My Game of the Year

• Dungeons of Hinterberg

Literally the Only Other 2024 Game I Played This Year

• Cat Quest III

Game I Played the Most This Year

• Farming Simulator 22, which I still play with Senpai-chan

Games I Returned to This Year

• Faerie Solitaire Remastered, which kept me sane in a lot of hour-long work meetings for which I had to be on camera the whole time but only needed to pay attention for a couple of minutes
• Orbit, an obscure game for an obscure platform that scratches a specific itch that’s otherwise pretty hard to scratch these days

Game Which I Might Have Bought This Year, Except I Felt Burned on Early Adoption of Indie Titles

• Caravan SandWitch, which seemed fun and chill, but after both of the indie games I bought and played around their release had significant updates adding content and polish after I finished playing them, I felt like I was being punished for early adoption and remembered why I often wait to play indie games

Based on how much joy they brought me, not on objective greatness.

1. Star Ocean: The Second Story R
2. Star Trek: Resurgence
3. Sonic Frontiers
4. Star Ocean: The Divine Force
5. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

Again, this is most of what I actually played this year. I almost called this “My Five Games” instead of “My Top Five Games”.

Special award for joy that comes less from the game itself and more from the social experience the game enables:

1. Guess The Game, which I play daily with Allie
2. Farming Simulator 22, which I play with Senpai-chan

Games that came out this year that I didn’t get to but which are high on my wishlist:

1. SteamWorld Build
2. Dave the Diver
3. Sea of Stars

Top games I’d like to see announced:

1. A follow-up to Kirby and the Forgotten Land
2. A follow-up to Star Trek: Resurgence

Based on how much joy they brought me, not on objective greatness.

1. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
2. Vampire Survivors (which according to my Steam Replay accounted for fully 50% of my Steam play time this year)
3. Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova
4. Shadows Over Loathing
5. The Last Campfire

(I spent so much less time playing games this year that I didn’t really have enough to fill out the usual ten.)

Honorable mentions to Inscryption and The Fall as other games I finished and didn’t hate.

Most anticipated game for 2023:

1. Star Trek: Resurgence

Special award for joy that comes less from the game itself and more from the shared daily habit of playing with Allie, plus what the game means and enables:

1. Wordle
2. dordle

Based on how much joy they brought me, not on objective greatness.

1. DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power
2. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (this would probably have the number one slot if I had savored it instead of powering through it in a weekend)
3. Star Trek: Legends
4. Five Dates (not the sort of thing I enjoy solo but was a good time to play with Allie)
5. Wide Ocean Big Jacket
6. What Remains of Edith Finch (this would probably had been higher if I hadn’t gotten most of the payload already from Joseph Anderson’s plot analysis)
7. Alto’s Adventure
8. Galaxy Champions TV
9. Death Come True
10. Arietta of Spirits

This is based on much less play time this year but still seemed worth posting. A tradition is a tradition.

Also, honorable mentions to games I enjoyed but which are ports or re-releases of games I already played in previous years:

1. SteamWorld Dig 2
2. Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force
3. Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition
4. Torchlight II

Based on how much joy they brought me, not on objective greatness.

1. Animal Crossing New Horizons
2. Lego City Undercover
3. One Piece: World Seeker
4. CrossCode
5. Mario Kart Tour
6. Murder by Numbers
7. Mana Spark
8. The Alto Collection (not yet reviewed)
9. Spyro Reignited Trilogy (not yet reviewed)
10. Stay?

Honorable mentions to games I’m happy about but that are difficult to quantify:

• Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning (a buggy-but-slowly-improving port of a game I loved)
• Super Mario 3D All-Stars (I’ve only played Super Mario 64 so far)
• Divinity: Original Sin 2 (had a blast playing this co-op with PartialCharge, but scheduling those sessions became difficult)
• The Jackbox Party Pack games, which I’ve enjoyed a couple of with Allie (we mostly like Fibbage)
• Sorting Therapy (more of a meditative tool than a game)
• Colors Live (an art tool, not a game)

The game that brought me the most frustration, rage, and aggravation:

1. CrossCode

Based on how much joy they brought me, not on objective greatness.

1. Dragon Quest Builders 2
2. Bubsy: Paws on Fire!
3. Dragon Quest Heroes II
4. Wandersong
5. Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal
6. The Touryst
7. Cat Quest II
8. Final Fantasy XIV (not yet reviewed)
9. Muse Dash
10. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition

Honorable mentions to Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King, Archlion Saga and Quarantine Circular.

Most anticipated game for 2020:

1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Top five games I’d like to see announced:

1. Disney Magical World 3
2. Dragon Quest Heroes III
3. Dragon Quest Builders 3
4. Fire Emblem Warriors 2
5. a followup to either Bubsy: Paws on Fire! or Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back

Some more Bithell shorts and KEMCO pocket-sized RPGs would be nice too.

Based on how much joy they brought me, not on objective greatness.

10. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017)
11. West of Loathing (2017)
12. Dust: An Elysian Tail (2012)
13. Stories: The Path of Destinies (2016)
14. Iconoclasts (2018)
15. Golf Story (2017)
16. Night in the Woods (2017)
17. I Am Setsuna (2016)
18. Fire Emblem Warriors (2017)
19. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)

Honorable mentions to Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Finding Paradise, and Subsurface Circular.

Games that came out in 2018 that I haven’t played yet but suspect would have made the list if I had:

1. Dragon Quest XI
2. Marvel’s Spider-Man
3. Detroit: Become Human
4. Celeste

Most anticipated game for 2019:

• Dragon Quest Builders 2