Played	Finished	Completed	Backlog+	Achievements
5	2	0	1	73

ABC Challenge Progress (24/26)

Finished this month: 0

• It Lurks Below
  

  8 hours playtime

  no achievements

• Flat Kingdom Paper's Cut Edition
  

  11 hours playtime

  35 of 48 achievements

• Submerged
  

  4 hours playtime

  9 of 10 achievements

• Subnautica
  

  15 hours playtime

  5 of 17 achievements

• Borderlands 2
  

  35 hours playtime

  24 of 75 achievements

• Borderlands 2
  

  35 hours playtime

  24 of 75 achievements

• Assassin's Creed Odyssey
  

  122 hours playtime

  58 of 88 achievements

• Forager
  

  24 hours playtime

  62 of 84 achievements

• Lamplight City
  

  9 hours playtime

  23 of 42 achievements

• Karma. Incarnation 1
  

  2 hours playtime

  5 of 7 achievements

• It Lurks Below
  

  2 hours playtime

  no achievements

What an adventure! It was my first AC since Blag Flag (which was a good pirate game but as an AC? meh), and what a great one to pick up the series again. They refreshed the gameplay and I felt the writing had greatly improved. I hadn't been interested in a protagonist that much since Ezio, and even tho, I loved Cassandra so much more that I was sad saying goodbye when I was done with the game. Don't get me wrong, the game is not perfect. It's still an ubi game with their own set of repetitive side quests, but it also has a great lot of unique side and main quests and an incredible game world. I wish they had finally dropped the "present time"/alien bullshit but I guess they're dragging it to justify it's still part of the AC license, and at least it's kept to a minimum. Strongly strongly recommended. Great value for your bucks.

In my quest for a Stardew Valley substitution, my eyes got caught by Forager when it was first announced. Marketed as "inspired by exploration, farming and crafting games such as Stardew Valley, Terraria & Zelda", 3 of my favourite games, I had high hopes. And it did start well and sort of addictive. But then after a few hours of collecting stuff, expending the map and solving very basic puzzles/dungeons, the game just hit the grindy wall of doom. It's like a bonified clicker with a crafting/surival game appearance to lure you in. I didn't dislike it, but I wouldn't strongly recommend it either, especially not for the full price they ask for it. Wait for a discount/bundle and give it a try maybe.

Another really amazing game I played this month, Lamplight City is a steampunkish detective P&C by the creator of Shardlight. It does give that wadget eye feel and you know that in P&C it's a sign of quality. Really compelling and interesting adventure with 5 separate cases to solve, and where you can either fail or succeed to find the true culprit. I loved the game and can't recommend it enough to all P&C lovers.

Another P&C with an amanita design feel to it (not as detailled visual style, but still), Karma Incarnation 1 was really nice to play through even tho on the quite short side. Sadly, it's clearly the first episode of what should have been a trilogy, but there hasn't been word of episode 2 from the devs in ages, so it's probably dead. That being said, this adventure is nice on itself and I recommend giving it a try if it's in your library.

• Underhero
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 44 achievements

• Finding Paradise
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 1 achievements

• Forager
  

  24 hours playtime

  62 of 84 achievements

• Frostpunk
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 75 achievements

• Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 30 achievements

• It Lurks Below
  

  2 hours playtime

  no achievements

• The Council
  

  15 hours playtime

  34 of 42 achievements

• Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions
  

  17 hours playtime

  38 of 38 achievements

• Nonogram - The Greatest Painter
  

  13 hours playtime

  26 of 26 achievements

• Minit
  

  3 hours playtime

  19 of 27 achievements

• Assassin's Creed Odyssey
  

  86 hours playtime

  30 of 82 achievements

• Pathway
  

  19 minutes playtime

  3 of 74 achievements

• Steep
  

  11 hours playtime

  no achievements

The Council was such an interesting take on detective games with a touch of supernatural. It had a lot of dialogues, some branching so it adds some replayability (even if I suspect some of it will stay the same) and overall I thought the story and plots were interesting enough, even if I'm not sure about the way it goes after a certain point in the story (no spoiler). I really enjoyed the game overall even if you can notice a bit of a down curve on the quality of the writing in the 2 last episodes compared to the earlier ones, I'd still recommend the game nonetheless.

A beautiful jigsaw type of puzzle game that greatly improves on the first one. A harder mode was added where the pieces are not fixed in the correct orientation when you pick them up, which makes the whole thing way more interesting. Definitely a recommended one if jigsaw are your thing.

So, how to explain Minit. It's an adventure game with a very simple retro look that you only play one minute at the time. Every 60 seconds your hero dies but some of the progress you've made is kept, obviously. It's kinda weird to explain but was a pretty interesting concept to play. I wasn't expecting much of it but was curious of the whole gimmick, and it turned out pretty enjoyable. Recommended if you're curious and like short but interesting gameplay.

A basic nonogram (also called Picross) game that had nothing too special but served its function well for me.

