Games Completed 2026

Entertainment!
,
222

  1. Battlefield 6 Campaign (22nd Feb) 5/10

  2. High on Life 2 (08th March) 7/10

  3. Minishoot’ Adventures (11th March)9/10

  4. Planet of Lana 2 (15th March) 10/10

  5. Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred [expansion] [02/05] 8.5/10

  6. Mixtape [07/05] 9/10

  7. Denshattack! [09/08] 10/10

  8. Halo Campaign Evolved [13/08]

I was having fun enough at the start - shooting covenenat in big open spaces and systematically taking out defences is very fun. You know what isn’t fun? Shooting the stupidest version of the flood to date with it’s broken AI in bland corridors for 80% of the 2nd half of the campaign whilst 343 studios show their ineptness with shoddy AI, way off the mark sound design, graphics that range from beautiful to painfully unreal 5, pointlessl changes to the cinematics and a game that feels significantly more souless than the source material and the remaster.

Couple all that with the removal of the multiplayer - the best part of Halo 1 - then you have one of the most pointless remakes to ever be remade. It has it’s moments, but I hated the 2nd half so much that I look at at Halo 1 with sheer disdain - if that was your mission statement 343 & microsoft then you passed with flying colours

I didn’t do the bonus missions - I played the first 10mins and decided I wasn’t going to enjoy them enough to bother with.

4/10

2 Likes
223

Finally finished Alan Wake 2. Absolutely monumental, but there were times I hated it, times it was bloated, unclear, tedious…but I think it’s metatextual ambition more than makes up for all the shortcomings.

Blasted through Splinter Cell Conviction as well. That’s a fun and stylish bit of nonsense.

224
  1. The Talos Principle II
  2. Indika
  3. Warhammer 40000: Space Marine II
  4. High on Life 2
  5. Minishoot’ Adventures
  6. Mixtape
  7. Planet Coaster 2
  8. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
  9. 007 First Light
  10. Call of the Elder Gods
  11. Junkster
  12. Absolum
  13. Luna Abyss
  14. Black Jacket
  15. Dispatch
  16. Halo: Campaign Evolved

Heretic.

I thought this was okay. It reminded me that I’d never actually played Halo 1 before, which is funny, and also reminded me that I prefer upgrades rather than new weapons, which feels like the opposite of what I would have said originally.

It looked good, the levels were fine, and the story still is neat - the whole turns into a horror game a bit is fun - but generally, i found it quite annoying, especially the minor tactile issues, like suddenly dying because the number of enemies was over whelming and there just wasn’t a strat to beat it.

The vehicles are not as ground breaking as I remember them being either.

Fine.

7/10

225

7. Splatoon Raiders (Switch 2) - 7/10.

Fundamentally it feels good to splat the Salmonids but I completely had my fill by the credits and the game had somewhat started to play itself by that point too, even on hard. Reminded me a touch of how I felt by the end of Ball X Pit too.

There is a lack of ambition to a lot of the levels I think. In a way I much preferred the chaotic arena ones to the ones where you have to get from A > B, as those were just so rote and there was no fun traversal, gimmicks or any variety to speak of. I do think that this should have tried to be a bit of a fun proper single player campaign as well as an arena looter shooter and that it’s slightly compromised for not doing both. They should have found a way to squish the puzzle levels in to the A>B levels.

The lore, world, imagery and sound of this game is so perplexing. Deep Cut are this incredibly vibrant, annoying and immature pair, but the Salmonids and their world are hideous and the music is hellish. I think this is probably an 8/10 if you’re in to Splatoon lore but also if you’re in to this you should be on some kind of watchlist.

Still yet to play a 9 or 10 this year :frowning:

1 Like
226

Jan 25th - It takes two (PS5)

Jan 27th - TR-49 (iOS)

Feb 6th - Red Dead Redemption (PS5)

Feb 17th - WipEout 2097 (PS1)

Mar 27th - Resident Evil Requiem (PS5)

Apr 11th - The Exit 8 (PS5)

Apr 14th - Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo DS)

May 9th - Mixtape (PS5)

May 30th - Pragmata (PS5)

Jun 13th - 007 First Light (PS5)

Aug 11th - Metal Gear Solid Collection 1 - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Aug 31st - Metal Gear Solid Collection 1 - Metal Gear Solid

I don’t tend to go back to a ton of PS1 or N64 games these days because, quite frankly, they’ve usually aged horribly or as janky as hell. But I had a feeling this would be different.

I played Metal Gear to death back in the day, even unlocking the tuxedo and infinite ammo through doing repeated replays on Hard with no radar. I have no idea how I did that in hindsight, as 2026 me died… a lot.

When you consider this game is almost 30 years old, it’s staggering. It is witchcraft how far ahead of the pack this game was in terms of ambition.

Every area drips atmosphere. From crazily detailed textures that relay so many details to astounding sound effects. Echoey corridors, puddle splashes that alert guards, beeping lift panels, a whirring hum letting you know a camera is close by… And that’s before you get into weather effects, dynamic camera angles, the innovative first person view and THAT soundtrack. Even today, I can barely think of a game that creates this level of tension.

