Yeah, this year was really not very good for me. There was a lot of self loathing, depression, and general bad feelings all around, and on top of everything, I really did not beat a lot of video games. A total of 29 game reviews went out this year, due in part to there not being a lot of games in my library that I really wanted to play, or games that I could not play very well with my hardware. I hope to get to more games in 2016 than I did in 2015, but as is customary, here are my top… 4 games I played for the first time in 2015, listed in the order in which I played them.
Dark Souls will retain a place in video games history for years to come, and will continue to attract an audience for years to come. Dark Souls is by no means perfect, as there are several narrative and mechanical decisions that I truly dislike, but it is abrasive in a way I seldom see from any game, thrusting you into a world that will easily chew you up unless you stay determined, think carefully and quickly, and play by its fair, but stern, ruleset. It is a challenging, rewarding, and ultimately incredibly fun experience that I am thankful to have given another chance.
HuniePop sounds like it should be nowhere near this list based on its premise, as it is about a person abusing young women’s trust in order to get laid, with the end goal being to have sex with eight girls, a fairy, a catgirl, an alien, and a goddess. It is effectively a harem eroge in theory, but it manages to avoid most of that baggage through its script and the delivery of its dialog. There is a sense of awareness and true maturity to its crass and humorous script, one that manages to have some degree of substance despite its appearance. Although, you can still see nudity if you really want to, and nipples are not censored otherwise for some dumb reason. Still, great in spite of the nudity.
Higurashi: When They Cry Chapter 1 – Onikakushi is a game I am somewhat hesitant from placing on this list, as I reviewed a modded version of the game with content not included in the original release, content that very much enhanced the experience for me. Regardless of its presentation though, Higurashi is an engrossing dark game about paranoia, ancient evils, and a very Japanese view on psychological horror, with a level of creative freedom and enough of an odd mindset to give the game a level of personality that enhances some of the darker moments of its story. It is an opening chapter of a far larger story, and one that left me both content with what was there, and eagerly awaiting what would come next.
Undertale is the best game I played all year. It is a loving and carefree postmodern look at classic JRPG archetypes while still forming an entirely new identity. The characters are wonderful and appealing in every regard, the game is very reactive to your every decisions, and it probably has the best morality system I have ever seen in a game, as being good can be a legitimate struggle. The content can be incredibly dark at times, though it still retains a sense of childlike determination every step of the way. Its gameplay, while almost deceptively simple, keeps you on your toes, and is filled with a level of depth for something that seems so simple. Despite having a borderline absurdly hard route hiding the bad end away from the player, Undertale has a place up there as one of my favorite games of all time, and I truly cannot recommend it enough to anybody who has not played it yet, for whatever reason. That, and the soundtrack is spectacular.
Sadly, I don’t have any other honorable mentions to throw in that are not games I replayed this year because I like them. Such as Shantae: Risky’s Revenge, Saints Row IV, Portal 2, and Dust: An Elysian Tail. However, this year was pretty sparse for me in regards to games I thoroughly enjoyed, which I hope to remedy into the next year, where I have a plethora of games I intend to review.
Cherry Tree High I! My! Girls!, Cho Dengeki Stryker, Dark Dreams Don’t Die, Final Fantasy XIII-2: A Spark In Time, Final Fantasy XIII-3: Clairevengeance – Return of the Thunderbringer, Gravity Ghost, Higurashi Ch 2, Jazzpunk, Metro Redux, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, Puzzle Agent, Read Only Memories, Wolfenstein: New Order, and more. I also had Dark Souls II on the list, but… yeah, I did not have a very good time with its revised mechanics. 
Also in 2016, I will release a sequel to Verde’s Doohickey, my past novel, called The Malice of Abigale Quinlan, which will be released on January 31st, 2016 or a few days earlier. It will also be the end of what I originally planned to be a series, as I lost interest and faith in the project far faster than I anticipated. Sorry about that, but it’s not like I accumulated a large fanbase with it or anything.
After that, I will keep on writing my novels and stories, keep on gaming and reviewing, and will maybe start indulging in more of the anime, as I only watched three series this year. Also, I intend to start hormones… Bye!
Oh, and I deleted a bunch of my older posts from 2012. They were rubbish, and I believe that nothing of value was lost.