• Ash of Gods: Redemption
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 50 achievements

• 11-11 Memories Retold
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 50 achievements

• We. The Revolution
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 38 achievements

• Nonogram - The Greatest Painter
  

  13 hours playtime

  26 of 26 achievements

• Minit
  

  3 hours playtime

  19 of 27 achievements

• Assassin's Creed Odyssey
  

  86 hours playtime

  30 of 82 achievements

• Pathway
  

  19 minutes playtime

  3 of 74 achievements

• Supraland
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 59 achievements

• ISLANDERS
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 26 achievements

• Kynseed
  

  0 minutes playtime

  no achievements

• The World Next Door
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 24 achievements

• NAIRI: Tower of Shirin
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 20 achievements

• Steep
  

  11 hours playtime

  no achievements

• Forgotton Anne
  

  12 hours playtime

  33 of 33 achievements

• State of Decay 2
  

  51 hours playtime

  55 of 65 achievements

• Milkmaid of the Milky Way
  

  2 hours playtime

  6 of 6 achievements

• Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
  

  8 hours playtime

  6 of 9 achievements

• We Happy Few
  

  55 hours playtime

  37 of 40 achievements

• Solitaire Mystery: Stolen Power
  

  2 hours playtime

  5 of 5 achievements

• Monster Prom
  

  19 hours playtime

  17 of 32 achievements

• Forgotten Tales: Day of the Dead
  

  22 hours playtime

  58 of 58 achievements

• Vive le Roi
  

  5 hours playtime

  6 of 8 achievements

• Subterrain
  

  55 hours playtime

  45 of 48 achievements

• Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions
  

  3 hours playtime

  8 of 38 achievements

• The Council
  

  2 hours playtime

  12 of 42 achievements

This game is the prettiest I've played this year so far. It feels like you're playing a Ghibli movie (yes, you've read correctly, that's how good the animation/game design is). The music is really good, and the story is interesting (even if the "twist" is very predictable). I really loved the universe, exploring it and the game overall. That being said, don't expect a challenging puzzle plateformer, as the game itself is on the easy side. You can't die and the puzzles were nice, but never too hard. I'll recommend the game to anybody who cares more about the story and a beautiful delivery than the challenge itself. It surely lived to the expectations I had about it.

A cute and very short point & click with pixely graphics and a curious story. It's not very expensive and I recommend picking it up during a sale if you like the genre.

Momodora is a solid metroidvania, with a cute and creepy atmosphere. Despite it apparently being the 4th in the series, it's the only one I played and I didn't have any problem. It was really enjoyable, even tho it wasn't that long for a game in that genre (keep in mind in 8h, I collected everything there was to collect and explored 100% of the map). That being said, I thought the difficulty was just right and I loved the experience. Recommended.

One of my two big time sink this month. It was the second game that caught my interest in the windows/xbox games pass, as after the trick the devs and the publisher pulled, I was never gonna give them my money on steam. Especially for the outrageous price they ask for the game + season pass. So, that being said, the game was way more interesting than I thought it would be after all the feedback I read about it when it first came out in early access. The campaign actually consist of 3 separate consecutive stories where you play 3 different protagonists. The 3 stories are actually going on at the same time, and they sometimes intertwine. I found the plot quite interesting but the gameplay got quite repetitive after a while, even if each character had their own mecanics. I liked that it was possible to go through the whole game without many confrontation but a lot of stealth if you decide to (as usual, I went for the no kill playthrough), but some parts do require you to fight, you just have to be careful if you decide to go non lethal. Overall a great experience even if I refuse to recommend the game itself because of devs/publisher practices.

This is one of the worst solitaire game I've ever played, and in that I even include the old windows solitaire game that was coming with antique versions of windows. Not only you can finish the content of this game in 2 HOURS, but it also managed to be stuttering during the cards dealing sequences. A SOLITAIRE GAME. *insert flip the table gif* Clearly not recommended.

This one, on the other end, was great value for the money (which I probably got in a bundle or an exchange). Lot of solitaire content (100 levels), which is always perfect for relaxing when I just want to unplug my brain or while doing other things.

My second huge time sink this month, and after all that time invested in this, I have very mixed feelings at the end of the adventure. On the plus side, it's a quite cool top down survival game where you wake up stranded on Mars while some sort of infection has taken over the human colony, and you seem to be the only survivor. I liked the crafting/survival part, as well as exploring the colony. There was 3 problems to this game tho, and one of them almost ruined the whole experience for me. First, the tutorial is ridiculously unclear that I had to go on youtube watch a video to understand the basic mecanics. That could be overlooked tho. Second problem, which was part of my mistake, was that I took my sweet time exploring in my first playthrough, and after 15-20 hours I reached a point where the infection was too high and my equipment too low to go anywhere, including to retrieve what I needed to progress. I felt like it was never really clear that I was in a race against time until it was too late. I had to resolve to restart the game and throw away a whole week of gaming. That was not a nice feeling. That being said, the second playthrough (where I rushed to retrieve the data chip to upgrade my equipment first, and then explored later) was instantly better... until I reached problem number 3, which was kind of the worst in my eyes. So problem 3 is the final boss. It's such an outrageous difficulty peak that I almost rage quit the game without beating said boss. It took me maybe 3 hours between my first encounter with said boss and when I finally managed to kill it. Which didn't give me any satisfaction. Here's why: in between I unlocked another ending, which is supposedly the bad ending. Well after seeing both endings, I felt like the "bad ending" was actually the better ending, in a way I don't want to spoil here, but yeah. So I'd recommend this game if you have it in your library and want a nice crafting/survival game BUT A- first go watch a tutorial on youtube and B- spare yourself the frustration and don't try to kill the final boss. Sorry for that huge block of text, and thanks for reading if you reached this far.

