#i swear you have to spawn and kill every last enemy to get an S on kills

[parab0mb]

I'm starting to P-rank levels and collect all the bonus stuff I missed the first go-around in Ultrakill and so far its been smooth sailing but the bridge level is genuinely starting to piss me off >:C

[kuroos-moon]

『Hate’s Twin Called Love』

— request by anon whose initial ask i could no longer find 😫

❥ pairing: Iwaizumi Hajime x Reader 

❥ genre: enemies to lovers, fluff, mutual pining, denial  

❥ warning/s: language

❥ wc: 2.4k 

“I got here first,” you frown, narrowing your eyes as you placed a hand on the chair nearest to the window. 

“I placed my bag here, which means I got here earlier,” he casually replies, wondering why you won’t back down despite your height difference and his intimidating facade. 

Your frown deepens, and he does the same when neither of you give in. “I don’t care, I wanna sit here,” you say, your inner brat surfacing just because the way he glared at you ticked you off, so you stubbornly sit on the desk. 

“What a nuisance,” he grunts, sitting down on his chair as he rightfully should. 

Ever since then, you never passed up the opportunity to piss him off or give him even the slightest inconvenience of the day, devilish, you’re well aware. He’s the devil himself though, and only you could point that out. With him showing a sly grin your way when you lose a pen, only for him to proudly use it for you to see. 

“Hajime you asshole, give me back my pen,” you give him a death glare, and he innocently looks at you, acting confused. “I don’t have it, y/n.”

“Cut the bullshit, that’s my only one,” you grimace, irritated at the fact that of all the numerous pranks he could do on your never-ending war ever since highschool, he just had to steal your pen right before a test. 

“Don’t blame me when you’re the one who lost it,” he blinks, perfecting the art of acting clueless. “Give it back I don’t have another one!” You raise your voice, and he stops scribbling, looking at you in amusement. 

“What?” You huff, and he only chuckles under his breath, momentarily biting your pen to further irritate you. “I’ll fucking kick your ass after this,” you bite your tongue, wanting to scream at him if it weren’t for the many other students and a strict teacher here with you. 

And that’s just one of many encounters with the sly seemingly-mature ace who knew just how to annoy you like it were his second nature, but deep down, your day’s never complete without the usual sarcastic banters or the subtle mouthing of ‘fuck you’ or ‘whatcha looking at’ between classes, that’s why you sit bored in class for a few days when they’re excused for practice. 

Your happiness literally comes from seeing him so mad that he’s speechless as he sees you’ve uploaded an embarrassing baby picture source: oikawa or as he realizes you’re the one who’s been giving away his number. 

For him, you’re the exact same, you’re the devil’s spawn. Trotting along so casually as if you were an angel, only for the disguise to fall off the moment you open your mouth, profanity after profanity especially when you were talking to him. It wasn’t long before your string of curses was music to his ears and the highlight of his day, taking pleasure in having you yell at him, or in especially irritating occurrences, you’re throwing things at him. 

It just so happens when you’re casually sitting in the corner of the room, minding your own business as you listen to music. “Y/N-CHAAN!” You look up to see Toru, out of breath as he leant on the doorway of your classroom . “Iwa-chan’s talking with some girl, come look,” he grins, and just like that, your eyes twinkle with excitement. 

Time to to get back at him for that ruined test, you smirk to yourself, the clueless Iwaizumi standing at the end of the stairwell as he flirts with the poor girl who didn’t know at all how much of an asshole he was. 

“Babe!” You exclaim, the fakest and widest smile on your lips as you throw yourself at him, loving how he cringed away from you the moment you wrap your arms around his torso. “What the fu-

“I missed you, shall I come over tonight?” You gush at him, locking your hold on him with intertwined fingers as he tried to push you off without actually using too much force to hurt you. “Cut it out, you little shit,” he mumbles to your ear as he stills, waiting for you to unwrap yourself from him. 

“Who’s this Iwa-chan? Is she a friend?” You say enthusiastically, the deadly aura he gave off only making you want to piss him off more. “Iwaizumi is she your girlfriend? I thought you hated each other,” she raises a brow and you smile, looking up at Iwa. 

“That’s just our love language though, isn’t it babe?” 

He has had enough. It’s been days since you’ve bantered, the only interaction the past few days were the failed attempts to trip each other in the halls, but he wasn’t in class the whole week. Some part of him thought that he was relieved in your absence, but lately he’s been feeling empty. 

“Iwaizumi?” The blonde girls huffs, crossing her arms against her chest. 

“Iwa-chan, doesn’t she know how much you love me?” You pout, squeezing his bicep which you really hadn’t realize was this rock hard until now. It was the look of annoyance and pure hatred that made you smirk for only him to see, but you thought wrong. 

He wasn’t mad because you interrupted his romantic stairwell rendezvous, nor was he mad that you literally show up out of nowhere, being this close to him. He was irritated because you thought you were winning, you thought you were pissing him off; but joke’s on you, he actually found himself amused by this whole ordeal. 

“Babe let’s just go, you’re not cheating on me are you?” You add fuel to what you thought was a burning flame, thinking you had succeeded on ruining his day. 

“How ridiculous, you know I only have eyes for you,” he leans down, a teasing and excruciating mere inch between your faces, the side of his lips curving upwards so subtly you’re not sure it’s really there. Your eyes widen, and his grin grows as he could practically feel you stop breathing. 

He watches you storm off, knowing fully well he was victorious for this round. 

Iwaizumi - 1 

Y/n - 0 (Loser) 

The game against Seijoh and some other school was over, and like every other game, you got first-row seats, it was the one and only time wherein you actually admire Hajime (admittedly). You stood outside, waiting for your friends to finish gushing over Oikawa and you look up questioningly when you see pairs of shoes on the ground. 

“Uhm, do you guys want something?” You ask, confused, somehow feeling ganged up on with three girls surrounding you. 

“We’ll cut to the chase, stay away from Hajime,” she spitefully says, and you snort the moment you hear his name. 

“You don’t even have to beg me for it,” you say and they furrow their brows. “You’re acting so coy! Pretending to be some goofy girl who tries to piss him off only to get to spend more time with him!” 

You sigh, “I’d kill to have him away from me for as long as possible, what are you guys even on about?” 

“Just stay away from him y/n l/n, he’s mine.” Cue another chuckle from you, “yours? I question your taste but Hajime doesn’t belong to you,” you sweetly smile, not knowing where the sudden irritation came from. 

Seriously, how could she say he was hers when he probably doesn’t even know her name like the stupid non-caring jerk he is, but you somehow thank him for it, somehow relieved that he could barely name a girl in your class that wasn’t you. 

“What do you know?!” She seethes, about to land a palm right across your cheek but it doesn’t come, instead, she stood petrified as she meets Iwaizumi’s gaze, securely standing behind you as he firmly grasped her wrist.  

“That’s quite enough,” he glares, the girl immediately withdrawing her hand. “What are you here for?” You bitterly ask, the previous encounter in the stairwell still having your hate meter for him past its max. 

“Y/n-baaaaka, where’re those killer moves of yours that almost have me injured all the damn time,” he says, his lips tugging downwards as he looked at you, and you stiffen under his touch when he rests his elbow on your shoulder. Now looking at the girls, “You’re quite the troublesome bird-brained bunch, pathetic too. You better not come anywhere near us again,” he grunts, a dull ring to it in fact; but his usual voice was also usually intimidating, hence the effortless success of scaring away the girls for good. 

You scoff, “what’s with the sudden chivalry?” 

He raises a brow at you before a scowl forms at his lips, “shouldn’t you thank me?” 

