What Games Are You Playing?

[Dai]

I did a marathon replay of Final Fantasy VII Remake, Intermission and Rebirth. Knowing that so much of it is available now, I found myself not taking my time to savour it all quite as much as previously. I still did most of the major sidequests and some of the other optional stuff, but it's interesting how much it reduced my usual playtimes. Remake came down from 40 hours to 35, Intermission from 7 to 5, and the real shocker was Rebirth coming down from 124 hours to 84 just by skipping some of the copy/pasted map marker activities (mostly the rare monster fights and some of the later protorelic quests). Also interesting was that I ended this playthough of Rebirth at the same level as the one that was 40 hours longer.

Spoiler: Ending spoilers

The ending of Rebirth was a bit less confusing this time, but it's still far too ambiguous with the way it combines a bunch of visual cues that all imply different things (static, green glow, white light, rainbow glow, the tear in the sky). Based on my previous list of theories, I'm now leaning towards a combination of theories 1 and 2, that it's a living alternate reality version of Zack in the final battle, but the Aerith who appears in the final battle is her spirit. As for why only Cloud can see Aerith in the post-final-battle scenes, I'm pretty sure now that it's theory 2. I can't shake the concern about theory 4 though, that it's being left intentionally ambigious because they haven't decided how to wrap up the story in the next game yet.

 

[Gemsy-chan]

Gave the Dynasty Warriors: Origins demo a go.

 

[Herano]

Dread delusion: Do you like the surreal landscapes of morrowind and the moral dilemma's of Fallout new vegas? I do, so I really enjoyed this weird lovely open world title. The combat isn't hard, but for me that was perfect. I could just focus on exploring and learning more about what makes this world tick.

Holocure: my favorite bulletheaven just had an update! So many new characters (yay)! there also is a quick maths Boss now (No!)

 

[NormanicGrav]

My draft for one of the games that I played in September had disappeared so now I'll have to rewrite it all. Guess I now know the drafts on this forum don't last forever.

There were delays to playing the latest game because of work which I'm not happy with, but it is what it is.

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#18 - Secret of Mana (PlayStation 4)
Acquired: December 2021

Spoiler: Thoughts on Secret of Mana (2018)

Many years ago there were very few action role-playing games that I checked out, and one of those was the Super Nintendo game Secret of Mana that was available on the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console service. I enjoyed what I had played but I got stuck and landed with a game over numerous times to which I never bothered to continue. It had bothered me a lot that I never went back and finished it. Then in 2018, Square Enix remade Secret of Mana for modern platforms, primarily for mobile and this is how I returned to the world of Mana. With Visions of Mana recently released and how the developers were being treated, I decided now was the time to jump back in.

The story of Mana is pretty simple, your main hero has to journey around the world to stop a Mana Fortress from being resurrected and to do this you go to various templates to further power up your Mana sword. Alongside you are two companions and each of them are playable. In fact you can play co-op and have each person control each character on-screen which is cool.

Mana's combat is an Action RPG but it's got a really unique system where if you pause during each hit against an opponent for the percentage to reach 100%, you will be able to hit them at max damage, whereas if you don't the enemy will either miss or don't do much damage at all. It's one where you want to be careful of your surroundings in combat because if you are full of enemies on the screen you may get yourselves killed before you can take them all out at ease. The game's difficulty can be pretty brutal if I'm honest. If you are not well prepped you're in for trouble.

What I do like about Mana is that you and your companions can swap and level up the weapons you receive on your journey. Each weapon type as they grow will make it easier to cause further damage to enemies especially in areas where they will get stronger and there are orbs throughout the game where you can collect them to upgrade each level. The final orbs for each weapon type are exclusive to randomised drops which have a very bad level of RNG, so you will end up spending ages grinding for that orb to complete the subset. The weapons I primarily used were Sword, Axe and Spears, though you will need to use the Whip to bounce from one bit to another which the game doesn't really tell you unless you figure it out.

Magic is also in the game but because your main character wields the Mana Sword they can't wield the offense and defence abilities so it's up to your companions to sort it out. I am not kidding that these abilities will save you a lot during combat. It's pretty fun being able to shoot various attacks against a whole group of monsters and even the boss fights back to back. You can use elemental magic as well as healing, buffs and more, but all of them depend on the elementals you discover throughout your journey. Like the weapons, magic can also be levelled up. Both weapons and magic level up by how many times you use them each, so for weapons you need to hit any enemy to increase the counter while magic depends on offense and defence (and you can grind the defence on your own character in a temple to easily hit the max rank sooner).
Throughout your journey you will also receive items for head gear and torso, you will want to keep buying these throughout because they will help build your stats though some may be exclusive to specific characters if you're not careful enough. Also worth noting there's various treasure chests that will appear after you defeat an enemy, they are also randomised so you might get a nice item or end up with a trap, whether its turned into a Moogle, get blown up or poisoned.

One thing that also intrigued me with Secret of Mana is what happens when a party member gets killed, they basically turn into a ghost and follow you which is so weird to watch but you can use revival potions to bring them back. You will end up with this happening a lot early into the game but as soon as you build your team with more level stats and better gear, the less of an issue this becomes.

In terms of what I think of the remake's simplistically mobile style design, it's honestly a lot better than I had expected. Yes, the graphics feel outdated and the character's mouths don't move when the voices appear, but I think as a whole it works. The menus could have been designed better but it still does the job on what information you need to know throughout. But my main gripe is mainly the lack of lip syncing to a pretty decent English dub. I did notice randomly dancing people in various shops but it's apparently a part of the Mana franchise's charm so they will return in later games.

The level design is pretty great which is no surprise given this was developed by a pretty solid Japanese company who dominated the retro scene back in the day and considering I only played a small part of the original, going through this remake definitely felt nostalgic to me which is a nice change of pace. I enjoyed the boss fights as well and being able to switch your gear and items during battle which pauses the surroundings is very useful in many situations.

In terms of my 28 hour playthrough, I did decide to go for the Platinum trophy which required 100% the whole game. What this is, is basically secure all of the weapons and magic and level them up to close to maximum, which as I mentioned the final rank for weapons are tied to an RNG item you need which took me hours in the final dungeon. Most of the trophies are story-related i.e. defeating an enemy boss, but the rest is visiting each location on a Flammie, a flying dragon-type of sorts, and completing the guide. The guide is where you can find details about each character you interact with and all of the monsters you have defeated. You also want to collect every weapon and gear in the game, but you don't need to keep them in your inventory thankfully.

Overall, Secret of Mana's remake is pretty good despite the mobile focused design. It basically felt like playing a Super Nintendo game with a bit of an uplift rather than your usual full-on remakes you have nowadays which is a nice change of pace. Trials of Mana is a full-on remake but that works because the game's original wasn't released outside Japan back in the day. If you want to give the Mana franchise a try I do recommend giving Secret of Mana's remake a chance, or you could just go play the original version that's available on Nintendo Switch via the Collection of Mana release.

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#19 - Astro Bot (PlayStation 5)
Acquired: September 2024

Spoiler: My thoughts on Astro Bot

PlayStation has a history with platformers and a lot of creative genres over the years, especially during the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 generation, but the genre eventually took a backseat for Sony in favour for more action driven, big blockbuster type projects for their first-party games. Now I have no problem with this at all, because they were all very well made and you can see the efforts put into them, but there's something about a simple platformer game that to me screams less is more in its design, and you have to credit the developers for managing those ideas because of the console's limitations back then.

When the PlayStation VR was first released, Team Asobi who recently formed a few years prior by members of Japan Studio, created a little game called Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. This is a game many people, including myself, did not manage to play because it was exclusive to VR, but I heard that it was a fun time. Sony probably saw something from this and asked them to make another game but for the launch of the PlayStation 5 with Astro's Playroom, a free game that helped introduce the DualSense's capabilities and celebrate the console's legacy. I really enjoyed Astro's Playroom and the fact that it was free with the console also gave me nostalgic vibes of having Wii Sports bundled with the Nintendo Wii, it's just that type of feeling that you also don't get nowadays.

Earlier in the year I heard rumours that Team Asobi were cooking something and it ended up being a brand new Astro Bot video game but not just any game - a proper retail non-VR experience that brings back the platformer genre for modern PlayStation fans. I can't remember the last time Sony's first-party team brought us a retail platformer outside of Ratchet & Clank's reimagined game and Rift Apart. Either way, what they showed was really exciting and it was one of my most-anticipated to play.

And I did manage to play it close to launch. It's lived to what it had promised, an exciting platformer that is simple but also creative in what it wants to bring in its level design and variety. My god I haven't had such fun playing a game like this in a while. Now why exactly is this game so good despite its simple genre?

Let's start with the level design. Astro Bot follows a similar structure to Crash Bandicoot where you have individual areas that you explore and collect items/people along the way. It's linear with some room to find very secret areas throughout. Each area is also not recycled which is really surprising and there's a lot of detail to the texture design and the reactions of the Astro Bots themselves. There's also a specific theme to each level so you may have a jungle, or a construction area, or a casino (got to have one of those). There are also very simple mini-levels that are designed as challenges that reward you with an Bot.

Speaking of Bots, there's hundreds of them in this game and the end goal is to rescue all of them. Most are references to various video games that have been a part of PlayStation history for the past 30 years. This includes the usual suspects but more importantly games that are so niche that only those who played them on PlayStation 1 & 2 would recognise them. I managed to recognise a majority of them and I was shocked by how many appeared. Now this is technically a spoiler but to ease your expectations I may as well mention it - Square Enix characters are not featured in this game and I honestly have no clue why but I suspect it's due to tough staff members at Square HQ that vetoed the cameos.

In each level there's a surprising number of interactive objects. You have glass that breaks easily when you hover over them, which is really cool to see, you have objects that you can throw around and your spin-attacks can be used to progress forward whether its going into the air or underground. There's also a Mario Sunshine style mechanic which is entertaining. The music in these levels is so diverse and up-beat, and adds to the level design, and the controls were really good especially when you need to shake or use the triggers to do specific actions.

Astro Bot is also a pretty easy Platinum trophy. You can 100% the game in around 8 hours and all of the challenges and levels were all fun. The game is also pretty challenging in terms of how you can die when you get hit once, but the checkpoint system is generous and you can replay the levels without issue given they're fairly short. There is DLC released that I haven't played yet but will check it out at a later point. Overall, Astro Bot is a really good platformer and I recommend it to anyone who wants to revisit the classic PlayStation platformer experience.

