|
Alright, worked out enough for a top 6 of this year I can feel pretty confident in. Just as a bit of a preamble, there are definitely games that I played this year and enjoyed but I didn't get far enough into them to feel like I could put them on to my list. The games I'm looking forward to playing next year that are already out from this year:
Anyway, on to my actual top list. It's a bit of a predictable list since I didn't get up to looking through Chinese early access games much this year unlike last year but here we go. 6. Epic Battle Fantasy 4 No image, didn't have a really good one. I played the EBF games way back in the day when they were on Kongregate. I think I might've played a bit of EBF3 on Newgrounds but I wasn't really on Newgrounds when it was big back in the day. I was a really big of 3 although I didn't care much for 1/2 since they didn't really have progression in the typical RPG sense. 4 came out a time where I was getting more and more distracted by actual console games instead like Persona 4 so I played a bit of it, forgot about it and moved on. I was digging through my library of humble bundle keys when I noticed I actually had a key for this game that was still active and decided "hey, why the hell not, let's play it and see if it's still good". It's still good. The game is obviously rife with Newgrounds cringe of that era but the actual game is a lot of fun to play, the music is good and more than anything, the pacing feels fast. The game feels good to play in a way a lot of clunkier amateur projects don't really get. They've had 3 whole games to refine on systems so the resulting equipment/skill systems are both deep and easy to work with. Status effects are good! That's usually the sign of a very good RPG too and it holds up here too. If you're not turned off by the graphics and the humor, I really do think this is worth a shot. 5. Pokemon Infinite Fusion  Who's your favorite dog? Mine's Rubicante. This got some attention earlier on these forums this year and we even got a thread for it. I think the thread's pretty much dead now but I had two good runs of the game. I actually have a third save file lying around, just before the E4. Could've finished that off for this but I like my Aegislash/Machamp pictured up above. People talk a lot about the wacky fusions but what I feel goes missed by a lot of people is that this is actually a fairly well done rendition of Kanto. In fact, playing through this game is significantly better than playing through say, FireRed. Someone normal took a look at Kanto and decided to not rework the progression through the region to be more linear but there's a ton of smaller story eventing throughout the game that make it a much more pleasant romp than playing vanilla Kanto. The Kanto dex is normally pretty boring as well but with the addition of fusion, even Pidgey is suddenly interesting because you can give it an actual good typing and movepool. For anyone interested in playing this, I'd actually recommend trying Classic first. Making a good team out of mostly Kanto fusions is fun and you honestly do get access to a lot of non-Kanto mons pretty fast too. Modern is pretty good too but it's a real power game mode, you don't have to fully optimise and you definitely don't have to EV grind but you do at least need strong fusions and a good team composition. 4. Shadowverse  It's not always like this, but well, when in Rome. Hey, I put this on my list last year too. Good card game, the meta's this year have been worse than last year and right now, we're in a meta where a T0 deck rules but that'll probably be fixed next week. I'm looking forward to Shadowverse 2 as well. I still appreciate that while the game is still generally pretty aggressive and control decks can only survive so long, it still feels like there's usually enough variety in the meta to keep things interesting. Although not really enough to keep 8 different classes all relevant. Maybe Shadowverse 2 having only 7 classes will be a bit better about that. 3. Pokemon Scarlet  Why yes, I am an artist. Why do you ask? Alright, so my story with this game is a bit of a 1-2 with Infinite Fusion. After the past few gens of Pokemon, I haven't really been feeling the games. X/Y just felt like a whatever game, I didn't finish Moon so I never picked up USUM, I didn't like ORAS for some reason, I finished Sword but never even touched the postgame because the game had very little impact on me besides Snom being cute. I thought I'd just aged out of Pokemon entirely. So I didn't actually pick this up on release, I figured I'd just be dropping it midway through. Over the course of the year, I heard a lot of talk from friends about how this game was actually really good even though I was also hearing horror stories about the technical performance. I picked up Infinite Fusion early on in the year on a lark, it's a fangame, I didn't have to spend money on it. After two runs of that, I was hungry for more Pokemon but I didn't want to jump back in and go through Kanto again. So I bought Scarlet. The game runs like poo poo, it doesn't look all that impressive and I don't play much on my Switch any more. Despite that, I really enjoyed the game. Nemona fell flat for me but I liked the Titan quest, I liked the Team Star questline, I liked the Paldea dex a lot and I think the new mons make for one of the best generations we've had in a long time. Maybe since even Gen 3? Definitely a top new dex of all time. Annihilape is definitely a top mon of all time and between Infinite Fusion making Primeape really good and useful, it's definitely been a good year for me and some angry monkeys. I'm actually currently part way through the Indigo Disk DLC. I'm currently in the process of redoing my team for the DLC since I want a Dragonite (I took part in a Pokemon Doubles Draft league this year and I like pressing Tera Normal Extremespeed now) but given that I played through the base game this year, I felt it could go in this year's list. 2. Fire Emblem Engage  IntSys, when are we getting news on FE17? Engage is a bit of a controversial title but I'm a huge fan. Back when the initial leaks dropped, I was actually pretty optimistic. Okay, sure, the main character has some weird two tone hair, I don't really care that much. A lot of people were going on about how this was going to kill the series because it wasn't 3H but this is probably my favorite Fire Emblem in years. This game feels like not only a throwback to the 6-10 era of FE but it also feels as if it's properly criticized the flaws in those games and adjusted itself accordingly. To an extent, it feels like a romhack but it also very much feels like this was made by Fire Emblem fans. The story is fine, the characters are generally pretty good, getting better the further they are into the game and it feels like a game made with heart. Oh, and the gameplay's really good. The Engage system is fantastic and while I wasn't keen on it in the early previews, in practice it feels fantastic. Map design is great, the game looks fantastic and is the best looking 3D FE ever made. If you have a Switch and are even moderately interested in either RPGs or SRPGs, go get this game. It's one of the most refined, soulful games of the year. Oh, and uh, maybe skip the DLC. It messes with the pacing of the game a lot and I think a first run is better done without the DLC. 1. Oldschool Runescape  bird This game is still the best 2nd monitor game I've played in a long time but I'm running out of things to watch while playing it. I guess I should go get my bird and hat in the actual main game instead of the temporary game mode where I took that picture, huh? I still think OSRS is the game that all those MMO old heads keep asking for and not only that, it's even good too. I bounced off RS3 last year, I'm not touching it again. The real reason I don't have much on my list is because I played way too much of this game and I had a good time.Still, I want to finish off a lot of things so maybe a little less OSRS in the future would be a good idea. Anyway, quick list for whoever's collecting these.
Lot of things to play, good year for games. Next year, I hope to be able to talk about Heluo's studios new game since they're apparently my weirdest niche studio of choice.
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 14:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 00:19 |
|
|
BeanpolePeckerwood posted:Love to see this game occasionally blow someone's mind.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 14:28
|
|
|
I'm glad someone mentioned Balatro, I dumped so many hours into the demo and once it releases its over for me
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 14:37
|
|
|
Hello gamers, It was another year of spending my dwindling free time becoming the southeastern United States’s 175th best player of the Digimon Trading Card Game. I played very few games this year, and even fewer of them deserved recognition on my personal end of the year list. I’m sorry, Tears of the Kingdom just didn’t hit for me. Accordingly, my top 10 list has shrunk to a top 5 list. Only the best of the best are on this list. Fortunately, it was a great year for video games, even if it was a dogshit year for the rest of the industry as the specter of capitalism sucks the lifeblood out of all but the smallest studios. I would have bought the Peter Griffin skin in Fortnite if I didn’t have to actually play the game to get it. 5. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin  Thank god I got COVID back at the beginning of the school year so I had about a week to punch into this bad boy, and “punch” is the word. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is basically wall-to-wall DOOM-style glory kills with a variety of jobs you can switch between. From the get-go anyone with a passing familiarity with the original Final Fantasy will know something is amiss with the story, but the way the discrepancies are resolved is ultimately pretty satisfying. 4. Pizza Tower  Apologies to my friend Relax or Die for the poor paraphrase, but as I was streaming Pizza Tower one day they struck with this insight: In contrast to a “precision platformer” like Celeste or Super Meat Boy, Pizza Tower might be the first ever imprecision platformer. Peppino, the protagonist of this plucky pizza platformer, moves less like a character and more like an unstoppable force. Because of the shoulder tackle, comparisons were made to the Wario Land games, but I don’t think that’s quite right. Pizza Tower seems as if someone played the shinespark puzzles in something like Metroid Dread and asked, “what if this but the whole game?” Slap on an ugly, surrealist coat of (ms)paint – more palatable than Cruelty Squad but it’s no Chicory – and you have Pizza Tower. 3. Tunic  Originally this list would have Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 in the #5 slot. I wrote all the blurbs except that one, then my wife came in and asked me to do something so I got distracted, and then Christmas came and I bought/was gifted a bunch of video games. “Now what?” I asked, late Christmas evening. I reckoned Tunic was the one I could progress the most in the little time I had to play. Ideally, you stop reading here: Tunic is good, play it. If you insist to keep reading: Tunic does the thing I want a video game to do the most: it fucks with you. Put nicely, Tunic plays with your expectations about what information a video game should communicate. Put rudely, Tunic fucks with you. In three main ways: First, you are unable to read the game world’s primary language, because why would you expect to be able to read the language of a fantasy land? Second, you find the pieces of an instruction manual on your travels (which again, you can barely read), which will reveal to you things you had been able to do the entire time if you just knew the right button combo. Third, with the camera locked at the same isometric viewpoint for most of the game, many hidden paths are accessible all along, just simply out of sight. The weakest part of the game is the mob combat, but the boss fights are all thrilling, insisting you make use of blocking, i-frames, items, and the tried and true Dark Souls strategy of “getting in there.” I’m not finished yet (I’ve collected the three keys for those in the know), but I’ve played enough to know it belongs on this list. 2. Metroid Prime Remastered  Do you remember the first time you played the Metroid Prime game for the Nintendo Gamecube? Landing on the pirate frigate, slowly making your way inside, nervously scanning the specimens and the corpses. Guts splatter on your visor as you crush little bugs. If you fire a charge beam too close to a wall, your eyes are reflected onto the glass. Well, here’s the thing. Every Nintendo Gamecube game actually looks like poo poo. I know this because a few years ago I tried to play the Star Fox Adventures game for the Nintendo Gamecube and it looked like poo poo. But the Metroid Prime Remastered game for the Nintendo Switch looks and feels like you remember the Metroid Prime game for the Nintendo Gamecube looking and feeling. And this time, I am a big adult man, so I actually finished it. 1. Pentiment  Sorry to all the history heads in the chat, but I can barely give a poo poo about the early modern period. It ranks far below cartoon cooking simulators and sad millennials and other things I want to play a video game about. Thus it is a testament (is that a pun?) to the strength of the world and the writing of Pentiment that it was the foregone winner of this list, lurking like a shadow over anything else I would play all year. Sorry three hundred million dollar tentpole superhero blockbuster, were you as good as the game I played with the little illuminated manuscript cartoons talking to each other, where I ate bread as a minigame? No? Too bad. I was too late to hop on the train last year, but I’m hoping Pentiment sees some flowers this year as well. It really is that good. To recap: 5. Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin 4. Pizza Tower 3. Tunic 2. Metroid Prime Remastered 1. Pentiment
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 15:35
|
|
|
