This post (I published a similar one back in 2015.) focuses on those moments that left me humbled, surprised, embarrassed or simply grinning with absolute delight.

5. Under fire
The first time I entered a multiplayer map in SNIPER ELITE III frankly left me doubting my skills. I got maybe two kills with the SMG and was killed a dozen of times. But then, facing a bot instead of another actual gamer is indeed a totally different cup of tea. I am still no great fan of multiplayer mode, but I sometimes play, along with a fun team, and am mostly enjoying myself.

4. Keeping it real
While I am better now at shooting guns than I used to be, I actually feel more comfortable brandishing a sword than a rifle. But even though I think myself pretty good at swordplay – at least in games – , the ultra-hard combat system of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice impressed me nontheless. That moment when, after having vanquished wave after wave of different enemies during this intense battle I found myself quite unable to defeat the last five or six coming at me at very end of the level, that moment was crushing and frustrating and awesome all at once.

3. Victory at last
I keep repeating this, but I could not finish Thief, which I bought and played during the Christmas holidays in 2014 during my very first playthrough, because I had no idea how to bypass the last few enemies standing in my way to get to the final boss fight. Why? Because I wanted to do it stealthily. Now, a few weeks ago I finally (FINALLY!) finished the game and what a triumph! The happy grin plastered on my face stayed there for almost two minutes, I swear!

2. Safety first
Contrary to Thief, I have yet to finish Ghost Recon Wildlands. It is a fun game when playing with friends. The most memorable and most embarrasing missions, though, have to be my attempts at flying a plane while playing solo, supported only by my three bot teammates. See, there are some side missions that have you steal a plane loaded with supplies (read: kill every single enemy soldier guarding that plane first) and then fly it to a nearby rebel landing strip and bring it down safely. Which is more easily said than done. There was one time where I crashed the plane and actually drove it, that’s right, I drove it across fields, roads and hills, right up to the landing strip! But there was one attempt that ended even worse: the landing strip was situated on a tiny island in the middle of a huge lake. While banking the plane to get the angle right and not overshoot the landing strip, I dipped too far right and crashed the plane. My bot-buddies activated their parachutes like three meters above water level, which made them look ultra-ridiculous, the plane itself sank to the very bottom of the lake, yet the mission remained active. And no, you cannot dive down there and somehow fly it back up to the surface…

1. A New World
This year, I finally bought the PSVR bundle and was totally blown away. When first exploring the Ocean Descent in Playstation VR Worlds I was smiling the entire time, because the experience was truly awe-inspiring. I realise, of course, that to anyone watching me I must have looked like an absolute fool, with that headset covering my eyes and me turning this way and that to look around me inside the virtual world. The move motion controllers are also fun to use and I am looking forward to playing more VR games.

0. And she keeps on running and running and running… (Bonus-moment courtesy of my friend M.)
My friend M. is a total newbie when it comes to video games. Though she bought her Playstation only a few months after I got mine, she has played only a handful of games so far, one of which was Fallout 4. I haven’t played that game, but apparently you get equipped with some sort of power armor in the beginning. Unfortunately, M. managed to deplete all of the armor’s power ressources shortly before having to face a huge monster, a Deathclaw, I think it is called, which went right at her. She panicked and, since she had no idea what else to do, kept on running from the Deathclaw, until her avatar died of exhaustion… And here’s the cute thing about that episode: Her boyfriend (now husband) played Fallout 4 too, and he proposed to her by way of two Fallout 4 Funko Pop-figures, with Fallout-Boy presenting Fallout-Girl with an engagement ring… Cute, right?

Keep on playing!

Vanessa