I continue to keep this tradition alive, that of documenting something about every single game I touched, however briefly, within a single calendar year (previous editions: 2017 and 2016). If nothing else, at least it gives me something to write about on this blog. I didn’t even have any game acquisitions to blog about! Slow year, indeed. That, and my usual sources of games seem to have all dried up.

This is the year I finally crossed 1000 hours of total playtime on my Steam account. I don’t know how many I had at the start of the year (I think it was around 900), but I ended the year with 1114 hours logged, according to my SteamDB profile.

A few days before the end of the year, I realized that I didn’t even have any data submitted for MobyGames yet. This couldn’t be allowed to stand! I have data contributed every year since I joined in 2005. I figured the lowest effort correction to this situation would be to scrub through my game spreadsheet and find games which had been added for which I already had cover art scanned. And so it came to pass that I secured all of 78 points for the year. It’s strange, the arbitrary goals we set for ourselves.

My most notable personal gaming achievement this year was that I finally understood the game FTL. I have repeatedly tried to get into this game in the 6 years since I bought it upon release at full price amid gushing reviews and now I finally get it.

1. Defense Technica: Starting the year off strong with an old tower defense game that I have yet to master.
2. Chip’s Challenge 1: Going back to the vintage Windows 3.1 days with this one. It’s surprisingly challenging.
3. Lara Croft GO: The last time I tried this, I was still stuck on the final boss creature. I finally got past it and realized that that was the end of the main adventure. Fortunately, there is still some bonus content to complete.
4. The Disney Afternoon Collection: Duck Tales: I finally finished this game. It took me months of occasional play sessions, but I did it. Oddly, when I accomplished this, my Steam play time for the game only sat just shy of 5 hours. I recall that being roughly how long it took me to win the original when I first rented it. Of course, back then, it was all clustered into a single afternoon/evening session on a Saturday night.
5. Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion: This bills itself as a real time 4X or RT4X game, which is well outside of my normal complexity wheelhouse. I’m forcing myself to march through all the tutorials. Maybe something will click eventually.
6. FTL: Faster Than Light: I bought this game all the way back in 2012. I believe it was the first game I ever purchased via the Steam platform, and I did so at full price after I saw all the glowing reviews of this indie darling. And I just didn’t get it. I tried so many times to get into it, but the tutorial would bore me to tears. Finally, I decided to give it another try, after another unusual roguelike grabbed me (namely Infectonator: Survivors, but Dungelot on Android also warmed me to the genre) and I am finally starting to enjoy this a bit more and it was one of my most played games of the year.
7. Life of Pixel: Still a fun exploration of retro game art styles. But it certainly is challenging.
8. Saints Row IV: I’m finally trying to get into this. Mostly, it just makes me sad that I don’t have more time to commit to immersing myself in modern video games.
9. American Truck Simulator: This promises to be a good distraction game for anytime I want to play a game as background activity for listening to an audiobook or podcast.
10. Sam & Max 101: Culture Shock: There was a big Telltale game sale on Steam so I picked up season 1 of Sam & Max. I only know it by reputation. The humor is definitely something I would have appreciated more when I was younger. I certainly enjoy the art style and soundtrack now, though. Sadly, I can’t solve the opening cheese puzzle.
11. Iron Sea Defenders: This is the year that tower defense games are getting too tough for me.
12. Titan Attacks: Good old Space Invaders clone time-waster on Steam.
13. The Disney Afternoon Collection: Chip n Dale’s Rescue Rangers: I just don’t get it– I was awesome at these games as a teenager. Now I can barely make it past the first level.
14. Parcel: Trying to get back into this puzzle game.
15. Mega Man Legacy Collection: Mega Man: The classic that started it all.
16. Tomb Raider I: The original game. I’m sure I have several copies of this for different platforms but it cost less than a dollar on Steam. It’s the first Steam game I’ve played that comes wrapped in Dosbox. The controls are obtuse and I’m not entirely convinced that it’s working correctly. It makes me happy once more that I sat out the early 3D period of gaming. When this version of the game starts up, there is a 3Dfx logo. I wondered if that had any effect. Then I found some screenshots of the unadorned DOS version and I can definitely see that this 3Dfx version is the graphically improved variant.
