Well, the first quarter of the year is in the books! It’s been a good year so far, I’ve been crushing my way through games on my Steam Deck just as I did last year. I would say this year I’m moving at a quicker pace. I have mostly been sticking to shorter games to start the year. The count for the quarter is 16 games finished so far with a fairly wide variety.
I started 2025 how I ended 2024, continuing on with GTA: San Andreas. The memories I have from San Andreas are great from both the PS2 and PC. This time around I gotta say, the first 3 quarters, even 7 eighths of the game, are an absolute blast. When it comes time to return home to Grove Street with Sweet is where it pivots to what I like to call San Grindreas. It just keeps on going and the missions are all relatively the same. CJ becomes a property mogul in San Andreas and tries to talk to Sweet into benefiting from it. CJ even mentioning it to Sweet is like caving in your own skull with a blunt object. For contrast, CJ is kinda like Uncle Elroy from the movie Next Friday. “I know what you’re thinking. I was the one back in the day who always said I love the hood, I love the ghetto. I wasn’t the kind of man who would make a little money and run to the suburbs, I know that’s what I said. But as soon as I got my cheque, I WAS GONE!” Seriously, CJ’s brother could be the dumbest man on the planet. Hey Sweet, why don’t we go hang out in Maddog’s mansion? Nah man, my barely standing ghetto-fabulous shack is our best option. Now, CJ, let’s do what we do every night, try to kill Ballas. It’s a classic, but ooh boy the last chunk is a grind.
Like most people, I always get sucked into Steam sales. It doesn’t matter when it is, I always manage to cop a game or two. This time I decided to retry a franchise I’ve played before, but was never good at. Resident Evil. I kicked off with the Resident Evil 2 Remake. Holy hell, if there was a template for remaking a game then this would be it. A few bits and pieces have been moved to fit the new mould, but it is simply amazing. I’m still terrible at it, but the remake made me appear like I sucked less, or at least it felt that way. Graphically, on medium-high settings on the Steam Deck, it simply oozes class. The new control scheme honestly feels like it was made for the platform. I cannot recommend it enough, I enjoyed it so much I wrote a review for it. I also revisited the original Resident Evil, in the HD remake. I’ve heard many times that Resident Evil 1 is the pinnacle of Resident Evil games. I was pretty excited to finally finish it, but after having to rely on a guide to point me in the right direction a lot of the time it really took the jam out of my doughnut. It still looked pretty great and the tank controls I really didn’t mind either. Some of the zombies, mostly the crimson heads and hunters, are quite harsh. Especially with low ammo. The story isn’t bad, cheesy sure, but how some of the puzzles were laid out didn’t really hit with me. It didn’t feel like the hyped ‘quintessential’ survival horror game I’ve been led to believe that it is. Instead, I thought it really fell flat. I think the hype has been way overblown and nostalgia goggles are playing too much of a part in recommendations. C’mon now, put your torches and pitchforks down. That was my personal experience. I would be interested to play it again should it also receive the remake experience of Resident Evil 2 as I found that presentation both more engaging and more enjoyable.
Last year, I played Fallout 1 through to Fallout 4. Was that a grind? Actually, I loved every single minute of it. I’m not gonna lie, yet another run of Fallout 2 is probably on the cards later this year. Anyway, since its release last year I’ve been recommended Fallout London by a lot of people. Fallout London is a fan-made mod with a completely new campaign based in jolly old England. The team behind it, Team FOLON, seriously nailed it. You can check out my review if you like. It looks good, the story I would buy as a Fallout story. It even looks and feels like it came from Bethesda, bugs and all! Seriously though, hats off to the Team FOLON fellas. It can be a bit of a process to install, but it is definitely worth the time. They delivered and delivered well on a pretty ambitious project. Staying in the first-person arena, I returned to one of the only games I ever pre-ordered. Crysis. I nabbed Crysis Remastered during a sale and this time I finally continued through to the finish. The remaster looked and felt fantastic. The story really isn’t much chop. As part of the U.S. Army Raptor Team equipped with highly advanced nanosuits, you crash-land on the Lingshan Islands to both confront a North Korean invasion and answer a distress signal from a group of archaeologists who have uncovered an ancient artifact. Of course, this spirals into battling aliens. It’s still a fun game, but I feel it’s really more about the overall look of the game and the neat functions of the nanosuit than the actual story. It was back when it released, anyway.