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#20 - Metaphor: ReFantazio (PlayStation 5)
Acquired: October 2024

Spoiler: My thoughts on Metaphor

Atlus may have placed their efforts into putting out so many Persona games but there was one project that they had been working on for a very long time, known simply as Project Re:Fantasy. This is a project helmed by Katsura Hashino and his team at Studio Zero, with the idea of wanting to work on more projects that isn't just Persona over and over again. Eventually the game they were working on was officially announced at an Xbox Showcase as Metaphor: ReFantazio, which is multi-platform as well which is needed for a new IP like this.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is best described as taking what works best for the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei franchise and creative new ideas from that. I suppose you could also see Metaphor as a prototype for Persona 6 like Catherine was seen by some as a prototype for Persona 5 in terms of its game engine. But after playing Metaphor, it's definitely got potential to stick around as its own franchise to stand alongside the rest of Atlus' catalogue. In other words, this is a really good game, in fact one of the best games I've played in recent years.

Metaphor's story is all about our protagonist joining the race to claim the throne of the late King against other rivals and in particular one individual who the protagonist wants to defeat. This is a story that is a lot more mysterious as you progress throughout the game because you find yourself wondering what is going on with the modern Japan reference at the first few seconds of the game, the character More who's in a academic room helping you out (like Persona's Velvet Rooms), why are the monsters called Humans, and so on. The game delivers on many of these answers and throws a lot of curve balls as well which was unexpected. It ends on a really solid note and has a consistent antagonist so it doesn't follow the same Persona 3-5 approach if you know what I mean.

One of the things that made Persona beloved were its cast of characters but in each game you often have a few problems like that one character you dislike for a certain reason or the stereotypes are too obvious and are there to fit that type. Metaphor doesn't feel like that outside of the fact that each character you interact with is from a different tribe. And I really like our cast, because all of them are interesting for different reasons and their social rank storylines do add more to their background.

Now the combat is once again turn-based which is always great but it's an added twist to the traditional Persona & Megami Tensei system. Metaphor once again uses the 'Press Turn' system seen in the other Atlus games, where each character has one turn which can extend their team's list of turns if you are able to exploit the weaknesses of the enemies whilst you can also reduce the opponent's number of turns if your character can 'Block' or 'Repel' the attacks.

The usual debuff, magic and basic attacks all make a return as well as choosing to use items and guarding. Metaphor also brings back swapping characters who are not in your main four-team row during combat but it does use up a single turn. But what I love the most about the combat in this game is actually the option to completely reset the entire battle so that if you feel like you have completely botched your battle and wasted moves or items etc, you can press L3 and start over. If you get ambushed that doesn't get reset but the outcomes can change.

Before you start a battle you can also whack them a few times which does feel like you're playing an Action RPG in disguise but the idea here is to hit them enough so that they can be stunned (and if they hit you back you're going to be ambushed). This is different to Persona 5 where you had to hit them from behind in order to stun them. If you end up being strong enough you can kill them without having to stun/start a battle and earn EXP, Magla, Money & Archetype EXP which is useful for grinding.

Like Persona, Metaphor has its own type of abilities called Archetypes. Basically these are best described as classes of sorts, you have a wide range of classes available that you can use to grow your party's strengths including new debuff abilities, magic power and even added extras like recovering MP per turn which is crucial because this game follows the same model as Persona where MP items don't exist and it forces you to give up exploring dungeons further because you don't have the MP to use abilities that can easily defeat enemies.

The Persona games have the setup where your main character can wield various Personas while your companions have a fixed Persona. Metaphor ditches that idea and allows you to freely choose any class for any character. Now each companion will have a class of their own and abilities prepped related to them, but you can build them further and have more freedom to decide if you want one of them to become someone else completely or not. You do need to level the Ranks for each Archetype to unlock more skills but you can carry those skills over to other Archetypes which is awesome.

Some Archetype classes will be locked behind the Follower Ranks system that is similar to Persona 3-5, but unlike Persona, you are able to achieve Rank 8 for all of your characters in a single playthrough with plenty of breathing space, as long as you build up your Royal Virtues to Rank 5 as you progress through the story. Levelling up Archetypes requires Magla points which can be earned during combat. It is possible to max out an entire Archetype system with a single character thanks to end game content and I did spend additional hours just to make it happen, but my recommendation is to review the path for each companion's setup and optimise it as much as you can so you don't end up spending much on a class that you don't really need for them.

The calendar system from Persona 3-5 is back and it's a different approach given Persona follows a school academic year whereas Metaphor is shorter in length, but there is thankfully breathing room to do as much as you can within the deadline. Similar to Persona, you can spend a day going to a dungeon but the evening is just resting while if you spend a day doing something else you can also do activities in the evening. Metaphor also had days spent travelling which sounds scary at first but the game knows what its doing as you progress through the story so it's less annoying than it sounds. You won't be able to 100% everything in a single playthrough, so while I was able to max out Follower Ranks, Royal Virtues Ranks, visit every location and complete a side plot involving the Trials of the Dragon, everything else was not completed which were the side quests (and I reckon with this one it was just one left involving the Coliseum and that was it), book reading and of course the post-game content which is tied to New Game+.

The music in this game is probably the weakest aspect of the game. As much as I love the unique sound of the monk during songs and the diverse styles in each area, there is a lot of repetitiveness as you go into each area and battles. Persona does have a similar issue but what makes the Persona soundtrack work is that each song feels like a song than a soundtrack piece, therefore replayability works very well in that game's case. Metaphor suffers from replayability of the same usual segment of a song and when you listen to the OST it doesn't feel like a complete track but repeated until the song fades. There's a lot of amazing songs in the soundtrack but Persona's soundtrack pretty much raised the bar here for expectation.

I went with the English dub for the game and surprisingly the accents are mainly British which was interesting and it works pretty well with the fantasy setting. I do think the voice actor for the main protagonist is pretty hit or miss, I do think some of the delivered lines don't hit the mark at times but overall the cast is great. Louis' voice actor is great here too and delivers those lines pretty well.

Now in terms of progression, the game is shorter than Persona but I did spend a bit more time due to wanting to get the Archetypes maxed out and make sure I was on track ahead of some of the boss fights. You ideally will take about 65 hours to finish the story but I spent 81 hours overall and I had a blast going through the game as a whole. No Platinum but what I achieved without a guide none-the-less was a rewarding experience.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is a game that I wasn't really hyped to play. I bought it because it's from Atlus and the Persona developers so I knew what to expect and how polished it would become. I started it because I felt like it and could have easily placed this in the backlog for a long time, but a part of me wanted to play it sooner as soon as the reviews came in and to avoid story spoilers. So I played it as soon as my copy arrived in the mail (which was delayed by 2 weeks due to stock issues) and what I ended up with was a playthrough of a really fascinating journey from start to finish with a great cast of characters, a fantastic art style and visual designs, unique monsters inspired by artist Hieronymus Bosch and a solid and rewarding combat system. Music was still good despite my issues with it and there are some parts where they could have made it a bit more interesting but what we got is a very strong start to a new IP for Atlus and I look forward to what else they have in store for the Metaphor franchise.

Fantasy is not dead.

---

My backlog so far:

Spoiler

#​	PC/Steam Backlog - Game Name:​	Genre:
1​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky	Turn-Based RPG
2​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC	Turn-Based RPG

#​	PlayStation 3 Backlog - Game Name:​	Genre:
1​	3D Dot Game Heroes	Action RPG
2​	Bleach: Soul Resurrección	Fighting
3​	Castlevania: Lords of Shadow	Action, Hack n Slash
4​	Catherine	Puzzle
5​	Drakengard 3	Action RPG
6​	Eternal Sonata	Turn-Based RPG
7​	Folklore	Action RPG
8​	Gran Turismo 5 Academy Edition	Racing
9​	inFAMOUS	Action
10​	inFAMOUS 2	Action
11​	Katamari Forever	Puzzle
12​	MotorStorm	Racing
13​	Prince of Persia	Action, Platformer
14​	Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands	Action, Platformer
15​	Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time	Action, Platformer
16​	Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed	Racing
17​	Split/Second: Velocity	Racing
18​	Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
19​	Tekken 6	Fighting
20​	Way of the Samurai 4	Action

