The Pathless

The Pathless is yet another title published by Annapurna Interactive with these simplified, stylized visuals. This one was developed by Giant Squid who are also known for Abzû and last year's Sword of the Sea. The studio was founded by a few former people of Thatgamecompany, known for Flow and the 2012 hit Journey.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong

I reckon video games utilizing the Vampire: The Masquerade and other long-name World of Darkness RPG licenses shouldn't emphasize the franchise title on the cover art as much as they do. It keeps confusing a lot of people, causing them think it's one continuous video game series. Making the VTM logo smaller might help the uninformed gamers to skip to the last part of the title where the actual name of the game in question is. It annoys me quite a bit when people unnecessarily keep repeating the whole litany or in written text give up on typing the whole thing out and call the game Vampire: (The) Masquerade (or just Vampire) regardless of which particular video game adaptation they're talking about.

Shadow Captain

Shadow Captain is the second book in Alastair Reynolds's Revenger trilogy. I didn't find is as entertaining as the first novel because the plot early on promises a predictable and very annoying predicament and then moves toward it ever so slowly. I had hard time resisting the urge to skip to a part where the annoyance had been resolved.

Dungeon Lords - Steam Edition

Last year when playing Outward, I started reminiscing about Dungeon Lords: another third person action RPG -- little known and one of extremely janky nature. The game was originally released in 2005 with a lot of stuff missing. In 2006, when I beat it, the game was rereleased as more complete Dungeon Lords Collector's Edition. After the game's publisher Dreamcatcher Interactive's remains were acquired by Nordic Games (now THQ Nordic), the game got yet another rerelease: Dungeon Lords MMXII (2012). And finally, in 2015, the game's latest version Dungeon Lords Steam Edition came out.

The Peace War

The Peace War by Vernor Vinge is a science fiction novel in which wars on Earth are over. A faction called Peace Authority has taken over the world thanks to a device called Bobbler that creates spherical, mirror-surfaced force fields that are seemingly affected only by gravity. By trapping military units, missiles in the air, even whole cities, permanently in bobbles, the Peace Authority is able to defeat everyone opposing them.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands brought the series back to The Sands of Time continuity (with Yuri Lowenthal as the Prince once more). There's not that much of a narrative tie-in; I wasn't even sure at what point it was set chronologically -- apparently between The Sands of Time and Warrior Within, according to Wikipedia. I also read The Forgotten Sands was originally going to be a tie-in with the film adaptation of The Sands of Time but because the movie was delayed, the game was pivoted into its own thing. (They were both released in 2010 in the end, though.)

Prince of Persia (2008)

My 5-game Prince of Persia franchise run finally exited the janky PlayStation 2 era of gaming and entered the more civilized Xbox 360 one. Prince of Persia (2008) is the second reboot of the series -- and remains to this day as the sole mainline entry in its continuity. I greatly appreciated the so-much smoother gameplay but the experience was also conflicting due to the game feeling like a spinoff: whereas the previous games were divided pretty evenly between combat and platforming, was this one 90% of the latter.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones finishes the PlayStation 2 trilogy of the series. It was co-developed by Ubisoft Montreal and now-defunct Ubisoft Casablanca. The game returns in many ways to The Sands of Time -- like with Yuri Lowenthal reprising his Sands role out of fan demand -- yet it does retain Warrior Within narrative elements that make it darker than the first game.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is a direct sequel to The Sands of Time and a surprising change in tone. The game is darker and not just visually: the Prince got a new voice actor, music is even heavier on the rock band instruments it's played on (with the Persian elements gone), and enemies get dismembered (bleeding sand instead of blood, though). Warrior Within is also longer than The Sands and non-linear experience, featuring instead quite a lot of going back and forth.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

GOG was like: "Wanna buy four Prince of Persia games? For cheaper than the usual sale price for you, newsletter subscriber." and I was like: "Okay, fine, I'll do a Prince of Persia franchise run." I unchecked The Sands of Time from the offer, though, because Ubisoft had already given it away for free during their 20th anniversary. I also bought a fifth game, The Forgotten Sands, on Connect because GOG doesn't have that one (yet anyway).

Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr

I try my best to avoid isometric/top-down action roleplaying games these days despite how cool they may look. They ultimately offer a very similar experience to each other; I might as well return to Diablo III if I ever feel like playing the genre. However, I had to add Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr onto my wishlist when I saw NeocoreGames releasing Sororitas Class DLC for the game. I thought that was a rather unique proposal; how many games allow you play as a sister of battle? I would say, though, that even this game does not allow you to truly play as one because the classes -- while determining your abilities and all -- are merely your character's background: you're an inquisitor in the game. There's a bit too much of pondering in the role, not enough religious fervor of the Adepta Sororitas.

God Emperor of Dune

I was -- I guess still am -- on a reading slump, not being able to finish full length novels. I had The Second Great Dune Trilogy by Frank Herbert borrowed from the library for months and eventually had to return it half-finished. It didn't help that it's a massive hardcover 3-in-1 book that's difficult to hold comfortably. The second book in this trilogy, Heretics of Dune, didn't exactly grab me either. But I did at least get through the one before it.

Blood West

During the same Prime trial month I claimed Sands of Aura, I also grabbed Blood West. It had been on my wishlist due to allegedly being an immersive sim as well as for having been made by Hyperstrange, the developers of Elderborn, which I had quite enjoyed. I had been somewhat hesitant if I wanted Blood West due to the setting (I'm not the biggest fan of) and the game's low-fidelity visuals. But free is a good price. And then there are the curvaceous prodigal daughter enemies -- they certainly grab your attention on the game's store page.

Artificial Condition & Rogue Protocol

The volumes 2 and 3 of The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells are likewise novellas -- fairly entertaining quick and easy reads.

Games I Finished in 2025

It seems the consensus by a landslide for the 2025 game of the year is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Not for me, though; I don't care for the JRPG combat and exploration style. I don't quite know what I would nominate as the game of the year myself. Atomfall and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers were fun and I actually played them. Of the ones I didn't, AI Limit is the highest on my wishlist. It's an anime-looking soulslike but it's not by a Japanese studio, so it gets a pass.

Sands of Aura

Sands of Aura is a top-down soulslike action RPG developed by Chashu Entertainment. The game was up for grabs on Prime Gaming (now Amazon Luna) about a year ago. After having beaten it, I feel free (Prime trial) was a fitting price for the game. It has some cool ability and item design but levels and gameplay have problems that make the experience occasionally rather infuriating. I suppose that's not uncommon for a soulslike, though.

Routine

Routine (stylized in caps as ROUTINE) is a first person (light-)survival horror game first announced all the way back in 2012 at Gamescom. The project disappeared into development hell until finally resurfacing a decade later to the surprise of those who had been aware of the game (which hadn't included me). The wait probably wasn't worth it and even without it, Routine hasn't much meat to it. The game released few days before my latest Game Pass month was up -- which was plenty of time to beat, and 100%, the around 7-hour experience.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a third person soulslike action roleplaying game developed by Leenzee. The game's Chinese name is 明末：渊虚之羽 (Míngmò: Yuānxū Zhī Yǔ) which Google translates to something along the lines of "Late Ming Era: Feathers of the Abyss". The first part certainly wouldn't have sounded good in English. 'Wuchang' comes from the (silent) protagonist's name: Bai Wuchang.

Assassin's Creed Mirage

Assassin's Creed Mirage was originally going to be DLC for AC Valhalla but ended up being released as a standalone title -- Valhalla was definitely massive enough already without yet another addition. Mirage takes place before Valhalla, in the second half of the 800s in Baghdad, focusing on young Basim ibn Ishaq. At the beginning of Valhalla, Sigurd brought the Hidden Ones Basim and Hytham to Norway where Valhalla's protagonist Eivor met them the first time.

Hogwarts Legacy

I read the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling once back in the day when they were coming out hot off the press. Beyond that I have by happenstance watched maybe one of the film adaptations but otherwise that's where my following of the Wizarding World stopped. In 2023, Hogwarts Legacy by Avalanche Software (not to be confused with the Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios) provided an entirely new addition to the universe in the form of a third person action roleplaying game. It looked cool enough to play and was just recently added onto PC Game Pass.