So I finished a couple of things in August and dropped a game for once too, even if it was just a replay.

Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2 - A replay, though with a different faction. Although it seems like the game has three campaigns for tree races, it's actually the same campaign with three different factions. There is little meaningful difference, though the gameplay is still great. The Necron campaign, however, is a letdown, compared to the Imperial one.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - An incredibly well-put-together product, with no rough edges gameplay-wise. However, while I wouldn't call it creatively bankrupt, it's such a by-the-numbers AAA game, that it felt extremely hollow. Not helped by the weak story.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023) - Incredibly mediocre and lazy. No great spectacle, no insane action, no nothing, except for reused maps.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - It was kind of basic, not bad by any means, just a bit dull of an experience for me. Preferred the base game.

Retired:

Medal of Honor: Airborne - This actually would just have been a replay but I couldn't go through with it. They made several unfortunate decisions with the gameplay that just make it janky to play and although there is an excellent mod (Redux) that fixes most of it, it also introduced a different sort of problem, at least for me. None of this helped with technical difficulties on top, and I decided this wasn't worth the trouble for a replay.

So I have finished Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, the standalone expansion to New Order. (No screenshot because I couldn't take one.) It was fine, a solid shooter all around, but I rather preferred the base game. This one was just kind of basic, sometimes even a bit dull of an experience. Thankfully, in the second half of the game, things get crazier.

So I have finished Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023), and it was mediocre. (At least the campaign, I rarely bother with the multiplayer these days.) I heard a lot of bad things about the campaign of this one, claiming that they just used multiplayer maps instead of having proper missions. Unfortunately, that's true, fortunately, we still got some normal missions. Unfortunately, again, those normal missions are the most lukewarm and basic we got since the restart of the Modern Warfare series. No great spectacle, no insane action, no nothing. This is by far the most disappointing campaign of the subseries, perhaps in the whole series. The story is just the usual.

All in all, the whole experience is whatever. Good thing that the game is available in Game Pass right now, because I would not have paid more for this. If at all...

So I have finished Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and it was... fine. Honestly, I have mixed feelings about the whole experience. On one hand, it was a silky smooth experience, I would be hard-pressed to find a game with less rough edges. Combat is smooth, there is plenty of variety in enemies and in ways to despatch them. Exploration is snappy, movement is fluid. The environments are amazing, and there are a bunch of side activities to do.

Yet I couldn't help but feel this emptiness throughout most of the experience. I checked back on my thoughts on the previous game and things finally clicked. I had the same feeling of discontent with that one, and called it the "Triple-A Semi-Open World Action-Adventure: The Game". Things are pretty much the same with the sequel. It's such a by-the-numbers AAA game that even though I had fun with it, even though it was an extremely smooth gameplay experience, I just couldn't be really engaged with it. Hell, the most genuine fun I had with this game was actually with the holotactics minigame.

None of this is helped by the weak story. Honestly, there are probably 5 hours of worthwhile narrative development in the whole 30-hour-long game, in the first one and the last four. Otherwise, you are chasing around this second-rate villain with poorly explained motivations, even whose second-in-command with half the screen time had a better-established character.

All in all, I can't call Star Wars Jedi: Survivor a bad game, far from it. It's an extremely polished game. It was just aggressively by the numbers, and for me, that made the experience feel really hollow.
It's not that I will remember this game for its shortcomings, it's that I won't remember it at all.

Ahhh I sympathise. I spent a chunk of this game in the middle of it hating it and wanting to quit. in the end, I liked it according to my review..?? Perhaps the list of glitches and frustrations in the penultimate paragraph will sound familiar to you.

https://howlongtobeat.com/game/5777/reviews/u-Alt_Ending/1

Yeah, I do recognize that there is a fun-ish game with interesting ideas under all that jank and less-than-good ideas, but the jank... That jank proved too much for me this time around.

