Oblivion Remastered

Platform: Steamdeck

Release Year: 2025

Note: There will be many Oblivion spoilers below. 

Oblivion was THE launch window game for the Xbox 360. Maybe the commercials for Halo 3, Dead Rising, or Gears of War got you intrigued, but if you got that original 20 GB Xbox 360, this was the game to show off the "next gen." I remember a roommate of mine telling me I was wasting time playing the game and I looked them in the eye and said, "Why would I go outside, when this world looks and feels better than the real world?"

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

I'm starting to see the cracks of not having central games oriented sites as prevalent. I'm off Reddit. I'm off X. I till occasionally go to IGN and GiantBomb (Viva la independence!). I knew almost nothing about the new Dragon Age coming out. I barely knew it was coming. And this is coming from someone that loved the majority of past Dragon Age games. 

I started seeing complaints about the art direction first. I take gamer forums, especially regarding previews, with a huge grain of salt since the "Cellda" days killed any chance of us getting another Wind Waker style game in a long time. I looked at some screenshots, maybe not my favorite art direction, but I certainly didn't think it looked "child like" or whatever the complaints were. In action, it looks fine. 

Last of Us 2 is a Bread Sandwich

Warning: There will be some spoilers below

The Last of Us is one of my favorite games of all time. So when Last of Us 2 was coming, I was excited. 

Unfortunately for it (and me) and landed just 2 months into complete lockdown for the Covid 19 pandemic. 

So I'm depressed, because the global pandemic has me locked in my house like everyone else. And this game about a global pandemic that is also incredibly depressing arrives in the mail... and I don't know if I've ever hit a level of despair holding a PlayStation controller as I did playing through LOU2.

Game of the Year 2024 Top 5

2024 turned out to be a hell of a year for my personal gaming in general. Yes, there were some old safe classics I played and they made the list, but the new games were bangers as you'll see in the top 5 here. 

Game of the Year 2024 Numbers 16-6

Another year, another batch of games I've played. Since I'm not a huge IGN sized blog, I generally only have about 20 games I've played for the year. So I try to give each game at least a sentence. 

This was an interesting year. I found myself reaching for the Switch less and less as the year went on. The PlayStation 5 went through spurts of abandonment. The Series S got relegated to the basement room. It was the year of the Steam Deck. 

So here we are, games 16-6 of 2024. 

May the 4th Be With You - A Star Wars Videogame ranking

I've been a Star Wars fan since I can remember. 

My parents taped Return of the Jedi off of network TV around 1990, and I wore the tape out.

I rented a New Hope from the library. By the time I saw Empire, I was already buying books with schematics of the ships and Timothy Zahn books.

I play almost every Star Wars game that comes out, so over 40 years, I've played a lot of games. 

I feel like I'm missing something from this list, but I can't figure out what it is, so with that caveat here's my definitive list

Top Games of 2023

It's been another incredible year of games. I haven't had time to play everything I've wanted to. There's been a few games that likely have made my top 10 of all time. There's a few I haven't played, that will likely make that list as well. 

Zelda Tears of the Kingdom have changed the sandbox game. No longer can Rockstar or Bethesda phone in their open worlds.  

Balders Gate 3 has moved the line of what a Dungeons and Dragons based RPG should be. 

And Resident Evil 4 Remake is a masterclass in pacing. 

I played many games this year. I'll rank them all. Remember, these are games that I played this year, not necessarily games that came out in 2023.