“What? For coming to my rescue? How charming, nothing less to expect from our ace,” you huff, turning around to walk away. You know how much he disliked you, so why was he being kind? Why do you a favor and rest his elbow on your shoulder and act like friends, maybe lovers— you recall the position you were in last time, you clinging to his arm while he leaned in, face painfully close to yours. 

“Did you really mean that? You’d kill to have me away from you,” he chuckles, “what strong emotion,” and you halt, turning around to look at his expression which resembled the masking of hurt. “You were listening?” You ask, but he merely walks towards you.

“Thought I’d hear some sort of love confession,” he stops a foot away from you, “but that was fucking disappointing.” You’re beyond confused at this point, why in the world would he expect a confession out of you? YOU of all people, you’re enemies, same sides of a pole that simply will and never attract. 

“What would you have wanted me confess?” You narrow your eyes at him; your pathetic attempt to be defensive when in reality your walls were all crashing down, and he’d be free to walk in and capture you his; vulnerable and genuine, free from your lies and forced obliviousness. 

“I’m exhausted,” he says, leaving you stupefied when he holds your chin between his thumb and index, warm from having spiked the ball multiple times as the ace from the game earlier on. “I don’t give a fuck, just keep your fucking hands off of me Iwaizumi,” you glare, making him grin. 

“You swear a lot with that pretty mouth of yours,” he presses on you more, knowing this would either be a hit or miss. A hit for when you crumble and give in to him, spilling the truth about how you truly felt which he has long figured, because he can’t be the only one who felt this way, no? 

The miss wouldn’t be much of a miss though, he’d still love it if you exploded, punching him or something but at the same time postponing your long overdue truthful conversations because you convinced yourself too much that love and hate were separated by a thick line, which was far from how it actually was. 

“I hate you,” you spat, but he can’t see any hatred in your eyes at all. “Does that mean you don’t want me?” He taunts, his lips inching closer and closer to yours. You only find yourself looking down, unable to breathe at the suffocating feeling of having your emotions come out all at once. 

love or hate, which was it? The latter. No, it couldn’t be, you wouldn’t be finding yourself getting lost in his eyes if you did truthfully despise him. Then, was it the former? Perhaps... Maybe... Probably explaining why you were going to say it, “if you don’t kiss me right now, Hajime, I will.” 

Bingo, he wins, it was a hit. 

In one swift motion, he locks lips with you, your hands coming to rest on his broad shoulders as he tilts his head sidewards to deepen the kiss, not wanting to spare an inch of your mouth. It was the perfect kiss, one to show your yearning for the other through questionable means such as inconveniencing the other’s life, and one to express the raw passion of love that without a doubt made every bit of you ecstatic. 

“Oya, Oya, what’s this?” Oikawa’s annoying voice reaches his ears, Iwaizumi pulls away with one last peck on your lips. “I’ll fucking kill you,” he mutters under his breath, Toru flinching before letting out a nervous chuckle. “Uh, well then, I’ll leave you two to it,” he grins, waving at you before running off. 

“So you’ve had a crush on me all along, huh,” you smirk at him, his ears turning red as he looks at you. You snicker, poking at him teasingly as he covers his face with his hand. 

“Don’t push me,” he finally says, and you let out another laugh, of course you’re going to push his buttons, “eh, so what are we now, babe? I don’t think I like you at all, honey, that was charity.” 

“Charity?” He muses, grabbing your wrist to whisper closely in your ear, you gasp, his breath against your skin leaving you flustered. “If anything, all I did was fan service.” HE HAD YOU ALL FLUSTERED AND SPEECHLESS AND FOR WHAT? 

You push him away, irritation making you want to breathe fire, “FAN SERVICE?” You exclaim, wearing the deepest frown he had seen on you making him laugh. 

“Kidding, kidding,” he nonchalantly says, and you scowl, “I hate you.” 

“If you hate me so much then why not go out with me?” He says, all seriousness in his tone.

“What?” You blink, that was sudden.

“You should date me, cling to me, piss the fuck off other girls who try to get in between, and make sure I see your face everyday, that would ultimately make me miserable, and you hate me so much that you want that, don’t you?” He finishes, hands in his pockets as he looked straight at you. 

This time, he actually feared how this would turn out. He had revealed his cards already, there’s no going back to normal after this, things could only go from being strangers or to being lovers. 

“Sure, let’s date. Give me the luxury to annoy you everyday, and you better not break up with me for it,” you smile, and he chuckles, letting out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. 

“Then don’t break up with me if I make you mad like ten times a day,” a soft subtle smile plays at his lips while you both walk hand in hand together outside the building, the sunset striking so beautifully at the two of you but you didn’t have much time to admire it as you were kept preoccupied with each other’s conversations. 

_____________________

General Taglist [Open]: @noyasbitchh 

[rainstormfes]

Attack on Titan S4 Ep5

THIS IS MY BIGGEST SPOILER WARNING LIKE PLS DO NOT LOOK UNDER THE CUT IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED OR READ UP TO THIS POINT IN THIS STORY. P L E A S E. Attack on Titan is such an amazing story and I HIGHLY recommend picking it up. It could seem overrated cause literally everyone is talking about it but there are HUGE reasons why it’s being talked about right now, especially since the anime has caught up to some really cool parts in the story. So this is kind of a psa for it as well. PLEASE GIVE THIS MANGA/ANIME A CHANCE. IT’S REALLY AMAZING. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED IN THE SLIGHTEST, TRUST ME. ISAYAMA HAJIME IS AN AMAZING MANGAKA FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF WORK AND WIT STDUIO AND MAPPA HAVE ANIMATED IT SO SO SO WELL. Anyway. On to my big big rant under the cut :3

Ok so after literally bingeing through the whole anime for the last three days ever since ep5 was released imma just talk about the season and ep5 especially and the absolute BEAUTY that everything is.

With the beginning of s4, we get to see outside the walls, yeah? We see that there’s a war going on between marley and the mid-east allied forces over control of paradis and who gets the resources from it. And then we see the main gang: falco, gabi, zofia, and udo. Ya know, at first i absolutely hated seeing them. Like come on where’s the people that we CAME HERE to see?? That we saw on the teaser images?? But as the eps kept getting released and we started to get more of the story pieced together, we’re forced to see the other side’s beliefs. What the other side is fighting for. Like despite the eldians on the main land sharing the same ‘blood’ as the paradis people within the walls, they have grown up to believe that the people within the paradis walls are pure evil and devil’s spawn and part of the reason they’re oppressed in the first place. That was the whole purpose of those first 4 episodes. And to be honest, I kinda got attached to falco at least cause he was just an honest kid wanting to protect a girl he likes from becoming an actual warrior.

Rewatching the previous seasons and refreshing my memory on everything that has happened to everyone in the walls made me realize that they just made us get very attached to everyone on paradis, especially the main gang. For years, and I mean literal years, we have all grown up and grown attached to these people in the walls that only want their freedom from the titans. They just want to live peaceful lives and there are people that are brave enough to fight for that peace. No matter what it takes.

And ep5 brings everything full circle. It was absolutely mind blowing with every sentence that eren spoke to reiner. How they were both the same. How what they were doing was to save the world, their world. How they had no choice but to go through so many harsh experiences like killing other people and losing people they cared about and making difficult sacrifices for the sake of the humanity they knew.

It is absolutely beautiful how there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ side. Like, despite my bias toward the paradis people bc i’ve literally grown up learning about their story, you can’t say that there is an actual objective enemy that the viewers should side with. Everyone involved is just fighting for their own beliefs. And it’s just the cruel world that they live in that forces them to fight because again they have no choice.

Also just a quick reminder... AT THE END OF SEASON 3 PART 2 THE 104TH CADET KIDS ARE ALL 15. FIFTEEN YEARS OLD. MEANING THEY, INCLUDING REINER AND EREN OFC, ARE NINETEEN NOW. I swear they look like adults. And if THATS 19 then what does that make levi and hanji ??? In the teaser images, they look like they havent aged a DAY.

