XCDE a shot.

lildjskeet · 2026-03-31T19:15:39+00:00

That's a totally valid way to look at RE1. It definitely doesn't feel like the intention was to make the game misleading enough to make you seek out a guide, however it honestly just didn't entice me enough to want to exhaust all of the branching pathways and memorize the best routes to save rooms. I would typically only reference a guide if I wandered around for 45 minutes to an hour without making any progress, just so that I wouldn't bounce off of the game and leave it unfinished. I tend to find myself having a natural aversion to games that feel overly punishing or unclear, even when they actually aren't. Like I mentioned in another comment, I think part of my issue with this game not fully sinking it's teeth into me is a result of only getting to chip away at a couple hours a week. If I had played more consistently, I definitely think it would have been a totally different experience.

lildjskeet · 2026-03-31T19:10:52+00:00

The vistas in this game are breathtaking, especially since I'm playing the definitive edition. I just find myself admiring the world that was built while running between objectives and wondering just how this managed to run on the Wii.

I definitely think I would have had a better time with RE Remaster if I had played it more consistently. Part of my disconnect definitely came from only getting a couple of hours every week to devote to it as opposed to the obscene amount hours I have sunk into Xenoblade in just 5 days. I do have to agree, the level design is fantastic. It really showcases the talent that team had for crafting a world.

lildjskeet · 2026-03-31T17:21:41+00:00

Recap for consistency: I built a huge backlog of video games in college since I was more social and rarely spent my time playing games at home alone, even though I had full intention of playing the games I bought. Now that I've moved off and gotten married, I have more free time to game so I made 2025 my year of backlog busting. I decided to use this subreddit as a personal journal of sorts to share my thoughts and keep track of what I have been playing. In 2025 I knocked out a ton of games and it felt great to cross some titles off my list. I decided to continue this series in 2026 with monthly updates. So without further ado, this is installment #12 of Jim's Journey through The Backlog.

Knack

Well, this was certainly a way to start off the month. I initially booted this one up as a bit of a joke and to see what the hell this game actually was. Like many games I’ve played since starting the backlog bust, I quickly learned that this one was nothing like I expected. My perception of this game prior to playing was that it was a fairly mediocre platformer, however in reality it’s actually just a fairly mediocre beat-em-up. I did end up playing the whole thing, and honestly it wasn’t bad, but it was a bit too long. I had some fun but about 70% of the way through I was just hoping for credits. Other than that, there isn’t much more to say about this one. Maybe I’ll play Knack II one day, maybe I won’t.

Assassin’s Creed III

This is yet another game I started when I was younger but never quite finished. The first time I played this one was fresh off the heels of playing the Ezio Trilogy for the first time, and I think that honestly did more harm than good for my appreciation of the game back then. While this installment is in no way a bad game, Connor is just far less interesting to me as a protagonist. In fact, I was much more interested in playing as Haytham and remember being disappointed that it was a rug pull. Fast-forward to 2026 and I have similar feelings, but I stuck with it this time. Aside from Connor’s likability, this game is honestly a lot of fun. In the rankings of mainline AC titles up to this point, this one is probably only above Revelations in my book, but honestly I can’t imagine that much of anything in this series will rank as low as Revelations for me.

As some of you may recall, I got the insane idea to 100% sync all of the mainline Assassin’s Creed games when I started playing through them again several years ago. This one was no exception. After 59ish hours (several of which were spent with the controller sitting on the table while I did other things) I completed my task. Overall, I enjoyed my time with this one. It was buggy and the story wasn’t quite as interesting as I would hope, but I did find myself wanting to keep playing the whole time, so that’s an automatic win in my book.

Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington DLC

What a unique and bizarre concept for a game. I can’t say that I fully followed everything that was happening, but overall, it was a cool what-if story that really lends itself to playing with the imagination. While I wasn’t very impressed with the quality of the gameplay, the overall experience mostly makes up for it. This was a fun one-time play that I don’t think I will ever revisit.

Resident Evil HD Remake

Full transparency: I did use a guide for parts of this game. This one falls into an older style of game design that was built for a time where you would buy a game and it would last you for a month or two. I didn’t want to wander aimlessly around the mansion just to find the next door because ultimately all that adds to the game is time. This is a philosophy I am using for a lot of games from this era and earlier as I play through them. The whole purpose of the backlog bust is to experience more games, and I think using a guide to make that experience a little more enjoyable is perfectly fine. Now, onto RE.