I've almost certainly forgotten some of the games I played this year, but overall, yep, a pretty good year. Games I finished but don't feel like ranking: Sekiro GOTY every year. I went back to Sekiro this year to get all the remaining achievements on a charmless run and was pleased to find my muscle memory almost immediately came back. Venba/Thirsty Suitors Seems like it's the year of games that include Tamil cooking. My wife is Tamil so it was quite funny to virtually cook dishes I've made in real life. I think these are both flawed in different ways, though: Venba is extremely short (you could feasibly finish it within the Steam refund period) and Thirsty Suitors is an uneasy marriage (do you see what I did there) of several genres, namely cooking via rhythm game, slow-paced JRPG style battling and unpleasant-feeling skateboarding. Both games are charming and have great voice acting, though! A=B A programming puzzle game where you have to use an esolang which only does string replacement. Not quite as good as a Zachtronics game, with occasionally poor explanations of the problem, but also not as expensive. Despite being a professional computer toucher I found this incredibly difficult and I shamefully resorted to looking up the solutions for some problems so I could get on to a better game. DNF Shame Zone Ace Attorney Trilogy I settled down to play this and thought I was really going to enjoy it, but it was a miss for me and I tapped out after the first game. I think it was a combination of it feeling quite clunky to do the investigation (go to location X, then from there to location Y, then search for a thing; press witnesses on every statement) and my tolerance for anime being lower than I expected. Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengeance of the Slayer As someone who grew up playing Duke Nukem, Blood and other Build Engine games, I should have been the target audience here, but the joke ("Inept game because the creator was a dumb teenager") doesn't make me want to actually play through a game that deliberately repeats the low points of the late 90s. Also, did you know the S-Blade has a Hackblood charge? Maquette I got bad vibes from the incredibly obvious plot (delivered by voiceover) about a relationship going south and gave up on this after the second level when some kind of physics weirdness got me stuck after successfully solving a puzzle. Totally definitive list of the best games this year: 27) Like A Dragon: Ishin! This is an old Yakuza game and it shows; I'd probably rate it as being about as good as the Fist of the North Star Yakuza game. I do not have the patience any more to do the insane amount of grinding necessary to see all the content. 26) Cocoon A good puzzle game, but I found the experience slightly hollow somehow. I think it may be the lack of any kind of explanation of what's going on, as you're just a bug person that walks around and swaps between worlds for no apparent reason bar you need to solve some puzzles. 25) Foretales The art is really nice, and initially the gameplay is pretty fun! However, there is a large amount of repetition, as you have to finish the game a minimum of three times to get the 'good' ending. This is a bit of a weird choice in what is essentially a point and click adventure game in disguise, as you play through the same scenarios repeatedly and they always have the same methods of solving the various challenges you face. 24) Wo Long In a word: Disappointing. I loved Nioh and I loved Sekiro, but putting them together fell flat. The enemy variety was sorely lacking and the combat didn't have the mechanical depth of Nioh. It didn't help that I have no idea about Romance of the Three Kingdoms and it doesn't explain who anyone is. The Lu Bu boss fight was great, though! 23) The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante An atmospheric choose your own adventure. While there are three paths, each with variations, and I finished all of them, I probably shouldn't have bothered because it's only the three main paths that really have any new content. Still fun though! 22) Unpacking A charming and sly way to tell a story. The actual gameplay I found quite fun, but at times a bit obscure (possibly because I would never keep thing X in room Y in real life). 21) Aeon's End This is based on a board game which seems like it would be a bit fiddly to play physically. Having the computer handle all the rules for you is great, as it means you can concentrate on helping your post-apocalyptic dimensional wizards defeat a series of bosses. The downfall here is the amount of content - there are only a relative handful of enemies to defeat, and while there's a semi-random mode where you can fight several with increasing difficulty, you've still seen it before. 20) Sentinels of the Multiverse This game, also based on a board game, is incredible value for money if you are the kind of person who, like me, enjoys ticking things off a big list, because there are hours and hours of unlocking variant characters to do. However, even at max speed it's quite slow going as there is a lot of showing you who damaged what, choosing the order in which things get affected, etc. etc., so it's not for everybody. 19) Griftlands Wonderful art, three characters that play differently, fun story, so why isn't it higher? I felt like the roguelike elements didn't really mesh well with the fixed story parts, and the pure roguelike mode wasn't enough to hold my interest for long. Still, a good time while it lasted. 18) Alina of the Arena If you like turn-based combat, randomness and hex grids consider picking this up, I enjoyed it. However, I got the feeling that only some builds have a chance of defeating the optional true final boss who is your dad, as if you couldn't see that coming. 17) En Garde This is a very charming game - it's colourful, the combat is Zorro/Errol Flynn style fun and the voice acting is on point. However, I think its origins as a student project show, as it's quite short and not that complicated. A good palate cleanser, though. 16) Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate Daemonhunters If only the Emperor had commanded this game to be a bit less of a slog, it would be easier to recommend. Like the earlier WH40K Mechanicus, the difficulty curve is a bit wonky, though it never becomes quite as easy as that game did. However, it does seem to go on for way longer than it really needed to. I finished in under 500 game days (which apparently is worth a rare achievement?) but it felt like the developers could easily have trimmed some bits out. 15) Firewatch As walking simulators go, this is a great example. I enjoyed the poignant story and the scenery you travelled through. 14) Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name It was fun to play as 13) Jusant This was a short but sweet meditative climbing experience. I would probably have liked it less if I hadn't played it on Game Pass, as it's very short and not worth £25, IMO. 12) Rollerdrome Flow state, the game. It was lots of fun lining up a series of tricks in between counter-sniping a guy and blowing someone up with a grenade launcher. The '70s Rollerball-esque soundtrack by Electric Dragon was particularly fitting, and his other music is also good. 11) Citizen Sleeper I enjoyed the grimy, late stage capitalism universe this game evoked. As others have said, while you might feel tension initially, you soon realise that actually you'd have to go out of your way to fail which makes things feel a little hollow. Still, I enjoyed it enough to see all of the endings. 10) The Roottrees are Dead I played through the whole thing in 4 feverish hours of late-90s websleuthing. I would have happily paid for this, looking forward to whatever the creator does next. 9) Lost Judgment I enjoy all the Yakuza/Like a Dragon games, and this felt like the pinnacle of the real-time combat branch of their output. The combat was great fun, particularly Snake Style allowing you to scare high school bullies unconscious, and the plot was more grounded than some of the games with Kiryu. 8) Dead Space Remake The remake that gave everyone's favourite space vivisectionist Isaac Clarke the ability to make noises other than "Hnuuurgh!". The original was one of my favourite games of 2008 and the best thing I can say is that this remake means there is no reason to ever replay it, with a wonderful combination of graphic improvements, light Metroidvania elements and great voice acting and sound design. 7) The Case of the Golden Idol A great logic puzzle, which filled the gap of not being able to erase my memories of the Obra Dinn. Special shout out to the first DLC for having a beautiful piece of music by Kyle Misko in Alleyways of Lanka. 6) Signalis I spent quite a while trying to cut the Gordian knot of this game's dream-like plot after I finished it, which is probably a good sign. A wonderful homage to Silent Hill (but in space) with a thought-provoking story. Plus, another game this year where being able to understand the German was useful. 5) Grime I would never have played this if it hadn't been free on the Epic Games Store. I enjoyed the parry-based gameplay, platforming and general air of mystery, but the standout was Alex Roe's soundtrack which took the sting out of having to repeat some of the tricky boss fights quite a few times. I also appreciated the developers extending and improving their game with free DLC, though their game balance could do with a bit of work still as some of the weapons are very clearly better than others. 4) System Shock I can still quote the entirety of the original System Shock's intro as it was one of those formative games for me in the olden dayes. Though the original still holds up (I actually played it again this year too) this was an amazing remake that smoothed away some of the rough edges. Special shout out to the amusing pixelated graphics, though I wish they had done something different with the puzzles as I had absolutely no idea how to solve the first one I came across, which was incredibly easy in the original, and had to go and look at a Youtube video. 3) Puppet Bloodborne, aka Lies of P I loved Puppet Bloodborne once I got used to the parry timing! The boss fights were a particular high point, though some of them had me pulling my hair out. The developers really knocked this one out of the park, demonstrating that they actually understood why people like Dark Souls et al, so I'm really looking forward to what they come up with next. 2) Armored Core 6 I've never played any of the previous Armored Core games, but I pre-ordered this based on From Software's track record and I wasn't disappointed. 50+ hours of high-speed shotgun blasts, laser swords and giant metal dropkicks followed. The voice acting is particularly good; I think everyone who has played it will remember, "I won't miss". 1) Pentiment I'm probably exactly the target audience for this - I know a fair bit about the history of the Holy Roman Empire, I was raised Catholic, I loved Darklands and I enjoyed The Name of the Rose. Pentiment really evoked what it would be like to live in that time, with a complex and emotional story. For me, this approached 'work of art' status - kudos to Rope Kid and the rest of the developers. Naar fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Dec 31, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 15:58
|
|
|
I didn't play a ton of games this year, and certainly finished even less of them to thing about in any sort of meaningful way, and most of those shoved off into the ether are the games I probably should have actually spend time on like BG3 and TOTK (they're great but I'm not done with them enough). Maybe 2024 will have more gaming for me. I think what I've found for me, is that games are becoming more and more about who I get to spend my time with rather than the particular game I'm playing and I think this is very cool. 5. Battlebit Remastered  They (like three dudes) made a dang whole rear end Battlefield game. Except it looks stupid as gently caress. Except looking stupid as gently caress doesn't matter one iota. Once you actually get into the action and shooting and driving tanks and blowing things up it feels like the best Battlefield game you've ever played and evokes every memory you had of being a little annoying rear end in a top hat complaining to your parents that your home PC isn't powerful enough to run Battlefield 1942 like your friend Mike's does. The progress this game has made in the course of its release is stellar and stunning and it really shows how much impact a developer who is able to do what their community wants can create something pretty dang special. 4. Lethal Company  I got to spend a whole bunch of time playing this with the homies and folks, it's good. It's great. I think there are some great "little moments" in Lethal Company -- moments when either something weird happens or a noise happens and you might be just out of range of your allies and you have to sprint back to them and go "oh poo poo there's something here" and your very smart friends all decide to investigate, or you've managed to get yourself lost and alone and have to make the decision whether to find your friends or leave them behind for fun and profit. The last moments of any "run" of Lethal Company in the right circumstances (largely caused by your own fuckups) are exhilirating as you take your pile of loot back to the ship in the dark, surrounded by poo poo that wants to kill you. Get Lethal Company and go to work with your buds. 3. World of Warcraft: Dragonflight  drat it. God loving drat it. I was supposed to be done with World of Warcraft forever! What started as a quick little foray into checking out Hardcore Classic led me to poking around in retail. Oh, there's dragonriding and people say it's insanely epic? Lemme give it a shot. Let me watch an entire race to world first raid competition. Let me just get to max level. Let me just...on and on and now I'm addicted to World of Warcraft again. This is the best the game has been, as long as I can remember it and that includes looking back a decade with the most rose-tinted glasses imaginable. I can not believe I am back playing this game and having so much fun. 2. Street Fighter 6  As everyone knows, Street Fighter is the greatest fighting game ever created. It is the most fundamentals-based fighting game that only the most skilled players play. I don't know anything about any of this game beyond the ranked match window and the private lobby system. I've met some great people that I enjoy hanging out with through Street Fighter 6 and perhaps best of all -- the drive me to be better at the game. I've always loved getting incrementally better at games, even if it means holding a big, embarrassing L for hours on end. Being able to take a round, match or set off of someone who can beat you free is more satisfying and motivating than anything else in a game for me and Street Fighter 6 has this in heaps. This game also has a ton of heart, Luke is a lovely boy that I am sorry to have slandered repeatedly in various public forums. 1. Pentiment  It's a masterpiece. It's so funny that my big theme for this year is "games I get to play with friends" and my game of the year is this beautiful single player story. There's just so much care and love and reverence and passion throughout every single part of this game. I have an entire folder of screenshots from Pentiment that just make me happy to look at and I think its lasting impact on me is why I'm giving it Game of the Year. Quick List: 5. Battlebit Remastered 4. Lethal Company 3. World of Warcraft: Dragonflight 2. Street Fighter 6 1. Pentiment
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 16:20
|
|
|
A surprise cohort of Medieval Scribes has joined the thread!
