19th Edition: The Vice Post. What did you play in 2025? (The AI Edition ?)

[_Neptunno_]

Hi everyone, and Happy New Year 2026!!!

Here we are again for another year (and that's nineteen already!). I haven't forgotten; even though time flies, this tradition is sacred. We're just one step away from the big round number, so start warming up, because for the 20th edition I'm still keeping my promise (or threat ) of the ham. That said... you'll have to come to Ávila to get it, because it cures better here!

As a new twist, this year's post comes "reviewed by Artificial Intelligence". Yes, friends, I've modernized to see if we can summon the algorithms and bring back the missing buddies, or at least so we can laugh a bit at how robots try to understand our vice! ️

We know there are fewer of us each year, but those of us remaining are the "old guard". I love reading your gaming banter: what gems you've discovered, what letdowns you've experienced, or which game served as your refuge this past 2025.

Share your lists with me, even if it's just one game and it's from the 90s!

The Historical Archive (2007 - 2024):

2024     2018     2012
2023     2017     2011
2022     2016     2010
2021     2015     2009
2020     2014     2008
2019     2013     2007
 
Let's get cracking, buddies! Cheers!!

[_Neptunno_]

Let me give you a quick rundown of my 2025 recap. Unlike last year, I've been able to put in a lot more time, and while classics are still my downfall, I've played some more recent titles as well.

Here's the summary of my gaming habit this year:
The Main Titles

Stray: One of the surprises of the year. Aesthetic and gameplay are top-notch, it completely hooked me. I recommend it, I think more than one of you will like it
Pacific Drive: I put about 12 hours into it. The atmosphere is incredible, though I admit the item grinding felt a bit repetitive towards the end. I still have to finish its story!
GTA San Andreas Remaster: Going back to San Andreas after 20 years has been a brutal nostalgic trip. Despite the known bugs, it looks good and is fun to play. By the way… I still haven't finished it xD
Penumbra Overture: Finally crossed off my backlog. A 2008 classic I loved finishing; now on to the next one in the saga (trilogy).


️ Indies and Simulators

Any Way Out: A short indie, simple but interesting, that I grabbed cheap on Steam.
A bit of simulation : A few hours of Green Hell, Trans-Siberian, Bus Simulator 16, Train Valley 1, and Deconstruction Simulator. Of these, I'm eager to put more time into "Trans-Siberian", it looks pretty promising, though it's hard to carve out hours when there's so much else to "dip into".

Miscellaneous Quick Plays:
Cyberpunk 2077 and Battlefield 6, though I didn't dedicate anywhere near the time they deserve… nowhere near. I'll try to give them more time in 2026, we'll see if I manage it.

The Lara Croft Corner:

In February I bought the second remastered trilogy!! So from February to April I dedicated myself to: TR II, TR IV, and TR V (Chronicles) Remastered.

And as tradition dictates, the custom levels:

- Christmas 2024:
Another Bloody Christmas was brutal, long (about 8 hours) and a lot of fun.

- Christmas 2025:

• Tomb Raider The Lost Artifact Reimagined - Act 2 Demo (by Shabaobab)
  https://amh-design.ch/LLB/2025/day3

• A (Not So) Peaceful Christmas (by DenisTheRaider & Shaduofus)
  https://amh-design.ch/LLB/2025/day11

• Secrets of Cleopatras Tomb
  https://amh-design.ch/LLB/2025/day25

• When You Wish Upon a Star (by Shabaobab)
  https://amh-design.ch/LLB/2025/day31
  

• Other custom levels:
  Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead)
  Level based on TR2X, highly recommended!
  BTB2006:
  I played almost all the levels (19 levels), Asian theme. I only have 4 or 5 left to complete this classic.

• My usuals: My sessions of Minecraft and World of Warships didn't go missing.
  Frankly, I dedicate less time to Minecraft every year.

Cheers!!

[Fassou]

Happy New Year to everyone!

This post for the Games of the Year is truly a long-standing tradition

Thanks as always to the author and Master of Ceremonies Mr. @_Neptunno_ of this unmissable event.

You always invite me, but it's been years since I've even been nominated; without a graphics card like the ones you guys have, one gets old and just can't keep up

So here's another one going through the many games on STEAM, GOG, and Epic that I already have, plus another mountain of giveaways, but I can't even find the time to try them out.

I even took another look at Q2 to check out those expansions they made for it ( what nostalgia and the convenience of GOG can do ), and spent a few hours on FallOut4 with its Anniversary Edition ( ten years already ).

Cheers, gamers!

[pos_yo]

Well, here we go. First of all, happy new year to everyone, especially to @_Neptunno_, for keeping up the tradition. Second, this year I haven't kept much track of what I've played, so I had to check my Steam history (though I don't only play on Steam).

PC Games:

• God of War
• Spiderman 2
• Skyrim
• Forza Horizon 4 and 5
• The Last of US: Part 2
• GTA V I always squeeze in a few sessions of this one
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Clair Obscure: Expedition 33
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Assassin's Creed Shadows
• Fallout 4
• Gris
• Neva
• Half Life and Half Life 2
• Counter Strike 2 I like playing a few online matches even though I'm pretty bad at it
• Helldivers 2

Emulated retro games:

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild I never get tired of replaying it and exploring the open world
• Mario Kart 8 I play with my son and he absolutely crushes me...
• Uncharted 2
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
• GTA Liberty City Stories

And I think that's it... needless to say, everything played on GNU/Linux, which lately isn't so unusual anymore and more people are joining the club.
Also, from time to time, I try out a game to see how it runs, and I also bought one of those R36 handhelds a few months ago, Game Boy style, where I play a few quick sessions of games from my childhood.
This year, I also upgraded my PC hardware and made a small quality jump to 1440p for gaming (luckily, before the price hike)...

