Journalings of a very queer gamer

I sort of fell off GBGL25 hardddd last year for various reasons.

But I’m back to try again for 2026 👉😎👉

This time I’m simplifying my process a little, as the in depth process of reviewing drained a lot of the fun out of this for me. I’m going back to 2024’s method most likely.

Soooo

Pumpkin Jack was a well-polished, easy to enjoy platformer with pretty low stakes for failure and a collectible grind nowhere near as frustrating as so many others within its genre.

It’s well contained in its story, an evil trickster brought back from the dead to defeat a wizard who was on the brink of saving humanity. It’s always fun to be a little evil, after all. There’s not some important lesson to be learned, nor many twists and turns to follow.

I won’t lie, I honestly don’t have too much to say about this game. I had a nice enough time, although it isn’t something I’d say everyone should drop whatever they’re doing to play it. It’s on sale quite often from what I’ve seen though! For less than a tenner I can’t say it’s a bad choice at all.

It was a nice break from playing through a larger RPG or trophy grind, I found it all quite relaxing.

Date of completion: 08/06/2026

Genre: Platformer

Time to beat: 6hrs 24mins

Level of completion: Main story + all side content

Trophies/Gamerscore: 30/30 Steam Perfect

1-100 Rating: 60%

Platform: PC

Baby shark do do do do do do

Maneater was a campy, gory, bloody comedy with a great atmosphere and smooth controls that played perfectly whenever I wanted something a little more relaxed in the past month or so.

I mean, what can I even say? You’re a giant man eating shark hellbent on vengeance for your mama, it’s awesome.

It feels like there’s so few games where you get to actively BE the big scary monster nowadays, and getting to scale from this tiny shark pup all the way to a borderline megalodon was satisfying as hell.

It was silly, and nonsensical and pushed its story too the extremes so often that everything just felt right. Nothing is too much if everything is too much.

The side quests were easy and approachable, and while there were a lot of them to get through, the collectables didn’t really feel like much of a slog like they do in a lot of other games. Partly, I believe this is due to the narrator throughout the course of the game.

He talks like you’re in his documentary (which you are) describing your actions and locations you find with comedic twists often enough that there’s gonna be at least something you’ll laugh at at least once.

The boss fights aren’t necessarily difficult, once you’ve upgraded yourself and your abilities you’re borderline unstoppable even by enemies almost double your level.

This is seem especially in the Truth Quest DLC. You reach a max level cap of 40 throughout the DLC, up from 30 in the base game, but the bosses are almost all levels 60-100 depending on their size and importance.

Regardless of this, if you just equip the bone armour set, you basically take no damage. Place that alongside any kind of health ability and you’re completely set for the whole of the game.

The environment is full of Easter eggs and little POIs to explore alongside a variety of enemies of all different shapes and sizes. As you grow, places that were once far too treacherous to explore become easy, you can swim through and swallow whole enemies that once harassed and chewed you up themselves. As such, the endgame state of collecting is satisfying. You’re big and tough enough that nothing will dare get in your way anymore.

You ARE the apex shark.

My partner gifted me a copy of this during the Ocean Fest event on Steam and it was just so fun all around. A little glitchy here and there and it crashed a LOT when I tried to run it on my ROG Ally and Laptop whilst I was away from my PC. But, on my main rig, I only experienced one crash in the entire experience.

I’m not sure whether I just got unlucky on my other devices or not, but I’d keep it in mind :)

Overall though, Maneater is an incredibly fun time, and I’d highly recommend it.

Date of completion: 03/06/2026

Genre: Action RPG / Simulator

Time to beat: 13hrs 48 mins

Level of completion: Main story + All side content + DLC

Trophies/Gamerscore: 44/44 Steam Perfect

1-100 Rating: 80%

Platform: PC

After seeing the constant polarising reviews on this game, I decided that I may as well give it a try myself. Mixtape is available on Xbox gamepass and it only runs for around 4 hours in a single playthrough, so I thought there was no harm in giving it a try and reminding myself to go in with an open mind.

I’ve played an Beethoven and Dinosaur game before, in 2024 I picked up the platinum for the artful escape. After finishing Mixtape, I have to say I have a pretty similar opinion on this that I did to Artful Escape.

It was… okay.

It wasn’t mind-numbingly awful.

It wasn’t 10/10 worthy.