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 16:26
|
|
|
Issaries posted:A surprise cohort of Medieval Scribes has joined the thread! This is Pentiment's year I can feel it
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 16:27
|
|
|
It would rule if it got a second podium finish off of people who played it after reading lists last year
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 17:42
|
|
|
Kerrzhe posted:there are lots of games that are much better than elden ring Wrong!
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 18:05
|
|
|
wuggles posted:It would rule if it got a second podium finish off of people who played it after reading lists last year That would be pretty cool but I think this is too little too late. Unless a lot of people posts lists with it ranked very highly in the next 12 hours The podium feels to me most likely to be BG3, TOTK, AC6
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 18:07
|
|
|
well because of a mysterious benefactor whose name rhymes with "stamp" it'll probably be on next year's list for me
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 18:09
|
|
|
Time flies and I have a NYE dinner to get to so hopefully I can sneak this in. Alas, I didn't have time to do a wrap up for each of them: 10: EA WRC 9: Terra Nil 8. Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp 7. Street Fighter 6 6. Mortal Kombat 1 5. Gravity Circuit 4. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon 3. Cocoon 2. Lies of P 1. Baldur's Gate 3 Happy New Year!
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 18:18
|
|
|
I am in the middle of finishing my MA dissertation and do not have much time to post but wanted to get in on the voting so here is my GOTY summary: Edit! 6! FFXVI. How could I forget? I loved the first third to bits but then it whiffed the last third and the ending, which was unsatisfying. Hey ho. 5: Demon's Souls (PS5 remake) Played this earlier in the year and it finally clicked, although I still hate the roly-poly skeletons. They can gently caress off. 4: Bloodborne Again, gave it a go for the umpteenth time, but the dodging finally clicked after lots of hours in Horizon Forbidden West, and I beat Father Gasgoigne, so that was a win. 3: Dwarf Fortress The graphical release meant that I could finally play this (simply couldn't parse the ASCII version), and it is a bonkers, complex and enthralling game which I have somehow sunk hundreds of hours into. FUN. 2: Case of the Golden Idol Absolutely brilliant experience, with intriguing and compelling storytelling wrapped up in satisfying detective mechanics. The art style gives it a genuinely creepy and uncanny atmosphere. 1: Baldur's Gate 3 Complete game-changer for 'give it a go and see what happens?' play with brilliant writing, a thrilling and coherent story, and incredibly satisfying tactical complexity. I hope its success will usher in a new and exciting era of CRPGs. CuriousSymptoms fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Dec 31, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 18:24
|
|
|
Finally adding in a last minute entry post... 10. Starfield The only reason this game even made the list is simply because I didn't play a whole lot of different games this year and was having trouble coming up with 10 games I played enough to even make a list. In fact, the game was so underwhelming it was almost a decision to just cap my list at 9 entries. A pretty game, but so shallow in so many departments I somehow managed to not even finish it. Instead, all this game really made me want to do was go play... 9. No Man's Sky In spite of being several years older, lacking any real decent storyline, and being easy as hell, this game still managed to somehow be better than Starfield. Especially when scratching that itch of running around scanning things, blowing up pirates, and generally just skipping between the stars being a space hobo too lazy to make a functional base. It was also nice to see the new things the devs had added, and I'm hoping that if a sequel ever gets made it addresses many of its core issues. 8. Trepang2 A relatively generic shooter in most regards, this game has you running around as a super soldier who gets to slide tackle enemies, grab them before they even hit the ground, use them as bullet shields, and then literally twist their heads off after everyone else is dead. Oh yeah, and you can go into bullet time and slide into a room full of enemies with a pistol and cap each of them in the head if you're feeling stylish. Also had some cool SCP vibes going on, with one level having some actual good "oh poo poo poo poo poo poo poo poo poo poo" and "wtf" moments. I'm assuming Control is like this, so I'll probably finally get around to playing that sometime this coming year. 7. Against the Storm City-builder rogue-like? Huh. Okay, sure, I guess. Anyways, the formula actually works and it was fun building towards a goal knowing that nothing you build is permanent and will all be wiped away in the next cycle. Might be worth another try now that it's out of early access. 6. Rimworld Was on a total sci-fi kick this year after Starfield and NMS, so decided to boot this one up again with all of the new(ish?) DLC. Or at least the stuff that was added since I last played a few years ago. Took a little while to get back into the swing of things, but yeah, game still good. 5. Legendary Journeys This game is...well...it isn't good. In fact, it looks and plays like something some guy made solo in his basement (which is probably the case). Generic RPG plot, bad graphics, poorly balanced, and glitchy as hell to where you can fall out of the map forever or potentially hard lock yourself into incompletion if you aren't careful. In spite of all that I still really enjoyed this janky rear end game (even though I couldn't figure out where to go to finish it). Maybe a patch will shed some light on that some time and I'll get around to actually finishing it off at some point. 4. Salt I love this game. It has to be about my favorite "boot up every couple years and just chill in the world" game I own. It's great to just start a new game, quickly build a lovely raft, and get to choose a random direction and just start exploring the beautiful Wind Waker style island world. No pressing time limits and almost zero NPCs that aren't pirates trying to kill you. In fact, the sheer isolation (especially before stuff was added in later) was one of the big draws for me. Supposedly there is (was?) a kickstarter for a second game, and I really hope it gets made because I want more of the same. 3. Valheim Another one I came back to after a 2-3 year hiatus. It's still good and I still enjoy the building in this game more than any other. Pulled it out of retirement for the Mistlands update and will probably do so again when the Ashlands biome is finished. 2. Risk of Rain 2 How the hell did I miss this game when it came out? Bought it on sale and promptly sunk almost 200 hours into it mastering all of the different survivors and learning how to go from "scrub who can barely survive" to "dominator and master of all who promptly deletes most poo poo before it even properly spawns in". Should probably go back and get those last few mastery achievements in order to say I'm properly "finished" with it. 1. Elden Ring Bought this right after it came out last year, but was suffering computer issues where any graphically intensive game would freeze the computer. After buying an entirely new video card and re-arranging my entire PC so it would actually fit, I booted the game up to find out that...it was still freezing when playing anything graphically intensive. After months of this, I finally managed to figure out that I had a bad RAM stick, which after removal (making sure it was the stick and not port), everything worked just fine. Also, I had completely forgotten that I owned Elden Ring by that point. Around the beginning of this month I was looking for something to play, saw it my Steam library, and figured I'd finally give it a go. To be honest, I almost didn't want to like the game. It was so hyped up last year I was wondering if it would live up to that hype and actually impress me. Needless to say, it lived up to that hype. After the first few hours I was hooked. Being my first FromSoft game, I initially had issues timing enemies, killing things, and mostly just staying alive in general. Cue to me being almost 180 hours in now because I've been spending almost all my free time playing it, and I've gone from getting clowned on by scrub-tier soldiers to annihilating gargantuan bears and other monstrosities with barely a scratch. I actually can't wait to finish off the last three bosses I still have and start over so I can clown on everything in new and interesting ways (not to mention do a lot of the NPC quests I missed the first time through). Definitely game of the year for me, and well deserved.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 18:34
|
|
|
Making a list this year is very tough. I didn't have time to get to a lot of this year's notable games because I spent much of the year playing older things and catching up. However, so much amazing stuff was released this year that it is enough to fill a decade's worth of lists... I also, as usual, didn't give myself time to properly write stuff up, so apologies if some of this text is bad and poorly written. This was done fast.  10. Humanity Imagine something like 3D Lemmings but with a very modern presentation. Not a completely accurate or fair comparison, but to me that feels like one of the core ideas. This game was conceived as a joint production between creative agency tha, which has an incredible portfolio of creations, and Enhance, the group of people behind games such as Tetris Effect. If that doesn't sway you, perhaps I should mention that Tetsuya Mizuguchi was an executive producer. Humanity is a really odd thing, but if you're like me it immediately sounded interesting. There's even a tiny bit of Darwinia in there. The game's really good! Not too hard or impenetrable, just a puzzle game that mostly allows you to do things at your own pace. You control a dog that herds groups of clueless humans through various test scenarios inside some kind of huge computer simulation. The groups of humans eventually become hordes and rivers, as they endlessly spill out of portals, with you feeding them into obstacles, goals and traps. The game comes up with all sorts of silly scenarios, which I don't want to spoil because they're very fun to experience. The soundtrack, while not something that I'd listen to on its own, is a fantastic fit for the game. The game didn't make much of an impact, even with Sony giving it away for free on PS Plus at release. It's sad but understandable since this year was so packed with releases.  9. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart While I haven't played all of the Ratchet & Clank games, I have played most of them and I feel somewhat confident in saying this is the best one Insomniac's ever made. Maybe Insomniac's best game? I loved my time with it, anyway. Rift Apart is a very safe, inoffensive game that plays to the studio's strengths. Good writing with tons of great character moments, good pacing between fights/exploration and really gorgeous graphics. Has the series abandoned its roots by distancing itself from the more edgy humor and innuendo? I don't think so, when the original game was released in 2002 it was a different era. Any long-running series of media generally has to reinvent itself from time to time to continue on successfully - and I'm actually kinda amazed how little work Ratchet & Clank has had to do on that front. This is still very much like those older games, only a much more refined version of it. The plot is very much the topic of the day - the metaverse. We get different versions of the franchise's established characters, but from an alternate dimension: Rivet and Kit to our Ratchet and Clank and Emperor Nefarious to the traditional Doctor Nefarious. It does play out much better than it sounds, however. Rivet in particular is the breath of fresh air that this series has needed for a long time and Nefarious is the actually dangerously competent villain. But the above isn't very important. What is important is the variety of cool locations you get to explore, the fun traversal options, the large variety of weapons to kill stuff with and all the little humorous moments sprinkled around the game that makes it such a great package.  