2024 Video Gaming

Somewhere along the line this switched over to being a hobby blog for miniatures games. I do still play video games, also. At least sometimes.

2024 was a pretty light year on that front, but I did have a torrid affair with Fallout: New Vegas, completing two full playthroughs in a row, first siding with Mr House, and then with Caesar. That leaves only the NCR playthrough left, but I was not up for a third consecutive at the time.

I also decided to pick up FFXIV once more, and spent a good month on that before being distracted. I do plan to go back, and I'm keeping my subscription live.

What side-tracked me was wanting to play through Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic again in order to play along the podcast A More Civilized Age. I had a really good time doing so, and completed a full playthrough as a Dark Lord of the Sith. I had no idea I would be forced to kill so many of my own companions in doing so! I'm really looking forward to eventually playing KOTOR II now, as well. That's one that I never got to, previously.

Elsewhere I dabbled a little in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Total War: Warhammer, Diablo IV (didn't grab me), Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear (need to get back to this), Skyrim (as per usual), Fallout 4, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Dark Souls II, and Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector. I think I basically opened Crusder Kings III and Elite: Dangerous this year and bailed before doing anything. Even less impressively, I bought Shin Megami Tensei V in Japan this year and never booted it up. I did play a little Warhammer 40:000 Mechanicus there, though. Seems OK.

I don't have a GOTY pick for 2024. I'm not sure I even played anything new this year. It's been busy, otherwise. As of this writing early in 2025 I am installing Red Dead Redemption 2 to give that a shot. I've also felt a little bit of a tug back toward Assassin's Creed Origins lately, too. We'll see if anything comes of those. I do still need to play my fair share of FF XIV, after all. They've recently added some FFXI content to it's endgame that I want to experience. I love FFXI, but I'm not ready to go back to it yet. I need to familiarize myself with it's younger sibling that may one day inherit.

2022 Game Tracking

Halo Infinite
Necromunda: Underhive Wars

The Horus Heresy: Battle of Tallarn

Stephen's Sausage Roll
Assassin's Creed Origins

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

The Shrouded Isle

Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon

Elite Dangerous

Total War: Warhammer III

Battle Brothers

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

The Horus Heresy: Legions

Forza Horizon 5

Fortnite

Spelunky 2

Horizon Chase Turbo

Yakuza 3 Remastered

Warhammer 40:000 Battlesector

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Diablo Immortal

Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall Unity

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

VVVVVV

Unity of Command

Hundred Days

Shootas, Blood, & Teef

Devil Daggers

Gloomhaven

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

Mass Effect

Final Fantasy XI

So these are the games I played in 2022? A meager lot. How many of these were released in 2022? Maybe three?

Diablo Immortal

Total War: Warhammer III
Shootas, Blood & Teef

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

On doing the research, these four games were released this year. Err, last year. I'm going to award GOTY to the one I played the most, then. 

GOTY 2022 -- Total War: Warhammer III. 

Second place goes to the one I liked best of the rest.

Runner-up -- Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

Not to cast any shade on the titles above, but I've been sort of  "out of the game" this year--last year. I hope something comes along in 2023 that gets me more excited for digital gaming.

2021 Review and Awards

Games Played In 2021

AVSEQ

Aeronautica Imperialis: Flight Command
Animal Crossing New Horizon
Art of Rally
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia
Assassin's Creed Origins
Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
Bastion
Blood Bowl 2
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Crystalis
Diablo II Resurrected
Elite: Dangerous
Endless Legend
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
Final Fantasy XIV
Forza Horizon 3
Grand Theft Auto V
Halo Infinite
Hunt: Showdown
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Metal Gear Solid
Might & Magic VI
Might & Magic X - Legacy
Project Triangle Strategy
Quake
Receiver
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
Shenzhen I/O
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Skyrim
Tetris 99
The Elder Srolls III: Morrowind
The Horus Heresy: Legions
The Signal from Tolva
The Ultimate Doom
The Witness
Total War: Shogun 2
Twilight Struggle
Valheim
Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon
Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector
Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Warhammer Underworlds Online
Wilmot's Warehouse

Books Read In 2021

Alpharius: Head of the Hydra
Amor Fati
Ashes of Prospero
Auric Gods
Blood of the Emperor
Bloodhowl
By Your Command
Call of the Pack
Codex Adeptus Astartes: Grey Knights
Codex Supplement: Traitor Legions
Codex Supplement: Ultramarines
Codex: Grey Knights (2021)
Codex: Imperial Knights
Dark Imperium: Godblight
Dawn of Fire: The Gate of Bones
Dawn of Fire: The Wolftime
Dominion
Eater of Dreams
Endurance
How to Paint: Silver Templars
Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah
Inferno! Presents: The Inquisition
Knights of Macragge
Luther: First of the Fallen
Mortarion's Heart
Mortis
Pariah
Penitent
Psychic Awakening: Engine War
Psychic Awakening: Phoenix Rising
Psychic Awakening: Saga of the Beast
Psychic Awakening: The Collected Fiction
Rites of Passage
Sanctuary and Sacrifice
Serpents of Ardemis
Storm of Iron
The Ghost Halls
The Gildar Rift
The Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness Rulebook
The Labyrinth of Lost Souls
The Lords of Silence
The Tyrant's Champion
Titanicus
Unification
Vaults of Terra: Argent
Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne
War of Secrets
War Zone Charadon Act I: The Book of Rust
War Zone Charadon Act II: The Book of Fire
Warhammer 40,000: Titan
Warhawk
White Dwarf 458
White Dwarf 459
White Dwarf 460
White Dwarf 461
White Dwarf 462
White Dwarf 463
White Dwarf 464
White Dwarf 465
White Dwarf 466

I guess I've played some games over the last year, probably mostly on a whim or for the purposes of podcasting. 

