Monaco - 5/20 hours

I am a weak person. I ran into a level that was repeatedly killing me and I was starting to feel incredibly frustrated, so I went online and found an invincibility cheat. It's the same damned thing I did with Velvet Assassin, so I guess you could call it a pattern - I would rather play a game with literally no challenge whatsoever than attempt difficult stealth missions.

It's possible that, through persistence, I'd be able to get through every level in the game without cheating. It's happened before. In Velvet Assassin, actually. But I'm not sure I even want to. Something about the game's frenetic activity when you fall out of stealth really gets under my skin. I guess it's a feeling of utter helplessness. You can run away, but as often as not you're just running into a worse situation, and there is always a delay when passing through doors, going up stairs, donning a disguise, or hiding in air vents or bushes - a delay that, in the harder levels, will usually get you killed.

I understand why the game is the way it is. It's about strategy and care and making and following a plan. I'm supposed to learn from my mistakes and use my knowledge of the environment to perfect my timing, slipping through the levels like a ghost. In order to win, I must develop the skills of a criminal mastermind.

But I don't want to. It's hard.

I should get over myself. It's not as if there's some compelling plot that I must advance to discover. The story of a high-class crime spree, told from multiple angles, with increasingly unlikely revelations, is interesting, but not so interesting that I need to break the game to see what happens next. But activating God Mode was so satisfying, I don't think I'll be able to stop.

I guess it's mostly revenge. The game makes me feel so small and afraid when I slip up and those guys with machine guns start chasing me. Even when I'm armed, getting ammo is kind of risky. Usually, I have, at most, two or three shots before I'm back at square one. So being able to stride through the level, impervious to harm is intoxicating. How do you like me now, assholes? I will steal all your coins right in front of you and there's nothing you can do about it!

It's immature, I  know, and with fifteen hours left to go, I will probably get over it sooner or later, but for right now, I need this. I refuse to play your game, Monaco. . . well, okay, not literally, but, you know, in spirit.