I wouldn't say I was skeptical of Lil Gator Game, perhaps even the opposite. I was happy for more A-Short-Hike-Likes but didn't expect much more out of it. I was very pleasantly surprised.

An excellent marriage of lessons about friendship, communication, and creative struggles combined with the movement mechanics of Breath Of The Wild and the character design and writing of Frog Detective create one of my favorite experiences in recent memory. In its short three-hour runtime I got in three full-blown cries.

Easily one of the greatest RPGs ever made. So many scenarios where I had the passing thought of "what if I do X" and it was fully accounted for. Astonishing character writing and performances, great world building playing all the hits of what you could want to see from a digital D&D world.

This one's a bit complicated to include, but I'm throwing it in because if we're honest Freelancer is its own game and this listing lets me reflect on that.
Freelancer has some very frustrating design decisions, but dear god it is an amazing experience. IOI truly did make a Hitman rogue-lite that makes sense and puts all your skills to the test while not railroading you into one play style. That is a triumph, regardless of its flaws.

After the development nightmare this game has been I was entirely ready for its only saving grace on this list to be that it couldn't be worse than Knights Of Pen and Paper 3. Instead, it somehow defied the odds and is one of my favorite games of the year.

Somehow this game is both an undyingly faithful throwback to the original and a new well-produced experience. I honestly had lost sight of the timeline in which this game somehow managed to be this good.

Pocket City was one of the best mobile games I have ever played. It's not like it was revolutionary, but it was a very solid city builder that you could play on a vertical phone and that was enough to keep me.busy through hospital waiting rooms.
There were many directions Pocket City 2 could have gone: deeper simulation and mechanics, further content options, improved art, perhaps new modes of play. A sane developer chooses one or two. This game chose all of them. The sheer content of Pocket City 2 is astounding: A very solid city builder, an open world game in said city, ten different mini games ranging from Crazy Taxi to third person shooters, an interior design mode straight out of Animal Crossing, multiplayer, the list just doesn't end.

It is truly incredible what this game accomplishes and it does it all on a phone for $5.

Look, I know I probably have a gambling addiction okay?

One of my favorite roguelites of all time. The concept of a literal randomized slot machine is simple yet vast in its possible execution.
There are certainly flaws: On later difficulties, I genuinely don't think skill is enough and it really becomes about the luck of your symbol draws in the early spins.
Regardless, it is a game I have spent far more time than is advisable playing.

Xenonauts was my favorite alternate XCOM when it released in 2014. At the time an alternate XCOM was mostly sn attempt to reprise the former design of the franchise from it's now modernized and more fantastical route. Now we're in a pretty dry era for XCOM, Midnight Suns being the devs latest work, and Xenonauts 2 finally launches after nine arduous years of waiting.

It's a better Xenonauts and I already loved Xenonauts. The game already lives up to my expectations and it just launched in early access and didn't even do so to a rousing success.

Roots of Pacha is a very worthy entry in the farming life sim genre. The game's unique pre-historic setting gives it an edge in contextualizing the genre staple of technological advancements which can often feel out of place.

Battlebit is a perfectly created love letter to the glory days of the Battlefield franchise and there are few better periods the game could release in than 2023 following the disastrous launch and struggling recovery of Battlefield 2042.

It is everything the developers sought for it to be: A healthy, flourishing Battlefield game that doesn't have to deal with Electronic Arts.

I wish I cared more for the RE4 style gameplay, but otherwise a fantastic game that executes an insane amount of unique ideas.

Gnorp Apologue is a really pleasant incremental game that puts a lot of work into giving itself a unique visual and mechanical identity.
At it's base it isn't the most unique thing in the world. The only mechanic I haven't really seen before is needing to manually increase your recieval as well as your input, but it's the ways in which it builds upon that which makes it interesting. Applying the deckbuilder build-archetypes design ideology to an idle game leads to some really interesting stuff. Idle games are all about number-go-up brain chemicals and this build system allows for some monstrous number-go-up moments.