• The Council
  

  2 hours playtime

  12 of 42 achievements

• Cultist Simulator
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 68 achievements

• Tangledeep
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 45 achievements

• The First Tree
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 14 achievements

• 嗜血印 Bloody Spell
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 24 achievements

• Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions
  

  3 hours playtime

  8 of 38 achievements

• Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas
  

  20 hours playtime

  63 of 63 achievements

• Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
  

  12 hours playtime

  31 of 44 achievements

• MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
  

  262 hours playtime

  44 of 50 achievements

• Steep
  

  11 hours playtime

  no achievements

• Wargroove
  

  61 minutes playtime

  1 of 23 achievements

• Monster Prom
  

  19 hours playtime

  15 of 32 achievements

• Even the Ocean
  

  9 hours playtime

  9 of 21 achievements

• Lost Grimoires 3: The Forgotten Well
  

  4 hours playtime

  13 of 13 achievements

• My Time At Portia
  

  39 hours playtime

  18 of 91 achievements

• Noir Chronicles: City of Crime
  

  4 hours playtime

  20 of 20 achievements

• VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
  

  16 hours playtime

  32 of 34 achievements

• State of Decay 2
  

  35 hours playtime

  50 of 65 achievements

• Ogrest
  

  86 minutes playtime

  no achievements

• Double Fine Adventure
  

  10 hours playtime

  no achievements

Adam picked this game for me for February's PoP and I have to say the game exceeded my expectations. It's a pretty good Zelda-like and I loved it so much I ended up going for a clean sweep of the achievements. Not only it was visually pretty, but it really gave me that snes-period Zelda feeling gameplay wise. Strongly recommended if you like the adventure genre.

I still don't really know what to think about this game. It was "interesting" to say the least, but gameplaywise it wasn't my cup of tea. My main problem with it is that I lost a lot of time navigating the small city every day to actually achieve what I intended to do. WHO makes games nowadays without a map when it would be more than useful. Also, the visual aspect of the game made me a bit dizzy at times, but nothing dramatic. Just a weird game overall.

An interesting action adventure RPG plateformer, by the dev of Anodyne. Story wise, it was okay, even if a little bit weak around the ending. Gameplaywise though, it was pretty good in term of balanced puzzles and new mecanics being introduced along the way. Note that there is 3 possibilities to play through the game: playing only the story, only the dungeons or the full experience, which mixes both. For my first playthrough I went with the whole experience, and it was pretty enjoyable. Recommended.

I really had liked both previous Lost Grimoires games, so that one was okayish but a bit of a let down. It's inferior to its predecessors, while not being fundamentally bad. Nice graphics, story as cliché as an Artifex game can be, but not enough hidden object scenes to my taste, and the game is way too short, especially for the asked price. This reminded me why I only buy AM games when they're bundled: while always raising the prices, they also make their games shorter and shorter, and it might be okay to some people, but I think it's a pretty shitty practice. Okay in a bundle, but still inferior to the 2 previous ones.

Another AM HoG from the same bundle, okay but not the strongest of their games either. Maybe more your thing if you prefer a noir/crime setting instead of a fantasy one. I don't mind either way, and I enjoyed playing it but like I said, not their best (not their worst either, it's more in the par area of what they produce) and only at bundle price.

Now, THIS was a great and interesting game. It's sort of a visual novel where you play as a barmaid in a cyberpunk future. From what I read it's in the same universe as 2064: Read Only Memories, but I haven't played that one yet. Along the way, as the story unfolds, you mix cocktails to try and please your customers, as well as trying to pay your rent at the end of the month. It was a really nice and refreshing game, pretty unique in it's genre and nicely executed. I'll be looking forward to it's upcoming sequel. Strongly recommended.

This game is the main reason I got that Xbox pass promo thing. I played quite a lot of the first State of Decay, and I actually enjoyed it, even if it wasn't perfect, and was looking forward to play the sequel before it turned out to be a windows store exclusive. The reviews at launch were pretty mixed so I made myself a reason that I wouldn't get to play it. Now, I'm glad in the end I got to play it. It's not perfect, and it doesn't add much to the first game actually, it's looking better, sure (I haven't played the remastered version of the first one though) but it's more of the same stuff. Which is why I liked it, because I liked the first one. Nothing revolutionary, sure, but I had a lot of fun, and I've currently started a second playthrough with a few survivors from my first one. I guess I'll playsome more til I get bored with it or my pass expire, but it was worth it.