17. Tomb Raider II: Again, less than a dollar (most of the TR series was deeply discounted at one point this year, either to promote the new TR game, or the new TR movie, or perhaps both). At least this one is Windows-native, not that it was much of an improvement. Even though I’m playing in windowed mode in order to avoid unpleasant video mode switching, the switching still happens (and messes up all my desktop windows) when it wants to play some embarrassingly 1990s FMV. I’m thinking that this game probably introduced swimming mechanics because Lara starts off pretty close to water, and the devs wanted to show off the swimming early on.
18. F-Zero (SNES Classic Mini): I finally scored an SNES Classic Mini (retail, MSRP, no scalping involved). This is the first game that I played on it. I still love it (and the music even more).
19. Super Castlevania IV (SNES Classic Mini): I completed this game a long time ago so I thought it would be another good one to try on the SNES Classic Mini for nostalgia before moving on to stuff I hadn’t yet experienced.
20. Halo: Spartan Assault: This is a title I keep trying to get into, but I just can’t bring myself to get excited about Halo as a whole.
21. Ghost Sweeper: I remember picking this up during the summer sale last year, when I just bought everything on my wish list that was for sale for less than US$5. I finally got around to trying it in order to clear it off my “Not Played List”. My first clue that betrayed the origins of this game was Steam’s silhouetted screenshot showing a map screen with a series of locations marked with 2 or 3 stars apiece. This is a pretty obvious sign of a mobile-first game. Yeah, this turned out to be some very basic platformer game available on mobile platforms. At least it had joystick support, but I couldn’t figure out all the controls. Instructions are hard to decode on this one.
22. Super House of Dead Ninjas: Clearing out another game from last summer’s Steam sale. This is also an Adult Swim title. The last game of theirs I played was Mega Coin Squad which was a pretty basic concept– an NES-style game that distills the coin-collecting mechanic. This apes an SNES aesthetic, starting with an SNES game box and an interlaced video mode (which can be thankfully disabled). I like the action in this game and it grabbed me for a bit. I can see returning to this for a few more sessions.
23. Qubic: Simple block graphics 3D puzzle game. It was on sale for less than a dollar, so why not? It seems like someone’s first Unity project, but it still kept me occupied for about half hour as I blew past the first half of the total levels. The Steam achievements were broken, regrettably. I’ve never seen that before.
24. Donkey Kong Country (SNES Classic): I know that this is supposed to be a beloved classic platformer (with an awesome soundtrack; I have heard many arrangements of the series’ tunes via OCRemix). But as the game started, I got a very chilling vibe of the mid-1990s FMV era due to the series’ famed specially-rendered sprites. The technology is lampshaded early in the game and the Cranky older gorilla describes how they never had such technology is his day.
25. Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES Classic): I like the idea of playing classic platforming action games like this. In practice, I simply don’t have the patience to grow competent. In my teenage game-playing prime, I’m certain I could have mastered this game in 2 days; 3 tops. Nowadays, I’m afraid I can’t be bothered.
26. Star Fox (SNES Classic): This reminds me of the PC demo scene from the same time period– flat, polygonal graphics that simply didn’t age well. If you weren’t “there at the time”, this is the type of experience that is completely lost on you.
27. Unstoppable Gorg: I tried to get back into this TD-with-a-twist game but it’s not clicking with me anymore.
28. Offworld Trading Company: This had a free weekend and I marched through the tutorial. I really love the aesthetic and music. But it ultimately did not grab me.
29. XCOM: Enemy Within: Dusted off briefly for Steam’s Spring Cleaning event.
30. Kingdom Rush: I decided to start playing this again since I noticed I can crank up the difficulty and play through the main campaign again.
31. Plants vs. Zombies: GOTY Edition: Quick play of my earliest TD experience for the Spring Cleaning event.
32. Ball of Wonder: Also dusted off this Breakout/Arkanoid clone for the sake of the Spring Cleaning event.
33. Kingdom Rush Frontiers: Played for the Spring Cleaning event and I rediscovered how much I love this game. Like its predecessor, I decided to play through it again on the hardest mode.
34. SpaceForce: Rogue Universe: I have no idea when or why I procured this, or even what kind of game it is; it’s no longer in the Steam store. Turns out it’s a spaceflight/combat game. The Steam spring cleaning event motivated me to try this out and clear it from my “Not Played Yet” list.
35. Crowntakers: I tried this again due to Steam’s spring cleaning event. It still didn’t grab me although I played it a little longer this time.
36. Castle Crashers: This was free for the Steam spring-cleaning event. I love it. Finally bought it during the Steam Summer Sale. I find the gameplay to be a refreshing throwback to arcade action brawlers, but with a great sense of humor.