New Heights is as realistic of a rock climbing simulator as one can reasonably expect to be fun. I have had an absolute blast puzzling out how to climb the many real-world environments that this game entails in its current early-access launch version. It's a fantastic time that I look forward to checking in on as its development continues.

I've had a huge smile on my face the whole time I've played this game. The Enjenir did something that astounds me and hasn't been done before and combines Bennett Foddy-esque movement with Besiege-esque engineering and construction. It works so well. Its hilarious to watch your shoddily constructed bridge evaporate after a single step. its satisfying to meticulously design a water tower and watch it flourish. It's fun to then climb that tower and pray to god the OSHA violation you've created doesn't kill you. It's a magical time.

Space Wreck is a short, replayability-based CRPG. The concept is executed quite well. It always feels like you have plenty of options to handle your objectives and that any given character type is valid.

A very solid experience.

I am so glad that we finally have another great mainstream wrestling game.
Not a "2K21 is good compared to 2K20" or "2K16 is good compared to 2K15", it's just good.
Some of the slightly under baked mechanics from 2K22 are properly fleshed out, fun new mechanics like War Games and flaming tables, a really interesting and well produced showcase mode about John Cena's biggest losses, it's just a really cool package.

I legitimately am unsure how to write about this game. It is just precisely my vibe. The art and design are complete insanity, the music is solid, the combat is pure chaos with endlessly creative enemies, you just have to experience it yourself.

Friends vs Friends is one of the most stylish games I have ever played and backs it up with great gameplay, a healthy community, and dedicated developers.

I'm conflicted on Tears of the Kingdom as I really enjoy the new directions of having a much more interwoven story and evolving the combat, crafting, and exploration by introducing all these new building systems, but at the same time I've faced frequent performance issues, level designs that didn't account properly for Ultrahand creation, odd at best combat balancing, and wildly inflated economy scaling.


I like this game a lot more than it sounds like I do, but it often feels like I'm playing around Tears of the Kingdom than actually playing a directed experience.

You can see how high this is on my list, I love it, I just wish I was able to love it more than it lets me.

When Valheim released I said "Valheim didn't win it's audience by being the most revolutionary survival game ever made. It won by being consistently well-executed and running on anything." LEGO Fortnite is the new execution of that concept. LEGO Fortnite does absolute zero brand-new, but it borrows from its inspirations in ways others in the genre don't, it's consistently well-executed, maintains a well-focused scope, and runs on anything.
It's not that the game hits incredibly hard, it's that it never really misses.

Assassin's Creed Nexus is an excellent game that gives one hope for AAA VR games. I personally think that VR absolutely does not need AAA to succeed, but in a world of Fallout 4 VR, Wolfenstein Cyberpilot, and Medal Of Honor Above and Beyond it's a sight for sore eyes to see Ubisoft create such a lovingly crafted VR game.

Good intractability, fantastic world design using established canon, and best-in-class (honestly perhaps best ever) accessibility options. AC Nexus is a triumphant success in an already great year for VR.

Regardless, this game takes the lessons of the likes of Half-Life Alyx and applies them to an excellent stealth game in the VTM universe (a universe that is starved for especially good content)

*Referencing the new VR port that doesn't have its own Backloggd listing.

The original Lego Builders Journey was a game so intensely up my alley that it was heartbreaking when I just couldn't take the controls. I spent a lot of years doing Computer Aided Drafting and that experience has spoiled me on any less than ideal 3D building controls in video games. At release I told myself "man this would just work a lot better for me in VR" and wouldn't you know it I was right. I still think the game is just "pretty good", but in my opinion it is far more playable and enjoyable in VR. Solving building puzzles feels much better when I can just build the Legos with my hands exactly how I would in the real world.

The Forest was already an exceptional narrative survival game, easily one of the best. Sons Of The Forest manages to take that already established excellence and push it even further.
How in the world can a game feel so serene yet also deeply horrifying?

