I quite enjoy reading other's posts of their games played the past year with reviews, and since I've played quite a few this year (for obvious reasons), I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring. I'll list the games in the order I played through them, and I'll also list the platform and my assigned rating. I'll only include games I played a substantial amount of (at least a few hours), and I'll mentioned if I finished it or not. Also, I played some "live service games" throughout the course of the year (mostly Halo MCC, Apex Legends, and Warzone), but won't list those since I've been playing them for longer anyway. Let's go!

January

Doom 2016 - I had this game on my to-play list for a while, and with eternal being out this year, I decided to start the year with it. Loved the fast paced combat, and the old-school fps campaign style. No reloading, fast movement, no weapon carry limit. Awesome game, was the best fps I played this gen till later this year (spoilers). Xbox One, 9.5/10

Plague Tale Innocence - I enjoy switching between game genres as I go so as to not get burned out from one specific type of game, and I was interested in this one, so I jumped in after doom. The gameplay is pretty simple, but I loved the story and atmosphere, in particular the level in the infested city. For a lower budget game, the presentation was great as well. Didn't love the ending though: supernatural stuff took me a bit out of it. Xbox One via Gamepass, 8/10

February

Never Alone - Another palette cleanser, this is a fairly straightforward short platformer puzzle indie game. I enjoyed it for the most part and it was very relaxing overall. However the puzzles were very simple in the parts I played through, and I didn't quite end up finishing it. If anyone has, let me know if it's worth it. Xbox One, 6.5/10

Total War Brittania - Total War games are probably my favorite strategy games, and when this saga game was on sale on steam I decided to play through a campaign. Probably one of the weaker entries in the series, mostly due to a lack of faction variety. I did enjoy some of the new systems though, like supplies, but I think they should have been fleshed out more. Decent but not amazing. PC, 7/10

Game of Thrones Telltale - I mostly enjoy telltale games, though they suffer from the problem that the gameplay cannot carry a bad story. This one was mediocre to me, which unfortunately meant I didn't fully enjoy the game. Not nearly as bad as the show got in the later seasons, but nothing groundbreaking either. Main characters also felt like dollar store versions of the Starks. PC, 6/10

March

Forza Horizon 1 - Fairly recently I've gotten a lot more into racing games. I liked need for speed as a kid but never cared for sim or semi-sim style games. Now that I'm older though, I really love them as a way to relax. I'd played horizon 2 & 3, but not this original so I went back and played it, and I think it is just as good as some of the later ones. The start to a fantastic series. Xbox One, 9/10

Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice - Really liked this game, it felt very original. Especially loved some of the horror elements and the audio mixing. Struggled with combat at first, but got better once I figured out parry and dodging. Puzzles were mostly fun, but a few were a bit more frustrating. Really excited for what they can do in the sequel with presumably a much larger budget. Xbox One via Gamepass, 8/10

The Last of Us Remastered - Really enjoyed the story, and gameplay was pretty good as well. Enjoyed the aspect of having to manage resources. As expected with Naughty Dog games, performances and production values were top notch, even considering it is an upressed PS3 game. The environmental artists over there in particular are wizards. PS4, 9/10

April

FarCry Classic - A so-bad-its-good story and semi-serviceable gameplay in this one. Some of the starting guns do not feel good in the slightest, and enemy AI is abysmal, but some of the later weapons are fun. Missions range from fun to awful, with the more open ones with vehicles and options being a standout. Clearly prototyped the later Crysis games. Despite being objectively not great, still somehow had fun with this. Xbox One, 5/10

Descenders - A simple game where you ride your bike down a hill with obstacles and perform tricks. Still play it occasionally. Very enjoyable as a game between other games, or for a chill day. Highly recommended for any Gamepass subscribers. Xbox One via Gamepass, 8/10

God of War 1 - I've been wanting the play the new PS4 GoW, but my OCD said that I need to play the whole series from the start. So I bought a PS3 and the God of War 1 & 2 remasters. Loved this first one, it was so satisfying. I can imagine that it could get repetitive if it was a lot longer, but imo it was the perfect length. As a big fan of Greek mythology I also enjoyed the setting. Will get around to playing the other games in the series when I have time as well. PS3, 8.5/10

May

The Outer Worlds - Been meaning to play this one for a while and finally got around to it. I wouldn't quite put it in the same tier as the fallout games as the marketing would suggest, but I mostly enjoyed it. Strong points were the characters and dialog system, but the world felt a bit barren, and gameplay felt a bit more limited than Bethesda games. Hopefully a bigger budget can expand these issues in a sequel. Xbox One via Gamepass, 7/10