I'm afraid I must give up on my replay of Medal of Honor: Airborne, which is a shame. I used to play the hell out of this game on console, but that was over a decade ago. I recently finished watching Band of Brothers and felt a need to play a good WW2 FPS, coupled with the fact that I currently have the EA Play subscription this seemed like a golden opportunity for some nostalgia.

So how does Medal of Honor: Airborne hold up? A lot worse than I thought from a 2007 game. The devs had this unique idea that you can't move while aiming down the sight and instead, the movement buttons change the extent of your lean while aiming down the sight. You can get used to it, but it still doesn't quite right. Also, for some weird reason, the camera just shakes so goddamn much from everything that I was getting kinda dizzy from playing the game. Out of curiosity, I booted up the first Call of Duty (a four year older game from 2003) and the movement was much better there, I would rather replay that.

All in all, the controls and game feel were just really awkward in Airborne.

Luckily for us, Medal of Honor: Airborne Redux exists. This mod revamps a lot from the base game. It fixes the shaky camera, you can move while aiming down the sight, it improves the enemy AI, and all around balances the game (it makes it a lot tougher though, even on easy). As great as this mod is, unfortunately for me, it also increases FOV. It zoomed out the game so much for me that I could barely see shit. And trying to fiddle with the .ini files to customize it just straight-up broke the mod. For others, this mod might work out great, and it is indeed an impressive piece of work, for me, however, it was just a differently uncomfortable gameplay experience.

And then there are the bugs. This game doesn't work well on modern systems. I had to employ a completely different workaround for that.

At this point, I spent hours trying to get the game into working order, fixing issues, and trying to finetune the gameplay. I spent more time doing this than actually playing the damn game! I've reached the point where I was like: Fuck it! A replay is not worth this much trouble!

A damn shame, I really liked this game forever ago, but it seems I better leave those pleasant memories in the past.

So I have finished Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2 for a second time, and while it was still fun, there won't be a third. The core gameplay with the great space battles and light management is still great, playing the game is still fun. However, while it may seem like the game has three campaigns, it is more accurate to say that it has one campaign that can be played with three different factions. Playing the Necron campaign was pretty much the same as the imperial one. Of course, the flair and your reasons differ, as you are playing a different race, but what you do remains much the same. You just conquer the galaxy map and defeat the other races, and this could get somewhat repetitive during your first go, for the second time, it just isn't enough. The events pretty much follow the same beats too, such as the pre-scripted invasion of Tyrannid fleets. The narrative wasn't the pinnacle of storytelling even in the imperial campaign but that one at least managed to establish proper stakes, it had focus, but the Necron one failed to engage me on any level. It was quite dull narratively.

All in all, Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2 is still a pretty good game that managed to improve much on the first game, but as to whether it's worth more than one walkthrough, I'm not so sure.

I have actually finished a ton of games (by my standards) this July, mostly thanks to the fact that I was on vacation and deliberately picking shorter games.

Tamayura Mirai – It’s a visual novel that is a bit more plot-centric than your usual moege, and for that, it's a fairly engaging read most of the time. Other than that though, it was just fine. It wasn’t bad by any means just not that special either.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty – It’s quite impressive how much even the base game has changed and improved over the years. The expansion is more of the best that Cyberpunk had to offer, excellent story, memorable characters, fun missions, and great sidecontent.

Fate/Samurai Remnant DLC – Played all three of them and while they are not bad per se, they are nowhere near as good as the base game. A few fun additions but otherwise they are all pretty skippable unless you really want more F/SR.

Trepang2 – An incredibly high-paced FPS game in the spirit of F.E.A.R. It might be a bit too chaotic at first but once you get used to it it’s extremely satisfying.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – The story has its moments and so do the characters, although some of that does depend on how much you like our ragtag team and the game’s humor. The gameplay, though, is kind of mediocre. Still, a fun little game.

Hitman 2 (2018) – It’s pretty much the same game as the 2016 one, just with a new set of murder playgrounds. The story is just kinda there but the core gameplay loop is still excellent. Finding the most creative, complicated, and wacky ways to assassinate your targets is a lot of fun.