8. Inscryption I managed to go into this game blind, knowing absolutely nothing about it other than "card game". I proceeded to be floored by the entire thing. A game that keeps throwing surprises at you all the way through. If I were to recount here all the things that the game does I'd be doing it a disservice, even a couple of years after release, because a huge part of the experience is rooted in not knowing what tricks it has in store. So if you are reading this and have seen others mention Inscryption at some point, haven't been spoiled on the twists and have the tiniest of interest in games featuring card-based gameplay, you should really go check it out.  7. Against The Storm I don't know why I keep coming back to this game. I kind of suck at it - I can never remember what the production chains are for any of the buildings or even which camp corresponds to which raw resource. My settlements tend to wither and die due to my poor choices at the higher difficulties and the entire experience is a struggle, the constant threat of failure looming over everything, and this can go on for hours for each part of the run. And yet the feeling of managing to fully finish enough orders for a given settlement, earning enough reputation to move on to the next one, getting ever closer to the goal, is very fulfilling precisely because of the hardships that I faced. It is such a weird mix of city building and roguelike elements, even though you're not really meant to play it as a city builder because every settlement is disposable and attempting to make it look "nice" is pointless since it will be wiped away by the storm. The game can be stressful and miserable, and somehow I occasionally come back to play another session of it. Like I said, I don't fully understand why. An extremely compelling but hostile game.  6. Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew So, first off... I'm still not sure what to call games in this particular genre. Commandos-likes? Tactical stealth strategy? Squad-based stealth action? Wikipedia calls it "stealth-oriented real-time tactics", which is a handful. Whatever the genre's nickname is, Mimimi have proven themselves to be masters of it. They've put out Shadow Tactics, Desperados 3 and now this, the latest in a series of games that revolve around commanding a handful of characters around as they navigate through various locations and quietly murder or incapacitate their way towards a goal. While Shadow Gambit is largely derivative and follows the formula that Mimimi's previous stealth games established, what I find curious about it is how the game works the concept of saving and trial-and-error repetition diegetically into the narrative and gameplay. I can't fully address what it does without spoiling things but I always find it interesting when games manage to pull this off. Characters in the game will both comment on and make use of it I consider Mimimi's previous games to be stronger, more focused experiences but Shadow Gambit is still an incredibly fun and rewarding stealth game. It was painful to see Mimimi Games announce their closure earlier this year, as they've been supporting this game post-release with additional downloadable content and mod tools.  5. Returnal What to say about this one? A third-person roguelike bullet hell shooter with procedurally generated environments? You know... when I write it out like that, it doesn't really sound like my cup of tea, but Returnal is really good. Like many difficult games it pushes you to get better and reach farther than before. It is not an easy game but figuring out which weapons are appropriate for each biome and being smart (and a little lucky) with upgrades is the key to success. The game's audiovisual aesthetic is incredibly strong and one of those games where wearing headphones comes highly recommended. The setting immediately got its teeth into me and watching Selene's slow mental degradation as she slowly comes to terms with the fact that she is doomed to an eternal cycle of death and failure is done really well and stuff just keeps getting weirder the deeper you go. I'm also a fan of the (divisive) story, I got all the way to the 'real' end and was satisfied with the conclusion. I still have that song stuck in my head.  4. The Roottrees Are Dead Came across links for this in a couple of threads here on SA and ended up playing through it in one long sitting, becoming one of the most fun and engaging gaming experiences I had all year. It turned dials inside my brain that so very few games manage to do. A deduction game in the style of Return of the Obra Dinn, you are given an entire family tree to fill out right at the start and have to look up information for clues and connections by crawling through websites and databases using keywords. The family tree is quite large but the game's scope isn't huge and the game does do a great job of nudging you in the right direction by providing abridged summaries of the information you're finding, instead of having to read through every piece of text yourself and figure out what is important. The game does make use of AI-generated imagery to fill out the huge roster of characters, which is understandably going to turn off some people. On the other hand, the game is entirely free.  3. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 I play less RPGs From Japan than I used to, but this one was very special to me. I love the entire main cast and they all work together really well. Lots of interesting side characters too and the job system was really fun to mix and match. At some point the combat kinda falls apart as utterly ridiculous damage numbers start appearing on the screen as you do massive chain attacks - but it doesn't matter, I like when games let you demolish everything in sight with overpowered stuff. The game itself is packed with content, and much of it is interesting and worth engaging with. There's also a bunch of stuff that is still the typical "gather tons of monster drops and turn them in" or "kill X of this monster" which makes the game sometimes feel like a solo MMO, but they've felt like that since the first game. Personally I think it makes this series feel rather unique. The open world environments are a little on the empty side but they're gorgeous and the game really is pushing the Switch hardware to its limits. The cutscenes are also really great, with generous amounts of giant anime robots punching and blasting their way through stuff. This is a long game that expects you to put in many, many hours and I never got tired of it until after seeing the credits roll.  2. The Talos Principle 2 The first game is one of my all-time favorite puzzle games so I was really excited for this one and I'm glad to report that it doesn't disappoint. While at first glance it might seem like they expanded the scope too much by adding in a lot of NPCs with dialogue trees and branching player choice, ultimately this game still retains the essence of what made the original so good: Lots of really clever puzzles with some philosophical subtext sprinkled over it, set in beautiful enviroments. Is it as good as the first game? ....no. Unfortunately I do think this sequel makes a few tiny but significant missteps that keep it from being on par with that one: There's not as many out-of-the-box puzzle solutions in the open environments and the optional bonus puzzles are not as interesting this time around. That doesn't drag the game down too much, it just doesn't quite reach the same high bar that the original established. It is still a tremendously good puzzle game and I'm glad that the developers took chances and attempted to do some new and different things in this one.  1. Lies of P I loved Demon's Souls back in the day and also enjoyed Dark Souls when it was new, but then I kind of felt like I'd had my fill and have skipped much of the other stuff that From Software has put out except for Bloodborne and have only played a couple of games taking inspiration from them that were made by other developers. I don't always actively seek these sorts of games out is what I'm getting at here and I've certainly not exhausted all the ones that are available. When I first saw Lies of P I thought it looked terribly derivative and kept confusing it with Steelrising, a very similar-looking game from Spiders. I'd written the game off completely but re-examined it when I saw positive buzz going around at release. Still, I thought it would probably be too hard, my quick reflex skills were too rusty, I'd be overwhelmed by the choice and all that... perhaps someone else can relate to thoughts like this. For some reason I did decide to install and check it out since it was on Game Pass. Now I'm on the other side of that, having completed three playthroughs. My verdict: Lies of P is a really, really good "one of those". As is expected, the game is unforgiving right at the start. Even basic enemies hit like trucks, you are expected to parry a lot of attacks or block them. Most weapons also have specific limited-use combat abilities that, if triggered carefully at the right moments in battle, can help a lot. I am no good at doing any of this, but I still got through the game by making heavy use of dodging and items. While it may not be ideal, the game does allow for that sort of gameplay, especially with later upgrades. Bosses start out hard and only get more and more unfair as the game goes on, but you do have a growing arsenal of weapons, upgrades and gear that can help balance that out. There's also AI-controlled specters you can summon in many fights, but their usefulness is not guaranteed. There's no easy win button, even though consumable items can help a lot and the spectres might take some of the heat off you. Bosses will often do really long and devastating combos to wear you down before giving small openings for getting some damage in and making use of these opportunities is the key to winning. One of the things I love about the game are all the little touches that help make it more accessible to players and genre newcomers, even though it maintains its high difficulty throughout. There's a ton of small, helpful features that are great to have, such as recharging your final healing cell by doing damage damage, having a level up/ergo indicator, being able to retrieve ergo from outside a boss arena, simple and generous respecs, etc. None of this is essential to the experience but there's many nice-to-have things here that feel so natural. I can't praise this game enough. It certainly isn't for everyone, but I never imagined it'd be laser-targeted towards me. Easy list: 10. Humanity 9. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart 8. Inscryption 7. Against The Storm 6. Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew 5. Returnal 4. The Roottrees Are Dead 3. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 2. The Talos Principle 2 1. Lies of P
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 18:37
|
|
|
GENUINE CAT HERDER posted:5. Legendary Journeys It is. I bought it a year ago in EA to show support because nobody else is doing spiritual successors to M&M6-8 and I've wanted one for ages. But it is a project by one guy and you can't really make a satisfying game like this with only one person.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 18:41
|
|
|
pentiment! pentiment! pentiment!
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 18:49
|
|
|
AceOfFlames posted:Time flies and I have a NYE dinner to get to so hopefully I can sneak this in. Alas, I didn't have time to do a wrap up for each of them: You don't have to do a full wrapup with visual aids and youtubes but you should edit in a sentence or two about each so your votes count!
