Preemptive Retaliation

Games

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – started 2024

Charming! Utterly charming. Charming and beautiful. Charming and interesting, and fun, and engaging, and horribly addictive. I cleared it on some sleepy January evenings, grinning the whole time. A great Indiana Jones adventure, and a great game. So charming. So very charming.

Wartales – started 2024

This game was soooo sloooow. I was looking online for tips, and everyone was giving advice on how to get weapons and advance, but it took us so incredibly long just to expose the first part of the map and we were getting no where. I think there could be potential here if I were playing by myself, but democratising the game turned into a chore.

Final Fantasy VII Remake – Intergrade

I think my mistake was trying to force myself to play this on the Steam Deck. It worked, it looked good, but there was a fuzzyness around the edges that made it hard to parse sometimes. Not ridiculously so, but it was like being in a room with a light that is barely flickering, just barely. Not enough that I can do anything about it, but enough that it gives me a headache. This was exacerbated when I played a bit of it on the Quest and it looked so sharp and crisp. Anyway, I enjoyed what I played, and I should go back to it as it seems like such a rich reinterpretation of a videogame series that is quite close to my young heart.

Half-Life: Alyx (vr)

I got a VR headset! And what better way to celebrate than playing this incredible game. I booted it up as a joke at first, a test to see how well I could stream from my PC, and it sucked me in. Of course it did! It’s been almost ten years and it’s still the best VR game out there. The crispest, the smoothest, the best designed. I lost myself in the world again. By the end of the game I was going through rote, learned motions of a game watched too many times, but I loved the experience. A perfectly designed game.

Beat Saber (vr)

This is slotted in early in the year, in January when I first got the headset, but I could slot it in for any month later. I have consistently come back to this game over and over, if not for ten minutes here or a few songs there. I picked up a fitness app which I won’t list here since I don’t consider it a game, but when I would exercise for the allotted time I would switch to Beat Saber for a cooldown, and in that time I would work up more of a sweat than I did before, and enjoy myself more too. This game is lightening in a bottle. It gets so much right.

Dungeons of Eternity (vr)

This was Mike and I’s multiplayer game for a good stretch. We made a weekly habit of logging on and tackling a few dungeons together. The game is ugly, and janky, and has a weird difficulty scale, but playing it with a friend was such fun. I had a moment in VR where I had to sit on the ground and lift my headset because I was crying with laughter.

Resident Evil 4 (vr)

This is the fourth time I’ve bought this game, the first being on the Gamecube when I was sixteen. Strangely enough I think this is only the second time I’ve completed it. It was great revisiting some old memories in a new way, re-experiencing the game in the way I remember it – being immersed in the action completely. I got a few frights too, which was NOT fun.

Batman Arkham Shadow (vr)

I took my time getting to this one, as I was worried that it would be a shallow cash in on the Arkham franchise. Instead it’s a fully realised Arkham game, with the ballet of dodging, blocking and punching, with an unexpected extra physical layer of having to actually lay into someone. Sure, on a controller you press a button a few times – in this game I had to speedbag a guy’s face to take him out and get a high score. Go violence!(?). I have my issues with the story and large swaths of the non-batman part of the game, but I like what it did and I liked how it made me move.

Pistol Whip (vr)

Another one that I’ve gone back to through the year. I’m surprised at how much this one made me sweat. The music is great, which helps as it’s tough as nails. I’ve probably failed more than I’ve succeeded in the game, but loved what I’ve played.

Blue Prince

So this game should’ve ticked all my boxes – an esoteric puzzler with a shifting story and a need for sharp attention to detail. I played it for a decent chunk too, solving loads of environmental puzzles and getting close, very close, to the final room. In the end I became too frustrated with it, as a good fifteen minute run ended up in an unavoidable dead end. It’s tough, because I could have gotten more out of it, but it just frustrated me too much.

The Last of Us Pt 2

So I wrote a bit about Part 1 of this game, and in the end I didn’t think I enjoyed it that much. This was very, very different in Part 2. I already had a chunk of the story spoiled for me, so that wasn’t a concern, but I didn’t know that I was in such a treat for the rest of the story. The way the themes interwove throughout every aspect of the narrative (the protag’s story being a tragic retelling of the bodies they find along the way) actually taught me a lot about storytelling, and how an idea can permeate every part of the media. I was conflicted in coming to the conclusion of this game, hoping that everything would all work out. And it did, and it didn’t, and the game is better for it. This is a stunning game visually, gameplay wise, and story wise.

Monster Hunter Wilds

Hello darkness my old friend. After getting lost in MH:Rise during covid I was excited to sink my teeth into this instalment. All in all though, I didn’t like it as much as Rise. I had technical issues which made it looks fuzzy and confusing at times, I really didn’t like the open world aspect, and the unique gameplay elements weren’t enough to keep me hooked. I mean, I still sunk eighty hours into it, but after I had defeated all of the available monsters I was done. If anything, it just made me want to try Rise again.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

This game has definitely made it into my top five, so I’ll save most of my thoughts there because I do have a lot of them. This game is a masterpiece in theme and story, and music and JUICE. It is such a juicy game, where if you do just what you’re supposed to it feels climactic and incredible. I loved the story, and did in fact get quite emotional and torn at the end by being swept away with the characters. It’s so good, that I wish I didn’t ruin it for myself. I played it for too long, trying to eke out the experience (like I do with Metroidvanias) and when I got frustrated with the combat I saw a few builds online, and after that the combat became a chore. It’s tough. An incredible game, an incredible experience, ruined slightly by how I chose to interact with it.

