January 2025 - Happy Cyberpunk 2077 New Year

Play

After completing the Kaito Files DLC for Lost Judgement, I've just been dabbling around trying the odd PS+ title like Forspoken, Nobody Saves the World, My First Gran Turismo etc but nothing really grabbed my attention. 

My daughter is still playing Final Fantasy 7 Remake so the PS5 disc drive slot is full & Spider-Man 2 will have to wait, I purchased Cyberpunk 2077 and the Phantom Liberty DLC in the recent Black Friday sales on digital. The physical release of the game only has a code for the DLC.

Cyberpunk 2077

There are quite a few game mechanics to get your head around and the map opens up very quickly for you to explore. It got me thinking about how a video game introduces a player to the a world and it's mechanics. I think Horizon Zero Dawn did a very good job with only giving the player a small area and introducing each mechanic slowly to ensure the player knew how to control Aloy before opening up the world. Cyberpunk 2077 takes a different approach and throws a lot of mechanics at you almost immediately and opens up the world map for you to explore. Thus I'm taking it a little bit slowly to understand how best to use the hacking skills, combat & all the various different side quests/jobs you can take on before I venture out to explore the world.

Want

I double stacked on PS+ during Black Friday sales so this will be my main source for new titles, I have quite a bit on my backlog that I have purchased either physical or digital & plan to enjoy these before going shopping.

Spider-Man 2 & Shadow Tactics (Physical). Outer Wilds, Empire of the Sin & Front Mission 1st (Digital), Like A Dragon Ishin, Disco Elysium, Sackboy & Bioshock Collection (PS+)

There are quite a few games released (Star Wars Outlaws, Shadow Gambit, Baldurs Gate 3) or coming soon (Like A Dragon Pirate Yakuza) that I want to purchase but nothing that I need now so they can all wait.

Bin

Fortnite - The one game in 2024 that sucked so much of my gaming time.

Playstation Wrap 2024

 

 

2024 Playstation Wrap, I have played far too much Fortnite this year and glad I have finally broken free from the addiction!

 

884 hours played across 54 games (some which I abandoned or just played for an hour to see if it would bite) but gaming will always be my number one past time

 

gospvg - getting old and still playing video games

December Update - Game of the Year 2024

 

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

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 :(

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.