Jingle Jam GA's + Tell me what games you enjoyed this year

Heaven's Vault, Murder by Numbers, and Smintheus are the whitelist GA's.

I will not respond to each comment. One more GA was added!

Astroneer https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/AFIe1NZ
and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice stealth is very good quality
i wichlits you

Witcher series:) Also The last of us 2...
Really loved witcher 1, but my laptop old - so for witcher 2 and 3 - cloud gaming servies.
And the last of us 2 - also with ps now, wonderful game, the first one also a banger.

• Horizon Zero Dawn, this game is soooo goood... great visuals, nice and interesting story, I enjoyed playing it very much.
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps, what a game, I love every aspect of it.
• Blasphemous, great metroidvania with a very good soundtrack, and I loved the setting of the game...

I've had a terrible computer system this year which only has 4 gigs ram so my choices of games were limited. I should be getting a new laptop tomorrow though. I really enjoyed Level Head and Homefront since their system requirements were low.

Ace Academy (https://store.steampowered.com/app/396650/ACE_Academy/) - nice light-hearted visual novel with
an interesting story related to team mechanoid battles on the high school arena.
Gris (https://store.steampowered.com/app/683320/GRIS/) - beautyful puzzle-platformer with very original mechanics which are introduced one after another.
I have enjoyed both games fully. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

1) TOTAL WAR: Warhammer 2 - not a new game but returned to it after got a new graphic card (3080), But I love strategic games and this one lie the most from Total War series (at last up to now) :) - other strategic: also Crusader Kings III (outside steam) and returned to Stelarris after new DLCs

2) Whispers of a Machine - great "old style" adventure game. Liked it very much :). Very interesting plot for me, especially I love science fiction themes (and fantasy too, but this adventure game is not fantasy of course)

I played Cyberpunk 2077 and enjoyed it greatly.
I was lucky by not encountering bugs, aside from one minor quickly patched one and only had one CTD in 3 plpaythroughs. For me pre-ordering and paying the full price was more than worth it.

Another game I had, and still have, fun playing is Dorfromantik. It's no big budget game nor all that ambitious, but the look is nice and I can relax with it after a stressful days at work.

1) Civilization VI - Classic strategy game and I can't stop playing as Pedro II

2)Ruined King RPG - I like the characters and the LoL lore in a game that is not boring MOBA

Played, 100% completed, and reviewed:
Shadow of War
Shadow of Mordor
Interesting fantasy assassin's creed, though it butchers the source material with artistic liberties. Visually stunning, functionally diverse (I loved mind controlling enemies as a diversion from superhero powering through everything), has a simple tactical layer with military management, and how I wish the side character campaigns had been full length (baranor's was the best, literal middle earth batman gameplay).

I understand the deadline for your giveaways and will activate immediately.

The best game I played this year was without doubt The Outer Wilds. It absolutely blew me away... I can't remember the last time I so thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of a game, and in such a unique and original way. Just navigating around feels great, especially as you become more comfortable and confident and are able to quickly maneuver, to make the most of the limited time in which you can access various areas. Besides that, learning about the game world and its history, and the sudden moments of inspiration when you work out how you can access new areas are both deeply, deeply satisfying. Also, as someone who has never found the story of any puzzle-focused game to be remotely interesting or affecting, I loved the organic way the fragments unfold before you and really enjoyed piecing together the details. Finally, the conclusion of the game - more or less without explicitly stating anything - still managed an existential, thought-provoking and emotionally resonant message the likes of which I don't think I've ever really experienced before.

That was definitely too much, so in brief - the second favourite game I played this year was probably Supraland. Really brilliantly crafted puzzle-platformer metroidvania that was fun from beginning to end. Great stuff.

A Plague Tale Innocence: (https://store.steampowered.com/app/752590/A_Plague_Tale_Innocence/) Amazing game about a girl in medieval setting France trying to save his brother that has a weird conexion with a huge plague o rats. Incredible graphics and story that pulls you along. The rats are worse than zombies, a monster that can't be stopped.

Pyre (tie between this one and Yakuza 0) https://store.steampowered.com/app/462770/Pyre/: Interesting visual novels and fights. Your main characters of your party start leaving, and the game forces you to pick the less used ones, which is an interesting mechanic

Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection: I loved this one, to the point that it's seeming unpopularity makes me sad. Apparently it was released during the dying days of early PC gaming, when the major consoles started coming out, so despite great reviews at the time it was always seen as a commercial failure that only maybe has some cult classic charm to it. The game itself is simple and fun, just a straight-to-the-point action RPG with a few gimmicks exclusive to its short-lived franchise. It's showing its age, but the story, characters, and gameplay have their charms. I recommend it, but I will warn that things have advanced considerably in user friendliness since Zwei 2's original release.

Noita: I really enjoyed this fun ol' falling sand simulator. I've never gotten far (zone 4 is the furthest I've ever mustered) but let's just say that reading about the game's secrets is almost as fun as playing the game, in all the right ways. It's a roguelite action-adventure running off a physics engine. Every monster and particle is simulated as you traverse the sprawling and dangerous world of Noita, and let me tell you how often hilarity ensues. Sometimes you'll come across a barren wasteland littered with dead enemies burnt to crisp, wondering to yourself 'what happened here?' Noita's world feels so very much alive without ever saying a word and I can't recommend it enough.

A Hat in Time: Its a really cute 3D platformer, unlike any other in its genre. I cant recommend it enough!

Control was a surprise hit for me, I did not expect much from it but it provided several hours of fun with an outstandingly unique atmosphere. Third person shotting was never this fun!