Anyway, in an article that i’ll link here that unpacks ep5, the author said, “[it] feels like everything in this season up until this point has been prologue and that Attack on Titan’s conflict is about to finally begin” and honestly i could not agree more. The previous seasons were dedicated to detailed world building and slow intake of knowledge about the titans and the actual world, leaving the viewer none the wiser than the characters that had grown up in the walls and to also give them time to get to know everyone in the walls. To become attached to them. And then completely blow their minds by saying that of course there’s more people outside the walls. In fact those people outside the walls despise the people inside the walls and wanted to kill them off and the titans are the least of their worries. 

So imma leave my absolute FAVORITE part of s4 ep5 (not my video but bless their soul for posting it)

And ofc imma still talk just a little bit abt this. GOSH THE TENSIONS. THE REALIZATIONS.

When reiner reveals to eren that it was all his fault that any of seasons 1-3 happened bc he forced the rest of his team to continue with the mission after marcel was killed. THE CUT TO EREN’S IRISES SHRINKING JUST A TINY BIT AT THAT REALIZATION. In another world, all of his loved ones might still be alive. He would’ve never had to experience the hell of the colossal titan breaking down Wall Maria.

AND THEN when willy says ‘more than anyone i wanted the eradication of eldians. but i dont want to die because i was born into this world’ and it’s a call back to WAYYYY back when the gang is talking with shadis and he tells eren what his mother said long ago “[my son is] already special. because he was born into this world” which eren indicates he remembers by the small reaction of his eyes widening at those words. He’s reminded that everyone is special... it’s just that they had the misfortune of being born into this world.

oh and one last thing:

the way they animated this was perfectly done. tho they could only fit willy into one frame and had the camera pan up to eren it still worked SO well

anywayyyyy if you reached this point thanks ig? 😅 gosh i love this story so much. it’s an amazing piece of work and will definitely go down in history. the whole story was woven together so well and rewatching everything after seeing ep 5 helped me connect parallels and realize each character’s motives and just why some characters did what they did. Can’t wait for ep 6 :))

[nightowlfandom]

Park Jimin- Online “Session”

REQUEST FROM PROMPT LIST- RIGHT HERE (I write for anime too)

What!??! This request/scenario is fucking awesome! Nah son that is unacceptable because I would literally jump over a table to write this out, I got cha back. Ima give you this work don’t you worry. YOU SHALL BE SATISFIED MY LOVE.

No prompts from this one (I will say I do take requests that don’t have any prompts. Just make sure your request had detail like this one.

Personally, I’d call myself a gamer too. I just finished Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition on XBOX One, and I absolutely loved it to pieces. I’m currently about to start Mafia III so if anyone had any tips on that let me know because I heard it’s pretty difficult.

Also if anyone is learning Japanese, Korean, Italian, or Portuguese let’s be language buddies because ya girl could use some motivation. 

Leggo!

...

“Oh come on you clowns!” you sighed, shaking your head. “You’ve left yourselfs completely open!” You shook your head. “Don’t worry! I’ll come help you guys after I finished with this asshole here.”

Your fingers effortlessly pressed each button on your controller with ease, almost as if you had memorized the entire layout of every single combo imaginable.

“Damn Y/N you didn’t have to use the neck-breaking combo.” you friend chuckled. You shook your head, turning the volume up on your head set.

“It take longer for them to spawn back into the game so it’s a good skill to use.” you shook your head. “Guy on the east, there’s someone sneaking up on you.” you said quickly.

“Got em! Good looking out Y/N.” the guy said into your headset.

This was how you spent your weekends, hopping online to chat with all your friends from all areas of the world. Today was your week to pick the game and you went with your absolute favorite. 

From the corner of your eyes you saw Jimin standing by the door frame, just watching you. He liked to watch you play from time to time.

“Hey.” he smiled.

“Hi there. I’ll be off in another hour or two.” you smiled up at him before returning to your game.

“No, no...take your time.” Jimin sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m just gonna watch.”

“Okay, love you.” you turned your head for just a second to peck your boyfriend on the cheek. You turned back towards the screen, your game face on. “Hey, somebody take out that dude hiding on the roof with a sniper, he’s a terrible shot and he’s annoyi-

You cut yourself off when Jimin pulled you onto his lap, taking you by surprised.

“Slouching is bad for you.” Jimin said in your ear. You felt your back against his broad chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breaths. You had hoped he wouldn’t see the blush creeping on your face. You focused back on the screen, relieved to see that sniper taken out. 

Jimin’s arms tightened around you almost needingly. You felt tiny littled kisses tacing up the back on your neck as he moved your hair out the way.

“Jimin, is everything alright?” you took off one of your headphones from over your ear to listen for his reply.

“I’m so bored.” he pouted, kissing your shoulder. “You look so good in my sweater.” he whined. “Jagiya...” he whispered.

Oh no...he really wanted to do this now!?!!

“Jimin, now?” you asked, sighing.

“Mmhmm.” he whined. He knew you couldn’t resist when he acted needy, but you had to.

“Y/N, focus!” your friends had bought you back to reality. You were about to get shot by someone who was right in front of you. Luckily you had shot him in time.

You hadn’t been wearing pants under Jimin’s sweater and he knew that. He ran his hands down your thighs, inching closer and closer in between.

“J-jimin...what are you doing?” you whispered this time a little louder.

“Y/N...you okay?” one of your friends heard you and seemed worried.

“Oh yeah I’m fine! Hey guys hold on, I have to turn my headset off for a minute.” you said, turning off the microphone on your headphones.

“Oh no, don’t stop on account of me.” Jimin’s hands spread your legs, seemingly prying your legs open. He turned the microphone back on. “Think you can stay silent?”

“You know the answer to that.” you snapped, your legs already shaking. He hiked the sweater up allowing his hands to inch further against your heat.

“Y/N you’re suffering out here!” your friend commented.

“I’m sorry! I’m getting distracted.” you tried keep playing but Jimin being the little shit he was was keeping you from playing properly. “You guys s-stay together!”

“Jagiyaaa.” he whined. “Pay attention to meee.”

“Jimin- Ah!” 

Jimin pushed aside you panties, you couldn’t see it, but you felt like he had a smirk on his face. You felt his fingertips gently scratch at your slit before pressing the pads of his fingers down on your little nub. You hips bucked against Jimin’s fingers.

“Y/N you just died!” one of your friends sighed. “What’s going on with you.”

“Um...I’m a bit tied up at the moment.” you shook your head as you waited to respawn. You were already getting wet, thanks to Jimin running his fingers down along your slit his other hands creeping even further under your sweater to mess with your bra. You didn’t have time to register Jimin chuckled before slipping his fingers into your tight hole, causing you to gasp. 

You had managed to get another kill but only barely missed, thanks to your shaking hands. 

Jimin chuckled, hearing your breathing pick up. His fingers began pumping in and out of your tight hole. You wanted to cry out and beg but you know you couldn’t. You spread your legs and leaned back more against his chest. You were close to giving up.

“Think you can still play with I do some playing on my own?” he whispered. You turned off your mic.

“J-jimin, I s-swear if you make me lose this tournament.” you whimpered. He plunged his fingers deeper in your pussy making you let out a really loud moan. Good think the microphone was off. 

“I just wanna make my babygirl feel good. I wanna play with that pretty little-” you cut him off with another moan. “Does my baby girl want oppa to-”

���J-jimin!” you whimpered. You managed to get another kill in, but you could tell your teammates were getting worried about how the game would end, especially since you were carrying them to victory in the first place. You tried to stay determined, but you weren’t sure.