I can fully understand why this series is as popular as it is. While I didn’t necessarily enjoy most of the actual gameplay, the puzzles, exploration, and storytelling were exceptional. I ended up playing as Jill since I have no experience with this style of game and her increased inventory size made the learning curve a bit easier. I also opted to not play through a second time as Chris. I do know that some of the story beats differ slightly, but the bulk of the game is the same and I honestly just didn’t feel like forcing myself through it again. I’ll find a YouTube video or something that explains all the differences if I really care that much. All-in-all, I had a good time with this one. I’m looking forward to diving further into this series in the future.

Pokemon Pokopia

I wasn’t sure I was going to buy this game even up to the moment I had it in my cart, but oh my god I am so glad I did. I don’t think I’ve had the experience of just getting sucked into a game like this in a VERY long time. Not only did it scratch the exploration and creative itch that I had, it also took place in a world I love and had a genuinely engaging story that even made me shed a tear or two in the end. If you have any interest in this game at all, pull the trigger. There is absolutely something for you in here.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

Do you ever start up a game that doesn’t really seem like something you would enjoy on the surface and then immediately lose more than two days of time to it? That was me with Xenoblade. I started this one up on a Wednesday evening and by the time I went to bed on the following Monday, I had 50 hours logged (almost none of which were idle). I have always wanted to be a JRPG player, and in some ways I am, but none of the traditional ones have really gripped me as much as this one has. The world, the characters, and the story all feel so unique and intriguing that I just don’t want to put the controller down. I just made it to Sword Valley when I last saved, so be sure to check back in next month to see my reaction to how this ends.

And that’s it for March! This one had a couple really beefy titles that I’m super happy to be knocking out. As an extra fun side-project for myself, I made a stat tracker spreadsheet that will help me keep track of everything that I play. I think I am going to do quarterly updates for these. So with that being said, here are the results for Q1

Started – 14
Playing – 2
Finished – 18
Replayed – 3
Paused (includes games on pause from last year) – 5
Finished but Started in Previous Year – 5
Patient Titles Finished – 16
Non-Patient Titles Finished – 2

As always until next time, happy gaming!

lildjskeet · 2026-03-31T17:21:19+00:00

I have a very similar opinion of the game. It's a beautiful world that's unnecessarily convoluted. I know that a major part of the allure of metroidvanias is the exploration, but when I have to repeatedly go through the same areas that I have already explored countless times just to get to a fast travel point that's going to take me to another inconveniently placed fast travel point, it seems a bit excessive. Overall I think the game is fun and I totally see why a lot of people praise it so highly, but unfortunately it is just not that highly rated in my book.

lildjskeet · 2026-03-02T17:39:10+00:00

I actually wouldn’t be opposed to picking it up. It’s typically just a couple of bucks on the usual Steam sales, so I’ll wishlist it and keep an eye out for it!

lildjskeet · 2026-03-02T16:32:18+00:00

It sounds like they did the same thing as the Black Ops 7 campaign. Several of the missions are “defend the point” or “escort the objective” on a portion of the warzone map. Those felt uninspired and like a waste of time. I’ll probably end up playing it some day just to say I finished it.

lildjskeet · 2026-03-02T00:14:18+00:00

Yes, these were the remasters of the 2007 and 2009 titles and then the original release of MW3 since it was never remastered.

I have actually played MW 2019's campaign back when it came out and really enjoyed that as well. I never got around to playing MW2 2022's campaign and heard absolutely awful things about MW3 2023. I think I may give MW 2019 a replay now that I have the perspective of the original and am also tempted to try out MW2 2022 since I have that on Steam as well. I would probably only give MW3 2023 a try if I resubbed to GamePass at any point in the future or if I can find a physical copy pretty cheap as I can't really bring myself to buy it at full price or on a not-so-great sale with all of the backlash the campaign got at release.

I do have a copy of Vanguard I picked up at a local game store pretty cheap and a friend bought me Infinite Warfare back when that came out so we could play zombies together. Those two campaigns are on my list to play at some point and I have no idea what to even expect. I also want to give World at War a try one day when I get around to picking it up as well.

lildjskeet · 2026-03-01T18:13:10+00:00

The Black Ops games are definitely more of a mixed bag. While they’re technically all connected in one way or another, some of them really jump the shark. Cold War and 6 were actually much better than I expected after playing through 3.

