I struggled with deciding my #1 game this year, but when the dust finally settled, it became clear to me. The Last of Us: Part II is an excellent game and if you enjoy action / stealth / survival games, it's worth checking out. The production values are sky-high in this game and the story genuinely stunned me at times. If you thought the original game was bleak, then buckle up, because you haven't seen anything yet.

I know there have been mixed reactions to this game, specifically the storytelling / character development, but my biggest issue was that it's just toooooo looooong. This isn't a "happy" game and while the combat was fun and intense, the way things unfold and the relentless nature of encounters can be suffocating at times. It's not a game I'll likely ever play again (nor is the first one, which I also really enjoyed), but it's also something I won't forget anytime soon.

I play a lot of games, but with work and other interests, I generally don't have marathon sessions. But Staxel was one of those rare games that I just couldn't stop playing. Looking back at my playthrough here on Completionator shows I had multiple single-session playtimes of more than four hours, which is insane for my typical behavior. All told, I finished this game in 6 days after logging 44.5 hours.

If you've never seen this game before, it's a first-person crafting / farming simulation. The best way I can describe it is Minecraft mixed with Harvest Moon. It's may not be as polished as those games, but the gameplay is addictive nonetheless.

Much like Staxel, this game hooked me big time and I logged nearly 40 hours over an 8 day span. The crazy thing is, I played these games within a week of one another, so I was on fire at the end of August and beginning of September!

After cancelling my pre-order for this one, I waited until it went on sale and then let it sit on my shelf for a few months. I really didn't know what to expect, but I was very concerned that I would lose interest and I knew it was a long game. But it hooked me pretty much right from the get-go and I had a lot of fun with it.

I almost didn't include this game on my stack, but only because it was sort of a replay since I played it so much in early access before I had it on Steam. But since this was technically the first time I reached the endgame, I opted to include it. Although I really enjoy this game, I can't help but feel it slipped a spot or two solely because I had played it so much previously. But that's okay. This is a FANTASTIC game that's well worth your time if you enjoy sandbox / crafting / survival games.

I kinda wish I had turned off the enemies in the game since they ultimately became an annoyance more than a challenge, but really that one is on me since the game gives you LOTS of options when setting up a new world. My other complaint is that the endgame can turn into an absolute slog, depending on your world and how you've built up your base. Enemy spawn zones also make things more tedious than they should be, but that goes back to why I should've turned them off in the beginning. If I ever play through this one again, at least I'll know what the endgame is like and I feel I'll be better prepared to reduce the grind.

The first RPG I ever played was Dragon Warrior on NES when it was included with a subscription of Nintendo Power that I received for Christmas one year. I absolutely loved it and beat it many times as a kid. I snagged Dragon Warrior III for sale at a rental place towards the end of my NES days and loved that one too (only beat it once though.) But then I went on a drought with RPGs. I didn't have Final Fantasy, so the closest I ever got to another RPG on the NES was The Guardian Legend and Zelda II. I had a Game Boy as well, but the closest I got there was Gargoyle's Quest. When I moved onto the Genesis, I don't recall having any games that could even remotely be considered an RPG.

But then as I moved onto the 32-bit era, I picked up a PS1 just in time for Final Fantasy VII. And I was hooked all over again. From that point forward, I've kept RPGs on my playlist consistently. And it's all thanks to how amazing Final Fantasy VII is / was.

I was really looking forward to the remake, even though I knew it was going to be very different. But I had already prepared myself to just treat it as a "reinterpretation" rather than a "remake", which to me implies a game that's more or less the same...and this one is quite different. Clocking in at around 33.5 hours, this game is probably a bit too long for the story it needs to tell, but that includes all of the side quests I could find. I enjoyed the combat and how different each character plays, though I wish the AI had held their own a little better. I'm looking forward to the next portion of the game and would recommend this one to any Final Fantasy fan that can go in with an open mind.

Although I own all of the Animal Crossing games, the original one is the only entry that I've spent any significant amount of time with. Well, it was the only one, until this game was released. I don't really play handheld games much anymore and haven't for a long time, so I was very excited to have a new Animal Crossing game that I could actually play on my TV.

The biggest difference between this one and the first game (since it's what I'm most familiar with) was that there's simply so much to do each day. I remember playing the original one for a few minutes at a time throughout the day. I never really played it for long stretches of time because I would always run out of things to do, especially after the first few weeks and the "new" wore off. But this game is way different. You could (and I did) sit and play for a long time and still have things to do each day.

After "finishing" the town, I felt I had reached a decent milestone and called it a day for my initial playthrough. But I do plan to return to my island one day.

I had previously played Rune Factory: Frontier and Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny and while I thought they were fun games, I eventually got bored with them and never managed to finish either title. The rest of the Rune Factory games were on the DS / 3DS and as I mentioned before, I'm not much a handheld gamer. But then this game was released for the Switch and after reading some very positive reviews, I decided to dive back in. And boy am I glad I did! I had a lot of fun with this game and it hooked me pretty much from beginning to end. The combat is simplistic, but still very addictive. The farming side of things seemed standard for the genre, but still kept me busy at all times. If you've ever wanted a little action in your Harvest Moon, I recommend giving this one a shot.

Oh my, how many times have I tried to play through this game? I've owned it since about 2001 when I purchased a copy that someone traded in when I worked at EB Games...in college. Wow, this is the second time I've pointed out how old I am, haha! The playthrough I finished this year was actually started back in in May 2018! I played for about a month and then put it on hold until May 2020 when I buckled down and finished it.

Anyways, I have always enjoyed this game, but the story has never hooked me. But the tactical battles? I can't get enough of those. For better or worse, this game relies heavily on some RNG and that can be an annoyance at times since a battle can go sideways due to some bad luck, but it wasn't too bad, all things considered. This game is similar to Final Fantasy Tactics, but at the same time it's quite different. It's worth a look though if you enjoy old school tactical RPGs.

I was both amazed and pleased to see a brand new Build Engine game release in 2019 when Ion Fury left early access. The thing that really stood out to me with this game is the gunplay. I reaaaaaally enjoyed some of the weapons and the shootouts you have in this game are super intense. The level designs were pretty good for the most part, though I did get lost a couple of times (not unlike some older Build Engine games haha!) There are lots of open environments with tons of enemies and loot strewn about. I highly recommend this game for anyone that enjoyed Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior, etc. back in the '90s.

Oh, hey, another PS1 game that had been in my backlog for a loooong time. I had only played it a couple of times in the past, but this time I decided to sit down and get into it for real. I played through Mega Man Legends for the first time last December and nearly a year later, I polished off the second game in the Legends series with this one. I love the Tron Bonne character and it was great to spend a game with her as the main character.

Aside from the graphics / art style, this game has very little in common with the two Mega Man Legends games, but serves as a prequel in terms of story. The gameplay is quite varied as you'll be terrorizing towns to steal money (hey, you're a pirate!), exploring ruins (kinda like Mega Man Legends, but implemented very differently), solving some (at times) brain-busting box puzzles, etc. You can also optionally train your Servbots that help you on the various missions by taking part in some fun, though ultimately tedious minigames.

Overall, I thought this was a very enjoyable and lighthearted game. Maybe one day I'll finish Mega Man Legends 2 and round out the trilogy. We'll see...