Our 5 Proudest Gaming Achievements in 2023

Jane, Mike, Ellen, Andy and Luke from Outside Xbox and Outside Xtra share the gaming achievements in '23 that they're most proud of.
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Outside Xtra is a companion channel to Outside Xbox, covering the wider world of gaming with weekly list videos, Let's Plays and shows with your hosts Ellen and Luke. Look for regular appearances by OG Outside Xboxers Andy, Jane and Mike, and generally more of the videos you love, about more of the platforms you enjoy, from a team now two people larger overall.
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[@outsidextra]

We're loving the comments on this video about your own proudest achievements, super interesting to see what you've all been up to and you're all clearly smashing it. Keep 'em coming! -OX

[@notoriousbmc1]

Luke & Mike. I think I speak for...a number of people when I say...There *is* an audience for your iRacing/GT7/F1 progression. I for one, would love to see more dedicated videos in 2024.

[@SimuLord]

@@notoriousbmc1Indeed, I'm glad you've gotten F1 to sponsor the running series around each year's new release. There's big "I can't believe they're paying us for this!" energy from those videos. Heck, what Patreon tier do you want for access to that iRacing/GT7 feed? Shut up and take my money!

[@TheCookieCrisp]

Aw, when Ellen was saying how she got better at Beat Saber I had a smile on my face the whole time. That's awesome Ellen!

[@landonewts]

That is my own play style in a nutshell. Too much stress in life, I play to have fun, relax and vanquish evil - not to get frustrated and throw the controller across the room.

[@thesignofthenine]

The entire video was really wholesome and I was rooting for each of you as you talked about what you did. Congrats to each of you! Would love to see more content like this!

[@miss-petrolea]

Haven't even watched the rest of the video yet but ... Seeing Mike describe his acquisition of his Le Mans arcade cabinet was such a bittersweet reminder of my own husband buying an absolutely rundown pinball machine and slowly but steadily fixing it into not just playable but good working order. He would eventually have 5, and I was most definitely exasperated every time he got another one (I'm sure Mike's wife can relate). I lost my husband this year, completely unexpectedly, when he had an accident last spring. It's obviously been hard and the current holiday season is... well, I'm not particularly enjoying myself. But occasionally something sparks one of these memories and they are bittersweet but truly precious to me. So I just want to thank you for helping me relive that moment, just for a little while ❤

[@laterkater4213]

It's those kinds of memories that are so precious. 💜 I hope you manage to have a good holiday season and that 2024 brings new comforts.

[@adammax912]

I'm sorry for your loss. But he sounds like a man who knew how to enjoy his life with no stopping his fun on account of shame or something else unworthy of it. And had a wife who stood by him, despite annoyance with his ideas. That's the most important part. I wish you a steady healing process, and best holidays you can have this year!

[@mikechannell727]

I only just caught this message, I'm so sorry for your loss but have been extremely touched by your words. Happy to have conjured some memories and I know exactly what you mean by bittersweet but precious. ❤

[@Brasc]

*Jane:* I make holiday homes in Animal Crossing. It makes me happy. And that, right there, is what gaming is all about. You can have your trophies and achievements and Soulslike boss victories and runthroughs. But in the end, that's what it's all about, whether it's blowing off some steam, distracting yourself from stress, or just genuine joy.

[@sohairtayyabbutt1456]

Yup. That is why it makes no sense to me when someone says "I like this game" or "I like doing this thing in a game" but someone replies "But that game/thing is trash!". Like, why do you care? If that person enjoys it and it makes them happy, that's all that matters.

[@eddythefool]

My ultra efficient towns in Steamworld Build are similar to this. It doesn't even matter in game, but being able to create my perfect industrial district has been a highlight this past week.

[@vvevv88]

She's the Sienna Fuegonasus of the group.

[@Jacen436987]

until luke and mike turn jane's animal crossing neighborhood into a race track lol

[@AbsolXGuardian]

I think it's really cool that when Mike rescued a game cabinet he found a place for it that the public can still access it

[@SomeoneSneaky]

My proudest achievement is literally having an achievement named after me. Hexia, on Steam, has an achievement called 'Night Sneaks In', which they added because over the last two, almost three years, I've been the only active player / non-developer person on their Discord, helping with bug finding, translation errors, playtesting, opinions, suggestions, and so on. The game finally released this year with added achievements, and they snuck that one in as a thank you, and I just cried.

[@thesladey97]

That's a great one mate fair play, you got rewarded for your dedication to them!

[@1Holbytla]

That’s so great! 🙂 I’m happy for you!

[@orthusgames9888]

That's incredible. Good job man. It's awesome to see devs appreciate the people who are trying to help other players.

[@arenasviscatanius]

I changed the name of every achievement, trophies, or default item. Well , at least "try to."

[@SirAsdf]

I've come to realize that Jane is the member of the cast who mostly plays to have fun, not to really push herself to the limit, and that's just fine.

[@suddenlyboop1815]

Yeah I noticed that too. I obviously can't speak for Jane but it felt reminiscent if how I like to play games. I just want to live there in that world for a moment, rather than collecting titles to display on my wall like some kind of virtual hunting lodge.

[@poodlemuffin]

I feel like she deliberately loses at a lot of group things or chooses to sit out of them as she knows wining means more to some of the others 😅

[@bustinarant]

Granny Murder's the best of us.

