Shamelog #033 - The Year That Was: 2017
2017: The year that games were at their best, and also at their most needed.
Personally, it ended up a healthy mixture of new and old for me - 360 games sat alongside PS4, tiny indies bumped shoulder with the largest AAA’s. I whittled my list down from 120 to 112 games, a good chunk of them being big worlds with tons to do in them.
The stats (all relating to May-Dec 2017, from when this project began to now)
Number of games finished: 17
Number of games added to the list: 9
Number of hours played: ~620
Dollars spent on games: $220
Number games I would’ve bought if I wasn’t doing this project: 52
Dollars I would’ve spent on games if I wasn’t doing this project: ~$1570
Games crossed off the list
Watch Dogs
The Witcher
Everything
Horizon Zero Dawn
Lumo
What Remains of Edith Finch
Wolfenstein The New Order
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
Code Name: Steam
Assassins Creed 3
Far Cry 3
Tales of Berseria
Far Cry Primal
No Man’s Sky
Super Mario Odyssey
Wolfenstein II: The New Order
Runescape (for now)
The games NOT purchased in 2017
Yakuza 0
Gravity Rush 2
Persona 5
A Signal From Tolva
Old Man’s Journey
Deliriant
Rime
Danger Zone
God Wars Future Past
Crash Bandicoot N’Sane Trilogy
Black The Fall
Yonder: Cloud Catcher Chronicles
Lone Echo (VR)
Aporia: Beyond the Valley
Tacoma
Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice
The Shrouded Isle
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Last Day of June
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Subsurface Circular
Heat Signature
Divinity Original Sin 2
Middle Earth: Shadow of War
No Heroes Allowed! (VR)
Megaton Rainfall (VR)
Elex
Witchway
Super Lucky’s Tale
Far From Noise
.hack//G.U. Last Recode
West of Loathing
Assassins Creed Origins
Star Wars Battlefront 2 (for campaign only, buy used copy only)
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
Ode
Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wilds
Haque
Romancing SaGa 2
Finding Paradise
Rumu
Goragoa
Stories Untold
Okami HD
Tokyo Xanadu EX+
Spellforce 3
Rakuen
Blackwood Crossing
Bridge Constructor Portal
Blossom Tales
A few notes
On purchasing games: I broke down and bought SteamWorld Dig 2. I also opened the wallet for the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 collectors edition - Xenoblade X is one of my favourite games ever, so I couldn’t pass that up. I really want to use the Switch more, as I was reminded how awesome that system is while playing Super Mario Odyssey. Blue Reflection ended up being an impulse buy, I know it might be weird but I loved Sailor Moon as a kid and this game sounds like sweet, wholesome fun. Apart from that, I did pretty good in not spending money on games, apart from buying some games for collection purposes only (a story for another time, perhaps - Limited Run Games and $5 deals on 360 & PS3 games - it’s a bad habit I’m slowly breaking).
I think, beginning 2018, I’m going to switch it up a little - instead of flat out not buying any games whatsoever, I think I want to set myself a budget for the year. $300 for the entire 12 months, so I can buy a few new releases (side note, AAA games are RRP $100 at release in Australia). This gives me a bit more flexibility to play a few of the titles I just don’t want to miss - as I would’ve this year with Mario & Wolfenstein 2, if it wasn’t for my lovely lady - while being wary of not wasting tons money as I have to stick to a $ budget (bargain hunting y’all, is good.)
On the games I missed: There were so many games I would’ve loved to play from this year - Hellblade, Yonder, Last Day of June, Divinity 2 all are standouts - but knowing I have this list I can reference back to in years to come helps me almost let that go in a sense? Part of this project is about learning to let go of the need to buy/play everything immediately on release (a particular challenge around GOTY time) so that old adage of writing things down and locking them away is weirdly relevant here. Maybe one day I’ll return to this list and pick up a few of these games on the cheap - then again, maybe not. The important thing is I didn’t waste my money buying these games even though I know I wouldn’t be playing them for years.
Games played over the past 2 weeks
Horizon Zero Dawn: What a game. I ended up much higher on this once finishing it than I felt 2 weeks ago. I enjoyed it so much that I wrote a full piece on it, which I haven’t done in a while. You can read my full impressions here.
Wolfenstein II: The New Order: My lovely partner got me this for Christmas, which I promptly started and finished across 2 days. What a ride. Everything in this game is even better than the first, from the pacing to the weapons to the character moments to the overarching story. It was cathartic to an extreme degree, and I thoroughly enjoyed letting it out through this game. Still mulling over proper thoughts, may end up writing a piece on this as well, so TBA on that for further words.
Everything: I usually dig philosophy a lot, but this was almost a little too far out of my wheelhouse. Maybe I wasn’t in the right state of mind when jumping in, I dunno. Still pretty awesome for what it is, especially once you fully unlock your potential so to speak. Is especially cool to sit the controller down and just watch it do it’s thing.
On the year ahead
2017, personally, was a break year from personal projects. After some time off I’m itching to get working again, so I’m looking forward next year to start learning, experimenting and creating once more. I bought the humble bundle relating to GameMaker Pro, which I toyed with a bit a few years back, and am keen to dig into that more and try to make some cool little games. Apart from that we’ll be moving into our new home in the first half of the year (!) which will be big. Apart from that, it’s full steam ahead here - playing and writing and talking about games with all of you!
So that’s my question for you this week - what are your plans for 2018? Do you have resolutions or goals to work toward? Just a theme of how you want to live your life for the next 365 days? Let me know!
And that my friends is a wrap for 2017. What a fucking year, in every sense of the word.
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Games Left to Play: 112
Currently Playing:
Budget Remaining for 2018: $300