Games I'm Playing

As of mid-January 2025. Everything is getting harder to engage with. On hiatus: Age of Empires IV (kinda...fired it back up, but I think I just...don't like it much?), Dragon Quest VIII (was overwhelmed by curiosity to try Persona instead), Sea of Stars (since the summer of '23...I mean, it's a fun enough game, but I'm just not feeling it).

Game Release Date GameSpot Score Bhuj's Score

Age of Mythology: Retold

Odd they released ANOTHER upgrade to this game, but yeah yeah, 10 years is long enough. This doesn't really add that much of substance, though the changes are noticeable. New voice actors, upgraded character models, better water and lighting effects, character portraits during story mode, etc. Otherwise, same old game, really. The new deity art isn't all that interesting, and I've seen troubling accusations that AI was used to make them, which I'm NOT cool with. Otherwise, it's a nice "upgraded" trip down memory lane and I'm surprised how much I still enjoy this game...one thing, though...the same issue I've been having with AoEIII throughout its existence (and upgraded versions) is now present here: the music doesn't play when I reload a save. WHY DOES THAT HAPPEN?! ...haven't really touched this in a while. I'm on the Trojan Horse mission in the campaign and I've always kind of hated that one (not as much as the Tug of War mission once you get to Egypt, though). My heart's not in it anymore...

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Disco Elysium

...you know what? Screw Thief 4. Gonna play this wild-ass game instead. ...though I have set this aside in favor of P5R lately...and now that I've beaten P5R, gonna try and get back into this one. That said...kind of having trouble getting into it? ...yeah, haven't played this one in a long time. Might end up abandoning it.

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Hades

I should probably remove this game from this Stack, but there's always a *chance* I'll come back to it. I've reached the end boss twice now but couldn't beat him. But then again...I've gone so long without playing it that it'll probably take me a while to get back to that point, and then not succeeding and having to start over will demoralize me to the point that I'll go months without playing again. I hate that I have to start all over each time. It wasn't a problem the first two or three dozen times, but now I'm sick of the first three areas. It's just not all that fun anymore...

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Overload

Was really excited to try this spiritual successor to Descent! So far, it's pretty good. Worried the levels might be too short and certain unnecessary nods are being made to more recent games and their conventions, but nothing to really complain about...music's great too! ...yeah, been slow to return to this lately. The levels are much too short compared to the old Descent games and it's bumming me out. What a trade-off to encounter as technology advanced...yeah, I haven't played this in a while. Sigh. Everything sucks.

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Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

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Persona 5 Strikers

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Secrets of Grindea

Wait this is from 2013?! This feels way newer. Either way, great little comic RPG...was playing it for a good while on my Steam Deck, but I lost much enthusiasm for it in the last few months (end of '24, beginning of '25). I blame my mood during that time with stuff in my life and real world events...sigh.

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Uru: Ages Beyond Myst

Tried picking this up in Fall 2024 to finally beat it and keep going through my revisiting of the Myst series, but I only booted it up once before not feeling like continuing. I might go back to it, but this one always felt the least substantial of the series. It's just so dull...

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Vampire Survivors

I played this for a good while before the unthinkable happened sometime in 2024: I got bored. I should probably remove this one from this Stack also, but...I don't know. I might go back and try my hand at unlocking all the Castlevania stuff with the latest update. But then again, the thought of having to start all over each time and go for 30+ minutes for each character to unlock stuff is discouraging me again...I don't know.

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