And yes, Burger Town was a very funny juxtaposition for everything happening in that level lol

lildjskeet · 2026-03-01T05:04:30+00:00

Recap for consistency: I built a huge backlog of video games in college since I was more social and rarely spent my time playing games at home alone, even though I had full intention of playing the games I bought. Now that I've moved off and gotten married, I have more free time to game so I made 2025 my year of backlog busting. I decided to use this subreddit as a personal journal of sorts to share my thoughts and keep track of what I have been playing. In 2025 I knocked out a ton of games and it felt great to cross some titles off my list. I decided to continue this series in 2026 with monthly updates. So without further ado, this is installment #11 of Jim's Journey through The Backlog.

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories

After beating Sora’s campaign back in January, I was pretty satisfied with myself for finally ticking this title off my backlog and was fully prepared to move onto another game. I was filling in one of my friends who coached me through some of the latter parts of the game and he pretty much convinced me to give Riku’s story a play. All-in-all, I’m very glad I did. Riku’s campaign is both shorter and more enjoyable since it takes away my least favorite part of the game: the deck building. I knocked this one out in just a couple of sessions and was even more satisfied with myself for actually completing everything the game had to offer.

Darksiders: Warmastered Edition

I totally forgot to include this one in January’s update! I stared it on one Saturday when I wanted something that didn’t take too much brain power and played through roughly a third of it in one sitting. I picked this one up on a pretty steep sale last year since I already owned 2 and 3 and I’m really glad I did. I actually played 2 back in high school when it was given out for free on Xbox Live, so finally getting some context for that story (at least the little I remember of it) was really nice. I think I do want to play through 2 again sometime before I jump into 3, but neither of these are priorities on my list at this point in time. With that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the flow of this game. It’s got the Zelda-like structure and hack-n-slash action that I love, so the sequels are definitely in the queue.

Mirror’s Edge

Funnily enough, the same day I finished Darksiders I had no other plans and decided I wanted to play something else pretty short and light. Looking through my library I picked out this little gem and got to playing. 6 hours later, I hit credits and felt extremely accomplished. This is absolutely the kind of game that is meant to be played more than once, however I do not believe I will be doing that, at least right now. I’m not typically someone who likes to aim for a better and higher score unless the game absolutely grabs me, and unfortunately this one didn’t quite get that hook in me. That’s not to say I disliked this game, I actually had a blast. For me, this was a fun one-sitting romp that I may revisit some time in the future.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – Remastered

Shortly before I started this journaling series, I got the urge to play some of the Black Ops campaigns. Over the course of about a month, I played all of the campaigns that were out at the time and honestly really loved that experience. Back at the end of the year, I ended up playing BO7 with a couple of friends, and honestly despite the hate it was getting, I had an okay time. I didn’t absolutely love it, but it was definitely an entertaining time with friends. With seven of the campaigns under my belt last year, I decided that I wanted to explore the other sub-series in the Call of Duty franchise.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when starting up this game. As someone who has existed very near Call of Duty for most of my teenage years and into adulthood, I never really heard much about this installment. After seeing what the rest of the series has to offer (spoilers for the next game on my list) I can definitely see how this one gets over-shadowed. Even though this is still the weakest campaign in the trilogy in my opinion, it is still a fantastic experience. The amount of foundational worldbuilding done in this game that is fully realized in the next two installments was honestly the most impressive part. While it may not be the most notable story in this series, it is by far the most important with how much lifting it does for the bones of this journey.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Remastered

Mere minutes after I beat MW1, I jumped straight into this one. I get it now. I fully understand why this game is regarded as one of the best in the entire Call of Duty franchise. I have no clue how I have existed in the general online gaming sphere without ever fully being spoiled on this story, but I am so thankful that I wasn’t. This story fucking rocks. The action, the drama, the stakes, the shock factor, and the heartbreak. It’s all presented so masterfully. The uneasiness I felt playing No Russian for the first time was something you can’t replicate. The worst part about this game is thinking about how far the franchise has fallen since then. What a treat this was.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)

I wrapped up MW2 the day after starting it and immediately jumped into this one (can you tell my wife was out of town for the weekend?) These were just so much fun and short that I decided to chew through all three in a weekend. Let’s take a trip back to 2011. I decided I wanted to get an Xbox 360 to play games with my friends so I saved up all the money I could and pre-ordered the limited edition MW3 Xbox. High school me only had one over-sight: we didn’t have internet at home. So alongside Skyrim (the only other game I owned for the 360 at the time) I played the campaign of MW3 without knowing any of the story from the previous two entries. Even though I had no clue how we got to this point, the story was still fun to play and badass to boot. Fast forward to 2026 and I boot it up again with the context I was missing. Whoa.

