A new year dawns!! (New Year's Eve post)

     Hi friends! I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed Dreamer, as you know, and I'm here to talk about the cool stuff from this year and the stuff that looks to be good from next year! Since I covered about half of the year in my birthday post, I'll try my best to recall the cool games that came out at the end of this year, and also just talk about some games that I didn't get a chance to play until this year, even if they came out last year or several years ago! I hope you'll excuse this post being a bit shorter than I normally write. I'm with family this week, so I'm trying my best to not be a hermit. Without further ado, let's get right into it as we begin the celebration (even though the ball won't be dropping until tomorrow)! 

How did the second half of 2022 look for me?

    Kirby's Dream Buffet was a very cute game that was like a flash in the pan. I really enjoyed it, and I thought it was funny that the little Eshop title that cost $15 actually had more unlockable content and more replayability than the fully priced Mario Strikers: Battle League that I already talked a little bit about a few weeks ago. The game didn't seem to last long in the public stream of consciousness, and I still haven't hit max level, but I should really go back to it sometime to see if anyone is still playing it. Disney Dreamlight Valley is a really cool and chill game to play, and one that ended up being my 4th most played game on my PS5 this year! The game is still in early access, and it's coming out with a few more updates before it releases in a free-to-play model next year, but based on what I've seen so far, I'm definitely impressed and excited for more. I finally got around to playing Persona 5 Royal this year, which made my third playthrough of the game a bit more interesting with the added "Third Semester" content. It's a fantastic game, and it should tell you a lot that I have been willing to play such a long game three full times. God of War Ragnarok came out back in November and it's definitely the game that resonated with me the most this year. It's a fantastic marriage of story and brutal gameplay and I love it a whole lot. I recently have gotten Bayonetta 3, Psychonauts 2, Gotham Knights, and a few others that I really haven't had enough time with to make definitive statements, but I really like them all so far, and I hope to put something out about them soon! This year has been pretty awesome for games, and I have to put out a little mini top 5 here on the games that I played this year, since it's kind of an internet thing to do I guess. Let's see how this goes!

5. Pokemon Legends Arceus
4. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
3. Horizon Forbidden West
2. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
1. God of War: Ragnarok

    These are my personal top 5 games, but there were tons of quality games to play this year, so it seems kind of unfair to choose just a few to talk about here. Basically anything that I wrote about this year on my blog was worth playing, and I'm happy that so many things came out in a good state! I need to give a shout out once again to Multiversus for being a pretty fun free-to-play Smash Bros.-esque game, and though I've kind of fallen off of it now, I may still go back and play some of it every now and then, because I really did have a good time!

What's yet to come!

    It still hasn't completely sunk in that this upcoming year is going to be the year that we finally get the sequel to Breath of the Wild in the form of Tears of the Kingdom, as well as Pikmin 4. I loved Pikmin 3 back on the Wii U, and while I haven't bought the Switch version (since I already had the game), I'm very excited to see the franchise return. I talked about Persona 5 Royal a while ago, so it would be wrong for me to not mention the remakes or rereleases of Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden that are coming out in a few short weeks, on the 19th of January. On the 20th, Fire Emblem Engage is hitting shelves, which my brother and a few of my friends are excited for, though I'm not as big on that one. A week later, we get the Dead Space Remake, and I think just from this one month, it does a good job of illustrating just how packed the gaming lineup is for 2023. Among the other games that I'm excited for in the new year, Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe is a remake of the Wii title Kirby's Return to Dreamland is coming out in February for the Switch, and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor is coming out in March, a sequel to the first Respawn Star Wars title, Jedi: Fallen Order. I really loved the first game in that series, and I'm very excited to see what comes next for Cal Kestis! There are honestly so many games coming that I can't even come close to talking about them all, but I hope they'll all live up to expectations for everyone!

    I hope you've all had a great year and enjoyed a bunch of different experiences as we continue to slowly move through the pandemic. It's gotten better and better this year, and while it isn't gone, we are seeing some slow return to "normal," which of course is a step in the right direction. I hope you all have a great next year, and I hope you'll stay safe and healthy during this holiday season and beyond. Thanks so much for sticking with me this year, and I hope to talk to you again soon in the next year of this humble little audition to show the world what I can do. Thanks again for being my friends and I thank the stars at night for all of you. Until next time, I'm Jonathan, a sentimental Self-Proclaimed Dreamer, wishing you all the very best in the Happy New Year to come!