A Year in Gaming: 2015

I have a permanent “gaming resolution” in place to play through the untouched half of my Steam library. As expected, there was not much progress on that front in 2015 but at the least, I didn’t really add to the pile. We did not game a lot during the first quarter of 2015 because we purchased a house and moved. So overall in 2015, a large part of our gaming time and energy was redirected into house things and playing with the kitten.

I feel that it is worth noting that the sole criteria for “winning” an award is my personal enjoyment. The best game of the year to me would be the one that I enjoyed playing the most regardless of whether or not it was actually a good game.

Keiya’s Game of the Year: The Witcher 3
This choice was weighted very heavily by the fact that I am an outright fangirl of both the Witcher books as well as the games. Furthermore, I absolutely love open world games as gritty fantasy everything. The combination of all three of those things on top of the Witcher 3’s story, which I do feel is actually good independent of my specific needs, makes it the absolute bees knees for me. So in terms of amount of pure enjoyment derived from any game played this year, The Witcher 3 is an easy winner for me.

Dave’s Game of the Year: Overwatch
This morning, I quickly asked my husband what he considered his game of the year to be. His answer, before returning to Diablo 3 grinding was: “Overwatch because it is an extremely polished, fun, and non-bullshitty experience.” I’ll have to agree with that. In fact, Overwatch (spoiler) is one of, if not the game that I am looking forward to the most in 2016.

Mobile Game of the Year: Final Fantasy Record Keeper
Final Fantasy Record Keeper is one of those mobile games but I feel that it is at the very least, the lesser of the evils in regards to F2Pness. It has a surprising amount of strategy and depth mixed in with a decent amount of polish and general Final Fantasy nostalgia. The events are well spaced and of a reasonable quality. Of all games this year, I have probably spent the most time (play + thinking space) on FFRK by virtue of accessibility.

Not F2P Mobile Game of the Year: Pixel Dungeon
I don’t remember if I blogged about this game or not. Pixel Dungeon is a traditional fantasy themed roguelike that I play incessantly during lunch. If I am not playing Final Fantasy Record Keeper, I am using playing Pixel Dungeon. If you enjoy games such as FTL and well…Rogue, you will probably enjoy this game. It is also actively updated and available on virtually any platform.

Best Half-finished Game (as in played but not to completion): Fallout 4
I don’t know. I really enjoy Fallout 4 and intend on finishing it but I just sort of put it down for the holidays.

Best Half-finished Game (as in still in beta/development): Overwatch
I yearn for this game. As mentioned before, of all games slated for a 2016, Overwatch is the title that I am probably looking foward to playing the most.

The 2015 Game That I Own and am Looking Forward to Playing the Most: Undertale
I have word from the entire Internet that Undertale is good and possibly game of the year worthy.

The Consolation Prize: Metal Gear Solid V
MGSV wasn’t my favorite game, but it was one that I really enjoyed playing so I wanted it to be mentioned somewhere. If you are at all familiar with it’s development history, it’s probably a small miracle that we were even able to play it at all.

Most Disappointing Game of the Year: None
Same as 2014: I don’t think bought and played anything that was outright terrible. In general, we tend to only buy games that we know we will like. Everything else can be passed or scooped up for $2 on a Steam sale. Having low expectations for certain things helps as well.

A Year in Gaming: 2014

The gaming resolution for 2014 that I had posted a year ago was as follows.

 I shall make no more purchases off of Steam until I finish some of the games that I already own; And by ‘already own,’ I am specifically referring to the 4 games that I had just purchased the other week.

3/4 games that I had purchased last Steam Winter sale were at least beaten or at least played to a significant degree. As far as the rest of the unplayed games in my Steam Library? They for the most part remained untouched sadly. 2014 was another fairly light gaming year for the both of us; Likely in no small part to the majority of the first half of 2014 being occupied by wedding stuff and the second half of 2014 not really offering a whole lot in terms of games that we absolutely had to play on the spot.

