Topic: Backlaugust 2025 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

[M.K.Ultra]

It's August already and time to chip away at those inexorable backlogs forum fans.

If you are new to the site, welcome, and just post about the games you are playing, beating, and completing in this month of August 2025. While we are still waiting on a final count from last year  , I am sure whatever it was we can top that this year. After all, the Switch 2 is out and if your like me you already have a backlog game for it 

So whether you are playing a Switch 2 game, wrapping up something else to get to a switch 2 game, or still firing all cylinders on that Switch 1 backlog, this is the place to be.

Backlaugust 2025 Results

• Half-Life 2: Episode One [M.K.Ultra]
• Sonic CD [M.K.Ultra]
• Monkey Barrels [M.K.Ultra]
• Dear Me, I was [RABicle]
• Project Highrise [RABicle]
• Resident Evil 5 [broodwars]
• Donkey Kong Bonanza [broodwars]
• Donkey Kong Bonanza [Lemonade]
• Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time [Mop it up]
• Monster Hunter Wilds [pokepal148]
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach [M.K.Ultra]
• Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition [Luigi Dude]
• Bendy & the Dark Revival [broodwars]
• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice [broodwars]
• Pumpkin Jack [broodwars]
• Blue Prince [broodwars]
• Enslaved Odyssey [Lemonade]
• BIT.TRIP.Rerunner [Lemonade]

[Khushrenada]

While we are still waiting on a final count from last year 

Yep, that has been on my to-do list for 11 months but I finally checked that off tonight. Does completing the hosting of a forum event count from a year ago count for Backlaugust? Maybe I should have waited one more day....

I've actually had Backlaugust on my mind from last week and was wanting to post something then to try and drum up support early. But then I remembered I still needed to tabulate things from last year so I wanted to get that done first. And now, M.K. Ultra has gone ahead and taken charge of the 2025 event just when I was about to tie pokepal148 for most hosted Backlaugusts.    

It's all good. If I don't have to host it then maybe I can just focus more on actually playing games this year.

[Khushrenada]

I know that the main thing I'm playing and looking to finish going into the event this year is XCX:DE. Getting close to completing it all. Storywise, I'm about to start Chapter 13 Act 2. Also have around 15 missions/quests to complete and nearing 100% of Mira. Cauldros is currently 100% done. I have one segment left in Oblivia, two in Noctilum, three in Primordia and a bunch to do in Sylvalum.

After completing XCX, not really sure what I'd want to do after. I'll admit I've been leaning towards diving into XC2 finally to see what that's all about but also not sure I want to do a dive into another long game again. Starting playing a bit of Metroid Fusion on the Switch GBA app because of it being a Mission for the Switch Online Icons and was really enjoying revisiting and diving back into that game having not played it in maybe 8 years. Perhaps I tackle some of the Switch Online Library games. We shall see.

[M.K.Ultra]

I rolled credits on Half-Life 2: Episode One yesterday. I played the game on Playstation 3 as part of the Orange Box compilation. Part sequel and part DLC, the game feels like the next 5-10 hours that would follow Half-Life 2. It is interesting the approach taken by Valve in putting out these episodes to extend the story of the second game. It has been a while since playing the second game and I have yet to play the first. I would have preferred more puzzle solving with the gravity gun and less combat, but overall I would recommend this to those that enjoyed the previous entries in the series. There are no trophies or collectibles here so beaten is equivalent with completed from what I can surmise.
Side note, I peeked at Team Fortress 2 and it won't start up at all since the servers are shut down. This means I just have Half-Life 2: Episode Two and The Orange Box will be complete. Still, I think I will save that for another day.

[Adrock]

I want to dust off my Switch 1 and roll credits on Another Code Recollection, both games. I'll continue my digital games on Switch 2. However, I want to see if I can avoid inserting a Game Card into the console entirely.

[RABicle]

Remember, it’s not a competition guys. But I am auditing my collection for games I’ve 90% finished to rack up as many credit screens as possible.

