Mid-Year Review for 2024
Looking Back at the First Half of the Year
Hard to believe we’re already halfway through 2024! Here’s a quick look back at what I’ve been up to in the first half of the year, in order of when I played them.
Spiritfarer
I mentioned this in my 2023 year in review, but I didn’t finish it until the end of January. I felt like it was a bit longer than it needed to be, especially with the content updates bundled into the Farewell Edition.
I enjoyed the story, gameplay, and characters. The art style is beautiful, and the music is fantastic. I’m glad I stuck with it and saw it through to the end.
Tchia
I wrote a separate post about Tchia, so I won’t go into too much detail here. I loved the game and highly recommend it.
Haven
This was an unexpected gem; I only stumbled across it because it was leaving PlayStation Plus Extra. I wrote some of my thoughts about it in a separate post.
Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode Intermission
While everyone else was busy playing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, I finally got around to playing the Yuffie DLC for Remake. It was a fun little diversion and Yuffie is great.
SoulCalibur VI
Fighting games aren’t my jam, so I just played through some of the story mode for a session and called it a day. It was a nice change of pace.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns
I’ve been wanting to play this for a while, and it finally dropped on PlayStation Plus Extra, so I jumped in. This was my entire April and most of May.
I wrote a separate post about it.
Teardown
I played through a handful of missions and had a blast, but bounced off it pretty quickly.
The strict time limit kind of ruined the game for me. The game becomes all about figuring out the shortest path to collect everything and get to the getwaway car before the timer runs out. Since you have unlimited setup time, you’re expected to move/demolish/build things to make the path easier.
It really restricted my ability to be creative in each level, and I was spending most of my time doing prep work to optimize the run. I wish the devs had come up with another way to add challenge and build tension instead of just a timer.
It’s a cool game and the first few levels were fun, but it quickly got too tedious for me.
On the other hand my kids are still enjoying blowing things up in sandbox mode though 💣
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
This was my vacation game, and it was a delightful experience. I wrote a separate post about it.
Deliver Us the Moon
Scifi walking simulator with simple puzzles but an interesting storyline that unfolds through documents, audio logs, and holograms. Some visually striking scenes, including one memorable space walk.
FAR: Changing Tides
A unique, charming game with a beautiful art style. It was enjoyable enough and didn’t overstay its welcome. Puzzles were simple and the story was light, but the atmosphere was on point.
Most games map everything to controller buttons, so games where you have to move around to mechanically operate a vehicle are interesting to me. Other games that come to mind are Subnautica and Tchia.
Half-Life: Alyx
I started this back in 2020 when I got a Valve Index, but stopped about halfway through the game. Ever since I have been meaning to get back to it (my office is still rearranged to make room for VR), but never did.
Getting the hardware setup and putting a headset on is a bit of a commitment, so it just kept getting pushed back. But I finally decided to make it a priority and finished it in June.
It’s the best VR experience I’ve had, and it’s disappointing that the VR market is so small because I would be all over more games like this. Although I’m not out there buying the available VR games so I guess I’m part of the problem…
Dave the Diver
This took up most of my June and July, and I really enjoyed it. The basic gameplay loop is simple, but it keeps adding mechanics and complexity as you progress.
There are a ton of minigames and different mechanics scattered across the game, which keeps things fresh.
The art style is fantastic, the music is chill, and the characters are great. But my favorite part has to be the animated cutscenes.
I wrote a separate post about it.