Playstation Wrap-Up 2025

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to one of my most-anticipated blog posts of the year: the Playstation Wrap-Up for 2025!

However, let's just go ahead and get this out of the way right now - this was a disappointing year for Playstation's yearly recap. Typically, they're really good about continuing to update the stats through December 31, but this year, despite the website being up through January 8, I didn't see an update to my numbers after December 23. This really rubbed me the wrong way this year, in particular, because I was on paternity leave during all of December, so I know that I got short-changed. This means that my numbers this year are not completely accurate and, most likely, quite different than what they actually wound up being.

But with that in mind, we'll jump in and break down my top games from last year, with a bit of an asterisk on top of it all. Let's take a look and see what topped the Playstation charts for 2025!

Total Hours:

Playstation said that I played 961 hours this year, but I know that to be lower than whatever the final number ended up being. I presume that I probably played another 10 or 15 hours (maybe more) in the final eight days of the year, especially considering that I wasn't working at the time.

The screenshots above also don't indicate that I spent a dozen hours or so playing the Playstation 3, cleaning up trophies on Skyrim and some old NCAA football games that my brother played on my profile back during my college years. (Also, if I did play "a dozen hours or so" on the PS3, the numbers in the Wrap-Up wouldn't add up. I'm skeptical.)

Ultimately, I don't know what my total number of hours for 2025 ended up being, so we'll just call it "961+ hours," for the sake of my final stats.

I wish that they would have given me the stats for my controller usage because I've been using a new purple controller pretty much exclusively for months, so I really must have loved that black controller in the first half of the year.

Top Five Games:

1. Assassin's Creed Shadows: Ah, yes. "Assassin's Creed Shadows." After getting some real burnout from "Assassin's Creed Valhalla," I was hesitant to pick up the next big, open world installment in the franchise, especially after having played the significantly smaller "Mirage," but I had a great time sneaking around Japan as Naoe and Yasuke. I learned to rely on Naoe for exploration and Yasuke for butt-kicking but truly enjoyed playing with both characters, which I had been a little hesitant about. I, sadly, didn't spend nearly as much time cultivating my ninja hideout as I thought I would, when I first heard that that was going to be a thing, but that was still a fun aspect of the game. My mind was constantly blown when I thought for the thirtieth time, "There's no way that this villain board can get any bigger," and then watched in amazement as a new sub-faction of thugs appeared in my objective map. I picked up the "Claws of Awaji" DLC but only played that for about an hour around Christmastime, so my total number of hours played actually should have been 95, not 94, but who's counting, right? Thanks to Assassin's Creed for pumping out a game that never felt too big and never made me bored. Good stuff.
2. Star Wars Outlaws: I hadn't heard a single good thing about "Star Wars Outlaws," but I love Star Wars and I wanted to give it a shot anyway. I really liked it! I don't know if I was just late enough to the game that the developers had fixed all the stuff that players complained about, but I didn't really have many issues with it. No Force usage, no lightsabers, sure, but the thing about Star Wars is that there is room for so many stories to be told that don't directly involve the Skywalker family. I really liked Kay Vess and her little space puppy. I had fun sneaking around and trying to avoid detection. I enjoyed the reputation system revolving around the biggest crime syndicates in the galaxy far, far away. I was secretly hoping that "Outlaws" would be one of my top games and was really glad to see that it was. I also picked up and completed all of the DLC missions, so if you were ever wondering what it would be like to play Lando Calrissian in Sabaac, have I got some stories for you!
3. Disney Dreamlight Valley: Sixty-eight hours of "Dreamlight Valley" is going to look weak next year, I tell you! With the final days of my paternity leave in early January, I put in WORK on DLV, but those stats will have to wait until the end of 2026 to manifest themselves. The most impressive thing I can say about "Dreamlight Valley" is that it remains one of my top games despite already having earned the platinum trophy. Almost 70 more hours of this game and not a single trophy to show for it? That's just wild.
4. WWE 2K25: Yep, back at it with the pro wrestling. "2K25" was a solid entry in the series with a more up-to-date roster at the time of its release than some of the other recent WWE games, and the game modes are fun enough to merit several dozen hours of play time. However, I dislike how much 2K wants us to play the "career" mode each year. It's my least favorite thing to do with each installment, and it seems like 2K is just doubling down on it every year, as if we think the cheesy original storylines are fun. Less of that in the future, please! But I did appreciate some improvements to GM Mode and (shockingly) the decreased load time required to boot up MyFaction mode. Thank you!!
5. Blue Prince: Talk about an original game! If a puzzle and an escape room had a baby, it would be "Blue Prince." It was free for Playstation+ members and I had heard some online rumblings about it being a noteworthy release, so I figured I'd try it out. The fact that I spent 56 hours on it speaks volumes to how deep I got into it. I HAD A PHYSICAL NOTEBOOK TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAD DISCOVERED. Trial and error, trial and error, and some great successes along the way. I'm too weak of an individual to try to beat the game on its intimidating harder difficulties, but I mostly enjoyed my time in that weird old mansion, and this game will probably wind up as one of my more memorable gaming experiences for years to come.