At the moment it’s looking like
Beyond Good and Evil 20th Anniversary Edition
Zelda: The New One You Play as Zelda
And maybe something else. I’ve heard Dear Me is like 40 minutes long. I might bully my partner into playing the rest of that black and white game about the fox and the dead too.

[Lemonade]

I can participate again this year.
Currently playing DK Bananza and Enslaved for 360.

Switch backlog
Little Kitty Big City
Stray. I already played this on Pc and Xbox, but I bought the physical on Switch and I want to replay it.
Lego Horizon Adventures

If I can finish all of these games in August, it would be great

[broodwars]

At the moment, I'm currently in the final stretches of my Platinum run of the PS4 version of Resident Evil 5, and I'm chipping away at DK Bananza as well. Might get some smaller games knocked out in the meantime as well.

[M.K.Ultra]

It is great to see some folks joining in the fun again this year!

I just rolled credits on Sonic CD for the first time. I played this on the Sega Genesis Mini 2. Normally I read through the manual before playing a retro game like this and really should have. There is a rather ambitious mechanic where you can shift to "future" and "past" versions of a level that I still don't quite understand. I think I get the bonus levels, needing 50 rings at the end of the level and then jump in the big ring, but that only happened once for me and did not lead to a chaos emerald. Hats off to anyone that can 100% complete this game.

The audio and visual quality is quite nice here, overshadowing the genesis games, but the level design still suffers from the usual issues. I think this is the first appearance of Amy and Metal Sonic in the games. Definitely recommended for fans of 2D Sonic.

[M.K.Ultra]

I completed Monkey Barrels on Switch a couple days ago. This was another short game, though my Switch profile still just says "First played 7 days ago", so I don't have a time estimate from the console, but I would say it took 5-10 hours. This is a twin stick shooter from the fine devs at Good-Feel. Overall the game controls well and has an interesting set with two main weapons, controlled with ZL and ZR, that have periodic cool downs *reloads* and two sub weapons, controlled with L and R, that have limited ammo. There is also a dodge button and manual reload button. For most of the game you can just get by with the basic weapons and no dodging, but the last couple boss battles get really tough and required me to experiment with different weapons and master the dodging. It would of been nice if that was a more gradual ramp up in difficulty but not a big deal.

The story and cut scenes are cute, especially if you like monkeys. I found the graphics during game play to be a little too blocky and blurry for my liking. This is where you can separate the quality of an independent Good-Feel game from a Nintendo supported Good-Feel game. In terms of completion, each regular level has four collectibles that are pretty easy to find so it was not much more work to get all those while playing the first time. There is also an online multiplayer mode but I could not get a game going due to lack of participation. If anyone does want to try this out let me know.

I am wrapping up a big game next and should have that done within the week.

[RABicle]

Guess what losers I just rolled the credits on Dear Me, I was. Gotta get those numbers up!
I also absolutely completed Project Highrise the other night. On the 8th. So that’s two games down and a bunch more to go. Probably do Beyond Good and Evil next.

[broodwars]

I have finished 2 games:

Resident Evil 5 (PS4) - Every once in a while, I like to replay an RE game to scratch that "horror shooter" itch, and I've been meaning to replay this one for a while now, as well as "the good version" (allegedly) of RE6. Having Platinumed this game once again, I have to say that this might be the most replayable game in the series from a pure mechanical perspective. The game's not the least bit scary, the difficulty scaling's all over the place, and the plot is just plain stupid, but it sure is fun to shoot these enemies in the face over and over again as you farm for treasure and higher difficulties.

RE5 does not give a **** what you need or want to do to complete it. Ran into a rough spot in the main game and you're low on ammo? Sure, you can replay an easier early level to replenish your stock. The devs don't care. Want to replay just a single chapter of the late game on other difficulties? Hey, it's your game. Go nuts. It's a very liberating game in that respect. Yes, there are FAR better RE games, but I can't think of any other game in the series that lets you play it however you want.