A cute little anime movie from the studio who makes Wakfu, in the same universe, which I know nothing about. I think it's mostly either for fans of the universe or younger kids, because I found it nice looking but pretty boring. Note that it only lasts 45min but I had to let it run a second time to get the remaining cards.

One of the perks of playing a game on a non-steam plateform is that I finally got to watch that entire docu-series about the making of Broken Age while I was playing State of Decay 2. It was pretty interesting if you're curious about the subject, but if there is anything I learned by watching that, is that if Tim Schafer might arguably be good at writing game scenarios and what not, he shouldn't be trusted with money. Also, a reminder of how crappy steam streaming video system is, and that it's not a shame that it's being ended.

• Wargroove
  

  61 minutes playtime

  1 of 23 achievements

• Evoland Legendary Edition
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 65 achievements

• Far Cry 5
  

  0 minutes playtime

  no achievements

• Steep
  

  11 hours playtime

  no achievements

• Far Cry New Dawn
  

  0 minutes playtime

  no achievements

• Cat Quest
  

  12 hours playtime

  6 of 12 achievements

• Life is Strange: Before the Storm
  

  9 hours playtime

  34 of 34 achievements

• Monster Prom
  

  15 hours playtime

  10 of 32 achievements

• MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
  

  261 hours playtime

  44 of 50 achievements

• Slay the Spire
  

  170 hours playtime

  24 of 43 achievements

• AER Memories of Old
  

  6 hours playtime

  20 of 20 achievements

• Valley
  

  9 hours playtime

  23 of 30 achievements

• Slime Rancher
  

  34 hours playtime

  53 of 57 achievements

• My Time At Portia
  

  29 hours playtime

  14 of 91 achievements

• Stories: The Path of Destinies
  

  20 hours playtime

  no achievements

• Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas
  

  8 hours playtime

  26 of 63 achievements

• The Blackwell Legacy
  

  2 hours playtime

  8 of 8 achievements

The first game I played this year was such a great one. Time will tell but I can see it make it to my 2019 favourites. In this super cute, cat pun filled RPG, you are trying to save your sister from the paws of the evil baddie who catnapped her in front of your eyes. It's not too hard, but still really enjoyable, and I strongly recommend you give it a try.

I finally got around to play this Life is Strange prequel as it was one of my picks for January's Play or Pay. I still have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, I did enjoy it, maybe because I was expecting it to be so much worse. Still a bit too emo, but at least there is no Max, and Chloe is still a bit annoying but not as much as she got on my nerves initially. On the plus side, it provides an enjoyable backstory to the Chloe/Rachel relationship which I always felt the original game was lacking. In summary, it's an okay but forgettable prequel to Life is Strange.

I was pleasantly surprised by this game. It's an exploration game with light puzzle solving/plateforming sequences, with the most enjoyable part of the game being that you have the ability to turn into a bird and fly around from one piece of the world to the other. It reminded me a bit of Copoka gameplay wise, and make me realise how much I liked that experience. I wish there were more games like that were I could fly around discovering a game world. Really nice and worth your time if you like eploring.

Another exploration game filled with puzzles, Valley was another one of my picks for January's PoP. I enjoyed the experience and the story, and the world was really beautiful. I might go back to it in the future has there is things that remain to be found even tho I finished the main story. Not sure if I'll have the patience to collect everything, but I might try just because taking a hike through this world was a great experience.

One of my big time eater this month, and the first game that was added to my backlog in 2019. I started playing it to try and scratch that itch that was making me want to cave in and get My time at Portia but it ended up being such a relaxing experience on its own. I ended up playing well after the storyline had ended (which is really irrelevant in those kind of game anyway), and enjoyed every minute of it. I might revisit it in the future to try the time trial mode, or just for the pleasure to hoard slime plorts. Great game, strongly recommended.

I FINALLY got around to get back to the ABC list, and played this game that had been neglected for way too long. It was a really cool experience and I greatly enjoyed it, even though I think getting the 2 last cheevos was a little too grindy (nobody forced me though, it was more a situation of "I've already grinded THAT much, I don't want to drop it before actually getting those cheevos"), the general experience with this game was positive for me. Making progress again on the ABC list is really satisfying by the way.

My short pick for February's PoP (we started a bit in advance, which is convenient as I'm gonna be travelling the upcoming week). It was short indeed, but a really good. It's the first in the Blackwell series, which I guess serves more as an introduction for the main characters and the game mecanics, but it's a great one. I ended up playing with the dev's commentaries activated and it was really interesting to see him look back at his game design choices (and admit when they were wrong). It made me wanna play more of this series, strong recommendation to PnC lovers.

