Some Rambles About Stuff I Played In 2025

Pokemon Emerald

Art of Super-Ancient Legendaries Groundon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza in a fierce battle

Emerald was one of two Pokemon games pre-hiatus that escaped me. My parents never got me nor my siblings a copy, and I didn't really feel an intense dire to go out and nab one for myself back when it was still somewhat available in stores. Even after getting (what I'm 90% sure is) a legitimate cart from eBay several years back, it only took until now to finally dive back into Hoenn. Fantastic decision on my end, really.

Not to discredit Gen 1 and 2, as I enjoy my time with Red and remember Crystal rather fondly, but this experience has me believing Game Freak really came into what Pokemon "could be" when Gen 3 came out: a communication between us as the players and the denizens of a gamified place within the real world. Hoenn is a beautiful and extraordinary place when you don't got a bitch in ya ear whining about its water, which in itself isn't even too drastic or overbearing anyway. The way it tells its yin-yang story of Land and Water is the catalyst between the series' minimalist, ludic storytelling, and the explicit, theme-driven dialog that games after would start to dabble with - doubly so thanks to Emerald expanding upon some areas that were either neglected or undermentioned within Ruby and Sapphire's runthrough.

I also find, battle wise, this is where the mechanics became real interesting. Double battles galore, abilities dictating utility and deepening stratagems, a real desire to make each Region distinct from another through Pokemon populaces and a sharper implementation of Johto's lifesim element, there's so much to "play" with that it's no wonder this introduce the much loved yet much intense Battle Facilities, and GF trying to toy around competitive edges since then.

I want to try a full review of this at some point, likely when I fully finush its post-game, but yea. Monumental little nugget.

Pokemon Moon

Art of the Pokemon Refresh feature, featuring the Male and Female protagonists as well as Hau taking care of various Pokemon.

Gen 7 was when I fell out of Pokemon, not cause of Moon's quality but ill circumstances: my 3DS got stolen in high school, and with it my cart of the game. My brother handed me his N3DS XL and copy, but even after that and picking up Ultra Sun at launch, I never got back to it. Which is a shame, cause this is a really good one!

You could look Alola as the "Johto" to Hoenn's "Kanto", in a way. Lead director Shigeru Ohmori started working on Pokemon with Gen 3, and was also key to ORAS' concept phasing... which just so happens to touch upon some of the points Alola makes explicit. Even flips the island communication on its head, making it more about geographic symbiosis than overall topography and masses. Coincidence? Maybe, but it's interesting to think about nonetheless.

I greatly appreciate this being more of an "RPG" than before, even if it's the epitomy of Game Freak's overreactiveness to critiques of the prior titles. Didn't like how you could blow through the entirety of X&Y with a snowball's ease? Totem Battles are sure to give you a run for your money, and the curve is more 'traditional' in other genre entries' structure than it is in a Pokemon one, right down to how it does conversational aspects even. Not sure what the complaints are about for the pacing, it still blows most of your favorite modern RPG's out the water by still letting you relax and take in the scenery at your leisure.

Stumbles a bit at the finish line, but not unlike what was like in BW2 or Diamond/Pearl. In terms of a gen's first outing, it's likely the most fulfilling since... arguably Red/Blue, crazily enough. Another one I want to do a full review on at some point, but I've actually been chipping away at post-game while starting Heartgold.

Dispatch

Art of main character Robert Robertson, sullenly leaning back against a beaten mech suit.

I go over more of my thoughts in my review.

Still rather surprised by this one, all things considered. I pretty much accepted that TTG's formula is in a bygone era and that you couldn't really expand upon it in a meaningful way, but Dispatch does a solid job at making me think otherwise. Still hoping we don't get a direct sequel, or even a spiritual one for that matter, but I'm interested to see what AdHoc will cook up next nonetheless.

Sonic Unleashed

The Playstation 3 banner for Sonic Unleashed.

Of all the events and news to happen this year, I certainly wasn't expecting a dedicated group to recompile the HD version of this Sonic game. Made for a great excuse to finally finish this version, as well as replay the Wii one though!

I think what makes Unleashed a great package in both forms are how they tackle the arcade philosophy within Sonic's DNA: HD goes for more of the routing, score attack method. You inundate each of the stage's design, perhaps go back once you learn more of the moves available on offer, and the best execute a plan to obtain high scores. It's exhilarating, breezy, and each of the stages themselves are challenging enough to try and overcome them for that sweet S-Rank bonus. There's a reason most point to Jungle Joyride as one of the best Sonic stages ever, after all...

SD, meanwhile, goes for the other end; chaining each gauge of a move grants energy necessary for a boost, which in turn can be used to cut down the timer, which in turn can be used as a segway to more chaining rinse, and repeat. Getting all of this to work for a S-Rank run is rewarding in a different way - it tests route knowledge based on core placements, and the efficacy from which you orchestrate the verbs Sonic is able to do. This iteration of Arid Sands likely best showcases it, doubly so since it does the classic Sonic motif of offering route splits based on performance and understanding of level design.