#​	PlayStation 4 Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
2​	AI: The Somnium Files	Adventure, Visual Novel
3​	Black Clover: Quartet Knights	Action, Fighting
4​	Bullet Girls Phantasia	Action, Shooter
5​	Burnout Paradise Remastered	Racing
6​	The Caligula Effect: Overdose	Turn-Based RPG
7​	Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions	Sports
8​	Catherine Full Body	Puzzle
9​	Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars	Turn-Based RPG
10​	CRYSTAR	Action RPG
11​	Cyberdimension Neptunia: Four Goddesses Online	Action RPG
12​	Danganronpa 1 Reload	Visual Novel
13​	Danganronpa 2 Reload	Visual Novel
14​	Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls	Action, Shooter
15​	Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony	Visual Novel
16​	Date A Live: Rinne Utopia (Rio-Reincarnation)	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
17​	Date A Live II: Ars Install (Rio-Reincarnation)	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
18​	Date A Live III: Twin Edition: Rio Reincarnation	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
19​	Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess	God RPG
20​	Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth - Hacker's Memory	Turn-Based RPG
21​	Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories	Adventure, Simulation
22​	Dissidia Final Fantasy NT	Arcade, Fighting
23​	Dragon Quest Heroes II	Action RPG, Musou
24​	Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition	Turn-Based RPG
25​	Dragon's Crown Pro	Action RPG
26​	Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen	Action RPG
27​	Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends	Musou
28​	Fairy Tail	Turn-Based RPG
29​	Fate/Extella Link	Musou
30​	Final Fantasy IX	Turn-Based RPG
31​	Full Metal Panic! Fight! Who Dares Win	Tactical RPG
32​	Gal*Gun 2	On-Rails Shooter
33​	Gintama Rumble	Action, Musou
34​	GOD EATER 3	Action Hunter RPG
35​	Gravity Rush 2	Action, Platformer
36​	The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures	Visual Novel
37​	The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve	Visual Novel
38​	Gundam Breaker 3 BREAK EDITION	Action, Arcade
39​	Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Infinite Combate	Action RPG
40​	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven	Fighting
41​	Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa	Puzzle, Visual Novel
42​	Langrisser	Tactical RPG
43​	Langrisser II	Tactical RPG
44​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel	Turn-Based RPG
45​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II	Turn-Based RPG
46​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III	Turn-Based RPG
47​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV	Turn-Based RPG
48​	Legend of Mana	Action RPG
49​	Megadimension Neptunia VII	Turn-Based RPG
50​	Megadimension Neptunia VIIR	Turn-Based RPG
51​	MELTY BLOOD: TYPE LUMINA	Fighting
52​	My Hero Academia: One's Justice 2	Fighting
53​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm	Action, Fighting
54​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2	Action, Fighting
55​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3	Action, Fighting
56​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4: Road to Boruto	Action, Fighting
57​	NEO: The World Ends With You	Action RPG
58​	Neptunia Virtual Stars	Action
59​	Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars	Action
60​	Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered	Turn-Based RPG
61​	Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom	Action RPG
62​	Nights of Azure	Action RPG
63​	Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon	Action RPG
64​	One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4	Action, Musou
65​	One Piece: World Seeker	Action
66​	Our World Is Ended	Visual Novel
67​	Persona 5 Strikers	Action RPG, Musou
68​	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney	Visual Novel
69​	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All	Visual Novel
70​	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations	Visual Novel
71​	Punch Line	Visual Novel
72​	Raging Loop	Visual Novel
73​	Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-: Prophecy of the Throne	Visual Novel
74​	Robotics;Notes DaSH	Visual Novel
75​	Robotics;Notes ELITE	Visual Novel
76​	SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays	Tactical RPG
77​	SD Gundam G Generation Genesis	Tactical RPG
78​	Sengoku Basara 4: Sumeragi	Musou
79​	Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal	Action
80​	Shadow of the Colossus	Platformer
81​	Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster	Turn-Based RPG
82​	Star Ocean: First Departure R	Action RPG
83​	Star Ocean: The Last Hope HD Remaster	Action RPG
84​	Steins;Gate Elite	Visual Novel
85​	Super Neptunia RPG	Turn-Based RPG
86​	Super Robot Wars 30	Tactical RPG
87​	Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers	Tactical RPG
88​	Super Robot Wars T	Tactical RPG
89​	Super Robot Wars X	Tactical RPG
90​	Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet	Action RPG
91​	Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Sessions!	Music, Rhythm
92​	Tales of Berseria	Action RPG
93​	Tales of Vesperia	Action RPG
94​	Theatrhythm Final Bar Line	Music, Rhythm
95​	Trials of Mana	Action RPG
96​	Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
97​	Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
98​	Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
99​	Utawarerumono: Zan	Action, Musou
100​	Valkyria Chronicles 4	Tactical RPG
101​	Valkyria Revolution	Action RPG
102​	WipEout Omega Collection	Racing
103​	The Witch and the Hundred Knight Revival Edition	Action RPG
104​	WORLDEND SYNDROME	Visual Novel
105​	Yakuza 3 Remastered	Action, Beat em up
106​	Yakuza 4 Remastered	Action, Beat em up
107​	Yakuza 5 Remastered	Action, Beat em up
108​	YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World	Visual Novel

#​	PlayStation 5 Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Alan Wake Remastered	Action, Shooter
2​	Alan Wake II	Action, Survival Horror
2​	CONTROL Ultimate Edition	Action, Shooter
3​	Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII -Reunion-	Action RPG
4​	Cyberpunk 2077	Action
5​	Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles	Fighting
6​	The DioField Chronicle	Tactical RPG
7​	DOOM Eternal	Action, Shooter
8​	FANTAVISION 202X	Puzzle
9​	Fate/Samurai Remnant	Action RPG, Musou
10​	Forspoken	Action RPG
11​	Ghost of Tsushima	Action, Adventure
12​	Ghostwire: Tokyo	Action, Survival Horror
13​	Granblue Fantasy Re:link	Action RPG
14​	GrimGrimoire OnceMore	Real-Time Strategy RPG
15​	Hades	Dungeon Crawler
16​	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R	Fighting
17​	Judgment	Action, Beat em up
18​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie	Turn-Based RPG
19​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak	Turn-Based RPG
20​	Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name	Action, Beat 'em up
21​	Lost Judgment	Action, Beat em up
22​	Mobile Suit Gundam BATTLE OPERATION Code Fairy	Action
23​	MONARK	Tactical RPG
24​	Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten	Turn-Based RPG
25​	Neptunia ReVerse	Turn-Based RPG
26​	Neptunia: Sisters vs Sisters	Action RPG
27​	One Piece: Odyssey	Turn-Based RPG
28​	Pac-Man World Re-Pac	Platformer
29​	Persona 5 Royal	Turn-Based RPG
30​	Persona 5 Tactica	Tactical RPG
31​	Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit of Wonder Labyrinth	Metroidvania RPG
32​	Relayer	Tactical RPG
33​	SD Gundam Battle Alliance	Action RPG
34​	Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance	Turn-Based RPG
35​	Soul Hackers 2	Turn-Based RPG
36​	Star Ocean: The Divine Force	Action RPG
37​	Star Ocean: The Second Story R	Action RPG
38​	Tactics Ogre Reborn	Tactical RPG
39​	Tales of Arise	Action RPG
40​	Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2	Sports
41​	Unicorn Overlord	Tactical RPG
42​	Valkyrie Elysium	Action RPG
43​	Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon	Turn-Based RPG
44​	Yurukill: The Calumniation Games	Shoot em up, Visual Novel

#​	PlayStation Classics (via PS5) Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Dino Crisis	Survival Horror
2​	Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue	Platformer
3​	Everybody's Golf 2	Sports
4​	Kurushi Final: Mental Blocks	Puzzle
5​	The Legend of Dragoon	Turn-Based RPG
6​	Twisted Metal 2	Action, Racing
7​	Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth	Turn-Based RPG
8​	Wild Arms	Turn-Based RPG
9​	Wild Arms 2	Turn-Based RPG

#​	PlayStation Vita Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Bullet Girls	Action, Shooter
2​	Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni	Action

#​	Nintendo Switch Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Advance Wars (Re-Boot Camp)	Tactical RPG
2​	Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (Re-Boot Camp)	Tactical RPG
3​	Akai Katana Shin	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
4​	Anonymous;Code	Adventure, Visual Novel
5​	Another Code: Two Memories	Adventure, Puzzle
6​	Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories	Adventure, Puzzle
7​	Armored Warriors (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
8​	Avenger (Telenet Shooting Collection)	Arcade, Shoot 'em up
9​	Balatro	Card, Roguelike
10​	Battle Circuit (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
11​	Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition	Adventure, Point & Click
12​	Captain Commando (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
13​	Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker	Puzzle, Platformer
14​	Castle of Shikigami 2	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
15​	Castlevania (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
16​	Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
17​	Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
18​	Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
19​	Castlevania: The Adventure (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
20​	Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Advance Collection)	Action, Platform
21​	Castlevania: Bloodlines (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
22​	Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (Advance Collection)	Action, Platform
23​	Castlevania: Dracula X (Advance Collection)	Action, Platform
24​	Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Advance Collection)	Action, Platform
25​	Chaos;Child	Adventure, Visual Novel
26​	Chaos;Head Noah	Adventure, Visual Novel
27​	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition	Turn-Based RPG
28​	Code of Princess EX	Action RPG
29​	Contra (Anniversary Collection)	Side-scrolling Shooter
30​	Contra Hard Corps (Anniversary Collection)	Side-scrolling Shooter
31​	Contra III: The Alien Wars (Anniversary Collection)	Side-scrolling Shooter
32​	Cosmic Fantasy	Turn-Based RPG
33​	Cosmic Fantasy II	Turn-Based RPG
34​	Cruis'n Blast	Racing
35​	Cursed to Golf	Sports, Platformer
36​	Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
37​	Cytus Alpha	Music, Rhythm
38​	Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
39​	Deathsmiles	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
40​	Deathsmiles II	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
41​	Demon's Tilt	Pinball
42​	Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze	Action, Platform
43​	Final Fantasy (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
44​	Final Fantasy Adventure (Collection of Mana)	Action RPG
45​	Final Fantasy II (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
46​	Final Fantasy III (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
47​	Final Fantasy IV (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
48​	Final Fantasy V (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
49​	Final Fantasy VI (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
50​	Final Fight (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
51​	Fire Emblem Warriors	Action, Musou
52​	Fire Emblem: Engage	Tactical RPG
53​	Fire Emblem: Three Houses	Tactical RPG
54​	Gaiares (Telenet Shooting Collection)	Arcade, Shoot 'em up
55​	Getsu Fūma Den	Action RPG
56​	Getsufumaden: Undying Moon	Action RPG, Metroidvania
57​	Granada (Telenet Shooting Collection)	Arcade, Shoot 'em up
58​	Grandia (HD Collection)	Turn-Based RPG
59​	Grandia II (HD Collection)	Turn-Based RPG
60​	The House in Fata Morgana	Visual Novel
61​	Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
62​	Kid Dracula (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
63​	The King of Dragons (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
64​	Knights of the Round (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
65​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero	Turn-Based RPG
66​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure	Turn-Based RPG
67​	The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails	Action RPG
68​	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild	Action RPG
69​	The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening	Action RPG
70​	Live A Live	Tactical RPG
71​	Mario Kart 8 Deluxe	Racing
72​	Marvel Super Heroes (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
73​	Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
74​	Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
75​	Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
76​	Metroid Dread	Metroidvania
77​	Metroid Prime Remastered	Action, Shooter
78​	MUSYNX	Music, Rhythm
79​	New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe	Platformer
80​	Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
81​	Octopath Traveler	Turn-Based RPG
82​	Operation C (Anniversary Collection)	Side-scrolling Shooter
83​	Paper Mario: The Origami King	Turn-Based RPG
84​	Powerslave Exhumed	Action, Shooter
85​	Psychic Storm (Telenet Shooting Collection)	Arcade, Shoot 'em up
86​	The Punisher (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
87​	Radiant Silvergun	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
88​	Red Earth (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
89​	Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess (Marl Kingdom Chronicles)	Turn-Based RPG
90​	Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom (Marl Kingdom Chronicles)	Turn-Based RPG
91​	River City Girls Zero	Action, Beat 'em ups
92​	SaGa Frontier	Turn-Based RPG
93​	Secret of Mana (Collection of Mana)	Action RPG
94​	Senran Kagura Peach Ball	Pinball
95​	Senran Kagura Reflexions	Simulation
96​	Shadow Man Remastered	Action, Adventure
97​	Signalis	Survival Horror
98​	Super Castlevania IV (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
99​	Super Contra (Anniversary Collection)	Side-scrolling Shooter
100​	Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (Pocket Fighter) (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
101​	Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury	Action, Platformer
102​	Super Mario Galaxy	Action, Platformer
103​	Super Mario Maker 2	Action, Platformer
104​	Super Mario Odyssey	Action, Platformer
105​	Super Mario Sunshine	Action, Platformer
106​	Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
107​	Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Fighting
108​	Syd of Valis (SD Valis) (Valis Collection 2)	Action, Platformer
109​	Toaplan Arcade Garage: Kyukyoku Tiger-Heli	Arcade, Shoot 'em up
110​	Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE	Turn-Based RPG
111​	Tokyo Xanadu eX+	Action RPG
112​	Trials of Mana (Collection of Mana)	Action RPG
113​	Triangle Strategy	Tactical RPG
114​	Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon	Visual Novel
115​	Valis: The Fantasm Soldier (Valis Collection 1)	Action, Platformer
116​	Valis II (Valis Collection 1)	Action, Platformer
117​	Valis III (Valis Collection 1)	Action, Platformer
118​	Valis IV (Valis Collection 2)	Action, Platformer
119​	Vampire Hunter 2: Darkstalkers' Revenge (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
120​	Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire (Darkstalkers 3) (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
121​	Vampire Savior 2: The Lord of Vampire (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
122​	Warriors of Fate (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
123​	Witch on the Holy Night	Visual Novel
124​	X-Men vs. Street Fighter (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
125​	X-Men: Children of the Atom (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
126​	Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition	Action RPG
127​	Xenoblade Chronicles 2	Action RPG
128​	Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country	Action RPG
129​	Yoshi's Crafted World	Action, Platformer