“Y/N I don’t know if you can hear me but there’s only one more person left before we win!”

In a shock, you turned on your microphone. “WHAT!?! What happened to the other guys!” you couldn’t care if they could hear the distress in your tone.

“You took them out while we were securing the area.” one of your friends added in. “If you can catch them, we win the entire match!”

“I have to turn my mic and headset off for a minute! You guys have to let me focus.” you yanked your headphones off and threw them on the bed. “Jimin I swear if you...nng-...If you ruin this for me I s-swear.”

You saw the last enemy running and that’s when you decided to run for it. Jimin vigorously rubbed your clit while pumping his fingers in and out of your pussy. You almost rhew your head back but you saw him coming towards you with his weapon out.

“Not t-today you little shit.” you tried your bed to ignore the orgasm building up in your core. You managed to disarm and kill the enemy, seeing the. “VICTORY!” screen appear on your T.V. You grabbed your headphones and put them back on, hearing a bunch of screams and happy yells from your team. 

Feeling bold you took your headphones off and threw your controller down, turning towards Jimin.

He seemed to have read your mind because he grabbed the back of your head, pulling your lips to his. You moaned into his mouth, feeling your wetness drip down your leg. Jimin pinned your down onto the bed, causing you to look up at him, a shit eating smirk plastered on his face. Jimin fumbled with his belt buckled and yanked down his jeans, biting his lip.

“Y-you are so sneaky.” you mumbled against his lips. 

“Is it a crime to want to feel my babygirl? I want to be inside you, I want to feel you.” he kissed a line up your neck, sucking on your sensitive skin. You felt his cock up against your slit, spreading your folds open. 

You threw your arm around his neck, feeling him slide into you. “Is this what you wanted?” you chuckled, looking up at your not-so-shy anymore boyfriend.

“Oh come on, you won your game. Now it’s my turn to play with you.” his fingertips dug into your hips as he thrusted into you. “Fuck, you’re so wet for me, do you l-like when I fuck you like this?”

“I like being able to play my game in peace.” you said sarcastically, throwing your head back. ‘But this is good too.”

Your walls tightened around his cock, feeling his thrusts get more forceful. He pinned his hands down on either side of your head. 

You were first to cum, it was messy and...well that was it. It was just messy. Jimin yanked himself from your heat, his cock throbbing intensely. 

“Y-you are such a sneaky bastard.” you sighed, getting up. “And you owe me a new sweater.” you pouted.

“Hey, that’s my sweater.” Jimin chuckled as you yanked the sweater over your head. 

“Mine now bitch.” you mumbled, throwing it on the floor. “You’re lucky I love you so much.

“Hm, well maybe I can help you out when you go to play online again” Jimin winked at you, causing you to roll your eyes.

You’d have to remember to get him back.

(I need to throw myself in a fireplace after this lol)

[airlock]

kill zombie, get level, kill zombie, get level, k- oh hold up they can talk??

they know each other???

Runan: I came to visit Holmes. What in the world is going on? Is Holmes safe? Xeno: I have no idea what's happening, either... But Holmes should be at the fort. Runan: All right, we'll head there now. Are you coming with us, Xeno? Xeno: No... I'm staying here. There's someone I need to protect.

that’s a pretty romantic way of saying “Holmes made me look after the idiot who summoned all these zombies”

anyways, let’s do what really should be a habit by now and root around for what convos we can do in this map, hm?

well, would you look at that, there’s also someone he needs to talk to

anyways, Katri is now safely behind our lines and any zombie that rushes her is about to get deleted, if they’re not already getting cut up from the top by the flier squad

oh, my! it’s those pirates Holmes made fun of! who woulda thunk??

our next Lootcrate (TM) gets us... a wing potion? what is this, does it turn you into a flier?

ooh, I see, it’s speedwings juice. man, kaga really won that lawsuit, huh?

I got them talk, it was slightly sweet but not particularly interesting

oh no, whatever shall we do about some lugs with axes and the like 3 zombies we haven’t destroyed yet

the thieves do present a small problem but the flier squad is on it

perhaps quite literally

so have I pointed out the generic enemy that really looks like Jesse yet? I don’t remember but here’s Jesse

he’s too chivalrous to hit Esther even

so, was the objective to get Runan up to the fort? because I think that’s gonna take a while

ah well, I’m like less than 50% on the looting so far too

huh, ‘s he done dropping off pirates?

Pirate Boss: I'm takin' this lovely lady back to base. You wimps better not screw up, y'hear? Other Pirate: Heh heh... You never change, boss.

is he talking about the ship?? because I swear to fucking god

Pirate Boss: Still a bit shaken up, eh? Don't you worry, darlin'. I'll show you to your new home!

oh, alright, it’s a literal lovely lady. hi there, not ishtar! are you, perchance, a secret tool that will help us later?

up and away goes his boat, ever so comically smaller than mine

oh no, runan’s path is blocked, whatever shall he do to get to holmes

mcfrakkun lose it is what he’s gonna do!

now that’s more like it!

omae wa

mou shindeiru

nani?!

look at this. look at this bullshit! mediocre STR, sure, but he’s doing what every myrmidon does and he’s looking bulky doing it

and Runan makes the climb, but there are still like 4 lootboxes waiting for me

oh shit, this reinforcement spawn was entirely unannounced. thankfully, there are woods around and these zombies can’t hit the sun on a clear day, so Juni should be safe, but her 1 STR is going to make this take forever

oh well, if she takes the EXPinãta, we might get to see what she’s really made of?

baby fights! baby fights! baby fights!

oh my god are they just gonna keep spawning?? is this punishment for taking forever with the chests?? am I actually really playing Fire Emblem: Binding Blade??

oh well, the two of you losers have one last shot at getting EXP off anything

meanwhile, on the pirate-killing front, Martel shows not a sign of chill while getting a level

and it goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on

and her STR continues to be 1, although at least now she can dodge harder and is on the path to holding weapons with more Mt

Katri’s first level looks nice! having dragon heritage in a kaga game does you that one-

and this Sasha level looked entirely underwhelming except now she can keep up with Runan in dropping chill and I bet she can proc it more often too

a dab on the piñata! but the subsequent level-up still isn’t saving her combat stats whatsoever

and now that Sasha dropped her chill...

... she just ain’t picking it back up

seriously what did katri do

at least I have that there loot now, time to pull 1 STR out of there and leave everyone else to the EXP sponges

aw, I put the fear of bench into those cavaliers, that’s cute

and Juni gets one more contribution to dodging good while still having 1 STR

and a piñata gives her another one; she gets even DEF but not STR, no siree

oh my god this has been going on for so long. the cavs both got two more levels and it’s a wash on both counts

and another one down

and another one down

and another one bites th- wait, is that who I think it is?

oh my god he’s going to have such a bad time

fuck thunder magic specifically I guess

time to put an end to this apocalypse! next up, we’ll see what the wordy end cutscene is this time

[6ad6ro]

time-travelling-bee2

replied to your post

“dark souls an analysis of every game in the dark souls series by a big...”