Still on first-person shooters, I decided to give a Call of Duty game a crack for the first time since probably Modern Warfare 2. I got stuck into COD: World War II and honestly I wasn’t expecting much from it. I was incredibly surprised. My last World War 2 first-person shooter was probably Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, which is also deadset classic. COD: WWII stacks up. As a modern World War 2 game, I actually found it to be top notch. The stories are quite detailed and the gameplay is exactly what you’d expect from a modern shooter. I’d highly recommend it if you’re interested in a World War 2 first-person shooter, but with some shinier graphics and effects. I then revisited yet another game I never finished. Again, it’s a remaster. Nightdive Studios remastered the classic first-person shooter Star Wars: Dark Forces. Nightdive really did a ripper job, this 1995 classic received a pretty basic remaster which keeps the older game style through its cutscenes and gameplay but enhanced the resolution and detail with newer rendering effects. I might have to make my way back through the Jedi Knight series, it was an absolute blast. Alright, last FPS for the quarter. I’ve always liked the overall look and feel of Far Cry but I’ve never brought myself to finishing it. This year, it happened. But man, it is ROUGH. Firing off a single shot can bring all sorts of hell down on your location. No to mention, the increasing levels of ridiculousness the story goes through toward the end. Oh, and AI can shoot you through a tent from several hundred meters away with pinpoint accuracy. It looks fantastic for a game out of 2004, but I found the story, or lack thereof, to be a bit too whacky and the AI was tuned well off the charts. I wrote my thoughts about it recently and I have to repeat: bring your finest invulnerability cheat.
After getting through a few games I never finished and some newer titles, I returned to a safe space. Adventure gaming. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve finished Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Curse of Monkey Island. But, I ripped through them once again. Both games are works of art. There’s some humour, puzzles and great stories. Sierra’s Kings Quest series I’m starting to revisit as well this year. I’ve finished them all except King’s Quest 8. I’ve made my way through the King’s Quest 1 remake by AGD Interactive and King’s Quest 6 so far and both were as enjoyable as ever. I don’t have the mileage on Sierra games that I do on LucasArts, but I still find them a great space to revisit. More on retro games, I’ve always loved the Sega Dreamcast and I always thought Headhunter on Dreamcast was absolutely amazing. But, those are memories from the early 2000s. In reality, Headhunter actually falls short and I wrote my thoughts in a review. The game is overall pretty ok at best. Kinda Resident Evil-Metal Gear Solid-esque, but it just doesn’t commit to one certain genre. Is it open world? Is it stealth? Is it survival-stealth horror? I just don’t think the creators really knew where to go exactly and tossed them all together in a blender. I thought the traveling parts on the motorbike were unreal, again an early 2000s thought, but doing them again now? It’s a hassle. Don’t let me discourage you though, or do, your choice. Try it for yourself and see how you like it.
I did try a few newer games this quarter. Newer for me, for the most part. I had a great time in Lego Star Wars last year, I nabbed Lego Lord of the Rings as a freebie on GOG a while back. Much like the movies, It’s an absolute blast. It has it’s ups and downs, the game mechanics are fun and have the expected Lego game whacky bits throughout. Just like the movies, which I recently rewatched, enjoyment follows the ebs and flows of the trilogy. By that, I mean it’s absolutely unreal through Fellowship, kinda bland through The Two Towers and then absolutely crushes through Return of the King. No fault of Lego, it’s just how the trilogy goes. More on newer, for me, games, I’ve had Firewatch in my Steam library for a long time. I’ve heard it’s just an enjoyable time but also heard it being called ‘walking simulator’. Both are true, but god damn it’s unreal. It’s really quite relaxing walking around in the forest. You play as Henry, who has taken a job as a fire lookout to get away from it all in his personal life after his wife’s dementia diagnosis. You team up, via walkie-talkie, with another lookout in another tower and keep each other company through the tranquil remoteness that the job delivers. There are a few twists and turns and Henry uncovers some dark history of previous lookouts. It’s fairly short, but I definitely found it delivered what it promised. It delivers some pretty rare to see cosy gaming, really.
I did a post recently about teaming a PlayStation 5 with the Steam Deck for possibly the best low-cost gaming experience, especially in terms of the amount of game libraries available. I’ve only bought a single game so far in NHL 25, which this year actually seems much improved over the last few games I tried which felt like recycled versions of NHL 14. It’s a slow burn being a sports game, crushing through a game here and there. PlayStation Plus has some pretty decent titles available too, I’ve got a few lined up ready to roll. I’ve only finished the one title so far through PlayStation Plus. Spider-Man: Miles Morales. I still haven’t gotten around to the later Spider-Man titles, I just managed to miss the remastered version as PlayStation took it down from PlayStation Plus basically as I signed up. But I was really impressed with Miles Morales, even if it was quite short. It still features those excellent web-slinging physics from the original and has a pretty decent Spider-Man story. I had an absolute blast and I do intend to play some demanding titles on the PlayStation 5. I love the Steam Deck, but I feel the PlayStation 5 is probably the better option to tackle the bigger, more demanding games like Baldur’s Gate 3 which I’ve got my eye on.
Well, that’s the first quarter of the year in the books and it was a pretty nice time. I had a pretty well enjoyed everything I played, except for the frustration of Far Cry. I’d say my top picks would be Firewatch, Spider-Man Miles Morales and Resident Evil 2 Remake.
Dad with a Deck 
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