The 2024 '40' Games Goal:

Spoiler

No.	Game	Console​	Acquired​	Genre
1​	Quake	PS5​	2023​	Action, Shooter
2​	Quake II	PS5​	2023​	Action, Shooter
3​	MushimeSama	Switch​	2023​	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
4​	Nioh 2 Remastered	PS5​	2022​	Action Souls RPG
5​	Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade	PS5​	2024​	Action RPG
6​	Final Fantasy VII Rebirth	PS5​	2024​	Action RPG
7​	Puppeteer	PS3​	2019​	Action, Platformer
8​	Stranglehold	PS3​	2023​	Action, Shooter
9​	Final Fantasy VIII Remastered	PS4​	2021​	Turn-Based RPG
10​	Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin	PS5​	2022​	Action Souls RPG
11​	The Hong Kong Massacre	PS4​	2023​	Top-Down Shooter
12​	RUINER	PS4​	2023​	Top-Down Shooter
13​	One Piece: Unlimited World Red	PS4​	2022​	Action
14​	One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows	PS4​	2024​	Fighting
15​	My Hero Academia: One's Justice	PS4​	2024​	Fighting
16​	Spec Ops: The Line	PS3​	2024​	Action, Shooter
17​	Ys IX: Monstrum Nox	PS5​	2023​	Action RPG
18​	Secret of Mana	PS4​	2021​	Action RPG
19​	Astro Bot	PS5​	2024​	Action, Platformer
20​	Metaphor: ReFantazio	PS5​	2024​	Turn-Based RPG

 

[Dai]

Final Fantasy VII (original)
I used to replay this once a year, but this is the first time I've revisited it since the first part of the remake came out. It's still the masterpiece it was 27 years ago. The remakes expand and polish a lot of things, especially dialogue and minigames, and make the adventure more expansive. The original is a cleaner telling of the story though, and has better pacing for the most part. Given the differences between the original and the remake, neither ends up feeling redundant; they complement each other well.

 

[HWR]

Last month, I had some time off work and worked my way through the 3D universe GTAs again (Vice City Stories/Vice City/San Andreas/Liberty City Stories/III).

In regards to which versions I tend to play, VC and SA were ones I used specific mods for, whilst for III I opted to play the “Definitive” version, as the trilogy was the cheapest I’d seen it during Black Friday, and I wanted to see how the recent updates fixed various issues and lighting, and whilst there is still work to be done I didn’t notice too many issues with III during this playthrough.

Whilst I’ll always love VCS/VC/SA, I’m unlikely to ever revisit LCS and III again as I don’t like the setting and neither game is especially good despite the former having some solid character moments.

Since then I have started Metaphor ReFantazio and am making steady enough progress there.

 

[awadama]

I've almost got the platinum for Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero - just a few more online fights to go!

It was definitely a bit overhyped. I've enjoyed it very much, but no more than any other DB game.

It was pushed as being the successor to the Budokai Tenkaichi games, but they had loads of replay value - unless this gets some decent DLC, I probably won't touch it again after I get the plat.

 

[Dai]

Playstation 2024 wrap-up.



This feels like redemption for CoD being my most-played game last year.

 

[awadama]

This was mine!

 

[D1tchd1gger]

Mine:




Still haven't finished Elden Ring!

 

[HWR]

My top 3 doesn’t surprise me, that and Ragnarok being fifth. Rebirth was an expansive game thanks to all the side content and some frustrating minigames.

 

[Lucky_Deity]

Here's mine!

FF7 Rebirth is no shocker, still my GOTY and arguably favourite game of all time currently (tied with P4G and RE4 Remake), still thinking about it.

P5 I'm currenlty playing still, my 4th and 5th most played games were Sonic x Shadow Generations and Ratchet & Clank (2016), most of my time was taken up by FF7R but totally worth it.

 

[awadama]

The Sparking Zero platinum is all done now so I'm back on Dragon Quest XI.

I got stuck on a boss in 2020 - I had another go and beat it, so I can finally progress! I thought I was a lot further through than I actually am...I've still got LOADS left to do!

 

[Dai]

Silent Hill 2
A great remake of an all-time classic. It nails the look and atmosphere of the original for the most part, while giving the graphics, controls, and combat a massive upgrade. I was hesitant about the new character models and voices in trailers, but most of them quickly grew on me in the game itself. Angela especially benefits in this regard, with an appearance and performance that better conveys her vulnerability and unstable nature. The new James is great too, with the enhanced facial animation of the remake allowing for a far more nuanced performance that delves into the conflicting emotions of this deeply broken man. Maria's new design is the only one that didn't work for me, since she looks too healthy. Her original CG model was pale and eerie, which better fit her role in the story.

The remake also fleshes out the locations a lot. Rather like Resident Evil 2, the most iconic locations are faithfully reimagined, but also expanded upon. The remake ends up about twice the length of the original. This works fine in the first half, but the expanded prison is a slog, partially because it's the most boring location, but also because you can barely see it. This might be the darkest game I've ever played, and the prison pushes that to breaking point. Someone needs to tell Bloober that eye strain ≠ tension.

Spoiler: Final boss spoilers

The only other change I didn't like was that they expanded the final boss into a three-stage battle. In the original, the short, simple and creepy confrontation with Mary/Maria felt more like the final manifestation of James's guilt and grief, reliving his darkest moment with a nightmarish twist; a murder rather than a battle. In the remake it just feels like a fight against a standard videogame boss, and is the one time I think Bloober missed the point of the original.

The game retains all the endings of the original, plus a couple of new ones. Thankfully I managed to get my preferred ending (Leave) on the first attempt without referring to a guide. The conditions seem similar to the original. In some ways Silent Hill 2 was always more of a role-playing game than actual RPGs, since the ending you get is decided in a very organic way by how you act as James, rather than by obvious dialogue choices.

 

[DragoStark]

I didn't bother with my Playstation wrapped. I barely used it this year. I did most of my gaming on steam. It's the only replay I care about:


I got through a great chunk of games this year, very pleased. I've been addicted to webfishing recently too.

All the Muv-Luv I read really skewed my spider graph too haha:

 

[Kabaldan]

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[D1tchd1gger]

After hearing all the hype and thinking it would just be a nice easy quick game to play if I had a few minutes spare, I bought Balatro on mobile with a £3 off voucher on Google Play. Hours later I finally completed a run!

 

[Dai]

Life is Strange: Double Exposure
It's great to see Max again. It took me a while to get used to this older version of her though; her attitude is a bit more Chloe-esque now, especially early on. That's not a bad thing, of course.

There has been some controversy about how DE handles the fallout from the two possible endings of LiS. I imagine that people who chose to save Chloe in LiS1 will feel especially short-changed by DE. As someone who decided to save Arcadia Bay on my first playthrough of LiS1 (and has been haunted by it ever since), I felt that DE did a decent job of addressing how that affected Max over the years.

DE has one of the more compelling mysteries in the series. Some of the big twists are right up there with the memorable episode-ending cliffhangers of LiS1. There are plenty of interesting characters (and some total creeps) with secrets to investigate. Considering how important dialogue is in the game, it helps that DE has some of the best facial animation I've seen to date. The lighting is excellent too, lending a lot of atmosphere to the locations.

I am concerned with the direction it takes towards the end though, especially for the implications it has for the series going forward.

Spoiler: Ending spoilers

LiS has always deftly managed to avoid feeling like a superhero comic. The superpowers exist to accentuate the character drama, not the other way around. I fear the X-Men-esque supervillain origin story that the final episode of DE turns into is tipping that balance the wrong way. The post-credits scene in particular makes it clear that the next game will be going full Brotherhood of Mutants, which I think is a mistake.

 

[NormanicGrav]

We have reached the end of 2024 and I did the exact same thing that I had done in the previous year by playing a whole bunch of shorter games, though this time we also have a few PSP games that I don't actually own because they were part of PlayStation Plus Premiums. Those are complete games so they count for this list, but it doesn't support the backlog though.

Last year I completed 30 games (you can see my write-ups on my blog with Part 1 & Part 2) and I technically failed to achieve that here because the 30th completed game was sorted on 1st January (the story by 1am and the Platinum later that day). As a majority of the progression was done in 2024 I'm counting it as a 2024 completion.

---

#21 - Disney Pixar's Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue (PlayStation 1 via Classics version on PlayStation 5)
Acquired: June 2022

Spoiler: Thoughts on Toy Story 2

December arrived and I decided to go through another batch of classic PlayStation games that I have available on PlayStation 5, and the first one that I picked is a game that I do own physically on PC around 23-24 years ago - but I never finished it.