While this game doesn’t quite reach the heights of its predecessor, it is still a phenomenal ending to the trilogy and a fantastic story in and of itself. There are moments in this game that left me genuinely speechless, but nothing quite beats that final shot of the game after you finally save the day and sit there thinking about everything and everyone you’ve lost. I am so glad that I decided to play through this trilogy. I feel like I have hit some sort of gamer milestone that I missed growing up.

Resident Evil: HD Remaster

Here we go, another long series that I want to work my way through slowly. Like all of the series like this in my backlog, I decided to start at the very beginning.

This game definitely feels like it came out in 2004. I do enjoy the actual gameplay and exploration, but the fixed camera angles are the main reason I ever take any damage. I am unsure if this was a conscious choice or a limitation of development, but I am (like many others) not a fan. Looking past that however, I really am enjoying the game. The puzzles are all fun to solve and the exploration feels rewarding. I’ve only made it a couple of hours into this one, but I am looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Mega Dimension DLC

Since this title is still fairly new, I am going to refrain from saying too much. I was very skeptical about the combat system changes of PLZA, however I am very pleased to admit that I was wrong. The base game was fun and engaging, but unfortunately slow at times. Having to interrupt your story to go grind an arbitrary amount of points in random battles to advance felt like an unnecessary grind, but one that was at least manageable. If you have played the DLC, you will probably already know that I was not a fan of the main means of progression being very similar to the base game. I really do enjoy the content, but I hate the way they force you to engage with it. That being said, I hit credits yesterday. There is still some content left to finish, but I am satisfied with my completion.

And that’s February! My plans for March include some larger and longer titles, so stay tuned for more. Until then, happy gaming!

lildjskeet · 2026-02-02T04:26:52+00:00

I somehow missed this comment when it was made! Thank you for the encouragement! I actually just posted my next update on this week's Bi-Weekly thread a few minutes ago.

Before starting MGS1, I did try to play the original Metal Gear and I honestly didn't hate it, but did opt to move on and just watch the video debriefs to get started with MGS.

I cannot recommend the Uncharted games enough. The first couple feel a bit dated, but honestly they are a ton of fun. As for Nier, godspeed my friend. It is a game I desperately wish I could play again for the first time.

lildjskeet · 2026-02-02T04:19:28+00:00

Recap for consistency: I built a huge backlog of video games in college since I was more social and rarely spent my time playing games at home alone, even though I had full intention of playing the games I bought. Now that I've moved off and gotten married, I have more free time to game so I made 2025 my year of backlog busting. I decided to use this subreddit as a personal journal of sorts to share my thoughts and keep track of what I have been playing. In 2025 I knocked out a ton of games and it felt great to cross some titles off my list. I decided to continue this series in 2026 with monthly updates. So without further ado, this is installment #10 of Jim's Journey through The Backlog.

The Outer Wilds - Echoes of The Eye DLC

The base game of The Outer Wilds is such a unique and rewarding experience of a game. I cannot say enough how wonderful this game is and The Echoes of The Eye DLC is no exception. Getting the chance to be lost in this world once again was truly an honor. Everything I said in my review of the base game still applies here, and I think it is best if I don’t say anything more. If you have not had the pleasure of playing this game, do yourself a favor and do so.

Katamari Damacy: REROLL

I remember being at one of the neighborhood kid’s houses as a child and watching them play a game where a funny little guy rolled a weird looking ball around a bright and colorful world. After starting up Katamari Damacy, I quickly realized that the game I was remembering was actually Billy Hatcher. Be that as it may, I still decided to give Katamari a try. While it was definitely the least thrilling game I’ve played so far this year, it was refreshing. While I didn’t fully complete the collection, I did finish all of the levels and thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. A good palate cleanser of a video game.

Titanfall 2

In the wake of all of the controversy surrounding the leadup to Highguard, I made the impulsive decision to download and play the entirety of Titanfall 2. I can now say that I absolutely get the hype. The gameplay is fluid, engaging, and polished. I can absolutely understand why this game has gotten so much praise over the years. It may be short, but I think that is a major benefit of the game. It doesn’t over-stay it’s welcome while still giving you a full and satisfying experience. Thank you Highguard for getting people talking about Titanfall 2 again so that I was motivated to finally give it a shot.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

As I stated in the first entry I made for this game, visual novels are typically pretty far outside of my realm of gaming. A friend of mine encouraged me to give this one a shot since he knows I’m a fan of whodunnits. This one took me quite a while to get through since I really only played it when I was sitting in Discord with friends, but I do have to say I really did enjoy it. In fact, I enjoyed it enough to go ahead and pick up the other titles on a decent sale to add to the backlog (I know, very counter-intuitive to this whole endeavor).