1) Nier Repricant. just an amazing game, Yoko Taro is a genius director. very well build world and a great story. slower gameplay than Automata but i enjoyed it more. excellent characters and amazing music.

2) Cyberpunk 2077, i enjoyed it a lot. i only had minor bugs no big problems. great story, a bit short if you only do the main quest, over 100h if you want to go for everything. great soundtrack. gameplay needs a bit polish and some builds are overpowered (take a look here 😂)

• Resident Evil Village: I've been a big fan of the RE franchise for 19 years now. RE Nemesis and RE4 were my favorite, and Village strongly reminds me of the RE4 experience. It's a balance between action, horror, a good story and mechanics (most importantly inventory management). I've completed it 4 times on Hardcore (each time with new upgrades) and have yet to complete on Village of Shadows difficulty. It's my personal game of the year.
• Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt: the title speaks for itself, I developed a tradition of completing the game once yearly on death march, with all the DLCs included of course. Pretty sure I missed a lot of things because on each attempt I discover new stuff. This is one of the games with the most replayability value.
  *Honourable mentions: MTA San Andreas: This mod has a variety of servers that make it possible to copycat games such as Need for speed, rust, pubg, dayz, and a whole lot of other games on GTA San Andreas. I still play it to this day and i's unsurprisingly sill popular and breaking records.

!) Batman™: Arkham Origins - prehistory of Batman trilogy (a lot of side quest mission that u could complete even after main story + multiplayer)
2) State of Mind - Cyberpunk game with unusual graphic (right now has -90% discount on steam)

Return of the Obra Dinn and The Forgotten City

I currently have a thread about games that are wonderful to experience knowing nothing at all about them.

I had RotOD on my wishlist since it was released and, by the time I played it back in October, here's everything I knew about it:
Unique art style
Puzzle game
You need to experience it knowing NOTHING
That's literally all I knew. And wow did it blow me away. After beating it, it stuck with me for months. Loved it.

Just learned about TFC last week through the NoClip documentary. All I knew about the game, I learned from that video. After a few days, I broke down and bought it. Played through it over the course of a few days. I was surprised to have a few :-o moments through it, especially since gameplay wasn't anything new (rather how the main mechanic was used was a new idea...to me anyway), but the way the stories were intertwined and how the game was concise...that really did it for me.

Thanks for the chance!

Hellish Quart
Its very niche, a fighting game simulating swordfights based on realistic saber practice still insanely fun and completely different from any fighting game. A whole different pace and mindset, and wholy brutal. I feel joy whenever i hit gold with an early access title and i feel like this with Hellish Quart.
I feel like the fighting genre needs inovation, and the stabilished franchises wont (shouldnt even) change their formula... so its up to smaller devs to try something new.
hellish quart

Biomutant
Despite the reviews, some bad balancing and its flaws i freaking loved my time with biomutant.
On its defense its major sin id say was not reaching its full potential with all the hype.
That said is the kind of simple dumb fun and charm i find rare in pc games compared to consoles- and its just a lot of fun to fight.
Biomutant

1. Dishonored
   Story-rich game and the number of ways you can do a mission, so many creative ways to kill someone is amazing. This is the peak of stealth games and it was released in 2010. 10/10.
2. Far Cry 3
   Oh, this one is so gorgeous. The jungle is beautiful. The gameplay is perfect and the story is muah. Vass is one of the best villains of all time. I love it. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have played it 3 times already.

Loop Hero - a simple game for chilling but the concept is really solid and the Art style is nice.
Jurassic Park Evolution - a fine theme Park / Zoo Simulation which is super rewarding if you like dinosaurs or the Movies.

I was gifted Hades earlier this year. It was a gateway to me looking rougelike games. I now have over 300 hours (Switch + Steam) on it.
I love the art style, story, music, I can go on and on. Hades is just such a good game. With my new love of rougelike games, I was gifted Boyfriend Dungeon. Boyfriend Dungeon was similar to Hades but more lighthearted. I 100% both games and would recommend it to everyone.

Trackmania Nations Forever - its free on steam and has a really great and active community. Its light on the pc and you can keep racing with your friends.

EU4 - This might be on its way to become my favorite game after TF2, cz you can literally pick any nations and change history as you like. The variety is tremendous with 500+ nations to pick, and things can happen randomly around the world, replayability is MAX level

Not level 4, but I just want to give my thoughts on it:

Skyrim: This year I finally managed to go over the 2 hour threshold I left it at two times before, and I enjoyed it a lot. I managed to complete every achievement with the exception of the DLC ones, which unfortunately I'm unable to because it's the original release of it and no longer on the store. However, even in these circumstances, I've loved almost every second of it.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: I've finally been able to play it this year, and it was amazing, not as great as the previews two but as a fan of Tomb Raider, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Still working on achievements though, going back to it from time to time for them.

Bonus: Oxenfree, a very good little gem of a game I found randomly in my library. I couldn't believe how much I loved and still love this game, every second was a pleasure to go through. A very well crafted, semi-short game with gameplay elements that I've never met before.

Now after looking at my library by date...I played a surprising number of games despite having the feeling that I had no time to play that much this year. oO
Cool looking back at the games I played this year.😀

From the games I played,
Elex was such a neat throwback to the Gothic games and I want the sequel now. The mainstory is kind of meh, but the world and character building were really cool.

And now I finally got around to try Dark Souls again after banishing it to the shelf some time ago because I hated the mouse/keyboard controls and had the feeling that I fight vs the controls rather than the game.
With customizable controls and a couple of fixes/patches for the game, it now became actually a fun challenge.