It's already the SIXTH year of 12-in-12 for Z Space? Dang.

What is 12-in-12? It's the initiative to beat 12 games in 12 months. If this concept is new to you, check out my maiden post on the subject. Also check out last year's 12-in-12.

With that said, let's list the games I completed this year:

• Secret of Mana [SNES]
• Soul Blazer [SNES]
• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky [NDS]
• PEAK [Steam]
• Soul Calibur VI [PS4]
• Celeste [Switch]
• Street Fighter Alpha [ARC]
• Ballionaire [Steam]
• Dark Souls III [Steam]

As usual, this list will update as time passes.

January

Late in the month, I took out Secret of Mana, the second game in the Mana series, and in Collection of Mana [Switch], the system I played on.

I will save the in-depth thoughts for a full review, but in short, it's a game that suffers from poor ally behavior, lots of time spent waiting for cooldowns, and too strong a focus on chaining magic spells to overwhelm bosses in a few passes. The art, music, and story are fantastic, however, and make the journey worthwhile!

February

A Soul's Chance

One day, I was prepping a stream for upgrading my Gentoo machine and other nerd stuff, combined with retro games. When I was done with the tech stuff, I decided to give Soul Blazer [SNES] another shot.

In two days, a passing interest became a realized experience. It was really cool to see what Enix was doing with the early Action RPG genre, right around the time Zelda: A Link to the Past came out. It has some rough edges, but it was a really satisfying experience without too many ways to screw up.

There are also shared themes between this, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma, the latter of which will be in the list at some point.

Explorer's Delight

I had already started Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky [NDS] early in the year, but the end of the story came sooner than I expected. I played it on the WiiU via the Virtual Console. It was a solid experience, and the changes from Explorer of Time/Darkness are very welcome! I consider it the best PMD game in the series, thus far.

March

A Free-Flyer Turned Climber

I was originally going to finish up Retrovirus on Steam, but the launcher seemed buggy, the game never supported Cloud Saves, I couldn't find the old saves, and when I checked on the community and game page, I found the studio shut down and the game was de-listed. Dejected, I scratched it off as a game I cannot play. It was a stream day, so I was out of immediate ideas.

So, against my general ideas and taste, I gave PEAK [Steam] a shot. My girlfriend already had a copy to play with our Twitch friends. I borrowed this copy to play with them as well, and one of them bought a copy for me so the whole group could play.

I'll be honest, the game is a little better than I was expecting, but the performance issues, weird level generation, poor controls, and generally boring world leave much to be desired as an actual game. I enjoy the game's positional audio, and sometimes the vibes are great when you're climbing. I can't help but feel this game could be better without the obscene environmental difficulty, and more focus on the gadgets and multiplayer interactions. Knocking each other out with thrown items is a huge shenanigans increasing feature!

Ultimately, this is a game that's only as good as the crew you bring to it. I honestly kind of dislike this style of game because it feels unfinished, or like I'm supposed to imagine the fun in my head. Like a chatroom with a few interactibles. Mods are almost required for quality of life benefits, and the game still doesn't have single-press to run.

That said, I did peak with a group, and solo, to make sure I got the full experience.

I'd like to see crazy modes like Unbreakable Rescue Claws and No Fall Damage, to compete for time. The engine itself has potential. The way its used is lacking.

Transcending History and the World, Again

The next game I knocked out is a bit less involved, but Soul Calibur VI's [PS4] story mode was way better than I was expecting. I've only completed the main thread for now, but there are over a dozen other storylines to go down before I can consider the single player portion complete.

I'm not sure if it's me or adjusted movesets, but character moves feel a bit smoother, and I'm still learning how the showdown-style attacks work. Overall, this installment seems at least halfway decent, but we'll see if it stacks up against Soul Calibur II as I explore it more.

Climbing the Mountain

Next up in the list is Celeste [Switch], a technical platformer that got its start as a PICO-8 game! It's one of the indie darlings these days, and the expanded, full version of it lives up to the hype. Its story touched me in a way that most games don't. I've only made it to the summit with the standard ending, so I know there's more to experience, but I'm satisfied with the game for now.

June

I picked up Street Fighter Alpha [ARC] one night, chose Rose, and played through the standard arcade mode. Despite barely learning her moves, Alpha feels like a reboot or something. I'll try to be more deliberate in choosing a character and learning some moves in Alpha 2, but I've heard the most good things about 3rd Strike. Still, I wouldn't mind giving these 'prequel' games more of a shot.

July

I was gifted Ballionaire [Steam], which is an interesting mix of pachinko and rogue-ish mechanics combined into a dopamine dispenser. It's an interesting game that's good for playing when you largely want to turn off your brain and watch the pretty colors. Not a bad thing to have on your off days, you know? There's some legitimate strategy behind it, too, and plenty to unlock.

September

After finishing Dark Souls II, I was kind of itching to push forward in the Souls series, and do Dark Souls III! I spent about 90 hours or so grinding out the main game. I think a lot of the bosses in DS3 are a bit over-powered, relying on moves that "track" the player's position and turn the model toward you, and techniques that close the distance and force a roll or block. It made some of the bosses feel more like reaction-fests than calculated combat.

Beyond that, I absolutely loved the architecture, locales, world design, story, pacing... just about everything was rock solid in this Souls iteration! I played through as a Gerudo warrioress, wielding primarily falchions, axes, and a lucerne. In New Game+, I want to lean into more lightning miracles and proper tanking, to be an Iron Knuckle!

There's still the DLC to go through, including the Dreg Heap, Ringed City, and Ariendel. Thus far, I see why people love 3 so much. Playing a Souls game at 60fps feels great, too. A must-play for anyone who appreciates medieval games with challenge!

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That's it for now. More as the year progresses!