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 18:55
|
|
|
Ok I finished
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 19:23
|
|
|
Getting in just under the wire! Managed to complete the last game I needed today, so here we go; Before September I never would have expected my top five to look the way it does. Testament to the cornucopia of cromulent games that were unleashed this year (and the pitiful amount of time I spend gaming each year since my Dad made me play Wolfenstein 3D at 3 years old). I played a lot of games this year, so many that I’m probably leaving 20 or more out of the list entirely. No, disrespect to them, there was just way too much GAMING.  Let’s start by getting crucified- GTAV Online Holy poo poo, I started and was instantly bombarded with endless requireables and prompts that I couldn’t ignore, and five minutes later thrown into a ten minute unskippable cutscene with dialogue that’s aged around 240 years. Then I was told to log into my computer to manage my club. Then I was told there was some sort of event outside but there was no way to tell when or where it was. I hated every second of it. Alan Wake 1. Partner and I played this in the run up to AW2 coming out. Had never played it before and remembered very little about it from the time. Yes the plot is good, fun Stevie King schlock, but the gameplay is dire. Finicky controls, a dreadful dodge system, plenty of chances to be out of resources and unable to complete sequences further on. Not that it matters, as every encounter is exactly the same, except for when you fight furniture to the death. We just couldn’t bear finishing it. At the same time I’m glad I got somewhat familiar with it, and especially having watched my partner play Control a few years ago… Teardown For committing the mortal, inexcusable crime of not including invert-y at launch. Thumper VR I love rhythm games so why is this so poo poo?? I’m like not having any fun at all? It doesn’t feel like I’m playing anything, just sort of being assaulted. Jedi Knight Fallen Order I swore this game deserved five years on the dishonoured list. Year 4 completed.  Oh and the not yet finished. The Finals The Time to Kill seems to have been shortened since the Beta, which was good because it was my main complaint - farcical amounts of bullets pew pewing into people to see their health at half and the dreadful iron sights left you wondering if you were even hitting anyone at all. But that’s gone now, and so is the unintuitive controls for abilities, leaving you sort of stuck and immobile while you were choosing them. However the game seems quite threadbare at the moment. The last time I’d played I did start to get it - a team was cashing out in what turned out to be a room above me…so what if I launch this propane tank into the ceiling, and make them terribly annoyed? And it worked! I don’t dislike the visuals or the feel of the game, but I’m not in love with it either. I’ll keep an eye on it though! The current respawn times can get hosed though. Hunt Showdown I simply haven’t played enough to give it a review, but I’m liking it. Games can be excruciatingly slow with pubbies, or astonishingly quick. The idea that your character perma-dies is a good one, but I haven’t put in enough time to feel the threat from it yet. TLOU Factions The day they shut down the servers is the day I start smashing Veeg’s head in with a nail bat IRL just to feel something. Karamazoo This is cute! It’s a great game to play for ten minutes or so and make friends ~like ships in the night~ ^_^ . There are so many unlockables, and that is fairly daunting for such a simple game. Slay the spire Still playing this. I think I gave this some ludicrously high position, like 3rd in a previous year. Never been bettered, nothing comes close. Got over 300 hours on three different platforms and I’ve still only beat the heart with two characters. Elden Ring I don’t think I even played this year. Don’t need to. Game is so good I can just play it in my head from memory. Given the absurd quality of 2023 games in general, and the inevitable calm of next year, there is no chance that Shadow of the Erdtree doesn’t get in my top 3 for 2024. Unless Sekiro 2, Bloodborne remastered and Dark souls 4 all shadow drop in the next 11 months. Sniper Elite 5 Never got around to finishing it, but there’s few things more satisfying than nailing a mission with no alerts, dependent on the horribly precise authentic shooting modifier. And lobotomising Nazis in excruciating detail. The asymmetric invasion mechanic is neat, but with maps that are so large and not quite enough penalty for camping, you can get invaded and literally forget about it a couple of minutes later with no issues. Sometimes it is magical, and you have a playable Enemy at the Gates mode. And then you get splattered by a Hail Mary grenade throw. Humanity Luckily I’ve built up a huge list of games that I only got a little bit through before some big honkin goose of a “one of the best games ever made until a better one comes out in two weeks” arrived through the year. This will assuredly keep me going for a couple of weeks sometime next year. DEITY DOG Pizza Tower. Good lord just port this to a console it’s loving impossible to play on keyboard also I have a Mac so it’s fundamentally impossible for me to play anyway. Judgement Everything about this game is good and high quality but I simply do not gel with this type of game at all, and didn’t enjoy it. Is it fair to call a game you don’t enjoy “good”? Evidently I think it is. I had the same issue with Persona 5 actually. It does make me grateful for all the money I won’t be spending on Yakuza at least. Tetris Effect You will, and this is true, not play anything more Tetris than this. Pistol whip This is fun poo poo. That’s all. Will get even the most waif-like sun neglected goon sweating. Case of the Golden Idol And…exactly the same thing happened with this game as Curse of the Obra Dinn Blew through a huge chunk of the game in one day, and then got distracted and never went back to it, knowing I’d have forgotten everything crucial. I’m going to have to play both of these from the beginning another day. Pavlov Less so for the gameplay, more for the incurable lunacy you’ll see during it, especially in the TTK game mode. My first game involved everyone stripping naked in the showers and taking turns threatening yourself and everyone else with a grenade to prove you’re not the traitor. Will you make mortal enemies with a twelve year old Scottish child, or e best friends with someone speaking a language you don’t even recognise? Who loving knows. Metal Hellsinger When this game gets going it’s great - but with my soundbar it’s apparently loving impossible to get the audio delay right. It’s somewhat lacking in content, there’s a few levels and you may feel like replaying only a couple, and there is no allowance for variation in the rhythm (think of say, playing the drum track in Rock Band, except that you’re confined entirely to a single bass pedal), but when you’re fully in it playing that one great song, on fire and racking up atmospheric combos, it’s a great zen-hole.  No. 10 GOW Valhalla Whoever decided that all new games should have late rougelite dlc additions, I think they were quite clever and I would send them an email of thanks. I couldn’t believe how well this coheres with the combat, and how the constraints breathe a wholly new life into combat, such that it feels almost unrecognisable from the base game. And it’s free! and it is so much fun. And it has a much meatier story and heaps of dialogue, far more than I’d expected. Better even than Returnal’s Tower, but it’s reminded me that I should give the Hitman Roguelike a try now. No. 9 Chants of Sennaar This was a wonderful game to backseat co-op. Technically, fine, I didn’t play it. But it was fun to watch and help out with. Mandatory stealth sections be damned, but it gave some variety. Sure the language systems themselves are a bit simplistic, to the point where a more complex one might’ve made some of it actually easier to solve with thought, but it’s a Sunday afternoon relax-a-thon and all the little people bobbing about are cute. No. 8 Lies of P I’m positive the only thing I’ve said about this on the forums is the game sucks poo poo and has dog poo poo bosses and the game can get hosed. I do have some real genuine criticisms of the game, but what it does well, or more accurately, what is replicates well is gold. It has a slightly more methodical beat to the combat than From games, but some excellent variety despite how it seems at first. The enemies are very well designed and animated, the world is interesting, the voice acting and music are all decent and isn’t too short or overly long. When you’re used to the combat and parrying and the timing of your own animations it has a wonderful flow. The weapon system is appreciable new and different - finally beating the last boss by going back to school and starting over and ending up a with a weapon which is a giant gently caress off electric hammer, attached to a dagger handle so that I could prod it to death with just the right amount of speed/damage balance is inherently funny and interesting. However Fundamentally the game is stuck between the gulf of great but very specific mechanics and tricky enemies. This would be okay, if it was a case of needing to learn telegraphed attacks and knowing how best to retaliate on the fly. But it feels like the controls and the enemy behaviour were designed by two people who hate each other. Almost every single enemy has what I would call Rug Pull behaviour. “He’s raising his weapon…he’s about to swing….any moment now..almo-oh I’m dead”. There were some complaints about this in Elden Ring but after a couple of goes you would get it. Here, there is next to no rhythm to animations, I would guess 70% of attacks are parry-baiters, where it is held for a truly unreasonable amount of time and executed too fast to react to on an off beat. The time from tapping the parry button to executing it is ever so slightly too long, and makes some attacks, that if aren’t perfectly parried consecutively, will leave you completely stun locked. It’s difficult for its own sake, and that annoys me. Some other things are unnecessarily locked behind optional opportunity cost choices, like double dodging and specific stamina recovery types. If the game was playable (and not immediately beatable) by intuitively parrying I think this would rocket into one of my favourite souls likes. But it is really not as much fun to need to count the Mississippi’s between an attack starting and finishing. If you come for the king, you’d best not introduce artificial delays to make it “different enough”. No. 7 Spider-men, the twos of us This is standard fare - which is to say it is an adventure game of exceptional polish, production quality and spectacle scope. What it is not, is a deep enough evolution of the systems or narrative of the previous two games. It is fun, it is an eye searing crash through virtual New York and it has the best traversal mechanic of probably any game made. It is better than 90% of the games out there, but it is at huge risk of becoming stale. A good game. No. 6 Resident Evil 4 Okay now we’ve hit a gulf of enjoyment from the previous 3 games into what are all game of the year contenders and all would fit comfortably at high spots in a Best Game of All Time list. I was so excited for the original Resi 4 that I made my dad import it from America six months before its PAL release on my birthday, along with a freeloader disc for the GameCube that - Thank God - still worked when you had to switch to disc 2 to keep playing the game. It was an absolute revelation then, a paradigm shift for all of gaming and redrawing the rules of Action games. Its legacy can’t be understated. What we have now is one of the most faithful, and well deserved remakes ever made. Is it too similar to the original? Maybe, but with just slight changes to the mechanics it makes a fantastic game absolutely monumental. This is the closest thing so far to playing as John Wick. No. 5 Armored Core 6 What can I say? From have done it again. Action Action Action Unexpected Psychological Horror Action Action This game is so fast, and has such robots that it has assault boosted into the upper echelons of grinding, crunchy