Disney Pixar's Toy Story 2 is a great film and it's rare to have a video game adaptation also be very good as well. Developed by Travellers Tales, Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue is an action adventure platformer that follows Buzz Lightyear from starting his mission at Andy's House all the way to the Toy Barn and beyond. Each area is large enough for Buzz to traverse around, shooting enemies and jumping on platforms whilst also achieving objectives to earn Tokens. The tokens are necessary to progress between each area.

The objectives share the same formula between each area. Collect a certain amount of coins and give them to Hamm the Pig, find a few missing individuals scattered throughout the area and let the owner know, defeat a boss that's hidden in the area, and more. There are some objectives that you may not be able to complete immediately because it would require a power-up that wouldn't be unlocked until later in the game. The difficulty for all of these is pretty decent and the controls have aged very well. You can easily fall off platforms but there's no fall damage. Since I'm playing on PlayStation 5, the emulator's rewind feature has been very handy to balance out the difficulty and pacing. The boss fights can be challenging though.

In terms of flaws, the shooting is the only one that hasn't aged well mainly due to wanting to lock on in boss fights which wasn't very easy. Everything else worked perfectly fine. One boss fight in the second to final area was pretty tedious due to its lock-on shots.

The reason I never finished the PC version was because I ended up at the Airport area and didn't progress from there. My guess is because there were so many enemies that you took a lot of damage and that was still the case going into this playthrough. Never-the-less, I managed to make my way through the final levels and finish the game for the first time. I got the Platinum trophy as well which asks for you to get most of the game completed, but you don't need to go for 100% completion which I did this time. Playtime was about 4 hours and I'm happy with that.

---

#22 - Twisted Metal World Tour (PlayStation 1 via Classics version on PlayStation 5)
Acquired: November 2023

Spoiler: My thoughts on Twisted Metal 2

Last year I checked out the first Twisted Metal which was an interesting experience to say the least given that it was a lot tougher than I had anticipated. The second game is where I heard a lot of people have enjoyed the most so I went in knowing that, and once again the game throws the difficulty curve ball in your face like mad.

I can't remember if the first game was this difficult but here it felt like all of my attacks didn't do that much damage whereas everyone else's hit me pretty badly. It felt rather unfair in the difficulty balance which is a shame given they have expanded the game design to have different locations based on the country like you have a Paris type level and a Hong Kong type level which looked great.

Like the previous game, you have a story mode where you can play as any character and each one has their own stats, whether they are fast to drive or bigger in defence. The weapons variety is hit or miss depending on who you have because some do pretty solid damage whilst others I have no clue if it made any difference or not. Along the way in each level you can grab various different types of weapons to help you with combat, like rockets or projectiles or landmines. There's also a lightning powerup which I don't think helps you at all because it kept zapping my health which didn't help. There's also some pretty cool hidden secrets throughout much like the previous game did, and they do come with health and more weapons if needed.

The final boss is a pain. They are essentially a sponge in terms of health and not every character's vehicle does a good job at combating it so you will struggle a lot. There's also a second phase which is easier but annoying as well.

Overall there's not much to say about Twisted Metal World Tour other than the fact that it's an expanded version of the first game which is good but the game's difficulty I'm not sure I would want to face ever again for this franchise. Thankfully cheat codes do make a return allowing you to continue the mission levels without having to start over (and the game doesn't punish you for this, probably because it knows how ridiculous it is already). I will say though that the cutscenes are pretty good and fit the vibe of the dark humour the game provides. I did manage to get the Platinum but it's the same approach as the first game with finishing it with each character.

---

#23 - Everybody's Golf 2 (PlayStation 1 via Classics version on PlayStation 5)
Acquired: June 2023

Spoiler: My thoughts on Hot Shots Golf 2

Last year we went through the original Everybody's Golf and this time I finally checked out the second game in the series. The difference this time is that instead of developer Camelot working on the game (as they eventually moved over to Nintendo to work on Mario Golf), we have Clap Hanz step in which is also their first major game.

Everybody's Golf 2 features a few various modes. You have tournament mode where you can go through a course per 'season' which changes the layout based on the time of year, i.e Winter having snow and Summer being rather sunny. If you do really well, you'll earn points and once you gather a specific amount, you can unlock the next tournament. Each course you play will also unlock additional items like new clubs, new moves and winning the tournament also unlocks a new course to play. While the Platinum trophy doesn't necessarily need you to go through the tournament to unlock courses, it's good to have more variety as you venture throughout the game.

The other mode is Versus which has you go up against different golfers. Whichever character you pick will allow you to play a course against another opponent including those you have yet to unlock as a playable character. The mode works where if you win the round, you earn a point and if you manage to earn enough points to which your opponent can't beat you, then you win the mode and that specific character will be unlocked as a playable character. What does make this instalment interesting is the addition of guest characters with Sweet Tooth from Twisted Metal, Sir Daniel Fortesque from MediEvil and Gex from Gex, who are pretty challenging if you are not skilled enough by this point as those three are the final unlockable characters in the game.

In terms of the controls. I feel like this game's controls were way harder than the first game. Every time that I attempt to hit the perfect shot is missed by a fraction each time. Thank goodness this emulator has the rewind feature because it's taken dozens of shots to get used to the mechanics. Basically I had to press the button early just to get it spot on which felt off-putting, and I wonder if this was a gameplay issue that got fixed with the next instalment or its just me not getting it right each time. But I don't remember struggling this much with the previous game or even the newer ones in the franchise.

There are many other modes also available including Practice but I focused mainly towards Tournament and Versus. The trophies for this game is harder than the previous game mainly because of the unlockable characters that is more challenging than before, and the Albatross and Hole-in-One shots can be more tricky and RNG heavy if you don't have the right course or the right position to take those shots. I got lucky and was able to get the Platinum, though it took about 10 hours to achieve overall.

---

#24 - TimeSplitters (PlayStation 2 via Classics version on PlayStation 5)
Acquired: PlayStation Plus Premium

Spoiler: My thoughts on TimeSplitters

A franchise that I waited twenty years to finally check out on modern platforms. TimeSplitters is a first-person shooter created by the developers behind Rare's GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Park, and the DNA is definitely here with how you shoot enemies on screen.

TimeSplitters' story is not really present here and my guess is that all of the context going in were all stored in the instruction manuals which were included in those physical PS2 copies and didn't carry over into digital form. The story here is that you go into each of these various different timezones and worlds to retrieve items and head out before you get swarmed by monsters called TimeSplitters. Each world has a lot of variety so while the goal is the same, the enemies you encounter are all different because you can get a zombie, a mummy, a Mafia type individual, a soldier or even an alien or robot. The game is bonkers and works well for that.

The difficulty is also surprisingly tough. The game does have health packs but even on Normal difficulty the enemies will take a whole chunk of your health pretty fast. Thankfully this emulator has rewinds but you need to get used to the controls pretty fast to make progress. The story mode is pretty short and overall the level variety is interesting and the characters look unique in their designs. There is also an Arcade mode for multiplayer and also comes with a map editor which is pretty good from what I have tried and its a shame this emulated version doesn't include online multiplayer or sharing system.

Then comes the Challenge mode which features different tasks like surviving a horde of enemies to reach a certain number of points, eliminating hundreds of enemies in a certain amount of time or just randomly protecting someone, or breaking some glasses. It's diverse but the game is nice enough to let you respawn and jump back into the action when needed. Some were easier than others and the final challenge was a nightmare but seems to be RNG related as my re-attempt was much better.

Now in terms of negatives, the controls have aged a fair bit with the aiming still tied to the classic Rare shooter layout which was fine back in the day but could have done with updates to be more in line with other shooters released at the time. I did have to rewrite this part because I consider it as 'currently under investigation' for me personally but I did struggle to play this game by not feeling particularly great. I was thinking it may be nausea but I'm not 100% sure. Basically this game should have been done in like a single sitting but it took a lot longer than I had wanted to complete.

The game runs smoothly at 60fps but I wonder if its the Field of View and how fast you can turn the camera that may be why I felt off. I do think this would have been resolved if this got the proper remastered treatment than a straight-up port but for now I'll have to figure it out later. I did manage to Platinum the game in the end, but it took numerous breaks from playing. Overall I would say it took about 4.5 hours in total to get everything done. I won't be playing the second and third games any time soon until I'm confident it won't affect me that much and I'm pretty sure I played the second game years ago which I remember being perfectly fine.

Do I recommend the first TimeSplitters? Definitely, it's a launch title for the PlayStation 2 that showed what it can do and I think it delivers. There's a lot of fun that can be had but we know the later games are the more preferred ones especially when it comes to story. I do advise a bit of caution if you have issues with motion sickness though.

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#25 - Super Stardust Portable (PlayStation Portable via Classics version on PlayStation 5)
Acquired: PlayStation Plus Premium

Spoiler: My thoughts of Super Stardust Portable

When I received a PlayStation 4 one of the first games I played on the console was a little PSN twin-stick shooter called Resogun, developed by Housemarque who would later make Returnal. I heard about their other game called Super Stardust that's been released on PSN for PlayStation 3, 4, Portable and Vita, but I never played them. I've seen the gameplay but not tried them out.

When Sony started the Classics programme for PlayStation Plus Premium, PlayStation Portable was a big inclusion and the first title to be added was Super Stardust Portable, the portable version for Super Stardust HD, and now I finally give it a shot since I have access to the premium account. Now as I'm playing this on a an emulator, you have the option to customise the button configurations and because PSP did not have a right analog stick, I moved the controls used for shooting onto the stick to give it a closer experience to what you would call a twin-stick shooter.

Out of the bat, this game holds up really well. The graphics are simple but effective and it's very challenging if you weren't experienced with these types of games. Everything on-screen will destroy your ship if you touch them even once, now the emulator's rewind does make the difficulty much easier but you still need to be good at dodging everything in your way because the later levels ramp up the difficulty.

In Arcade mode, there's about five phases per planet and the way you complete the phase is shooting a nuke which will destroy everything on-screen. The more your ship stays alive, the higher the multiplier becomes. You can also use a boost to quickly move through some tough spots, and bombs to destroy the area around you. The bombs you can store as many as you want and to receive them is by shooting a green box out of a storage ship type which will provide you with at least 2 bombs per phase.