Honestly, I feel a bit of your points are off. The first, exceedingly minor thing, is that you seem to be confusing "smurfs" and "twinks." If you were to ban all smurfs, then noone could make a new playthrough Well, first of all, I don’t feel Dark Souls 1 is that cheap. You never gave any examples other than O&S (which are clearly supposed to be taken on with a summon, you even get Solaire if you’re offline), though I can easily imagine Capra and their dogs as one. Maybe even Nito, because of the skeletons (though this is more of a stretch, and then wouldn’t you also have to throw in DS3’s Curse-Rotted Greatwood? That’s even worse, since it’s mostly invulnerable) Next, the healing. Sure, you couldn’t grind for estus flasks, but you didn’t need to. You got them for free. I honestly found it a major annoyance moving from DS1 to 2 that I HAD to grind, since you only had 1 to start with. And even if 20 estus flasks every bonfire wasn’t enough, you actually COULD grind for healing items in the form of humanity from rats (or skeleton babies). Besides, in DS2, enemies stop respawning, so you can’t REALLY grind at all. As for DS2, while you might just call me another one of “those elitists who hate DS2 for making it easier,” a lot of my gripes are actually changes making it harder. Like how every enemy has ungodly tracking, how your health decreases every time you die (and you can’t even see your current health, only the maximum), the ability to be invaded while hollow, the general lack of stat points at sl1 despite the highest number of stats, what feels (to me) like abnormally high stat requirements for weapons, insane fall damage, etc. Also, Soul Memory. Made me constantly afraid to do anything but level up, because it’s all permanent. Can’t buy consumables, those won’t last. Can’t buy arrows or bolts, those won’t last. Can’t upgrade weapons, “What If I don’t like it?” And if you die, and lose all your souls? You’re fucked. Because every soul you get counts, even the ones that aren’t doing anything to help you. And you know who tend to be the ones who can spend souls the most efficiently, get the most bang for their buck?The ones who have it all planned out beforehand.The ones who are skilled. The smurfs. Newbies, at the same power level, will have a much higher memory, due to wasting money from dieing, upgrading useless weapons, and grinding for items/consumables they need to progress.But smurf/twink invaders can grind for free, infinitely, with the right ring and cov.                             I will agree that Dark Souls 1 is twink hell, but I still feel that Dark Souls 3’s system is the best, since it looks at upgrade level as well as actual level. Sure, there’s still rings, but those are generally balanced out by the numerous boons hosts have (more health, increased estus (even if the twink has max estus), summons/way of blue, giant’s seed). It’s less an ant versus an elephant, more an ant versus a cat. But the ant can summon infinite elephants(by pasword)

TLDR - prob to be expected, but i disagreed with a lot (but not all) of your counterpoints. most of your issues with ds2, while valid, seem to stem from you not knowing about “company of champions”, causing you to make things needlessly hard on yourself. i think the term “twink” is a kinda gross term so i don't use it. also tiny warning i’m in a bad mood rn lol, so v srry if i came off a bit harsh! ironically i just got done uninstalling ds2 ps4 bc it’s pure shit and i’ve had enough (hence the “bad mood”). oh and even tho you’re kinda criticizing me, ty for reading what i wrote and responding? anyways i’m gonna put my full reply under a cut bc it’s gonna be super long srry.