combat. It is Sekiro on rockets, but far more diverse and malleable. It has music and voices and the sound of bullets pinging off armour because you’re just too far away from your target it has tanks kicking other tanks it has punching a mech in the head because you’re out of ammo it has endless incessant warning sounds because you’re being targeted by 35 enemies at the same time it has helicopters you can pierce with a thrust driven spike it has sleek robots with two phases it has lasers and wheels and hovering and napalm it has pilots screaming as their mech explodes it has gargantuan architecture it has shields it has buddies it has instant characters it has blinding light shows it has whips it has reloading at just the right time to set up maximum damage for a stagger it has Kirby decals it has I WONT MISS. Combat distilled, yet a complete sensory overload you must cut through. No. 4 Tears of The Kingdom I had no love for Breath of the Wild. It moved away from what I always liked about Zelda - the melodies that burrows directly into your lizard brain, or the crafted dungeons and quests with character, the diversity of little gameplay loops. It lacked the soul of previous mainline Zelda games and replaced it with a far too empty plain, the worst horse controls of all time, and ethereal jazz that just faded into nothing. Tears of the kingdom fixes most of these things. The world is far more alive, dungeons are back (and well mostly suck) but it is a more vibrant, tactile imaginative hyrule and full of personality. It’s a real time sink and there is usually something to be found in every nook and cranny. Mainly, how they managed to get this game to work without crashing, let alone on the switch is pure magic. This is far from my favourite Zelda, but it did recapture some of that old magic. No.3 Baldurs Gate 3 Shadowheart is my wife. Played this entirely in Co-op and for a start, it is probably the most comprehensive, expansive and detailed co-op game you’ll ever play, and the freedom it gives each player is astounding - how they programmed it probably something others will figure out years later. For the game itself it is an absolutely titanic achievement. I really don’t have much else to say. It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s bittersweet, it allows the player an unprecedented playground and choice. Is it the best story ever told? No. It’s quite standard, but the intricacies and detail are found almost nowhere else. It’s superbly well acted (Karlach’s actor was robbed) and it is again, funny. So much of this game’s achievement relies on its technical accomplishments, but it is also an incredible time. Play it! It was my shoe-in for game of the year. Until I went back to something I never finished No 2. Outer Wilds Good god. One of the most intimate and painful narrative experiences I’ve encountered. It’s skewering at times. It is famous for making people cry. That’s well earned. I want to say nothing about this game because as has been writ over and over again, you should play it completely blind. The overall theme has you come to discover has been uncomfortably close this year. But this game has been a comfort. It has helped me see beyond my circumstances, and look further into them too. The game has kept me up at night with thoughts, and not in an anxious way. Please play it. No. 1  Alan Wake 2 And finally, the game I never would have expected topping this list. An absolute work of art. A mixed-media interrogation of what art is, what it is to make art, and the pretentiousness of making art, and the sheer unbridled fun, silliness and audacity of making art. I could talk about the graphics and the other monumental technical achievements within this game but that doesn’t matter. It kept me gripped. No other game has made me want to sit and watch a twenty minute film over a characters shoulder, nor one that informs why you’re playing the game and why the plot is the way it is - something so self-referential that you want to keep seeing how far it will go and never scoffing at the end. In my mind, the greatest set piece of any game, ever, lies here and it is something only Remedy could do. This was a labour of love for 13 years and it deserves heaps of respect and praise. Okay done! I wrote this on the notes app on my phone so please forgive any errors or sentences that just stop in the I didn’t have time to do my top tracks so just put this on and repeatedly thump your head against the ceiling. https://youtu.be/hZxTcixbfE8?si=VSgGyKcEag0ws_hK
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 19:38
|
|
|
8. Limbus Company Disclaimer to not spend money on gacha games. I love the dark setting, writing, voice acting, and uniquely unhinged characters in this game. It feels worth the daily grind (which can be knocked out in minutes) and is very friendly with gacha rates. Not sure I can recommend it due to some poorly handled drama around Project Moon and the general game format, but I'm really glad I tried it. Content droughts are a bit rough but expected for this type of game, but the main chapter stories and events have been great. 7. Final Fantasy Theatrhythm Final Bar Line I'm not big into rhythm games, but this game is addictive. There are so many tracks across the SquareEnix catalog and they are all showcased here. Controls are very intuitive and there are 3-4 different difficulties per track making it very beginner friendly. The learning curve for the top two difficulties seems steep, but achievable. Brilliant mixing of traditional RPG parties along with quests that make you think about party composition and which skills each member has equipped. 6. Final Fantasy XIV Still one of the best stories in gaming history, especially Shadowbringers and Endwalker. Unfortunately, this was the first time in many years I decided to unsubscribe due to burnout and wanting to prioritize other things. A staggeringly massive game you can sink a lot of time and energy into, but does a great job of making it feel worth it. A Final Fantasy where you and your fellow player-character Warriors of Light are truly the main characters. 5. Super Mario RPG (2023) Although I have vague childhood memories of stumbling about in Dragon Warrior for the NES, SMRPG is the game that got me into JRPGs. The creativity and characters unique to this game who have never been reimagined in Nintendo properties since is a shock. Dialogue still makes me laugh to this day. This game is pure nostalgia and extremely faithful (too faithful perhaps?) to the original. 4. Resident Evil 4 (2023) A game that didn't need to be remade, but they did it anyway, and it paid off. Feels different enough from the original (in stark contrast to SMRPG). I can’t decide if I like the original or the remake better, which is a testament to Capcom and their work here. Great scenes and enemies, wild boss fights, and all of the spectacle one would expect. Knife parrying feels amazing. 3. Super Mario Wonder A pure yet modernized 2D mario that is wonderfully crafted. It feels like all of the brilliance Nintendo has implemented in SM3DW (my favorite 3D Mario ever) has been added to the more classic platforming format. Insanely creative with some bangers in the soundtrack. Don't sleep on the local multiplayer. Had a blast playing with my wife and niece. The only flaw is that I collected 100% of everything on my initial playthrough so unless something changes outside of the aforementioned multiplayer situations, I don't see myself picking it back up. 2. SOMA I probably started this game years ago as I try to play spooky games during spooky season each year, but I never made it more than 1-2 hours initially for some reason. This year I finally finished it, and I can't recommend it enough. The graphics have become slightly dated but it is really an incredibly immersive world with a memorable companion that comes and goes throughout the story that never detracts from the sheer sense of loneliness and isolation. A game that truly makes one question what it is to be human. I really connected with this story and it has stuck with me. 1. Final Fantasy XVI This game is completely over the top in the best ways possible, and I was hooked from the moment I finished the demo. I'm able to overlook the somewhat distracting Game of Thrones influences as the character writing and especially the voice actors really did make me care about them and the world they inhabit. The game does peak about 2/3rds of the way through, but they stick the landing with a massive spectacle of a final boss in true Final Fantasy fashion. Combat was excellent, especially the massive Eikon fights. I'm still not sure how I feel about it compared to a more traditional turn-based or even a hybrid FFVIIR-style, but it worked here, and I love how the FF series is not afraid of experimenting. As Clive unlocks new abilities as the game progresses, it feels so satisfyingly powerful. Perfect dodges and finishing a notorious hunt mark with a massive ability always felt smooth, even 55+ hours in. Personally, I greatly enjoyed the sidequests towards the end of the game and a few of them really fleshed out the world and characters in a way that I would have regretted not experiencing them. Soken continues to impress with an amazing soundtrack that is very fitting of the setting. A graphical and haptic marvel that feels like it takes advantage of all the PS5 has to offer.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 19:48
|
|
|
wuggles posted:Ok I finished Not that egregious. It’s the best 3d Mario and the best point to point Mario, just a toss up on which style you prefer.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 20:10
|
|
|
Mysticblade posted:
my blade is stayed for now
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 20:26
|
|
|
My overall theme for this year was tactics. Which is not terribly surprising, its been a mainstay for me since I was a kid. I also played a lot of historical games. A lot of stuff I put a lot of time into, notably EU4, didn’t make the list because despite siphoning up a ton of my time, it honestly was hard not to feel that it lacked the right combination of either craftsmanship or boldness to really make this list. In away this might be the most honest top 10 list I’ll make, since its so much more emotional to me. Before the list, some honorable mentions that I liked that didn't make the cut: Deus Ex, Terra Nil, Against The Storm, EU4, AOE4, Omega Strikers, Bushido Blade. Reverse honorable mention for Lights Going Out, a game I was vibrating with excitement to play and then didn't get around to playing. I expected it to easily get into my top 3 for the year but uuuhhhhh did not actually play it so woops! Better luck next year. 10. Age of Empires II DE  Age of Empires 1 was the first game I really played, like I grew up with a nintendo but I was always just watching my brothers play while reading and chatting. AOE was what got me in the drivers seat. I still kind of like AOE1 and AOE4 better than AOE2, but this year was the first time I got into competitive play, and IDK I find learning metas and such to be really fun. There’s a lot of problems with AOE2, most of which come down to giving the player too many chores that get in the way of strategy and tactics, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying it. Plus the cubemod is very cute. 9. Victoria 3  Hell yes. HELL loving yes. I have a complex relationship with Paradox games, rooted partially in the fact that they are perhaps the most alarming breeding grounds of historical misinformation, but more that they often involve really, really unfun gameplay loops. A frequent complaint I have is that the muddled vision about what you’re supposed to be doing in most PDX games leads to the game having two distinct modes: peace and war. In EU if you’re at War, you have to play at low speeds, and while doing low speeds for peace is a nightmare, because the two systems mix like oil and water. Victoria 3 finally gets to a system where you are not simultaneously an emperor in the capital AND every single colonel in each of your armies, so that they can finally after 30 years have a game that follows Clausewitz’s dictum that war is diplomacy by other means (cutely ironic that they didn’t do this during the Clausewitz engine era). There are absolutely still quite a few rough edges, but the improvements are so massive its incredible and I’m so loving excited to see what more they do with this. Plus I think this is the PDX game that has gotten the closest to what they’ve always stated as their ambition: simulate the problems that historical rulers faced in given eras in ways that make them make sense within the mechanical constraints. 