Topic: Games you've recently beat

@Spectralmews I’d say start at the beginning and work your way forwards. That depends on if you can tolerate older games though. But I do find it more fun to work through release order than jump between games of different eras.

@Spectralmews If you can get through the original Hitman Codename 47 you should be fine, I found that really difficult to get into!

As we are close to the end of the Year those are the games I have beaten in 2025:

1 - The Witcher 3 (PS5) - First time
2 - Resident Evil 2 Original (N64) All 4 scenarios - First time
3 - DUSK (Switch)
4 - Castlevania Curse of Darkness (Steam Deck) - First time
5 - Castlevania Lament of Innocence (Steam Deck) - First time
6 - Castlevania 64 (Steam Deck) - First time
7 - Castlevania 3 Dracula's Curse (Switch) - First time
8 - Castlevania Bloodlines (Switch) - First time
9 - Resident Evil 1 HD (PS5)
10 - Castlevania The Adventure (Switch) - First time
11 - Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge (Switch) - First time
12 - Resident Evil 2 Remake VR (Meta Quest 3) - First time
13 - Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow (PS5)
14 - Castlevania Portrait of Ruin (PS5)
15 - Castlevania Order of Ecclesia (PS5)
16 - Elden Ring (PS5)
17 - Diablo 3 Eternal Collection (Switch)
18 - Chronicles of the Wolf (Switch) - First time
19 - Sanitarium (Steam Deck)
20 - Serious Sam The First Encounter (Switch)
21 - Diablo 2 Resurrected (Switch)
22 - Marvel's Spider-Man (PS5)
23 - Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (PS5)
24 - Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales (PS5)
25 - Wolfenstein The Old Blood (PS5)
26 - Wolfenstein The New Order (PS5)
27 - Wolfenstein II The New Colossus (PS5)
28 - Fallout 3 (Steam Deck)
29 - DooM 3 (Switch)
30 - DooM (2016) (Switch)
31 - DooM Eternal (Switch)
32 - Castlevania Symphony of the Night (PS5)
33 - Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow (Switch)
34 - Castlevania Portrait of Ruin (Switch)
35 - Castlevania Order of Ecclesia (Switch)

Finally finished Yotei. A very good game, but I feel like the final battle soured me on it a little. It made some of the things that I don't really like about it (from a game design standpoint) stand out all too clearly to me. This was the stuff I had previously been able to put to the back of my mind and ignore. In the end it is the same as Tsushima in that way, albeit slightly different design niggles, and even though this was objectively a better game, it is still far from what i'd want them to do with the series.

I don't think I can go straight into Death Stranding 2 or Clair Obscur without first playing something a little more open and fun as a buffer, an RPG with choice and consequence and some traditional questing, perhaps!

@Spectralmews To add to Ness's excellent Tomb Raider advice, which I totally second...

...nope, you're actually all set. You're only missing a very small number of spin-offs, but you currently have access to the whole mainline series.

The series breaks down into four trilogies. The first three games (along with their expansions) are included in I-III Remastered and that's definitely the best way to play 'em. The Last Revelation, Chronicles, and The Angel of Darkness make up the next trilogy (in that order) and then it's Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld in the third (again, in that order). Finally, the sequels to TR 2013 are Rise, then Shadow.

See, and this is why I'll never grumble about boring ol' numbered sequels, 'cause at least you always know where you are!

The only thing you might wanna consider is replacing your vanilla copies of The Last Revelation, Chronicles, and The Angel of Darkness with the recently-released IV-VI Remastered which, again, would make for a much better way to experience them. Maybe see how you get along with the other classics (or wait for a sale) before pulling the trigger, though!

Best of luck with the series! Hope you enjoy, and let us know how it goes!

@Spectralmews Oh, sweet! Then you're definitely all set. Yeah, it's like Ness was saying the other day, it seems like the modern controls are a great option, but just lack a little consistency. Remember that you can make multiple saves anywhere, any time, and with some big jumps, it's better to take it slow!

@HallowMoonshadow Congratulations! Are you going through all the classic Resi games, or was it just Resi 2 you felt like checking out?

Doki Doki Literature Club (mobile)

Wow. Just wow. This game was intense. I went in practically completely spoiler free and even with the content warnings, I still got genuinely surprised by some of the stuff in here. Sayori hanging herself actually made me cry a little, which has never happened for me during a video game before. And the plot twist ending spooked the heck out of me.

But I did overall enjoy my time with the game. Even though I couldn't officially download it on the Google Play Store, using an xapk installer to get the game downloaded on my phone was worth it after all (and it wasn't pirating, since the regular game itself is free). I like it enough to support it by buying the Plus version on either PC or Switch (or both) at some point.

As for my favorite girl in the game, I guess I'll go with Natsuki.

@Zuljaras How did all the Castlevania games hold up? It's always been a series I'm interested in just aesthetically, but the fact that there's not really a modern version of the games has always held me back. Would you say they feel rather outdated and are carried by their nostalgia and retro feeling, or are any of them worth getting into even as someone who doesn't often play older games?