Donkey Kong Bananza - Finished this one last night, and considering this game was the entire reason I bought into the Switch 2 early I'm sad to say this game is just "good". It's not "great". It's kind of the quintessential 7.5 or 8 out of 10, largely because the game is so goddamn easy and takes so long to get interesting. IMO, the first 1/3 of the game is incredibly dull, because the only mechanics the devs decided to work with early on was "punch wall" and "punch floor". I'm sorry, but I didn't find the countless forgettable moons worthwhile in Odyssey, and I don't find the similar Bananas much better here, even if they do feel less random.

It doesn't help that the game will go to great lengths to build potentially interesting setups to Bananas, only for me to inadvertently smash through the back entrance through a wall or ceiling because I saw them on my radar and the radar doesn't distinguish between Bananas you're MEANT to tunnel through and ones you're meant to overcome an obstacle to get. The game starts designing Banana challenges surrounded by impenetrable material in the later areas, but by that point it's too little too late.

As the game goes on and it starts layering new materials with special properties and Bananzas with special abilities, it does get a LOT better but I don't find this entire "big open area with dopamine hits every 5 seconds"  design particularly satisfying. I prefer the older Nintendo/Rare style of collectathon where the major collectables were few in number but memorable and challenging.

At least the game ends in a particularly memorable fashion, though I don't think I'll bother with the post-game. I didn't really bother with it in Odyssey, either. I just don't feel any compulsion to replay areas I've already spent hours in just to do more busywork.

[Lemonade]

I also finished Bananza. It was good overall. It has some good moments and some boring moments and some mind blowing moments towards the end.
I liked it for the main quest. I wasnt interested in hunting for bananas. Eventually I also lost interest in the challenge rooms too.
It gets surprisingly difficult near the end with the boss battles.
I finished it with 254 bananas.

[broodwars]

I also finished Bananza. It was good overall. It has some good moments and some boring moments and some mind blowing moments towards the end.
I liked it for the main quest. I wasnt interested in hunting for bananas. Eventually I also lost interest in the challenge rooms too.
It gets surprisingly difficult near the end with the boss battles.
I finished it with 254 bananas.

By contrast, I believe I finished with 768 Bananas. I got all the Bananas you could get until finishing the game, along with all the fossils.

[Mop it up]

I won't be able to go whole-hog like I used to, but I should still be able to get a couple of completions on the board.

First up, I've got Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time for Xbox Series X. Since I recently wrapped up playing the Crash trilogy remake, I figured that I might as well get to this one while the series is still fresh enough in mind. It seems like a pretty faithful sequel for the fans, sticking with similar level designs and concepts for better or worse. I do appreciate the modern conveniences of removing the life system and having a persistent shadow underneath Crash at all times. I've rolled the credits and I don't think I'll be going back for the mirror stages nor other extras and cheevos, so I'm calling it finished here.

[pokepal148]

I hit credits on the story mode of Monster Hunter Wilds. I had played through the game on Xbox but I am kind of trying to move away from giving Microsoft money due to a combination of current events and the realization that I am not getting too much out of my Gamepass sub and so it makes sense to move away from the Xbox ecosystem as a whole because that's kind of all they have left. While my laptop struggled with the multiplayer betas, it seems to handle the full game pretty well, albeit at a much lower graphical fidelity than the Series X.

I can also use gyro aiming now that I'm not tethered to a console manufacturer who is stuck in 2005 in terms of controller features. That has been a pretty big deal, both for using the slinger and for the fact that I have picked up a light bowgun as my secondary weapon.