[@eddythefool]

​@@poodlemuffinshe's there to have fun. That's why she excluded herself last year when they had their lasagna party because she was going to have the most fun watching everyone else suffer through it

[@emmytim]

I think last year's Xmas Tournament had a match between Jane and Mike catching pokemon and someone in the comments wrote that Jane plays like a snail going through an art gallery, which resonates so much with people who have a similar playstyle. Keep snailing, fellow snails

[@peterhague5626]

Can this please be a new yearly video? I love seeing the weird niche things people get really good at and think its wonderful for people to celebrate these things

[@roguishpaladin]

1:30 Props to Mike's dad for playing a reverse card on the "we have X at home" meme and getting why it's just not the same. Maybe that kind of support is why Mike ended up as a games journalist for a living.

[@sourcererseven3858]

His Dad just wanted Mike to go to the arcade so he (the Dad) could get some time on the console himself.

[@burrito4332]

That bit of his segment really surprised me, too. A very brief but really motivational and influential thing to hear!

[@Dollightful]

I love the supportive vibes in this video! So often we turn to self-deprocating humor for laughs, so it feels nice to have a genuine "I'm proud of this thing I did" video. Happy holidays, OXBox!

[@pandapounce]

Yeah! This should be a yearly thing.

[@Oculas2003]

*Ellen encountering the next BeatSaber cabinet* "My powers have doubled since the last time we met...."

[@fenerliuzun4476]

And the cabinet answers: Ah good, double the pride, double the fall!

[@Alex_YJ_Reed]

"Very good. Give me surprised and pleased."

[@katherinajoy7689]

This might sound silly but I think my proudest video game achievement has been just straight up accepting that I like video games. As a kid gaming consoles were always my brother’s (my mother literally said “it’s called a GameBOY”), and when I got into Outside Xtra I would occasionally play simple PC games but I really always wanted a console and could never justify getting one. I got a switch as a grad present from my Mother-in-Law (college grad!) and got more into gaming but I also became a mom soon after graduating and found myself in so many conversations where mothers complained about their children and husbands playing too many games. It made me feel guilty that I loved my Switch and played games too. This year, therapy and Tears of the Kingdom have helped me accept that I am “allowed” to like video games. I’m still not very good at them, but if Souls Academy has taught me anything, it’s that the difficulty is part of the fun. (My husband also pointed out that those moms who judge “gamers” watch trash reality television, which is scientifically worse for your brain 😉) (Edited for clarity and a spelling error)

[@TheJakeJackson]

I will never know you, but I am genuinely happy for you and how you are being true to yourself. I hope you can find friends who are on the same gaming wavelength as you someday. Keep moving past what the shallow minded told you your life was "supposed" to look like so that you can discover what a good life actually is!

[@jorvach9874]

That's a heartwarming story! A little sad too, but mostly nice! I'm happy for you!

[@Kurlija]

Go you! I'm honestly jealous that you'll get to experience so many awesome games for the first time!

[@Martyn_Wolf]

If women aren't watching TV about drama then they're creating it, if they're not creating drama then they're watching it on TV. Reality TV isn't reality 😂 Games these days don't help your brain much as they remove your ability to think critically and develop certain brain and cognitive skills because games these days walk you through everything.

[@Arcadio89]

I'm really glad for you! I bought myself a switch last year. Never spent money on things like this because that wasn't something "essential" for an adult. But I love games. Nobody should feel guilty for wanting something that makes you happy or for playing a videogame 😊

[@SushiCannon]

My proudest achievement in gaming is picking up Mario Kart for the first time since my son passed away (his fave game) and raising over £900 for Childrens Hospice South West in a short tournament in his memory.

[@beoubzabanzi8669]

Mike's Le Mans 24 story was genuinely touching. Love that passion, preservation, and restoration of a game that means a lot to you, even if you think you might be the only one who cares about it. And to have the cab you own publicly playable instead of languishing in some private collector's secret cave where it will never see the light of day. Beautiful.

[@beoubzabanzi8669]

Also Jane's holiday homes look incredible. Not just the attention to detail and commitment to the themes of the home, but the footage of them too. The angles, the expressions, the aesthetics. As someone who has spent hours in Happy Home Paradise, you're right to be proud.

[@ricoaioa]

"I did it for me. I liked it, I was good at it, and I was really... I was alive" - Ellen Rose, Beat Saber Master.

[@johnnyt7067]

It is always so exciting to see a "5 things" list from you guys. It means we are going to get an understandably rare video where things aren't particularly scripted but we get a great back and forth from the whole group as a result. You also seem to get the timing on these perfect every time. The last 3 or so I swear a few days before the video becomes available I think "been a while since and oxbox 5 things video..."

[@Alexindiegamedev]

My proudest gaming achievement is currently working on my first indie game

[@TheJakeJackson]

Woo, go you!

[@notoriousbmc1]

Okay, that is cool. You *should* be proud.

[@sandrasnow-balvert7766]

nice hun have lots of fun with it :D

[@TheCreativeKobold]

That's awesome!

[@jorvach9874]

Good luck with it! I hope it turns out well! :D

[@SyAccursed]

See Jane being all proud of her Animal Crossing stuff is giving me major nostalgia of 2021 when I spent a lot of time carefully crafting custom patterns for paths and things and then shared them online and they got real popular and had people asking me for variants and palette swaps and things.

[@frodobaggins7710]

Andy really did a great job on Deadlands this year, it was such a good storyline

[@toratio8547]

Deadlands was incredible, and Andy did so damn well

[@jmacosta]

His story in this video picked my interest and I'll definitely watch that series.