It was just… okay.

The art direction is gorgeous, and the soundtrack, which the game is based on is well fitting and a fun theme to explore. Having the main character relate everything so deeply to their interest of music is a great way to weave a connection between the player, who may not be particularly interested in the musicians referenced, and the story of Rockford.

That being said, the characters are all pretty one-note stereotypes of “outcast teenagers”, you know the ones. The type that every TV show set in a high school will show off with exaggerated rebellion and petty bickering at every corner.

Rockford is a walking, talking tumblr girl stereotype from the earlier days of the internet. Ironic to say whilst I’m posting on tumblr itself but I don’t necessarily mean it as an insult. She’s “quirky” and different and reads as at least a little neurodivergent with her extreme passion for her interests.

Slater is the artful stoner best friend who dragged Rockford out of her “normie” life. He smokes, he draws, he makes music. He breaks her out of a cop car. He speaks with the same drawl of every highschool dropout character ever written.

Cassandra is the firecracker “perfect girl” that is being smothered by her ridiculously helicoptering parents. She decides on a whim to become a rebel because she thinks Rockford and Slater are cool.

Of all of the trio, it feels like most of the development of character is focused on Cassandra. Watching her fight against her parents in an (admittedly quite boring and cliche) plot line that ends with her threatening to burn the entire town to the ground, should her evil cop father try and stop her from moving out and going to college next year.

It’s all pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a cookie cutter coming of life Netflix show. It’s not bad, but it’s certainly nothing life changing.

For those that are big fans of the vibes of life is strange, I can maybe see the appeal. It has the same unapologetic cringe as LIS, the same artful energy and a subtle queer undertone at times that is never elaborated on.

I genuinely cannot comprehend how so many reviewing companies gave this game a perfect 10…

Date of completion: 23/05/2026

Genre: Walking Sim/Narrative

Time to beat: 3hrs 44mins

Level of completion: Main story + some extra achievements

Trophies/Gamerscore: 800/1000G 22/26

1-100 Rating: 30%

I mean, shit, what is there even to say about one of the biggest RPGs of the modern era...

I held off on playing Cyberpunk for a long while after launch, purely because of the abysmal user experiences I'd seen and gameplay footage that looked like it was about to explode if it was unlucky enough to catch a slight breeze, but, after so many patches, CDP really did deliver on the game that they promised back in 2020.

Is it still glitchy as hell? At times. Is it perfect? Absolutely not (cars were buggy as hell and I had multiple crashes throughout the game back to back). Was it one of the best games I've had the privilege of playing spoiler-free in years, however, absolutely.

The story has this constant illusion of choice, in a world where V simply doesn't stand a chance, and yet, despite how utterly depressing that is once you figure it out, it still feels worth it to keep fighting. The world of Night City and the NUSA is a shitshow, the politics are, dare I say, scarily close to those of the current world, and the people within it are desperate for something to change.

Playing through each of the side-cast's storylines really brought a depth to what might have otherwise been a rather one-dimensional dystopian story. With Johnny constantly spouting anarchist mantra in your ear like a terrorist devil on your shoulder, it's easy to fall into the same nihilistic hole as much of the world around you.

And yet, V, a merc with a ticking timebomb strapped to their head and a life that was stolen far too soon over and over again by the same, soul-destroying corporation, still continues on. It's admirable. Misplaced, considering the game has always been rigged against their favour, and a true "happy" ending, will never be possible considering their plight. But admirable, nonetheless.

I played through every ending of the main story first, starting with the path of least resistance, the one that made me shutdown my PC, stare at the wall, and cry about Judy's last voicemail for V. Knowing that the easiest option, to put yourself and Johnny out of your misery for good, not even try and challenge Arasaka for all the harm its done, really does have a lasting impact on those around you. The friends that you made have a wide range of reactions, and watching each and every one of them grieve V in their own way was heartbreaking.

But, fuck man, Judy. Her best friend kills herself, she spends the entirety of the storyline trying to learn to get over it with the help of V... only for V to do the same. Carla Tassara did an incredible job of conveying just how empty Judy felt in that moment, how little she had left of her own support group now that V was gone. It made me feel truly guilty.

In the end, none of the endings for the main storyline are happy. Not really. There's no escaping the harm of the relic. There's no chance of living a long, fulfilling life, regardless of the choices V makes.