so “twink” is sorta homophobic, or at least it’s origins. i’m not gonna use a slur from within the gay community, that was already mildly gross, that was then appropriated by shitty edgelord gamer culture “bc homophobia is funny”, to label a very bad aspect of games. it’s a bit trashy no matter how you look at it. so i say “smurf”, esp considering the terms are pretty interchangeable. there is no real “correct” term bc it’s slang and opinions are divided across the net. but at least smurf came first. from starcraft pros who used “papasmurf” (and other variants) as their alt and would grief new players by pretending to be new and bad. but then halfway through the match they’d switch gears completely and just stomp all over them to get a negative reaction.. what makes a smurf (or whatever you wanna call it) a smurf is the intent of griefing and never intending for it to be a fair fight, not just that they happen to be better than the other player. it’s the intent to bully and make the other person mad. smurfing is premeditated. and really fucking pathetic. so anyways... souls 1. uhh i... did give other examples besides o&s? do you mean just examples of bad bosses? bc sure i can list a bunch. i swear i mentioned gargoyles. but also fucking 4 kings. capra, sure. nito kinda rly sucks. wolf is way too harsh. gwyn is actually really awful too, but he’s last boss so i give him a pass. also, tho i’m cool with it, people really hate bed. the rest of the bosses aren’t nearly as cheap, but they’re still usually way harder than bosses in any of the other games save a few examples. imo “the show isn’t worth the price of admission”. and the run to the fights themselves were usually unreasonably tough/long. so about the summoning. you know the game. you played it a ton and learned through countless mistakes, or you researched it a ton online (watched letsplays maybe). average people? they don’t do that. most people expect single player games to explain themselves within the game to a point. so a lot of people didn’t/won’t have access to solaire. or understand summoning. i would say most people won’t have humanity at that point having died so much. you, and many other souls fans, can fail to realize how unique and specific your situation is that allowed you to now consider stuff like this as fair or balanced or obvious, when in reality it’s totally cheap and grueling and incomprehensible.. i’ll elaborate on this aspect more later, but there is a common issue with people who love and defend souls that they have... very little self awareness in regards to this game? a lack of empathy for how others would handle the same situations. sorry i’m not saying this is you for certain i’m just... making an assumption based on the huge amount of people who defend souls, ds1 especially. but my point is, most people? solo o&s. with a really low level bc they died so much. and they just quit. bc it’s super hard even WITH solaire and a high level. bc it’s a horrible place for that fight. two of the hardest individual bosses at the same time plus a super boss after you beat one. awful. why are they harder than p much all bosses that come after them? why are they there? it’s a big stupid badly designed brick wall that murders fun for most people. umm wait but greatwood is so moderate (comparatively). you played ds3 right? greatwood gets stunned by every weakpoint break. it’s weak points might trick you once but you figure it out quickly bc it’s pretty visually obvious. mobs are comparatively simple and he kills his own mobs. he’s a big slow dumb idiot and his mobs stop half way into his fight. actually you know what? sure. tree kinda sucks too. i could see people having issues easily. but the health and damage are so low that, when combined with how r1-spam-friendly and forgiving ds3 is, it’s just not the same. i see your comparison to gravelord but imo tree is insanely easier. kinda like how the gargoyles fight in ds2 was so much easier than the one in ds1 even tho there were way more actual gargoyles in 2? bc the fight itself was inherently less dangerous in every way even though visually/thematically it was similar. again, most of your opinions on how to mitigate difficulty in ds1 actually come from super non-obvious stuff. do you know how many people never kindle their bonfires even once? or knew humanity healed you? that aside, you know what’s better than even 20 estus? 10 estus and 99 inexpensive lifegems you can just replace as much as you want. that sell from an impossible to miss npc. and ftr, 20 estus (if you even had that bc most don't), STILL isn’t enough usually. considering the insane damage bosses and normal enemies give. you have normalized souls levels of difficulty and forgotten what even 16 bit era games are like. you could have unlimited estus and still die in any souls easily, new player or not. oh uhh lastly you know enemies DO actually have unlimited respawn in ds2 right? it’s optional. you just join “company of champions” and enemies unlimited respawn. making the regular respawn limit simply make the game WAY easier by letting you grind enemies away “forever”. great for grinding souls, items, and not worrying about killing off all your potential souls while clearing an area for the boss run. or just getting rid of particularly bullshit spawns. but tbh again i don’t blame you for not knowing, seeing how souls makes all their games artificially way more difficult by doing stuff like this lol. in a way, this alone may be imo the BEST argument you have against my opinion that ds2 was much easier than ds1. i’m really glad you brought up this design flaw like i’m sure what you experienced happened to a lot of others at least on some level. i’d only call you one of “those elitists who hate DS2 for making it easier” if that’s what you are. bc most ds1 fans? souls fans in general? are like that. elitist. pretentious. insanely competitive. if you didn’t like the other changes to ds2 bc it was different than 1 and that’s what you were used to, then that’s super fair! i recently saw someone find ds3 way harder than 2 bc the action was different. it’s fair. but you remember. you know your fanbase. you know all the message boards replying to valid questions with “git gud” and “it’s really not hard at all” etc. you may not be one of those people, but at least be aware of the souls fanbase? there’s a GOOD reason it’s starting to get criticized so often. sort of an aside but still related... if i remember correctly in ds2 miya (he was still involved) was considering putting in difficulty settings until the fanbase lost their shit. that’s another confusing things that ds1 fans did that confused me. didn’t they get that company of champions was the obvious way to bring back souls 1 difficulty? tho it was a bit obtuse for sure. the “normal/easy/hard” difficulties woulda been objectively better for everyone. uhh your specific complaints abut ds2 tho... no you’re right about most of them like even if you don’t realize a few can be mitigated? like being invaded while hollow well people can just go offline completely. do sl1 stats rly matter other than to very specific sl1 runs? it’s valid, but will never come up as an issue for 99% of people. you level up v fast in ds2, to the point i’d say you get two levels per 1 in ds1? leveling up late game in ds1 is so tough compared to 2. soul memory was great bc it murdered smurfing. if i remember correctly ds1 and des had a bunch of hidden shit that acted like soul memory anyhow? it wasn’t until bb and ds3 that that kind of stuff had less of an impact, which of course brought back the smurfs in ds3. i hate to say it but soul memory should ONLY be an issue to less hardcore or newer players if they wanna keep co-oping with each other? it seems like you might have been super worried about pvp stuff or other advanced things... which tbh is REALLY not for the average person. lack of pvp made nothing "harder” exactly. again, plz remember my whole analysis was geared towards newer players wanting to give souls a try? predominantly pve-specific stuff. aw man you weren’t leveling up weapons (or gear) in 2? weren’t buying arrows or healing items? i mean it really wasn’t that expensive... i guess i could see ds2 being rly hard with such a handicap. i’m still super confident that ds1 without upgrades is way harder than ds2 (i know from experience tbh), but nonetheless that sounds rough. try and look at the mistakes you made with your ds2 playthrough and apply that same exact stuff to someone else with ds1. all i can really say to that is souls once again failed by design. THIS kind of stuff is why i criticize the parts of the series that i do. you seem to know so much about the series, but yet you still make huge seemingly basic mistakes. don’t you see the big issue here? i forgot to bring up the constant health loss at death. yeah, it sucks. it does. i’m glad that was removed in 3 (wasnt it? lol). BUT! human effigies were a hell of a lot more plentiful than humanity was. they were  easier to understand and manage as well? built-up humanity loss was a much harsher punishment than the slow loss of max health until you used one of your (comparatively) plentiful effigies in 2. um again smurfs aren't just experienced players starting a new char. that’s just an alt. or a new game. unless they intend to grief people and play unfairly they aren’t smurfs or anything like that. in all my ds2 play i only rarely ran into people who were way way out of my skill range (due to soul memory), but i can kinda see why you’d be unhappy? then again, compared to ds1 there’s not much comparison since there was like not much to stop the real smurfy stuff. you at LEAST had soul memory to protect you a little bit. also people not knowing about company of champions aside...  even tho i wasted a ton of souls through death or buying consumables or lvling up items in my first ds2 run... and never used company of champions until endgame (when souls are fairly negligible)... i still wound up beyond “over-leveled” by the vanilla endgame? don’t get me wrong, ds2 is flawed and i think it needs co-op through the entire thing to be really great. i think i mentioned demons was a better game solo? but i still think ds2 is worlds more accessible than ds1. yeah ds3 handles invasion better than ds1. agree. but ds3 is so so popular still and ds1... well it’s still played but it’s different. ds3′s awful smurf problem being better than ds1′s in comparison? doesn’t remove ds3′s issue in general. i am by no means “great” at souls, but i have crazy experience under my belt. i can outplay most smurfs. i usually do to a significant level. but when i hit a smurf invader 25 times and they don’t need to heal yet... and then they finally hit me once and i lose 2/3 my health... all your arguments fall apart. it’s definitely NOT a fair fight in any way regardless of the “advantages” i have as the host when a havel cosplayer wanders into my starting zones. and then a nameless king. and then just a completely naked smurf named “the hulk” that is totally naked besides a pyromancy flame that it punches with. that i can barely damage and still wrecks me hard per punch. they’re basically cheating. but just to be clear this is not an issue if you aren’t trying to do a co-op playthrough with a friend tho. two low levels can’t take on a smurf no matter how skilled they are. so either you annoyingly work around it, or one of you brings in their high level char. which of course causes any invading smurf to suicide the moment they see the high level. every. single. time. bc they’re all pathetic bullies. THIS is the problem. and the devs had a million ways to keep this from happening. but they either like it bc miya will always be a sick sadist, or they just don’t care too much. honestly the first areas or two should just have an option to be locked out of invasions while still being able to co-op... p much the ONLY people who enjoy it are smurfs. sure, i could technically go online and find a high lvl friend (if i had one) to stop an annoying invader. but don’t you see how absurd that is? having to run to message boards or something bc another user is literally keeping you from playing the game? that’s a horrible solution to a shitty problem. it’d be like i had a family picnic, and some idiot rolled up in a bulldozer and plowed right into our table and just sat there. your solution is like saying “oh whatever nbd just call the cops its fine”. well no it’s not fine. bc our day was ruined and we had to call the cops. people who are doing co-op playthroughs don’t give a SHIT about artificial competition, they just want to team against the ai and have a good time. smurf invaders ruin that. devs made multiplayer in souls confusing and absurd enough already like we didn’t need more issues? it’s just too bad bc souls co-op, when it works, is some of the best pve co-op in any game? but souls devs are so obsessed with this artificial difficulty and vague bullshit they let it ruin all the fun. it’s just horrible design. objectively bad. i love ds3 but this part is v disappointing.

[dricaswrites]

Game of the Year 2016: Has There Ever Been a Better Time to Play Video Games? The Answer May Surprise You!

This article has also been posted to my blog on the website Giant Bomb. You can read it there as well if you’d like.

Hey, internet. You might remember me from such hit gaming crit pieces like the game of the year list I wrote last year, or the 0 other things I wrote about games because I’m a lazy idiot and I didn’t have the time or energy to write anything else in the time from then till now. Woops. I meant to write more, I swear.

Anyways, a lot of bad, scary shit happened this year and I’m sure if you possess both a heartbeat and the ability to understand communication about the outside world you know that already, so attempting to address any of that in a silly video game ranking list seems like a bad idea. But if we were to judge 2016 purely by how good its video games were (which, as we all know, is the only metric that matters), I’d say 2016 was a pretty good year.

So good, in fact, that I kind of feel bad that I either didn’t even get the chance to play certain games, or that I wasn’t as into certain other games that others seemed to love. Sorry, DOOM, I just don’t love you the way everyone else does. I appreciate your tongue-in-cheek tone, fast-paced action, and the mere fact that a critically acclaimed Doom game exists in 2016, but you just didn’t click for me. Sorry Civilization VI and Dark Souls III, you both surprised me that I actually liked you, given that I didn’t care for Civilization V or any of the other Souls games, but you’re both unfortunate victims to me just plain liking other games better than you. And finally, sorry to Planet Coaster, Thumper, Titanfall 2, Brigador, Watch Dogs 2, Darkest Dungeon and probably a few more I’m forgetting. I just didn’t have the time and/or money to get to play much of any of you. I probably would have liked at least a few of you if time and money weren’t obstacles.

But enough doom and gloom and apologia. It’s time to get to the games I enjoyed the hell out of in 2016.

11. Death Road to Canada

Adding Death Road to Canada to this list feels a bit weird to me. Not because I don’t enjoy it – I do, quite a bit, actually. It’s just that despite how much I enjoy my time playing it, it’s a hard game for me to recommend.