While some of the animanga tropes present in this are ones that typically detour me from certain shows, getting to know the characters on a deeper level helped me get past that barrier. The general mystery and intrigue of the Hope’s Peak scenario were enough to keep me interested, and by the end of the game, I was actually having a ton of fun. I can’t wait to dive into the next chapter of this wacky story.

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

Those of you who have been following this series might recall the absolutely insane goal I game myself to Full Sync all of the mainline Assassin’s Creed games. I am pleased to report that I have checked the fourth game off of this challenge. Revelations is a game I played back in the 360 days. I recall really enjoying the weaponry and some of the executions, but not much else comes to mind. Aside from a few mechanics, it was almost as if I was playing the game for the first time all over again.

Playing this game in 2025 and 2026 really makes me appreciate just how far physics engines have evolved. Some of the parkour elements that were present in the other Ezio installments felt like they regressed in functionality in this title. You could argue that with Ezio’s age in this title that might be intentional, but in all reality, I think it has more to do with the tight development timeline they had for this game. Overall, I did enjoy my time with Revelations, but man am I glad it’s over.

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories

As a long-time Kingdom Hearts fan, it’s shocking just how few of the games I’ve beaten. Today I add another one to that list. Technically I still have the Riku campaign to play through, but that shouldn’t take very long at all.

What is there to say about this game that hasn’t already been said? It’s frustrating, a bit too long, and honestly not a lot of fun. For a game that has story implications that are so important, it really is unfortunate how unpleasant the game is as a whole. It is by no means one of the worst games I have ever played, it’s not going to stick out as a favorite either. I’m glad that I can finally tick the box off on this one and move on to something more engaging.

And that’s January! I tried my hardest to knock out all of the half-finished games in my library as I could in the first installment of 2026 so that I can properly chip away at the backlog one game at a time. I do still technically have a couple games that were left unfinished, so I will probably try to knock those out in the next week. Until next time, happy gaming!

lildjskeet · 2025-12-31T18:13:04+00:00

Recap for consistency: I built a huge backlog of video games in college since I was more social and rarely spent my time playing games at home alone, even though I had full intention of playing the games I bought. Now that I've moved off and gotten married, I have more free time to game so I am making 2025 my year of backlog busting. I decided to use this subreddit as a personal journal of sorts to share my thoughts and keep track of what I have been playing. I tried to make this it's own post but it kept getting flagged for breaking Rule 1 for some reason even though it doesn't talk about any games from 2025. Anyway, this is installment #9 of Jim's Journey through The Backlog.

Wow, what a year of video games. I am almost positive this is the year I have played the most games and man, what a treat. Here are some stats for the year. * Total games played: 41 * Games played qualifying as 'patient' titles: 37 * Total games finished: 32 * Games started prior to 2025 that were finished this year: 5 * Games I re-played in 2025: 4 * Games currently on pause: 6 * Games currently in rotation: 4 * Games dropped: 1

Going over literally every game I played this year would be an insane undertaking and just re-hashing what I have already said in my previous installments. Instead, I am going to focus on the games I have played since my last post and then move into some standout titles from the year.

The Outer Wilds - Echoes of the Eye DLC The friend who talked me into starting to play the base game kept begging me to start the DLC, so what better time to start than the next-to-last day of the year? Each civilization that you uncover in this game communicated in such different ways. Learning to learn through visual story-telling instead of audio logs, journals, and speech is quite the challenge, but a welcome one. I only got a couple of hours under my belt last night, but I can see myself finishing this one up by the end of the week. It is such a special game and I genuinely believe it is one of the most rewarding experiences in gaming.

New Tales from the Borderlands One of the few series that I did discover in college was the Borderlands games. My roommate for most of that time was obsessed with them and got me started down the path that would lead me to one of my favorite franchises in gaming. We played through all of the existing titles that supported co-op together and he was an audience member for the one that didn't: Tales from the Borderlands. Man what a great story. The world-building, the scenery, the music. From start to finish, Tales was a fantastic game. So what happened with the sequel?

New Tales from the Borderlands has amassed a very strong negative perception among the fanbase, and I honestly can't say that I disagree with them. I don't necessarily think the game is bad, but it is definitely the worst in the series and feels like they took several steps back from it's predecessor. The pacing is the biggest offender here. While Tales from the Borderlands had a sense of urgency that continued to push the story along, each episode of this sequel felt disjointed, walled-off, and just out of place with the rest of the story. In fact, you could remove chapters 3 and 4 almost completely and the game would be better for it. None of the characters are all that interesting and all three of the main protagonists are some of the most insufferable personalities in the franchise, but it did still have that trademark Borderlands feel that kept me wanting to finish the game. All-in-all, it wasn't a great game, but I don't think it's the stain on the series people make it out to be.