Honorable mention: "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle," which was my #5 game when Playstation Wrap-Up first kicked off but got booted from the leaderboard by "WWE 2K25" a few days later.

Games Played:

Aside from my top five games of the year, here are a few other games that I loved in 2025:

• NHL 25, NHL 26 - New year, new hockey game. The Mammoth have arrived!
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - I'm not brave enough to go for the platinum, but a very good game with a lot of stuff to do along the way.
• Astro Bot - The continuous addition of free DLC speed run levels was a lot of fun and occasionally very stressful.
• Backyard Baseball '97 - Not as good as it was on PC when I was a kid, but a nice shot of nostalgia nevertheless.
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 - THPS 4 takes me way back! I had never played THPS 3, but I always love a good shred session.
• Split Fiction - More on this later, but a really innovated and exciting game.
• The Outer Worlds 2 - One of the funniest games in recent memory. It got pushed to the backburner toward the end of the year, but I look forward to hopping back in very soon!
• Anno 1800 - I can't believe it but I finally beat the story. Good heavens, this was one of the hardest games I have ever played and I don't think anything in the world could convince me to try for the platinum.
• Sunderfolk - This was a really cool local co-op game where you and some friends can use your phones as controllers. I would have played it more often if I felt more comfortable asking my married guy friends if they could come over to play video games. Those parental responsibilities will get you, man!
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - This game basically took over at the end of the year - not soon enough to crack my top five but there's a small chance that the time I've spent playing it in January could get it high up on my list for 2026. I bought it on sale after it won Game of the Year and a ton of other awards and loved the unique, original story. (It definitely had some outbursts of profanity that caught me off guard with my wife and kids in the room, so be aware of that, but it was a very fun late-night game for dad.) The combat system was incredibly difficult to learn and master but provided some of the most thrilling moments when I finally figured out the timing and beat some hard bosses. I'm sure I'll be writing more about this in my recap for next year, so... stay tuned for that, I guess.

Trophies Earned:

Although Playstation said I earned 751 trophies in 2025, it didn't account for an additional 18 trophies earned after December 23, so my actual total for the year would have actually been 769. That's the fewest trophies that I've earned in a year since I started keeping track of my stats back in 2020, but paternity leave with three kids is way different than paternity leave with one kid - especially since the older two boys are smart enough to vote me off of the big TV from time to time.

Here's a list of all of the games for which I either got the platinum trophy or reached 100% completion in 2025:

1. Sonic Frontiers - January 4
2. Epic Mickey Rebrushed - January 14
3. WWE 2K24 - February 2
4. No Man's Sky - February 10
5. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions - February 17
6. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 - March 9
7. Star Wars Outlaws - March 27
8. Hello Neighbor 2 - April 30
9. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - June 17
10. LEGO Movie: The Videogame - July 2
11. MLB 14 The Show - July 13
12. Disco Elysium - August 1
13. Split Fiction - August 16
14. Assassin's Creed Mirage - August 20
15. NCAA Football 11 - August 25
16. Stick It To the Man, 100% - November 5
17. Endling: Extinction is Forever - November 6
18. Assassin's Creed Shadows - November 7

Thoughts on that list:

