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December Update – Game of the Year 2024

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Playing Now

Football Chairman 2 & Suika (Android)

After what feels like forever I am back playing on mobile! I got a voucher from the Play Store and use it to purchase Football Chairman 2. 

Rohan Rovers are currently in Division 2 and fighting for promotion.

Another mobile game that I've been playing is Suika a simple game like 2048 where you join fruit together to challenge for a high score.

Kaito Files (PS5)

I've completed Lost Judgement and purchased the Kaito Files DLC in the recent Black Friday sale, it's a short 4 chapter story but thankfully has no sidequests and you can get stuck into the story.

 

Playing Complete

Lost Judgment (PS5)

Back with Yagami and Kaito on another detective adventure, I do enjoy the slower pace of these games and the addition of the skateboard makes traversal around the map much easier. I complete some of the sidequests but soon got bored of these and just focused on the main story. I've nearly caught up with the RGG games just Like A Dragon Ishin left to enjoy & the release of Pirate Yakuza next year.


Shopping/Playing Next

With 30% Black Friday offer I renewed Playstation Plus and managed to get the offer to double stack until December 2026.

For once I did not purchase any Physical Games at all during the sales.

After Kaito Files I'm going to take a bit of a break to catch-up on some films/tv shows I want to enjoy and then will start Spider-Man 2 over Christmas.


Game of the Year 2024

Excluding Fortnite/FC 24 & my return to mobile gaming it's been a bit of a poor year for completing games with only eight games completed but I enjoyed kicking of the year with Assassin's Creed Mirage, a much shorter game not filled with the usual Ubisoft bloat.

Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth had a great story especially Kiryu's. Like always these games have a stack of side content that just eat the hours away.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake also had a stack of side content but went for the ubisoft formula of copy/paste all over the map and I soon gave up on this to just enjoy the main story which was a a bit of a rollercoaster but not bad for a remix.

I expected Dave the Diver to be a short indie title but how wrong was I when I completed the game over fourty hours later! 

Banishers Ghosts of New Eden was my surprise of the year and way better than I was expecting with a great storyline and satisfying combat. 

Miasma Chronicles was an X-Com style strategy title by the developers of Mutant Year Zero and whilst the story is pretty much boring the combat was enjoyable especially with the various skills at your disposable.

I manage to catch-up also on both the Judgment games whilst reusing the assets of the Yakuza games, RGG introduces new characters in the form of Yagami an ex-lawyer & Kaito an ex Yakuza who form a detective agency. It is a much sower format than the Yakuza games but both games have a main plotline that slowly unravels to reveal it's secrets.

Assassin's Creed Mirage (PS5)
Yakuza Like A Dragon - Infinite Wealth (PS5)
Final Fantasy 7 Remake (PS5)
Dave the Diver (PS5)
Judgment (PS5)
Banishers Ghosts of New Eden (PS5)
Miasma Chronicles (PS5)
Lost Judgment  (PS5)

Yakuza Infinite Wealth is my game of the year just because of how RGG managed to connect Kiryu & Ichiban stories together and fill the game with so much varied side content that you never get bored. A special mention also to Banishers Ghosts of New Eden (PS5).

December Update – Game of the Year 2024

Posted on Written by

 

Playing Now

Football Chairman 2 & Suika (Android)

After what feels like forever I am back playing on mobile! I got a voucher from the Play Store and use it to purchase Football Chairman 2. 

Rohan Rovers are currently in Division 2 and fighting for promotion.

Another mobile game that I've been playing is Suika a simple game like 2048 where you join fruit together to challenge for a high score.

Kaito Files (PS5)

I've completed Lost Judgement and purchased the Kaito Files DLC in the recent Black Friday sale, it's a short 4 chapter story but thankfully has no sidequests and you can get stuck into the story.

 

Playing Complete

Lost Judgment (PS5)

Back with Yagami and Kaito on another detective adventure, I do enjoy the slower pace of these games and the addition of the skateboard makes traversal around the map much easier. I complete some of the sidequests but soon got bored of these and just focused on the main story. I've nearly caught up with the RGG games just Like A Dragon Ishin left to enjoy & the release of Pirate Yakuza next year.


