Mid-year Game Review 2026

How is it August already? I swear that the older I get, the faster the years seem to go!

I feel like I haven’t played many games so far this year, but what I have played has been great, so here’s a little run down!

MODE: PC (Steam)

TIME: 45 hrs

STATUS: Completed the first game in the series

Mass Effect Legendary Edition includes Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3 remastered in 4k ultra HD along with some promo weapons and packs. It was developed by BioWare who are also well known for the Dragon Age series (one of my faves!) so this has been on my radar for a while.

In Mass Effect, you play as “Commander Shepard” in a quest to stop a galactic threat involving alien robots and an ancient interstellar system that allows faster than light space travel between galaxies, known as the “Mass Relays.” (That’s a very basic outline for an otherwise detailed story with a lot of nuances and a brilliant cast of characters.)

I’ll be honest, I’m not a Star Wars fan and I don’t like anything with a heavy military angle, which Mass Effect has. However, I do like Star Trek and enjoy stories involving diplomacy and science which this game also has! I enjoyed the story and thought the world building was well done and the characters and companions or “squad mates” you can take along with you (even romance) were fantastic. It’s really captivating and I got a lot out of exploring different planets in the Mako - a six wheeled tank with janky controls. I could happily drive around in it for hours trying to get it stuck (not a hard feat!)

All in all, it’s an enjoyable game and while I dove straight into Mass Effect 2 afterwards (which I hear is the fave in the series.) I stopped after about 8 hours because too much of the interface changed for it to be enjoyable. I also felt like all I was doing quest-wise was rounding up people to join me, so I’ve put it down for now and hope to pick it up again in the future and finish it.

MODE: Steam Deck

TIME: 2 hrs

STATUS: Completed with all Steam achievements

Florence is a lovely little palate cleanser! I picked it up one afternoon and finished it in one sitting! As short and sweet as it is, the story and world building is meticulous and immersive with a beautiful soundtrack. It could easily fit into both the visual novel and puzzle genres, although I did find some of the puzzles quite repetitive at times. Altogether though, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

MODE: Nintendo Switch

TIME: 40 hrs

STATUS: Ongoing

This game is a hilarious impulse purchase that I ended up being happy about! I found the Switch edition of Locomoto for $19 in my local JB Hi-fi (it’s still available!) I personally never come across Switch games with a cartridge for that cheap, so even though my partner was against me buying it (he thought it looked a little too rinky dink!) I did it anyway!

The risk paid off because Locomoto is a wonderful slice of life, cosy sim where you inherit an old coal train to decorate and transport a variety of adorable characters all around the map, completing quests for them as you go. I haven’t finished the main story yet, but I’ve begun to open up more of the map which introduces more characters and things to do.

Granted, it is a little janky and the frame rate is noticeably slow, but I didn’t experience any crashes or instances where I’d need to reload.

Sadly, the developers were one of many casualties of Embracer Group, shutting down operations after the final patch for the Switch 2, just a few months after the initial release.

MODE: Steam Deck

TIME: 6 hrs

STATUS: Completed with all Steam achievements

Storyteller is a wonderfully intricate, visual puzzle game based on fables and fairytales where you build the stories using a combination of settings and characters while following a prompt.

The scenes gradually become more and more involved as you move through the chapters, which are inspired by well known tales from Shakespeare to Poe. Once you complete the initial stories, it unlocks “Devil Stories” which are darker versions of the stories you’ve already completed, just with the devil included, causing chaos and darker endings. This is a really fun game to play with others as you try to work out the combinations the game wants for the stories to lock in. It also runs well on the Steam Deck.

MODE: PlayStation 3

TIME: 50+ hrs

STATUS: Completed (kind of)

The original Kingdom Hearts came out when I was 18. I wasn’t into games then so didn’t hear about it until many years later, but I’ve been intrigued by the games since. I mean, why are there Disney x Final Fantasy crossover games? Why are they so weirdly titled? And why is the lore so extensive? I don’t know the answer to any of those, but I’m so glad I gave the series a shot!

I simultaneously loved this game and was frustrated by it! It’s so so hard and it’s supposed to be for kids?! Some of the bosses were crazy difficult and I enlisted the help of my partner many times to get through them. Besides the boss difficulty, I loved the nostalgia of the Disney worlds. I also really enjoyed the game play - the command system and inventory were pretty easy to get my head around. I was a little confused by the inclusion of the gummi ship though - an odd space ship that doubles as a mini game in order to travel between the different worlds. It seemed a little out of place.

I have to admit that my partner and I reached a boss that neither of us could defeat, so we put the controller down and watched the rest on YouTube. It turned out that all we missed was wave after wave of impossible bosses so we weren’t too upset. However, I was bawling by the time the story wrapped up with a montage of the world restored with the gorgeous theme song by Hikaru Utada playing over the top of it. It really didn’t need to go so hard! I’m absolutely going to try the rest in the series! (On easy mode though lol!)

MODE: Steam Deck

TIME: 15 hrs

STATUS: Completed

When I was in Japan last year, I found a game for the Switch called Neurodiver that looked interesting. I made a note of it and when I got home, I discovered it’s the sequel to another game called 2064: Read Only Memories. So I grabbed them both in the next Steam sale.

2064: Read Only Memories is a queer cyberpunk point and click adventure game developed by Midboss and first released in 2015. It was later updated for console ports in 2017 to include updates to the story and a fully voiced cast.

The story is set in 2064, Neo-San Francisco and you play as a freelance journalist who teams up with the very first sapient android “Turing” to investigate a conspiracy involving murder, stolen code, genetic modification and civil rights.

The world building is immersive with so much attention to detail. The futuristic, cyberpunk setting was fun and the characters were well developed and interesting, especially as there was a mix of human, android and genetically modified. How they fit into the world was so well done and thought provoking. I also thought the voice acting was great and no doubt a great addition to the original game. It reminded me a little of Hideo Kojima’s Policenauts, but I later found out it was inspired by his first game Snatcher.

The point and click elements and puzzles were a great way to keep up the pace of the story. Before you know it, you arrive at the finale where the story can end one of six ways. I wasn’t ready to leave the oddly nostalgic world of Read Only Memories, so will definitely be giving the sequel Neurodiver a go.

• I’m about 30 hours into Fallout: New Vegas and loving it so far!

• As mentioned in the post, I would really like to continue the Read Only Memories series by playing Neurodiver (the sequel to 2064: Read Only Memories)

• I’m hoping to finish Fire Emblem: Engage before Fortune’s Weave comes out

• I’m really excited for The Blood of Dawnwalker’s release in September!

Let me know what you’ve been playing! 👀👀👀

Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed my work, feel free to shout me a coffee!

KO-FI