Tim Spaeth

Beautiful and accurate.

Thank you for reading this timely recap of the year that was. Oh, one plug for a non-2024 game I played in 2024... Robocop Rogue City! Should have been a disaster, could have been a disaster... instead a truly lovely homage to the original films. The Cobra Kai of Robocop, if you will.

1) Balatro: Poker, card collecting, math -- literally my three favorite pastimes. This is an all-timer; my favorite game since Hades, and whomever decided to release a phone version should be imprisoned.

2) Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Dropped the ball on *the moment* but otherwise I was enthralled by all of it. My son played this simultaneously and I cherished sharing the experience. Re-Three can't come soon enough.

3) Astro Bot: Should it have been in VR? Of course. But VR is dunzo, and we have to accept that. This was pure joy, and the only video game in recent memory that I didn't want to end -- I'm ready for more levels any time.

4) Star Wars Outlaws: Secretly one of the best ever Star Wars games and it's so frustrating it didn't connect with the audience. (And I loved it before the patches.) I can do a better Lando Calrissian impression though; why not stop by the house and I'll perform it for you?

5) Tetris Forever: Such a fan Digital Eclipse and the Gold Master Series. My wife got hooked on the documentary segments and I grew deeply jealous as she gradually feel in love with Henk Rogers. (To be fair, I bet Henk Rogers smells extraordinary.)

6) Alan Wake II: Night Springs/The Lake House. Finally, Remedy nails DLC. I played AW2 for the first time last year (adored it) and the DLC is fully integrated into the campaign. Scary, funny, weird -- pure Remedy. I appreciate their insistence on keeping Quantum Break in the canon.

7) Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. I've got one Metroidvania in me every five years or so. The last was Metroid Dread, which was my GOTY in 2021. PoP is even better, as long as you skip the cutscenes....

8) Destiny 2: The Final Shape. Not sure why I came back (stopped playing D2 after Witch Queen) but I'm glad I did. A surprisingly well-crafted and nostalgic tribute to a once beloved series that I will never play again.

9) The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Also bailed on this one, but intending to try again on Switch 2 after recently finishing the Link's Awakening remake. Zelda Scribblenauts is a cool idea worth exploring. (Link's Awakening is a banger, by the way, and runs SO much better on S2.)

10) Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Despite astounding production values (motion capture, tone, setting, dialog, and obviously the voice work) I bailed after the Vatican. I don't like exploring cities anymore and the constant map checking grew too irritating. I just wanted this to be Uncharted.

Honestly, what better date than July 12th to run through my top ten games of 2024. Saddle up!

I watched Jurassic Park 7 thinking Julian McMahon was the smarmy pharma guy. After, I thought “man, Julian McMahon should be in more stuff; where’s he been?” I don’t feel good about any of this.

@jeffcannata.bsky.social @davechen.bsky.social @devindra.bsky.social The first time at any point, in any year, that I’ve overtaken all of you. This will not last, for nothing in this world lasts. But today, in this shining moment, I am a champion.

Test failed completely.

Oh you are very kind! I actually figured it out this morning. It was something water-related I discovered very early on and promptly forgot about. Thank you though!!

Most of the people in my circle finished it about ten days earlier than where I am. And I know I’m smarter than at least one of them….

Have hit a wall in Blue Prince. I’ve largely stopped discovering things and I feel like I’m missing something blindingly obvious to reach room 46. The discovery curve was perfect for so long and now I’m just frustrated. Disappointing.

My gift to you: The TTD on this Bluesky post is 45 seconds.

Ubisoft has been promising to strip out the modern day story elements from the series for years, and never made good on the promise. In Shadows though, it’s practically non-existent. Where is Basim? What about that nasty solar flare? Hey remember Juno?

I’m 35 hours into Assassin’s Creed Shadows and we have not yet established a TTD. This is unprecedented and shocking, as Valhalla revealed Desmond isn’t not entirely dead. I was expecting a sub-one hour TTD in Shadows and I feel betrayed.

The average TTD for an Assassin’s Creed game is about three hours. TTD is, of course, “Time to Desmond” and represents how long it takes for either a character or codex entry to reference Desmond Miles.

Bought one for me and one for my wife today.

January 13. “Yaaaaaay brother! Gonna eat all the fruit, and throw away the riiiiind!” My wife is delighted to have Brother Adam’s nipples on display in our kitchen today. Today I learned the actor, Charles Napier, was Murdock in Rambo! What range!

January 11th and 12th. So sorry to deny you a full weekend of fake Sarek, father of nearly all Star Trek characters, per Star Trek Discovery. Hope you had an incredible weekend my beautiful friends.

January 10th! Will we ever see the Kelvin crew again? I suspect not. It’s been nine years since the last one and the characters have been re-rebooted on SNW. It was a stellar cast though. Hmmmmm… Pine is almost as old as Shatner in TMP… maybe let them do a V’Ger story?

Deep Space January 9th! For many fans, this is the best Star Trek. For me, it’s, well, here’s the list:

TOS
TNG
DS9
SNW
LD
VOY
PROD
ENT
PIC
TAS
DISCO

Jan 8th. For most of the people in my life, I’m the one who knows the most about Star Trek. I wear this mantle with pride. But I’ll freely admit when I don’t know something, such as “Shran’s first name is Thy’lek.” I’m confident no one else on the planet, including Jeffrey Combs, knew this either.

January 7th! Speaking of romance, find someone who lurches over you like Ruk lurches over Jim Kirk. He must smell incredible. Kirk, I mean. Ruk smells like soot.