Merchant of the Skies - A simple little management game with absolutely no combat where you mostly sift through menus and do exactly what the title suggests. You travel the map, buy low, sell high, and try to manage your growing merchant enterprise. It’s pretty light on story, but the gameplay is excellent and addicting.

Industria – An atmosphere-heavy FPS game, whose environment and atmosphere are pretty nice, but everything else fails. The shooting is serviceable at best and the story never comes together, not helped by its incredibly short 3-hour runtime. I wouldn’t really recommend this one.

So I have finished Industria, and it was pretty meh. It's an atmosphere-heavy (though not story-heavy) FPS game. This means that combat here is not the focus of the game, it's neither high-octane nor high-impact. It functions but that's about it. The main focus here is the atmosphere, as the game mostly takes place in this abandoned post-apocalyptic city. Since the game doesn't talk much this atmosphere kind of works, but this is about the only thing the game does right. The story starts pretty quickly and doesn't explain much despite the fact that it has a fully-voiced talking protagonist who actually has a better understanding of the events than us. However, with little explanation and establishing of the stakes, it's hard to feel much of anything about our protagonist's journey. The game leaves much of the narrative to our imagination and honestly, what little it does say, it's not hard to guess the rest. On top of that, the game is barely 3 hours long, which is extremely short even by shooter standards, and as I mentioned, most of it is spent in moody silence in service of the atmosphere, so the story doesn't go anywhere. I just really didn't buy into anything concerning the narrative, it's kind of a disjointed mess.

All in all, I can't recommend Industria to anyone unless you have nothing better to do during an afternoon and got the game for free from somewhere (like I did). The atmosphere is nice but everything else is a mess.

So I have finished Merchant of the Skies, and it was a real treat to play. It's a fairly simple management game where gameplay solely consists of clicking on your next destination and sifting through menus. You try to buy low and sell high, take guild commissions to procure resources to turn a profit, and all of this is made incredibly easy since the game handily notes every location with prices. Then you use those profits to upgrade your ship, buy islands, and invest materials and manpower into them to get advanced resources. All of this combines into a very cozy and satisfying gameplay loop that could get repetitive due to its relative simplicity but the game is only about ten hours long, so that never becomes a problem. The only complaint I could offer is that navigating menus could have used more QOL features since that is the majority of what you're doing, but even that is just a minor complaint. The game is fairly light on story, mostly just lore bits about the world that you get while you are trying to accomplish some of the major milestones that the game has you chasing.

In the end, Merchant of the Skies is a simple, short, and very satisfying little management game that I could recommend to those who like these sorts of games, and to those who like seeing big numbers go up.

So I have finished Hitman 2 (2018), and it was pretty fun. It's pretty much the same game as the previous except with new missions. Which is great, since the 2016 one was awesome too. You get these huge murder playgrounds with a bunch of wonderfully varied, creative, and sometimes downright wacky ways to dispatch your targets. There's obviously a huge replay value to every map, and part of the game is replaying these missions and finding your favorite ways to eliminate the targets. The story though, is just kinda there, but that's not that big of a deal.

It's basically more Hitman, you can't really go wrong with it.

So I have finished Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, and it was fun. The story is nice, and it certainly has its moments, though I did have to get used to the characters never shutting up. Though I guess your mileage may vary on how much you like the Guardians. The gameplay is fine, it can be fun but all in all, it's subpar. It's the controls, they are kinda janky. It's never felt all that precise to control my character, whether in combat or during exploration.

It's a fun enough game though, if nothing more.

So I have finished Trepang2, and it was pretty good. It's a spiritual successor to F.E.A.R., so it's an FPS with fast-paced combat and the ability to slow-mo. It is so fast, in fact, that it took me quite a bit to get used to the chaos, and were initially somewhat annoyed with it. Explosions and bullet impacts cause all sorts of visual effects to overlap and with enemies constantly on the move, it was sometimes hard to parse what was happening on my monitor. The game's also fairly light on story, so in the beginning, I was quickly getting tired of mindless meat grinder. However, the more I played the more I got used to the game's pace. By the end, I was really enjoying myself and by the end of the final mission, I was thoroughly satisfied with the experience.