For my personal tastes, Brotato is the current peak of the bullet heaven genre. Insane combos, fun incremental stat upgrades, it's got it all

Risk of Rain was already an all time great roguelite, but they went and made it better

SteamWorld Build is a very alright game. It isn't particularly bad in any specific regard, but it also doesn't really stand out in any specific regard. Despite that, it is very sticky and I have found myself in that city builder loop of fixing small five-minute problems over and over until five hours have gone by.
Unless they unexpectedly release an expansion I doubt I'll ever return to it, but I've enjoyed my first playthrough well enough.

Crop Rotation gives me that feeling of a new game that replaces its inspiration whole-cloth. This game truly does feel like a rather clean upgrade from Luck Be A Landlord.

Word Factori is such a simple concept executed so thoroughly. Use a single line to create the whole alphabet, among other bonus characters.

A fantastic concept executed as far as it can reasonably be taken.

I really liked this, but I'm keeping it a lil lower because its one golf course. Mind you it, is a truly excellent golf course. This current WalkAbout Jules Verne Trilogy has been executed masterfully. 20,000 Leagues was an achievement of a VR experience and Journey, while more reserved than Leagues, is also a stunning course.

A fun, short love letter to SpongeBob told through an unexpected medium.

It executes on some fun ideas in its short time, though the finale left a bit to be desired for my personal tastes

Good news, there's a new Half-Life from a Valve developer and it's comparable in quality to Half-Life Alyx.

I can see why this game took so long to develop. The world just really does have that Valve lived-in feeling, environments packed with interactions and backstory. Make ya wish Zach was into immersive sims to see just what he could pull off with this level of design.

Excellent gunplay, at worst eh but at best laugh out loud hilarious writing, and a solid story propel this game to the VR greats.

Halls Of Torment is a pretty standard feeling bullet heaven that coasts on its great art style. It's certainly not bad, not at all, but it's definitely not anything unique.

My experience with Starfield can best be summarized by the feeling that most every system made me think of a different game that was doing it better.

I can agree that that isn't a terribly useful comparison as has been pointed out throughout history; However, the issue arises that it isn't that shooting feels better in X or space exploration feels better in Y, but that there are a multitude of games where multiple of these systems feels directly better and Bethesda has invited these comparisons upon themself: All my experience with Neon made me want to play Cyberpunk 2077, all of my experience with Akila just made me want to play The Outer Worlds, exploration and base building (and even a quite similar main story plot) made me want to play No Mans Sky, crafting is somehow a downgrade from Fallout 4.

It's not that single mechanics feel better elsewhere, but rather that entire chunks of the game are simply much better executed in the games that inspired their inclusion in Starfield and thus end up making this game feel quite pointless most of the time.

Inkbound is a pretty solid single player/co-op roguelite that is for some reason an over-monetized live-service MMO.

The actual gameplay is quite good, a sorta tactics RPG take on the general methods of a card game. That gameplay is just surrounded by weird MMO clutter that no one seems to have asked for.

Rampage has desperately needed someone to do anything with it for the last few decades and by golly someone finally did.

Early Access

Necesse is a very interesting little addition the survival genre. It basically takes the survival, mining, loot, and combat elements of Terraria, but then layers in the colony management aspects of Rimworld. This leads to a rather unique experience where you sort of feel like the mayor of this town that you slowly help become more efficient and comfortable which is a lot of fun.
I'm gonna be honest... I find the art atrocious, but I can get past it.

A very chill and satisfying experience of repairing an ecosystem. Beautiful, engaging, relaxing.

This game is currently in early access, so many of my complaints will likely be fixed, and I'm generally taking that into account.

I admire what this game is doing. I think when you get a reasonable dice roll for your case it feels incredible, but right now so often you'll get an unhinged level of difficulty on a random case and have some side job take longer than a murder case. Those smooth moments though? They feel incredible and make this world feel truly alive.

My experience was quite severely hampered by technical issues, but I trust the developer to get them sorted.

