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2026 – Happy New Year & 2025 GOTY is obviously not Clair Obscur.

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Play

As Dusk Falls (PS5) - Completed

An interactive "telltale" like game about a family whilst relocating to St. Louis are forced to stop at a motel and chaos ensues.

An enjoyable story with multiple characters that does end on a mild cliffhanger, not sure if the studio Interior Night has any plans to continue the story.

It even has a waterfall scene!

 

Sword of the Sea (PS5) - Completed

A stunningly beautiful game where you ride a hoverboard and help to bring back water to a desert. Who else but Austin Wintory with yet another amazing soundtrack. If you enjoyed Journey you will love this & it has some amazing waterfalls!

 

Clair Obscur - Expeditions 33 (PS5) - Playing

With the extended break from work it was time to start another physical game from my backlog & what else but the darling of award shows and many gamers GOTY, Clair Obscur Expeditions 33.

I can't say anything about the game that you have not already read or listened but yes it lives up to the hype. If not the sountrack then the art style or engrossing story and characters. Maybe it's the turn-based battles with it's parry/dodge mechanic or that each character has a unique fighting style to master.

I was hoping I may be able to complete it before the end of the year but I don't want to rush it and enjoy every beautifully crafted section of the game.

In summary I wish Square Enix are taking notes, this is what the Final Fantasy games should have been.

Oh! and yes it has some beautiful waterfalls!

 

Game of the Year 2025 

Overall I'm happy with my gaming year starting with the juggernaut that is Cyberpunk 2025 & what a game it was! A pleasure to explore Night City and uncover it's many secrets. Without going any further let me just say this is my game of the year! even before I started playing the Phantom Liberty DLC.

I then enjoyed some british humour in Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe before going back to the 80s for Robocop Rogue City. We can ignore Pure Mini Golf a 32p purchase for an easy platinum lol!

Road 96 was the first of many interactive "telltale" like games I would enjoy this year and no year is complete without an RGG game and Like A Dragon Ishin! scratched that itch!

Balatro should come with a warning label, easily the most addictive game I've played in a long time and even now I keep coming back to just to have one more run!

Ghostwire Tokyo was an unexpected surprise that I enjoyed very much including the scary school sequence! Fantasy Life i told me how fragile a human being I am with constant RSI pains due to it's lack of accessbility options for the quicktime events. It also taught me I should always quit playing games if I am not enjoying.

Dredge was a relaxing fishing game with a mysterious story to enjoy & Lost Records Bloom & Rage Tape 1 another interactive game from one of my favourite developers Don't Nod.

Messenger an impressibe acheivement for a short browser based game, The Invincible is a first person sci-fi adventure based on the 1964 novel.

I then found my digital crack in Wordle, Connections & Strands. I still play all three daily but did give up on Spelling Bee & Pips.

Promise Mascot Agency was an enjoyable "Kairosoft" like game with a yakuza backstory, it is also the first game I have purchased in years that I started playing straight away.

Hole.io kep me entertained for a few days gobbling up buildings. Then back to back interactive titles in Lost Records Bloom & Rage Tape 2 & As Dusk Falls. Finishing off the year with Sword of the Sea.

2026 Gaming Resolutions

New year! and some new resolutions that I can break!

1. Purchase no more physical games until I have reduced my backlog to 3 titles (currently at 13!).

2. I did well in 2025 and avoided buying the PS5 Pro and Switch 2, I need to keep that going in 2026, no new hardware purchases except if required PS5 controllers.

3. I have £80 on PSN credit and this all I can use until I reduce my digital backlog to 10 titles (either by playing or dropping, currently at 35 games). No more shopto top up codes!

I will renew PS+ at the essentials tier in November, I don't need the extra tier it just adds more titles to my backlog!

4. I did really well this year with FOMO, I did not go back to Fortnite even with the Simpsons map or the current BTTF skins, I also avoided purchasing Arc Raiders. I don't have the free time for these type of games. Need to avoid the hype and just play what I already own.

