What I'm Playing in 2024
At Present
The games that have my attention, for now
- Abiotic Factor - Early access Half-Life setting as a survival game with some delightful surprises
- ARCO - If somebody is trying to tell you about this game you should listen. I've been having issues with it crashing
- Atlyss - A rough early access release with furry elements, toggles for fanservice, and is favorably compared to PSO. Weird, but promising
- Dredge - I was late to the party with this one and the ship maay be running out of steam, but I've recovered 4 of the 5 mcguffins and had a fun time
- Slay the Spire - I hate that this game about deck optimization is as good as it is
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 - The Zone calls to me, and I must answer. Skif's Pistol is on a short list of greatest video game guns of all time
- Wayfinder - Launched in a bleak state for a live service game and it was dropped by the publisher in the Great Layoffs of 2024. Airship Syndicate refactored it to an offline single-player/co-op game and it's an interesting third-person character-action-looter-shooter-RPG
- Windblown - The Dead Cells devs have their own Hades. My only complaint is this is in early access
- Witchfire - Amazing gun designs that put Destiny to shame in a PvE extraction wrapper with recent Doom inspiration and grimdark fantasy. I gave this game shit for asking $35 in Early Access and had to walk my sentiment back after 5 min. of playing. Fantastic
What I've Completed
The recent games I enjoyed enough to see to the end
- Baldur's Gate 3 - This would have ended up in the abandoned section had my significant other not dragged me through in co-op. I'm glad BG3 facilitated getting weird and saw that weirdness through to the end
- Cyberpunk 2077 - The combination of Phantom Liberty being a fantastic thriller expansion and the updates made to the core game systems drove me to complete the whole game again when I just wanted to play Phantom
- Destiny 2 - Continuing to thread the needle of disrespecting time while offering something unavailable anywhere else, I am finished the fight with the final shape and have no interest in their episodes going forward
- Dice & Fold - A charming dice-based roguelike
- Dragon's Dogma II - What an interesting game. Seems like it was rushed. Thankfully it didn't overstay its welcome. Looking forward to an expansion
- Enshrouded - A better Zelda game than Tears
- Fallout 76 - Another treadmill game, I have a C.A.M.P. (custom base) I am proud of
and keep logging in despite the utter mess this game is of bolt-on features and bugs - Granblue Fantasy Relink - Funded by a cell-phone gacha game, this was a great RPG in the vein of God Eater and Monster Hunter, streamlined
- Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising - The updated fighting game based on the above mentioned gacha game, this is an accessible fighter that made some bad design decisions
- Helldivers II - Almost any other game would have been abandoned due to the crappy balancing and technical issues but the co-op experience was top notch until they balanced the fun out of the game
- Last Epoch - A better Diablo game than the last one to come out
- Slice & Dice - A fun dice battling strategic roguelite
- V Rising - Came back for the 1.0 release. Maybe the best vampire game ever, a good mix of survival and the action arena combat of Battlerite. Glad Stun Lock got a hit
What I've Abandoned
Sometimes quitters do win
- Alan Wake 2 - Too long, too combat focused
- Halo Infinite - I'd rather play Destiny
- Overwatch 2 - The balance never feels right, 5v5 doesn't work
- Pacific Drive - Survival, roguelike, and set in the Pacific Northwest. Should have been right up my lane but just didn't deliver
- Planet Crafter - A survival clicker? It was novel but we never revisited it
- Street Fighter 6 - I don't like the overdrive system and couldn't find a character that spoke to me
- Tekken 8 - I wish I wanted to and could invest the time to get decent, but I wasn't able to
- UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes - I wish I could have gotten into this one too, but fighting games just don't seem like a good fit for my life at present