GOTY: Warhammer 40,000 Battlesector

Honorable Mention: Valheim

I've continued to do a ton of reading in 2021, which is awesome. I probably should read more non-fiction, though. I may consider that a new year's resolution.

BOTY: Warhawk by Chris Wraight

Honorable Mention: Alpharius: Head of the Hydra by Mike Brooks, Penitent by Dan Abnett

2020 GOTY

 2. XCOM Chimera Squad

1. Animal Crossing New Horizons

2020 has been mostly an off-year for me and video games, and I'm not going to try to remedy that in this post, but I did definitely want to record for posterity my choices for game of the year and an honorable mention, as above. Nothing else released this year came close in terms of time played.

I stopped keeping track of games I finished this year, because I don't really think about games in those terms like I used to. And many games don't fit neatly into the shape of something that you can finish. And also because I find myself less and less interested in the type that still do. Anyway, here's a list of games that I spent a good amount of time playing this year, in lieu of the old pile of skulls:

Hitman 2

Assassin's Creed Origins Carcassone Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin Genshin Impact Super Mario Bros. 35 Spelunky 2 Super Mario 3D All-Stars JYDGE Necromunda: Underhive Wars Tabletop Simulator Cube World DOOM Lord of the Rings Online Fire Emblem Awakening Wasteland Legend of Grimrock II Space Hulk Tetris 99 Legends of Runeterra Animal Crossing: New Horizons Horus Heresy Legions Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Destiny 2 Assassin's Creed Syndicate - Jack the Ripper Ring Fit Adventure Blood Bowl 2 Assassin's Creed Syndicate Warhammer Underworlds Online Fallout 76 XCOM: Chimera Squad XCOM 2 The Elder Scrolls Online Magic: The Gathering Arena Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Elite Dangerous Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr Dicey Dungeons Juno's Darkest Hour Slay the Spire

I can pretty safely recommend the majority of these games, for what that's worth.

2019 GOTY

My relationship to video games has changed in 2019. This was presaged by my 2018, where I spent more time reading than gaming. This year, I spent as much time reading, but then just as much time building and painting models and building army lists for Warhammer 40,000 and Kill Team as I did playing video games. You may have even noticed some photographic battle reports I have posted to the blog. It'll be a mix of things, going forward.

As far as 2029 in video games, I played remarkably few new releases. Once again, I found myself beginning December with no real shoe-in for GOTY. Of those 10-15 I did check out, a couple stuck out to me as ones that I kept coming back to and enjoyed unreservedly.

My Game of the Year: Slay the Spire
Honorable Mention: Tetris 99

Slay the Spire is simply genius. Tetris needs no elaboration; I'll just say the added mega-multiplayer is icing on the cake.

Past GOTY choices:

2018: Battletech/Hitman 2
2017: Mass Effect Andromeda/Diablo III: Rise of the Necromancer
2016: World of Warcraft: Legion/Overwatch
2015: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain/The Witcher III: Wild Hunt
2014: Elite Dangerous/The Banner Saga
2013: Spelunky/Hearthstone
2012: Dota 2/Diablo III
2011: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings/SpaceChem
2010: Mass Effect 2/Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
2009: Demon's Souls/Red Faction: Guerilla
2008: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots/Gears of War 2
2007: Bioshock/Halo 3

I spent so little time playing video games in 2019 that I only finished these few:

Assassin's Creed Syndicate
Slay the Spire (two wins as the Silent)
The Yawhg

Pathetic! This may be a new normal, though. We shall see. Past years' totals:

2018:9
2017:23
2016:23
2015:26
2014:32
2013:33
2012:23
2011:21
2010:23
2009:19
2008:26
2007:15

The good news is, I no longer care about my backlog! It has transcended tracking, being dispersed over multiple PC store clients and consoles. Too, the rate at which free games rain down upon us all has made it hard to keep track of what all I have or have access to, and also the rise of subscription services has blurred the lines in that way, too. I don't even own my 2019 GOTY! I just play it on Xbox PC games pass! So who really cares about recouping monetary investment for gaming anymore? If I was that worried about value for money, I wouldn't be playing Warhammer!

To that end, I deleted my game and book backlog lists from the blog. I'll still keep track of ones I finish, because that's fun and interesting, but I no longer feel any sort of guilt for those I have accumulated and laid aside, tsundoita.