[@KevinNHaw]

I was quite surprised that it was the first campaign he'd run. He did a fantastic job. Congrats Andy!

[@grizzlybear3809]

Made me want to really play Deadlands

[@Amaranthyne]

@@jmacostaYou absolutely should!

[@serenablackstone]

Like many others inspired by Ellen, I platinumed Dark Souls after playing along with Ellen's Souls academy. As a 55 year "old" person action games aren't really my thing, but Ellen made it look fun and to my surprise, not only could I do it... I rather enjoyed it. So thank you Luke and Ellen for introducing me to new things.

[@KizuRai]

I would love to see a showcase of all of Jane's holiday homes. They look spectacular!

[@daniellefoster6039]

I too would love to just do a nice little tour of Jane’s holiday homes!

[@100StoriesTall]

I released my first ever game on Steam this year. It's small and it's simple, but I did the art, the coding, the music, and now it exists in the real world. I'm super proud of that!

[@calebnelson4932]

I love how excited he was to have finished his first campaign as a DM. Its a stressful task, especially when you're using a homebrew campaign. Its an amazing accomplishment and you should be proud.

[@KookaburraPunk]

I know the exact feeling Jane has when describing her artistic achievements. There are times where you'll come up with this really clever idea and it just feels so good to watch it all come together in the end. Thanks for sharing Jane, expressing your creativity in games is such a great feeling that you often can't share with people.

[@raysampang9304]

For me, this is the year I dove in head-first with making full-fledged cosplay and I made a full N7 Armor from the Mass Effect series that I am super proud of. And Mark Meer (VA for maleshep) saw it and resposted it on his instagram page!

[@TheCreativeKobold]

I'm into neither cosplay nor ME, but that's really awesome!

[@joshp8535]

That's fucking sick! (The good way)

[@s.p.d.magentaranger1822]

The ultimate validation!!

[@adamsouthfield9454]

I finally caught EVERY SINGLE Pokemon this year. Now begins my next objective of catching every single Pokemon but their shiny colours. But my 2024 goal is like Andy, I'll be DMing my first TTRPG. Watching Deadlands inspired me to do it

[@HazeEmry]

A SHINY LIVING DEX? You absolute madman good luck on that, sincerely. Does that include forms as well? I've been wanting to do a regular living dex with the forms but I stopped when I realised I couldn't get the trade evos and sorting the box in dex numbers was gonna be a pain (I placed everyhthing haphazardly kinda and regret it)

[@caiholroyd178]

My achievement for this year was an interview I did with the Stray Gods developers that was nationally syndicated across Australia to some pretty decent numbers. A big moment for me as a games and tech journalist that has lead to me being able to do more of these stories, including another one with the Broken Roads team.

[@i_heart_caligula6204]

Every one of these is an achievement and you are all rightfully proud! The creativity, knowledge, persistence, and passion you brought to these projects are exactly what you bring to your channels too, and are why we all show up to watch. Stay amazing, and may 2024 be as fulfilling for you all as this one was!!!

[@FictionRaider007]

My proudest gaming achievement is finally putting together my backlog in such a way that it has made getting through it easier. I've had so many games that I bought and sat in my Steam Library for years untouched. And now I've managed to actually get through a solid chunk of it and experience so many fun and great games I'd have otherwise ignored.

[@TheCreativeKobold]

There are so many great, surprising, and unique gaming experiences out there to be had by playing those games you normally wouldn't have. :D

[@kevinnicholas1]

It's not a HUGE achievement, but as someone with limited gaming time/energy, buying a PS5 and playing the decade-long backlog of Sony exclusives I've always wanted to try was pretty cool.

[@johannord4778]

Don’t sell yourself short since that is a huge achievement

[@GwenActually]

which was your favorite?

[@kevinnicholas1]

@@GwenActually I'm super into FromSoft games so finally playing Bloodborne was a lot of fun!

[@tino9718]

Full crew = instant like. Always love these kind of videos with your five individual answers!

[@nathancarter8239]

My proudest moment was updating my gaming rig. I worked with my brothers, who know computers better than I do, and they help me put together a computer so that I can play some games I wasn't able to before. So I got to play games like _Hades_ and _God of War (2018)_ for the first time and I've been really enjoying it.

[@genius118]

What a great video, I hope you do this ever year! My greatest achievement was getting my first video game credit! I freelance for PlayStation and designed some titles for an accolade trailer for Horizon: Call of the Mountain. As a result, my name appears in the end credits. Very happy with that.

[@Nonplayer-character]

That’s awesome I know credits are like massively important in your industry - congratulations!

[@genius118]

@@Nonplayer-character thank you!

[@shenai2187]

As an aging turn-based games player, I feel quite accomplished to have played and 100%ed my first Soulsborne/Soulslike game in the form of Lies of P :D It was a lot of fun.

[@ButMadNNW626]

Congrats! Lies of P is the first soulslike that I’ve finished and I’m now on a second run. Planning to 100% the achievements and looking forward to the DLC. 😊

[@Crootcovitz]

I was thinking about getting into Soulslikes, but Blasphemous and Lies of P demo told me that I shouldn't. I'm bad at timing dodges and parries. Hollow Knight will be my peak achievement in that area and I think I'm fine with that. Waiting for Silksong now. :)

[@shenai2187]

@@ButMadNNW626 Thanks. Good luck on getting 100% :)

[@shenai2187]

@@Crootcovitz I couldn't get into Hollow Knight. Played Lies of P demo mainly because I wanted to look around in the environments which looked impressive in the trailer and then ended up liking it. The learning curve was definitely steep but eventually I got it. Demos are great though for figuring out what will be fun to play. The Super Crazy Rhythm Castle demo made me realize that I'm too bad at rhythm games for that to be fun for me.

