2023 Game Journal
Games are sorted with most recently played at the top and earliest played at the bottom.
My "rating" system is just an enjoyment level with five options: Hated, Disliked, Neutral, Liked, & Loved. These aren't necessarily my ratings, just how much fun I had playing the game.
I only started this towards the end of the year, so the top several games are in the correct order but after that they're just in alphabetical order of the games I played this year.
Hollow Knight
Platform: Steam
Genre: Metroidvania
Enjoyment: Love
Played before? Yes
Notes: Skipped out on a few endgame bossfights, but still fantastic.
Half-Life 2: Episode 2
Platform: Steam
Genre: Shooter
Enjoyment: Like
Played before? No
Notes: Insane cliffhanger to end a series on for 13 years. I assumed they were never gonna pick it up again but the ending of Half-Life: Alyx makes it seem like they're definitely gonna make a Half-Life 3.
Metal Gear Solid
Platform: Steam
Genre: Stealth
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes: Some very annoying boss fights, but overall good and a cool game.
Q.U.B.E.
Platform: Epic Games Store
Genre: Puzzle
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes: Final section felt like it had a serious step up in difficulty. Had to look up some solutions.
A Hat in Time
Platform: Steam
Genre: Collectathon
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? Yes
Notes:
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Platform: Gamecube Emulator
Genre: Metroidvania
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes:
Metroid: Zero Mission
Platform: GameBoy Advance Emulator
Genre: Metroidvania
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes: Fun game, but quit at the Mother Brain fight because it was annoying.
Just in alphabetical order from here out
Alan Wake
Platform: Steam
Genre: Horror
Enjoyment: Dislike
Played before? Yes
Notes: Abandoned it a few hours in. This is the third time I've tried it but it's just boring...
Alien: Isolation
Platform: Epic Games Store
Genre: Horror
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes: A very good game, but it's way too long. I'd actually tried it before but got to maybe the halfway point and gave up because I felt like it just kept going, and I'd gotten what I wanted out of it.
BioShock Infinite
Platform: Epic Games Store
Genre: Shooter
Enjoyment: Neutral
Played before? No
Notes: Played with my friend Audrey at her recommendation. It's a decent shooter but the story is very bleh. Insane that they really "both sides" slavery.
Black Mesa
Platform: Steam
Genre: Shooter
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes:
Bugsnax
Platform: Steam
Genre: Adventure
Enjoyment: Neutral
Played before? No
Notes: It was okay, it just didn't live up to the hype.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2009)
Platform: Steam
Genre: Shooter
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? Yes
Notes: Dumb fun
Dead Space 2
Platform: Steam
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes:
Disco Elysium
Platform: Steam
Genre: RPG
Enjoyment: Disliked
Played before? No
Notes: Gave up on after a few hours; just not my thing I guess.
Dishonored 2
Platform: Steam
Genre: Stealth
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? Yes
Notes: I want to love it so badly, but I just can't.
Half-Life 2
Platform: Steam
Genre: Shooter
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? Yes
Notes:
Half-Life 2: Episode 1
Platform: Steam
Genre: Shooter
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? Yes
Notes:
Iron Lung
Platform: itch.io
Genre: Horror
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes: Very cool little game
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Platform: GameBoy Advance Emulator
Genre: Action/Adventure
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes:
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Platform: Nintendo DS Emulator
Genre: Action/Adventure
Enjoyment: Neutral
Played before? No
Notes: Abandoned partway through. It's not a bad game, it's just repetitive and only has one input (DS stylus).
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Platform: Gamecube Emulator
Genre: Action/Adventure
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes: First Zelda game I've ever played
Limbo
Platform: Steam
Genre: Platformer
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? Yes
Notes:
Little Nightmares
Platform: Steam
Genre: Horror/Platformer
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? Yes
Notes:
Little Nightmares II
Platform: Steam
Genre: Horror/Platformer
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? Yes
Notes:
Metroid Prime
Platform: Gamecube Emulator
Genre: Metroidvania
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? No
Notes: First Metroid game I've ever played
NieR: Automata
Platform: Steam
Genre: Hack 'n' Slash
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? Yes
Notes:
Observation
Platform: GOG
Genre: Horror
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes:
Portal
Platform: Steam
Genre: Puzzle
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? Yes
Notes:
Portal 2
Platform: Steam
Genre: Puzzle
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? Yes
Notes:
Resident Evil (1996)
Platform: PSX Emulator
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Disliked
Played before? No
Notes: Bad. I'm very grateful for it since it birthed the entire RE franchise, but wow it's not very good. Played Jill's campaign and the voice acting is just as bad as they say lol.
Resident Evil (2002)
Platform: Steam
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? Yes
Notes:
Resident Evil 2 (2019)
Platform: Steam
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? Yes
Notes: Played twice. Can't remember if that means two separate A playthroughs or an A/B playthrough.
Resident Evil 3 (2020)
Platform: Steam
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? Yes
Notes: Played twice
Resident Evil 4 (2005)
Platform: Steam
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? Yes
Notes:
Resident Evil 4 (2023)
Platform: Steam
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? No
Notes: Played three times
Resident Evil 4 (2023) Separate Ways DLC
Platform: Steam
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? No
Notes: Played three times
Resident Evil 5
Platform: Steam
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? Yes
Notes: Played about 80% in with my friend Audrey; it's a very fun co-op game.
Resident Evil 6
Platform: Steam
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? Yes
Notes: Played with Audrey. I've previously played through it solo and it was a real slog; it's wayyy more fun co-op.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Platform: Steam
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? Yes
Notes: Played through the main game solo, then played the DLCs for my friend Audrey. We played Not a Hero, End of Zoe, Daughters, Bedroom, and 21.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica X
Platform: PS2 Emulator
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? Played through for Audrey
Notes:
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
Platform: Wii Emulator
Genre: Shooter
Enjoyment: Hated
Played before? No
Notes: Quit during the final boss fight; it was awful. Planned on playing Darkside Chronicles after this but quickly decided not to. Ended up just watching a playthrough with Audrey.
Signalis
Platform: Steam
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? No
Notes: Got the Leave ending
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Platform: GOG
Genre: Survival Horror
Enjoyment: Disliked
Played before? No
Notes: Gave up on it about 60% in. Second half of the game is just going through areas from the first half again.
SOMA
Platform: GOG
Genre: Horror
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? No
Notes: Played twice
Sonic Unleashed
Platform: PS3 Emulator
Genre: Platformer
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes: Quit during the final boss fight. The ideas are cool but man the werehog levels are insanely long. The Eggmanland level is abysmal. How do you take a full HOUR on a Sonic level and get a B rank?? Plus you have limited lives! I started the level with like 30 of them and ended with single digits.
Starfield
Platform: Steam
Genre: RPG
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes:
Stories Untold
Platform: GOG
Genre: Horror
Enjoyment: Liked
Played before? No
Notes: When they announced Silent Hill: Townfall I saw it was being published by Annapurna (They don't miss) and therefore looked into the developer No Code Studio. Found this one and Observation and immediately bought both. Very excited to see what they do with Silent Hill.
Stray
Platform: Steam
Genre: Adventure
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? Yes
Notes:
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
Platform: Steam
Genre: Visual Novel
Enjoyment: Loved
Played before? No
Notes: A surprising delight