29/02/2024

gaming archaeology

There is an art to playing old games, a mindset even. A requisite state of mind thats required in order to play through its history. It's often said that you can't judge the past by the standards of the present and this is true to a point. Beyond that point the present can very much creep into your judgements and I think this is fine too as long as you are honest about it. The present moment can indeed cast a harsh light on the past, revered classics may not hold up even if you can still see what made them tick way back when. Such thoughts have come to mind recently as I found myself playing through the original 1987 release of Maniac Mansion.

31/01/2024

the games played last year awards 2024


The glitz, the glamour and the games! Yes it's the 2024 edition of The Games Played Last Year Awards! The GPLYA's as I will continue to call them even though it  doesn't commit itself to the memory at all. It's that special time of year (the start of it) where I come together with myself (phrasing) to pick out the highlights and otherwise of the past twelve months of my gaming habit. Here I single out the very most notable of my gaming experiences of 2023.

I've brought back most of the awards from last year's ceremony with a minimum of tweaks plus a few newbies to go around. Which games will win these prestigious and not at all fictional awards? What did I enjoy? What did I not enjoy? What is the point of it all? Stamp your ticket, take your seat and read on to find out...

31/12/2023

completionism 2023 - part 3


So we arrive at the third and final part of my 2023 in gaming. Another classic year for my gaming habit, an even more classic year for compiling lists of games played that year. Indeed as I've come to the end of this year and reflect upon my gaming in general I feel like I am in some way on top of it for the first time in ages.

Oh I'm sure there are still games from the last decade I've been meaning to get around to for ages but they are definitely becoming a rarer sight in my various game libraries. Heck I even played a game on the fabled 'Day 1' I hear so much about this past autumn, imagine that? So hip, so cutting edge, any further ahead of the curve and this may become the first blog to travel in time. So what about those games eh?

25/12/2023

completionism 2023 - part 2


Wasting no time and taking no prisoners let's dive into the second part of my 2023 in gaming. The dizzying highs, the subterranean lows, the odd bit in the middle. Truly I am a man of many seasons but only so many games. We got platformers, we got RPG's, we got beat em ups, we have whatever Hypnospace Outlaw was exactly? Indeed we have it all, let's crack on...

20/12/2023

completionism 2023 - part 1

It is that time once again! As the clock ticks down to years end, triggering a wave of reflections and retrospectives not entirely dissimilar to the one you're reading now. My free time is a precious thing and as such I've tried to be a little discerning in choosing what games to play this year.


Nonetheless my game time eventually expanded to over 50+ games in 2023. Some of the below are large games, some are small, in fact I daresay most of them fit the latter more than the former. I have cleared a whole bunch of stuff that has been on my radar for years now so in that sense I feel it was time well spent. What did I play and what did I think of it? Read on...

30/11/2023

almost entirely maybe

Quick state of the blog update here in this season of the limited edition eggnog latte. The aforementioned major life events that are not life threatening were a complete success but have left me with less time than usual for the blogging thing. I've still managed to fit in some more of the gaming thing however so plans are afoot as we approach the year's end, big plans I say, nefarious plans. Plans.

Which is of course another way of saying that the first part of my thoughts on all the games I've played this year will be coming shortly, yes Completionism 2023 is well on its way. Somehow it has ended up being another bumper year in that regard. Maybe about as bumper as it gets actually. So bumper there may be a notable shift in my gaming habits come 2024.

31/10/2023

horror movie mania 2023

Once more we return to my favourite time of year. The air cools to a brisk chill, the leaves go red and brown in that deeply pleasing way and the evenings grow steadily darker. This year it's slightly different for me as major non-threatening life events unfolded earlier this month but amidst a flurry of recent activity I have found time to sneak in that most precious of all October past-times, the Halloween-adjacent horror movie marathon. 

This year I've managed to watch more than a film or two so thought I'd give my thoughts in brief on each one. These are mostly films that have been on my to-watch list for an age with an exception or two and there may be more than one movie called Halloween as it happens, maybe even more than two. To the hot takes...