I'm not one for "New Year's resolutions", but I am one for overly ambitious projects.
For 2023, Project365 is "One New Game Per Day".
Given that I have 634 unplayed games in my Steam account and {mumble} unredeemed bundle Steam keys, there's a reason my unplayed collection is tagged "Pile of Shame".
I'll pin this to my profile, and give a brief summary here each day (or x, if I miss x days due to work or stuff).
I'll play 15-30 minutes of (at least) one new game I've never played before (or played less than 15 minutes of). I'll give every game at least 15 minutes, even if I hate every minute of it.
I'm also open to suggestions; if you reply to this thread with a game, I'll schedule it, or tell you what I thought of it.
One of the things that's come up is that I have a bunch of games that I've played once, and not touched again.
Apr 23, 2023 - Day 113 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 124
Game: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 1, 2014
Library Date: Mar 13, 2018
Unplayed: 1867d (5y1m10d)
Playtime: 74m
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a third-person open-world action-adventure (some light RPG elements) that is, surprisingly, set in Middle-earth, between The Hobbit and LotR.
However, the most surprising thing about this game for me, other than the ~20 minutes of introduction video, was how it does not feel like a game that's almost 9 years old.
You play as a Gondor Ranger that's been murdered and trapped between life and death, and... look, I'm not sure what the end-game is meant to be, but I was having a hell of a time just sneaking around and kill Uruk-hai.
Combat is fun (if a little counter-intuitive, being that space is "run" and left-shift is "sneak".)
Sneaking up behind an unaware Uruk and shanking them with the dagger is satisfying, as is straight-up swordplay.
You can also "stealth" into wraith mode, and put an arrow into into a distant orc, and watch them drop with a satisfying whistle-and-thunk.
This game feels like motivation to keep playing through library, to discover gems like this that I'd missed completely.