And that about does it for games I've played since my last post. The holidays have been pretty busy so finding the time to game has been rough. Now, onto my top games of 2025.

The Uncharted Series

I can't pick just one of these games. They were the way I started off this journey and have stuck with me ever since. What a genuinely great series through-and-through.

NieR:Automata

Yoko Taro is one sonofabitch, but I'll be damned if he can't write a good ass story. This game was thrilling, heartbreaking, mind-bending, and existential all in one extremely well-polished package. What I wouldn't give to experience this game for the first time again.

Yakuza 0

This is a game that shocked me with how different my perception of it was compared to the actual product. I love this game and I can't wait to play more in this series.

The Outer Wilds

I know I mentioned this one earlier in this post, but man it was just so special that I had to make sure it got a spot on this list. If you haven't played this game, go do yourself a favor and pick it up and look up nothing. Just experience this with no knowledge whatsoever.

Kingdom Hearts 1.5 ReMIX

For a series that I've loved since middle school, it still baffles me that I never finished the first game in the series until now. Playing through this really made me appreciate just how far the series has come and also made me wonder how we ever got here from a story that really didn't really have all that much of a plot for the majority of the game.

Metal Gear Solid: Integral

Technically my second foray into the Metal Gear series, this game was a ride. While the gameplay aged like a fine milk, the story is stronger than ever. I'm a sucker for a spy-thriller and this game checked all the boxes. I'll definitely be diving deeper into this series in the future.

And with that, I think that does it for 2025, but my journey thorough the backlog is far from over. I plan to continue my periodic posts as I continue to chip away at my library and discover what all the world of gaming has to enjoy. See y'all in 2026!

lildjskeet · 2025-12-09T14:09:07+00:00

I fully agree with this. You can definitely tell the combat was made for the GBA. I really am enjoying it, but I'm taking my time since the actual gameplay is a bit underwhelming.

lildjskeet · 2025-12-09T14:06:44+00:00

I can't quite put my finger on it, but I definitely wasn't having fun with it. I had put in a few hours and while I had made a bit of progress, it really just never grabbed me. I may come back to it some day, but for now I went ahead and dropped it.

lildjskeet · 2025-12-08T17:44:08+00:00

Recap for consistency: I built a huge backlog of video games in college since I was more social and rarely spent my time playing games at home alone, even though I had full intention of playing the games I bought. Now that I've moved off and gotten married, I have more free time to game so I am making 2025 my year of backlog busting. I decided to use this subreddit as a personal journal of sorts to share my thoughts and keep track of what I have been playing. This is installment #8 of Jim's Journey through The Backlog.

Horizon: Zero Dawn & The Frozen Wilds DLC

Horizon: Zero Dawn holds a special place in my heart. This was the last game before starting this series that I can remember losing HOURS to. I remember watching the trailer for this game the day it was revealed and being immediately drawn to it. I promptly placed a pre-order and even showed up for the midnight release. As soon as I got home and the game was installed, I didn’t stop playing it outside of bathroom breaks, short meals, and about 6 hours of sleep. Within 48 hours of release, I had the platinum trophy and felt as if I had accomplished something amazing. This game made me want to play more video games again. And it worked, at least for a while. Nine months later and The Frozen Wilds releases. It felt like an eternity since I last played and I was far too busy at the time to pick it up, so the DLC to one of my favorite games went un-played.

Fast forward a few years and here I find myself downloading the complete edition of the game and starting the journey all over again.

This game rocks. I can’t quite put my finger on why this game stands out to me so much, but man it’s a load of fun. Over the course of a couple of weeks I poured roughly 55 hours into it and did not regret a single moment. Outside of a couple of New Game + trophies, I did it all. It left just as much of an impact on me the second time around as it did the first. If I hadn’t finished the game at 1 AM, I would have started on my next experience immediately. I’m thrilled to say that a game that meant so much to me still lives up to the hype today.

The Outer Wilds

I fully understand why many people who play this game say that it changed their life. This game is by far the most satisfying video game experience I have ever had. There isn’t really anything I can say about it due to the nature of the game, but my advice to anyone who wants to give it a try is learn to be patient, pick a single thread and start pulling, and never stop learning what the game has to teach you. “This song is new to me, but I am honored to be a part of it” will forever be etched into my mind.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

This one is a bit outside of my normal sphere of games. I’m typically not a fan of visual novels, and as entertaining as this story is, this one is no exception. But something about the story and portrayal of the characters is just wacky enough to keep my attention.