It was a lot of fun trying to get as many S-Ranks as possible, and it gave me newfound appreciation as a result. Sure, some of the negatives are still there - you either like the Werehog but hate the underutilization of Medals, or vice versa - but it's pretty hard to not feel as if this was when 3D Sonic started aiming higher than it could've ever before.

Vampire's Best Friend

Official screencap of a section within the game, hastily nabbed from Steam because I forgot I deleted all my own prior.

Really cool and interesting precision platformer, heartily recommended by lakespirit for my 2025 Under The Radar list.

The One Screen approach to puzzle design can work so long as you have 1: a firm understanding as to what exactly your game is attempting, and 2: understand that a player will have to intuit both the obstacle and control schema, in tandem, and on the fly. SinksAdventure gets this down patently and consistently.

I do find that the second point is the key point here - not that the precise platforming by itself couldn't hold itself if it was a standard level-by-level structure, but going past each screen, finding a MacGuffin and its hurdle, and immediately formulating a gameplan is super satisfying. Couple that with the fact that you respawn in the same vicinity and hanging spot, and you can make minute adjustments needed to really get that piece. Some of the screens suck regardless, and a few area traversals can get real rough, but there's so much charm and enjoyment to be made with the inertia of the flaps and look to sink it under.

Yet another reminder that a platformer is as much about its verbiage and toolkit, just as it is about the overall structure and layout of the setting you're placed under. Also a reminder that letting a game be mean can be Great(ly Funny), Actually.

Peak

Screencap of me and three of my friends fucking around the main lobby area of the game. We were aiming for a thumbs-up pose but whiffed it a few times.

Even if the discussion surrounding this didn't get as obnoxious and overbearing as the next entry, Hollow Knight Silksong, or That French RPG, this is still a major blow to game crit nonetheless. I mean, yea, it's a game centered around multiplayer made within a game jam that does an astonishingly good job of utilizing its brief yet important climbing/survival mechanics, as well as team co-operation and/or tomfoolery. It could likely do with balance changes, or perhaps cut the bloat on some of the area sizes to not make it feel too daunting in repeat sessions, but other than that... what's the big deal? Why we out here making up stupid terms to discredit a game we can just easily ignore? Kind of convinced most modern gamers hate video games, at this point.

Umamusume: Pretty Derby

Screencap of El Condor Pasa at the Karaoke Mood Up event.

This is in the running for "Most Performative Soapbox Speeches" award. I wonder how much the supposed gacha-haters actually spend time doing anything else - such as, yk, playing games they actually like - than bitching about years-old article headlines and the state of gacha as a whole that everyone knows about, precisely because they don't shut up about it, or how the "anime is actually good" without realizing it only got to that point thanks to the immense funding that gacha gave CyGames and their other business ventures.

It's not that I don't find that discussion in and of itself worthless, but let's be real here: you already know how this whole thing goes around. I don't think regurgitating the same few points, ad nauseum, is gonna convince anyone to drop this, and any other gacha, any time soon.

The game itself? Fine. I dropped off pretty early in because I, truthfully, also don't care for the dopamine effects and slot-rolling for getting runs in, even if there is an Actual Game part thanks to management sims and whatnot. I got Taiki Shuttle and Curren Chan, that's all that matters to me.

Mass Effect 2

Promotional screenshot of the game. Shepard is watching two dopey robots get blasted by an explosion.

I have a list idea on the backburner called "When Sequels/Successors Overcorrect", with this as the headliner. I also "shelved" (at this point abandoned since I doubt many of my discord fans care about me continuing it) it, but I played this trilogy so many times that I can remember all my gripes.

Instead of reorienting and uplifting the planet exploration to not be littered with prefab environments, Casey Hudson and his Bioware team instead gutted nearly everything related to it and replaced it with a few bespoke, optional planets (most of which are at least enjoyable, admittedly), and a dinky map exploration with a fuel system that adds nothing.

Instead of touching up the Action-RPG elements of the first game to have more bite and variety, the RPG side is shot outback and the Action side is a rote Gears Of War clone with very little dynamism regarding enemy types, rooms, and overall play, something even the first game tried to do.

The writing tries so hard to be Bombastic and Epic but it comes off hollow. The Collectors start cool but come lame, Cerberus is a strange addition that could've worked with proper development but instead doesn't push the needle further in any direction, and the crew are various cases of Family Drama that gets real old, real quick. There's still some bits I like here, but I feel about one playthrough away from joining the crowd in thinking this is the worst of the trilogy.

Borderlands

My screenshot of the main hub in the General Knoxx DLC. It shows of the wanted posters of Brick, Mordecai, Lilith, and Roland in that order.

When I did my intial review drafts on Backloggd, I went back and did a full review since I still had energy in the tank to do so. Man, what an excruciatingly boring game. For better and worse, 2's tonal and writing shift at least gave way for some form of memorability, unlike this one where it doesn't really nail what it is or even wants to be, while rarely achieving any cool shooting or RPG mechanical points to make it all that exciting in the double-digit hours I poured onto here.

Again, I know some people prefer how 1 is done, but I can very much leave it.