It’s been a year of change here. Making a fresh start in a new role has been taking a lot of my time and some adjustments too after years of dealing with workplace toxicity but it’s also let me learn what not to do. It’s much easier to do that when you have such bad examples to reference! Having COVID make an appearance right on the holidays was not something I had on my bingo card, and it made the last week of my year a lot quieter than planned as I recovered. Gaming has still been a big part of my offline time thankfully and having a core group to join up with to chill and take on the world always makes it better when it comes to beating stress.

Classics both old and new

While I continue to have my reliable “go to” games in titles such as Call of Duty it’s the other games I pick up along the way that have a talent for surprising me. That’s not to say that Call of Duty was a disappointment – this year’s Black Ops 6 was a blast with a wildly varied campaign that pushes in a number of directions that shows a willingness to experiment with the format. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II finally arrived and while it didn’t stray too far from the original game’s formula it set a visual standard that very few games are going to match in the coming years. I also dabbled in Metroidvania games yet again with Tales of Kenzera: Zau and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. While Prince of Persia is a much more accomplished game, I did find Tales of Kenzera much easier to pick up and play. Both are very similar so you can’t go wrong with either. Robocop: Rogue City FINALLY got some time from me and it is plain to see how much the developers loved the franchise and what makes it tick. Very little made me smile as much as when you start blasting away at bad guys and that glorious Basil Poledouris score kicks in.

My favourite game this year though has to be Balatro – it’s astonishingly addictive, easy to play in small doses and perfectly distilled down to its gameplay loop with little to distract players away from their objective. It’s the first game in years that I’ve bought multiple copies (for Xbox and mobile) and I probably play both in equal amounts.

Retro gaming

Playing classic games has been a something I’ve enjoyed for a long time now and this year has really sold me on the variety of ways you can do this too. There’s Evercade with their EXP and VS platforms which take a mix of new and old, familiar and unfamiliar titles and give players and opportunity to experience them all in a simple, economic way. I’d never consider picking up a PlayStation just for the original Tomb Raider trilogy but having them as an Evercade cartridge was a great opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

Then we have classic titles that are getting remastered for modern platforms. While I do have the original DOS version of Star Wars: Dark Forces, being able to play the game on Xbox with a nice resolution bump and modern controls helped give an old game a new lease on life and make it a great game for both old and new Star Wars fans. Finally, we have Digital Eclipse and their Gold Master Series – after with titles covering Karateka and the works of Jeff Minter, they returned once more with one dedicated to Teris. And Tetris Forever really shows how the documentary format the team has developed can make both the games and the people behind them shine. Seeing the enduring friendship between Alexy Pajitnov and Henk Rogers is a true highlight.

I still find the occasional Atari 2600/800 cartridge to add to my collection but have also expanded out to look into original Xbox and 360 now that the 360 marketplace is gone. The occasional bargain can be found, and I like getting a chance to finally play some games I missed the first time around. Right now, I’m playing through the campaign of the original Warhammer 40K Space Marine and am impressed with just how well that game holds up.

PAX Australia 2024

Another year, a visit by me to PAX Australia and this time I had a plan to meet some people and first up I got to meet Abubakar Salim from Surgent Studios, who was behind Tales of Kenzera: Zau and talk briefly about the game. His film, television and game credits go well beyond that, but I was really enjoying the game and wanted to wish him well for future projects with the team. The other was Mark Meer, whose voice I had stuck in my head after years of playing Shepard in the Mass Effect trilogy. I found my copy of the original 360 game and had him sign it for me. It was amazing to see the long line full of fans of the series which shows that the games have some real staying power. Waiting between panels also gave me a chance to play more Balatro as the mobile version had launched two weeks earlier and I was still determined to improve my game. Still a work in progress that… 🙂

2025 plans

As mentioned, I’m playing through the original Space Marine and will probably look at the sequel now that I can see how well the game vibes well with me. There’s also Indiana Jones and the Great Circle which has got a lot of positive press – I wanted to wait a little before jumping in but thanks to COVID it was pushed back just a little further. The end of year sales had some wild discounts too and seeing that Suicide Squad was more than 90% off I thought I’d check it out. While it is not in the same league as the Batman Arkham games, funnily enough what comes to mind as I play the first few hours is that warts and all, it’s like co-op Crackdown but with a DC license. I think if you approach it with that mindset, you may get more out of it than you expect.

January has barely started and I think we can already see some potential changes on the way from CES but how it plays out is anyone’s guess. As for me, I’ll keep on gaming. 🙂