37. Party Hard: I picked up the High Crimes DLC on sale so it’s time to play through this again. I eventually played through the entire game again and completed the DLC and other bonus missions, and also acquired most of the achievements.
38. Forts: Free on Steam for a weekend, and it had been on my wish list. It’s a curious take on the RTS genre. In the end, it didn’t grab me, though.
39. Serious Sam Double D XXL: The developer (Croteam) had a big sale on Steam one weekend. I have never played a Serious Sam game and of course FPS games aren’t really my thing. So I picked up this platforming side scroller in the same franchise. I couldn’t get used to the control scheme. The player is expected to move with one joystick, aim with a second joystick, and fire the gun with a button. I don’t understand how I’m supposed to handle this with 2 hands.
40. Contrast: Just as I resolved last year, I am trying to concentrate on finishing some of the more fun action/puzzle games in my collection. I didn’t complete Contrast by the end of the year but I logged a bit more time overall.
41. GALAK-Z: One of the games I picked up during the Steam summer sale. I’ve had my eye on this one since it is very obviously influenced by the Robotech/Macross cartoon/anime in its setting, characters, and technology. When I started playing it, I decided I enjoyed pretty much everything about it– the aesthetic nods to “17-bit” Super Famicom (slightly different from Super NES), the CRT tracking mimicry, the smooth soundtrack, the pacing of the gameplay. The only thing that’s a little hard to get used to is the control scheme.
42. Vanquish: I first learned of this through Extra Credits’ video “The Myth of the Gun”. It’s on Steam and it was cheap for the summer sale so I decided to branch out and give it a try. It’s a modern action game that I have difficulty adapting to, but it was still enjoyable to try.
43. The Disney Afternoon Collection: Duck Tales 2: At long last, I am finally getting into this game. It’s a fun expansion on the original.
44. Super Mario World (SNES Classic): Using the SNES Classic Mini, I am finally able to dip into this title that is a huge gap in my gaming resume.
45. Klocki (Android): I generally spend any idle time on my phone reading something. But one day I found myself so bored that I checked to see which games I still had on my Android phone. I thought this game was too simplistic but I eventually found that the gameplay got deeper.
46. Darksiders: On sale via Steam in a pack that also included its sequel. I have a fondness for what game reviewer Yahtzee calls the “Spectacle Fighter” genre (exemplified by the God of War franchise). In fact, it might be my second favorite genre these days, just behind tower defense. This entry into the genre entertained me for a few hours until I got stuck in one of the post-battle puzzles. I found myself discovering what Yahtzee laid out in his review in that the combat isn’t especially varied, which is a bit of a “must-have” feature for this type of game.
47. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution: I have had this game in my Steam library nearly as long as FTL. Just like that game, I have tried numerous times to get into this game. Since FTL finally clicked for me this year, I gave this one another try. It just isn’t happening. I think it is probably designed for hardcore fans of the WH40K franchise. I simply have no idea what is going on. I wondered what possessed me to try this game yet again. I realized that it’s because as I played Darksiders, Yahtzee’s review of the game — which draws parallels to the art style of WH40K — kept running through my mind.
48. Alicia Quatermain: Secrets of the Lost Treasures: This came up for sale on Steam for less than $2 and I liked the art style from the promo images. It looked a lot like Kingdom Rush. Of course, that warned me that it might be a port of a mobile-first title. But I could find no indication that this is available on mobile platforms… which is weird, because when I played it, the gameplay definitely felt like it would be right at home on a mobile device. You only ever click on things, and that action could easily be replaced by a touch action. This is a puzzle game but the puzzles just feel a little obvious and pointless. Perhaps the gameplay gets a little deeper later on. (As I was composing this year-end blog post, I see that this game is on the Google Play store while 2 sequels have been released on Steam.)
49. Hard West: I really enjoyed XCOM: Enemy Unknown (and the expansion Enemy Within). It was my introduction to the turn-based strategy genre. I have occasionally tried other such games but could not get into them. Hard West came on sale for cheap enough that I decided to give it a whirl. It has an interesting setting– gritty old west combined with supernatural horror. As I tried it out, I wondered if playing XCOM should be a prerequisite for this kind of game? I feel that if I didn’t have 100+ hours of XCOM under my belt, I might be a bit lost. This had a quick tutorial and then the player is sort of on their own. I’m still enjoying it, though. I didn’t play it enough to get to the promised supernatural parts.