There's various shooting types you can use during the game. There's the starting gun which shoots green bullets that will slowly get bigger and more in quantity the more you use them. There's the ice bullet which is similar but seems to do a good job taking out the icey rocks. And then you have the fire lava type that acts like a lazer you can keep going in all directions. I mainly focused on the starting bullets because it did the job throughout all of the modes.

Once you have finished the planets on Normal difficulty in Arcade mode, the game will continue by starting over (keeping your scores and progress) but switches the difficulty over to Hard, but there are other modes also available. In Endless mode, this is very similar to Arcade mode but with a single phase with everything going at you and numerous nukes available to take out the enemies on-screen. In Survival mode, you have to avoid all of the indestructible objects that are in your way with bombs available to try and move them away from you. In Bomber mode, you can only use bombs to take out everything on your screen whilst dodging the objects around you.

The Platinum trophy was added post-launch and it's a solid selection. You essentially finish Arcade mode and achieve certain objectives, and play the other modes. It took me about 2 hours to get all of the trophies but it's a short game overall. I do recommend it as it's pretty solid for what it did back in the day.

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#26 - Pinball Heroes (PlayStation Portable via Classics version on PlayStation 5)
Acquired: PlayStation Plus Premium

Spoiler: My thoughts on Pinball Heroes

When Sony announced that this pinball game released for the PlayStation Portable was coming to PlayStation 5 via their Classics programme, I was curious. I like pinball but I don't own a video game of that type on modern platforms so I was intrigued to see how this one plays.

Pinball Heroes was developed by San Diego Studio, the folks behind The Mark of Kri, Pain and more notably MLB The Show franchise, so knowing that this is the sort of game they would probably make. And what the title says is what you expect - it's a pinball game, but with eight different video games from Sony's catalogue representing the designs of each pinball machine which is pretty cool.

So the video games involved that have a pinball machine of their own are San Diego Studio's Pain, High Velocity Bowling and ModNation Racers, Naughty Dog's Uncharted, Clap Handz' Everybody's Golf, Titan Studios' Fat Princess, Evolution Studios' MotorStorm and Psygnosis' WipEout. Each game have their own style and setup so they don't play the same, i.e. you have to aim at different parts of the board to get the points going.

The best example is High Velocity Bowling where you need to hit the bowling area to then aim for a strike or spear before you can receive bonus points to increase the score. Another example is Everybody's Golf where you have to perfectly aim at the center to then be able to get the pinball into the golf hole. The most challenging ones I've encountered are ModNation Racers due to not being able to earn that many points throughout, Fat Princess due to its very complicated setup like a real-time strategy and MotorStorm due to needing to aim at specific parts of the board to get the points which is not easy to achieve. The pinball can also just end up in the gutter out of nowhere which is annoying so there is a bit of RNG throughout.

Overall this is a pretty entertaining but short-lived game for the PSP. The Platinum trophy is also very simple with trying out each board and aiming for the high scores on each one.

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#27 - Killzone: Liberation (PlayStation Portable via Classics version on PlayStation 5)
Acquired: PlayStation Plus Premium

Spoiler: My thoughts on Killzone: Liberation

A few years ago I played the second and third Killzone games which I enjoyed a fair bit and whilst I haven't play the other games, I did learn about how the PSP instalment was pretty well-received despite not following the same FPS formula because of the device's limitations (it ain't going to work when you only have one analog stick). With Sony adding the game onto their PS Plus Premium service I decided it was time to check it out.

Killzone: Liberation takes place in-between the first two games and switches the gameplay up as a top-down third-person shooter which surprisingly works for the most part. You use the left analog stick to move the character around, the L1 button to strafe sideways, R1 to crouch and take cover, Square to shoot and Circle to throw grenades. The enemies do have HP bars which helps how much health they have left when you shoot at them, and from what I can see you can only have one weapon at a time with slots for syringes to help heal your teammate who may accompany you from time to time, and grenades/C4.

The game's story mode is divided into four chapters with four missions each, and each chapter has had different locations whether its in the middle of a warzone, a swamp, frosty area or in a dessert. They're all really well designed and the enemy variety and robot bombs were pretty cool too. You do lose your health a lot though but the game is quite generous with how you have a big stash box from time to time that offers you different weapon options, health refill (finite amount though) and grenades/C4/remote bombs. The story is pretty simplistic but it does the job for what they wanted to convey but the boss fights do a lot of damage to you so you will struggle a fair bit throughout.

Throughout each mission you may find a suitcase which offers money, this money once built up will unlock more weapons and upgraded versions of the current weapons which will make combat easier in the later levels, especially considering you will die a lot though rewind with the emulator helps. You can also receive extra bonuses before each mission starts which are achieved by gaining points from the Challenge mode.

Challenge mode includes various sets of tasks like shooting down targets, finding items, moving remote bots into cages and defeating your position against foes. They're all fairly short but very fun. You do get ranked with Bronze, Silver or Gold and the higher the medal the better the points. You have to complete the chapters first before you can start this mode but I was able to get through all of the ones that I unlocked throughout.

The Platinum for this game which I was able to get, is completing all four chapters of the base game (there is a fifth chapter that was DLC but I didn't take part in that as I got stuck on the first mission and just gave up) and completing the 24 challenges plus a few miscellaneous objectives. The game took me about five hours to get everything done and I had a good time. It's a solid spin-off to the franchise and speaking of which, Killzone: Mercenary on Vita is also highly recommended if you haven't checked that one out.

---

#28 - LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival (PlayStation Portable via Classics version on PlayStation 5)
Acquired: PlayStation Plus Premium

Spoiler: My thoughts on LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival

I've heard a lot about the LocoRoco games. They are one of the most popular niche franchises in Sony's catalogue which started off on the PlayStation Portable and while a remastered version of the first game was brought over to PlayStation 4 I haven't played it or do I own it. My first experience with LocoRoco is actually through a certain recent game of the year title which I won't name for spoiler reasons and I liked what they had offered.

LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival carries the same style as the previous games where your goal is to get your LocoRoco character from point A to point B and avoid various obstacles along the way. You use the L and R controls to tilt the screen to have the LocoRoco character move along which is a cool idea and then you have to use either L and R to also make the character jump which sounds great on paper, but the execution depends on the level design.

To be honest, the biggest problem that I have with this game are the controls themselves. In a lot of situations especially during the final few levels you are going to end up fighting more with the controls than the game itself because you can easily lose the momentum and the jumping is not really great. I think the problem here is that they placed both the tilting of the character and the jumping on the same buttons when in reality they should have kept it separately. I am curious to know if the PlayStation 4 remasters have fixed this issue because I love what this game provides but the controls haven't aged very well in my opinion.

The Platinum was pretty easy as it's essentially go through all of the main story levels in the game which took about 75 minutes.

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#29 - Akai Katana Shin (Nintendo Switch)
Acquired: February 2024

Spoiler: My thoughts on Akai Katana

I figured since I haven't played any Switch games this past year outside of MushimeSama, I decided now was the time to check out another Cave bullet hell shoot em up with Akai Katana Shin. Akai Katana started off in 2010 in the Arcades over in Japan which was eventually ported over to Xbox 360 as Akai Katana Shin in 2011 for Japan, and 2012 for the rest of the world. Then we got a modern platform release years later which includes the Nintendo Switch.

Like before I have played through this game not as a competitive 'finish the game without a game over' approach but more or less, progress through the modes with different characters and such, like a casual experience. The first thing I noticed is that it's not a vertical design but rather horizontal which I didn't realise but was an interesting experience to play. It did feel a bit busier because design-wise you feel like you're sitting closer to the combat, but it plays very well.

There are three versions included with this release on modern platforms; the original Akai Katana that is presented in 4:3 aspect ratio, Akai Katana Shin which is the main mode presented at full screen (16:9) and has extra levels from what I can gather, and Zetsu Katana which I couldn't tell what was different for the most part from Akai mode. There are three characters that you can play and they each have their own style of gameplay and what I found interesting is that you have your main shooter but also a mini companion of sorts that you can use to shoot enemies from a specific angle, whether its further up on the screen or right in front of you which adds more fun to the combat.

In terms of the difficulty I think this is easier than MushimeSama but around the same difficulty as Espgaluda II outside of the bosses which is up and down. There is apparently a true final boss but I don't think I encountered that in my playthroughs. In terms of level variety and gameplay mechanics I do prefer DoDonPachi Resurrection and Espgaluda II though but I can appreciate what the game was going for with its design.

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#30 - Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PlayStation 3)
Acquired: April 2021

Spoiler: Thoughts on Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

The final game for the year to play was a tough choice as I wanted to end the year on a good pick but also a game that didn't take too long to complete. In the end I decided on Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, the fourth mainline game in the franchise.

Released in 2013 by Sanzaru Games, taking over from Sucker Punch, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time followed the same model that the previous two games had done, offering a mini open world with various missions to eventually conclude the episode with a heist style approach. Though here, the difference is that it's not really a heist, more like defeating a boss. Thieves in Time goes for a 'what if someone is interfering with Sly's existence and use time travel to fix it' and with that we have different worlds introduced from various moments in time, for instance historical Japan with ninjas and sushi. Sly and the team figure out what they need to do to protect their present and stop the boss from causing further havoc.

The gameplay is similar to the previous games, with a button dedicated to locking onto glittery blue objects that allow Sly to progress through the surroundings. I read that critics hate this idea but I found it works really well because it helps when you are climbing around the area due to various levels in the mini open world, like ropes and buildings or random objects. The game can be pretty buggy when you are trying to jump onto objects as your character model still assumes you're still falling, but in most cases it works well.

This is a stealthy focused game but you can combat enemies if needed, though you are at a disadvantage if you do try to fight enemies as Sly. You can play as Bentley who is still in a wheelchair but don't let that fool you as he can deal a lot of damage against enemies with his bombs, and also Murray who is the brute of the brunch. There are more characters that you can play for brief points throughout the game with their own skillsets. Like before, you can steal coins and sometimes randomised items to earn more cash which you can use to purchase new abilities in the ThiefNet.

Collectibles make their return once again. Sly Masks are placed throughout the missions and open-world area which you can easily miss if you're not careful. There's bottles throughout the area that will let you unlock a safe that gives you more features to support you with the journey, like having coins go towards you if you're nearby. And for added challenge there are treasures scattered in the area that you have to bring back to your hub area without taking damage and within a time limit. Some of these treasures are also locked behind specific abilities that you will unlock throughout the story.