Banner Saga

This was a replay. I wanted something comforting and familiar, and I have fond memories of playing this at the same time Mike did, and comparing our stories. I tried it again and got a good chunk of the way through the game but found myself not as involved. I knew where it was going, I didn’t have to go there again.

Blasphemous

A Metroidvania? A Metroidvania with a gorgeous pixel art aesthetic? And overtly catholic themes? Sign me the fuck up. I had a great time with this game. It’s stunning to look at, with works of art in every character and scene. Unlike most Metroidvanias it didn’t outstay its welcome, though I hated that I was locked out of a good ending by a decision made so early on in the game. A great game. So so so good to look at.

Wanderstop

I’m a big fan of Davey Wreden, especially The Beginners Guide, but I wasn’t a big fan of this game. I don’t gel with cosy games in general (aside from maybe Animal Crossing which is its own kind of addiction) but thought this would be different as it was a twist on the genre. I loved the themes, I loved the story and what it was trying to say, but I struggled through the game itself.

Superliminal

I remember when this was a short concept video on Reddit a good number of years ago, and how interesting a premise it would be. The game itself is a twisty, mind bending puzzler that was super satisfying to figure out – but even then I wasn’t sure if I really understood how it all worked.

Duck Detective – The secret of the salami

An idle detective game that I played on my phone on the toilet. It’s at this point, where the videogame list is likely going to be twice as long as the book list, where I should probably curate what I’ve played and just show off the highlights, BUT ONWARD I GO.

Helldivers 2

I’m back at it again! This time in with someone fresh who plays the game at the same time as me. The feeling of being a burden isn’t here anymore as we develop a good synergy. I don’t know if I have the best partner for the game though, as we don’t really embrace the chaos much and instead try our best to actually succeed. So, yeah. I like this game, but your mileage may vary.

Peak

I had a few good evenings with friends in this game, just being a chaos goblin and taking the game at its own terms. In the end though, it was other people’s stories of this game that I enjoyed more than playing it.

Cyberpunk 2077

It’s time for my annual pilgrimage into Night City! Will I actually enjoy it this time? No. Again, no. I didn’t even get half as far as my last attempt. God, I wish I liked this game. It should tick so many boxes for me, but I find it so slow and difficult to play. Maybe it’s down to taste. I like the idea of cyberpunk as a genre, but often it’s too abrasive and overwhelming for me. Everything is sharp, everything is begging for your attention. It’s hard to get comfortable in it.

Until You Fall (vr)

Another sweat producer. I wish I had more time. I wish I could explore these games more and more, to dig deep into them, and to come out the other end absolutely ripped.

Metro Awakening (vr)

This had a lot of promise for me. It’s a well made game with an interesting story, in an interesting world, but ultimately I was too freaked out. I noped it out of the first proper level with my heart rate spiking. Too scary. What a shame.

Hollow Knight – Silksong

I’ve written three times on this, and there’s still more to digest. This game consumed me. When I finished it there was a void in me, a void that I threw videogames at but didn’t quite fill. It still hasn’t been filled.

Who’s Lila?

I’ve been intrigued by this game ever since I watched Jacob Gellar talk about it on a video. I finally tried it out and lost myself in an evening of intrigue and horror. A very creepy game. I enjoyed exploring the endings and piecing together some semblance of what is going on.

Hotwheels Unleashed 1 & 2

I debated whether to include this as an entry, before realising I had stuck about twenty hours between the two of them. That’s twenty hours of Jack sitting on my lap, telling me which cars to play (his favourite is the Boneshaker Monster Truck) and cheering me on through races. My kids are getting older and more into videogames, and there are more games I can introduce them to and play with them, and that is something special.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

Same as above, but with Lily. She commands the map and guns, and is always first to slap the button on the super gun to take out (or, more likely, miss entirely) a fleet of spaceships. I love perching beside her at the desk, working our way through the levels, highfiving when we rescue everyone. Core memories right there.

Arken Age (vr)

I’m still in this one, and I want to come back to it. I have some general thoughts on VR on the barrier to gaming on it which I can explore another time, but it’s really hitting with this game. This is a great game. There’s a lot of cool design, interesting mechanics, gorgeous scenery and immersive traversal – but it’s not great enough, at times, to overcome the barriers of playing in VR.

Horizon Zero Dawn

I think I just have bad luck with this game. It conceptually ticks all the boxes for me – adventure, story, puzzle solving, physicality to the gameplay – but I think I pick it up at the wrong time. First time was right before Tears of the Kingdom, the second was right after Silksong. I don’t know. It’s a good game, but somewhere in the first few hours I started seeing the strings. I started seeing the game for being a game, and when I saw it, I couldn’t see past it.

Arc Raiders

This is my new multiplayer jam. It took me a while to get into it, but the expedition-loot-fight-extract loop is quite addictive, really going for a push your luck feel. The added human component of potential clashes is extra spice. Sometimes I like the extra spice, keeps things interesting. Sometimes it ruins the dish completely and I don’t want it for a while. Sometimes, though, it’s the perfect amount of spice and it just makes it chef’s kiss good.