June

Doom 1993 - Finally got around to playing the classic. Played a bit with vanilla, then modded it with Brutal Doom. The game is still great fun and you can get it for less than a price of a starbucks coffee. Also, I found the source code for the game on github, and I've been doing some messing around with modding myself. A classic made even better by the community around it. PC, 9.5/10

The Crew - Didn't finish this one, as it felt a bit uninspired compared to the Forza Horizon Games it is similar to. The giant map was fun for a bit but the driving didn't feel as tight. Just wasn't a huge fan in general. The second game seems a bit more interesting with more varied event types, so I may try it out sometime. Xbox One, 6/10

July

Call of Duty 4 Remastered - Played a lot of Call of Duty MP in the Xbox 360 days, but only ever played the campaigns of World at War and Black Ops 1. Enjoyed this campaign as a playable blockbuster movie. Remaster looks great, and I still enjoy these older CoD games a lot more then most of the new ones. Really loved the nuke scene. Xbox One, 8/10

Uncharted 2 Remastered - Enjoyed the first uncharted, but wasn't blown away so I put off playing the sequel till now. Mistake! This one is far superior to the first, and I really enjoyed my time with it. Will make sure to get to 3 and 4 at some point. Locations and levels felt much more varied than the constant jungle islands of the first game. PS4, 10/10

Human Fall Flat - Lovely fun indie puzzle/platformer game I played through with a bunch of friends. Really recommend it, you will have a blast. We were laughing basically the whole way through. PC via Gamepass, 9/10

August

Ori and the Blind Forest - Amazing metroidvania style game, with some amazing art and visuals. Pretty difficult for me as I'm pretty bad with platformers, but overall I loved it. Wish more of these kinds of games were available - not every game needs cutting edge 3D visuals to be beautiful. Xbox One via Gamepass, 9/10

Forza Motorsport 4 - Similar to Horizon 1, never got around to this entry in the series despite playing later ones. Great game, and the fact that it runs at a locked 60 fps on a console from 2005 is very impressive. Honestly I might prefer this one to some of the newer Forza's - the menus seem much more intuitive. Xbox 360, 9.5/10

September

Gears of War Ultimate Edition - Never played the gears games, but since all are on Gamepass I figured I'd play through them now. Love the fact that this is a no-nonsense TPS, with no unneeded fluffs or frills. Sometimes I like side things, but the focused nature of this game was very refreshing. Some of the best cover shooting mechanics I've played as well, which makes sense since it inspired a lot of copycats. Excited to play the next entries. Xbox One via Gamepass, 8.5/10

October

Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor - As a LOTR fan, I'm surprised it took me this long to play this one, but it was on sale on Steam and I snagged it. Big fan of the nemesis system, and the Arkham-style combat is always satisfying. I will say that I was disappointed in the world map. I know it was mordor and it was supposed to be barren, but it is just a pretty drab and boring looking world. I hope this is improved in the sequel which is now on Gamepass, and I plan to check out in the new year. PC, 7.5/10

November

The Last Of Us 2 - Didn't like it as much as the first story-wise, won't get into specifics since it's all been talked about to death. Gameplay wise it was a refinement of the first, which was fine but the game was a bit too long for my taste without enough variety of encounters an enemy types. That being said, production values and performances were second to none, as is the norm for naughty dog. How they got it running on 2013 hardware is beyond me. PS4, 7/10

Doom Eternal - Was waiting to play this one on the Series X, and it was added to Gamepass right on cue. As hinted above, this was my favorite FPS of this generation. Amazing game, and while Doom 2016 was fast, this one is on another level. Loved the new enemies (even the Marauder), and the new options in the sandbox like the belch or the shotgun hook. Will be replaying this one many times as I go. My personal GOTY. Xbox Series X via Gamepass, 10/10

December

Removed the two games for December because they didn't meet the qualifications for Rule #1.

Conclusion

So those were the games I played this year. I think I played more this last year than the previous few combined. Most of the games I enjoyed, and some (like Doom Eternal) are now among my favorite ever. Let me know what you think! Also, if you come up with any recommendations based on my list feel free to let me know. At the moment my to-play list is to finish the game I'm playing now, then Uncharted 3, Ori 2, and Gears 2, probably in that order. Apologies for the long post, but I hope some of you enjoyed it!