For 2020, I think I'll take another run at The Witcher 3, if for no other reason than to keep it fresh in my mind as Cyberpunk 2077 comes out. Other than that, who knows? I still like Assassin's Creed games, and Death Stranding has a PC release coming up. I'll play it by ear.

2018 GOTY Wrap-Up

This year, gaming has taken a backseat to reading for me, especially anything Horus Heresy or Warhammer 40,000 related.

I have also been modeling and painting (hobbying, as they call it) quite a bit more this year, having finished up several projects. I don't really care to blog about that, though. Not as such. I post to twitter with pics of those things. Maybe I will do a photo round-up sometime to show those off here.

I am also trying a new approach to my writing here about games; fewer catch-all playlogs, more single-topic posts about individual games. For a long time I have tried to record everything I played here, but so many little sessions are completely inconsequential. There's not really a need to document my 500th run of Spelunky or Diablo III, or that I spent a few minutes in Super Mario Odyssey with my children. I do like to post at least once about every new title, though. I need proof that I played them to remove them from the backlog, of course.

My Game of the Year: Battletech
Honorable Mention: Hitman 2

I came to the end of the year without a real candidate for GOTY, but in December finally made myself check out Battletech and Hitman 2, and you have seen the results. I have yet to actually post about Battletech, but there will be one coming on the game eventually. Just know for now that it is outstanding. Hitman 2 is excellent as well. I am a real fan of what they have done with this release, and as a longtime enjoyer of the series, it makes me glad to see its potential so well realized.

Past choices, for record:

2017: Mass Effect Andromeda/Diablo III: Rise of the Necromancer
2016: World of Warcraft: Legion/Overwatch
2015: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain/The Witcher III: Wild Hunt
2014: Elite Dangerous/The Banner Saga
2013: Spelunky/Hearthstone
2012: Dota 2/Diablo III
2011: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings/SpaceChem
2010: Mass Effect 2/Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
2009: Demon's Souls/Red Faction: Guerilla
2008: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots/Gears of War 2
2007: Bioshock/Halo 3

I have only a very meager offering to Khorne this year, for the pile of skulls:

Red Dead Redemption
Witch Doctor 70 (Diablo III Switch)
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
Final Fantasy Tactics (all generics)
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut
XCOM: Enemy Within (Normal)
XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Normal)
Endless Legend (Drakken, diplomacy)

Just those 9, where past years totals were:

2017:23
2016:23
2015:26
2014:32
2013:33
2012:23
2011:21
2010:23
2009:19
2008:26
2007:15

The game backlog has continued to balloon, mostly due to freebies picked up from various places. I'm not stressed about it. I couldn't even tell you how many titles were added or removed in 2018, but it does look big as ever.

As for 2019, I'm not sure what it has in store in terms of releases, or my plans for games to play. Right now I want to continue with Battletech and Hitman. I would like to catch up with Assassin's Creed and The Witcher, as well. Beyond that, I suppose just knocking more games off the backlog will do.

2017 Wrap-up with GOTY!

This has been a good year in games. The Switch was released with a killer couple of entries in the Zelda and Mario series, as well as a number of other good to great Nintendo first party releases, and the other platforms saw a bunch of other huge AAA releases as per usual. My picks for honors this year will probably seem contrarian or unconventional, but of course this is one man's point of view, and intensely personally focused.

My 2017 Game of the Year: Mass Effect Andromeda
Honorable Mention: Diablo III: Rise of the Necromancer

There you have them. I was more into the newest Mass Effect for its duration than any other game released this year. I know the wider response to the game has been negative, and I count myself lucky that I was able to look over whatever the collective complaints were to the entertainment beyond. I wish Bioware was able to follow through on whatever the DLC plans had been and with the logical subsequent series entries, but sadly it looks like Mass Effect my be being mothballed instead. My message for anyone thinking of playing the game is to go for it, and enjoy. It's got the best combat and world of the series, a good cast of supporting characters and villains, and a very cool speculative sci-fi premise.

Rise of the Necromancer brought a whole new game to Diablo III, just like every new class is a new way to play. This was basically more of one of my all-time favorite games, and if I take into account how it brought me back to the game for a good month and a half this year, there's no denying it deserves this runner-up spot in my game of the year consideration.

There was a real wealth of other things I played this year that were very good, like the aforementioned Zelda and Mario games, as well as Mario Kart, Opus Magnum, Destiny 2, Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, Dawn of War III, and many others I think I'll love but have yet to get around to, like Prey, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Nier: Automata, Hollow Knight, Battle Brothers, and more.