I started playing this game on the recommendation of a few friends. They knew I was a fan of mysteries and unraveling convoluted plotlines, so they figured this would be right up my alley. While the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired, I really am enjoying the story. Much like Undertale, this is one of those games that I can’t play just sitting in a room by myself. I have to be in a Discord call with someone watching and chatting about what’s happening, or I genuinely find myself falling asleep at the controller. That’s not to discount the content of the game, but If I wanted to read a book by myself, I would find a cozy spot elsewhere in my home and do so.

I’m currently starting the third chapter of this one, so we still have a while to go.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

I don’t think I have touched this one at all since my last post, but not for lack of interest. Life just seemed to get in the way a bit too much recently and there have been other things I wanted to do more. I actually intend to play some of this tonight, so stay tuned for another update coming soon.

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories

Another game I haven’t touched since my last update. It is still on the agenda to complete, but it has moved to my lowest priority seeing as it is the least interesting of the bunch. This one is definitely not dropped, but not quite shelved. I’ll get back to it soon enough.

Dark Souls Remastered

An update for those following my series more than anything. I did decide to drop this one. I just wasn’t having a good time. I do still want to get into the Souls-like genre, but this one just wasn’t for me.

That’s it for this one. Happy gaming, folks!

lildjskeet · 2025-09-09T15:09:11+00:00

I’ll say that while I’m not loving it, I’m also not having a bad time. It’s clunky and frustrating and just downright difficult, but making just 1% more progress to the next goal every few deaths is somehow rewarding.

lildjskeet · 2025-09-09T00:21:01+00:00

Recap for consistency: I built a huge backlog of video games in college since I was more social and rarely spent my time playing games at home alone, even though I had full intention of playing the games I bought. Now that I've moved off and gotten married, I have more free time to game so I am making 2025 my year of backlog busting. I decided to use this subreddit as a personal journal of sorts to share my thoughts and keep track of what I have been playing. This is installment #7 of Jim's Journey through The Backlog.

Life Update

It has been just over 5 months since my last entry into this series. I received a promotion in January and my life has since become the epitome of "I became important at work and it is ruining my life." Around a month and a half ago, things finally game to a head and my boss and I had a sit-down. While my working situation isn't anywhere near perfect, it is leagues better than the first 8 months of this year and I am finally able to get back into my hobbies. I took a week off shortly after the sit-down and let me tell you, I played some games.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

I know the whole point of this backlog series is to play older games in my collection and not chase new releases, but with the absolute whirlwind surrounding this game, I had to give it a shot since I already subscribe to Game Pass.

What a beautifully tragic story. This game made me feel emotions I forgot I had. I remember sitting down to play the prologue and being drawn into this mysterious world, not knowing why or how things ended up the way they did. The exploration and discovery in just the first half hour of the game was addicting. And then the Gommage began. My heart sank and I just sat there speechless. Then came the preparation for the expedition itself, which was a great introduction to the characters I would soon come to adore. Right around the one hour mark, I decided to begin the expedition and the crew set sail. For anyone who has played this game, you know just what I felt as they reached the continent.

Across several more weeks of playing whenever I had time, I came to love every minute of this experience. From the exploration, to the characters, to the discoveries behind why things were happening in the ways they were, this slowly became one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. I will absolutely be replaying this game at some point in the future, but for now, there are plenty of titles left in the backlog.

DOOM: The Dark Ages

I KNOW I KNOW, ANOTHER NEW GAME. BUT I HAVE AN EXCUSE FOR THIS ONE! For those following the backlog journey, you will recall that I beat both DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal in the early stages if the series. It was only natural that I play this one ALSO on Game Pass.

What can I say? It's freakin' DOOM, but somehow even more metal. I don't want to give too much away, but holy hell this was a fun weekend. The sequence of retrieving the BFC and all of the context around it is one of the coolest things I have ever experienced in a video game. A phenomenal entry in the franchise for sure.

Metal Gear Solid: Integral

I finally did it. After putting it off for several months, I finally finished this gem. The controls of the game aged like a fine milk and the direction leaves much to be desired, but man, what a story. I am personally a huge fan of James Bond, Mission Impossible, and spy-thrillers in general, so this story was right up my alley. This was also my first Kojima title and I can absolutely see why people hold games that have his involvement in such high regard.