• I played "Sonic Frontiers" mainly because my oldest son accidentally earned a trophy on my profile and I therefore felt the need to finish the game for the sake of my completion percentage. Same thing with the "LEGO Movie" game. Probably wouldn't have played either of those if it weren't for my son "helping me out." Whoops!
• I had played "Epic Mickey 2" but never the original, so I was happy when they remastered it; that was a fun game.
• "No Man's Sky" certainly deserves some credit for how much better the game has become over the years - it's basically a totally different game than what it was when it was first released about 10 years ago.
• Getting the platinum trophy for "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2" was incredibly tedious. I love that game, but I did not love that trophy list. Sheesh.
• "Hello Neighbor 2" and "Endling: Extinction is Forever" were two games that, if I'm being honest, I only played because I Googled how long it would take to get the platinum trophies and I wanted to boost my stats.
• Speaking of boosting my stats, I spent a decent amount of time cleaning up games on my old Playstation 3. I got the platinum trophies for "MLB 14 The Show" and "NCAA Football 11" but also cleaned up the original "Skyrim" (even though I made it further on the PS4 version of the game) and a "Call of Duty" game that I had never actually played. NCAA and CoD were played on my profile by two of my brothers way back when I was in college and the completion level was not good. They're looking much better now.
• "Stick it to the Man" was a free PS4 game for Playstation+ members years and years ago. I played it but didn't complete it, and I finally got around to just knocking it out so I never have to think about it again.
• "Indiana Jones" was a lot of fun. I'm a product of the '80s and love Indy, so I loved the game. I had a couple of gripes about it - one of the areas was very dark and difficult to navigate, and the collectibles were such a pain. Holy cow, I think I was missing a collectible that took me about an hour and a half to find. Horrendous. Other than that, though, really enjoyable.
• I had heard great things about "Disco Elysium." It was a very interesting game that took me a while to complete. I don't believe that I would recommend it to most of my family, friends and associates.
• I got the platinum trophy for "Split Fiction" after playing the entire game with my oldest son, who is five years old. I do not believe that the game was intended for such young players. I was so proud of him. It was extremely frustrating at times and probably took two or three times longer to beat than it would have if I had played with, say, my wife (with whom I had originally planned on playing), but the fact that I beat it with a child was a fantastic accomplishment.
• "Assassin's Creed Mirage" was great. In fact, it's probably one of my top three or four AC games of all time. I enjoyed the series reverting back to the old stealth system, the simplified controls, and the much, much, much smaller map. It only took me about 35 hours to beat, including the free DLC update that came out toward the end of the year, and I'd recommend any AC fans who were on the fence about "Mirage" to give it a chance.

In the past, Playstation has given us a monthly breakdown of top games, hours logged and play sessions, but they didn't do that again this year. Instead, they gave us some trophy milestones to sort of journal our stats throughout the year. Here's what they had for me:

...except this wasn't my latest trophy - just proof that Playstation gave up on me after December 23, frowny face emoji.

Yearly Comparison:

• 2025
• Hours played: 961+
• Top games: Assassin's Creed Shadows, Star Wars Outlaws, Disney Dreamlight Valley, WWE 2K25, Blue Prince
• Trophies earned: 769
• Platinum trophies: 16
• 2024
• Hours played: 1,091
• Top games: Baldur's Gate III, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, WWE 2K24, Star Wars Battlefront II
• Trophies earned: 845
• Platinum trophies: 15
• 2023
• Hours played: 1,212
• Top games: Disney Dreamlight Valley, Hogwarts Legacy, Marvel's Midnight Suns, NBA 2K23, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Trophies earned: 911
• Platinum trophies: 20
• 2022
• Hours played: 1,308
• Top games: WWE 2K22, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Gotham Knights, Ghost of Tsushima, Stardew Valley
• Trophies earned: 968
• Platinum trophies: 18
• 2021
• Hours played: 1,203
• Top games: MLB The Show 21, NBA 2K21, Marvel's Avengers, Watch Dogs Legion, Final Fantasy VII Remake
• Trophies earned: 1,091
• Platinum trophies: 14
• 2020
• Hours played: 2,419 (holy crap, COVID!)
• Top games: MLB The Show 20, Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5 Remix, NBA 2K20
• Trophies earned: 1,410
• Platinum trophies: 15