Side with Arasaka and take it out? Too damaged, brain's half fried anyway.

Side with the Aldecaldos and make your way out of Night City for good, bringing your lover with you and escaping the horrors of a life trapped so directly under the corporation's thumbs? The relic will degrade you until there's nothing left but Johnny.

The others all follow a similar format. I'm honestly not sure which of them I prefer. I like to think the "best" of them is to take off with the Aldecaldos, but I honestly think I'd have to give it to raiding Arasaka with Johnny and Rogue. It feels fitting, giving Arasaka one last middle finger and those two the chance to finish the raid they'd planned so long before. In turn, when you take your body back, your the legend of the Afterlife that you promised Jackie you'd be from the start... Even if Judy leaves you behind and everything still feels hollow.

-

After those, however, Phantom Liberty.

Incredible addition. It felt like CDP added a whole new game right onto the end of Cyberpunk's original campaign. The political intrigue of Myers, Reed and Songbird was compelling, the storyline twisted and tangled in ways where I'd always think I knew what was coming next, only to have the rug pulled out from me every time.

Of the two sides, Reed and Songbird, in my first, main playthrough of the DLC, I chose Songbird. Despite how she'd betrayed everyone around her over and over again, I wanted so desperately to trust her when she said she had a plan for the both of us, that she'd found a way we might have a chance of survival... Of course, you don't as a thief to watch your house when you're on holiday, and you don't trust a liar to tell to truth. She was lying to us from the beginning, only one panacea, only one of us could get it, and she'd reserved that spot for herself.

Despite that, I couldn't help but empathise with her plight. Myers and the FIA had been breathing down her neck for years, treated her like a labrat for a netrunning gig that was always going to kill her in the end, left her no choice but to claw for survival however she could. So I carried her to the ship she needed to escape and reach her cure regardless. I shot Reed for getting in our way. I couldn't stand the idea of her going back into FIA's custody again. Not after how long she'd fought against it in Phantom Liberty.

I like to think that's the true ending of the DLC. If not, however, a close second would be the King of Cups ending.

Watching the AI beyond the Blackwall sink its claws into Songbird, turn her into a weapon of its own design, and her fight tooth and nail to keep V out of it's grasps even when she's dying in the process. It cemented in me that, despite her actions, Songbird is far from a villain. She's in the same boat as V, desperate to survive, almost irregardless of the costs.

So, when we defeat the systems caging her, find her hanging in a bundle of wires and barely clinging to life, much like in my first ending, I couldn't bare to think of giving her back to the FIA. She begged for an ending that wouldn't leave her in the hands of the people who'd harmed her over, and over, and over again. I couldn't say no to that.

Putting Songbird to rest and freeing her of Myers' control felt right. It felt good. Even if it hurt. There was never any other option of freedom in that ending, Myers would have never let her go again.

The worst ending of the DLC, not in terms of quality, but for V themselves, however, had to be the Tower. It was the most depressing end I think was posisble for V.

To live, to get everything they'd fought for the entire time, only for it to have cost them everything and everyone they loved? That's no victory. V is left permanently disabled (of course, not awful on its own) unable to use combat chrome implants and left as a regular, fleshy, human in a world where they'll never be able to defend themselves physically again. But, far worse than that, everyone moved on without them. Trapped in a coma for two years after the surgery to remove the relic succeeded and Johnny was wiped from existence once and for all, Reed didn't once think to contact any of our loved ones.

Judy is married to someone else. Mitch tells us Panam would be better never speaking to us again. Vik sold out to Zetatech and lost the charm and warmth of his clinic. Misty is moving out of NC. Nothing is the same. Just as the Tower symbolises. A drastic, uncontrollable change, often with consequences we can't avoid.

Fuck does it hurt. Fuck Reed, fuck the NUSA and fuck Arasaka.

-

Cyberpunk has left a lasting impact. It's one of those games I won't be forgetting anytime soon.

Date of completion: 12/05/2026

Genre: RPG

Time to beat: 81 hrs 30mins

Level of completion: Main story + All side content

Trophies/Gamerscore: 57/57 Steam Perfect

1-100 Rating: 95%

Platform: PC

Aaaaand, here's a few more screenshots I took along the way, for funsies.

I’m a little late to the game with this one, but I’m glad I gave it a shot!