And then there’s the ambition of the story. The characters. The cut scenes. The bosses. The cinematography. It’s clear Kojima adores Hollywood but to do it this well in a new 3D era with his first attempt is honestly staggering. It’s like someone brought tech from 5 years in the future back to help him get ahead of the pack.

The first 5 hours of this game are just perfect. Utterly wonderful stuff. The tone, the infiltration, the twists, the multiple ways to tackle each room, the stealth… It’s some of the best gaming time I’ve had this year in what’s been a banging 8 months so far. And the game probably gets a 5/5 for that alone.

However the last third of the game is proper bullshit. It reminds me weirdly of my feelings towards Dark Souls. Like that game, this is one I adore and which deserves to be talked about with the all time greats, but it’s despite the back end.

After the first Sniper Wolf fight, you get all the ‘rush to put it out’ clichés. Tons of backtracking, massive leaps of logic, some ugly unfinished areas, repetitive use of irritating enemies (here, gun cameras), slightly broken bosses, long drawn out tasks to pad the game out…

It threatens to ruin the game, but ultimately it can’t. Because, much like Dark Souls, the good stuff is so, so perfect that it doesn’t massively matter. And the final showdown leaves you forgetting all the tedium of the previous 3 hours or so.

In 1998, this was a masterpiece.

And in 2026, for the most part it still is.

2 Likes
227

It was the PAL keys bit that soured it for you? Fair. But at least there’s some brilliant codec moments during that. Especially with Naomi.

I finished MGS1 twice in one night a year or two back. Once in Japanese and then again in French right after lol. I could do it in about 2 hours a pop, but the PAL keys bit is always a momentum killer.

As for other PS1 games that have aged very well, I recommend Parasite Eve, Silent Hill 1, and Ridge Racer Type 4. Oh, and Klonoa! And Breath of Fire 4. And Suikoden 2.

Shit. Mint console ahh

228

A little bit that, though it wasn’t as bad as I recall. And it does have a good narrative reason for doing it at least.

But also I had to trudge back to get the PSG1 and also the mine detector in two separate trips having missed them.

There’s just a bit of padding in that last part. Those crazy long stair sequences and the corridors full of gun cameras.

All in all I still had a good time but it just felt a bit weaker and barren than the amazing first half.

229

Ah, the gun cameras. I just throw chaff grenades willy nilly. You can even shoot weapons / throw grenades while running if you hold X and Square (think u hold square first and then move while holding x, there’s an art to it).

Mine detector I rarely bother with now. I kinda just know where the mines are and belly crawl over them.

2 Likes
230
  • Slain: Back from Hell (Switch 2)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Switch 2)
  • And Roger (Switch 2)
  • Date Everything (Switch 2)
  • Atomfall (PS5)
  • Wuchang: Fallen Feathers - (PS5)
  • Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight - PS5
  • Mina the Hollower - Switch 2
  • Pokopia - Switch 2
  • Vampire Crawlers - Switch 2
  • Blue Flame - Switch 2
  • Black Jacket - Switch

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced - PS5

I never played the original (I fell off of the Assassin’s creed franchise before this was released) and went into this having not completed the last two AC’s I played due to just getting board with the same gaming loop for 60h+ in the two that I dabbled in prior to trying this. Decided to give it a go based on many people saying this is the best of the series and this turned out to be the first one I complete since Assassin’s Creed 3.

The pirating mechanics were great and, whilst there are usually a couple of ways to approach some of the areas in the open world I generally just went full pirate and slaughtered everyone I could find before casually strolling up to the front doors.

7.5/10

Mortal Shell 2 - PS5

I very much enjoyed the first game and was happy to forgive some of it’s shortcomings due to it being from an indie developer and it getting a lot of things I enjoy in a souls-like right. The follow up to that game built on pretty much everything they did in the first and improved on pretty much every element.

The open world was executed, on the whole, expertly with the fact you can go pretty much anywhere from the start and just poke around in every direction from from your hub in the centre of the map. Combat is strong and satisfying and whilst there are a number of different “Shells” you can inhabit which bring a surprisingly larger amount of variety to a playthrough (especially as you can combine those with a number of weapons and firearms) I did end up sticking with the beefy |Knight character as he was built for a parry-heavy playthrough which becomes significantly more important towards the end game (parrying is the primary way you can “break” an enemies stance in order to inflict massive amounts of damage with a riposte).

The boss design was, on the whole, excellent, with some crazy ideas they throw at you (I’m looking at you Crazy old hag lady who drives around in a rocket propelled wheelchair firing cherubs at you from her cannon..

My biggest grip (and it’s with a lot of these games) is that the final boss, whilst being well designed and a fun fight, is just a mystery boss you get to at the end of the game. I much prefer it when the boss is hinted at throughout the game as it build a much more significant level of anticipation before you finally get to lock horns with the end boss.

That in mind this is an excellent addition to the Souls-like genre, builds on the unique elements it brought to the table and was a lot of fun all the way through. I will definitely be dipping in again for NG+

8.5/10