Name: Meesey

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 25

Location: UK

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2024: A Gaming Year in Review 01/01/25

2024 has come to a close and it has really taken me by surprise, I have done a lot of things this year and that list certainly includes gaming.
For this review I will use games from my steam replay as well as from other sources such as my 3DS, although I am still liable to forget some games I played.
This is also not a review or rating of the games themselves but I will share my thoughts throughout.

January

January was not a particularly interesting month in games for me but it does act as a good introduction to what will be a common theme throughout this list, Overwatch.

Overwatch is by far and away my most played game, it is even often my most played game of some months (but I will only highlight it here).
It is not only a game I play regularly and intensely (much less as of late due to trying to retake some control of my time) but it is also a piece of media that is dear to me.
I have spent more time discussing and arguing over Overwatch lore and balance than I imagine is entirely healthy. I am simply in love with the world, its characters and the game itself.
I don't see Overwatch ever leaving my heart but the one thing I'm certain of is change so who can say.

February

Well I'm already breaking my established rule apparently (>_<) because in February 96% of my playtime went to Overwatch, even I find that a little embarrassing.
Lets hope I pursued a variety of enriching past times in my other hobbies!
I did however dip my toes into a game we will look more closely at later, Pentiment.

March

This months standout game was Summer House, a 2024 sandbox city-builder by Friedemann Allmenroder.
I had been watching this game for a while and bought it when it was released and I'm glad I did as this is a thoroughly enjoyable little game.

As I said, this is a little game but it is certainly worth its low price tag. Its art direction is wonderful and its gameplay is intuitive. If you dream about a little brick house on the mediterranean then give this game a try.

April

In April I dove back into virtual reality through my old Oculus Rift S, despite the meta bloatware it still works well.
Games I played in vr included SteamVR Home (is this a game? idk but I certainly spent a long time rearranging and appreciating my virtual home), Balatro(in a virtual cinema), Beat Saber and Pistol Whip.

Beat Saber in particular I played a lot of especially as this coincided with me discovering the vocaloid music of Hatsune Miku.

May

May was a big month as on the 5th we saw the release of Hades 2's early access release.
I of course know the perils of early access but having been a massive fan of the original Hades, I had to play Hades 2.

Hades 2 was my second most played game this month forcing Overwatch to a distant third place for the first time.
However as Hades 2 is not (officially) out yet (and I haven't played the latest updates) I will discuss my #1 most played game, Hades.
After 'completing' Hades 2, I went back and replaced the previous game, while it was originally a little clunky feeling in comparison to its faster sister I quickly adapted and fell back in love with this incredible love letter to rogue-likes and Greek mythology.

June and July

My steam replay would deceive you by telling you that Overwatch made up a whopping 100% of my playtime for June and July.
In reality what happened was a sudden and intense obsession with Classic World of Warcraft. Me and my boyfriend spent these two months absorbed into the low poly world of Azeroth, a world that acted as a space for us to share as we were separated by an ocean for the summer.

Despite hundreds of hours disparately spread over clients and characters in wow, I am still not particularly familiar with the ins and outs of its gameplay systems. Instead I have spent these hours following around friends, exploring foothills and roleplaying with the Dwarves of Ironforge.
I find Azeroth (especially its classic rendition) to be the closest to a perfect video game world for immersion. Its large and seamlessly interconnected environments and systems allow for a social immersion not found anywhere else.
I lost myself in my character of Silphium, a Dwarf Cleric exploring the wilderness in an effort to find topics worthy of her dissertation. So much so that she even became my dungeons and dragons character which is another 'game' I will not be discussing here.

August

After the long and hard delve into Classic Wow that took up a large portion of the summer August was an oasis of variety and there are three games worth discussing here, Vampire Survivors, Deadlock and Pentiment.

My most played game this month was Vampire Survivors, a game I did not expect to enjoy but one I became hopelessly addicted to. Its intense erratic gameplay had me hooked and I played this game relentlessly, dedicated to unlocking everything and upgrading my garlicky grandad Poe as much as possible.
Next on this month's agenda was Deadlock, a game I was excited to try in hopes that it might break my obsession with Overwatch (it did not). Ultimately all it did was steal my Boyfriend who has racked up over 2,300 hours in Dota 2.
In the first week or so I enjoyed Deadlock and I still think the character design and overall aesthetic is great but once people started to figure out the gameplay I quickly fell out of love with this game.
I fell back to my old habit of playing Overwatch quite quickly due to the complicated abilities and teamplay present in Deadlock. However it was these very systems that turned me away which hopelessly hooked my boyfriend who had to entirely quit the game to have any chance of escaping (which luckily he has).