The Exit 8 was a quick, creepy puzzle game with a simple concept… Walk through the corridors and turn back if anything looks off. Well, simple in theory, but oftentimes far more difficult in practice.

With some changes being so small I could scarcely make them out (namely the slow growth of the posters on the wall) it took many, many attempts of running through the halls to realise and catalogue some of the possible anomalies that could occur within the game. However, that is entirely the point.

It’s freaky and liminal and always just strange enough to feel a little unnerving when you notice something out of the ordinary. And, with the short time to beat, this feeling never really overstays its welcome.

The atmosphere is perfect for what it’s trying to achieve, a too-clean, too-perfect environment that, despite its best efforts, feels more like an endless nightmare than any reality the pov character is experiencing.

I picked it up on the PlayStation plus catalogue after seeing clips of the game circulating a while back, along with the new film based upon it, which I’d love to give a try soon too. I don’t quite know how they’ll expand on the limited story enough to make a full feature-length film, but I’m excited to see them try!

Date of completion: 30/04/2026

Genre: Puzzle

Time to beat: 1hr

Level of completion: Main objective + all sides

Trophies/Gamerscore: 4/4 (no platinum available)

1-100 Rating: 65%

Platform: PS5

House of Ashes was a near-perfect mix of horror, drama and action. With compelling characters and a narrative that interwove so many perspectives into one cohesive storyline, it never felt too jumpy or confusing to follow, despite the differences in perspective and ‘sides’ that the characters themselves often fell onto.

I played through House of Ashes with my partner, taking on the roles of Rachel and Salim, mainly. And I have to say, having the storyline split up and cutscenes differ between you and the other player in a co-op mode is such a cool mechanic. It’s something that I’ve come to love about the Dark Pictures Anthology now that I’ve played through two of them in co-op.

Getting to have a completely different gameplay segment to my partner (especially in scenes where we’re on opposing sides, like Salim’s attack on the helicopter early into the story) lead to us getting to bicker and joke with each other as if we were really invested in our characters and their storylines on a personal level.

I was told I was untrustworthy… mainly because I never disclosed some major plot points to her that happened on my end, waiting instead for her to discover them from her own POV. Supposedly, this was unforgivable, and I am now on a tight leash for any future titles we play in this series… I’m blinking at the camera for no reason . . . - - - . . . Just something in my eye I’m sure…

I have to admit, I did find myself only really caring about Salim by the end of the story. He felt like the most honest and caring of the lot, not harbouring some dark secret like a large majority of the cast, nor causing confrontation immediately like Jason did near-every time Salim showed up on screen.

He had a real reason to fight to go back home, forced into this hell despite his best efforts to avoid a needless battle with the Americans at the start of the game, and I was so frustrated at the end of the game that he didn’t get to go home to his son thanks to the US military taking him as a POW in the ending we achieved…

During our playthrough, only Salim and Jason survived the journey, with the others falling one by one due to a few mistakes on both mine and my partner’s parts. The Dark Pictures Anthology remains bloody and unforgiving in this entry just as it was in others, and it really does amount to a unique experience for every person’s first playthrough. It’s a feature I really appreciate.

Overall, whilst I found some of the cast (mainly the Americans) generally unlikeable and frustrating, the mechanics and storyline of House of Ashes was a great time, and I’m really glad I got the chance to play it with someone!

I’d highly recommend it as a co-op experience.

Date of completion: 06/04/2026

Genre: Interactive Drama / Survival Horror

Time to beat: 5hrs 20mins

Level of completion: One playthrough

Trophies/Gamerscore: 2/30

Would love to go back and replay this one to see some of the alternate routes!

1-100 Rating: 70%

Platform: PC

Here’s a couple screenshots from along the way

Gone too soon, VTM: Bloodhunt is one of the very few free-to-play battle royale games I would have recommended to anyone with even a passing interest in either the genre or VTM as a franchise, it’s a real shame that its servers are being shut down later this month.

I played a decent chunk of the game back in 2022 when I first got my PS5, but was quickly distracted by other games in the console’s library. So, when I remembered about it in my latest itch for a good vampire game earlier this year, I was immediately hit with a massive disappointment in hearing the game had halted all development in 2023, and was due for complete shutdown this year.

So, to do it the honour of a good send off, I decided at least that I’d grind out its platinum before the game was taken offline for good and I lost the chance to add it to my collection.