As for game achievements and backlog progress this year, here's the Pile of Skulls:

Assassin's Creed Unity
Assassin's Creed Unity: Dead Kings
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Crimson Shroud
Democracy 3
Destiny 2
Diablo III Anniversary Event
Diablo III: Necromancer 70
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (Necromancer)
Dishonored 2 (Emily, Low Chaos)
Dungeon of the Endless
FFXI: Samurai Artifact
Hexcells
Hexcells Infinite
Hexcells Infinite (60 Down)
Hexcells Plus
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Spec Ops: The Line
Super Mario Odyssey
The Horus Heresy: Battle of Tallarn Apocalypse Campaign (Loyalists)
The Horus Heresy: Battle of Tallarn Apocalypse Campaign (Traitors)
The Horus Heresy: Battle of Tallarn Resurrection Campaign (Loyalists)
Titanfall 2

I count 23 this year, the same as last year, coincidentally:

2017:23
2017:23
2015:26
2014:32
2013:33
2012:23
2011:21
2010:23
2009:19
2008:26
2007:15

I also tally a total of 21 additions to the backlog this year, though I don't really keep track of how many it was reduced by in the same time. Suffice it to say it doesn't look much smaller, though I know I knocked a few things off. Maybe I'll manage more in 2018.

I don't have much in the way of new year's resolutions other than my usual desire to play more strategy games and RPGs. I'll also add character action games this year--Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, et al. Even if I have to play them on easy. If there's one thing I want done and dusted this year, it's The Witcher 3. I don't know why I deprive myself of it like I do, honestly. It's very good.

2018 releases I'm looking forward to include Bayonetta 3, and maybe more on Cyberpunk 2077. I can't think of anything else at the moment.

2016 Wrap Up with G and B OTY

2016 has been a kind of off year. I've felt my enthusiasm for a lot of games seem to wane a bit, and so even with my top picks, I feel less than completely rapt. Without further ado, though:

My Game of the Year: World of Warcraft: Legion
Honorable Mention: Overwatch

Two Blizzard games, as it turns out. I went into the year unenthused by either, but it turns out I probably had the most unreserved fun with them throughout the year. There were a series of others games in 2016 I was more looking forward to, but for one reason or another just didn't stick, things like The Witness and Firewatch. Even stalwart series I enjoy like HITMAN and Dishonored didn't hook me the way I look for in a GOTY candidate. At least not in time for the end of the year. I still have hope for some of these.

In terms of backlog maintenance, it seems 2016 was another draw, if not a net add to the pile. I didn't exactly go crazy buying games, but at the same time I only knocked relatively few off the list, and most of those were just dabblings and dismissals. Here are the skulls I took this year, those achievements and milestones I felt notable. It's not as easy as rolling the credits on a game anymore; these days games try to be perennial, perpetual, and otherwise endless, so you have to be able to define your own goals more than ever:

Super Mario Run (Tour)
World of Warcraft (Death Knight 110)
World of Warcraft (Death Knight 100)
World of Warcraft (Death Knight 90)
No Man's Sky (Atlas)
Eisenhorn: Xenos
World of Warcraft (Death Knight 85)
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Dungeons)
World of Warcraft (Death Knight 80)
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade (Dungeons)
World of Warcraft (Death Knight 70)
Warcraft III (Undead)
World of Warcraft (Death Knight intro)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution (Space Marines)
Dark Souls
Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss
Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3: Citadel
Mass Effect 3: Omega
Mass Effect 3: Leviathan
Talisman: The Horus Heresy
Firewatch
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

That's 23 recorded milestones this year, however charitable I am about the definition. About average with past years' totals:

2015:26
2014:32
2013:33
2012:23
2011:21
2010:23
2009:19
2008:26
2007:15

At this point I'm not going to try to put together a 2017 syllabus of any sort. I made some progress through the one for this year, but those always end up falling apart. It seems like a bit of a fool's errand. A few things I'd like to do, though, are finally crack Paradox strategy games, probably with Stellaris, which I am now familiarizing myself with, to get around to really playing The Witcher 3, and to play more real-time strategy.

2017 releases I'm looking forward to? Mass Effect Andromeda, Dawn of War III, and Nintendo's Switch and all that comes with that.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now on to the page-turning side of things. I read a decent amount this year:

Deathfire
Legacies of Betrayal
The Keeler Image
The Unburdened
The Honoured
Altered Carbon
Saga of the Swamp Thing Vol. 1
Origin (Wolverine)
Warcraft III and WoW Manuals (Lore)
Remember
The Damnation of Pythos
Vengeful Spirit
Scars
The Unremembered Empire
Vulkan Lives
Mark of Calth
Paradise Lost
Betrayer
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Angel Exterminatus

That's 20-some odd works, by my hackneyed accounting. Figure a few additional, based on all the single issue comics I've read (several large volumes' worth, easily). A pretty good sum from the few years I've been keeping track. Definitely better than 2015:

2016:20-some odd
2015:4ish
2014:18
2013:9

Book of the Year: The Unremembered Empire
Honorable Mention: Betrayer

Two Horus Heresy novels, which is patently unfair to other quality work, such as Altered Carbon, or mind-benders like Flatland or Paradise Lost, because of how much they draw from the surrounding Heresy universe, but there you have it. Both books were incredible, and you are missing out if you aren't reading The Horus Heresy.

I have a lot more reading queued up for 2017, including a lot more Heresy, among other things, so I'm pretty psyched about that.

2015 Wrap-Up GOTY and BOTY

Twenty-fifteen. It was a heck of a year for video games. Here are my picks, the absolute cream of the crop.