8. Armored Core 1  Armored Core 1 is honestly an odd one in the series, despite that I think its still the best one to start with. I actually like the mechs in 1 the most, visually speaking, just because they’re SO distinctive. By AC3, they’ve put so much greebling on parts that its not entirely obvious what the hell you’re looking at. AC1 mechs have such clear visual anatomies that even if you don’t know the precise parts a mech has, you can tell if its good against shell or energy just based on the weight of its lines, the how smooth its curves are, etc. Its REALLY good for that. The missions are famously overlong, which I do get why its a problem but it gives the game a vibe and energy that I rather like, even if I do get why they went to shorter missions later. I’m mostly amazed that I’ve been playing this game on a pretty regular basis for over 20 years and I’m still discovering new techniques and builds, incredible stuff. 7. Armored Core 3  3rd gen Armored Core is just...so loving good. I didn’t play the entire series this year so I don’t feel like I can sincerely put Silentline on here, but other than Silent Line, AC3 is just so clearly the best Armored Core. It’s really disappointing how weak the series has gotten since then, Armored Core 6 is the most I’ve ever been disappointed in a game, but fortunately 3 is still playable and still just absolutely loving slaps; I played it right after playing Deus Ex and it fully knocked Deus Ex out of my top 10, that’s how much I loved this game. Obscenely satisfying experience. 6. Opus Magnum https://i.imgur.com/We4MtNS.mp4 There is a real possibility that for the rest of my life, Opus Magnum will just always get on my top 10 lists. I don’t even have to play it very long in a year for me to fall back into feeling incredible and blessed by it. Once a gain a game that lets me do the fun stuff while largely freeing me of the chores, and it has my favorite solitaire of the Zachtronics games. I have spent most of my life feeling too stupid to live, Zachtronics games are my island where I can feel like I know what the gently caress I’m doing. Wonder if I should just try to be an assembly programmer or something, these types of puzzles are just too satisfying. 5. Backpack Battles (Demo)  This was the year I learned that I love autobattlers, since they tickle the part of the game I like (the planning) while freeing me from the busywork of micro. Backpack battles just, IDK, it feels great. I can play it for hours and talk about it for hours and think constantly and feel great the whole time. I’m still not very good, only double-diamond, and I haven’t played in a few weeks so I’m pretty sure I’m off meta. I’m REALLY REALLY excited for the full release, since it currently only has 2 of the 4 starter classes available, but I just absolutely adore how I have to think and how much I feel like I’m learning all the time. 4. Get in the Car, Loser: The Fate of Another World  I loved Get In The Car Loser, and its first DLC was perfectly fun. This DLC was devastating. Despite being an insane sci-fi fantasy that openly gets psychedelic, this is the game that I think spoke to me the hardest of any game script ever. Emily Harmless and Jo Of The Mountain are just...so much as characters. Emily especially is a character who so earnestly and beautifully and successfully expresses so many of the frustrations that happen as you age. The frustrations of legacy and connection and action. About trying to heal the world, and not only not being able to do it, but not even being able to tell people about the problems you’re fighting. loving hell, at one point I think I screenshotted every dialogue box for like two scenes in a row. 3. Pentiment  Pentiment feels like it was blasted into this universe uniquely and specifically to suck up to me. I’m a hobbyist calligrapher, specifically broad scripts, and my best celebrity interaction was Josh Sawyer giving me recommendations about some Flemish manuscripts from the 1400s that could improve my d’s in bastard scripts. Other goons have written about it better than me, but I am going to say it is my vote in all of world history for the best RPG mechanics. You studied abroad in France? You speak French. You hosed a lot in your 20s? You flirt well. Perfect. Every other RPG should strive toward this. On top of that its incredible how living the game feels. Walking around town between updates to see how different people are doing and piecing things together from what makes sense and the little clues around you? Incredible, impeccable. 2. The Great War: Western Front  Strategy gamers often use “like WW1” as a pejorative. For a game to be “like WW1,” even for short periods of time or under very narrow parts, is to call it boring, tedious, flat, possibly even the worst thing for a strategy game, solved. So to make a strategy game that is not just potentially but deliberately, permanently like WW1 requires the sort of audacity usually seen as suicidal. To meet that task requires courage, to succeed at it is a monumental achievement. A lesser studio would invent fictitious tactics or sand off so many common historical problems that you wonder why they didn’t just use a fantasy setting, but Petroglyph is not a lesser studio. Artillery is dangerous, machine guns are dangerous, barbed wire is dangerous, they do not flinch from these basic truths. As dangerous as those all are, you can win on the offensive, but it requires careful planning and timing. And in fact offensives often win, because the offense gets to set the tempo and choose the location and plan all their artillery, which is very much how things went in WW1; it is not a static layout of machine guns that blunt offensives but brutal, ferocious counterattacks. One of the most interesting accomplishments is that as the campaign plays out, new technologies from airplanes to flamethrowers to chemical artillery to yes tanks all feel like “this is the thing that will finally turn things around radically and win us the war,” and each of those advances feels incredible when you get the leg up with them, but the advantages are all temporary, as every tool and strategy has a counter. At its best, battles in TGW feel like playing poker, managing an orchestra, and putting out a wildfire all at once. I have played thousands and thousands of hours of strategy games, and not only has TGW defeated the myth that WW1 is boring, they created the most tactically interesting RTS in generations. In a genre often considered well past its prime, on a topic people often consider barren, TGW has succeeded not just dramatically but monumentally. 1. The Last Spell  The Last Spell does one thing, and it does obscenely, insanely, disturbingly well. It makes you loving think, all the time, about your tactics. It’s honestly incredible? On the spectrum of tactical RPGs, there’s ones where the skill trees etc are pretty disposable like Into the Breach, and there’s ones where you stick with characters for dozens and dozens of hours, like FFT. Last Spell you have your characters for a given run of a given town, which is typically several hours. Its a lot less grinding or commitment than FFT, and its a lot more choices and opportunities than ITB, and I think it achieves an incredibly powerful fusion between those two that is not simply “just right” its insanely, impossibly good. The story and plotting and such are...theyr’e good enough. Business like, exactly what is needed. The experience of playing the game is insanely, incredibly satisfying. It escapes almost every trap I’ve seen a tactical game fall into. Tulip fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Dec 31, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 20:26
|
|
|
As always, I'm a huge diva so my list is in video format so I can gush over games with the added benefit of showing some cool things on screen. And also I just like editing it up. 2023 for me was an absolutely stellar year for games. I've had so much fun playing them and the top 5 of this list could honestly have hit Game of the Year in 2022 pretty easily. What's struck me is that the top of my list contains two games that I was, excited for, to be sure, but that I would never have pegged as GOTY material if you'd asked me at the start. I wonder if some of that is because I'm less critical of games I anticipate less, but I think my assessment this year feels relatively even handed, so I'm happy to let it slide. What I do think is helping my positive outlook is that 2023 has felt like, just a really good year for me as a person as well and I'm really glad I can share that positivity with all you goons now as well. Anyway, here it is:  Top 10 for the ease of the mods 10. Baldur's Gate 3 9. Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life 8. Advance Wars 1+2: RebootCamp 7. Resident Evil 4: Remake 6. Metroid Prime Remastered 5. Super Mario Wonder 4. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty 3. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 2. Street Fighter 6 1. Octopath Traveller 2
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 20:26
|
|
|
Quick list incoming games that didn't make the cut Archvale Demon Turf Alina of the Arena Last Command these games would have made it in any other year Gunfire Reborn Risk of Rain Returns Tevi Tiny Rogues Tears of the kingdom Chrono Ark - this one isn't in only because its incomplete at the very end so i'd rather do ii when it is actually done. its slay the spire goty all years but im not putting it in my list Slay the Spire 10.Void Stranger - a solid little story based puzzle game. "Take a Rest?" 9. Little Busters - I've seen a decent amount of Key VN adaptations but never actually read one, and Little Busters is just funny as heck. I teared up at the end. "Mission, Start!" 8. Ys 8 - I had to put it here. Solid action RPG with kickin rad music and a surprisingly well done story. Best of the new style Ys games imo. "Emergency, Emergency!" 7. Omega Strikers- F2P team air hockey with a soundtrack that I really vibed to. Unfortunately, its already done updating but the servers are still up for a while, so give it a shot, theres a lot to like. "X is in town!" 6. Tyrion Cuthbert - Wizard ace attorney. Starts off a bit too much carbon copy but around case 3 it really embraces its own identity and is far better for it. "Nothing will be concealed!" 5. 30xx - Roguelike Megaman x, a big big improvement on the first game, and the heat mechanic keeps things challenging. Pretend i put any quote from the game over screen here 4. Astlibra - If you like one man projects with all of the weird idiosyncratic ideas that brings, you'll love Astlibra. Can't wait for the dlc to come out next year, featuring the most important character, the baker's daughter. tough to pick a quote so nah. 3. Dead Cells - I beat 4BC without any assists this year, and beat 5BC with only a retry on the 5BC exclusive boss. I finally... got gud.... Not exactly a quote but gives you a thumbs up 2. Fire Emblem Engage - the best fire emblem has been mechanically overall for a while. "Dropped your guard." 1. The Void rains upon her heart - Roguelike shoot em up. I really didn't think this would be #1 until I thought about how its probably the game I turned on the most this year, besides slay the spire. "There are so many monsters to love!"
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 20:47
|
|
|
Tulip posted:4. Get in the Carl Loser: The Fate of Another World I think this is misspelled but I would also be fascinated to play a game called "Get in the Carl, Loser".
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 20:49
|
|
|
DalaranJ posted:I think this is misspelled but I would also be fascinated to play a game called "Get in the Carl, Loser". lol you are correct, and I can even imagine how the same game dev would make it
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 20:54
|
|
|
I need a confirmation that the deadline is in PST referring to Pacific Standard Time (US west coast) and so is in approximately 12 hours from this post?
