[DoctorEldritch]

Hello Legion Gamers!

The year is coming to an end, so no surprise that final lists and summaries are popping up all around. Just last week, The Game Awards announced the winners for this year. Quite deservingly Baldur's Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2 took some prizes, but I was also happy to see Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Stars there among the winners.

And while we wait for Steam to sort out the awards of their own, I thought we could go a little reflection of our own. Nothing too involved and detailed as the official awards with lots of categories: for me, games are a personal experience, so the question is simple and straightforward:

What is the best game you played this year?

Does not have to be the game that was released this year, either, any games that you played this year will do!

Though, in my case, they coincided: the best game I played this year is probably Hogwarts Legacy.

Even if I was complaining to @GoLLuM13 and @Saka about its shortcomings in The Game Awards thread, thinking about it, despite all that, it is probably the best one I played this year. @Saka, did you manage to play some more of that since we last spoke about it?

Then again, I have not played some of the big releases like Baldur's Gate 3 or Jedi: Survivor yet, and I still need to try Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader and Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate, and I played Hogwarts Legacy just a month ago, so my memories of it are still fresh, which may have affected my decision. Still, I stay by it for now. But who knows, if I get to try Cyberpunk before the end of the year, I may change my tune 😅

What about you, any particularly good game stood out to you this year?

[GoLLuM13]

If it isn't a game that has been released this year it should be "A Plague Tale : Requiem" it's the sequel of "A Plague Tale : Innocence" and OMG I already loved the 1st one, and I just adored this 2nd one, the story is just insane, and the ending, OMG, the ending 🤯

As a "close" second, I will put "Life is Strange: True Colors" most of you might know that I like shooters with a lot of actions but I can also like games like this one, where the story has the biggest part and the game can look like a modern 3D point and click (or something like that)

And to close the podium... a game that has been released this year, you see me coming... Hogwarts Legacy 😁 I can't say much about it except, Revelio and there are too many spiders for my taste 🤣

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch I managed to play some, but alas not much. I need to get a second HDMI cable to get to play more, currently I am trying to work out daily and the Nintendo Switch is stealing the cable.

But Hogwart's Legacy is a very good game. I haven't played many games, so that one would be probably on the top for me. 😁

... I am totally gonna steal Baldur's from my spouse at some point though. When he is finally done with it.

[DoctorEldritch]

@GoLLuM13 Ah, I played Plague Tale Requiem this year as well! I liked it, and as you said, the ending, but I do have things to say about it too. Maybe in a separate thread so as not to spoil it for those who have not played it yet.

And Life is Strange: True Colors is on my list, I've just been pushing it back for... I really should get on that if you think it's so good. I liked the first game, but I did not play the "prequel", but I hear True Colors is a separate story.

As for Hogwarts Legacy, it may have many spiders, but I do not mind. Snakes, on the other hand... Thankfully, the game does not have that many of those, unless you're in Slytherin House...

[GoLLuM13]

@DoctorEldritch I played the first Life is Strange and the sequel, haven't played the second but got straight to the 3rd (true colors) and I confirm, separate stories

As for Hogwarts I'm arachnophobic, so... the amount of spiders is crucial 😂

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka Some is better than nothing, and Harry Potter is traditionally connected to winter holiday time with many fans making marathons to watch those films, so maybe you'll get to play more during winter holidays instead.

Do you need a particular HDMI cable? From what I could tell they are not that hard to get?

And is it not possible to have 2 accounts in BG3? Then again, for a happy holiday time maybe best not to hijack it 😅

[DoctorEldritch]

@GoLLuM13 I read that the third Life is Strange is often said to be the best of the series, but the second one also scores higher than the first in some lists. How did you decide to skip the second one?

Luckily for you, I remember that function that hides the spiders and makes them cubes. Noone did the same for snakes...

Still, even though there are many spiders in Hogwarts Legacy, I actually always felt bad for them, in games in general. Spiders may look menacing, but they are useful pest controllers and quite often serve as enemies in games even though deserve better treatment in real life. So much so that it is believed that killing spiders is bad luck. I wish games would use some other arachnid or insect that is more of a pest in real life as well as in the game.

Meanwhile, Hogwarts students exterminate spiders by the dozen and Hagrid is not born yet... So when Hogwarts gets a mosquito infestation together with, I dunno, malaria epidemic, we'll all know who is at fault.

Anyway, that's my "be kind to spiders" rant for today.

[GoLLuM13]

I went from first to third because I purchased the 2nd on Steam but played the 3rd on Game Pass before it got out of it 👀


When I started the game there weren't the option to make them look like cubes 😂
But you're right we must be kind to spiders. IRL I don't kill them or at least I avoid as much as possible. And unless there's too many of them and they become a threat, I just let them be 😊

[DoctorEldritch]

@GoLLuM13 Makes sense, and it is good in this case that the stories are standalone and there is no continuity.

Maybe not cubes, but I remember that Arachnophobia option in the accessibility menu or something along those lines. But you are right, I was thinking about this:

https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartsle.../19?tab=images



Though I have to admit there is something unsettling about being stalked by bloodthirsty boxes. Very Hitchcock...

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch Well, the cables are not hard to get when you have money, and right now I am really in a crappy spot. Basically I have no income right now, and the bills need paying. So... sometimes it is not quite easy to get a cable.

Re: arachnophobia mode, it's good that it's there, but shame that the boxes don't have a bit more detail to them. I see a missed opportunity to make them sort of mimics. Maybe like the mini Angry Wintersday Gift from Guild Wars 2.