Shopping/Playing Next

With 30% Black Friday offer I renewed Playstation Plus and managed to get the offer to double stack until December 2026.

For once I did not purchase any Physical Games at all during the sales.

After Kaito Files I'm going to take a bit of a break to catch-up on some films/tv shows I want to enjoy and then will start Spider-Man 2 over Christmas.


Game of the Year 2024

Excluding Fortnite/FC 24 & my return to mobile gaming it's been a bit of a poor year for completing games with only eight games completed but I enjoyed kicking of the year with Assassin's Creed Mirage, a much shorter game not filled with the usual Ubisoft bloat.

Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth had a great story especially Kiryu's. Like always these games have a stack of side content that just eat the hours away.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake also had a stack of side content but went for the ubisoft formula of copy/paste all over the map and I soon gave up on this to just enjoy the main story which was a a bit of a rollercoaster but not bad for a remix.

I expected Dave the Diver to be a short indie title but how wrong was I when I completed the game over fourty hours later! 

Banishers Ghosts of New Eden was my surprise of the year and way better than I was expecting with a great storyline and satisfying combat. 

Miasma Chronicles was an X-Com style strategy title by the developers of Mutant Year Zero and whilst the story is pretty much boring the combat was enjoyable especially with the various skills at your disposable.

I manage to catch-up also on both the Judgment games whilst reusing the assets of the Yakuza games, RGG introduces new characters in the form of Yagami an ex-lawyer & Kaito an ex Yakuza who form a detective agency. It is a much sower format than the Yakuza games but both games have a main plotline that slowly unravels to reveal it's secrets.

Assassin's Creed Mirage (PS5)
Yakuza Like A Dragon - Infinite Wealth (PS5)
Final Fantasy 7 Remake (PS5)
Dave the Diver (PS5)
Judgment (PS5)
Banishers Ghosts of New Eden (PS5)
Miasma Chronicles (PS5)
Lost Judgment  (PS5)

Yakuza Infinite Wealth is my game of the year just because of how RGG managed to connect Kiryu & Ichiban stories together and fill the game with so much varied side content that you never get bored. A special mention also to Banishers Ghosts of New Eden (PS5).

October/November 2024 Update

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I’ve been away a few weeks thus the lack of an October update

Playing Now

Lost Judgment (PS5)
I’ve gone off a few games in The Plucky Squire (looks lovely but getting back from holiday I was just not enjoying it) & Rise of Ronin was not what I expected, it is a very janky game and the spoonfed tutorial put me off. So back with RGG and this time Lost Judgment which see the crew team up again for another investigation. Loving the skateboard traversal.

Playing Complete

Miasma Chronicles (PS5)
A turn-based strategy title from the studio behind Mutant Year Zero, it uses the same engine with slight changes to gameplay in abilities. The plot and voice acting is very B-tier and can mostly be ignored, I play these games for the gameplay and enjoy pulling off overwatch kills or long range snipes.

Fortnite (PS5)
I need to break free from this game, it has taken up far too much of my time this year and with my limited gaming time I need to enjoy my backlog.

Playing Next
I am working my way through my backlog and have only three physical games in Like A Dragon Ishin, Spider-Man 2 & Shadow Tactics. I have quite a bit more in digital purchases most notably CyberPunk 2077 + DLC & Outer Wilds.

I’m not going to be buying anything for a while but my shopping list is below and my PS+ subscription expires next month so need to consider if I wish to renew or not?


Physical Purchase Shopping List
Star Wars Outlaws (I'm going to wait for a game-of-the-year edition with all the DLC)
Ghost of Yotei (I expect will get delayed to 2026)
Metal Gear Solid Delta (Will wait for reviews)
Death Stranding 2 (More Kojima goodness/weirdness)
Like A Dragon Pirate Yakuza (I may purchase on release if I can find a decent pre-order)
Star Wars Jedi Survivor (I expect this will come to PS+ at some point soon)
AC Shadows (I do enjoy the AC games, stealth....stealth..stab!)
Mafia The Old Country (Again I expect will get delayed to 2026)

Digital Purchase Shopping List
Baldurs Gate 3
Shadow Gambit

September 2024 Update – Not really playing anything :(

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Apologies for the update being late this month, Summer has always been difficult to find spare time for gaming let alone writing up a blog post.