[@octochan]

Not really gaming, but one of the things I'm most pleased with doing this year was helping a fan translation of a manga I like. It takes years between official English volumes and I never know if it's been cancelled, so it's a win win for me to read ahead and help out the fan translation with my graphic design and Photoshop skills from my actual job. I feel like I've improved the quality of the typesetting, sound effects, and some of the writing, too.

[@terrabits]

As someone who did a few translations (a few videos and articles), I commend your effort. It's ridiculous how time consuming translations can be, I can only imagine how much more it is with graphic design on top

[@Goldenkitten1]

What series?

[@riksweeney]

Mike's arcade machine rescue is one of the most wholesome things I've heard about this year. I'll have to make a point of checking it out the next time I'm in Brighton.

[@NowUndefined]

I'd love to see a Show of the Weekend with Mike talking about his arcade games!

[@Artificer1911]

Like when Producer John fixed Ellen's gameboy color?

[@NowUndefined]

@@Artificer1911 exactly!

[@sohairtayyabbutt1456]

The only thing I can think of is that I helped at least 100 people defeat Malenia in Elden Ring. I mean, I'm no Let Me Solo Her but I hope I contributed in some fashion to these people's experience of that incredible game. Malenia is easily my favorite boss fight in ER. And I really hope FromSoft does something more with her, especially since the DLC is thought to involve Miquella in some way.

[@SolaScientia]

I finally dove back into Elden Ring this fall after spending over a year away from it (burned out hard after just 40-something hours). I got to Mohg early through Varre thanks to the patch allowing offline players to complete his quest without needing to invade other players. I beat Mohg at just level 79 without a maxed out weapon and my Mimic wasn't maxed either. I also broke my elbow, lol. I'm finally to the Consecrated Snowfield, but I've gotten cold feet and have opted to have a go at the Subterranean Shunning Grounds and to finish up the Mountaintops of the Giants. Consecrated Snowfield terrifies me thanks to how similar it feels to the Frozen Outskirts of DS2. Anyway, I'm more than a little worried about how I'm going to be going after Malenia with just me and my Mimic since I play on my PS5 without PS+ (don't play online games or any games that require it). Thanks to Mohg my Bloodhound's Fang and Mimic are both maxed out now. I've got Black Knife Tiche to +7, but, as a melee-only user, I don't have the FP to use her and I don't really want to respec for it. I didn't really pay attention when I leveled Tiche up, but it's not like I'm using those glovewort flowers for anything else now.

[@sohairtayyabbutt1456]

@@SolaScientia Well done on beating Mohg like that! And there's no need to worry about the Consecrated Snowfield. It's nowhere near as bad as DS2's Frigid Outskirts. As far as Malenia is concerned, if you're going to use a Spirit, Tiche is easily the best one for that fight so I would recommend pulling some points out of other stats (especially those over their soft breakpoints) and putting them in to Mind just to be safe. That said though, I would actually recommend trying her solo first since Spirits can be a liability. I don't want to spoil anything but you'll see what I mean when you get there.

[@SolaScientia]

@@sohairtayyabbutt1456 Thanks! I'm glad to know it's not as bad as Frigid Outskirts. I'd heard that Tiche is amazing. Considering how the fight against Alecto went to obtain Tiche, I'm not too surprised. She was tougher than a lot of main storyline bosses, lol. I might respec or start leveling up my FP, but I'll wait and see. My Mimic does a damn good job for me. I've seen Malenia's fight multiple times, so I'm aware of her attacks and her stupid Bloodborne-style healing mechanic. Why the hell would they give such a fast and powerful boss the ability to heal from attacks like that? It's so stupid. I have a feeling I'm going to absolutely hate that fight, especially since a lot of what I've seen looks like bullshit to me. Reminds me of the Sister Friede fight, which I also despise. I know people love her fight, but I can't stand it. For Malenia I might dump my armor or switch out for lighter stuff to fast roll. Right now I'm wearing Radahn's full set since it's good balance of weight and protection and I can do medium rolls just as long as I don't use a shield. At least with Mohg I did have that purification tear to counter the Nihil healing (though he did still heal up, of course). Mohg felt very balanced and fair and fun to me even being way underleveled for him.

[@LEWS316]

mine is persuading friends into starting a dnd group, getting my sister to dm and we never looked back, and this came from watching you guys)

[@enderhx]

I finally started playing DnD myself this year thanks to OxBoxTra! 🎉

[@suddenlyboop1815]

Sure, I produced my first .exe file for a game I'm slowly developing. It was really gratifying to be able to click on an icon and load something up without doing the whole virtual studios song and dance and just be like "I wrote this whole thing from scratch". 😊

[@s.p.d.magentaranger1822]

Programming a game is hard! You deserve to feel proud!

[@TheCreativeKobold]

That's awesome! Well done! :D

[@mrbrainly]

My gaming achievement was beating Baldur's Gate 3 on Tactician as a lone wolf Shadowheart. I just had this crazy feeling it was possible, and figuring out the right build and cheese to get me past the hardest parts was a lot of fun

[@adolin.kholin]

congrats!!! that's so cool. this is my goal for 2024, but astarion. people say rogues are useless but i think i may be playing rogue wrong (right?) because he works so well for me. no idea if it's possible though.