My Game of the Year: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Honorable Mention: The Witcher III: Wild Hunt

There were a number of other great games this year, such as Fallout 4, Invisible, Inc., Her Story, and more, many more, I haven't even played. Games as a hobby just keeps getting better.

Past years:
2014: Elite: Dangerous/The Banner Saga
2013: Spelunky/Hearthstone
2012: Dota 2/Diablo III
2011: The Witcher 2/SpaceChem
2010: Mass Effect 2/Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
2009: Demon's Souls/Red Faction: Guerilla
2008: Metal Gear Solid 4/Gears of War 2
2007: BioShock/Halo 3

Backlog-wise, I added fewer by far titles to my list than in any other recent year, having (probably) shrunken the list along the right side of this web page over the last year, at least by a few titles.

I didn't complete a whole hell of a lot of games this year, rather focusing on discrete goals within a smaller pool of at times very large games. Here is my list of 26 accomplishments, in reverse chronological order:

Game of Thrones (Episode 6)
Fallout 4 (Institute)
Game of Thrones (Episode 5)
Game of Thrones (Episode 4)
Game of Thrones (Episode 3)
Game of Thrones (Episode 2)
Game of Thrones (Episode 1)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Chapter 2)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Chapter 1)
The Taken King (Destiny)
House of Wolves (Destiny)
The Dark Below (Destiny)
Old World Blues (Fallout: New Vegas)
Dead Money (Fallout: New Vegas)
Her Story
Lonesome Road (Fallout: New Vegas)
The Price of Neutrality (The Witcher)
Monk to 70 (Diablo III)
Side Effects (The Witcher)
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China
Damn Those Swamps! (The Witcher)
Crusader to 70 (Diablo III)
Assassin's Creed Rogue
Warcraft III (Humans)
Journey
Witch Doctor to 70 (Diablo III)

Past years' totals:
2014:32
2013:33
2012:23
2011:21
2010:23
2009:19
2008:26
2007:15

I have a prospective list of 2016 plays worked up, in a post below. We'll see how that plays out, of course. I have already played some Skyrim and KOTOR, for what that's worth.

Reading-wise, 2015 was a pretty dismal year. I spent nine or ten months not reading Moby Dick before finally buckling down and getting through it, and enjoying it, after all. Otherwise it was just a year of Warhammer 40K fiction, mostly Horus Heresy books. The list:

Deathwatch: Xenos Hunters
Moby Dick; or The White While
Fear to Tread
Shadows of Treachery

I'll finish Angel Exterminatus (another Horus Heresy novel) soon, and then go for something a little more... literate, I suppose is the word. My 2016 reading goal is merely to feel better at the end of the year about what I read than I do this year.

Book of the Year: Moby Dick
Honorable Mention: Shadows of Treachery

2014 In Games and Literature

Another year has drawn to a close, and it is time to take stock of what I played and read in 2014. First up, the awards:

My Game of the Year: Elite: Dangerous
Honorable Mention: The Banner Saga

Past years:
2013: Spelunky/Hearthstone
2012: Dota 2/Diablo III
2011: The Witcher 2/SpaceChem
2010: Mass Effect 2/Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
2009: Demon's Souls/Red Faction: Guerilla
2008: Metal Gear Solid 4/Gears of War 2
2007: BioShock/Halo 3

The games, DLC, et cetera that I finished in 2014, defined liberally, as always. It's a grand total of 32, which is nice, but this is a particularly apples and oranges comparison with previous years when I was stricter about what counted as a completion.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag: Aveline
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag: Freedom Cry
Assassin's Creed Liberation
Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
Baldur's Gate: The Black Pits
Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Ep. 2
Borderlands: Claptrap's New Robot Revolution
Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx
Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned
Chocolate Castle
Civilization: Beyond Earth (Transcendence)
Destiny
Diablo III (Master) (Barbarian)
Diablo III (Normal) (Demon Hunter)
Diablo III (Torment) (Wizard)
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (Master) (Barbarian)
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (Normal) (Demon Hunter)
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (Torment) (Wizard)
Evoland
Goat Simulator
Half-Life 2
Hearthstone: Naxxramas (class challenges)
Hearthstone: Naxxramas (Normal)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
Stranded
Street Fighter IV (Easiest) (Ryu)
Talisman: Digital Edition
Talisman: Prologue
The Banner Saga
Uncharted 3 : Drake's Deception
Vlad the Impaler

The game backlog has continued to expand well beyond control, but I'm not too worried about it. These days I practically only play PC games, so limiting myself to one platform will at least boost the probability that many of these will ever be touched. I like to hop into something new on occasion, anyway. There will be no shortage of that. I do feel like I've made fewer cavalier purchases over the last year, but I haven't done the validation part of that assumption.


On the book reading front, I think this was a pretty good year.

Book of the Year: A Song of Ice and Fire I - V
Honorable Mention: Roadside Picnic

Without a doubt my reading highlight of this year was taking GRRM's series back-to-back-to-back all the way through all of the currently released books. The Horus Heresy stuff I read was also a lot of fun, but no one individual title stuck out as much to me as did Roadside Picnic, the book that inspired the movie Stalker and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series. That was a cool book, and not too long. I also had fun rereading James Clavell's Tai-Pan and with Andy Weir's The Martian, a hard science-based tale of a near-future NASA mission to Mars.