• Slime Rancher
  

  34 hours playtime

  53 of 57 achievements

• The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 51 achievements

• My Time At Portia
  

  29 hours playtime

  14 of 91 achievements

• Lost Grimoires 3: The Forgotten Well
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 13 achievements

• Noir Chronicles: City of Crime
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 20 achievements

• The Shrouded Isle
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 16 achievements

I stand by everything I've written in the past months about this game. This is one of the best P&C I've played, probably one of my favourite one ever even over Wadget Eye games, which I love. I just loved everything about it, from the visual pixely style to the humour and the references. Strongly recommend to any scifi P&C lover.

I didn't think I'd ever put a dating simulator in the list of my favourite games, but there it is. Not only this is funny and has a lot of different outcomes, but the devs have been adding several free big updates since the game's released, adding even more content to the base game. I keep going back to it, and have a blast each time. Note that you can play with up to 3 friends, both online, local coop or a mix of both, and I strongly recommend the multiplayer mode. Give it a try even if you think dating sims are not for you.

One of the games I played at the beginning of 2018 and I could already tell it would make the list back then. Really awesome game with great design and good story, as well as solid character writing. Still love this game as much as I did a year ago when I played it, and strongly recommend it.

I sunk so many hours into this in the first part of 2018, then I took a break on it, but it's really addictive. It's a dungeon crawling deckbuilding game, still in EA but updated every week. Writing about it made me wanna replay it, so be aware of the addiction factor. Recommended to any roguelite lovers, except if you're allergic to deckbuilding.

This game was a real surprise to me. It went totally under my radar until I got it from a friend. And it looked cute and all, but I was just expecting your average indie puzzle plateformer from it, and not much more. Not only it surprised me, but now looking back on 2018 it's still one of the most touching story in the games I've played this year.

In 2018 I also realized I love walking simulators. I find them really soothing and love to take my time and explore environments that tell a story without the necessity of having people to interact with. I really enjoyed Tacoma, but What remains of Edith Finch was definitely the most beautiful one I've played. It might not be a genre you enjoy, but if you do, this one is definitely for you.

This game scratched my itch for a Final Fantasy Tactics game. It is not really the same, I'm afraid, as it introduce a mix of cards and dices deckbuilding in the mix, but it still was great and entertaining, and filled a bit of my needs for that particular tactics genre for a while. If I can't have a PC port of FF Tactics, I'd take a sequel to this game, thank you.

Another great surprise of this year that I didn't see coming until I won the game. I've played a few metroidvania this year but that was the most satisfying (and cutest). You can check my review in my last monthly post, but generally just a good metroidvania with quite a bit of content and a pleasant art style.

So I played both The Banner Saga 2 and 3 this year, but I didn't want to use 2 spots in my list for them and if I'm objective I preferred the second one. The gameplay was similar, but all things considered 2 didn't lock me out of content because I was doing too well. Of course, I recommend to play both as the trilogy's story is one big block and you need all 3 games to reach the conclusion of that epic tale. Great tactics games in general, start with the first if you haven't already.

Another cool roguelite dungeon crawler that I played late this year, and that found pretty addictive. I have put 20 hours into it which was enough to finish the story with one class (there is still 2 more of them) and there is also more content after you've dealt with the final boss (different game modes, etc...). Just really fun overall, and has a demo if you wanna give it a try before deciding if you might like it or not.

Another game I played early on last January and I could already tell it would be one of the highlights of 2018. Sure, it's a RPG maker game, and that should almost automatically exclude it from making the list, but it didn't, that's how much this game stayed with me. I was more ready to cut Monster hunter or Prey from the list than I was to consider removing Rakuen, hell in the end, even Senua's sacrifice didn't make the list because I wouldn't give it Rakuen's spot, even though I admit the games are not even close to the same level of polish. And that's because Rakuen has a story that was really touching all wrapped under that cute and simple design, and sometimes that's what I need from a game.

Now, I had great expectations for this game, and as I said in my initial review it managed to beat them. If you like games with a lot to read with a 'choose your own adventure' format, all with a cool art style and strong references to Moby Dick, this is the game for you. One of the strongest ones I've played in that category.

So let's be honest for a moment, I was a bit torn about putting this game on the list or not. Yes I voted for it in every possible GOTY awards and I clearly sank a more than what's reasonable amount of hours into it (I suspect it's partly why my backlog didn't get played as much as in 2017), but I can see its flaws and why it's not a game for everybody. Story wise this game is weak, but if you like the gameplay (and you might not, some people I've talked to about it found it extremely repetitive, and yes it is a bit), then it's really satisfying and addictive. It's also one of the few games I've had most fun with friends this year and for somebody who usually play solo, that says a lot. I can't deny I've loved it and I'll probably put some more hours into it in 2019.

It took me long enough but I finally came around to play Prey, after having replayed Dishonored earlier this year. (Now I only have Dishonored 2 left to enjoy), and it was a great experience. I got everything I expect from an Arkhane game minus the complete no kill run. It was still very good and a nice change of scenery. Good action FPS with a cool story to back it up.

Like I said in my review, yes this game was imperfect, but I still enjoyed it, and it filled my need for a good use of Lovecraft's universe, and for that it does deserve its place in this list.