Final Thoughts:

So, in the end, the combination of having growing kids and playing really long games resulted in a year with fewer hours and trophies, but that's ok. Games like "Assassin's Creed Shadows," "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33," "Disco Elysium," "Anno 1800," hockey games and even "The Outer Worlds 2" all have stretches where trophies are few and far between, not to mention the 68 hours I put into earning no trophies on "Dreamlight Valley." But I had a great time playing and, perhaps, even a few less regrets about the games I've played than in past years, so that's a win, ultimately. I'll be back next year, probably even bigger and better, so I look forward to the exciting games, stories and platinum trophies that lie just beyond the horizon.

Mainly, I'm just disappointed in Playstation for not continuing to update my stats through the end of the year like they have in the past. Come on, guys. That was just lazy. Do you not really love me, after all we've been through??

Anyway, feel free to let me know what your top games were by leaving a comment below, following us on Twitter (here and here) or finding me on Facebook or some other method of communication.

Until next time!

Playstation Wrap-Up 2024

It's the post that everybody in The Underground has been looking forward to for an entire year! It's time for the Playstation Wrap-Up, where we boast about our gaming accomplishments and put all of our friends to shame. The trophies we earned, the games we loved, the ones we wish we had never started in the first place... it's all here, folks!

How will our stats for 2024 stack up? Let's find out together!

Total Hours:

That's a considerable number of hours. I don't know how I did it nor how it is possible.

Top Five Games:

1. Baldur's Gate III: I never in my entire life thought that I would ever play Dungeons & Dragons. But alas, I was corned by my next-door neighbor back in the summer of 2024 about playing D&D with some other neighbors and I just didn't have the stones to say no to his face. So I went. And I liked it. Upon telling some friends and coworkers that I had ventured into D&D, several of them immediately recommended "Baldur's Gate III," which I had never really heard of, let alone did I know that it was essentially a D&D video game. I picked up BG3 and gave it a shot. Let me say this unequivocally - this game is not for everyone, especially children. Literally, the very first thing it asked me was whether I wanted to turn on graphic nudity. Uh... NO?! There are certainly some mature themes in this game, but if you're wise and make good choices, almost all of them can be avoided, in my experience. With no further gilding the lily, I can say that I absolutely loved "Baldur's Gate III." I had an absolute blast. And there's an extremely high replayability factor - perhaps higher than any other single-player campaign in any other game I've ever played. You could choose a different character type and make a few different choices and get a totally different experience in a second or even third playthrough. I started over with a new character and got a little way into the game again but have been taking a break. But it's just absolutely insane that I spent 116 hours on this game and could probably do it all over again. That's my game of the year for 2024, without a doubt.
2. Disney Dreamlight Valley: Another year, another 90+ hours in The Valley. Props to the team for pumping out so much content that my family never gets bored. In terms of cost per time played, this might be one of the most cost-efficient purchases I've ever made for the sake of my entertainment.
3. Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Great game. But there was a completely mind-boggling plot twist at the very end that went way over my head because I apparently, like, missed one side mission or something? I had no idea what was going on there during the finale and had to spend a considerable amount of time Googling my questions.
4. WWE 2K24: Another solid edition in the "WWE 2K" series. I think it's safe to say now that "2K" has dug itself out of the monumental hole it fell into for a couple years and they've got the train chugging down the track (other than MyRise mode, which I continue to dislike - it's just so painful). Tonight, as I watch the premiere of "WWE RAW" on Netflix, I see that they'll be announcing "WWE 2K25" three weeks from tonight, so I better finish up '24 and get ready for the new game.
5. Star Wars Battlefront II: If you would have told me at any point in my life that I was going to get the platinum trophy on any "Star Wars Battlefront" game, I wouldn't have believe it. But I've got a coworker that is a hardcore gamer and he somehow convinced me to get back into the game and finish it up. It took forever to do it, and I screamed when I got that final trophy, but I somehow did it, in, perhaps, one of the most impressive feats of video game completion in all my years.