Books read in 2014:

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons
Age of Darkness
Book of Cain
Book of Tyrael
Deliverance Lost
Nemesis
Red Storm Rising
Roadside Picnic
Tai-Pan
The Martian
The Outcast Dead
The Primarchs
The Walking Dead 1-125
Visions of Heresy

That was 18, which is not bad, and double my 2013 count.

Here's to much more great playing and reading in 2015!

2013 Gs (and Bs) OTY

The time has come, once again, to look back on the year that has befallen us and to call to account the games that have presented themselves for our consideration.

My Game of the Year: Spelunky
Runner-up: Hearthstone

Past years' picks, for reference:
2012: Dota 2/Diablo III
2011: The Witcher 2/SpaceChem
2010: Mass Effect 2/Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
2009: Demon's Souls/Red Faction: Guerilla
2008: Metal Gear Solid 4/Gears of War 2
2007: BioShock/Halo 3

Here, alphabetically, since I lost track of the chronology, are all the games I've finished in 2013. 33, liberally counted. That's pretty good, I think.

Anno 2070
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Bioshock Infinite
Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Ep. 1
Dear Esther
Diablo III (Inferno)
Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches
Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall
Fallout
Fallout 3: Broken Steel
Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta
Fallout 3: Operation: Anchorage
Fallout 3: Point Lookout
Fallout 3: The Pitt
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas: Honest Hearts
Gone Home
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
Gravity Bone
Mass Effect 2: Arrival
Mass Effect 2: Firewalker
Mass Effect 2: Kasumi - Stolen Memory
Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker
Mass Effect 2: Overlord
Proteus
Shadowrun Returns
Starcraft: Brood War (Protoss)
Starcraft: Brood War (Terran)
Starcraft: Brood War (Zerg)
The Stanley Parable
The Walking Dead: 400 Days
Tomb Raider

Past years' totals:
2012:23
2011:21
2010:23
2009:19
2008:26
2007:15

I've taken to counting DLC or anything that feels like a completion as just that. I cast aside my tokens and in/out policies, though, and have begun a more laissez-faire approach to the backlog, which is immense. I just buy whatever and play it whenever, if ever. It's working well, so far.

The Booklog, began this year, has seen only middling activity. I wish I had/would make more time to read, I really do. Maybe that'll be a good New Year's resolution for 2014, along with all the usual stuff. I've never picked a BOTY, or even really ever thought in those terms, but let's give it a shot.

Book of the Year: A Memory of Light
Runner-up: The Martians

Books read this year, a pitiful 9 in all:

Neuromancer
Fallen Angels
Descent of Angels
Tales of Heresy
The Martians
Telegraph Avenue
A Memory of Light
Pariah
Mechanicum

2012 Game Of The Year & Recap

Another year has come and gone, but the world keeps turning, and players keep gaming. This year saw me grapple with two titans of gaming, logging well over 150+ hours with each, even discounting time spent AFK or spectating or browsing the in-game store or auction house. What, pray tell, could those games be?

My Game of 2012: Dota 2
Runner-Up: Diablo III

Of course, anyone reading this blog over the past year or listening to Call Of Podcast would probably have been able to guess one or the both of those. Neither should really come as much surprise, if I haven't had much to say about Diablo since putting it on a back burner in August.

The real surprise to me, personally, has been just how deep Dota 2 has gotten its hooks into me. It's about as deep as my personal life these days (full-time job, child, spouse, etc.) will allow for the sort of thing to happen. It's nothing like what it might have been like during the days when I could binge on FFXI for entirely self-destructive amounts of time; it's a more responsible admiration as opposed to an outright addiction or obsession. I also harbor no delusions of grandeur; I will never be a great player of Dota 2, but I can try to at least be decent at it, and as long as I feel like I'm doing well in-game, playing it is high in the ranks of satisfying experiences I've had with video games. So, bravo Valve, Icefrog, the Warcraft III modding community, Blizzard, and everyone else who had a hand in bringing the game to be over the years. It's heady stuff.

If not for that game, Diablo III would easily have taken the top spot. I've had a blast with it. It's not Diablo II, and it's not Diablo, either--it's something new and modernized, and for me, it works. It works very, very well.

Past years' picks, for reference:
2011: The Witcher 2/SpaceChem
2010: Mass Effect 2/Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
2009: Demon's Souls/Red Faction: Guerilla
2008: Metal Gear Solid 4/Gears of War 2
2007: BioShock/Halo 3

And as for the progress on the backlog? Well, here are the games (liberally defined) I finished this year:
BioShock 2

Minerva's Den

Max Payne

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Trine

Legend of Grimrock

Diablo III

Diablo III (Nightmare)

Diablo III (Hell)

The Walking Dead Ep. 1

Thirty Flights of Loving

The Walking Dead Ep. 2

Moon Base Alpha

NightSky

Diablo II

The Walking Dead Ep. 3

Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising

The Walking Dead Ep. 4

Dishonored

Darksiders

Fallout 3

The Walking Dead Ep. 5

Assassin's Creed III

23, all told.

