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I'm a tight-arse gamer, so most of my list is limited to stuff on GamePass (the best deal in gaming, Xbox stays winning), and stuff I picked up on sale. Firstly, the honourable mentions:
AND THE ACTUAL LIST 10) Stardew Valley Still the absolute GOAT of farming/life sims. Amazing that even after all these years, the one man team is still working away with patches, updates, and more content. I really love that with the millions creator ConcernedApe made from it, he could do anything he wanted. Turns out what he wanted was to keep working on Stardew Valley. 9) Planet of Lana Sweet little platformer puzzle game with a cute story and beautiful art. Well worth checking out! 8) Tetris Effect: Connected Again, not a 2023 game but an incredible time-waster. Superb graphics and gameplay, very engaging and a lot of fun. True spiritual successor to the original Tetris. 7) Vampire Survivors Loads of fun. Nothing quite like zoning out and just laying waste to screens of enemies in weirdly-named zones like Inlaid Library, Moongolow, and Boss Rash. 6) Forza Horizon 5 Another game that’s a couple of years old, but I went back to it after the disappointment of Forza Motorsport and sunk a bunch more hours in. Mexico is great fun to cruise around in, the driving is fun, the graphics and soundtrack are great, and I’m looking forward to whenever they release Horizon 6. 5) Disco Elysium Finally got around to playing this and had a great time. Not much I can say that hasn’t been said already! Had me hooked in the first 30 minutes when I decided to flirt with a witness by saying the unforgettable line “I want to have gently caress with you” 4) Baldur’s Gate 3 Late on this one, as it only launched on Xbox in December. 40 hours played this month, and I’m still only halfway through Act 1. Loving that seemingly inconsequential choices have long-term ramifications, and finally understanding why people used to complain that World of Warcraft was “on rails”. 3) Anno 1800 Loved this on PC a few years ago, and was super happy to see a console release. Overall it translates pretty well, and if you’re a fan of engaging city builders you absolutely need to give this a go. Beautiful graphics, engaging gameplay, a fun story, and years of post-launch support and DLC – none of which is predatory or overpriced. 2) Red Dead Redemption 2 Played through it a third time this year, and holy poo poo it’s still the absolute gold standard for open world games. Yes, the missions are quite “on rails” and have to be done how Rockstar want you to do them, but they’re fun and engaging and cinematic and that’s all that matters to me. Even if you hate that aspect, you can completely ignore missions because the world itself is jam-packed with things to see and do, without saturating the map in icons like a Ubisoft title. Ride off into the sunset to explore a mountain and hopefully find an eagle to literally put a feather in your cap, stumble across a shack full of dead bodies and no signs of violence. Look around (with no prompting or QTEs) and realise their chimney is blocked and they all suffocated  1) Hi-Fi Rush Everything comes together perfectly – visual design, soundtrack, gameplay. Enjoyable boss fights and fantastic style; hard to believe it came out of literally nowhere (announced and dropped onto Gamepass on the same day!)
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Dec 31, 2023 02:17
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 23:43 |
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Everybody loves Bethesda bugs, so if we're doing top 10 lists, here's my favourite 10 features from this year's official Most Innovative Game, Starfield! 10. Companions getting stuck in a hallway, but still interjecting into your conversation from hundreds of metres away 9. Asteroids permanently sticking to your ship 8. Characters getting stuck with their eyes permanently bulging out 7. Characters getting stuck with their eyes permanently closed 6. Ships attached to a major space station spinning crazily like figure skaters 5. Repainting your spaceship completely rearranges the interior, including the layout of ladders and internal doors 4. Progressing a certain quest completely resets the main city, which also means any decorations or loot you've placed in your apartment gets deleted 3. Critical quest NPCs spawning permanently off the map, rendering some quests uncompleteable and vendors entirely unavailable for the rest of the game 2. Enemy spaceships only targeting the 0,0,0 centre of your ship, so if you build a ring-shaped spaceship, enemies can literally never hit you 1. Random NPCs attempting to talk to you while you're in a cutscene, meaning they run straight up to you and glare awkwardly while you're having a conversation I actually didn't mind Starfield - it's not a good game, but someone called it a controversial 7/10 and imo that's about right. I enjoyed most of the 80 hours I spent in-game, but I was definitely ready to drop it by the end.
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Jan 3, 2024 13:43
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CharlieFoxtrot posted:How many people played SA Game of the Year Baldur's Gate 3 on console It’s me, hi I’m the gamer, it’s me Seriously, BG3 works pretty well on console! I watched a few LPs and streamers playing on desktops just after release, thinking there was no way it would work well on a console but it actually does. There’s a comical about of radial menus, especially as you hoard more and more potions and scrolls, but everything is laid out pretty well. My biggest issue is that the camera is really tricky sometimes, especially in tight indoor spaces and multi floor environments, but apparently that’s an issue on PC too. Thanks everyone for the effort that goes into this thread every year, it’s always a cool and good time. And I’ve already played through Pentiment and Against the Storm based on recommendations here!!
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Jan 15, 2024 04:31
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Jerusalem posted:Bolded is what I'm playing right now! Way ahead of you! I binged it already - had been on my Xbox “to play” list for 12 months now and this thread inspired me to get around to it! Microcline posted:To explain how the matching algorithm works: Does it include data from previous years as well? There’s a couple of games in mine like Three Kingdoms that I posted about in 2019 but didn’t mention this year
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Jan 17, 2024 07:58
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Have played (partly thanks to thread): - Pentiment - Against the Storm (need more time in this, it's fun!) - Coffee Talk 2 (nobody voted for it but it's a chill visual novel) Games currently playing: - BG3; need to finally finish act 1 - Forza Motorsport; I know the new one is a bit poo poo but it's fun to zone out and drive Games intending to play/get back to this year: - Lies of P - Elden Ring DLC (maybe I'll finally finish the base game after running out of steam in Leyndell and realising 80+ hours meant I was only halfway through) - Diablo IV (assuming it gets added to Gamepass) - At least one Yakuza - Assassin's Creed Mirage (assuming it gets a deep discount) - Armored Core 6 (this has assisted targeting like Elden Ring right?) - Shadow Gambit - Steamworld Build - Star Wars Jedi Survivor (feels like this is Gamepass-imminent) - Cocoon - Sea of Stars - My Time at Sandrock - Age of Wonders 4 - Warhammer : Rogue Trader - Alan Wake 2 - Prince of Persia: the Lost Crown Games I need to play less of this year: - Minesweeper - Solitaire Games I wish I could play but probably can't: - Cyberpunk  (I get intense motion sickness from first-person games)- Outer Wilds (same as above)
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Jan 17, 2024 12:19
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fridge corn posted:Working on a personal top 50 games of all time list and really struggling to remember back to the old school mac gaming days lol. I'm sure there's games out there that I've spent significant time with that for the life of me I can't remember at all lol Lode Runner Carmen Sandiego Prince of Persia
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Jan 17, 2024 14:53
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 23:43 |
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I discovered an issue with the maths, turns out the official GOTY is actually a tie between Gollum and Redfall
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Jan 18, 2024 02:37
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