Anyway, greetings everyone.

[JuezDred]

Hi everyone, and happy holidays.
Alright. I barely have time to play a wide range of games, even so. Let's see:

PUBG, which I've dedicated the most hours to since it came out in 2017. I still enjoy it and I think it has stayed up to date.
CONAN EXILES: well, this is another little hobby I have. In fact, I have my own custom server, if anyone feels like joining.
SUPREME COMMANDER 2: An entertaining strategy game and little else.
Then, though less often, the occasional car simulator and Fallout 73 or 74, I think that's what it's called.

[Tecnho]

Happy 2026! Haven't been around here in a while**

Well, this year...

Ghost of Tsuhima: I've played it twice, I love the beauty of this game, I highly recommend it if you like the feudal Japanese theme
Ghost of Yotei: this one is only out on PS5 for now, but for the time being I'm sticking with the first one
Mafia old country: an entertaining story with an ending that broke my heart I'm still sticking with the second one
Helldivers 2: a solid online game to have a good laugh killing bugs
Starship troopers extermination: addictive, based on the movie, building bases and playing online with strategy. It lacks content but it's fun
Company of Heroes 2: my favorite RTS, I've been playing since 2012 with over 1000 hours and it's still my favorite despite the third one, whose gameplay doesn't appeal to me
Battlefield 6: my favorite franchise since I played the first one, it hooked me, but I'm hoping they'll do something like before, even though I play almost daily when I can
Assassin's Creed Shadows: I'm just starting, haven't had much time these past months, but it doesn't look bad
Astrobot: for PS5, a very pretty and fun platformer
Construction simulator: yes yes, I like simulators of this type, I must be half German or who knows
Satisfactory: it leads me down the path of bitterness, but it's highly addictive
Jurassic World Evolution 3: a repetitive disappointment, I bought it on impulse since I was craving another management and building game, but it's very boring to me

I've dabbled in many more, but they don't convince me enough to give them my time

[Yorus]

As I’ve already mentioned elsewhere, my list is a bit embarrassing to share, but it’s always an honor to participate in this annual classic:

World of Warcraft: I started playing on a private server based on the WoTLK expansion. The interesting thing is that it allows you to play alone, which I like for reminiscing about the good old days and taking a quiet stroll around Azeroth. Plus, it runs on any modern computer, even a mini PC. I’m not sharing the server’s name due to its questionable legality.

Sensible soccer.de: It’s a mod for the original Sensible World of Soccer, playable on PC, with online multiplayer and data updated for the 2025/26 season.

And that’s it! I haven’t even played OpenTTD! Ever since I switched to an ultrawide monitor, I haven’t been able to set everything up at a resolution that’s comfortable for my eyes and aesthetically acceptable.

This year, I’ll take advantage of the MS-DOS Club’s "12 Months, 12 Games" initiative, where they play and comment on a different DOS game each month, to try out some new or old titles and hopefully add them to my list next year.

[krampak]

Well, I... stick to my usual pattern like every year

World of Warcraft Classic 20th Anniversary -> Nostalgia got the better of me, and I recently leveled a character from 0 to level 60 (the current cap). Next month they'll release the first expansion (Burning Crusade), which is where I originally started playing back in the day. It took me about 160 hours to level it.

World of Warcraft Classic Mists of Pandaria -> After they stopped developing the Season of Discovery version, the guild we have with friends went back to the "evolving" Classic, where we were already during WoTLK but left to play SoD. We've returned, and it's basically where I put in the most hours.

World of Warcraft The War Within -> The retail version, the latest WoW expansion, and I've played it just enough to level up a few characters and complete the main story with my main. I've cleared the latest raid once just to see it, but I haven't done Mythic+.

Basically that. Then a bit of Fortnite with my son, and on my phone I'm still playing Pokémon Go, Pokémon TCG, and Brawl Stars. I barely play the last one anymore except to reach Gold every season, which is basically about an hour of gameplay, and after that I only log in to open the daily rewards.

[_Neptunno_]

I love reading your comments, guys. It's always interesting to learn about your 'gaming' life and see what you're up to.

Whether you play a lot, a little, or not at all, it's nice to share a quick catch-up with the crew. It's a bit like with TV shows for me: there's so much to choose from and at such a high level that it can sometimes feel overwhelming. In the end, I think we tend to stick to the 'classics' out of nostalgia or because it's easier than risking it on something new, right?

Cheers!!

Edit: Well, as you'll see, I used Gemini to review the creation of this thread!! We've got AI everywhere now hahaha

[cinusara]

Hi, I started playing Fallout 4 last year in 2025 and I just keep going. This game seems endless. It has a lot of repetitive missions, but if you complete them, it doesn't end. It's definitely incredible and I'm having a great time. Cheers.

[_Neptunno_]

@cinusara The important thing is to play what you're in the mood for, even if it's not a release from that year. Fallout is another one of those legendary series I still need to try; they're games that, for better or worse, require a huge time commitment, but it's usually more than worth it.

The problem is that sometimes we have such a huge backlog that we don't enjoy the present... at least that's how I feel.

@Fassou By the way, I forgot to mention that I also picked up S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Lost Alpha for a few hours last year. After almost two years, I was completely lost! I probably still have more than half of the game left to play. But I'd like to finish it to see if it recharges my batteries, since it's a challenging game and "too good", you know? I mean good in the "old-school" sense, where you have to fend for yourself and there aren't as many guides.

Cheers!!

[Fassou]

@_Neptunno_ Don't worry about missing out on Lost Alpha, the important thing is that your shoulder doesn't hurt anymore

Cheers, gamers!

[_Neptunno_]

@Fassou Yeah yeah, every time I get serious about playing Stalker, something happens!!

You know me so well, my friend!!