The mechanics of fast-paced wall climbing, blood sucking, super powered mayhem are perfect for the genre of a battle royale, and the gunplay feels good on every weapon, enough that nothing feels massively under or overpowered. It’s a balanced sort of chaos where everything feels strong enough to be viable with the right tactic.

My main downside with this game, however, is just how absolutely grindy that final Primogen achievement achievement is for such little reward. Seeing as the game’s development was discontinued in 2023, there’s very little content to truly explore once you’ve done around 10-15 hours of work on the rest of the achievements.

Lobbies at the moment are highly populated with bots to overcome the lack of players concurrent at any given time, and the XP per match seems so inconsequential that you can just idle all through matches and get nearly the same amount as if you’d done any damage whatsoever after about level 20.

In fact, that’s precisely what I did. For the last 30 or so levels of my grind to Primogen and the game’s platinum, I would leave it idling in the background, cue for games and AFK through them whilst I did household chores, uni coursework and the likes. From my experience takes almost 4 hours from level 35 onward (including queue times) to level up maybe once or twice with the fastest game mode (team death match, where each game is just under 10 minutes). As such, I just let it run.

I enjoyed the gameplay immensely when there was new things to experience, trophies to unlock, and the maps were fresh to explore and master… but after that initial chunk of time, there really isn’t anything to do other than wait. And wait. And wait. Let the bots fight each other, and wait some more.

There’s no incentive to do anything in a match when the XP rewards are so little regardless of your actions, it’s really disappointing to see this be the case.

But, when it’s a game with such a limited lifespan left to its name… I suppose you can’t be too judgemental for the barren servers.

If you get a chance to play before the game shuts down, I still recommend giving it a try, just maybe not the platinum (though I doubt it would be possible without a SERIOUS time sink without breaks at this point).

Date of completion: 06/04/2026

Genre: Battle Royale

Time to beat: 73hrs

Level of completion: all achievements and quests

Trophies/Gamerscore: 35/35 Platinum

1-100 rating: 60%

Platform: PS5

Split fiction was a fourth-wall breaking, multi media adventure that had both myself and my partner hooked from the first hour we picked up the game.

Both being writers and into differing genres of media that we love to explore and share with each other, it was a perfect fit and the characters of Zoe and Mio were relatable in their "friendship" (c'mon they were so gay. So very. Very. Gay.) and story, adding a whole other layer to an already awesome concept on a personal level.

Jumping between worlds, times, and getting to explore the psyches of Zoe and Mio was awesome. We found that the side glitches and mini-stories that were scattered about the main stages were some of the most fun in the entire game, with these easily digestible storylines and often far whackier concepts that made for a great break from some of the heavier themes explored (especially later) in the story.

The development of Zoe and Mio was a great story to follow, watching Mio go from a closed off, easily-frustrated ball of tension who seemed to have an overt aversion to anything fun, to an anchor that helped drag Zoe out of her own hardships and guilt over the passing of her sister was a great arc, one that never truly felt forced.

The same is true of Zoe's story, watching her act as a sort of positive light for Mio throughout her difficulties, only to get sucked into a despair when faced with her own challenges, it was a fun yin and yang situation, where the two protagonists mirrored each other when they needed it most.

The platforming and puzzle elements of the game were oftentimes right in that sweet spot of simple but challenging in the right areas, especially when you have to rely on communicating with someone else the entire time to time movements and actions correctly. There were a few sections where I was certain my partner was about to reach through the screen to throttle me for accidentally killing her with a poorly timed pinball spring, but I survived! (Please note I am not expecting to be in any danger, if I go missing, check her house first and check her steam's recently-played section).

The final hour or so, running thorough these mixed media puzzle levels where we were thrown so quickly through changing environments in live time, witnessing different versions of the same events from our characters perspectives, and watching the world warp around us was incredible. In particular, one section where Zoe is trapped in a tablet and you watch from her perspective as you tilt the tablet to affect gravity for Zoe's platforming within the screen was just incredible.

It was just altogether a blast. I would highly recommend anyone with a friend or partner nearby to give it a chance (especially because only one of you have to own the game! the other can use a free friend's pass version to access it alongside you).