Mail Time has its moments. It's certainly a good game, but it just can't measure up to the genre's greats and the sheer quantity of bugs upon release don't help the situation.

Not the games fault that I found the art style a bit off-putting, but the gameplay is very fluid and enjoyable

YOMI Hustle is a very interesting new entry in the turn-based fighting genre. It's been a minute since one really spoke to me, but this game is a lot of fun. It feels fantastic to really chess out your next move and calculate the exact right angles to hit everything to set up a combo.

I believe I personally prefer the gameplay twists that Battles provides, but it is inarguably less content with some strange gating decisions.

It isn't exactly the most unique thing in the world, but I love the direction of where this project can go. It feels extremely promising to have a such simplified open Sims-like next to the fairly closed actual Sims 4 and the open, but still complex Life By You.

Minecraft Legends is an interestingly designed and well-made game that I just failed to stick to. It really has that feel of a massive corporation trying to be creative (and honestly succeeding decently well), but as often happens those efforts then pale when compared to independent creative efforts. Don't get me wrong, legends is a good game that is worth your time, but at the same time it makes me yearn for some of the most fascinating Minecraft Java total conversions like Mine Fortress that are just far more exciting and make Legends easier to fall off of.

An excellent roguelite that's like Pokemon Ranger X Enter The Gungeon. Delightful art, solid gameplay, great progression loops, a very solid game all-round.

Y'all this is a goddamn trip (rim shot followed by a Seinfeld bassline followed by extremely loud incorrect buzzer noise and a tomato striking my chest at 60 mph)


Anyways, it's like if Desert Bus was made with the intention of being an actual game someone would theoretically want to play. At times you're just in extreme desperation, at times you're terrified, at times you're just curious and vibing. Highly recommend to play at least once

This game is an interesting case fora boomer shooter in that it feels like it takes more inspiration from Wolfenstein 3D than Doom. A pretty solid if not a little generic shooter that does have solid music and an underutilized setting in the Spanish War (even if the execution just feels like any other World War 2 game)

Cosmic Shake is at the "good for a licensed game" tier and not Battle For Bikini Bottom's "good as a 3D platformer in general" tier.
Unfortunately, it was never going to live up to Battle For Bikini Bottom, but it's still pretty solid. It's just far less exciting of a game than BfBB is.

The campaign chapter it adds is pretty unexciting, though I do appreciate the attempt at more impactful storytelling.
Yogger himself as a playable character though is excellent and a welcome addition.

Nova Lands is a solid enough simplistic automation game. I personally found that I hit quite the wall at about the halfway point where progress slowed to a halt. I want to like it more, but at this halfway point each inch of progress takes so long that it just isn't very fun.

I´ve beaten my first run of Mosa Lina. It sure is something.

I can respect the intention (and also its $5), don't know that it works super well, but its also intentionally hostile so its kinda immune to that criticism.

I don't think Outpath is a bad game, but it definitely feels a little basic for its own good and tuned a little slower than it probably should be.

A very serviceable run based resource management tower defense game. It's a very neat concept, initially let down by on and off translation, but further let down by subpar tutorialization. If you can understand the mechanics at play then it's a very neat game.

I uh... I truly don't know how to get meaningful words out of this game. it's a hidden object book. I'm just autistic, okay, I like to click the mouse.

I continue my quest to play all games starring Native Americans. As is typical of this quest, the game is okay at best.

The game is essentially a less exciting Don't Starve with an interesting though underutilized Loop Hero-esque map-building mechanic. Very fine, not much more.

A technical disaster on top of an otherwise good game. I adore Power Wash Simulator, this is just an unfortunate release of it.

Look... i''m gonna keep giving it time to cook, it's in early access, but I have not had a functional play session of this video game. The concept seems fun (though perhaps let down technically) and I'll keep an eye on it.

Ya know its nice to have a solidified rock bottom on a list. Like I never need to worry about what the last item on this list is, Paradox just went ahead and covered that one for me.
The one positive thing this game did.