Let's see how I did with my plan from last year before deciding what to do for 2019.

• Have fun! I definitely had a lot of fun! I might have played less games than in 2017, but most of them were definitely good to great games. Proof is how hard it was for me to narrow it down to only 15 favourites.


• Prioritize SG wins and gifts from friends. (Cf. the progress bars above) I think I did great on that. Of course you can always do better, but out of the 79 games I finished this year, 61 were from one of those two lists. Again, the xmas gifts I got in the last week of the year reduce the progression impact on the other gifts list.


• Try to improve my completion rate. I didn't do too good on that one apparently. I only went from 63% to 65%, so far from the 75% goal I had. That being said, I was at 69% at some point earlier this year, and a lot of the games I played recently have either a long list of cheevos (some behind DLC) or hard cheevos that don't unlock on a normal playthrough, so I guess it screwed up my completion.


• Finish what I started. As last year, mixed on this one. On the plus side, I mostly finished what I started this year, with a few exception, and I revisited some unfinished games from the previous years, but not as many as I wish I had. Still have to work on that.


• Keep the backlog expansion as tamed as possible. I did more or less okay with that. Yes, the backlog made more progress than last year, but only because I didn't finish as many games. I did globally add less games to my backlog this year, and nothing I didn't wanna play. (Well lies, I think one of my friend tricked me with a bad game at some point).

---

Progress in 2018

Won on SteamGifts

Jan 1st (140 games) vs Dec 31th 2018 (162 games)

Gifts & Other Wins

Jan 1st (239 games) vs Dec 31th 2018 (324 games)

Keeping most of last year's, but with some tweaks.

• Have fun! Again, most important point.


• Prioritize SG wins and gifts from friends. I'll try to keep improving my completion rate of those two subgroups in priority. I'd like to reach 50% on the gift one as I did with the SG one, but we'll see, it's a very long list.


• Try to improve my completion rate. Currently at 65%. Won't set a goal this year, but just try to improve it when I can. Rule One is still a priority over this.


• Finish what I started. I'll keep this one too, and will try to do better in reducing those unfinished games started a long time ago.


• Keep the backlog expansion as tamed as possible. As before. Not adding anything I don't intend to play to my account.


• Go back to and finish my ABC challenge. I don't know what happened there, but I really got sidetracked, and I haven't progressed on this for months. I really would like to finish it.


• Have 50% completion for games Added in 2019. Rule "borrowed" from Skanda's goals, sounds like a good idea. Might also go back and do a list for 2018 if I have the motivation, and apply it the same rule. (Edit: Done)

---

State of the Targets on January 1st 2019 (for tracking purpose)

Won on SteamGifts 162 games

Gifts & Other Wins 324 games

Added in 2018 152 games

• MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
  

  246 hours playtime

  44 of 50 achievements

• Orwell: Ignorance is Strength
  

  4 hours playtime

  9 of 19 achievements

• The Banner Saga 3
  

  13 hours playtime

  34 of 101 achievements

• Call of Cthulhu
  

  10 hours playtime

  36 of 49 achievements

• Book of Demons
  

  16 hours playtime

  70 of 202 achievements

• Ticket to Earth
  

  29 hours playtime

  35 of 49 achievements

• Moonlighter
  

  10 hours playtime

  5 of 57 achievements

• Hidden Paws
  

  5 hours playtime

  8 of 8 achievements

• Iconoclasts
  

  25 hours playtime

  6 of 11 achievements

• Monster Prom
  

  10 hours playtime

  8 of 32 achievements

• Terraria
  

  653 hours playtime

  75 of 88 achievements

• Glass Masquerade
  

  5 hours playtime

  31 of 31 achievements

• Solo
  

  6 hours playtime

  18 of 20 achievements

• tiny & Tall: Gleipnir Part One
  

  4 hours playtime

  9 of 9 achievements

It had been a while since I've played the first Orwell but it is pretty similar to the first one, without the novelty effect. That's not to say it was bad, I actually enjoyed it, I think it's just fit in the category of "more of the same". The story is slightly connected to the first one while also being independant. If you've played the first one, you'll catch the references but if you haven't I don't think you'll be missing much. Overall what I was expecting of it.

As good as expected, the conclusion to The Banner Saga remains in the continuitiy of its two predecessors. If I have a critic to make on this last part though, is that the better you play, the least content you'll see. Which I only learnt after completing the game and checking for the cheevos I was missing. This makes very little sense to me, but I'm bound to replay the whole trilogy at some point so I'll try to remember to fuck up more to see what I've missed. Not a huge fan of how many achievements are behind a paying DLC I have no interest in either, but what can you do. Still strong recommend if you liked any of the previous ones (and play them all in order).