Pentiment is a game directed by Josh Sawyer and released by Obsidian Entertainment. It is a masterfully crafted rpg set in late medieval in the Bavarian town of Tassing depicted through the art style of medieval illustration.
I won't say too much more in fear of embarrassing myself (it has been four months since I played) or spoiling any aspect of this game. I will just say that If you enjoy challenging thought provoking and narrative heavy or just historical games then do yourself a favour and play Pentiment.

September

I started September by finishing a game I started late in 2023, Yakuza 0. I have only played two Yakuza games to date but I love the world of these games because of their relentless sincerity, even with their depictions of violence and cruelty they manage to prop up a world full of genuine and passionate characters.
The obvious examples being the two beloved protagonists of Kiryu (my baby girl) and Ichiban but it is also the innocuous side characters who all earnestly and wholeheartedly dedicate themselves to whatever it is they pursue be it shopkeeping or rc-cars.

Yakuza 0 is a breath of fresh air in a world saturated with media slick with a layer of detached irony (Although I feel like though this is slowly reducing in popular media), and this carries over to my other most played game this month, Yakuaza: Like a Dragon.
I put around a hundred hours into this game with its plethora of complex 'minigames', rewarding turn based combat and cinematic story. I look forward to whenever I get around to playing infinite wealth so I can enjoy these characters again, especially Adachi.

October

In October I picked my switch back up and played Miitopia and (about half of) Mario Wonder.
Miitopia became essentially an excuse to create and customise countless Miis, I spent hours intricately designing Hatsune Miku, the greek Goddess Hestia, Paul Mccartney, Torbjorn and many more.
Mario Wonder on the other hand was a delightful platformer although it didn't grab me as much as I expected (which I think is entirely my fault).

The game that did grab me this month was Dragon Quest XI (which I am still playing T-T). After completing Yakuza: Like a Dragon, I was desperate for another turn based JRPG (and apparently games with 'Dragon' in the title?) which led me to DQ11.
I wanted a jrpg that kept it fairly simple and Dragon Quest was exactly what I was looking for with its traditional combat, simplistic (but very fun) storytelling and cute art style.
As I said before, I am far from finishing this game so I can't give very in-depth opinions but I am still very much enjoying exploring Erdrea (and I adore Sylvando).

November

The month of 3DS. Upon visiting my parents home I discovered a dusty old blue original 3DS hiding away by my bedside complete with Pokemon X and Mario Kart DS.
This discovery sparked a a love for the retro clamshell console that persists till now, I will try to keep it brief so here is a non-exhaustive brief of the games I enjoyed in November.

Ocarina of Time was the first of these games and I came close to beating it, I did enjoy my time in Hyrule but found the game frustrating at times.

The next game I played a lot of was Pokemon Alpha Sapphire which was unexpected as I have not historically been a fan of Pokemon but I did enjoy this game and even finished it.
This new found enjoyment of Pokemon carried over to Heart Gold which I did not complete but did progress far enough in to now miss my little pocket monsters.
However my most played game on the console is by far Animal Crossing New Leaf which I have picked up after disappointments with Animal Crossing New Horizons which I have around 250 hours in to date.
So far ACNL has been a delightful time and is so far my favourite cozy game, I may have missed new years celebrations in my town of Meesia but I will be back to see Hamlet and Timbre.

The only game not on the 3DS that I played a lot of in November was Webfishing, and it was a lot. Webfishing is a delightful little social game with very satisfying fishing progression and a lovely little art style :3.

December

Near the end of the year my playtime was split between a number of games on my now beloved 'Miku Machine' (my nickname for my shiny blue 3DS) and the newly released Marvel Rivals.
Much like Deadlock earlier in the year this game was posited as a supposed 'Overwatch Killer' so I had to give it a chance. For me Marvel Rivals is more fun than Deadlock and certainly has some great ideas but leaves me with an overall uninspired feeling as its gameplay and style can feel flat. I do however hope to see more from the game as it is sure to grow and change just like Overwatch has done in the past nine years.

The 3DS games I played in December were Dragon Quest 9, Rune Factory 4 and Super Mario 3D Land.
After taking a break from DQ11 I started to enjoy DQ9 both for its retro DS style and its large amount of customizability, however my enjoyment was cut short half way through the month from losing a few days (and a few bosses) of progress.
Next was Rune Factory 4 which I enjoyed at first but I found my interest dwindling after a while, I wish I had more to say but ultimately the game just leave much of an impression.
Finally there was Super Mario 3D Land, a game that is considered by many to be the weakest 3D Mario (and it has stereoscopic 3D!!) but strangely enough this grabbed me much more than the ostensibly superior Mario Wonder. Perhaps it's simply the form factor of the little blue Miku Machine but I blasted through this game and had a delightfully sugar coated time with Mario and his tanooki suits.
So that's really it for 2024, I'm currently welcoming in the new year with the second act of Dragon Quest 11 but who knows what else is ahead of me?

If you managed to read this long rambly review then thank you and I hope you also had a year full of fantastic games.

~Meesey <3