Games Played:

Beyond my top five games, here are some of my other favorites from 2024:

• Anno 1800 - even though it's extremely hard and I can't figure out how to get more than about an hour into the game without going bankrupt.
• Burnout Paradise Remastered - one of my favorite games from my college years, remastered (haven't been able to pull off a triple barrel roll yet, though).
• Fallout 76 - which is a zillion times better than it was at launch and has a great and very friendly online community now; it's practically an entirely new game, at this point.
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - what a massive, massive game; gonna take many more hours just to complete the campaign.
• Harry Potter Quidditch Champions - I couldn't believe that this was free at launch for Playstation+ subscribers.
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - still chipping away for that platinum trophy; maybe 2025 is the year!
• Lost in Random - a weird little game that I picked up on sale for like two or three dollars.
• No Man's Sky - another game that is completely different now than it was years ago; I had never played it and really enjoyed the time I spent.
• NHL 25 - the Utah Hockey Club has arrived!

Top Games Each Month:

Trophies Earned:

Here's a list of all of the games for which I either got the platinum trophy or reached 100% completion in 2024:

1. Disney's Dreamlight Valley - January 8
2. LEGO 2K Drive - January 30
3. Lost in Random - February 8
4. WWE 2K23 - February 22
5. Valiant Hears: The Great War, 100% - February 23
6. PowerWash Simulator - February 27
7. SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake - June 21
8. LEGO The Incredibles - July 10
9. Planet Coaster - August 5
10. MLB The Show 24 - September 9
11. Astro Bot - October 8
12. Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged - October 21
13. Beyond: Two Souls - October 31
14. Star Wars Battlefront II - November 15
15. Skull & Bones - November 19
16. The Plucky Squire - November 26

Thoughts on that list:

• "Dreamlight Valley" is a family favorite at our house. If we're looking at cost per hour, that game is well worth the money I've spent on it.
• "LEGO 2K Drive" had one of the most ridiculous trophies ever. I literally had to tap and rubber-band the controller and let it run for hours (even while I slept), lest I be subjected to mindlessly playing for hours and hours and hours just to rack up the numbers on my virtual odometer. By the time I was done with that asinine task, I never wanted to play the game ever again.
• My three- (now four-) year old son, Stockton, started a couple games on my profile this summer, which meant that I was essentially contractually obligated to 100-percent them, so if you thought that it was my idea to play "SpongeBob: The Cosmic Shake" (which was stupid) or "LEGO Incredibles" (which was actually pretty enjoyable), you are mistaken.
• Astro Bot was super fun. My kids love Astro.
• I wouldn't recommend "Beyond: Two Souls" to pretty much anyone, and I somewhat regret that I even went back to it to clean it up. The fact that it was my most-played game of October pretty much sickens me, but at least it's done now and I never need to play it ever again.
• My hardcore gamer coworker encouraged me to get back into "Star Wars Battlefront II," which I never thought I would ever be able to beat... but I did it. It took me FOREVER... but I did it.
• "Skull & Bones" was a great time. It would have been more fun to play with friends (I forced my brother to play with me a couple times, which was fun - but mostly for me), but I had a good time playing solo. I wrapped it up - MY 100th PLATINUM - on my birthday, which was also a fun little planetary alignment for me.

Yearly Comparison:

• 2024
• Hours played: 1,091
• Top games: Baldur's Gate III, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, WWE 2K24, Star Wars Battlefront II
• Trophies earned: 845
• Platinum trophies: 15
• 2023
• Hours played: 1,212
• Top games: Disney Dreamlight Valley, Hogwarts Legacy, Marvel's Midnight Suns, NBA 2K23, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Trophies earned: 911
• Platinum trophies: 20
• 2022
• Hours played: 1,308
• Top games: WWE 2K22, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Gotham Knights, Ghost of Tsushima, Stardew Valley
• Trophies earned: 968
• Platinum trophies: 18
• 2021
• Hours played: 1,203
• Top games: MLB The Show 21, NBA 2K21, Marvel's Avengers, Watch Dogs Legion, Final Fantasy VII Remake
• Trophies earned: 1,091
• Platinum trophies: 14
• 2020
• Hours played: 2,419 (holy crap, COVID!)
• Top games: MLB The Show 20, Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5 Remix, NBA 2K20
• Trophies earned: 1,410
• Platinum trophies: 15

