Oddly enough I’ve been playing High on Life on the Steamdeck. I give it a solid 6/10.

The art style is cool and the characters aren’t as annoying as I thought they would be, but damn is it shallow.

All levels are basically the same but the gunplay and movement are nice enough to keep me around. I just play it while watching TV with my girlfriend. Nice mix of a wave shooter and platforming. It really reminds me of Doom in a way

How are you liking cult of the lamb? It seems like fun

NBA 2k Playgrounds - fun game for quick 30 min play sessions on the steam deck

Wrestling Empire - might not quite be patient since it’s not that old, but it kinda is in a way lol. Just a lot of fun and I love the role playing aspect of it

Question that might sound dumb.

Were they actually this vibrant back then or were they made more vibrant to make up for limitations of a CRT?

HMM III was the first game I played in the turn based strategy genre. I had never played anything similar really, but I wanted to get into the genre and I decided to start with one a lot of people consider a classic.

My gaming knowledge started with the PS1 era playing games like crash bandicoot, THPS, and others like that. I didn’t get into PC gaming until around 2016 and now games I play are Death Stranding, DOOM 2016, Skyrim, BOTW, CSGO etc.

I’ve tried a wide variety of games besides those, and I truly didn’t know what the game was asking from me until I looked it up. Maybe the game gave me enough and I just didn’t connect the dots in my head. I’m not sure, but all I know is my experience which I struggled with

All I’m saying is that I’ve never met anyone who didn’t understand a game like DOOM or the classic Marios. There’s clearly a difference in language that isn’t as common in modern/more mainstream games. Not saying HMM III wasn’t mainstream during it’s time, but I’ve never heard anyone of my generation who has played it or heard of it

If you’re talking about Elder Scrolls Online, then I had the same experience. It’s too repetitive and not satisfying enough

Personally I love that era of graphics tbh. I bought Valheim on the Steam sale just for the jank graphics lol

What’s so different about the first two Baldur’s Gate games? I was thinking about getting the first one on my phone

I haven’t played it, but it’s interesting that it’s too difficult.

A lot of the games I go back to from the NES era are often too difficult for me. I find a lot of them to be unfair and I wonder if the difficulty something that was brought over from the arcade games form right before it

Either that or padding to make the game longer. If that’s the case, I prefer side mission padding because at least that’s usually optional lol

Reminds of me of when I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey and was confused because I had heard great things about the soundtrack, but it was just a bunch of songs I had heard before.

About halfway through the movie I realized that it was an original soundtrack and it was so influential that it became a cliche. 2001: A Space Odyssey was a cliche, not because it followed a saturated trend, but because it itself was copied by everyone else.

AC1’s concept and maybe even story has held up, but you’re right that the later entries feel miles better.

That’s interesting. I either refund them if I struggle a little too much on tutorials, or just leave it in the backlog for later (aka most likely never).

I should try doing that more though because they’re classics for a reason and maybe there’s still fun I can get out of them.

Personally I kinda like that feeling of an empty world sometimes. One of my favorite places in any game is the mall in GTA Vice City.

I can’t explain why though lol

Yeah most older 3D games I’ve tried I just can’t control that well.

A couple years ago I tried playing the original Tomb Raider and geez was that difficult to control. It really makes me appreciate how good the Mario 64 controls were

I can relate

That era of PC gaming has a weird camera that takes a while for me to get used to. Not sure I can pinpoint what is different about it though

Yeah I get that. Sometimes I wish I didn’t revisit games and instead kept the nostalgia glasses on haha

Lmao I was just thinking about buying it during this steam sale

Yeah I’ve read about that.

Hopefully the next one is the game everyone has been waiting on

I saw the Golf Club Wasteland name change as well and it caught me off guard lol. I think I enjoyed the “radio” more than the gameplay.

The voice acting and scripts were all really entertaining.

Looking back, I’m happy at how much time I had to play games this year. The Steam Deck (SD) has definitely helped since I finished almost all of these on the steam deck. Some games I started last year and finished this year, but I will still add them to the list. A couple I have played multiple times so completing them was fast & easy

1. GTA V 6/10 (SD)

I really enjoyed the characters and writing even if the story was a little weak. Gameplay and humor definitely carried. Had fun going back to it after not playing it for almost 10 years.

2. Mario 64 10/10 (RG351P Emulator)

I can finish this game in a day at this point. I don’t usually get all 120 stars since I skip the ones I find annoying. I’ve been playing it yearly for about 5 years.

3. Katana Zero 8/10 (SD)

Like Mario 64, I can run through this game quite easily at this point. I’ve finished the campaign countless times. Super smooth and responsive gameplay. Great story

4. Furi 8/10 (SD)

This is the last of my replayed games this year (kinda). I can also rush through this game quite easily in a day. Feels like dancing in gaming form lol. Want to finally play my first fromsoftware game next year. Already have Sekiro in my library so I’m ready.

5. Assemble With Care 5/10 (SD)

This game took me less than an hour to complete. Got this game through a bundle and it caught my attention. A cute story game, but not too much going on gameplay wise. As you can probably tell by my other game selections, this didn’t end up being my cup of tea lol.

6. Need for Speed Unbound 7/10 (PC)

It feels like Need for Speed is REALLY close to creating another classic, but they’re missing something. It feels like this game needed another year or two to add more content because this game’s gameplay is pretty polished and satisfying.

7. Risk of Rain 2 9/10 (PC)

Finished it solo and with a friend. Both times were really fun and addictive. Easy to jump into, but hard to put down. Might be my game of the year

8. Wolfenstein New Order 5/10 (SD)

Controls were meh and story was meh. I liked the game, but there are so many better games at this point, that I was kinda sad I spent my time and money on this one.

9. GTA IV 8/10 (SD)

The story was great, and the characters like always were amazing. The start was a little sluggish, but it made the the later parts of the game more satisfying and rewarding. I played this on my PS3 when it first came out, but I don’t think I ever played the campaign.

10. Tomb Raider 7/10 (SD)

It had a lot of charm, and it was just pure fun. It disregarded most logic and reasoning in exchange for fun scenarios.

11. WWE 2K23 8/10 (SD) & (PC)

I played the showcase mode where you play through John Cena’s career highlights, but what I’ve been having the most fun with is getting high, putting on a movie, and playing through the matches I used to come up with as a child. It has been a blast that I can admit has been mostly nostalgia fueled.

12. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 Remaster 9/10 (SD) & (PC)

I also have a lot of childhood memories with these games. Finished the campaign in about a week and I’ve been on a mission to get in the top 1500 on every map on the speedrun mode and it’s been a fun challenge. Multiplayer is also very fun even though I almost never win. What can I say that hasn’t been said in the last couple decades since this game originally came out.

Maybe you’re not as excited because you’re not the target audience anymore.

Think of the biggest games of the last 10 years, they’ve all been community centered games. Among Us, Minecraft, Call of Duty, Fortnite, GTA Online, Fall Guys, etc.

I think we just grew up in a different era. I grew up playing on the PSX but my younger brother grew up on the PS4. I’m still playing the Tony Hawk remaster by myself and my younger brother is playing online games with like 6 people in the call.

I look forward to the story, but my younger brother looks forward to the online where he can have his own character and create his own story with his friends.

Gaming in general is moving in a community direction and I don’t blame Rockstar for moving in that direction as well.