For those of you that don’t know what the game is, the premise is as follows: After a zombie apocalypse destroyed most nations on Earth, only Canada exists as a last bastion of uninterrupted civilized life. You play as a group of up to four either custom made, randomly generated, or rare special event survivors as you make your increasingly difficult trip through generic American towns seeking shelter in Canada. Throughout your trip, you’ll fight off zombies, gather supplies, build your survival skills up, and try to have your group of survivors not kill or double cross each other. It’s essentially Oregon Trail but with zombies (and way better than the other game that tried to do the same thing).

Despite the premise, the game is pretty goofy, with jaunty 8-bit rockabilly tracks and humorous dialog and events littering the death road. Which is actually one of the first reasons I might not recommend it for everyone, actually. The comedic writing hits more than it misses, but when it misses, boy does it miss. Between its actually funny original writing there’s the occasional joke that’s referential for the sake of being referential, as well as enough jokes about Canadian stereotypes that it’s actually occasionally grating.

The combat in it could also be better. It’s essentially one button to attack, with your character’s effectiveness with their weapon of choice (as well as their stamina and ability to repeatedly use it, if it’s a melee weapon) being based on said character’s stats. It works, but it might be a bit too shallow for some.

But despite that, I still really, really enjoyed most of the time I spent playing this game this year. The game’s RPG mechanics are actually surprisingly well done, with much of your characters’ stats being initially hidden until it actually comes time for them to use them. The random events that happen between resource gathering missions are usually pretty funnily written and occasionally oddly humanizing in their pettiness, involving things like arguments over who let a nasty fart rip in the car, or what song to play on the radio. Sometimes, some of your characters will even be bummed out if you do something good like help other survivors with no reward if they’re assholes. It’s things like that that give the game its real charm and appeal to me, and what gets me invested in making sure my group of survivors makes their way to Canada.

I’ve already written way more than I expected to about this game, so I’ll close by saying that despite the relatively low amount of songs in the game’s soundtrack leading it to be a bit repetitive, what’s in there is pretty stellar. This one in particular is my favorite.

10. Superhot

Superhot is probably one of the most stylish and cohesive games I’ve ever played. It’s very short, but only because it doesn’t need to be any longer. It busts down your door, delivers a gut punch of stylized hyperviolence, then puts a shotgun under your chin and blows your head off with its unexpectedly off-the-wall narrative, leaving you shattered in pieces by the time it’s done like the many red, featureless enemies featured throughout the game.

In other words, Superhot is the most innovative shooter I’ve played in years.

9. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2

For me, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is the video game equivalent of comfort food. I’ve already stated in my list last year for the previous installment in this game series how I have a kind of nostalgia for Dragon Ball Z, fueled by how often I watched it with my brother when we were kids. Playing Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 takes me back to the show’s overly dramatic storylines and over the top battles that are endearingly cheesy to watch as an adult.

But this sequel has quite a bit more going for it than pure nostalgia factor. The mission structure feels much more smartly designed than its predecessor. I’ve also felt like there’s just overall more to do in this sequel than I did with the last game. I’m not sure if there’s actually more side quests or if the game has just guided me through all it has to offer better than the last one did, but the end result is the same.

Sure, the combat is still pretty button mashy, but that almost feels appropriate to the source material. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 isn’t the deepest fighting game ever (and probably not even a fighting game at all but I don’t give a shit about that argument at all), and I don’t know if someone who doesn’t have at least a bit of reverence for the Dragon Ball universe would enjoy playing it, but none of that matters to me. It makes me feel all warm and happy inside when I play it and I love it for that.

8. Pokémon Moon

Despite considering myself a fan of the Pokémon franchise, I haven’t played most of the Pokémon games. My first was Pokémon Red/Blue when I was a kid. Being a certified 90’s Baby™, I was the perfect age to fall in love with both that game and the cartoon that spawned from it.

After I stopped watching the show or caring about the first game, I lapsed on playing any Pokémon games all the way until Pokémon X/Y came out a few years ago. While I enjoyed that game for what it was, in a lot of ways it felt like it was clinging onto to a few old design decisions, either out of complacency or some misguided notion of what a game in the series should be. I kind of checked out on playing it before I beat it, likely because of how clunky it could be at times.

With Pokémon Sun/Moon, it feels like Game Freak has learned this lesson and made the game feel a lot more like a modern video game, at least for the most part. There’s still a few weird clunky bits and questionable design decisions here and there (I’m looking straight at you, theoretically infinite calling-for-help mechanic), but overall, it’s much more pleasant to both navigate and play. For example, once you battle an individual Pokémon at least one time, the next time you battle the same type of Pokémon, the game will tell you which of your moves will be super effective, effective, or not effective. Quality of life improvements like that have gone a long way in improving my experience with the game.

The game’s fake Hawaii setting of Alola is also a really pleasant place to be. Everything about it from the music to the palm trees and tropical clothing make the game just feel chill, man. It’s an inviting world that was a joy to visit every time I launched the game this year.

Also Team Litten 4 lyfe

7. Stellaris

I’ve been a huge fan of the Paradox style of grand strategy games ever since Crusader Kings II stole many hours of my life a few years ago. Since then, I’ve spent countless more hours in Paradox’s other offerings, such as Victoria II and Europa Universalis IV. But despite how much I enjoyed their more historically-oriented offerings, I always felt like they could apply this formula to more fantastical settings.

So needless to say, when Stellaris was announced, I was super excited for it. So much so that it almost feels like a bit of a disappointment that it’s not higher (lower? How do lists work) on my list. A relatively shaky launch marred with an almost nonexistent midgame and a few technical issues soured me a bit on the game initially.

That being said, after a few post-release patches addressing this and a few other balancing issues, the game feels like it’s most of the way to where it should be. The political ethos system you can set for your race at the start of the game is the perfect springboard for thinking about how you want to roleplay your empire, which has been the most enjoyable part of the game for me. It’s easy to get lost for hours playing the game and tackling any issues that come your way how you think your empire would handle them, not necessarily how you would personally handle them.

I still wish the game had the political and economic complexity of Victoria II and the depth of character of Crusader Kings II, but nonetheless Stellaris has been another Paradox grand strategy title worthy of the hours it’s sucked from my life.

6. My Summer Car

So, I know what you’re probably thinking seeing this game on my list. This has gotta be a joke, right? Nobody would enjoy this clunky, bizarre mess of a game enough to have it on their game of the year list, right?

Believe me, I felt similarly when I first started playing My Summer Car. The premise and all the pre-release trailers almost made it feel like a joke game, like your Surgeon Simulators or your Goat Simulators. But at some point during my time with My Summer Car, it stopped being a joke for me.

At least not entirely. It’s still a game with a dry, distinctly Finnish sense of humor, but the  crude humor almost belies the game’s mechanical depth. When you’re putting your car together, you literally have to put your car together, piece by piece, bolt by bolt. It’s strangely therapeutic to put your digital hoopty together. There’s a real sense of accomplishment once you finish your build and fire your car up for the first time.

What’s great is the fact that your car will always kind of be a piece of shit in My Summer Car. When I first started my car up after my initial build, the car kept making a horrifying grinding sound. Also it was eating through brake fluid like nobody’s business. It felt like I was really struggling to put a piece of shit old car into a semi-drivable state.

It’s an extremely janky game for sure, but its intricate car building mechanics punctuated with bizarre Finnish pop songs and copious amounts of drinking make My Summer Car legitimately one of the most unique video games I’ve ever played. I can’t wait to see it come out of early access.

5. Motorsport Manager

In a lot of ways, Motorsport Manager is the game I’ve wanted to make for years. Ever since I got into F1 thanks to Giant Bomb’s Alt+F1 podcast, I dreamed of a modern F1 management game that had Crusader Kings II-like traits for all the characters in the game. To be fair, there have definitely been well-received F1 management games made in the past, but Motorsport Manager is a great, modern take on the idea.