Final Thoughts:

After writing up that last little section there, it's very interesting to see how my top games have changed over the years - and how much free time I had during COVID. Overall, 2024 was a pretty good year for gaming. My top game, obviously, was extremely unexpected, so that was kind of refreshing. I'm still having a good time playing video games, even though I'm sure many people out there find it inappropriate for someone of my advancing years. But I'll tell you what - I've had some great times playing games with my kids, and my son Stockton is a fantastic problem solver due to his time spent with a controller in his hands. I was watching him play "Epic Mickey Rebrushed" on the PS5 earlier today and just sat there in amazement at what he was doing, without my help. He's a smart kid, and if I can thank Playstation for that, I'm happy to do so.

Here's to another fun year of gaming in 2025!

*****

That's a wrap for our Year in Review season! If you missed any of our other 2024 Recap blogs, be sure to check them out now!

• A-Town's Bookshelf: The Year in Books, 2024
• A-Town Playlist: Top Spotify Songs of 2024
• Nintendo Year in Review 2024

What were your favorite games of 2024? If you're playing on a Playstation and we're not friends, feel free to add me (PSN ID: atownmania). Who knows? Maybe we can "plat" a game together in the upcoming year!

Hit us up with your gaming recommendations or any other commentary in the comments section below, on Twitter (here and here) or on Facebook... if you dare!

Until next time.

Playstation Wrap-Up 2023

It's time for the most anticipated, glorious blog of this and every year. It's time for the Playstation Wrap-Up. Join us, friends, as we recap the most wonderful (or regrettable) moments in Playstation gaming from the past twelve months.

Let's jump right in, shall we?

Total Hours:

This is the section where I usually complain about how I think the numbers are a little off because of how much Playstation says I played last year, but what's shocking to me is that, this year, they actually say I played about 100 hours less than 2022. It said I played 1,308 hours in 2022, but to not even meet that bar this year, with three months of paternity leave in my back pocket? That's pretty crazy. I mean, it's not like I was playing video games non-stop at all times during my time away from work - believe it or not, paternity leave is not a vacation. But I did play a decent amount of Playstation and Nintendo when I wasn't otherwise occupied with my two boys, so not surpassing my total from 2022 comes as a bit of a shock.

Games Played:

Not to be a doubter, but I wonder how this number is calculated. After reviewing my account on PSNProfiles.com, I only counted that I earned trophies on about 40 games last year. Of course, there could be a bunch of games that I played but for which I didn't earn trophies, which wouldn't show up on my profile, but 65 games? Dang. That's a lot of games.

Good old "NHL '23." Sadly, I heard that "NHL '24" was basically the exact same game as last year, so I definitely didn't feel obligated to drop $70 on it. Look at me - so wise in my old age.

Top Five Games:

Dreamlight Valley is definitely a favorite in the A-Town residence. This year, it moved up to the top spot, after finishing as last year's silver medalist. It hasn't been completely smooth sailing for DLV. In fact, they really ticked me off recently, when they launched their "Rift of Time" expansion.. and made players pay for it PER PROFILE, which is absolutely insane. In other words, I bought the expansion the day it was released because I knew my wife and I would both want to play it immediately, then found out that my wife wasn't able to play it on her profile unless she also dropped $30 on it. Thank goodness, I don't live in a house full of teenagers who also wanted to play. I can't even fathom justifying having to pay for the exact same video game expansion three or four separate times, let alone twice. Anyway, that was infuriating. But the good news is that DLV has continued to provide an extremely replayable experience, and it still feels like I still have quite a way to go to complete all of the missions and quests that I'm currently in the middle of. And then there's my brother, who is absolutely putting my valley to shame, as far as layout and decoration goes, so there are still plenty of reasons for me to keep playing this game, and it will likely end up in my top five again next year.