A few screenshots we took along the way :)

Date of completion: 24/03/2026

Genre: RPG

Time to beat: 13hrs 48mins

Level of completion: Main story + some side content

Trophies/Gamerscore: 7/20 (I'd love to go back and get the rest at some point <3)

1-100 rating: 90%

Platform: PC

Am I allowed to talk about penises on here or no?

Playing through a game as an incel penis was not on my yearly bingo card, but y’know what… not altogether a bad time.

With movement controls reminiscent of surgeon simulator and the likes, relying on clunky gravity lead movements with no real dexterity, flopping around as a flaccid penis for an hour and a half was about as absurd as it sounds.

Despite this, the story did have some depth to it… delving into the perspective of a guy who just doesn’t get how women work who eventually needs the help of his friend to find a better way to treat himself and others. When I booted it up, it wasn’t the expectation to have any sort of real story beyond “haha funny penis game” but I was quite clearly wrong.

Yes, the humour is crude and sometimes it doesn’t always land, but when it does it’s funny and stupid and it works as intended. I streamed the entire thing to my partner, giggling all the while as we watched John’s flap around in all his flaccid glory… descent into becoming a full fledged incel, only to get dragged right back out of it at the end.

It was a quick and fun game to add to the list, nothing life-changing, but that was hardly the point to begin with.

Date of completion: 19/03/2026

Genre: Comedy

Time to beat: 1hr 26mins

Level of completion: Main story

Trophies/Gamerscore: 6/28

1-100 rating: 50%

Inside was a perfectly unsettling and oppressive experience neatly packaged into a four or so hour game that I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy as much as I did. I’ve seen clips of the games early scenes floating around online but never fully understood what was going on nor did I bother to look into it.

So, I went into this game nearly entirely blind. A rare experience considering half the games I play I see so much of online before I get the chance to boot them up, but a welcome one for sure.

Without a word of dialogue, Inside creates a truly unique experience for its players, leaving us to wander around the world with almost no idea as to what’s truly going on. We embody the same curiosity and childlike confusion as the nameless boy we play as (something that makes even more sense considering the alternate ending where we find out we as the player are directly mind controlling him) sneaking through a facility seemingly conducting horrific human experiments on people, chopping off limbs, combining them ala human centipede (or I guess human blobfish may be more appropriate?), and killing them in any way possible with no regard.

The finale where the boy becomes one with the giant amalgamation of human flesh, then breaks free to wreak havoc on the scientists containing it is an insane turn of events. That, and the fact that the sound effects are these guttural groans of pain and the fleshy slapping of fat and skin against stone make for a truly horrifying scene.

The platforming is smooth and the controls are intuitive, with no need for a tutorial you’re really just dropped into this world and left to fend for yourself, just like the child himself.

It makes me want to try out Limbo by the same developers for sure.

Date of completion: 18/03/2026

Genre: Platformer/Horror

Time to beat: 3hrs 30mins

Level of completion: Main story + all side content

Trophies/Gamerscore: 14/14 Steam Perfect

1-100 Rating: 70%

Platform: PC

God I love Resident Evil… I got into the series back in 2021 around the release of RE Village, and since then I’ve been itching to get back into it. There’s something so refreshing about a smaller, densely-packed and linear game that you can tell the developers truly care about when it’s coming from an AAA studio like Capcom.

With an industry so bloated with open world RPGs and the like (not that they’re bad by any means, I’m a big fan of a good RPG) it’s just such a breath of fresh air to get stuck into something shorter and just as a polished.

As a long time fan of anything horror, Resident Evil Requiem nails everything I live for in the genre in Grace’s gameplay. From a fearful yet competent protagonist, to a slow, methodical creep through packed hallways of threats and a constant threat of the unknown around every corner, Requiem is near perfect.

The relationships between Grace, Emily and Leon and their surrounding cast of characters are the real emotional weight of the story, and the stellar voice acting of everyone involved sells such a perfect, tense atmosphere. That, and the fact that the emotional highs and lows make the game feel like one big rollercoaster from start to end where I truly didn’t feel like anyone was going to be definitively safe from the chopping block, even golden boy Leon himself.

Ethan’s death back in RE8 has primed me to the fact that not even the protagonists in these games will truly be safe anymore, a fact I love because it really sells the horror of the world and the relief of everyone’s survival by the time the credits roll.