I can easily recommend Trepang2 to anyone who liked the F.E.A.R. games and to anyone who wants a kickass shooter.

So I have finished all DLC for Fate/Samurai Remnant, and they were just fine. Keian Command Championship was basically a tournament arc that you could play with every team of the original story. It was short and light on story, mostly just a gauntlet of various bosses that you could play six versions of, but considering that the end is almost always the same, it gets repetitive. The new characters were fun, though. Yagyu Sword Chronicles is more story-focused around one new character. It's fine but didn't have the length to have that satisfying of a conclusion. The last piece of DLC is Bailong and the Crimson Demon wich involves the entire cast against a new big threat. This is fine too, and again, the new characters are fun to play with but it's not that memorable an experience.

All in all the DLC for Fate/Samurai Remnant were all fine but not much more. They pale in comparison to the base game. They are basically fanservice for those who really wanted more of the game. They kinda remind me of events from Fate/Grand Order, being these little side adventures that don't really amount to much. Honestly, the DLC is pretty skippable for most unless you really want more Fate/Samurai Remnant.

So I finished Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, and it was pretty great. Excellent story, memorable characters, and fun missions. More of the same stuff that made the base game great. In fact, they did a lot to improve the base game as well, when I first reloaded my last save I had to refamiliarize myself with a lot of stuff. It's a much-improved game from even two years ago when I played it, I can't even imagine the difference it has from its launch version.

Night City and the whole cyberpunk world still have a very unique and very strong atmosphere. Great game, great expansion.

I have finished only one game in June, but it was a meaty one:

Total War: Warhammer 3 - As great as the second game, even better perhaps. You still kinda need the previous game and maybe some of the DLC to really get the full package, but if you do, the variety is unrivaled.

Who is your favorite warhammer faction.

Dwarfs. Gotta love our grumbling short kings.

When it comes to gameplay I prefer factions with strong ranged capabilities and at least some ability to hold the line, such as the high elves, Cathay, or the previously mentioned dwarfs. Although, purely from a gameplay perspective, nothing beats playing as the Skaven Skryre clan and moving everything down with miniguns.

So I have finished Total War: Warhammer 3, at least for now. And by finished I mean I have played 4 campaigns to completion. It's pretty much like the second game except bigger, better, and even more varied. Although owning the first two games and certain DLC is what completes the experience.

It's addicting as all hell and I'm definitely gonna come back for more.

It's catharsis.

That moment, usually, at the end of the game, a storyline, or a character arc when everything comes together perfectly and you are just sitting there and basking in the feeling of raw emotion. The moment when you feel like it was all worth it. That moment of satisfaction is what I pursue in almost every game that I play.

I mostly find that in narrative experiences because there's nothing like a good story, but there is something to be said about more gameplay-focused experiences. You could find plenty of satisfaction in, for example, overcoming challenges like finally beating that soulsborne type boss, or something simpler like finishing a more intense mission in Deep Rock Galactic. Although when it comes to more gameplay-focused experiences I personally lean much more toward the pure fun side of things.

Nothing, however, compares to the conclusion of a well-executed narrative payoff.

So I have finished... not a lot this month, for a couple of reasons. The big one is that the two live-service games I'm playing both released their new chapters this month. I'm gonna list them since they are both about 6-8 hours of new content, which is the length of smaller games.

Fate G/O: Traum chapter - This was a fun one. Not as complex as some of the previous chapters but pretty enjoyable nonetheless.

Honkai: Star Rail ver 2.2 - The climax of the Penacony arc and it was pretty hype. Maybe a bit overly verbose (I'm looking at you Sunday), we really didn't need to hear that bird story like three times.