[M.K.Ultra]

With the month half over and some welcome support from longtime backloggers we have hit double digits on our score. Just nine more games to top last year 

I have another straw to add to the camel's back. I made my last delivery in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach on the Playstation 5. I started the game shortly after launch but just earned the Platinum trophy last week. This was my most anticipated game of the year and it did not disappoint. Despite large differences between this and Zelda and Horizon I could not help but compare it. Breath of the Wild, Zero Dawn, and Death Stranding were all 10's for me and in my top games of all time. They each had a sequel that was similar in style and while all improved on gameplay, I think only On the Beach really stuck the landing with a better narrative than the first.

My overall play time was 176 hours and while there was a little issue at the end with completion, the experience was still one of the best ever. From laughter to tears this game moved me to every emotional extreme. The gameplay loop was even more refined and satisfying. The new characters so developed that they seem real. The game is easily a 10 and my goty, but also possible my favorite game of all time now, though that might be recency bias.

While the game is better in almost every way and there is a story recap, I still recommend playing the first game first to truly appreciate the second game. Also, if you do get stuck at the end with the last trophy feel free to message me as I might have some tips. Cannot wait for the movie(s) and anything else Kojima does next.

[Luigi Dude]

After 4 months I'm finally done with Xenoblade X: Definitive Edition.  At first I told myself to just go through the main story so I could get to the new story content, but I got so wrapped up in the world that I eventually ended up going for 100% map completion again.

Here's my original thoughts for when I completed the original game on the Wii U over 8 years ago since I don't feel like retyping everyone again.

https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.625

For the most part I still really enjoyed the game, but I would say this game doesn't hold up as well on a second play through.  The biggest problem is this is by far the easiest Xenoblade game to completely break the combat once you realize what to do.  This made the first part of the game more fun in Definitive Edition since I was able to take on enemies over 20 levels higher then me earlier on, but this eventually lead to my characters becoming insanely overpowered, which made the rest of the game get kind of boring much quicker.  Of course because of this I was able to 100% the game much faster.  The original Wii U version took over 270 hours, while I was able to 100% Definitive Edition in over 145 hours, and that includes all the new story content as well.

Speaking of the new content, it's kind of a mixed bag if you ask me.  I like the actual new story content and it's great to have an actual ending to the game now with a much better emotional payoff after everything you've been through.  Of course I wish they could have handled said new content better.  You basically get a bunch of fetch quest on Mira to open up giant expo dumb cutscenes, and when you finally get to a brand new area to explore, the new area is kind of lame.  Very small area and all the enemies are just recolored version of old enemies.  Anyone expecting something like Bionis Shoulder from the Future Connected epilogue in Xenoblade: Definitive Edition like I was is going to be disappointed in that regard.  I'd say this version of Xenoblade X makes it pretty clear Monolith Soft isn't going to be making an X2 anytime soon so they just wanted to give fans of the original some kind of closure after a decade of waiting.  Overall I'm satisfied with the new ending but feel like it ruins some of the mystery they were setting up in the original game.

So at the end of the day Xenoblade X can still be a fun game, but I do feel on a second playthrough it's flaws become a lot more apparent, and while Definitive Edition does improve a lot of things, the overall game still had some massive issues.  I used to feel this was my favorite Xenoblade, but having played all the Xenoblade games on the Switch over the last 3 years, I'd say I now consider X to be the weakest in the series.  The world is still great to explore and I love how many of the side quest make NLA feel more alive than the other games.  This is the single reason I was even able to still put over 100 hours in the game again because I love the world they created and love being a part of said world.  But when it comes to the actual gameplay, it's lacking compared to the other games in the series.

[broodwars]

Oh, I hope y'all didn't have any notions of catching me anytime soon.  Gonna break these up for the sake of readability.

Bendy & the Dark Revival - The sequel to Bendy & the Ink Machine, a 1920s cartoon-styled 1st person stealth game I kinda liked despite the fact that it ran like absolute garbage back on the PS4 and ran off the rails altogether about halfway through. Well, here we are with the sequel and it's...somehow even worse on the technical front. The framerate is all over the damn place, event triggers are randomly bugged in absolutely bizarre ways, the game's Insta-kill Ink Demon can kill you even if you successfully hide through his appearance (especially lovely if you're going for a no-death run), enemies will randomly lock into place and T-pose, collision detection is more of a suggestion than a rule, the game will randomly crash, and if you save in a place the game doesn't like your save will get corrupted. Yes, even on console.

