Blossom Tales (Switch)

Date Purchased: 01/09/2018
Date Completed: 01/16/2018
Price: $20 (but my son bought it) eShop

This is a charming Zelda clone, the game is very self aware and even gives a few winks and nods to the Zelda franchise.  I'd heard some complaints it was short, but it was a decent enough length (9-10 hours) that I never felt it was a chore to move on.  The graphics are nice, the soundtrack is serviceable and it's a great little Zelda clone that fans of that series shouldn't miss. Recommend.

Top 10 of 2017

Here it is, my annual sit-down with you.

New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)

I played this when the Wii U launched 6 years ago and remember thinking it was "okay" (mypileofshame.blogspot.ca did not exist back then).  Playing it again with my son it's much better than I remember.  I don't mind the "new" Mario aesthetic, my biggest gripe is the recycled music across that series of games, that aside this is a great Mario game.  Mario's "mid-air spin" ability which I never really took advantage of until Super Mario Maker is a true game changer.  Recommend.

Steamworld Dig 2 (Switch)

Date Purchased:  December 28, 2017
Date Completed: January 6, 2018
Price: $19.99 (eShop)

I'd heard a lot of great things about this game and was in the need of something new single player for working midnight's so I picked it up on sale.  It's okay.  It has a neat upgrade tree and some neat exploration elements to it, but in the end you spend a lot of time digging and doing little more.  The story can be completed in less than 6 hours, the length you get out of it will vary depending on your willingness to explore.  The game features a vast amount of caves which all have one obvious gear which you use for upgrades and then some more difficult gears or treasure you have to work for.  Completionists may want to find every gear and every upgrade but it's far from required to see credits, that was incredibly easy.  I did enjoy my time with it, but it's far from a must play.  I keep going back to it on occasion when I have a few minutes, but I'm not sure how long that will last.  Recommend on a sale.