Playing Now

Sand Land

I did start Sand Land but after a break I just could not get back into playing it. Whilst I loved the graphics & vehicle combat, the plot was very generic & I just could not muster the will to carry on.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4

When I do get thirty minutes spare, it's easier to jump on and play a game of Zero Build. Marvel season has kicked off and is already much better than last season thanks to no vehicle combat. The battle pass includes War Machine, Dr Doom & Mysterio.


Playing Complete

Banishers Ghost of New Eden

Every year you always get games that are reviewed 7/10 but when you actually get around to play them they are elevated to 8 or 9/10. I really enjoyed Banishers, the story was very good and combat had a satisfying loop, my character build was focused on rifle attacks and switching between the characters to charge up my specials to then perform a 300% damage rifle shot was very enjoyable.

Playing Next

Star Wars Outlaws is another 7/10 game but it obviously needs some more time for Ubisoft to patch & with a season pass that includes two story expansions I am just going to wait until 2025 before I pick it up.

I already have quite a few games to enjoy including Rise of the Ronin & Spider-Man 2 to enjoy but The Plucky Squire is going to be released soon on PS+

Enjoy your gaming & remember you are never too old to play video games.

August 2024 Update – I Banish you!

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Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden - Wikipedia 

Playing Now

Banishers - Ghosts of New Eden

Continuing my quest to focus on games released this year, I picked up Banishers. Developed by Don't Nod who made Life is Strange (which I have still not played) but I did enjoy their first game Remember Me & climbing adventure Jusant.

Banishers has you playing the role of ghost busters (really needs a trailer with the theme music), you help out local villagers who have been haunted and then decide the outcome.These outcomes will effect the story and ending of the game. The combat is very satisfying and has a god of war feel but you can you do long range damage with the rifle or use some ghost powers. I like how everything is tied into the one overarching plot throughout the whole game & a great cast for the voice-acting. With every open-world game there are always gotta collect them all icons & combat challenges. Banishers is not different except the collect quests usually reward you with new equipment & challenges give you materials that are required to upgrade these equipment.

I am nearing the end game with only a few more haunted cases to complete but this is a game I'm enjoying very much. Way better than the 6/10 or 7/10 reviews.

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 3

The season is nearly coming to an end & truthfully I will be glad to see the back of it, I did not enjoy the focus on vehicle combat and if it was not for the Reload or Pirates Mid-Season pass I would have stopped playing after getting the T60 skin.


The next season will be starting soon on 16th August and it will be time to get fed some Marvel content.

Playing Complete

Judgment

A different spin to the Yakuza formula with Yagami and co in a detective/lawyer game. Using the familiar location of Kamarucho the story delves deep into Yagami's life and explains how his short lived lawyer career turned him into a detective yet whilst still retaining his ability to get involved in street brawls :)

There is quite a bit of side missions and helping around the city to make friends that then later can help you in combat. You have the usual Sega Arcade (Space Harrier, Virtua Fighter, Motor Raid & Kamuro of the Dead), Dating, Crane Mini game etc

At some point I will play the follow-up Lost Judgment.

Playing Next

Sand Land, I have purchased the Akira Tomiya adaption of the 2000 Manga so this will be next on my list.

2024 releases I am keen to enjoy are Rise of the Ronin, Balatro, Star Wars Outlaws & The Plucky Squire. I expect Death Stranding 2 & Metal Gear Solid Delta will get delayed to 2025.

Older titles include Cyber Punk 2077, Spider-Man 2, Outer Wilds, Lost Judgment, Like A Dragon Ishin, Sea of Stars, Shadow Tactics, Baldurs Gate 3 & Shadow Gambit.

Enjoy your gaming & remember you are never too old to play video games.