2017: A Year in (Not as Much) Gaming

The past two years I've logged playing just over fifty games each year. Not beaten, just played long enough to worth noting. Sometimes I start a game just to see what it's like. Sometimes I start a game intending to finish it, but find myself side-tracked or lured by another game. This year was an extreme in the inability to maintain focus. I played less than forty games and beat only 12. As I posted yesterday, I lost a job, I gained a job, I went to school, I quit school. Life was busy. If I have a regret, it's not so much that my hobby wasn't as varied as in previous years, but that playing cooperative games with my sole-gaming buddy, Dave, dwindled seriously. We've been playing Lord of the Rings: War in the North for almost a year and a half now and I always forget my damn controls when we scrabble time together. He's busy, too, I know he's not angry or disappointed, I just...miss it I guess. Hopefully 2018 will be a bit more relaxed and we can carve out more time together.

I got to play a few current releases, but I still have a backlog of untouched and unbeaten games a mile long. I still get a lot of games for free or at deep discounts. I don't mind waiting for what was hot three years ago. If I haven't played it, it's new to me. I did procure a Nintendo Switch, though, so I am playing the Game of the Year, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and the daughter is playing the hot contender, Super Mario Odyssey.

So, here's what I played, and beat, in 2017:

Game	System	Date Started	Date Beaten	Multiplayer	Notes
The Witcher: Director's Cut	PC	4/14/2016	8/8/2017		Stilted acting aside, the story is fun and intriguing, I can now claim to be a fan of the Witcher.
Lord of the Rings: War in the North	PC	8/22/2016		Online with Dave & Derek
Mortal Kombat XL	PC	9/15/2016
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth	PC	11/6/2016	1/27/2017		Cheated with god mode and infinite ammo, gameplay hasn't aged well, but story and atmosphere are worth breezing through with cheats. Also could see a lot of Bethesda's Elder Scroll hallmarks in the stage design.
PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX+	PC	11/26/2016	1/3/2017		Completed all levels & time trials with at least an A overall ranking on every stage.
Pokemon Sun	3DS	1/1/2017	8/29/2017		Had a very Return of the King "how many endings does this have?" ramp up to credits finally rolling, but entertaining and challenging throughout.
Viridi	PC	1/4/2017
Pocket Jockey	3DS	1/13/2017
World of Horror (alpha)	PC	1/18/2017
Okami	PS3	1/30/2017	7/22/2017		Man, this game should have ended three boss fights and twenty hours ago!
Dragon Ball Xenoverse	PC	3/13/2017
Brutal Doom	PC	4/18/2017
Quake	PC	4/21/2017
Hexen II	PC	4/24/2017	9/3/2017		I have owned the disc for this since it was released August 31, 1997. Twenty years! And I've only just now beat it...with godmode and all items cheats, and it was still too hard without a guide!
Star Wars: Dark Forces	PC	5/4/2017	5/23/2017		Had to start cheating and use Invincibility halfway through the game. Difficulty, even on easy, shot way up and I was dying more than having fun. Interesting story and you can see it influenced Rogue One some.
Tormentor ❌ Punisher	PC	6/9/2017
Metal Slug X	PC	6/24/2017			Played to get and sell cards for Steam Summer Sale
Quick Slick Deadly	PC	6/24/2017			Played to get and sell cards for Steam Summer Sale
Mountain	PC	6/25/2017			Played to get and sell cards for Steam Summer Sale
Sega Genesis Classics Collection	PC	6/27/2017			Played to get and sell cards for Steam Summer Sale
Home	PC	6/28/2017	6/29/2017		Played to get and sell cards for Steam Summer Sale
This War of Mine	PC	6/29/2017			Played to get and sell cards for Steam Summer Sale
Curvatron	PC	7/2/2017			Played to get and sell cards for Steam Summer Sale
Tomb Raider (2013)	PC	7/3/2017	7/14/2017		A game that's not always clear on telegraphing exactly what you need to do in a given situation. In one instance you need to do this, in a similar but seperate instance you're NOT supposed to do this. Aggravating, but not so much so to make me want to quit. It doesn't seem like a game where learning by dying should be the model, but there it is.
Metroid: Samus Returns (2017)	3DS	9/15/2017	10/3/2017		Some of the boss fights were hard as balls! Until I got back into that muscle memory of hard as balls games of yesteryear. Very fun, very beautiful.
Cuphead	PC	10/1/2017
Oxenfree	PC	10/4/2017	10/8/2017		I kept Ren and Nona from dating and Clarissa hates me.
Outlast	PC	10/14/2017	10/20/2017		This game was a rollercoaster of WTF, and fun for it, but the ending actually upset me. Why do I have to kill an innocent victim?
Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty	PC	11/12/2017
Animal Crossing Pocket Camp	iOS	11/22/2017
Doki Doki Literature Club	PC	11/25/2017
Octopath Traveler (Demo)	Switch	12/22/2017
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild	Switch	12/23/2017
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe	Switch	12/25/2017		Local
Puzzle & Dragons	iOS	*
Mario Run	iOS	*
GTAV	PC	*
Left 4 Dead 2	PC	*		Online with Dave