First time I played Metroid Dread I got it on launch day and finished it on that same day. On the next day I got all the collectables and played through it again. Now I guess I'm playing through it every year around this time. There's a lot of problems in Dread: The recycled bosses, samey feeling areas, kinda eh music and most importantly the classic Metroid atmosphere that the series is known for just isn't there. That being said, it's an absolute blast. Samus controls so smooth and fluid, the interconnected yet linear level design is some of the coolest I've seen in any game and the boss fights are the best in the series. Super, Fusion, Zero Mission and especially Prime might scratch that ambient Metroid itch more but Dread is just an unbelievably fun and well designed action game.

Witcher 3 is a game that plays extremely strongly to it's strengths and does well enough with it's weak points. By and far the best part of the game is it's narrative and how interactive it is, while also feeling that every choice is meaningful and as well written. I did every side quest I came across which is very rare for me in a game of this scale but even minor pieces of content like that felt major. I have some complaints about the pacing, combat, the open world, overall variety etc. but I did very much enjoy my time with this game the entire way through.