Hogwarts Legacy was definitely my favorite game of the year, and I only stopped at 96 hours of playtime because that's how long it took me to get the platinum trophy. I loved being able to explore the pre-Harry Potter grounds of Hogwarts and got pretty invested in the story. I'd certainly love to have more games set in the Wizarding World. And, you know what? All those people upon which I cast an unforgivable curse? They deserved it. No regrets. One thing I would love to see in a sequel would be a type of morality system, such as the ones found in "Fallout" or "Red Dead Redemption." Like, if I'm out there Avada Kedavra-ing people, put a bounty on my head. I realized that in HL, there were no true consequences for my actions. I wouldn't be able to "un-alive" anyone at the school (I think? I don't think I ever tried to harm a student like that.), and I never got sent to the headmaster's office for anything I did. Plus, I think the only difference that my actions really made was that a cinematic scene toward the end of the game was like two seconds shorter than someone who was completely morally straight the entire way through. I must also mention that HL presented one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make in a video game, when I had to decide whether to learn one of the unforgivable curses, and, if so, who to cast the spell on. I legit sat and stared at the screen for like 15 minutes before I hesitantly decided what to do, so major props to this game for making me use my noggin.

I got into Marvel's Midnight Suns late last year, too late for it to be included as one of my top games of 2022. This was another one of my favorite games of the year. A supernatural combat/tactics game built around a card-playing mechanic, "Midnight Suns" probably isn't for everybody, but I thought the gameplay was a blast and I had a great time learning the lore of these spooky superheroes. The customization options were fun to mess around with, and finding fun trios of characters to use as I fought off the hordes of Hades. The game released some DLC that I was reluctant to get until the price dropped to a more reasonable cost, but I ended up getting it, with its new characters: Venom, Deadpool, Storm and Morbius. The new characters came along with their own missions and side quests, which brought me back to the game several months after beating it, which was fun. I still need to hop back in there and finish up some of those trophies, so I haven't yet taken my last ride with those cooky Midnight Suns. Not quite yet. (Check out some of my favorite photos from "Midnight Suns" here!)

Ah, the return of the Top Five sports game. This year, it's NBA 2K23. I played a ton of it during my second half of paternity leave. A ton of it. It's not something I am particularly proud of (going back to the whole "full price every year just for an updated roster" complaint), but at least this was free through Playstation Plus, so it didn't cost me anything, other than my dignity. If there was a way to bump this game out of my top five, believe me, I would have done it.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was a major improvement over its predecessor, "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order," which I enjoyed but openly admit was one of the most needlessly difficult games I have ever played. The best thing about "Survivor" was that it gave us something that "Fallen Order" didn't - fast travel. THANK THE MAKER! That was such a "quality of life" improvement. The game was still pretty tough (I shamelessly lowered the difficulty a couple times just to kill a Rancor beast), but not to the point of utter frustration, like the first game. There were some fun cameos in this game and Easter eggs, and the story is ramping up for what should be an epic conclusion (most likely) to a very good trilogy of games.

Top Games Each Month:

Playstation broke down how much I played each month, which was kind of fun. (What the heck counts as a "gaming session"??) For posterity's sake, here are the 12 lucky games that blessed or otherwise altered my life in 2023:

*I was on paternity leave in July

Trophies Earned:

Ah, that's a lot of trophies, dear readers. And what journeys I had along the way! From completing incredible new games to cleaning up stuff I hadn't touched in more than eight years, from adventures I loved to things that I simply played because they were free (or heavily discounted), I played a wide variety of video games in 2023. Here is a list of all of the games for which I either earned the platinum trophy or reached 100% completion:

1. Two Point Campus - January 13
2. WWE 2K22 - January 27
3. Marvel's Midnight Suns - February 3
4. Hogwarts Legacy - March 8
5. Horizon Forbidden West - April 18
6. Catan: Console Edition - May 1
7. Mass Effect 2 - May 25
8. MLB The Show 23 - May 28
9. I Am Alive (PS3), 100% - May 30
10. Race the Sun, 100% - June 7
11. Wreckfest (Platinum trophy #75) - June 12
12. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PS2) - June 28
13. Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups - July 5
14. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - July 12
15. Fast & Furious: Spy Racers Rise of SH1FT3R - July 19
16. Dreaming Sarah - August 2
17. It Takes Two - August 15
18. Riders Republic - August 24
19. Unpacking - September 25
20. Paw Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls - October 2
21. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - November 21
22. Islanders - December 11

