Shadow Warrior 3 (PC via Game Pass)

I decided to try this game as I'd played a little of the 2nd game for a game pass quest and thought it had some charm.  This game has a lot of charm as well, albeit quite crude.  This one's a modern DOOM clone, and while I was really enjoying it at the start, some of the battle arena's got really long in the end.  I'm trying to teach myself to play games more with keyboard and mouse, so I played it on easy.  It was never difficult, but it gave me a fair challenge as I struggled with my new control scheme.  This one could wind up on my top 10 depending on what else I play this year, I had quite a bit of fun with it.  Recommend.

Somerville (Xbox Series X and PC via Game Pass)

Somerville's been on my radar for a while, from some of the same people who brought up Limbo and Inside.  The game definitely has the same feel, but misses on the gameplay.  In Limbo and Inside I would get stuck, look up a guide and see what I was doing wrong or what I didn't think of.  A handful of times in this game I was doing the right thing, but the animation didn't trigger, or the physics puzzle was just too complex.  A fault that makes me tell you to pass on this one.

Hi-Fi Rush (Xbox Series X via Game Pass)

Hi-Fi Rush came out of nowhere and really blew me away.  I'm not very good at it, but by the end I was getting into the grove (heh) and starting to pull of some sick combos.  You don't have to nail the rhtyhm aspect of it to complete the game, but it does feel much better when you do.  Charming characters, story and music make this a must play in my opinion.  Highly recommend.

As Dusk Falls (PC and Xbox Series X via Game Pass)

After completing all my camo challenges in Modern Warfare II, it was officially time to move on.  This was just touching my radar for a while and I decided to give it a go.  It's a huge change of pace from the run and gun gameplay of Call of Duty, but a welcome one.  This is essentially a choose your own adventure graphic novel.  Not usually in my wheel house, but I'd heard good things about it.  I liked it enough but had a hard time really caring for any of the characters.  I made some bad choices along the way, they felt right at the time, but I ended up letting some people die I didn't want to.  Oh well.  It was entertaining and wrapped in around 6 hours.  I don't regret "playing" it.  Recommend.

Top 10 of 2022

 Here it is.

Vampire Survivors

The internet is going crazy for this game, and while I quite enjoy it, I feel like I'm missing something.  It's too ... easy?  I did struggle with a couple spot, but the premise is "reverse bullet hell".  If you ever played R-Type or 1942, even Geometry Wars, you're constantly avoiding bullets.  This game claims you will "Be the bullet hell" ... it's neat, and I'm somewhat enthralled by it, probably because I've never played anything quite like it.  I recommend you give it a spin.  It did land on my top 10 this year so....recommend.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox Series X)

I heavily criticized Overwatch 2 for being too similar to the first game, Modern Warfare 2 is very similar to the Modern Warfare that came out in 2019, but there are a few differences that make this game worthwhile.  1.  New Maps!  Every map on release is new, the first wave of additional content is unfortunately old maps, but the new ones released has many good ones.  There only new map that is genuinely horrible is the border crossing map, but still, it's new. The rest of the package features some minor tweaks to gameplay, but you know what you're getting here and that's fine with me.  Unfortunately I haven't had my regular crew playing this game yet, but that could happen in January when things slow down a bit.  I love this game and hate it at the same time.  I have great games, I get wrecked a lot too, but I keep coming back for that fast paced frantic action.  Recommend.