I haven't seen a game this fundamentally broken since the last time I played a Bethesda Game Studios game. I see you only paid for the best porting teams, Rooster Teeth!

What's sad is that when the game WORKS, it's actually pretty decent, although infuriating on hard mode. It's basically Budget Bioshock with the focus on exploration and scavenging, the art is still as strong as ever, and the voice acting is excellent. The basic design of the game is FINE, albeit (again) infuriating on Hard Mode where every single goddamn room has 3-5 patrolling enemies who can kill you in 2-3 hits even at the End Game. I know fans of the first game despise the Ink Demon not being a patrolling enemy anymore, but I vastly prefer this new system where he'll just randomly appear with a countdown timer for you to find a hiding spot. That said, the fact that you can't USE anything other than a special designated hiding spot if you've been spotted beforehand is annoying.

They just announced another Bendy game, and I hope this one finally releases in something approaching a competent technical state, because this franchise has always had artistic promise and apparently we're not going to get a new Bioshock anytime soon.

[broodwars]

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - I played this game back when it launched on PS4, but Microsoft recently released a free upgrade for the PS5 version so I figured I'd give the game another playthrough. It's a pretty short game and very straightforward. Overall, I still like the game, but playing it now I can't help but get the whiff of "Oscar Bait" off of it. Yes, the performance capture and voice acting are still incredible, but the gameplay is not especially good (combat in particular could use more nuance and variety); some parts of the game feel like they were never play-tested (the section where you have to run around scanning runes while an insta-kill fire demon chases you while ALSO slowing you comes to mind); and the way the game ends just...doesn't make a whole lot of sense however you look at it. Yes, the subtext of the game is as subtle as a brick to the face, but it's really not clear what actually happened by the end.

I didn't play the sequel and I don't plan to (I never though this game particularly needed one), but the original is an enjoyable enough experience.

Pumpkin Jack - Picked this one up a few months back after Austin Eruption highlighted it as an Indie spiritual successor to MediEvil, and at the time it was on sale for like...$5. Played through it in 1 sitting, and yeah...it's OK. This same team made Akimbot, a Ratchet & Clank knockoff I found rather frustrating a year or so ago, but I much prefer this one. I suppose I see the MediEvil resemblance, but IMO MediEvil (the remake, anyway) had more variety in its environments and combat encounters. This feels at times more like a spiritual successor to Gauntlet with all the enemy generators, crossed with the Nightmare Before Christmas (the main character being a walking corpse with a Jack O' Lantern head doesn't help).

The platforming is solid, but not particularly special. The combat's pretty terrible, with enemies feeling like they take way too many hits to down considering how many of them get spawned at once in the late game. I also could have done without both all the on-rails segments and especially the public domain Classical Music that plays during most of them. No, you're not allowed to just throw Flight of the Valkyries and the William Tell Overture during random Minecart and Chase Sequences. I don't care how much you jazz them up. Those songs are just way too recognizable to just throw into a game like this without expecting them to massively distract.

I did complete 1 other game...sorta...but I'm going to hold onto that one for a while. It's a live service game with a fixed story progression, so I may or may not consider it "cleared from my backlog" until I've gotten the Platinum in it.

[broodwars]

After 4 months I'm finally done with Xenoblade X: Definitive Edition...

Now there's one I'm going to inevitably have to reactivate into my backlog at some point. I only ever got an hour or so into the Wii U version, and after my external HDD failed I basically lost all interest in continuing play since I'd have to restart. Got to get through the other non-1 Xenos before I can get to X again.

