It’s weird to realize I’ve been with Gamesline for 3 years. Rather, it’s a curiosity of myself to think about my involvement with games writing and just my own general interest in video games in the year where games have effectively been such a drop in the lake of what I’ve been up to. In each of these roundups I’d have so much in the background going on that would make gaming such an easy means of coping or escape, but this year, apart from specific instances, I’ve had to struggle with my biggest challenge yet: stability. The realization that I’m at the most consistent point of my life so far has been a reckoning for the fact that I now need to do the thing I’ve struggled with, enjoy and live life. Video games are a part of that, have been for some time now, and in no way is this my resignation if the tone of my writing gave any wariness. Far beyond that, 2024 showed me how I can keep my head up, and 2025 will be a chance for me to carve out what I’ve been able to do so far. Rising tides carry all ships, so allow me to open the floodgates and speak on the games that left an impact on me along with some titles I hope to get to in the new year.
Tekken 8
Much like Street Fighter in 2023, Tekken’s newest release became an opportunity for me to dabble a little bit more in the space of fighting games. Tekken hits like a truck and it’s just so much fun to play through. Now granted, there was a ton of controversy that came out regarding balancing for a new game, the rollout of DLC characters, and just the general clash between the live service game model for incentives with something as old school as the fighting game and fighting game community. I picked up Lily and it’s been fun getting to try and learn her moveset, which really just showcases the depth in these
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Already wrote a review on it with all my main thoughts, but truly just a fun continuation to the ever expanding franchise. While a bit lacking in terms of Ichiban’s full progression, this and The Man Who Erased His Name are such a great wrap up of Kiryu’s story. Mechanically, it rules to see RGG refine the RPG mechanics and make it just a tighter experience overall.
Felvidek
Felvidek was a short game, but something I really needed this past year. At only 4 hours, this turn based tale from the medieval era is such a fun treat! The soundtrack is a great example of tethering anachronistic elements to a presentation that just overall fuels the atmosphere and feel of the experience, but I’ve also said my piece in another review of that game.
Metaphor: Refantazio
It’s like the main games of this year for me I’ve already talked about or something haha. Metaphor was fun! I remember having initial doubts of what this could even be, especially with the sell of “Hashino is going to tackle prejudice.” But overall the story didn’t make me hard quit, and the character work is probably my favorite of anything he’s had his hands on in the last 20 years! Also maybe my favorite implementation of the spectral power brand of JRPG that the SMT/Persona series helped to popularize.
Balatro
So in drafting this piece I’d been agonizing about what I’ve been playing, and totally forgot that Balatro was a this year game because it’s just been such a dominating force since it came out. What if poker was a roguelike, what if you played bullshit poker for hours on end to make big money. It’s the pinnacle of numbers going up, you hear the music and you chill and vibe until you get pissed off that your Jokers did fuck all for this run. Like a 15 dollar game came up and got a spot in The Game Awards cuz it was that good! Balatro is as prescient to the gaming landscape as Mario in the span of one year, we’re all fucked up in the crib playing Balala now.
So yeah, I might need to reconsider what it means for me to play video games in 2025! There’s stuff this past year I want to catch like 1000x RESIST and I AM YOUR BEAST, I have the rest of the Trails series to catch up now that Daybreak 2 is out and we’re almost at the end of another arc in this series. Okami is sitting on my desktop like a fucking omen because I know opening that tome of a game up will engulf me unless I actually plan out my time with it. Maybe writing will be the way to keep on some stuff, but truly the biggest hurdle is getting shit started. Of course that’s just me talking about games when this past year alone I have been able to do so much outside of that. It’s weird to notice that dip in interest in something that’s felt so integral to not just your own personality but most of your social circles. But that definitely signals to me at least a need for change, even in just the way I think about how to game in my life currently. I wouldn’t be surprised if the continual murmurings of a potential crash in the market alongside just The State of Everything can make this shit feel non important. But I also wouldn’t have this whole introspection if I didn’t ultimately like it were something I wanted to continue engaging with. So here’s to 2025 hopefully providing more chances to rekindle that interest, especially when 2024 showed that there’s still some gas left in this tank as long as the people up top have any sense. Now if you excuse me I’ll take a sip of this coffee and read my local gaming news sources for updates about studios.
