This is probably an irrational annoyance, but I don’t like how finding the inverted castle is near impossible without a guide. I like logical puzzles! So that put me off slightly. I will go back and play through it eventually though.

I ‘finished’ Symphony of the Night the other day. By which I mean I got the bad ending, rather than doing some extra stuff to unlock the inverted castle. Should I go back and do that? Maybe at some point.

I’m very close to finishing Tears of the Kingdom, and I’ve also started a new playthough of New Vegas on my Steam Deck. Plenty to keep me busy!

Celeste is hard, but so rewarding! And the OST is stunning

I played TP not that long ago (I had it on Wii, but this was my first time actually finishing it). I agree that it’s quite an easy game, but it was enjoyable throughout. The items were nicely varied and most of the dungeon puzzles were clever. The weirdness of the world reminded me a lot of Ocarina of Time. I’ve actually never played Majora’s Mask so I should give that a go sometime! If you’re on Steam Deck, I’ve heard a good option is patching the N64 version with HD textures (which may require a Windows system initially).

I’ve actually not played any of the Myst games! But I did buy the collection on Humble Bundle recently, so I look forward to giving them a go :)

Yes I did eventually get to the end. I recommend finishing it - if you get really stuck try a hint website like this. I think that can make the experience a bit more enjoyable, as a few of the clues are really obscure.

Along these lines, I think my favourite puzzle game of all time has to be The Witness. Have you played that?

That’s a nice idea actually, and it actually gets you to consider your thoughts on a game. Quite often I’ll think back to a game I’ve played before and I can’t remember exactly what it was that I liked/disliked about it - or at the very least I’d struggle to put it into words. Instead I just have a general sense of the ‘feeling’ of that game. Considering the game immediately after finishing it would solidify things in your memory and give you a greater appreciation of it. That in turn may encourage you to play more games in your backlog that you’d disregarded previously.

Let me mention a couple of games I’ve finished recently:

Return of the Obra Dinn definitely stands out as one of the most unique games I’ve played. Clouds, explosions and all the little details of the ship rendered in that dithered pixel art style immediately drew me in. And somehow the game makes the admin of identifying and filling out a book of crew members extremely rewarding. There were some moments near the end of the game where I hit a wall - and it’s good to have a friend who’s completed the game if you want some hints. But for the most part you could make logical claims about each character. Coupled with the amazing voice acting and soundtrack, this is an extremely satisfying and intelligently designed game.

It’s a game that completely flew past me when it released, but I’d subsequently heard great things about Dragon’s Dogma. And having played it, I can see why a lot of people recommend it. The combat feels like Monster Hunter meets Dark Souls - very fluid and responsive, and I love the way you can hire other player’s pawns with varying levels of expertise to assist you. Whilst I did enjoy my time playing this one, it did feel like a very empty world. Throughout the story, I was gearing up for the game to lead me to the next big city but that never happened. The ending was actually very interesting, but it felt like it was missing a larger second act which never happened. I hope that the sequel can make the open world a bit more lively.