25 in 2025 - Games

Last year (2024), I set myself a challenge to watch/play/listen/read 24 Films, Tv Shows, Games, Albums and Books.

These were all new rather than rewatches/replays as much as possible, slightly cheating by having comics and books in the same category.

So the Games wot i have played in 25. not the hardest achievement on this challenge, I mainly do sit on my arse and watch stuff on TV - gaming is only a bit of stretch further to achieve, espcially with the steam deck. So in no particular order, here are the games I played for the first time in 2025:

Starfox 64 (Decomp PC Port)

Yes, yes, yes, I know i said no replays. Well technically, this is the recomp - some wizards have extracted the code, turned it into PC code and created this, a version at 60fps, higher resolutions, mod, cheats the lot. Yes, ive played this before, yes its still the same game, but it now looks and plays so much better than before. Plus points for being on the steam deck and running like a dream

Lego Horizon Adventures

Lego game, but not the usual Lego fare. Was always going to be tough, going for a niche (lego games) within a niche (Horizon). Kids liked it, was fun to play. I finished it, havnt gone back to it. Internet and everyone hated it. It ran on the steam deck, but it did chug a fair bit as well

Vampire Survivors

Late to the party on this one, but yeah, its a wild time. Basic as you like, but better than all of the shovelware polluting the mobile market, and a fair bit better than some mainstream games too. Does have a bad habit of making my phone hotter than the sun when playing it. But feeds the part of the brain that are normally serviced by fruit machines or micro transactions, so its doing a public service. Plus, for a low low price of around a quid, you get a DLC and remove the ads. This is how this should be done!

Ridge Racer 2

Gave one of my favorite series (RIP) a spin on the steam deck. rock solid 60fps. looks lovely. Helped by being a collection of all the best tracks and cars from previous entries, rather than trying to do something new. a fun and (on the whole) chill time wizzing about

Frostpunk 2

So, the first game i absolutely loved. Spoke to me with the post-apocolyptic setting, and the victorian era steam punk was a nice touch, and the city building, yes yuum yum yum!. While i gave this a go, it didnt grab me to the extend of the previous entry, and all the extras felt tacked on and not adding that much to the original experience. Disapointment of the year for me

Doom Eternal

Given this free on Microsoft (I think?) hence i havent found a way to get it to work on steam deck. Fun enough, sometime i got into the groove. But the whole certain guns for certain enemies felt like it was interupting the flow. Story was a bit meh, but who is playing this for the story?

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Been playing this bugger for what feels like years at this point. Finally got to the end. Puzzles are evil and make you feel dumb. kids liked it, i was glad it was over. hopefully the next one not take so long to complete

The Legend of Zelda: A link between worlds

Had a fun enough time with this one. the gimick is well used, and liked the renting of your weapons, that was interesting. Several dungeons had that barstard quality where you feel that you are wandering around aimlessly, but short and sweet rather that bloated and outstaying its welcome

Marvel Snap

yeah, this was the year i finally was done with this. When was playing and collecting care free, fun times.Wwhen i tried to climb the ranks, ho boy, then i started to hate this thing. All the fun evaporated, ended up hating loosing hours or days of progress when trolls would turn up and fuck shit up. Ended up going full on barstard troll to get over the line. reached a point where i could put the ruddy thing down, and I am so glad! Managed to do it without spending any money either. Gorgeous graphical work on all the cards, but by the 100th time of seeing them, you are not noticing

Yeah, i slogged through this. I kinda liked the 1st game, but loathed the last level (lets have a cover shooter, which wasn't built into the game till this point!). This one feels a lot more film and a lot less game. Didnt hate on it, didnt love it either. And the bastard thing is long! has around 3 different endings in it. A better game that a tv show, but would have been better having more game, if that makes sense?

so i tried the 3rd of of these way back when , bounced of it and didn't pick it back up. Managed to get this one running on the steam deck (looks lovely), and yeah, a fun enough time. A lot of backtracking, possibly a bit too long, but on the whole, enjoyed it. dunno if I will go back to the rest of the series, but will see

Alien Vs. Predator (arcade)

Was slightly worried that i wasn't getting the list ticked off quick enough, so i fired up the arcade version of this on the steam deck and plowed through in a few hours. Bonus for not costing me an arm and a leg (it's very much a coin muncher) but while a bit silly, it was fun enough.