At the moment, Xenoblade 3 is currently in my backlog but also Xenoblade 2, which is the game currently occupying my Switch 2 now that DK Bananza is done. That game's been something of my backlog's White Whale, as it's the game I just can't get myself to push through and finish. Last time I played it years ago, I got about halfway through Chapter 4. I'm whittling away at it (using that previous save), but I don't expect to finish it in time for the end of this game. Not sure I'd want to try, anyway, considering I'm nearing 40 hours in and I only just reached Chapter 5 (of 10).

By all rights, I should like this game better than I do, but it's just full of so many stupid little design decisions taht piss me off, from the Gatcha system on the Blades to the glacial pace of combat to the absolutely labyrinthine UI. I swear, picking the game up all these years later, I had to spend days figuring out how to play it again because Xenoblade 2 does not have a consistent Quest log. There are times when you just don't HAVE a main quest so you can remind yourself what you were even doing the last time you played (and which was the case when I picked the game back up. Fun). And so many high level enemies populating story areas low-level parties are meant to get through, seemingly turning environmental progression into whack-a-mole.

[broodwars]

Well. I wasn't expecting to add this one to the list.

Blue Prince - Yeah, it's this year's Indie Darling. After picking away at this game for a month or so and restarting it several times after I'd realized I'd inadvertently screwed myself due to not understanding how some of the game's mechanics worked...yeah, I finally managed a successful run, reaching Room 46 and triggering the Credits.



Felt like pure dumb luck that I managed to get a run where the RNG didn't screw me over and I got the rooms I needed with a protection against the negative effects of the room I REALLY needed.

Overall, I like the game, but I feel like the Roguelike elements clash badly with the puzzle box design of this game. I don't think it's fair to have a run fail in a Roguelike due to elements beyond the player's control. I feel like the player should always have some sort of fighting chance, and that's certainly not not the case here. While the player has a choice of what rooms get drafted next, you can randomly get fucked out of the materials you need to progress, and that's assuming you even noticed those materials as you went along. This is a game with very intricate puzzles that you do need to be keeping notes to complete, and yet it's also a timed game with heavy RNG elements and some important mechanics that the game will never explain and you're just expected to pull up a Wiki.

[Lemonade]

Finished Enslaved Odyssey to the West. I really enjoyed it, definitely my kind of action game. I liked the story and characters too.
The game is 15 years old and definitely dated. The platforming and combat was quite janky, but it was fun. The combat was kind of annoying to start with, but after I unlocked some more abilities, it got better and easier.


Next game to play is Bit Trip ReRunner. It launched on PC in 2023, but I didnt find out until a few days ago that it launched on Xbox last year. I have played some of it already. Its kind if half remake and half sequel to the original Bit Trip Runner game on WiiWare. Im really enjoying it so far.

[broodwars]

Finished Enslaved Odyssey to the West. I really enjoyed it, definitely my kind of action game. I liked the story and characters too.
The game is 15 years old and definitely dated. The platforming and combat was quite janky, but it was fun. The combat was kind of annoying to start with, but after I unlocked some more abilities, it got better and easier.

That game has one of my favorite cutscene exchanges, where the game breaks the 4th wall and Monkey openly complains about how much tedious combat you're going to have to do once your partner starts hacking a terminal.

[Lemonade]

I finished the main part of Bit Trip ReRunner. It is great. As I said before, it is very similar to the original game.
The biggest change is the levels now have optional checkpoints, which makes the game significantly easier. I had checkpoints turned off except for the boss levels
Like the other Runner games, I find it very satisfying to play, even though it is difficult. There is just something about the pace/rhythm of the platforming that just really works for me.
Difficulty overall is a bit less than the original game, but higher than 2 and 3.

There is a video of the final level here https://bsky.app/profile/lvaneede.bsky.social/post/3lwvylhxhhk2e

It includes a remake of the original game, so I will play through that now. There are a bunch of other bonus levels too, but I might not bother playing all of them.

There is also a online mode for downloading levels people have made with the level creator, but I havent looked at that yet.