Games that came out this year

• Deltarune - Oh yeah Deltarune I guess this is my game of the year, probably. It’s a polished Undertale, and, like, Undertale is my favorite game ever. It’s a different version of what Undertale could have been, and I loved it.
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Been playing that a lot. I beat classic mode with every character and regret it. Otherwise very satisified. Haven’t done anything online, but have played locally with friends probably 30 hours+ past few weeks. I could probably make a separate whole post with all my thoughts, which I might do, but to summarize: it is fun.
• Secret Little Haven - This game made me nostalgic for a time I wasn’t even alive during. The UI was kinda eh, and technically it was whatever, but gosh damn I really did love the writing, and the way it just… emulated the experience of talking to people online. It was a fantastic experience.
• Super Mario Party - They finally made a good Mario Party again! Some of the modes are kinda meh (river survival only has 10 minigames but one playthrough has you play like 15) but the main party mode is super fun! I still miss toadsworth. Nintendo is doing this thing where any like… specialized versions of characters are just… gone. No Kammy Koopa, no Toadsworth, just like… no specific versions of enemies with personality. I want Mario games with stories like TTYD and Bowser’s Inside Story again.
• Splatoon 2 - Octo Expansion - Good and fun! Very nice aesthetics.
• Minit - Fundamentally, my love of short games makes me like this game. I don’t actually think it was particularly groundbreaking, but it was a sort of quaint inspiration.
• Donut County - I feel like I should have enjoyed this game more. I liked some of its ideas, but overall I felt like it was just okay.

Other games I played

• Wuppo - This was back in last Janurary, but Wuppo is one of the greatest games ever made, I think.
• Sonic Adventure 2 Battle - I finally 100%ed this game after trying for 3 years/my entire life this summer. I could talk about this game for 5 hours straight, probably. It was challenging, but I had fun while doing it.
• Terraria - Over the summer I replayed Terraria with my friends, and made some creations that I’m genuinely proud of making for the first time in Terraria. Terraria’s one of those games I play every 2-3 years, and it’s always a ton of fun.
• Tabletop Simulator - God I’m like a board game person now. I went to Pax unplugged, I spend more time playing board games at college than video games. Tabletop Simulator is great!
• Drawn to Life - Finally finished this game I never did in childhood. Lots of questionable level design, but I love the atmosphere, and I actually put some effort into making some creative things, which was where most of the fun came from.
• Soda Drinker Pro - Played through the entire game in one sitting with my friends late into the night. It was an experience. Haven’t touched Vivian Clark much, but watched vinesauce play through a lot of it. It’s good stuff.
• A Hat in Time - Good! Short, and I played it on my shitty laptop that couldn’t handle it well at college, but it was still a great time! Felt a bit messy, but hey! It’s inspired by Super Mario Sunshine, which is also very messy but very fun.
• Pikmin 3 - Replayed Pikmin 3 for the first time since 2013 like a week ago. Feel the same about it now as I did then. Decent, but way too short.
• Bombernauts - Very fun and very overlooked multiplayer 3D bomberman game.
• Fallen London - Haven’t played it since 10th grade, had a bit of fun with it again, but as much as I want to like it, I can never get truly invested. Also tried playing Sunless Sea again, but gah, idk. Something just never fully clicked with me.
• Captain Toad Treasure Tracker - Quaint and pleasant.
• Subsurface Circular - Eh. It was okay, but I didn’t like much how they handled different levels of AI intellgence. Lots of narrative decisions felt somewhat questionable.
• What Remains of Edith Finch - It was good! It wasn’t a super special experience for me, but I defnitely thought it was beautiful.
• Kirby and the Amazing Mirror - Quite possibly my least favorite Kirby game that I have played. Very fustrating to 100%. I also somewhat realized that every Kirby game is… basically the same experience. Some are somewhat better, but honestly if you’ve played one or two, you’ve basically played them all.

I hadn’t realized how many games I played this year! But I guess I just play a lot during break - almost all of these were played during winter/summer breaks. Games are more or less ranked in order of impact they had on my life/time. I’m probably forgetting a few.