A deep set of skills and traits make a lot of the drivers that populate your game’s race world feel unique. If your driver is a bit of a primadonna, they could refuse any orders you attempt to give to them, as they want all the glory for themselves. Drivers can fall in and out of love with each other, which affects their relationships with each other as well as their performance.

It’s not just a spreadsheet game, either. Outside of the more menu driven ways you micromanage the more minute details of your team, you also manage your race strategy on the fly during the actual race. You decide when your drivers pit, as well as when they push their cars to the limit and when they ease off to conserve fuel and car part wear.

There’s a few problems I have with the game, such as the fact that, despite the game’s use of fictional drivers, the pool of rookies and drivers signed to teams at the start of the game is set in stone and not randomly generated, meaning you can just remember which drivers and staff members are good to sign at the start of every game, rather than a more dynamic hiring process that randomly generated drivers and staff would allow. There’s also a few issues the race AI has in regards to respecting blue flags, making overtakes when they have the opportunity to, and making pit stops that make sense.

But a few minor quibbles didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the game that much. The loop of the game is engrossing enough that I often found myself playing the game for hours on end without intending to, telling myself that I’d play for just one more race. It’s got some room for improvement for sure, but Motorsport Manager is pretty much everything I want out of an F1 management game.

4. American Truck Simulator

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found myself appreciating games that embrace mundanity more and more. Games like American Truck Simulator appeal to me because I feel like it respects me enough to simply enjoy driving in the space between towns that are often ignored in games. There’s probably a million different ways that SCS Software could have made the game feel more “gamey”, like the boring racing and other types of minigames that other open world games have at such a rate that it almost feels like they are required to by law, but they didn’t. The game doesn’t cut down the long and winding roads between major cities out of a fear of a lack of excitement. Rather, it revels in those spaces.

The game currently simulates California, Nevada, and Arizona, with plans to eventually get to the rest of the country stated by the developers. Despite this relatively large area, the world of American Truck Simulator is surprisingly detailed. Little bits of personality like roadside sculptures made from propane tanks, burned out hotels with bare mattresses laid on the floor, and billboards around Las Vegas for divorce lawyers are littered all over, making the world feel more lived in than you might expect from a game like this.

It’s a game that many people describe as a “podcast game”, and while that’s not an inaccurate statement, I prefer to make a playlist of my favorite sad, slow, contemplative songs and hit the road. There’s in-game internet radio, much like Euro Truck Simulator 2, and while it’s fun to listen to hokey country music stations and the like, there’s a certain zen-like state that my mind goes to when driving down long highways and through small towns while listening to my playlist that kept me wanting to come back to this game throughout the year.

I can’t wait for them to expand the game’s map as time goes on (especially into Illinois, which is my neck of the woods), and I definitely see myself coming back to this game to explore more of this digital version of the States for a long time.

3. Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley came completely out of left field to me. I didn’t follow the game’s development process, only first hearing about it once it had already came out and was generating a lot of positive buzz. I didn’t play any of the Harvest Moon games before, so I don’t have any particular nostalgia or affinity for this type of game, so I wasn’t really sure if I’d like it or not. Imagine my surprise when it ended up being one of my favorite games of the year.

The game’s premise is fairly simple. You inherit a farm after your grandfather’s death, available for you to move to whenever your corporate cubicle farm job gets to be too much. After taking up this offer and setting off for the titular town, you have to turn the overgrown remains of your grandfather’s farm into something he’d be proud of, all the while making friends and lovers with the town’s residents along the way.

It’s a bit of an overly romantic view of country life as simple living, but that’s easily forgivable. The game is charming as hell, with so many different things you can do and unlock that it’s mindblowing that the game was made by one person. Throughout my time in Stardew Valley, I’ve never felt like I didn’t have anything to do. Quite the opposite in fact, as I usually felt like there was a glut of different things I could do at any given time, even after sinking dozens of hours into the game.

I’m a sucker for games with a lot of heart and empathy in them, both of which are qualities that Stardew Valley possess. There’s really humanizing moments to be had with characters that are homeless, suffer war-induced PTSD, alcoholism, depression, and more. The game doesn’t really turn its nose up at many of the characters and make them 100% irredeemable assholes, even if they might appear that way at first glance.

Given that it appears that I haven’t even seen close to what the game offers combined with the fact that the game keeps getting additional content added in via updates, I can see myself getting lost in Stardew Valley well into the new year and beyond.

2. Overwatch

I’ve kind of fell off competitive shooters as I’ve gotten older. I used to play games like Halo and Rainbow Six: Vegas all the time when I was younger, but their appeal to me waned after high school. I’ve definitely put some time into a few of them over the years, especially after getting my own gaming PC a few years back, but not like I used to.

Because of that, I wouldn’t exactly say that I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed Overwatch, but it’s the most I’ve enjoyed a competitive shooter in years. Nearly everything about the way the game is designed seems like it was made to minimize the feeling of letting your team down that turns many away from competitive shooters. The game rarely highlights your shortcomings to your team, instead opting to show everyone the best play of the game and several cards with the players that did the best at the end of every match.

The different heroes in the game (which are basically just classes) not only give you many different ways to play the game, but also inject lots of personality into the game as well. It doesn’t too long of searching through any social media site’s gaming tag to find the myriad of fan art and jokes that build off of the different personalities that inhabit the world of Overwatch.

There’s also been a good amount of post-release content as well, with new heroes and new maps joining the fray at a pretty frequent rate. It’s enough to get me back into competitive shooters and make Overwatch one of my favorite multiplayer shooters in recent memory.

1.  Hitman

After 2012’s Hitman: Absolution failed to recognize what made previous games in the franchise so good, I cynically thought there’d never be another good Hitman game. I was so sure that games like Hitman: Blood Money could never be made in the modern games industry, at least not with the budget and team size needed to make it truly great. So if anything, Hitman has taught me to not be so cynical about the state of the games industry, as it is an incredible game.

With it, IO Interactive has found a way to have their cake and eat it too in regards to being both highly accessible for players new to the franchise and deep enough to hold the interest of veterans to the series. The challenges system is the perfect introduction to both any given map as well as the game’s mechanics, guiding you step-by-step through a hit designed by the developers. The brilliance of it is that through tackling these different challenges, you naturally learn the intricacies of the map and how the systems in the game interact through doing, not through some more boring and traditional tutorial system.

The masterful design doesn’t stop at the challenges system, either. Each map is designed to be just one or two steps away from mayhem, just waiting for you to spring the trap like a murderous game of Mouse Trap. And even where the designers didn’t intend for chaos to unfold, there’s enough of a variety of tools at your disposal to create your own brand of murder wherever and whenever you’d like.

While the episodic nature of the game was much maligned prior to its release, it actually ended up being one of the game’s strongest suits. The steady trickle of escalation missions and elusive targets punctuated by new map releases gave me plenty of reason to keep coming back to the game throughout the year. It makes the case for the episodic release structure better than any other game I’ve ever seen.

Speaking of elusive targets, I can’t end this piece without mentioning how incredible of an idea they are. For the uninitiated, they are one-time assassinations that are available only for a limited window of (real-life) time that you only have one chance to complete. If you mess it up or miss the window, it’s gone forever. This elimination of the safety net of save scumming and infinite retries makes elusive targets some of the most intense and rewarding things I’ve done in a video game all year. There aren’t many words that can describe the feeling of coming up with a plan and executing on it perfectly, all the while knowing that any slight misstep will lock you out of any future attempts and permanently mark your failure on your record.

Top to bottom, Hitman is a masterstroke of game design that not only lives up to the name of previous entries in the series, but far surpasses them. And with the prospect of a season two nearing us, it seems like the fun times in this world of assassination are just beginning.