The missions themselves have some similarities in each episode but they do try to change it up each time. You have mini-games with Bentley which are pretty interesting though can be a pacing killer when you want to replay those missions to find collectibles. There's following the enemy without getting spotted which is decently paced, you have missions where you need to find or break something which can either be stealthy or not depending on the situation, and you have missions where you just need to take a photo or two. The length of the missions is pretty decent and don't take up too much time. There are a lot of cutscenes throughout which look better than the original trilogy and hold up pretty well all these years later.

In terms of criticisms, one major thing that reviewers have noted and I've noticed it a lot is that loading times are too long. This game needed a fast and steady pace and these loading screens are an absolute mess. Another issue is the frame rate is not stable in specific areas, especially in the later episodes where it feels busier than usual in the surroundings. My game actually crashed because the frame rate got so laggy during combat being hectic. Outside of those moments, it does run pretty well otherwise, but the main issue is still loading times especially when you want to go for the Platinum that requires a lot of backtracking.

Speaking of the Platinum trophy, I did manage to achieve it. This game's trophy list is not easy to say the least but it is definitely doable. The challenge that you will have is collecting everything throughout the game and doing specific moments in each mission in one take, whether it be a perfect run during a mini-game or without taking damage or within a time limit. There are also arcade mini-games related to Bentley's stuff that have high scores you need to beat which is challenging if you don't do it right and one of those mini-games uses motion controls which is not great due to how sensitive it can be.

Overall I would say Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is a solid game for the franchise. It does a lot of things right and it's a shame we haven't seen any more from them since. This was released in the final year before PlayStation 4 came along and presentation-wise it does feel like a polished PS3 game, though there are graphical and loading issues throughout. The story is pretty good, although the final act feels pretty rushed but the cast is strong and the gameplay is still fun to play. This game does deserve a remaster in my opinion. Playtime was about 15-20 hours overall.

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My backlog so far:

Spoiler

#​	PC/Steam Backlog - Game Name:​	Genre:
1​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky	Turn-Based RPG
2​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC	Turn-Based RPG

#​	PlayStation 3 Backlog - Game Name:​	Genre:
1​	3D Dot Game Heroes	Action RPG
2​	Bleach: Soul Resurrección	Fighting
3​	Castlevania: Lords of Shadow	Action, Hack n Slash
4​	Catherine	Puzzle
5​	Drakengard 3	Action RPG
6​	Eternal Sonata	Turn-Based RPG
7​	Folklore	Action RPG
8​	Gran Turismo 5 Academy Edition	Racing
9​	inFAMOUS	Action
10​	inFAMOUS 2	Action
11​	Katamari Forever	Puzzle
12​	MotorStorm	Racing
13​	Prince of Persia	Action, Platformer
14​	Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands	Action, Platformer
15​	Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed	Racing
16​	Split/Second: Velocity	Racing
17​	Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
18​	Way of the Samurai 4	Action

#​	PlayStation 4 Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
2​	AI: The Somnium Files	Adventure, Visual Novel
3​	Black Clover: Quartet Knights	Action, Fighting
4​	Bullet Girls Phantasia	Action, Shooter
5​	Burnout Paradise Remastered	Racing
6​	The Caligula Effect: Overdose	Turn-Based RPG
7​	Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions	Sports
8​	Catherine Full Body	Puzzle
9​	Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars	Turn-Based RPG
10​	CRYSTAR	Action RPG
11​	Cyberdimension Neptunia: Four Goddesses Online	Action RPG
12​	Danganronpa 1 Reload	Visual Novel
13​	Danganronpa 2 Reload	Visual Novel
14​	Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls	Action, Shooter
15​	Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony	Visual Novel
16​	Date A Live: Rinne Utopia (Rio-Reincarnation)	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
17​	Date A Live II: Ars Install (Rio-Reincarnation)	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
18​	Date A Live III: Twin Edition: Rio Reincarnation	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
19​	Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess	God RPG
20​	Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth - Hacker's Memory	Turn-Based RPG
21​	Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories	Adventure, Simulation
22​	Dissidia Final Fantasy NT	Arcade, Fighting
23​	Dragon Quest Heroes II	Action RPG, Musou
24​	Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition	Turn-Based RPG
25​	Dragon's Crown Pro	Action RPG
26​	Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen	Action RPG
27​	Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends	Musou
28​	Fairy Tail	Turn-Based RPG
29​	Fate/Extella Link	Musou
30​	Final Fantasy IX	Turn-Based RPG
31​	Full Metal Panic! Fight! Who Dares Win	Tactical RPG
32​	Gal*Gun 2	On-Rails Shooter
33​	Gintama Rumble	Action, Musou
34​	GOD EATER 3	Action Hunter RPG
35​	Gravity Rush 2	Action, Platformer
36​	The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures	Visual Novel
37​	The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve	Visual Novel
38​	Gundam Breaker 3 BREAK EDITION	Action, Arcade
39​	Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Infinite Combate	Action RPG
40​	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven	Fighting
41​	Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa	Puzzle, Visual Novel
42​	Langrisser	Tactical RPG
43​	Langrisser II	Tactical RPG
44​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel	Turn-Based RPG
45​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II	Turn-Based RPG
46​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III	Turn-Based RPG
47​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV	Turn-Based RPG
48​	Legend of Mana	Action RPG
49​	Megadimension Neptunia VII	Turn-Based RPG
50​	Megadimension Neptunia VIIR	Turn-Based RPG
51​	MELTY BLOOD: TYPE LUMINA	Fighting
52​	My Hero Academia: One's Justice 2	Fighting
53​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm	Action, Fighting
54​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2	Action, Fighting
55​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3	Action, Fighting
56​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4: Road to Boruto	Action, Fighting
57​	NEO: The World Ends With You	Action RPG
58​	Neptunia Virtual Stars	Action
59​	Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars	Action
60​	Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered	Turn-Based RPG
61​	Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom	Action RPG
62​	Nights of Azure	Action RPG
63​	Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon	Action RPG
64​	One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4	Action, Musou
65​	One Piece: World Seeker	Action
66​	Our World Is Ended	Visual Novel
67​	Persona 5 Strikers	Action RPG, Musou
68​	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney	Visual Novel
69​	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All	Visual Novel
70​	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations	Visual Novel
71​	Punch Line	Visual Novel
72​	Raging Loop	Visual Novel
73​	Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-: Prophecy of the Throne	Visual Novel
74​	Robotics;Notes DaSH	Visual Novel
75​	Robotics;Notes ELITE	Visual Novel
76​	SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays	Tactical RPG
77​	SD Gundam G Generation Genesis	Tactical RPG
78​	Sengoku Basara 4: Sumeragi	Musou
79​	Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal	Action
80​	Shadow of the Colossus	Platformer
81​	Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster	Turn-Based RPG
82​	Star Ocean: First Departure R	Action RPG
83​	Star Ocean: The Last Hope HD Remaster	Action RPG
84​	Steins;Gate Elite	Visual Novel
85​	Super Neptunia RPG	Turn-Based RPG
86​	Super Robot Wars 30	Tactical RPG
87​	Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers	Tactical RPG
88​	Super Robot Wars T	Tactical RPG
89​	Super Robot Wars X	Tactical RPG
90​	Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet	Action RPG
91​	Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Sessions!	Music, Rhythm
92​	Tales of Berseria	Action RPG
93​	Tales of Vesperia	Action RPG
94​	Theatrhythm Final Bar Line	Music, Rhythm
95​	Trials of Mana	Action RPG
96​	Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
97​	Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
98​	Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
99​	Utawarerumono: Zan	Action, Musou
100​	Valkyria Chronicles 4	Tactical RPG
101​	Valkyria Revolution	Action RPG
102​	WipEout Omega Collection	Racing
103​	The Witch and the Hundred Knight Revival Edition	Action RPG
104​	WORLDEND SYNDROME	Visual Novel
105​	Yakuza 3 Remastered	Action, Beat em up
106​	Yakuza 4 Remastered	Action, Beat em up
107​	Yakuza 5 Remastered	Action, Beat em up
108​	YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World	Visual Novel

#​	PlayStation 5 Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Alan Wake Remastered	Action, Shooter
2​	Alan Wake II	Action, Survival Horror
3​	Beyond Good & Evil	Action, Adventure
4​	CONTROL Ultimate Edition	Action, Shooter
5​	Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII -Reunion-	Action RPG
6​	Cyberpunk 2077	Action
7​	Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles	Fighting
8​	The DioField Chronicle	Tactical RPG
9​	DOOM Eternal	Action, Shooter
10​	FANTAVISION 202X	Puzzle
11​	Fate/Samurai Remnant	Action RPG, Musou
12​	Forspoken	Action RPG
13​	Ghost of Tsushima	Action, Adventure
14​	Ghostwire: Tokyo	Action, Survival Horror
15​	Granblue Fantasy Re:link	Action RPG
16​	GrimGrimoire OnceMore	Real-Time Strategy RPG
17​	Hades	Dungeon Crawler
18​	HUMANITY	Puzzle
19​	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R	Fighting
20​	Judgment	Action, Beat em up
21​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie	Turn-Based RPG
22​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak	Turn-Based RPG
23​	Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name	Action, Beat 'em up
24​	Lost Judgment	Action, Beat em up
25​	Mobile Suit Gundam BATTLE OPERATION Code Fairy	Action
26​	MONARK	Tactical RPG
27​	Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten	Turn-Based RPG
28​	Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution	Action RPG
29​	Neptunia ReVerse	Turn-Based RPG
30​	Neptunia: Sisters vs Sisters	Action RPG
31​	One Piece: Odyssey	Turn-Based RPG
32​	Pac-Man World Re-Pac	Platformer
33​	Persona 3 Reload	Turn-Based RPG
34​	Persona 5 Royal	Turn-Based RPG
35​	Persona 5 Tactica	Tactical RPG
36​	Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit of Wonder Labyrinth	Metroidvania RPG
37​	Relayer	Tactical RPG
38​	SD Gundam Battle Alliance	Action RPG
39​	Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance	Turn-Based RPG
40​	Soul Hackers 2	Turn-Based RPG
41​	Star Ocean: The Divine Force	Action RPG
42​	Star Ocean: The Second Story R	Action RPG
43​	System Shock	First-Person Shooter, Survival Horror
44​	Tactics Ogre Reborn	Tactical RPG
45​	Tales of Arise	Action RPG
46​	Tomb Raider 1 Remastered	Action, Adventure
47​	Tomb Raider 2 Remastered	Action, Adventure
48​	Tomb Raider 3 Remastered	Action, Adventure
49​	Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2	Sports
50​	Unicorn Overlord	Tactical RPG
51​	Valkyrie Elysium	Action RPG
52​	Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon	Turn-Based RPG
53​	Yurukill: The Calumniation Games	Shoot em up, Visual Novel