[@JamBagels]

Andy did an amazing job with Deadlands.

[@BillySYT]

My personal achievement is collecting every single Korok seed & beating every Shrine in Breath of the Wild, in preparation for Tears of the Kingdom. Love the game, wanted to finally get that 100% that I hadn't gotten before. And let me tell you, it was satisfying! Not worth it in the slightest to anyone with any sense of sanity, but for me, absolutely worth the journey.

[@AquaMaryn.]

These are all so lovely, but Jane's segment really made me wish for more chill Animal Crossing streams - or any other chill game stream. Hope we get some in the new year. 🥰

[@VeronicaSipe]

As a GM who works to spread the hobby and a big Andy fan, I teared up at Andy’s. The joy of sharing the creation of a story with enthusiastic friends is one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. So happy he got to do it from that perspective.

[@STRAKAZulu]

As a fellow “recreational writer,” I can say that doing RP stuff like DM’ing or playing a TTRPG does wonders for the creativity. I’m currently on my second series for my OC that I costume as for one of the Star Wars charity groups.

[@normalhuman9878]

I honestly find DMing easier than just writing because I don’t have time to overthink it. I just make all the NPCs and let the players go wild

[@MichaelBrown-tv6qx]

Never ever bothered with platinum trophies before and always found them impossible to achieve. This year I got my first one in Horizon Forbidden West and genuinely felt really proud that I’d done it. I then went on to get 4 more with Horizon Zero Dawn, Astros Playroom, Sonic Origins and Ghost of Tsushima. I know none of these are particularly hard to do but I don’t know, felt good to finally get some, especially in Horizon games which have fast become some of my all time favourite games.

[@notoriousbmc1]

Proudest moment for me, was finding my OG PlayStation, that hasn't worked since 2001. Googling why...trying & failing, but eventually fixing it by myself. Then playing MSG1, GTA1, Driver, ISS'98, F1'97, Tomb Raider 3, WWF Smackdown again...😍😊

[@CindyHelms]

How did I know that it was Mike that rescued a game cabinet? After That show of the weekend I want to say a few months ago I kind of expected that for Ellen. Andy had expressed excitement for the idea so that makes sense. I was not expecting Luke's… Nor was I expecting Jane’s. Three out of 5 ain't bad.

[@warrick1830]

I had the same reaction. As soon as I saw game cabinet, I knew that one was Mike

[@marhawkman303]

I knew because Mike has at his house already a cobbled-together racing seat. :D

[@jeffreywells1832]

Mike lives, as an adult, the dream life that we had when we were 8 and he just stuck with it. Good on him.

[@Rachel_Starwin]

My favorite achievement in gaming this year was finally playing online co-op games with my spicy bois group. They are all intimidatingly good at hard games and I'm not. Been playing Remnant 2 with them, and they're incredibly generous with my middling gaming skills.

[@maries1993]

I love these videos from you guys where you just talk off the cuff. I always watch them the whole way through. My personal achievement this year is playing through the entire Dragon Age Series which has been on my bucket list for years. Also, finally playing Final Fantasy VIII and finally getting to know Squall and the gang! Most of my top played games of 2023 were 10+ years old.

[@feldsparkle2418]

My proudest gaming moment of 2023 was achieving my first platinum trophy, which was for Horizon Forbidden West 😊 I was so proud of myself, The Enduring gave me way too much trouble! So lovely to hear about all the achievements of Oxboxtra and fellow “OX likers”. I’m going to Brighton for work in the new year, I think I’ll have to give Loading Bar a visit and try out Mike’s cabinet!

[@zdbarnett]

Jane, I'm glad to hear someone else is still playing Animal Crossing for the comfort and joy! Your holiday homes are aspirational! My proudest achievement is that I finally gathered all of the art for my ACNH museum. 😮‍💨 (If anyone wants to visit Anchoril, a small island town with a Stephen King-esque dark secret, feel free to reach out!)

[@ratwayresident]

my proudest moment in gaming this year was also in the ttrpg space, and it was telling the group i play dnd with every monday evening that i needed to take a break bc i was burned out. i love dnd but for a few months i truly dreaded playing bc i just was so in need of a break after only missing like 3 or 4 sessions in three years. i have a hard time prioritizing my own needs over the those of the group so doing something for myself that was disruptive like that was really hard, but it was so worth it bc when i came back to the game a couple of months later i really enjoyed it again! i actually look forward to mondays now and that's exciting

[@marneus90]

Taking a break is important for everyone. Burning out, running out of ideas and stuff means that you're not going to enjoy things, and that'll show to your group and they'll enjoy it less too. I may be a random stranger on the internet, but I really think taking that time for you is something to be proud of.

[@hannahweber]

I started running my first dnd game. So like Andy, i became a Game Master this year. Things are going well!

