When I was growing up, I spent as much time playing games on a browser as I did on a console. Whether NewGrounds, CartoonNetwork, NeoPets, CoolMath4Kids etc. Some of my fondest memories were spamming through Super Meat Boy in-browser during class racing friends to the finish. However, that feels like a feature of a bygone era. Flash was decimated unceremoniously and Steam’s ubiquity for PC gamers, and Switch’s dominance of casuals doesn’t leave much room.

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For the first time, I dug in deep. I played over 20 demos and here are my thoughts!

Riddlewood Manor 🏆

Horror point-and-click adventure. This game is brilliant and I have zero critiques. The artstyle and setting remind my of an old Scooby Doo flash game I would play as a kid. I can’t believe how much content they packed into this demo. I am having a blast and can’t put it down. The horror elements add atmosphere and texture to the world, and the puzzles and interactions make you feel clever while not being too difficult. The mini-games are always a surprise and a delight, I can’t help but smile!

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I rolled credits on Mass Effect 2 mere minutes ago. The final mission had my heart racing. Not only were the action elements intense and fast-paced, but the pressure placed on Shepard to save each crew member added to every emotion. Surprising myself, I had a bout of nostalgia wave over me as I was asked to pick my final squad to finish the fight.

I chose Tali and Garris.

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I think this is a deceptively easy question. Wouldn’t you just play what you have? Why not just pick a game from your Steam library at random? Isn’t there something you’ve been wanting to play? Shoot, you could even pull up a top games list and just start from there.

That may work for some people, but I have bad habits and a lot of psychological blocks to clearing my catalog.

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When I look back at my gaming’s past, I don’t see many tactics games. While my earliest memories consist of sitting on a step-stool next to the family’s computer to watch my dad play Commandos on a CRT monitor, I was swept up into Maplestory and Halo and never turned back. At some point I began to associate tactics games, like XCOM, with a specific “type” of gamer. Those that reveled in the nitty-gritty of dice rolls and strict adherence to DnD protocol. It seemed to suck the fun out of turn-based combat. They also looked annoyingly difficult and niche. So, I poured another thousand hours into Diablo II. In late 2023 as I took on The Video Game Backlog (TM), I decided to boot-up XCOM: Enemy Unknown fully expecting to shut it off in frustration and move onto a more familiar genre.

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