Kanon - One of the earliest titles of Key, and this one was... fine. I did generally enjoy the common route, but also wasn't entirely convinced of it. Once I was on a route it didn't really go anywhere either, then it suddenly threw everything at you all at once in the last hour. After seeing the credits roll I decided that I had enough and considered my experience with Kanon finished. (On a side note, I reached a point where I no longer feel the need to finish every route of a visual novel. The completionist in me still doesn't rest until it sees the credits roll but I would rather not spend more time on a Vn that I consider not quite up to par.)

Hi-Fi Rush - Pretty fun and simple action game. Not much more to it than that, but what it aims for it achieves well.

So I have finished Hi-Fi Rush and it was a lot of fun. The gameplay is solid, the story is there for the laughs, the music is good too, and it has a lot of style. Maybe a little heavy on the quick-time events. It's just fun, maybe not much more than that, but what it sets out to do, it accomplishes perfectly.

I have finished two fairly long games in April:

The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition - It's a fine game really, but it's incredibly derivative of everything that inspired it. It had only a single idea, make a joke of corporate dystopia and repeat that throughout the game. And that was not even an original joke in the first place. Everything works in the game, everything is competently executed, but it's painfully unoriginal.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - This was really good, the usual FE gameplay is still excellent and now it's got a pretty engaging narrative to it as well.

So I have finished Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and now we are talking! The previous three games in the series were all fairly good, at least on the gameplay front, but narratively falling short. Path of Radiance is the first that finally lives up to the fame of the series for me. The gameplay is much the same as in the previous game, and it's still pretty great. The story, however, is now vastly better.

So I have finished The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition (so the two DLCs as well), and it was... fine. It's a good game all things considered, but it just feels kind of uninspired. It's not the next Fallout: New Vegas, which some might have hoped for, (or at least, I certainly did) considering the developer is Obsidian. It doesn't really have an original bone in its body, the world is some combination of Fallout and Borderlands with the big aesthetic thing, that this colony of the galaxy is ruled by our corporate overlords to a comical degree, or more precisely, to a satirical degree. I've read somewhere that the same way Jrpgs (or just Japanese games in general) eventually all have you fighting God, western games eventually have you fighting capitalism. Games have always had their tongue-in-cheek digs at the pitfalls of capitalism and corporate culture and this game feels like the crystalization of that. That is to say, it's nothing particularly new, games have been poking fun at capitalism for a long time, and having the entire game written around that concept, while written fairly well, left me feeling I have seen this all before. The game's trailers try to sell this wacky space adventure but the game itself never really had that cool-ish factor. I have felt throughout the entire game that I have seen and done all this before, that the game doesn't have its own identity.

It is a very competently executed rehash, though. The gameplay is solid enough, there is plenty of roleplaying to be had, with several outcomes for the bigger quest and sidequest, and skill-cheks galore. It's not even that robust for an RPG, so it moves at a decent pace. The two DLCs, Peril on Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos are both really well done questlines.

All in all, The Outer Worlds is not a bad experience, it's a very competently executed RPG. Te me, however, felt lacking in originality and a bit bland. Still, I will likely sign up for the second game as well, it was good enough for that. Just... probably years after the release, with a steep discount, I'm not holding my breath for it.

So I have finished a few things in March, such as:

Warhammer 40k: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters – The core gameplay is extremely good if you like the XCOM-style turn-based combat, but the game is way too hard for its own good. At least I believe the difficulty wasn’t balanced well, the game constantly punishes you for no good reason.

Honkai: Star Rail - Pacth 2.1 - I'm counting this because the next part of the story was a good 6-8 hours of content, and I didn't even touch the sidequests.

Marvel’s Spider-Man – A really fun game with very satisfying traversal, fun combat, and an entertaining story. Not sure about the filler content that litters the map Ubisoft style, though.

Warhammer 40k: Boltgun – My very first boomer-shooter, but I can’t say that it sold the genre for me. The core gameplay and gunplay are satisfying but it was the kind of mindless fun that grew repetitive fairly fast for me. Also, the Warhammer flair didn’t do much for the game, it felt to me that the fact that this game takes place in the Warhammer 40k universe is pretty irrelevant.