[@TheCreativeKobold]

That's awesome! DMing is a ton of fun! :D

[@Arcadio89]

My proudest gaming achievement in 2023 was getting "overtime 6" in Going Under. It is an extra mode where you have to complete the entire game in one sitting and each level accumulates the difficulties of the previous levels. It took me months to pass the 6th and there were more than 100 attempts. When I achieved it, I felt vindicated. Now all that's left is the 7th 😅 (Sorry, I know it was a long comment)

[@katfromthekong414]

Proudest gaming achievements for me were: - finally getting a PS5 so I could play the Burning Shores DLC (Yaaaay!) - seducing Astarion in BG3 (sorry Jane!) - and last but definitely not least, being an oxboxtra supporter Thanks for continuing to be the soul-soothing and inspiring rays of sunshine that you are! Happy holidays, guys! 🎄🎉💚💜

[@boomoloney]

This year my boyfriend and I 100% completed 'kill it with fire'. We did it in one month while I was between jobs, and It was really fun to do and redo the gauntlet challenges and all the different modes especially the Christmas and Halloween modes and getting all the ridiculous achievemens. 😊 And we can't wait for kill it with fire 2

[@ivyderemo8599]

I'm still in the process but by the very last day of this year I will have gotten my first gaming PC. I've never really had the funds or space but now I do and I'm so excited!

[@thunderb2473]

My achievement (or what felt most satisfying) would have to be beating FTL. It's been on my list to play for ages but one dreary week when I was off ill I played it for the first time and got immersed. I think within 4 days I had played 18 hours or smthn ridiculous and beat the game on normal (which might not sound that difficult but steam shows only around 8% of players have done it), so that made me a happy lil fella :)

[@Ceece20]

I can relate with Ellen, but for Armored Core 6. I’ve never been into much multiplayer, but AC6 scratched an itch that I never knew I had, and I ended up loving the game so much that I actually tried multiplayer. And I had fun with it. Probably one of my favorite moments is rocking up to the final boss with only the handguns. So challenging but absolutely worth it to me.

[@SolaScientia]

AC6 absolutely sucked me in and I got addicted to it in a way I haven't been addicted to a game in a very, very long time now. I play offline, so I don't do any of the PvP stuff, but I've gotten all 3 endings and I'm working on S-ranking all the missions. I love the puzzle-solving required to figure out what works best. Cel-240 took me ages, because I was slow at realizing all my plasma and laser weapons didn't do a thing against her. Once I switched to kinetic and explosive weapons it was so much better.

[@teamvikavolt2856]

With all of the witty and sarcastic quips and digs on this channel, it was very refreshing to just sit and get a glimpse into yalls personalities individually. Very cool and, as always, very well done.

[@arrrressss]

My achievement this year was actually playing games after literal decades of feeling alienated from it as a hobby. I've picked it up again in large part to watching you folks play and talk about games.

[@Stryfe114]

Not that it was a difficult game to do so on, but I got my first Platinum trophy with Spider-Man 2. That felt pretty good, especially for someone who doesn’t have much time to play games.

[@SolaScientia]

Aw. These are so great. Ellen's made me tear up. Hell, they all did. I absolutely love Deadlands. I recently did a full re-watch of it. I fractured my left elbow back on Nov 14th. Thanks to workers' comp I still haven't been seen by the right orthopedist for any treatment. Rewatching my favorite Oxboxtra and Oxventure vids has been a great comfort for me. I need to dive back into GT7. Luke and Mike talking racing and me re-watching old Top Gear episodes has me really wanting to race again. In the cafe menu of GT7 I'm stuck finishing the first of the American menus and it's awful. I'm only allowed American cars and they're trash even with adjustments. They're noticeably less responsive and they can't corner how I want them to even with the right sort of modifications to whichever car I'm trying out. Jane, your holiday homes are gorgeous and it's so wholesome. As for me, my proudest achievements are all in FromSoftware games. Back in the Spring I finally completed my first run of Bloodborne, including the DLC. I followed that about 3 weeks later by completing my first run of Dark Souls 3, including both DLC. Then came Armored Core VI, and I fell absolutely in love with that game. I've completed it 3 times and gotten all 3 endings. I've S-ranked a good many missions but I still have many left to go. However, 1 thing I think I'm most proud of involves Elden Ring. Now, I'd set Elden Ring aside over a year ago, because I badly burned out on it. I slowly got back into it this Fall. Thanks to the patches I was able to do Varre's questline without needing to be online, so I got early access to Mohg's area. I got to Mohg way early, and then I broke my elbow. However, I can actually still hold a controller and play properly without pain. At level 79, using only my Bloodhound's Fang at +6, my Mimic Tear at just +5 or +6 (I think), and without using the shackle, I beat Mohg. I did go and get Radahn's rune repaired, so I did use that finally, but even then I still failed twice before I finally survived on the 3rd attempt equipping that rune and using a rune arc. So, Radahn's rune was the only real "crutch" I had and even then it was so difficult. I know I was way underleveled for him. I can't even be mad that my Mimic actually dealt the killing blow for me, lol. I'd stopped to top up my health, but my Mimic said "yolo" and went for the killing blow. So yeah, defeating Mohg underleveled, minimal use of any consumables (I still had 8 flask uses out of 12 left at the end), all with a broken elbow is my proudest moment right now.

[@Dribbleondo]

I really find this wholesome to the extreme. Thanks for sharing =)

[@SimuLord]

My favorite part of this whole channel is that it really does feel like five people who genuinely like each other the way you normally only see in a group of childhood friends who grew up in the same neighborhood sharing that joy with the world. Luke and Ellen in particular have big brother and little sister energy. In general, I try to limit my "gaming KZbin" to presenters who actually _like_ games, and that's the biggest reason I'm a subscriber here.

[@justatanuki.6495]

For me it was getting and completing most of the soulsborne library, with Elden Ring, Dark Souls Remastered, Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne

[@violetmoon1587]

It's so nice to hear how proud Andy is of his work with Deadlands, so often folks don't feel comfortable in acknowledging what they've achieved that it's refreshing to hear. Great job guys!

