I originally had this in the top 10 actually, but swapped it out last minute because the game I originally at at 11th going out here just felt wrong.
Pokemon: Too Many Types is so incredibly fun. There's not much to say on this one, though. Instead of the usual 18 types, now there's 62, and Pokemon can have 3 types instead of just 2, so the type chart is fucking brutal.
Other than that, it's basically just Emerald again, but like with a lot more types. It's a really hard game, especially the champion's team, and there are also a few FUN surprises I don't wanna spoil because it just gets fucking wild at points.
Not much to say here! Just a really great rom hack that I almost put in the top 10 over one of my favorite indie games of the year, and I can not recommend enough if you enjoy Pokemon.
This is my last two-fer because I have officially caught up to Darcy and now can finish on the same day as him yas
So in case yall haven't figured it out yet, I picked up the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster set earlier this year when they dropped on all consoles and binged through the first 6 games in the series, on top of getting XVI when it came out earlier this year. All that is to say, leaving Final Fantasy V out of the top 10 was ROUGH. I can not stress enough how many fucking 10/10 games I played this year.
FFV is a much more lighthearted game than any of the others, leading to it being a lot more fun to play through. The characters are fun and the story starts out pretty fun... Meaning, of course, when the game gets into some darker themes, it hits so much harder. The moment that shook me to the core was a smaller moment involving a character dying to a seizure of all things, since that's something I struggle with myself.
Of course though, none of that is what you come to this game for. You're here for the villains. Exdeath is, like, the 3rd most iconic villain in the series? Him and Gilgamesh absolutely STEAL THE SHOW here. Every time one of them is on screen, they chew the scenery and leave you shaken up but also ready to go fuck them UP down the road. Exdeath was the final boss that was the most difficult for me out of any game on this list, a statement that I find surprising considering some of the baddies still to come, but no this motherfucker was BRUTAL. I had to use cheesy ass strats to just BARELY beat him, when I was 1 hit away from dying yet again.
Can not recommend this one enough, holy fuck it's so good.
Wow look at that, another game nominated for GOTY that I loved and yet isn't in the top half! Yall are not prepared for how stacked this list is, lmao.
When I picked up my PS5, the only game I grabbed at the time was Elden Ring, which is not on this list because I only played it for like 20 minutes and gave up. I decided I needed a second game, and picked up a lil game called DEATHLOOP. And, holy fuck, this game is just plain FUN.
I am not a fan of the FPS genre, not in the slightest. I do not give a fuck about COD or CS or TF2 or any of them. But THIS, nah this was fun as hell. I guess all I needed were some rogue-like elements. A Rouge-like FPS was a spicy direction to take this in, lmao.
Essentially, your character is
A. Stuck in a time loop
and
B. Getting killed at the end of every day
and it's up to you to figure out how to close the loop. There's 8 people you gotta take down to close the loop, and if you kill someone in one loop then they stay dead so you don't have to do ALL of it in one loop (thankfully) so it's not as brutal as it may seem up front. All of the Eternalists are creative as hell with the ways you have to infiltrate their bases and take them out.
This is EASILY the most engaged I've ever been in any shooter game and I'd highly recommend this even if the genre isn't your thing. Just a fucking incredible game to play through, great story, gameplay is lit, it's so good.
I didn't have room in the TOP HALF for this, jesus christ. This list is STACKED, yall.
It's been a LONG time since I've played a Ratchet & Clank game, and when I saw that the PS5 exclusive Rift Apart was free on PS+ Extra or whatever it was, I figured I'd give it a go. And, unsurprisingly, I had SO MUCH FUN. I totally get the hype behind this one and am fully behind its GOTY nomination back in 2021 now.
Going through the R&C multiverse was insane, hopping over to a universe where Dr. Nefarious won and is in complete control was a shocking experience, and having to work to overthrow him when he's nothing short of a god in this timeline was so much fun. Maybe Rivet was just a fanservice character to pander to a certain demographic, sure, but she was still great to play as! Overall just a thrilling experience, blasting through enemies with the wide array of guns was a fucking ride and felt so GOOD.
I have less to say on this one than most other games on this list but don't take that as me feeling any less about this one. This was a wonderful experience I'd happily do again in a heartbeat and highly recommend, if you have a PS5 since it's one of the only exclusives on the console as of rn! lol
WE'RE DROPPING TWO BIG BOIS TODAY! One is a classic that I never got around to but had been looking at since I was a kid, and the other is a GOTY nominee from a past year.
Let's start with this. I wanted to try the original Tales Of Symphonia since I was a kid, and I finally gave it a go when the remaster dropped earlier this year. Did it live up to my expectations? Yeah! This game was pretty fuckin great!
I don't know if I can do this game justice with just my write-up but I'm gonna try!
First off, I found the premise absolutely fascinating. It's another story about how the Chosen One needs to save the world from ruin, but with a spin of the fact that your character, Lloyd, is NOT the Chosen One. Your character's childhood friend, Colette, is! Your job is just to protect her and make sure she can awaken to her true angel form. You get to travel through 2 entire worlds due to some shenanigans, awakening all the different elemental summon spirits to restore the world's mana.
This game ALSO has heavy handed mention of race relations, but not in a way that feels icky or ham handed. In the main world, half-elves rule and humans are kept as slaves in containment camps. In the other world you play the back half of the game through, humans rule and half-elves are basically killed on sight and treated as the scum of the earth. It's handled very well in the game, actually.
My biggest complaint is that this game is LOOOOOOOOONG. And while that is something I should be used to due to the fact that I play a shitload of RPGs as my primary genre, this one just felt like it was dragging at some points. It's still a really good game though, and I'd highly recommend it! Pretty much everything from here on is a GREAT game, and the last few have been pretty good too.
I'll drop one more, since I only did 1 yesterday, and this one's more light fare before I get into some of the Big Bois.
The second Pokemon ROM hack I'll be talking about on this list, Pokemon Black & White 3: Genesis. This was fun little romp through Unova again, but with the twist of the Crystal rom being the one that was used as the base, so everything was in GBC textures instead of the DS. It was a nice lil game, though really fucking hard due to some bullshit level curves. If you're trying to Nuzlocke this one, the 2nd gym is a certified run killer!
I worked my way through it though, and I gotta say, I really enjoyed the story here! It's a continuation of BW2 as expected, with your main character actually being from Humilau City and canonically being dark skinned which I thought was cool. And oh my god, 8 bit Accumula Town is TO DIE FOR. Besides that, no spoilers! Would absolutely recommend this one!
Finally I wanna give a special shoutout to DRILDO the Excadrill, which hard carried me through the back half of this game. Excadrill is a fucking MONSTER and I love it.