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@HallowMoonshadow I'm surprised to hear Claire and Leon's playthrough only took a combined 7 hours. Is that just because you were already familiar with their campaigns before playing this time around? I've only played both routes on the remake, and they were roughly 6 hours for me each there. Not sure if that's just a case of the original game being shorter in general or you just being an expert at the campaigns at this point! I know something like Silent Hill 2 Remake definitely extended the playtime compared to the original, so as far as I know, that might be the case here as well.

@Tjuz I am sorry, but I am the wrong person to ask this.

Why? Because Castlevania is the greatest thing ever created in the world of gaming. It is the sole reason why the aliens have not attacked us and destroyed humanity.

Castlevania is the past, present and future of all things! Alpha and Omega!

And that is not simply my opinion. This is irrefutable fact!

I hope I was helpful!

@Zuljaras Why yes, that was incredibly helpful! I never realised that franchise was the one thing standing in-between humanity and extinction by alien destruction. I suppose I have no choice but to support the series in every imaginable way possible to ensure my lack of financing has not in any way contributed to the death of mankind. I appreciate the warning so I can change my ways in time to support my fellow brethren in their survival!

And I have updated my list with Castlevania Order of Ecclesia (Switch). I think I am done with the list for this year

Next year I think that I will try to complete more games that I have never beaten. As you can see I started strong and halfway through I started completing games I have beaten before. The main reason is that I did not make my usual screenshot journey of those games and that was the main reason to replay them

Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online

Gameplay is awesome. Some minor grievances not so much. The one thing giving the pause menu not actually pausing the game a pass is that it fits context wise. And the fact that the PS4 kept whirring practically the whole time that I was playing was... urgh. But I liked the story, and the funny as usual dialogue. And, as I mentioned before, the gameplay is awesome too, and I spent a solid 30 hours on beating it with only getting 75% of the trophies. Would I recommend it to anyone who isn't a massive Neptunia fan? Not necessarily all the time. But would I recommend it to someone who is into Neptunia just like I am? Yes. Especially if you can get it on sale for, like, 10 bucks, like I did. Since it's a good Neptunia game, I give it a (kind of biased, since I like Neptunia) score of 10/10.

@HallowMoonshadow Hey, snap! But only until this past week, though. I have completed Resi 2 and Resi 3 on PSone, but never the original. As soon as it started dropping snakes on my head, I got too freaked and decided to quit (and for the record, I adore snakes; it was more the jumpscare's fault). Nicely done on following your mood and completing the Director's Cut, but I'm sorry you didn't get a better ending!

@HallowMoonshadow Ah, gotcha. To be fair, I've found my patience for replaying huge chunks of something in order to fix a tiny mistake and get a better ending has all but evaporated in the YouTube era, so even if you hadn't aced REmake before, I still would have sympathised!

Well, in all honesty, while the snakes did indeed make me quit, it was asking a friend what was next and being told "dark rooms filled with giant spiders" that sealed my playthrough's fate!

The quest for revenge is finished. Overall I very much enjoyed it though I felt the final third was disappointing. Not enough to wreck the experience or anything, just a bit of a rushed and half-baked conclusion considering the promising set up. Highly recommended!

@Metonymy Those are some superb shots to celebrate with, excellent work! Although I'm sorry to see you found the ending a little rushed. Even though I personally disagree, I can completely understand how and why some folks have felt that way. I'm glad it didn't ruin the experience for you, though!

Just finished Trails in the Sky SC. After 111 hours all I can say is WOW. I really should get round to Expedition 33 but I’m really tempted to jump into Trails the 3rd…

Been playing since late October and after around 104 hours I rolled credits and popped the platinum on Ghost of Yotei (you beat me by just over a week, @Metonymy 🙂 - excellent shots, btw).
Overall I actually liked "Tsushima" better, though not by much, and while I liked Jin's setting and story best, I also liked Atsu better as a protagonist. All in all they were both fantastic games and so incredibly well suited for my tastes. I can only hope it will get an expansion akin to "Iki Island", but I seem to remember reading somewhere that SP will shift their focus away from the "Ghost" games after they finish the "Legends" DLC? I would love to see more games in this series, but I am also curious to see what they will make next (from what I understand, they want to remain a single project studio).

Not really sure what's next for me; the backlog is bursting with options, but one of my priorities will be to wrap up "Dispatch". I alternated between that and "GoY" initially, but then I reached the point with the latter that every time I booted up the PS5 there was no denying Atsu her quest for revenge and Robbie Robertson was put on pause.

@FuriousMachine Excellent work completing Ghost of Yōtei and thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'm equally torn, whilst I'd love to see Atsu star in a full expansion, I also wouldn't want the developers to feel obligated to tack something on to what is a satisfyingly complete story.

Whatever they do next, both Ghost games have earned them my attention, that's for sure!