[@pmonday]

I was so happy to see that Andy chose running Deadlands as his proudest moment. He should be proud, it was absolutely brilliant.

[@TheActualJae]

This year I accomplished a life long goal of making music for a game. Def was a good time :D

[@laterkater4213]

This is tenuously related to gaming (if you squint) but my proudest achievement this year was that I started writing again and almost all of it was Oxventure fanfiction. So when Andy said that he'd seen fanfiction for Oxventure Deadlands my first thought was "...but you didn't read any right?" (Half my stuff is very sappy romance and the other half is very adult rated sappy romance, neither of which should be read by anyone involved. 🤣)

[@adiemuller5422]

These are all so inspiring! I love what Luke said about the "disparity between Hardest-to-Achieve and Amount anyone will be impressed" Those are the achievements that you do for yourself to live a fulfilling life, and I am here for it! plus, there are always the people that really get it and it's fun to find them when you can.

[@ka-mai]

Deadlands campaign was absolutely a highlight of this year! Tremendous work from Andy and a LOT of fun altogether! Loved it dearly.

[@Tyindel]

Absolutely loved seeing Mike rescue a pair of cabinets and it's even cooler that he found somewhere for the public to be able to play it. It might not be the best racing game but its cool to see it being saved.

[@jasonmadinya7759]

i knew when i saw this that luke was gonna talk about iracing, i too got into it this year and am absolutely obsessed with it. the great gaming year of 2023 kinda went past me because I've been iracing and have no regrets

[@SimuLord]

I love how Luke describes iRacing, as something that is less a game and more a "simulation platform", because every time I complete a delivery in American Truck Simulator without collision, moving violation, or any other error, and I see the "insurance rate" (yes, the game tracks this) at the cheapest possible "safe driver discount" rate, I am so irrationally proud of myself in that "if I told anyone else about this, their eyes would roll in their head like two reels of a slot machine" sort of way.

[@SolaScientia]

He and Mike talking racing games makes me want to dive back into GT7. I'm working on trying to get gold on all the driving tests, and I'm stuck on the first of the American menus in the cafe. They are really accurate with the American cars in that even with my modifications to the cars they all still handle like crap, especially on corners. But yeah, I did one race completely clean. I was more proud of how I completed the race without any contact with the walls or other cars and I didn't go off the track either than I was at getting first in the race.

[@punkypink83]

i love you mike for saving 2 of the racing arcade games that i played in my teens. not only were they my entertainment as a teen they even led to me briefly holding an FIA race licence for 3 years before I left asia. my proudest achievement this year is putting close to 2000 hours on farm sim 22

[@OrangeGhost8]

I really like this video format as a “year in review” style, especially how it wasn’t limited to games that released this year and more about personal enjoyment from the year. Thanks ❤

[@cerosis]

Honestly these are all great but if I had never been told Andy hadn't run a game before I wouldn't have known

[@kendoyle]

Would definitely love to see Andy run some more ttrpgs

[@alexanderoberholzer1456]

I'm struggling to think back on the year but something I am super proud of is that I was able to finally finish The Walking Dead Final Season Telltale series and be able to see the conclusion of one of my all time favorite video game series.

[@Jonathon_Hennessey]

The video game achievement that I'm most proud of is earning all the achievements for some of from software's games. I've unlocked all the achievements for Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, Elden Ring, Dark Souls remastered and Dark Souls 2:Scholar Of The First Sin.

[@sebastianwlodarczyk]

It's honestly heart warming to see you all sharing what you're proud of! Love you all, hope you have a great holiday break:) This year Star Trek Online guild that I'm in had to switch its website to a new host, and I've been appointed the new "Website Dev". Basically, I was so bad at explaining how to make changes to how the new website's look, they decided to just give me the permissions to do it myself. Not sure if that counts as an "achievement", but working on that made me feel a bit better about myself:)

[@PeppermintButlerAT]

I also got into BeatSaber and last time I checked, hold multiple number 1 slots on most of the Linkin Park DLC, most of the EDM DLC. Granted this is only on Hard mode and PSVR2, but they're number 1, and I'm proud. I also got dragged into a Reddit post where someone beat my score, and I had to take it back. So I get the concept completely from Ellen on the BeatSaber love. It also helped me lose 15kg so that is a massive bonus!

[@SimuLord]

Congratulations on losing 33 pounds (in freedom units)! See, Mom? Video games ARE good for you! :)

[@s.p.d.magentaranger1822]

Based Linkin Park enjoyers be based!

[@victoriajenkins9744]

I'm really proud of myself for completing more games than last year. I don't have much free time due to work and studying, and being able to finish a few more games and tick them off my "to play" list, really made me feel acomplished and proud of myself! Amazing, comforting video as always OxBox!

[@KAISERSCHL8]

To Luke and Mike I can highly recommend the series "Road to Le Mans" starring the German-Irish actor Michael Fassbender. You can find it on the official Porsche KZbin channel and it's one of the best productions in terms of capturing what racing is all about I've ever seen. Really gets you into that headspace for simracing too. Cheers and a very merry Christmas to the whole team, great entertaining this year again people!

