Patient Gamers

Hopped back into Octopath (the first one) after finishing Sea of Stars. It's a honker of a game haha I feel like it's going to take me a while.

Continuing my replay of Red Dead Redemption 1, probably followed by 2. Probably going to finish my replay of Subnautica. Not sure what new games will slot in after that.

I'm working my way through Valheim. I started last year and then stopped shortly before fighting the second boss and never got around to picking it back up. Now I'm back at it and working through the third biome. I still have a long way to go and hope that I can continue to sink at least 100 more hours into it.

I also got Metro 2033 and Last Light on the Steam winter sale. I started Metro Exodus a few years ago and also stopped pretty early, so I'm hoping that this time I can stick with it through the whole series. I also got Grim Dawn and it doesn't play great on the Deck, but hopefully I'll be able to get used to it with a bit of effort.

Outside of those, Wildermyth and Brotato are my main chillout games and I'm pretty sure they'll also get 50-100 hours each this year.

Resident Evil Village and Sniper Elite 4

The first has some really cool environments and storytelling. I heard it was "like a shooter" and so I put it to maximum difficulty right away. I have to say I am not a fan of having to empty several pistol magazines into the head of the first enemy I encounter and they... survive. When murder becomes a chore, it kinda takes the fun out of it. So I lowered the difficulty setting.

The second... is as bad as the one before it. Just put it to maximum difficulty and yolo your way trough all levels. Or don't, it doesn't matter. Enemies are insanely slow. You can always walk up to some nazi's, sip your tea, then remember you should find cover because one enemy just finished their tiktok doom scrolling and decides to aim their gun at you.

Skyrim.

My goal is to play through the entire series this year.

I honestly have no idea. I did my semi-annual playthrough of Skyrim (as a wizard for the first time rather than giving up shortly in) and finished everything I meant to last week. I have to look at my steam library, I suppose

I started this year off with NIER (Ps3 Version). I've been thoroughly enjoying it thus far. I'll likely do several runs to get the 4 endings and full lore. Can't wait to sink my teeth into NieR Automata afterwards!

I got Caves of Qud on sale over at itch.io, and have been struggling to get anywhere. The learning curve is steep, so when it gets too much I go back to my Dwarf Fortress game that I started over Christmas.

The Long Dark and finishing Cyberpunk

Metal Gear Rising : Revengeance

I watched a few playthroughs earlier this year, and was struck by the games' vibes. Maybe I've become jaded, maybe 2013 was just a different time, but the over-the-top-bombastic, gratuitous-yet-totally-sincere meditation on power, violence, and humanity feels incredibly relevant, not to mention a breath of fresh air compared to the games I see coming out today.

It's also very similar to the type of video game I'd like to make someday, so it counts as homework as well!

Not to mention it feels like half of the media/art that I love from the past 10 years has been heavily influenced by this game, so playing it could give me a fuller appreciation for them.

Psychonauts 2. I picked it up for 80% off during the autumn Steam sale and just getting around to playing it.

I also picked up It Takes Two and have been playing that with my wife.

I tried playing that new Marvel game and it sucks

Lord of the rings return to moria. It's basically been a valve in but with dwarves. Loving it.