Past years' totals:

2011:21

2010:23

2009:19

2008:26

2007:15

The backlog is as big as its ever been, it seems. This time last year I was planning on a 2 out, 1 in completion policy. I amended that later to straight 1 out, 1 in, and then decided that books knocked off the booklog would also count as 1 out. That may be lenient, but I'll stick with it for now. There is the additional guideline of not buying a game unless I want to play it right away, which seems to have been successful, recently. Looking at the Pile o' Shame now, I'm not sure that it'll ever get back under control, or how to tackle it. I could resurrect the Resolution idea of trying something new each week, but that sounds like homework, to be honest, and not very attractive.

I don't have a New Year's Resolution of any type at the moment, really, other than the same stuff as every year--try to be fit, eat healthy, read more, write more, etc. Perhaps I'll add to that to try to play more games from the backlog. We'll see how that goes.

Oh, can't forget the Booklog! I finished one book since beginning the initiative recently:

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

There are still plenty of titles on that pile, as well.

Happy New Year, everyone, and game on!

2011 Game of the Year & Recap

It's been a good year for video games. Aren't they all, though?

My Game of the Year: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Honorable Mention: SpaceChem


My GOTY/HM for past years:
2010: Mass Effect 2/Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
2009: Demon's Souls/Red Faction: Guerilla
2008: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots/Gears of War 2
2007: BioShock/Halo 3

Before 2007 there do be a great sea of FFXI which does divide the present from the past, a time for which there is no recorded 9 Parsecs history...

I managed to complete a surprising number of games in 2011, given the appearance of a wild baby in early July. Here's the tally, 21 games in all:

Fallout 2
Nehrim
Assassin's Creed Revelations
Jamestown
Demon's Souls
Dawn of War II
Space Marine
Kill Team
Deus Ex
Quake
The Witcher 2
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Portal 2
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
Prince of Persia (2008)
VVVVVV
Uncharted 2
Assassin's Creed II
Metro 2033
Fallout
Halo: Reach

Past years' totals:
2010: 23
2009: 19
2008: 26
2007: 15

I'm not sure what I'm going to set as a goal for 2012, if anything. I'm fairly content with the amount of money I've been spending on games, which has gone down a good bit... I think. It's hard to keep track of all the little purchases. At any rate, I spend more on coffee than games, I'm certain. That's probably what I need to cut out in 2012: trips to Starbucks. Aside from that money sink, I want to trim the Pile o' Shame. It's really been growing like a weed due to insane holiday sale deals and indie game bundles.

For now I am still rolling with the 2 out, 1 in token system, for games over $25 out of pocket.  That may be a tad lenient, considering my buying habits these days, since in all of 2011 I only spent that amount (not including credit from trade-ins) on 7 games, and I currently have 3 and a half tokens banked. I should also probably refrain from buying games in series that I'm not caught up on. No Arkham City until I've played Asylum, no Dead Space 2 until I've finished the first--that sort of thing. That would really get BioShock 2 off the pile for good, wouldn't it? I'll update later with any new parameters I think of to set on my game consumption.

Runner-Up GOTY?

It's going to be a tough thing to decide, this year. Here are some of the games I need to consider:

Dark Souls
SpaceChem
Frozen Synapse
Portal 2

Games I like well enough, but am fairly certain are not runner-up GOTY candidates:

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine
Total War: Shogun 2
Red Orchestra 2
Sengoku
Jamestown
Section 8: Prejudice
Assassin's Creed Revelations
Magicka

Battlefield 3
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together


If there's a high profile 2011 release missing from that list, and there is, more than one, it is because I haven't played it. That's the first hurdle a game has to overcome for consideration. If it hasn't won my money and time during the calender year of its release, whatever the reason, it's not eligible. Sorry, Skyrim, sorry Gears 3, et al. Them's the arbitrary breaks.

2010 Game Of The Year & Recap

My game of 2010:  Mass Effect 2
Runner-up: Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow

I took down 23 games in 2010, which is pretty good, I think, though I know I could have done better.

Games finished in 2010:
Bayonetta
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
The Witcher
Civilization V
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
Starcraft (Protoss)
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Alien Swarm
Call of Duty
inFAMOUS
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Super Mario Galaxy
Planescape: Torment
Torchlight
Starcraft (Zerg)
UniWar
God of War
Far Cry 2
Mass Effect 2
Vagrant Story
Yakuza 2
Metroid: Zero Mission

Past years totals:
2009: 19
2008: 26
2007: 15

I've got a big 2011 ahead; in addition to having a baby, I'm going to be doing more writing and job hunting on the side, so I'm going to go ahead and set a more realistic goal of finishing one game a month on average.  This will of course mean focusing more on games I want to complete, but I'm sure I'll get plenty of variety in there.  Also, with the epic amount of games I bought in 2010 (around 120!), I need to work on both playing a bunch of those, and buying less overall.

I'm going forward with 2 out, 1 in, with indulgences for games under $20, but I do plan to be more selective, considering my massive, incredible backlog of games.  Help me thin out the pile by voting for games I'll play in the Resolution feature of Call Of Podcast!

