Doing something new this year where I just write a bit about each game I've played as I finish it so I can go back and look at my thoughts. Not everything provokes a lot of thinking with me these days when it comes to games, but for those that left more of an impression you can tell I wrote a bit more about them.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Surprised how much I enjoyed this. Gets original trilogy Star Wars more than anything I've encountered this side of the OG Thrawn Trilogy. Also is a damn fun video game.
Severed Steel
Titanfall 2 traversal meets bullet-time hi-jinks? Yes, please! I'll take this innovation over the slew of indie boomer shooters failing to get the fun of momentum and dodging that made the original Doom fun.
Cruelty Squad
More games should try to be an assault on the senses and an affront to video game norms. It's also a damn good immersive sim so it's a mechanical and aesthetic wonder all in one.
Ctrl Alt Ego
Look, I'm a pushover for anything immersive sim related, but this one is almost more puzzle-like in its approach, making combat truly suck in a way that encourages you to find ways to sneak, hack or distract your way through the levels. It's a cool world with cool mechanics and amazing levels that you need to play if you think there's even the slightest chance you'll like this game.
Time Bandit: Part 1 - Appendages of the Machine
You had me at Marx quote in the opening credits. GOTY 2023.
Marvel's Midnight Suns
Blade is BAE.
Sludge Life
Cute enough but feels like it wants to be satirical or have something to say but all it really is ends up being a 13-year-old sense of edginess mixed with a handful of hot button topics with no true thematic nuance.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
You wonder (pun intended) what Nintendo could do new with one of the longest running game series and then they basically make a game where each level is a new idea, often polished to a perfect sheen, and what you are left with might be the best mainline 2D Mario platformer. Yes, I said it. Take off the nostalgia glasses and the old games have lots of problems and the new games have some rough parts too. This one feels like the team went back and looked at what made every single 2D Mario game good and said, let's do that, but even better.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
I missed this at the time it was released and I know there was a lot of controversy at the time with how Square Enix handled the launch and micro-transactions in a single-player only game. I'm not saying that stuff is bad, but now 8 years later, playing the game with none of that stuff attached to it anymore, it's an amazing game with so many great moments and fixes the few nagging problems I had with Human Revolution. The only downside is the abrupt ending and the occasional parts when you can tell they were constrained by time and budget to achieve their full vision. Still, one of the best of the Immersive Sim genre and well worth a play for any fan of the series.