[@IvanTo88]

Congratulations to all your your achievement. Really liked this video, you were very passionate and proud of your milestones this year. 😍😃

[@heikohimself]

There is an Oxventure Deadlands?! OMG! Love Deadlands! Need to watch it... need to watch it now! 😍😍🤠🤠

[@LemonyGemony]

I had a baby in January so it was hard to get time to play many games but ive recently been playing Lets go Pikachu on Switch and seeing my 11 month old son slowly falling in love with the cute pokemon on screen and beginning to grow up with games is my greatest achievement this year

[@vlameer140]

I finally managed to acquire every weapon and tool in Hitman Freelancer. Everything from gun to crowbar to proximity emetic detonator, all acquired in Hardcore mode.

[@sambridgett]

What an absolutely delightful video this was. 💚💜 Everyone's entries were great but a crisp salute to Mike for both rescuing a decrepit game and getting it placed somewhere people can continue to play it 🫡

[@Icam_here]

enjoyed hearing all these stories i guess for me my proudest achievement was hitting exactly 200,000 gamerscore this year. because some achievement are mean not ending in either a 5 or 0 it's easy to not have such a nice round number so i has happy to see all those 0's in a row. i don't play games just to get gamerscore, i know there are more impressive scores out there and ultimately gamerscore/trophies are a meaningless number that doesn't represent anything important but this was the first thing that came to mind of something i am proud of so i am going with this

[@SimuLord]

My proudest gaming achievement this year came in Super Mega Baseball 3, a game I've had a franchise mode save going in for three years and 1,100 hours as my after-work wind-down game. I've slowly turned the difficulty up like a boiled frog over the years, and hit the sweet spot this year where victory is far from guaranteed but still comes often enough to be fun (think top-level MLB franchise in any given year. Ego 68 out of 99 on the game's scale.) And that's how Fred Schmidt of the Beavers, a shortstop who'd hit just eight homers all season, hit a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7 of the championship series for Season 10 with the team down 5-4 and in danger of losing the title for the first time. That was not only the greatest moment I had as a gamer in 2023, but it's right up there with the greatest gaming moments I've had in my entire 41-year span of playing games going all the way back to Mom giving five-year-old me a couple of quarters and pointing me at a Pac-Man cabinet while she settled a bill at a Chinese restaurant in 1982. It was certainly the greatest moment of my adult life. The other memories on its level (beating Contra in co-op with my brother on one life in front of about a dozen of our friends in 1989, beating Mike Tyson for the first time in Punch-Out! in that same summer) both came when I was 12.

[@philiphunn194]

I worked up the courage to get Horizon Zero Dawn/Horizon Forbidden West tattoos this year, which is a major step outside of my comfort zone. Also I've been part of a Horizon-themed fan project called Focus On The Heart, which has been noticed and approved of by many people at Guerrilla Games.

[@VTimmoni]

I'm glad to see TTRGP stuff make the list. Makes me happy.

[@rapidcovers]

Super proud of all your achievements! Here’s to an even more successful 2024 🎉

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

I completed my first D&D campaign as DM this year! Had started running my players through Hoard of The Dragon Queen in 2021, completed that and continued into the companion module, Rise of Tiamat, and completed that just a few months ago. Not only did we complete this story over a period of about 2 years, but I managed (in my first ever DMing experience) to learn and grow into the role so that my players enjoyed it enough that even the 2 who moved to the east coast and couldn't match schedules with the rest of us any more, were so invested that they sacrificed their time to continue with us the final few months to finish before they officially had to quit the table (we played the whole thing over Discord and Owlbear Rodeo, not in person).

[@gabrielberger7439]

I love iRacing too, Luke. I especially love how much pain I can cause myself with it in a single evening, and yet still go back and keep plugging away at it every single day, pretending I’m a pro racing driver

[@marhawkman303]

Heh, my thought on it is that it's REAL sim racing, not a cheap imitation like a regular video game is. It's what makes it so different. it's not "oops I messed up slightly, I'mma reset the race"... no takebacks, do it right or don't!

[@1inchfemur]

I love that jane procrastinated having pride in her abilities

[@frippeak]

Mine is probalbly perfecting Stardew Valley (version 1.5) Just walking up the mountain and see those end credits felt really good. I never played a farmning simulator before this year, but now I played several to the end credits (Stardew Valley, My time at Portia, Dreamlight Valley among the top ones). I also spent tons of hours in Graveyard Keepr - probably my GOTY (poersonal favorite) this year.

[@SimuLord]

If you liked My Time at Portia, you'll _love_ My Time at Sandrock (my 2023 GOTY.) It takes everything about Portia and turns it up to 11, the very best example of a "the same but more" sequel...and with plenty of little easter eggs that players of the first game will recognize!

[@frippeak]

Thx for the tip. I heard that Sandrock is leaning heavier towards the fighting aspect, which I loathed in Portia@@SimuLord

[@SimuLord]

@@frippeakIt still has dungeons and combat-I've said of the My Time series in general that it's an action RPG/standard "Jiminy Cockthroat" (h/t Yahtzee Croshaw) but with a full-on cozy game for a crafting system instead of an Ubi/Bethesda resource grind. Stardew Valley is more the other way around, a cozy game that has light combat/action RPG elements that are fenced off in their own little areas and not strictly required to complete the game.

[@mar_speedman]

You know what? I have achieved something that I'm proud of this year. I have installed a PS2 emulator on PC and replayed my two favorite trilogies of that console, Jak & Daxter and Ratchet and Clank. I got to re-experience my childhood favorites as an adult and properly analyze what made them great (and wonder why I loved them so much on occasion). I'm proud to say my love for these games isn't just born of nostalgia. They still hold up

[@justanotherloreaddict]

I really liked how wholesome this was. Hearing how proud everyone was over their achievements made my day.