 

Backlog

Digital Games (35) - +4 See shopping below

PS+ Subscription (3) - Reduced by 1, Sword of the Sea & As Dusk Falls completed & Planet Coaster 2 added.

PS+ Monthly (19) - Reduced by 1, can't remember what title I dropped?! It was Viewpoint!

Physical Games (13) - added two see shopping below

Total = 70 Games (gone up by three from last month!)


Shopping

Stupid end of year sales! 

Shadow Gambit - Cursed Crew - £8.74 - Backlog
Steamworld Heist 2 - £6.24 - Backlog
Beyond Galaxyland - £7.49 - Backlog
Gears of War Reloaded £15.99 - Physical Backlog
Helldivers 2 £19.99 - Physical Backlog
A Way Out £4.49 - Backlog
The Quarry £8.44 - For Nemo/Sam to enjoy
and Roger £4.29 - First game I have purchased on the switch in a long time!

2025 Total £399.72! 

2026 Target is spend less than £100

 

Want

Quite a few titles I'm interested in from The Game Awards show including

The First Shepherd, Bradley the Badger, Star Wars Fate of the Old Republic, Control Resonant, Gang of Dragon, No Law, Tomb Raider Catalyst & Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis, 007 First Light & Pragmata.

Bin

My own weakness for buying more games when I have enough games to enjoy already!

 

Happy New Year! 

Catlord (Switch): COMPLETED!

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While I was playing Cat Survivors, I was convinced it was actually the same game as Catlord that I’d played a year or two ago. I mean, they’re both cat-based Survivors games that were peanuts on the eShop. Turns out they’re not the same game.

Catlord was a freebie from No Gravity Games, and although it does have a cat and is a Survivors game, it plays somewhat differently. Firstly, it’s harder. Secondly, you have a jump button that you can use to either jump over baddies or stomp them. Then there’s a shield which you turn on and off when you want (although it has a usage bar so you can’t leave it on). Oh, and you don’t have many powerups – just balls and superballs.

So yeah, it’s a different game, it’s not as good, and somehow I still got some enjoyment out of it.

Dice People (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Dice People is a stand-out game in that Game Nacional bundle. It’s a bit better put together, but also, it seems to be a unique type of game. Unless there’s another similar one I’ve not heard of – you tell me.

You buy dice people, each of which are wizards or fighters or whatever and so attack in different ways. You then “roll” them into a playfield, which plays out a bit like a Tower Defence game as baddies swarm the screen. I think, but I’m not entirely sure, but the number on the dice determines your strength or HP or both or something. Kill baddies and they leave items and money.

You use the money to buy more dice people, and the items to unlock millions of things on the skill tree. Or rather, Massive Skill Grid. You can increase probabilities, strength, obtained item quantities, and so on here, making the next round a bit easier. Eventually you unlock enough and progress far enough to take on a boss, after which you’ve completed the game.

It’s surprisingly addictive, and more fun than I’ve made it out to appear, I assure you.

Cat Survivors (Switch): COMPLETED!

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There was a ridiculous bundle deal on the Switch eShop last week where you could get 21 games for 89p. Of course, they’re not going to be good games, are they? In fact, I already had several of them from a similar bundle last year so knew the quality I was going to be getting.

That said, they’re not all shovelware. So much of the eShop is full of terrible games that are clones of “real” games and have similar names in order to trick you like “Battlefields: Duty of Call” or “GTA: Car Theft Hero” or whatever. They are Bad Games and you Must Not Buy Them. No, these ones are from what I assume is a Spanish publisher called Game Nacional and the main reason they’re not great is because they’re just unpolished or a bit lacking rather than scams.

Turns out, then, that although it’s a bit wonky and generic, Cat Survivors is a playable enough Survivors-like. You’re a cat and automatically attack and, well, you already know how to play these games. Sure, other games do this better, but – apart from sometimes getting so overpowered it’s impossible to die – Cat Survivors is perfectly fine. And for 89/21p, you can’t complain too much.