The gameplay is tight and responsive, and even with the brutal difficulty of insanity mode I never truly felt like the game itself was unfair. Well… almost never.

On my insanity run I ran into a bug where grace’s pistol just magically disappeared from her inventory and storage box with only 30 minutes of gameplay left until the ending… I was streaming to a friend the entire time and she took great pleasure in recording each and every one of my deaths to that final stretch of the animus and noblesse orbs. All 51 of them.

Despite that, I still can’t say that I was ever truly disappointed by the game itself. It’s a maddening bug and I really hope it’s patched out soon so no one else has to deal with it, but even with no weapon there were methods around it to take out the dozens of enemies that stood in my path and getting to do so successfully was perhaps the single most satisfying experience I’ve had in gaming since I completed the platinum of DS3.

The game is simply incredible, I can’t recommend it enough. It has its flaws like anything else but truly, at its core, RE9 is incredible.

Date of completion: 17/03/2026

Genre: Horror

Time to beat: 33hrs

Level of completion: Main story + all side content

Trophies/Gamerscore: 49/49 Steam Perfect

1-100 Rating: 95%

Platform: PC

No, I’m not a Human was an interesting take on the doppelgänger trope, with a great atmosphere and a unique art style that definitely made it stick out to me before I started my first playthrough. Its music, design and general aesthetic are perfect for the corrupted, broken world it’s set within and the hopeless story it seeks to tell.

With 11 different endings, I will admit, I was not hooked enough to see them all, but I did play through the game 6 different times to witness at least half of them. Ranging from death at the hands of the pale visitor to witnessing a fungal takeover of the world and running off with an old man to drink kombucha, the ways the story can end and the impacts that your decisions make truly make for a real choices driven narrative (somewhat of a rarity in the genre, despite its name) and it’s something that I truly believe you could sit a half a dozen people down to play and watch them all get differing endings on their first try.

It’s admirable, for a game so small, to just have so much content inside to discover and so much to do, all with such vastly different outcomes. Following the cryptic words of the egghead man to discover the secrets beneath my home’s basement was a particularly memorable ending, purely for just how bittersweet it is for the protagonist. Living for a lifetime, or perhaps an eternity, in a liminal, empty space, finally free from the chaos of the world but trapped with naught but his own thoughts is simultaneously a blessing and a curse, a purgatory that must eventually turn into its own kind of personal hell…

However, I will say, I just don’t think the game fully clicked for me and I don’t really know why. It’s a great game, with a great narrative and I’d recommend anyone give it a try, but I just don’t find myself particularly eager to go back and explore those remaining options that I left undiscovered.

Perhaps it’s the sheer number of endings and the random chance of the variables to make them occur that catches me just outside of its intended audience in that manner. I’m generally quite a completionist when it comes to games I enjoy (and sometimes even games that I don’t) and I will gladly play a game multiple times in the name of achievement hunting, but when 80% of those achievements are based on RNG I simply can’t commit to the timesink.

As a single experience, however, I really would say that No, I’m not a Human shines in its unpredictability. Definitely play it once or twice at least, there’s so much to see.

Ten plus times, however, that just isn’t for me.

Date of completion: 13/3/2026

Genre: Horror

Time to beat: 5hrs 3mins

Level of completion: 6/11 endings

Trophies/Gamerscore: 28/60

1-100 rating: 60%

Platform: PC

I mean… what is there even to say after hundreds of hours in this world, surrounded by these characters. I’ve owned a copy of Baldur’s Gate 3 since its early access deluxe edition in 2023 as a birthday gift from a friend and despite it all I could NEVER bring myself to see any of its endings…

It’s one of those games that’s just so incredibly dear to me that I couldn’t fathom the idea of finishing it and leaving it to gather dust on my shelf forevermore… it’s too special. It came at just the right point and just the right time to be something so ingrained into the last few years of my life, even with all the breaks I took from its main campaign to chase other, shiner, newer titles.

It absolutely deserved every last award in GOTY 2023, the sweep was exactly as it should have been.

The world of BG3 is just so rich for exploration and its character’s feel so real that I ached at the ending of those relationships when the ending credit’s rolled.

And that says something because I still have two other save files open at the moment… two other 100~ hour endeavours worth of time to spend with them… but that one instance is over, and I’ll mourn it all the same.