Despite the more than mixed reviews and the criticism the game has faced after its release, I really enjoyed playing it. Sure, it's far from being perfect, and despite what some seems to think it is not an AAA nor does it have its budget, but I felt like it's one of the best adaptation of a Lovecraftian universe into a video game. People who were complaining it was 3-4h long, they probably missed a lot of content. Another thing needs to be clear when you go into this, it's neither an horror game in the Resident Evil style of game nor is it an action one, but it's an enjoyable skill based investigation game based on the pen and paper system of the same name. Overall, depending on what you expect out of it, it might or might not be the game for you. But it was one for me.

So, there was some sort of miracle and after more than a year after they released episode 2 (and a lot of people thought the game had been abandonned), Robot Circus finally delivered episode 3. The game is as good as it was in the previous episodes, and I would strongly recommend it if it was not for the fact that the last episode has still to be released and seeing how long it took them for this one, god knows when this will happen. (Also if you have a tablet, it might be worth looking into getting the mobile version instead. It seems like the perfectly adapted gameplay for a touchscreen, and it's cheaper).

This game finally came out of early access and I have to say I'm pretty happy with the result. The controls to move your character were a bit unusual at first, but then after a while, you get used to it. It mixes regular dungeon crawling with a card deckbuilding part for your equipment/skills, cards that you can upgrade when you visit the town. I found it pretty addictive and I particularly liked the system they implemented that allows you to pick the size of the next slice of dungeon you're gonna explore depending on the free time you have at the moment. I can't encourage you enough to try the demo available on their steam page and see if it's a game for you.

I revisited this cute 3D hidden object game as they added a few levels for christmas. My opinion on this stands the same as when I first played it.

A surprisingly good metroidvania with more content than I was expecting. It flew a little under my radar before I won it from SG (thanks again cj!). It took me 15-20 hours for a first playthrough, and from what I collected there is new content in the new game +. All of that goodness wrapped in an extremely cute art style and enjoyable music. If you like metroidvanias, I really recommend this little gem.

At first, I simply thought it was a puzzle game where you go from an archipelago to another while solving puzzles to progress further, but it turned out this is an excuse for an introspection about relationships. Most of the puzzles consist in having to move different type of boxes to allow yourself to reach the next totem, and unlock the next island. Nothing too simple but nothing so frustrating it made me wanna drop the game either. It was a beautiful and relaxing short game, which I recommend to everyone if those type of games don't get you frustrated (which would be counter productive).

Another hidden gem for Point & Click lovers. Fair warning first, this is only episode one, the second episode is not out yet (the dev works alone but he's actively working on it), so the story is not complete. That being said, it was so funny that I can't pass to recommend it. You follow the two blacksmiths who forged Thor's hammer on their adventure to collect ingredients to fullfil a request of the gods. The game doesn't take itself too seriously and even though that first part is short, I really had a blast with it. A great way to finish the year.

• Kenshi
  

  0 minutes playtime

  no achievements

• Return of the Obra Dinn
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 16 achievements

• Seven: The Days Long Gone
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 30 achievements

• LEGO® The Hobbit™
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 39 achievements

• LEGO® The Lord of the Rings™
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 48 achievements

• Valkyria Chronicles 4
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 36 achievements

• Braveland Wizard
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 22 achievements

• Forgotton Anne
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 33 achievements

• Sunset Overdrive
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 80 achievements

• Nyheim
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 12 achievements

• The Long Reach
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 15 achievements

• GRIS
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 17 achievements

• Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 39 achievements

• htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 24 achievements

• Milkmaid of the Milky Way
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 6 achievements

• Life is Strange 2
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 46 achievements

• Lamplight City
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 42 achievements

• Where the Water Tastes Like Wine
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 38 achievements

• The Tenth Line
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 21 achievements

• Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 26 achievements

• Kingsway
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 21 achievements

• OKAMI HD / 大神 絶景版
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 51 achievements

• The Wardrobe
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 26 achievements

• Doom & Destiny
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 44 achievements

• Karma. Incarnation 1
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 7 achievements

• HellSign
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 11 achievements

• MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
  

  233 hours playtime

  43 of 50 achievements

• The Lion's Song
  

  6 hours playtime

  61 of 86 achievements

• Prey
  

  52 hours playtime

  31 of 58 achievements

• Glass Masquerade
  

  5 hours playtime

  30 of 30 achievements

This was a great game, with an interesting way of entangling 4 different stories while still telling each of them individually. I really enjoyed playing it, and it turned out being more appropriate than it seemed for the beginning of november and the celebration of the century since the end of World War I. I'll have to revisit it as some options can only be seen once you've played further in the other stories. A great way to make choices matter too. Definitely a strong recommendation.

That game ended up eating most of my gaming time this month. I shouldn't be surprised when once again an Arkane game takes me way more than what HLTB says it should. I had to go through every nook and crannies of the station, getting all the collectibles stuff, finding every single individual in the employee manifesto and of course doing every single side quest before moving on with the story. I had a no human kill playthrough with only human powers, which means I'll eventually go back to the game for a different kind of run, but for now I think I need to take a break and play something else. Anyway, it was a really great game, as I was expecting from Arkane Studio. Solid RPG experience, cool story and a lot to do and explore. Strongly recommended.