50. Kingdom Rush Origins: As with the previous game (Frontiers), I had no idea this game was coming out. As with the previous game, I learned about it when Steam gave me a coupon, likely on account of how much I played the previous installment. I immediately purchased it and began to methodically work through the levels, clearing out all the levels and and earning all the achievements.
51. Halo Wars: Definitive Edition: I have had this on my Steam wish list for awhile and it came up for a free weekend in October. May as well try it out, risk-free. I remember it being notable for its use of a controller-based input scheme, as is befitting a video game console. That turns out to be the way to control the PC version as well. It feels limiting. I got most of the way through the tutorials but was too bored to continue. I think it might suffer from the same issue I had trying the Warhammer 40K game again– since I’m not steeped in the lore of the universe, I am at a bit of a disadvantage.
52. SPACECOM: This was on sale for very cheap so I gave it a whirl. Not my thing. It’s a little strange that it has a banner for “Plays best on Alienware” which implies to me that it would be a somewhat graphically taxing game (this turns out not to be the case).
53. Mark of the Ninja: I specifically remember buying this game during the June Steam sale– in 2017 (to be fair, I bought 7 games at the time, and immediately delved into Party Hard for quite awhile). I’m finally getting around to it in October of 2018. This falls into the category of “I strongly believe I will enjoy this, but I’m just waiting for the right moment to try it out” (another notable game in that category was Papers, Please! and I was right that I would get hooked right away). Mark of the Ninja struck a chord with me right away. THIS is how you do 2D side-scrolling stealth action. Back in my day, we had to settle for the original Metal Gear game on the NES. I’m really looking forward to playing this again but I have been holding off until I get a 4K setup so I can enjoy the HD remastered upgrade. The game is just that beautiful.
54. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: On sale during the Steam Halloween sale, I picked this up and treated myself after I shut down my house’s trick or treating operation on Halloween night. I like God of War and I knew that this game is cut from the same cloth. I guess it’s okay. It just feels a bit too hand-holdy in its tutorializing. I’m an hour in and it still seems to be telling me how to play the game. I guess with this type of game, I should just sit back and let it unfold since it is a fairly linear, movie-like experience.
55. Scanner Sombre: File this under “novel graphical experiment that is interesting for a few minutes” (not unlike Refunct). But, hey, it was on sale for very cheap, so why not? (Again, like Refunct.) It is probably a better VR experience (not that I’ll ever try it since VR reliably makes me very ill). It reminds me of the vector dots portion of Future Crew’s Unreal demo, only turned into an interactive experience.
56. SpaceChem: This is a chemistry-inspired puzzle game that I have been wanting to get into for awhile. I have fired it up a few times but didn’t have the patience to really learn it. When I finally got over the hump, I started to enjoy it greatly. It’s a good passive game to occupy myself with while listening to podcasts or audiobooks.
57. Sol Survivor: This is a good-looking tower defense game in the vein of Defense Grid that I have had my eye on for awhile. It finally went on sale for cheap enough during the Steam Autumn/Thanksgiving sale. It didn’t really grab me… at least, that’s what I recorded when I gave the game a first whirl. I decided to fire it up again the next day. Before I knew it, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend had concluded and I had racked up 11 hours in the game while completing the main campaign. So something must have clicked. The new twist that this added to the genre was that there are various commanders that can be selected for different campaign missions (and then all can be used after the campaign is finished), and each commander has a different loadout of towers that can be fielded.
58. Magic Technology: TD game, made with Unity, sort of looks like it could have been a mobile-first game, but that doesn’t seen to be the case. On sale for $0.75 during the Steam Winter Sale (and of course I scan the TD section carefully at each sale), so give it a try. The tutorial pretty well assumes I’m already on board with the TD genre which is nice. It’s not bad, but the UI is a bit wonky and I’m having trouble really adapting into it.
59. Defense Grid: The Awakening: As I scrub through this list before publishing, I realized I omitted this tower defense game, which is still, far and away, my most played game on Steam. I had a total of 294 hours invested as of the close on 2018. What can I say? It’s just my go-to “time to chill” game. This past year, I finally earned the achievement for receiving a gold medal on 100 main campaign mission variations. By the end of 2019, I expect I will have earned the achievement for 150 missions (one of only 4 out of the 87 achievements that I lack).

What happens in 2019 for me, gaming-wise? I have been itching to make a move to 4K gaming. At the very least, I will be able to get back to playing Mark of the Ninja.