this is what i'm currently playing and i am loving it so far

the levels are designed in such a way that you have a nice balance between exploration and platforming. the core moveset is simple but versatile and the level mechanics and design mean that you are constantly using all of it. you can really get into a flow state because of it and that's super fun. i like that you can fully complete a level the first time you enter (which makes sense considering they're linear levels with room for exploration but still it means game time isn't padded out by revisiting old content which is a major pain point of mine)

visually, the game is really pretty - i think the style they went with works really well. spyro's animation communicates every move so clearly (i love his run cycle so much it's just full of life)

i can't speak much for how similar the game is to the original but from what i've heard it's pretty good. i believe they've done a lot of good quality of life changes and improved the game feel a lot and it feels great to play.

i traded shovel knight: treasure trove with my friend for this game... i still haven't got shovel knight back from them and they still haven't played it which is a bit annoying.

since i never played breath of the wild all of hyrule was completely new to me. the addition of the sky and depths probably didn't help with how overwhelmed with content i was. honestly i felt like a lot of these worlds were just empty. it's kind of sad how modern games feel like they have to create such a massive amount of content for players - it contributes to the prevalence of crunch in the industry.

maybe this type of zelda game isn't for me. i don't know.

i really enjoyed the storylines of each area of the game and the dungeons. the sudden appearance of zonai artifacts and disappearance of sheikah technology wasn't really ever explained but i dig the vibes. the characters were great and having your own little crew of glowy airheads was a fun addition. there isn't too much to say about those areas because they're the classic zelda environments but the variety of biomes around the rest of the map is something i am a big fan of. the bosses were really cinematic and epic (colgera is so awesome). the puzzles were...i mean i don't really care for the building part of the game but there was a few where i got "aha" moments which felt great.

i don't really like sidequests because they didn't feel like things i would want to do when the story is right there. i didn't end up finishing the daily gazette and yiga shenanigans (although i did fight kohga all the times because he's so goofy).

my friend was very frustrated that i never went where i was supposed to go - she accused me of being ADHD with how much i just never followed the map (to be fair i did have the minimap off because i hate just following an arrow). i really loved exploring hyrule and finding little monuments but after a certain point (after fighting ganon) i thought it was too much to do and there wasn't much point if i wasn't going to find much.

that was when i stopped playing

enter the gungeon has so much passion put into it it's insane.

every aspect of the world, from the enemies to the environments to the lore is gun-themed. the variety of guns you can get on runs is so damn fun and there's some cool references sprinkled in as well (i am a sucker for references lol)

i love that despite being a shooter it is primary a bullet hell. the enemies on their own have simple bullet patterns but when combined, patterns which are extremely satifying to weave through emerge. the bosses are especially cool tests of skill (fuck ammoconda though)

the game really does reward skillful play by giving extra hearts for mastery of bosses and randomly spawning items. bonus stages were a really cool thing i didn't know about which give more chances at cool weapons and items but are hard.

unfortunately for me, i'm not the best at bullet hells and enter the gungeon is a fucking hard one so most of the time i don't make it past the third stage :p

i don't know what drew me to this game specifically but the goofy artstyle and slapstick premise definitely helped

it's good, polished, platformer fun where you reverse the hot-dogification of old people and free pancake people from dinosaur tyranny, among other shenanigans with your giraffe and pet rock. the levels are really fun and there's some real mechanic gems in there. the references to media hidden in the stickers were a fun surprise - easter eggs are always great

i need to finish my co-op playthrough with my friend at some point it's a good time

okay this might be surprising but this is one of my most played games. period.

i know it's a free game which is made to catch whales who will fork out thousands for gem apples but the gameplay rocks. there is four different classes you can play as which all complement each other really well which you use to fight kirby bosses. i main the doctor because of the potion move which has high dps and healing. the movesets of all the classes (the others being sword, hammer and mage) go quite deep actually which is awesome.

we love player expression here.

there is some some cool custom bosses made for this but considering i haven't played star allies they were all new. parallel knightmare and galacta knight were really cool.

i did pay like two quid one time because i had some credit left over but nothing else. i don't think i'll ever pay money on a free game ever again lol

i actually had never heard of shovel knight when i got it.

looking it up now, i know it was one of the first successful kickstarter stories which is really cool and i really think it still is fantastic

the first campaign is the shovel of hope. as the first entry, it did an incredible job at establishing the world, cast and vibe of the series. the order of no quarter is such a quirky group of knights who are a joy to watch and fight. the central mechanic of the pogo is used in so many creative ways and the chiptune music genuinely goes hard (lich yard my beloved). you can really tell that the developers believed in the philosophy of limitations breeding creativity.