Here are some thoughts about that list:

• I forgot that I beat not one but two different "PAW Patrol" games. Amazing.
• A couple of the games on this list were such cheap platinums. I'm not proud, but at least they made my stats look good. I beat like three or four of these things in less than 6 hours - and they only took me that long because I am in charge of the lives of two little boys.
• I played "It Takes Two" with my wife; it was mostly a lot of fun. We also basically played "Catan" together. That's a great video game if, like me, all of your friends hate the board game or don't want to take time to teach you how to play. Why not just have the computer teach you?
• Beating "Riders Republic" consisted of me doing mass races every half-hour for like 20 hours, I kid you not. I loved that game but, geez, was that torture?
• I do have some really great games on this list. Beyond the great games I already mentioned, "Horizon Forbidden West" and "Spider-Man 2" were particularly excellent.

There were numerous games that I really enjoyed last year that didn't crack my Top Five. Here are some of them:

• Two Point Campus (I cranked this sucker out in January and had a decent number of laughs along the way.)
• The Last of Us Remastered (I went back to clean up some trophies from my first playthrough several years ago, around the time that the new HBO show was streaming. That Salt Lake City moment is great, but this isn't a game I would recommend to many of you.)
• Cities: Skylines (I love this game and wanted to see if I could possibly get the platinum trophy. I was following a series of YouTube videos that I thought could help me out, but I apparently accepted a bail-out that saved me from bankruptcy, which disabled any future trophies, and I didn't realize what I had done until it was too late for me to go back to a prior save file, so that was incredibly frustrating and I rage-quit and will likely never attempt to try that ever again. Cool.)
• Jurassic World Evolution 2 (If I could have swapped "NBA 2K23" out of my Top Five for any game, this probably would have been it. I spent a lot of time making amazing dinosaur parks, just not enough for the ultimate glory. What a shame.)
• LEGO 2K Drive (This was a pretty fun game that I still have a lot to do in, but the "Reach Level 30" trophy glitched on me, which may have ruined my desire to 100-percent this game.)
• WWE 2K23 (A really solid entry in the "WWE 2K" series, which has had its rough spots in the past decade. This one was really good, though, other than the fact that I have to play career mode - my least favorite part of these games - at least three and a half more times. Not looking forward to that.)
• Middle-earth: Shadow of War (These "Lord of the Rings" games are decently fun, but I lost the drive to nab the platinum when I realized how difficult and/or time-consuming some of the online trophies would be to earn. No, thanks.)
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (When I finally get the platinum trophy for this game, it will be truly legendary. There is SO MUCH stuff to do in this game, basically to the point of being overwhelming, and it is going to take a lot longer to finish up - but I've been trying! "Star Wars" fans should love this game. There's a lot of great stuff for the nerds.)
• PowerWash Simulator (Ok, ok, yes. I played this game. First of all, it was free in December, and second of all, they sucked me in with "Back to the Future" DLC, which was awesome. I put so many dang hours into this game and was only two trophies away from 100%, but the trophy earned by beating career mode is glitched, which I didn't know when I started, and the only way for me to get it is to start completely over, and there is no way in H-E-C-K that I'm spending another 50+ hours on this mind-numbing use of my time. The good news is, though, that I freaking demolished some audiobooks while mindlessly powerwashing the crap out of everything in sight, so at least that was productive.)

Final Thoughts:

Overall, a pretty good year of gaming, I'd say! I just realized that my top game of the year, "Dreamlight Valley," was only my top game of the month one time, and I only played it for 13 hours that month. Also, the mere thought of powerwashing gives me some pretty severe PTSD. I can't believe that trophy glitched on me. Ugh. So disgusting, so disturbing. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go help my oldest play some "LEGO Star Wars." He wants me to help him beat "Darth Vader/Shooter Man" (Jango Fett) and is thrilled that "Grogu Yoda" (regular Yoda) just showed up. He is, indeed, his father's son.

*****

What games did you love in 2023? We'd love to hear it in the comments, on Twitter (here and here) or on Facebook. Until next time, go out there and get some beautiful, beautiful trophies.