#​	PlayStation Classics (via PS5) Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Dino Crisis	Survival Horror
2​	Kurushi Final: Mental Blocks	Puzzle
3​	The Legend of Dragoon	Turn-Based RPG
4​	Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth	Turn-Based RPG
5​	Wild Arms	Turn-Based RPG
6​	Wild Arms 2	Turn-Based RPG

#​	PlayStation Vita Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Bullet Girls	Action, Shooter
2​	Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni	Action

#​	Nintendo Switch Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Advance Wars (Re-Boot Camp)	Tactical RPG
2​	Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (Re-Boot Camp)	Tactical RPG
3​	Anonymous;Code	Adventure, Visual Novel
4​	Another Code: Two Memories	Adventure, Puzzle
5​	Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories	Adventure, Puzzle
6​	Armored Warriors (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
7​	Avenger (Telenet Shooting Collection)	Arcade, Shoot 'em up
8​	Balatro	Card, Roguelike
9​	Battle Circuit (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
10​	Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition	Adventure, Point & Click
11​	Captain Commando (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
12​	Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker	Puzzle, Platformer
13​	Castle of Shikigami 2	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
14​	Castlevania (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
15​	Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
16​	Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
17​	Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
18​	Castlevania: The Adventure (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
19​	Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Advance Collection)	Action, Platform
20​	Castlevania: Bloodlines (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
21​	Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (Advance Collection)	Action, Platform
22​	Castlevania: Dracula X (Advance Collection)	Action, Platform
23​	Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Advance Collection)	Action, Platform
24​	Chaos;Child	Adventure, Visual Novel
25​	Chaos;Head Noah	Adventure, Visual Novel
26​	Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition	Turn-Based RPG
27​	Clock Tower: Rewind	Adventure, Point & Click, Survival Horror
28​	Code of Princess EX	Action RPG
29​	Contra (Anniversary Collection)	Side-scrolling Shooter
30​	Contra Hard Corps (Anniversary Collection)	Side-scrolling Shooter
31​	Contra III: The Alien Wars (Anniversary Collection)	Side-scrolling Shooter
32​	Cosmic Fantasy	Turn-Based RPG
33​	Cosmic Fantasy II	Turn-Based RPG
34​	Cruis'n Blast	Racing
35​	Cursed to Golf	Sports, Platformer
36​	Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
37​	Cytus Alpha	Music, Rhythm
38​	Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
39​	Deathsmiles	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
40​	Deathsmiles II	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
41​	Demon's Tilt	Pinball
42​	Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze	Action, Platform
43​	EXZEUS	Arcade, On-Rails Shooter
44​	EXZEUS 2	Arcade, On-Rails Shooter
45​	Final Fantasy (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
46​	Final Fantasy Adventure (Collection of Mana)	Action RPG
47​	Final Fantasy II (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
48​	Final Fantasy III (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
49​	Final Fantasy IV (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
50​	Final Fantasy V (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
51​	Final Fantasy VI (Pixel Remaster)	Turn-Based RPG
52​	Final Fight (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
53​	Fire Emblem Warriors	Action, Musou
54​	Fire Emblem: Engage	Tactical RPG
55​	Fire Emblem: Three Houses	Tactical RPG
56​	Gaiares (Telenet Shooting Collection)	Arcade, Shoot 'em up
57​	Getsu Fūma Den	Action RPG
58​	Getsufumaden: Undying Moon	Action RPG, Metroidvania
59​	Granada (Telenet Shooting Collection)	Arcade, Shoot 'em up
60​	Grandia (HD Collection)	Turn-Based RPG
61​	Grandia II (HD Collection)	Turn-Based RPG
62​	Hatsune Miku: Logic Paint S	Puzzle
63​	The House in Fata Morgana	Visual Novel
64​	Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
65​	Kid Dracula (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
66​	The King of Dragons (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
67​	Knights of the Round (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
68​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero	Turn-Based RPG
69​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure	Turn-Based RPG
70​	The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails	Action RPG
71​	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild	Action RPG
72​	The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening	Action RPG
73​	Live A Live	Tactical RPG
74​	Mario Kart 8 Deluxe	Racing
75​	Marvel Super Heroes (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
76​	Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
77​	Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
78​	Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
79​	Metroid Dread	Metroidvania
80​	Metroid Prime Remastered	Action, Shooter
81​	MUSYNX	Music, Rhythm
82​	New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe	Platformer
83​	Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
84​	Octopath Traveler	Turn-Based RPG
85​	Operation C (Anniversary Collection)	Side-scrolling Shooter
86​	Paper Mario: The Origami King	Turn-Based RPG
87​	Powerslave Exhumed	Action, Shooter
88​	Psychic Storm (Telenet Shooting Collection)	Arcade, Shoot 'em up
89​	The Punisher (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
90​	Radiant Silvergun	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
91​	Record of Agarest War	Tactical RPG
92​	Red Earth (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
93​	Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess (Marl Kingdom Chronicles)	Turn-Based RPG
94​	Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom (Marl Kingdom Chronicles)	Turn-Based RPG
95​	River City Girls Zero	Action, Beat 'em ups
96​	SaGa Frontier	Turn-Based RPG
97​	Secret of Mana (Collection of Mana)	Action RPG
98​	Senran Kagura Peach Ball	Pinball
99​	Senran Kagura Reflexions	Simulation
100​	Shadow Man Remastered	Action, Adventure
101​	Signalis	Survival Horror
102​	Super Castlevania IV (Anniversary Collection)	Action, Platform
103​	Super Contra (Anniversary Collection)	Side-scrolling Shooter
104​	Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (Pocket Fighter) (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
105​	Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury	Action, Platformer
106​	Super Mario Galaxy	Action, Platformer
107​	Super Mario Maker 2	Action, Platformer
108​	Super Mario Odyssey	Action, Platformer
109​	Super Mario Sunshine	Action, Platformer
110​	Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
111​	Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Fighting
112​	Syd of Valis (SD Valis) (Valis Collection 2)	Action, Platformer
113​	Toaplan Arcade Garage: Kyukyoku Tiger-Heli	Arcade, Shoot 'em up
114​	Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE	Turn-Based RPG
115​	Tokyo Xanadu eX+	Action RPG
116​	Trials of Mana (Collection of Mana)	Action RPG
117​	Triangle Strategy	Tactical RPG
118​	Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon	Visual Novel
119​	Valis: The Fantasm Soldier (Valis Collection 1)	Action, Platformer
120​	Valis II (Valis Collection 1)	Action, Platformer
121​	Valis III (Valis Collection 1)	Action, Platformer
122​	Valis IV (Valis Collection 2)	Action, Platformer
123​	Vampire Hunter 2: Darkstalkers' Revenge (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
124​	Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire (Darkstalkers 3) (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
125​	Vampire Savior 2: The Lord of Vampire (Capcom Fighting Collection)	Fighting
126​	Warriors of Fate (Capcom Belt Action Collection)	Arcade, Beat 'em up
127​	Witch on the Holy Night	Visual Novel
128​	The World Ends With You: Final Remix	Action RPG
129​	X-Men vs. Street Fighter (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
130​	X-Men: Children of the Atom (Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Classics)	Arcade, Fighting
131​	Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition	Action RPG
132​	Xenoblade Chronicles 2	Action RPG
133​	Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country	Action RPG
134​	Yoshi's Crafted World	Action, Platformer

The 2024 '40' Games Goal:

Spoiler

No.	Game	Console​	Acquired​	Genre
1​	Quake	PS5​	2023​	Action, Shooter
2​	Quake II	PS5​	2023​	Action, Shooter
3​	MushimeSama	Switch​	2023​	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
4​	Nioh 2 Remastered	PS5​	2022​	Action Souls RPG
5​	Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade	PS5​	2024​	Action RPG
6​	Final Fantasy VII Rebirth	PS5​	2024​	Action RPG
7​	Puppeteer	PS3​	2019​	Action, Platformer
8​	Stranglehold	PS3​	2023​	Action, Shooter
9​	Final Fantasy VIII Remastered	PS4​	2021​	Turn-Based RPG
10​	Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin	PS5​	2022​	Action Souls RPG
11​	The Hong Kong Massacre	PS4​	2023​	Top-Down Shooter
12​	RUINER	PS4​	2023​	Top-Down Shooter
13​	One Piece: Unlimited World Red	PS4​	2022​	Action
14​	One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows	PS4​	2024​	Fighting
15​	My Hero Academia: One's Justice	PS4​	2024​	Fighting
16​	Spec Ops: The Line	PS3​	2024​	Action, Shooter
17​	Ys IX: Monstrum Nox	PS5​	2023​	Action RPG
18​	Secret of Mana	PS4​	2021​	Action RPG
19​	Astro Bot	PS5​	2024​	Action, Platformer
20​	Metaphor: ReFantazio	PS5​	2024​	Turn-Based RPG
21​	Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!	PS5 (PS1)​	2022​	Action, Platformer
22​	Twisted Metal 2 (Twisted Metal World Tour)	PS5 (PS1)​	2023​	Action, Vehicular Combat
23​	Hot Shots Golf 2 (Everybody's Golf 2)	PS5 (PS1)​	2023​	Sports
24​	TimeSplitters	PS5 (PS2)​	Not Purchased​	Action, Shooter
25​	Super Stardust Portable	PS5 (PSP)​	Not Purchased​	Arcade, Twin-Stick Shooter
26​	Pinball Heroes	PS5 (PSP)​	Not Purchased​	Arcade, Pinball
27​	Killzone: Liberation	PS5 (PSP)​	Not Purchased​	Action, Top-Down Shooter
28​	LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival	PS5 (PSP)​	Not Purchased​	Puzzle, Platformer
29​	Akai Katana Shin	Switch​	2024​	Bullet Hell, Shoot 'em up
30​	Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time	PS3​	2021​	Action, Platformer

 

[HWR]

Starting the year off with the first Sly Cooper game via the PS5 version. Aiming to get all the trophies and am getting there.