As stated in my previous post, the older we get the more patient we seem to become in regards game releases and the date at which we choose to purchase them. Unless there is a title that I am really must play immediately (there are probably only about 3 a year nowadays), I don’t really see the need to spend upwards of $60 on 4 to 10 hours of enjoyment max. Plus, waiting = 80% off eventually on Steam. Without further adieu:

Keiya’s game of the year: The Sims 4
The Sims 4 isn’t perfect or really even close to perfect, but if there is one game that I played and enjoyed the most this year it was The Sims 4. Few other titles have captured my attention for such a great length of time.

Dave’s DLC of the year: Hearthstone Goblins vs Gnomes
Dave doesn’t feel that there was any new release that he played in 2014 worth nominating for game of the year so he chose Hearthstone for a second year in a row.

Mobile game of the yearIngress
By “fairly light gaming year” we were referring to PC/Console games. It was however, a pretty decent mobile gaming year for the both of us. This one was a toss up between Ingress and Threes for me. Ingress wins out by virtue of something that we enjoyed playing together and something that we enjoyed playing on top of other activities. Plotting to overthrow the green portals at an art museum for example, was something that we greatly enjoyed doing in addition to visiting the art museum itself and so forth.

Best half finished game that I really want to finish: Transistor
I don’t remember why I put Transistor down. I think either a game or some show game out that I was fixing on back in June? If I had to nominate a game for best aesthetic it would go to Transistor.

Game from 2013 that I most enjoyed playing in 2014: Brothers A Tale of Two Sons
Brothers is a beautiful and fantastic game. Gorgeous cartoony aesthetic, perfect marriage between narrative and gameplay. I really enjoyed playing this game and highly recommend it.

Game from 2014 that we are most interested in finally playing this year: Wolfenstein The New Order.
To be honest, if it wasn’t for TotalBiscuit’s 2014 recap videos, I probably would have continued to brush this title off as a piece of crap. Apparently multiple sources considered Wolfenstein FPS and/or game of the year so I figured it was worth picking up on sale for $20.

Most disappointing game of the year: None
If it looked even mildly bad we didn’t buy it. So go us I guess.

A Year in Gaming: 2013

My very short term gaming resolution for 2014: I shall make no more purchases off of Steam until I finish some of the games that I already own; And by ‘already own,’ I am specifically referring to the 4 games that I had just purchased the other week. 

2013 was a fairly light gaming year for me. I am not sure if I could necessarily say that it was a bad year in gaming since there were a few decent titles (BioShock Infinite, Metro Last Light, etc), but I wouldn’t say that it was the strongest given the sheer number of unimaginative sequels, games teetering on the edge of mediocrity, and outright stinkers (CoD, Sim City 5, and friends). 2013 in general seemed like it was an awkward in between phase given that both the PS3 and XBox 360 are at the end of their lifespans. In general 2013 had its ups and downs.

I felt that it was a strong year for indie games: I find myself gravitating more towards indie releases and releases from smaller studios; Way more than any previous year. I like indie games because they are A. Cheaper than AAA titles by a considerable amount and B. They take risks and push bars that major studios are unwilling to touch and/or can’t afford. Nintendo also seemed to have a decent year in that they actually released multiple decent titles (more than 0!) and I either purchased or am planning on purchasing in the nearish future.

Keiya’s game of the year: Animal Crossing New Leaf
No game has occupied more small segments of my time or stuck more of a resonance with me this year than this odd game. It is cute, relaxing, and something that I can easily pick up and play in short 10 to 15 segments. The seasonal events are also fairly well paced. Renovating/expanding my house and building up my village to my liking has the  feeling of a long term project within a simulated persistent world, which is a quality that I enjoy (it is not truly persistent since the game does not continue to run when you quit out of it. ACNL does however take time passed into account when you load your town).

Dave’s game of the year: Hearthstone
This game was Dave’s pick for game of the year if closed betas even count. Well polished, easy to understand, and actually reasonably fun to watch for a card game in an eSports environment. It just feels nice to play and doesn’t turn into an incomprehensible pile of card abilities and combinations (I’m looking at you and that damn artifact deck).

Consolation Prizes:

  • Runner up: BioShock Infinite
  • Favorite 2012 games played in 2013 because they were on sale: FTL and Saints Row 3 (Dave’s pick)
  • Biggest disappointment: Sim City 5
  • Favorite multiplayer gun porn game: Battlefield 4, not that there were a whole lot of options in this category.