plague of shadows is generally the least favourite campaign among the fanbase. it is my absolute fucking favourite. the movement you get with the bomb burst is so cool and the amount you can customise your bombs is great. the side areas of the levels where you can get relics can get super challenging and i love it. but i think the thing i love most about this campaign is the story. over the course of playing you understand plague knight a lot more. he's just a little guy. he's awkward, eccentric and wants to prove he's good enough. he fumbles his relationship with mona because of it but shows how much he cares in the end. and it ends so sweetly with a waltz. i need to replay it but can't because i traded it temporarily with a friend for tears of the kingdom

urgh...specter of torment is the fan favourite but it is really good...and really edgy. specter knight is really cool to control - he can skateboard, run on walls and do a glorified bomb burst when you get the button prompt. that's not a joke that's literally what the developers did the levels are really tightly designed for him (just imagine what that could've been like for my skrunkly plague knight)

king knight is a really fun campaign as well - his bash and pirouette are really cool design choices and it was interesting how different the world was from his perspective. i didn't think the card game was that fun to be honest and it took me ages to beat cardia so i could actually fight her. but otherwise just like specter the levels were really tightly designed for him.

treasure trove has some extras as well - challenges i'm shit at, genderbend mode (very fun) and showdown! showdown is actually a really fun platform fighter and the movesets of each character really suit them. the story mode is fun and like many a fighting game i'm not amazing but it is great.

what more is there to say about hollow knight? it's a fucking masterpiece

world? flawless. atmosphere? incredible. music? gorgeous. combat? brilliant. design? masterful.

it really innovated the metroidvania genre and inspired so many indie devs to make their own... maybe too many given how ridiculously saturated the market is nowadays - you really have to stand out to be a success

spiritfarer broke me over and over again but i love it for that. it's the type of game you should only play once. you really need to play it firsthand. it's such a beautiful experience that i'll be doing it a disservice here but i'll try my best.

the archipelago is enormous and the variety in gameplay is really cool. i love the little minigames which have you rushing all around the ship but the more cosy tasks have their charm as well.

as you tend to the spirits on your ship you interact with them, learn about them, their lives, their hopes, their dreams, their regrets. you do your best to comfort them, fulfill some of their wishes, cook their comfort foods, be their friend. but of course then you have to say goodbye

this is the heartwrenching part

you know it's their time but still you want to hold onto them just that bit longer. when you finally decide to go there's always this slow, final boat trip to the everdoor. on the way they talk to you so genuinely, maybe talk about what's waiting for them. and then you arrive. they deliver a line that strikes you to your core. they wrap you in a warm embrace. they're gone. and you're still here. man. it's just so special.

i thought i would have been a bit alienated from deltarune when i first picked it up since at the time i knew nothing about undertale. but this wasn't the case at all - no undertale knowledge was required to fall in love with the game.

the colours and landscapes of the dark world are so cool and wonderfully bizarre and the game never makes it clear if it's make-believe or something else.

i actually wasn't expecting there to be so much mechanical difficulty in the combat. i like the agency you get when approaching combat on whether to attack or resolve a situation peacefully. bullet hells have never been a massive strength of mine but learning attack patterns was very satisfying. i really felt like i earnt my pacifist win against jevil. the punch-out against queen at the end of chapter 2 was bloody insane as it should've been

the cast has so many characters i have claimed as my blorbos. i endlessly adore chapter 1 ralsei to the ends of the earth and will fight anyone about it. my other faves are susie, jevil, seam and queen.

the dialogue had me laughing uncontrollably at how funny it was. some of it is extremely witty but there's also some small random stuff thrown in there which cracked me up

i am always blown away at how incredible the soundtrack is - my favourites are field of hopes and dreams, the world revolving, A CYBER'S WORLD?, smart race, and attack of the killer queen

a hat in time is packed to the brim with charm

while nowadays i find the movement a bit limited the level design does plenty of heavy lifting.

the characters and worlds still stick in my mind. each of them have their own cool vibes:

• mafia town is such a quaint island full of a gang who haven't foggiest idea how to do anything
• dead bird studio pits two cut-throat birds against each in the race to the film awards
• subcon forest has a tragic backstory but when you arrive you bring some happiness to the place
• alpine skyline has so much culture and freedom to explore
• the cruise's seals are so fucking cute and ship shape is such an intense mission
• nyakuza metro took freedom to the next level and is such a unique setting

some of the music really slaps - my faves are sleepy subcon, train rush and clocktowers beneath the sea

yes i know i'm a muppet for playing it on the switch when the modding community on pc is prolifically incredible but here we are

super mario odyssey was my first game on the switch and really deserves all the praise its been given.

the movement is so expressive and the worlds are so well conceptualised and designed - every nook and cranny has something to find, although this can be a bit annoying when playing to full completion. i don't really mind this moon overinflation except some of the really gimmicky moons (fuck jump rope genius).

the game can get pretty challenging, especially in the dark and darker sides, but they're not unfair and are fun to complete.

this was my first pokemon game!

i love the designs in this generation - i just wish there was more since kanto pokemon still have a dominating presence and i knew them from the anime.

i still managed to get a full team of johto pokemon i adore though!

i was a big fan of the open-ended middle of the game where you could do stuff in any order. of course this had the consequence of interesting (bad) level scaling later but was really neat.

the entirety of the kanto region being in the game is pretty awesome. i love the changes made and the progression of time for the gym leaders.

fuck red though - the only way to beat him is to grind

it's a classic what can i say

there's plenty of versions of tetris nowadays that i could be playing but i'll always prefer this one. i just love this version with its muted colours and chirpy arrangement of korobeiniki.