Mario Kart 64 (Decomp - PC Port)

So Another Decomp dropped, this time was for Mario Kart 64. graphics made to look nicer, 60fps makes all the difference, fun times. Yes, i played this to death on the N64, but my list - get off my back

Bowsers Fury

Had this kicking around in the switch lent to the house, so i sunk some hours in to see the ending. Fun enough (its mario, pretty hard to not be rock solid gameplay-wise), i know everyone and their dog is saying its open world mario, this is the way it will now go. But im not too sure, there is enough game to fill the 6ish hours for this, but for a full sized mario game? yeah not certain about that

Civilization 6

So when this was given away free on Epic with all DLC's, I thought i hade to install and fire it back up! Still as adictive, still as glossy, DLC are a nice touch. Had to unistall for sanity rather than still be playing it now

The legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Decomp PC Port)

Yet another Decomp. yes ive played it before. Was mainily covering for the bits too hard for my youngest, but by the end I was playing it all the way through. If you havent played it, dont get into the argument of which series entry is better, give this one a whirl. And if you have played it already, then give the decomp a go, means you can have free camera control, higher resolutions, unlocked fps. and you can have your iron boots attached to an action key, making the water temple so much better. Still a bastard, but more managable not having to open your inventory a billion times

Split/Fiction

Played though this with the eldest, couch co-op is a rare thing to find nowadays so was fun on the bun. some bits we struggled with, but on the whole, fun times. Story is nothing to write home about but yeah, it was always going to be pretty beige. And you get to be a farting pig that turns into a hotdog

Dragon age: The Veilguard

oh boy, this was, a game. While i didnt hate it as much as it seems a lot of people did, i have not loved one of these games since the first one, so this was not going get me defending it to the hilt online. suffers from obviously being different things at different stages (online, then single player, then PVP, then back again to single player), so managed to both feel outdated and rushed at the same time. Will be a shame if yet another Bioware series is given the ol' yeller treatment by EA

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

think this was given away free on april fools day? very much a odd murder mystery, with the sonic characters (all of the buggers). more surpising to find out this is an actual Sega game rather than a fan project

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

So I love the first MGS. second one is ok, not a fan of the 3rd one, slogged thorugh the nosense of the 4th, haven't played the 5th. This was one i wanted to see what the changes were like and if it was as bad as reported. yeah, its weird. Some things are great (looks lovely), but others are bad (sound is all over the place, some very anime scene chucked it mess with the tone a lot). quite broken with the adition of 1st person aiming. Liked it, Steam deck ran it like a champ

Steam World Dig 2

Had a fun enough time with this. Didn't outstay it's welcome, ok times. Final Boss was an utter barstard, but yeah, then finished and moved on. solid enough Metro-vania

We Love Katamari

Well this was an acid trip. no idea what is going on with the story, utter mental. Fun game though, make a big ball of stuff rolling around various places. Not too long or too tough

Brakes are for losers

Top down cartoon racer of old. Gimick was ok, got bored. just about finished it. yeah, quite disposable, but then its not trying to be Gran Turismo is it?

Advance wars 1 + 2: reboot camp

Loved these back in the day, now with some QOL features and appearing all shiny. Becomes an utter bugger towards the end, but still good fun

Never finished this back in the day. Got to the end finally. yes, its a coin muncher, but cowboys!

EXTRAS

Weirdly, i still managed to get some Games done in the last part of the year. Here are the ones I finished past the 25:

The Callisto Protocol

Given away free on the Epic store, and thought i would give it a try. Liked the 1st dead space, but not such a fan of either of the sequels. This i think gets a bad rap as Dead Space but not as good, which is not really fair. Its a lot more chunky than Dead space, bigger character, and slower. But had a good time, everything is very gloopy and gross,possibly suffers from not refining the sci fi horror experience. Probably wont get a sequel to improve apon, which is a bit of shame

Hogwarts Legacy

Again free on Epic, worked on the steam deck (after a lot of swearing). As a game, is very basic. everything feels very barebones, open world is copy pasted, the combat is very rock paper scissors and cluttered, and the flying is some of the worst i have experienced. All feels a bit nickel and diming, if I had paid money, i would be pissed. Very much a collectathon, but nothing done well, All in all, a bad excuse of tired game mechanics

Hades

This has now become my latest obsession. Just one more run, fit one in before breakfast. while on the sofa. before bed. AHHHHHH, more hades! Again, i am late to this party, but jeez what an experience. Sometimes you forget that games can be so simple, but so complex at the same time. Have been playing this since Christmas Day, and not much else is getting a look in. Hoping to get to the Epilogue so I can chalk it off and move on. But is so adictive! Plus, you get a whole Soap opera of Greek gods, whats not love?