• Vampyr
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 28 achievements

• Orwell: Ignorance is Strength
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 19 achievements

• 60 Seconds!
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 56 achievements

• Rain World
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 21 achievements

• Heroes of Hammerwatch
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 47 achievements

• Rise & Shine
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 14 achievements

• FORCED SHOWDOWN
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 81 achievements

• MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
  

  221 hours playtime

  43 of 50 achievements

• Mushroom Wars
  

  5 hours playtime

  9 of 15 achievements

• Stardew Valley
  

  163 hours playtime

  22 of 40 achievements

• Little Nightmares
  

  6 hours playtime

  12 of 22 achievements

• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
  

  8 hours playtime

  14 of 14 achievements

• ICY: Frostbite Edition
  

  16 hours playtime

  18 of 18 achievements

• Hidden Folks
  

  8 hours playtime

  7 of 7 achievements

• My Memory of Us
  

  6 hours playtime

  16 of 23 achievements

• Monster Prom
  

  7 hours playtime

  5 of 32 achievements

• The Lion's Song
  

  4 minutes playtime

  0 of 86 achievements

It's a pretty basic RTS game with a cute graphic touch, but I really wished I liked it more than I did. It's not bad per se, but there is so many better RTS out there to be played that I can't really recommend it either. Maybe as a first approach to RTS, as you only really have to worry about moving your troops and capturing/upgrading/converting buildings, but at the same time, the difficulty creeps up pretty fast and the AI feels at time like it's cheating (like sending troops to the exact same building you do at the exact time you click, with the impossibility for you to redirect said troops), so it might just get beginners not wanna play any RTS after that. Okayish, but not great.

This game was great (and greatly disturbing). I had been wanting to play this for a long time, despite being a wuss when it comes to horror games, but luckily this was not based on jumpscares so I was fine the whole time. The gameplay itself is close to something like Inside, but with a bit more depth of field. It has a great visual style, and the story is a bit open to interpretation, but that's not a bad thing. We were talking about it with Blue earlier this month, the game has a lot of similarities with the movie Spirited Away, even though the story itself has nothing to do with it. I really recommend it if it's in your backlog, or even if you want to get it, well worth playing. Speaking of, if any of you played the DLCs, please let me know if they're worth it, I've been considering buying them during the halloween sale as they're at their lowest.

I was lucky enough to win this at the beginning of the month, and it felt perfect for the monthly theme. I had heard so much good about this game prior to playing it that I was a bit scared to be disappointed, but it was not the case at all. The game lived up to the hype for me, the only part I kind of disliked was the fighting bits, but it's not predominent in the game, and you can adjust the difficulty to your preference. Played with headphones as recommended, the game brilliantly creates the feeling of constantly hearing voices in your head (or in Senua's), and it was making me feel a bit anxious at times. Somehow, the game also triggered my fear of heights in some short parts and made me feel dizzy, but it was specific to me I assume. Overall it was a great game and I strongly recommend it.

I was really curious about this one, but I was scared to be disappointed. Part of it came from the fact that the friend who gave me this key told me he had played the non Frostbite version a long time ago and it was meh, but also because a while ago I had played Displaced, expecting something and then being let down on most of it. Well, turns out ICY was everything I wish Displaced had been, with a touch of snowpocalypse. The game is a mix of text based adventure (most of it), craft/collect survival elements and some turn based tactical fights. If it's sitting in your backlog and those elements sound appealing to you, give it a try. (Dont expect the game to be as long as my playtime seems, I had the game on pause a whole afternoon, which added to the playtime, but it's still a solid adventure.)

I was happy to go back to this game with the recent release of the beach DLC. It's only one new universe (so a pack of a few new scenes) but the DLC is cheap and it has the same price ratio of things to find than the base game itself. If you liked the original, the DLC is worth it.

This game was fantastic. And sad. And heartwarming at the same time. I would describe it as Schindler's List with robots. It's a story about two children trying to survive through what is clearly world war II (the devs even explain it at the end, in case you had missed all the hints), but the nazis are now robots and jewish people are just people wearing red. The puzzles are not difficult, the sneaking is just right if you take time to think before running into it, and overall the game mecanics are polished enough to let you pay attention to the story. The visual style is adorable and the game, without being "fun" is really compelling. It might have rained on my face a little at the end. Highly highly recommended.

• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
  

  8 hours playtime

  14 of 14 achievements

• Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 44 achievements

• My Memory of Us
  

  6 hours playtime

  16 of 23 achievements

• ICY: Frostbite Edition
  

  16 hours playtime

  18 of 18 achievements

• Wizard of Legend
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 19 achievements

• RiME
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 31 achievements

• The Lion's Song
  

  4 minutes playtime

  0 of 86 achievements

• Call of Cthulhu
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 49 achievements

• CrossCode
  

  0 minutes playtime

  no achievements

• Batman: The Enemy Within - The Telltale Series
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 30 achievements

• Hitman
  

  0 minutes playtime

  0 of 69 achievements