Happy 2011, everyone!

Embark: Holiday 2009 & Games Of The Year

I was just packing things for the annual pilgrimage to see family around the Christmas holiday. Not games; I've not yet completely decided what I'm going to take. I'm tempted to try installing Planescape: Torment on my wife's shitty old laptop just to be able to take that with me. I don't have any sort of Windows virtual machine on my MacBook, unfortunately. I am bringing the game files and my saves with me on a USB HDD, on the off chance that my parents' old-by-2002-standards machine can be coaxed into running it. I think it just may.

I've been playing a lot of Torment lately, and I'm still in Sigil, the starting city, though I've got four members in my party now, and will probably soon recruit a fifth. The writing in this game is remarkable, and the way it parcels out the background of The Nameless One irresistibly compelling.

Aside from the aforementioned epic, which roots me to my chair for three to eight-hour stretches, I've done some dabbling this week with Red Faction: Guerilla multiplayer, enticed by a 5x (!) XP period, and Torchlight, goaded by the game's new Steamworks and Steam Achievement integration. I also was forced to rush out to Best Buy this weekend to pick up the Metroid Prime Trilogy on Wii for the insane bargain price of $20. It's a hell of a package to begin with, and that good of a deal made me turn in my Borderlands completion token to get it. Now I'll need to complete something else (Torment, maybe) before Mass Effect 2 arrives on January 26th.

At first the Trilogy disc wouldn't load up on my Wii, and I was afraid I'd gotten one of the bum one that has trouble reading dual-layer DVDs, but after a couple of tries it booted up. It was probably just the fact that I hadn't turned on the Wii since whenever I posted about the Legend of Zelda. I actually had to replace the AA's in the wiimote, which is a regular occurrence when I go to get my waggle on. I played through Metroid Prime 1 when it came out on the gamecube, (but never touched either of the other games in the series), so I thought I probably wouldn't replay the entire thing, but that it'd be a good place to jump into to test out the new Wii motion-control scheme. It takes some getting used to, but by the end of the intro space station segment and descent to the planet the game takes place on, I had more or less become accustomed to it, and I actually quite like it. Swapping of visors could maybe done a better way, but it's not hard to come to the conclusion that given time and evolution, such a control scheme could obsolete the twin-stick method--which is really not that great to begin with, merely the best we have at the moment.

Starting up Metroid Prime 1 again, though,... I don't know... I might want to replay the damned thing. It's probably a bad idea; I should probably just move on to the second game in the series whenever I feel like playing it after the holidays.

This week also happens to be a week of Pure White World Tendency for the Demon's Souls universe, so I took the opportunity to jump into 1-1 to go to the execution grounds to the left of the beginning area and kill Miralda and collect some loot. While crawling around the Boletarian Palace now at soul level high 30's, I decided to pay our old friend Red Knight a visit and kill him. It was an especially sweet victory. From there I moved on back to 2-2, the level I have been working on, and got summoned as a blue phantom to someone else's world and shown the way to the boss, Flamelurker, and how to fight him. We killed him and I won my body back and then promptly went and fought him with my own summoned companion.

I wouldn't have won that battle alone, at least not without several attempts under my belt. My companion and I kept trading hate back and forth, attracting the beast this way and that, taking advantage of backstab opportunities as they came, using almost MMO-like tactics. What an awesome game. I think it's safe to call it my Game Of The Year 2009, and since I'm going to go ahead and name it, why waste time? I'll lay it out here:

My 2009 GOTY: Demon's Souls

Runner-Up: Red Faction: Guerilla

See the posts I've made about each game for my reasons why. There are a whole host of 2009 games I haven't even touched, but if I can't be compelled enough to buy and play them, then they don't deserve a spot in the running, then, do they? Similarly, there are some outstanding games I played in 2009 (Far Cry 2, Torment to name a couple) that, were they 2009 games, might belong in one of those spots, but alas; they aren't. I would like to give a shout-out to a few honorable mentions that were just edged out of the Runner-Up spot, though: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, Demigod, and Torchlight.

For those keeping track:

2007 GOTY: Bioshock, Runner-Up: Halo 3

2008 GOTY: Metal Gear Solid 4, Runner-Up: Gears of War 2

I guess I really like to shoot/slice stuff?

My 2008 GOTY

Every site/podcast out there chooses theirs, so I thought I should, too. I'm going to limit this to 2008 games that I actually played in 2008, as opposed to older games I played in 2008 or 2008 games I haven't played yet. You have to draw the line somewhere.

I don't think I ever named a game for 2007, though, so here's that one first: BioShock. Honorable Mention goes to Halo 3.

Without further ado, my game of the year 2008 is: Metal Gear Solid 4. It was completely awesome, and as good a cap to the series and wish fulfillment as could be hoped for. Who could forget Metal Gear on Metal Gear battle, or Snake's agonizing crawl through that microwave tunnel? Unbelievable, I loved it. Pretty good control scheme, even!

Honorable Mention goes to Gears of War 2.

I didn't actually play that many 2008 games in 2008...