I played through this first completed run with my partner, all 93 hours of it, hacking and slashing our way through the sword coast and spending hours on end together all the while. It was a blast. Raging at half hour boss fights and strategising to find the stupidest most game breaking methods at our disposal to cheese bosses and dozens of enemies alike… I would do it a dozen times over at any chance given.

There’s nothing I could possibly say about this game that hasn’t been said a hundred times before… if you like RPGs… play BG3. It’s one of the best gaming experiences in modern gaming history. I cannot possibly rate it any higher.

Date of completion: 3/3/2026

Genre: RPG

Time to beat: 93hrs (on this one save file)

Level of completion: Main story + many side quests

Trophies/Gamerscore: 27/54

1-100 Rating: 100%

Platform: PC

Short and sweet and spooky! Just the way I like 🙂‍↕️

Creature kitchen was an adorable blend of spooky and cosy that was just RIGHT in every way. With an ensemble of characters (largely mute) that told a story less through direct action and more through the world itself and its slow expansion as you solve puzzles and discover more about its mysterious setting, it was a great way to unwind and feel connected to a world where everything was just a little softer for a while.

The puzzle and cooking mechanics are simple and straightforward, and whilst they’re not the most inspiring in any way, they’re easy to grasp right off the bat and make the main point of the game (meeting adorable little creatures and getting to know them better) easy to engage with wothour feeling utterly trivial.

Clocking in at just barely under 4 hours for a complete playthrough it never felt like Creature Kitchen overstayed its welcome. Instead, it was just the right amount of content to keep me engaged without ever becoming boring or repetitive.

I had a blast and I couldn’t recommend it more!

Date of completion: 25/02/2026

Genre: Cosy

Time to beat: 3hrs 54mins

Level of completion: Main story + all side content

Trophies/Gamerscore: 15/15 Steam Perfect

1-100 Rating: 75%

Platform: PC

AC shadows was my wind down game this month, something fun and easy to sit down and play whenever I didn’t want to think about the many exams and pieces of coursework I was avoiding. It did its job wonderfully.

The environments are beautiful and exploration around the map is fun (although a little lengthy at times) with a lot of flexibility in quests and storylines to follow at any given point. As a relatively open world RPG there’s so much to do and so many people and things to see and it never felt like I wasn’t able to find something to do with myself within a few minutes of picking up the controller, regardless of where I was on the map.

Naoe and Yasuke are a great pair and their sibling dynamic as they learn about each other and the world around them in this new era of Japan is great. I found myself caring about them both a lot as we progress through their stories.

I will admit, the story wasn’t particularly the thing that kept me hooked, however. I just loved the exploration and general feel of the parkour and combat system. Everything felt smooth and responsive, and getting to run around fulfilling contracts was a blast.

It’s not a perfect game, but it’s one I loved my time with. Maybe one day I’ll go back for the NG+ trophies, but for now I’m all shadows-ed out.

Date of completion: 30/01/2026

Genre: Stealth/RPG

Time to beat: 110hrs

Level of completion: Base game platinum + Awaji DLC. All but the NG+ trophies.

Trophies/Gamerscore: 69/73 (nice) Platinum

1-100 rating: 70%

Platform: PS5

What a way to start the year! Mullet Madjack was the perfect blend of chaos and story to catch my attention enough that I binged the entire game in one night… Somewhat ironic considering its themes, I suppose.

Set in the distant future where transhumanism and AI have taken over our society, robot billionaires have ruined life and left every remaining human dependent on a constant stream of dopamine to keep our brains occupied and alive.

Charging through increasingly difficult levels of boomer shooter mayhem, our unnamed moderator, often referred to only as Mullet by the game’s BBEG, has to garner the attention and praise of a constant audience as our gameplay is streamed live to thousands.

We start with 10 seconds of life and every kill grants one of those back. Run out of life, restart the run.

A roguelike boomer shooter wasn’t something I had ever considered, but it works wonders.

Fast paced gameplay full of charming animation, enough guts and gore to feel impactful with every kill, and a soundtrack that spurs you on every step of the way—I couldn’t ask for anything better from its design.

Date of completion: 12/01/2026

Genre: Boomer Shooter / Roguelike

Time to beat: 5hrs 5mins

Level of completion: Main story + some side content

Trophies/Gamerscore: 40/48 820G

1-100 Rating: 80%

Platform: PC / Xbox Gamepass