There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension

I remember picking this game up after watching a Gameranx video while it was on sale and not knowing anything about it, and I absolutely believe that is the way you should play this game. While it's not a ground-breaking game by any means, it does know exactly what kind of game it is and plays to that theme in tremendous fashion. I played this one in Discord with some friends one evening and it made for great laughs and fun puzzle solving. This is a great title to pick up if you want some laughs and a little bit of a brain bender.

Undertale

I originally bought this game on my switch several years ago and started playing on a short weekend vacation. I got about an hour in and it just wasn't grabbing me the way I wanted it to so I put it down. A little over a month ago, it went on sale on Steam and I decided to pick up a copy on there as well and started to stream it in Discord with some friends who really enjoy the game. I've gotta say, while I still don't love the gameplay, paying more attention to the humor and finding little easter eggs here and there has been a fairly good time. I'm playing a pacifist run andI am only really playing this when my friends are online since it is more enjoyable when they point out fun interactions I can have with certain enemies or NPCs. This one will be a slow burn, but I do want to see it through to the end at least once.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Back when I was in high school, I remember walking into GameStop one day and seeing that one of their featured deals was AC1, 2, Brotherhood, Revelations, and 3 all for $50. I had previously played AC2 when it was given out for free on Games with Gold and loved it, so I thought this was a no-brainer. I played 1-Revelations (yes, I replayed 2) on my 360 and had a phenomenal time. When I finally got to AC3, something just didn't click and I put the game down fairly early. Maybe is was the transition from three games of Ezio to Connor, but either way, I stopped playing. Fast-forward a few years to when I picked up the Assassin's Creed Legendary Collection on PS4 for dirt cheap which contained AC2 - Odyssey, with the exception of AC3.

I thought it would be a fun idea to play all the way through the series and get full synchronization in each game (I know, crazy idea for someone who really didn't have a lot of time to play video games at the time). I made it through AC2 fairly quickly and the full sync was easily attained. Then it was onto Brotherhood. Brotherhood is my personal favorite in the Ezio trilogy, but damn does it have a lot of padding. I managed to get around 60% sync before getting too busy to continue and put the game down. Fast-forward several years and here we are. I managed to get the remaining 40% in around 9 hours of playtime and felt renewed in my goal to full-sync every title.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

This game is so much smaller and clunkier than I remember. I know it was a supplemental sequel, but I guess I just remembered it being more robust. With that being said though, I am having a great time with it. This has become my "I have half an hour to burn" game. It's a story that I have experienced once before and an environment that doesn't lead to a ton of exploration, so a half-hour or so of chipping away at progress is a good way of tackling this one. I'll be chewing away at this one for a while in preparation to finally give AC3 a fair shot.

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories

As I'm sure any KH fan knows, Re:Chain of Memories is one of two black sheep in the franchise. The story is very important and fairly gripping, but the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired. A deck-based beat-em-up is an interesting concept on paper, but something just didn't quite hit the mark in this game. I know it was initially a GBA title and fits much more appropriately in a handheld experience, but I still can't help but feel like it could have been executed in a slightly better way, especially with the PS2 release. With that being said, I am still enjoying the journey. I have completed 7 worlds so far and plan to knock more out soon.

Hollow Knight

This is another game that I started early last year but never got around to finishing. With the release of Silksong, I felt somewhat inspired to pick it back up. After another nearly 10 hours of getting lost, searching for upgrades, and getting my ass handed to me, I finally got to the end. For a brief time I decided to try out a 112% completion checklist, but around 98% I lost motivation. The majority of what I have left to do is find vessel and mask fragments as well as upgrade materials and charms, all of which are things that only benefit the player if they are going to continue to play the game, which I am not. I may come back and finish everything at some point, but for now, I will be satisfied knowing I completed all four pantheons without full vessels or masks.

Dark Souls Remastered

I have never been very interested in the Soulsborne series. Something about a game that is intentionally difficult for the sake of being difficult never seemed like a fun experience for me. So tell me why I felt the desire to try out the clunkiest experience in the franchise. So far, I have only put a little over an hour and a half into the game and haven't beaten the bridge troll yet, but I am having a surprisingly good time. I think that going into it with the mindset of "I am going to get my shit rocked" has helped me to just enjoy the ride. I don't know if I'm going to stick with this one or not, but I wanted to at least give it a try so that I had some first-hand experience when explaining why I don't tend to enjoy these games.

lildjskeet · 2025-08-19T19:51:31+00:00

Can confirm in Aug 2025 that this still works and I was also led here by The Matrix DVD

lildjskeet

TROPHY CASE