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 20:55
|
|
|
i'm happy to see Archvale mentioned even in passing. i played it expecting it to be a 7/10 nothing game, but it's a true hidden gem
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 21:06
|
|
|
Might as well throw my hat in the ring and get one of these fangled top ten lists done. I aim to keep it short and sweet as there is no way I can compete with any of the multi paragraph opuses many others have posted. This was a fantastic year for gaming and one in which I probably finished the most games within a year period. In general as a traditionalist I tried to limit to games that came out this year (with one exception) and unless otherwise stated I finished the game at least once. (Dis)Honorable Mentions Best game I own and still haven't played: Pentiment. Yes its installed on my HD waiting for me to play it. Yes, I've heard how great it is. Next year is the year, I'm sure. Worst Game I've played through to the end: Starfield. Proving that only Bethesda can beat Bethesda, it finally dethroned Fallout 4 on this hallowed list Best Game that proves you can't go back again: Super Mario Wonder. I've been chasing the feel of Super Mario World for 30 years now and while this is a super well done 2D Mario I don't think anything will ever top world for me and ultimately I bounced off in the late worlds. Best Game that everyone else loves and I only found to be 'okay to good': Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Others have waxed poetic (and in smaller amounts) critical about this game in this thread so I won't belabor the point, other than to say that I share some criticisms with the games combat, the sky islands and depths being small and same-y or huge and same-y respectively, and the easy at which the story can be told out of order (and the narrative is super basic and really only stands out because BOTW had no story other than emergent gameplay). I found the building to be largely uninteresting and the spread of focus away from the main world (the highlight of BOTW) really hurt the game in my opinion. Oh and the last boss / monster gauntlet sucked. Top Ten 10. Lies of P I'm not much of a Soulslike guy. I get why people like them, and I'm not one of those dudes out there calling for an easy mode or anything, but in general I find them more frustrating than fun. Sure, like everyone else last year I was enamored with Elden Ring, but that barely counts due to the open world nature of the game it was super easy to go off and farm if you ever ran into a roadblock progression wise. That said, I am really liking lies of P - the levels, the atmosphere, the tight combat. I'm still not super far in - at the cathedral boss now, but I'm finding it worth the many (many) frustrating deaths to keep plugging forward. We will see if I keep with it or not, but overall it earned its place on this list 9. Dead Space (2023) I bounced hard off the game the first time around. I found it too tense to play through, which oddly enough was a problem I didn't have with the second. When this remake came out it was the perfect opportunity to give it another shot and I'm glad I did. An extremely well done remake that made me appreciate the original in new ways, even if the last boss still sucks. Hopefully it sold well enough to remake the 2nd game of the series, which was my favorite. 8. Dave the Diver An engaging and great looking not-indy with a super solid core gameplay loop. Go diving, spear some fish, get to the surface and make sushi. It deftly builds upon this core loop as the gameplay progresses. Ultimately I will say that it gets a little overstuff - the plot goes places, they keep adding side activities and minigames and eventually it became a little much for me. But it still remains a great game and one I would highly recommend. 7. Dredge Much like Dave the diver this one sucked me in due to how good the core loop was. Leave during the day, go out and fish, come back to port, sell fish and upgrade boat. Its super simple but satisfying and well executed. This was a late purchase and a GOTY thread success as I bought this based on it appearing on a number of lists here. I bought it a couple days before I was leaving for a cross country flight and was originally intended to play on my steam deck during the trip - I ended up engrossed and finished the drat game before I even left for the airport. Interestingly I felt the Lovecraftian horror stuff wasn't super well integrated in the game and I admit I wasn't paying much attention to the story so the final "twist" didn't land for me. Still great game and well recommended. 6. Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader Another late addition to this list, once again the developer Owlcat delivers their patented meat and potato's CRPG design and (mostly) pulls it off. Yeah, it has some of the now expected Owlcat'isms - such as midgame act that takes away your agency and pulls you to a weird location where you spend too much time, some bizarre difficulty spikes and very poorly tested encounters. Not to mention as of writing I've stopped at Act 4 due to the huge ramp up in bugs and broken quests (some of which have already been fixed, or so I've been told). But I can handle all that and still enjoy myself simply because I'm a huge mark for 40K and Rogue Trader in particular (the last pen and paper campaign I ran over a decade ago was 40K Rogue Trader so there is some nostalgia involved) and on setting and sense of place Owlcat hugely delivers. In another few months this game (like Wraith of the Righteous before it) will be an excellent CRPG experience. 5. Gloomhaven 2023 was a year I got back into boardgames for the first time since 2019. In Dec of that year, I was all excited as I had just purchased this super expensive big-box campaign boardgame called Gloomhaven. It offered months a playtime for 1-4 players in a cooperative environment! Fantastic! Lets just get the gaming group together in the new year 2020 for some in person gaming! Well, to my shame we played a grand total of two missions before a combination of COVID and the super poor onboarding of the original Gloomhaven (and thus player friction) put a stop to that. By the time lockdowns lifted and life went on I had moved back to Canada and no longer had my regular gaming group. The box remained on my shelf, haunting me. This year I discovered the digital version of the boardgame and I have since played more than 50 missions in the campaign, being now very close to completion. Its a super faithful translation of the game into video game format and within some circles considered the definitive way to play. While I wouldn't go that far it remains a great way to play without trying to wrangle others and avoiding the set up and take down (and instant restart when the missions go badly. This can be a very hard game). Sure, the box is still staring at me on the shelf. All the secret tuck boxes still unopened, but at least now I feel that in some ways I'm progressing through it if only in spirit. Plus I told myself I wasn't going to buy the sequel Frosthaven until I finished Gloomhaven in some form... So lets get going. 4. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Another huge surprise this year. I played (and bounced off rather quickly) the first game but this game grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I put up with poor performance on my PC just because the gameplay and setting was so good. In addition to fantastic movement, solid combat and varied locations it also told an excellent story within the star wars universe, which shouldn't be surprising but is in a time where Disney has largely ruined Star Wars. I enjoyed the characterization as well, even the meme frog guy. May we all be lucky enough to get a space goth girlfriend. 3. Alan Wake 2 Its not a circle, its a spiral. I love the remedy verse - Control was my GOTY in 2019, and while I have my issues with some things in Alan Wake 2 (namely the combat) overall its the kind of bat poo poo 'gently caress the focus groups' auteur experience we never get in the AAA space anymore and for that alone its one of the best games of the year. I feel on PC at least sales were held back by being a EGS exclusive, which is too bad, as it deserves every chance it can get. Bring on the DLC. 2. Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 / Phantom Liberty I've been an apologist for this game since it came out and its nice not to have to apologize anymore. Phantom Liberty is up there with Heart of Stone as the best story DLC CD Projekt Red has ever created. With the addition of the 2.0 patch CP2077 is finally out of its unadvertised early access and is a fantastically realized game world filled with interesting characters and great combat experiences. I'm a little sad thats it for DLC as I feel like its only now getting good, but if it means CP2078 quicker lets go! 1. Baldur's Gate 3 There is absolutely nothing I can add to the discourse on this game that hasn't already been said better by others. Personally this was a huge surprise, as I liked but didn't love DOS and DOS2 and didn't have high expectations for a sequel to a 20 year old classic from a completely different studio. So this sat on my hard drive for the last two years in early access, and the two times I tried to play it in EA I really didn't love it. I thought the companions were all terrible and the dialogue didn't grab me However I always told myself I'd give it a shot when it went 1.0. And I did, first to see if my opinions held up - then to keep playing... and playing. How wrong I was - Larian pulled off the impossible and this was easily the best "pure" CRPG since Baldur's gate 2 and rockets to the top of my all time CRPG list. Looking forward to my second playthrough next year to see all the roads I didn't take the first time. 10. Lies of P 9. Dead Space 8. Dave the Diver 7. Dredge 6. Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader 5. Gloomhaven 4. Jedi Knight Survivor 3. Alan Wake 2 2. Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty 1. BG 3 Commander Jebus fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Dec 31, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 21:11
|
|
|
surprise ryu from streets top 5 finish? 
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 21:16
|
|
|
Phantasium posted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qZEIzJLKhI&t=12s
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 21:32
|
|
|
I am, generally, not very good at playing as many games as I'd like, and rarely manage to fill out a true top 10 list. I also got really into cycling last year and that took up a lot of my free time, seeing the outdoors and whatnot, and I tended to sink most of my gaming time into Destiny as my singular "live game" (feel like everyone has at least one of these, whether an MMO, a gatcha, a battle royale, whatever). But this spring, I had to go back to my hometown in suburban Atlanta for a few months to spend time with my family while we dealt with some stuff. This left me with a Steam Deck, a Switch, no bike, no Destiny (doesn't work on Steam Deck without installing Windows!), and a need to fill a lot of time. I spent a lot of time playing games with my family watching (or vice versa), and I spent a lot of time staying up late dropping hours into RPGs that I would never normally have time for. I got back to my apartment in August, just as all of 2023's biggest hitters started releasing, all of which I bought and then did not get around to actually playing. I had a lot of stuff to catch up on outside of games, it turns out! But I hope to spend some quality time in 2024 with them. And then, as if I hadn't had enough bad reasons to play good games this year: this past week, as I was planning to do the truly stupid Festive 500 cycling challenge, I got Covid. So, instead of going out into the cold biking 50 miles a day, I've been laying in bed trying various games to try to round out a GOTY list. 2023 wound up being a year a lot like 2020 and 2021 for me: I got into a bunch of games in genres I thought I hated. In 2020 and 2021, that meant immersive sim FPSs (Deathloop), Metroidvanias (literally every Metroid game and the Castlevania GBA collection), and even somehow a JRPG (Yakuza 7). This year... well, you'll see. But man, for a year where I really didn't play much that had so much personal turmoil, I'm glad that I got to have so many fresh and new experiences in gaming. Even if now I'm going to have to spend a bunch of 2024 playing catchup on Destiny DLC. First of all, some games I played and bounced off: Street Fighter VI - Ok, one genre I still did not manage to get into this year is fighting games. Still, I got just enough enjoyment out of this to not feel completely stupid for spending $60. As someone who has never been able to execute a Shoryuken consistently on any sort of controller, I really dug the modern controls, and had fun going through a decent chunk of World Tour mode. I wish that had had the depth and polish of a Mortal Kombat story mode or something. Actual competitive fighting game play against other humans is still... just... not my thing. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - I loved BotW, but I think that six years was not enough time for me to be mentally prepared to go through that world again. I put in about ten hours but felt too uncreative to enjoy the building mechanics and the world wasn't really doing it for me. Wouldn't be surprised if I pick this back up in 2024 and it winds up on my list, though. Triangle Strategy - Tactics games, also not something I usually like. I got this on a whim because I loved Octopath so much, and got about halfway into it before putting it down. I really like a lot of what this game does, but it's just a little too hard for me to feel like I want to keep going through it, and the gimmick where getting the best ending requires either a walkthrough or an (even harder) new game plus killed my motivation. Why do people keep doing this with tactics games (like Fire Emblem Three Houses)? I barely even have time in my life for one 30 hour playthrough, let alone multiple. Some day someone will make a tactics game that's like ten hours long and not so difficult that I already feel exhausted the second I start a new battle and see the enemies on the map. Or just a new FFTA. I liked that one. Some games I put two hours into and want to play more of in 2024: Hi-Fi Rush - I love rhythm games, I should like this game more! But it didn't keep me hooked after the first couple levels. This is probably more a me problem than a game problem, and I hope I can make time to revisit it next year. Baldur's Gate 3 - I have never played through a proper CRPG like this before. I put two hours in when it came out and enjoyed what I saw, but decided to wait until I was in a better place to really dig into something this meaty - thinking maybe February. Also figured I'd get the benefits of some extra patches by waiting. Armored Core 6 - Remains to be seen if this is going to be one of the From games I can manage to "get" and play a ton of (Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Elden Ring), or one that is just so far from the kind of game I'm good at that I can't get my head around it (Sekiro). The tutorial boss took me like an hour to beat, so not a great sign! I got scared off by reports of how hosed one of the later bosses is, and I believe that they've gotten nerfed in a patch since then, so once again feeling good in my decision to wait on this one. And a shortlist of games I will probably play next year: Metroid Prime Remastered, Super Mario Bros Wonder, Lost Judgement, that one anime Metroidvania about the rabbit lady, Chants of Sennar, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, Cyberpunk 2077 Some games I beat this year that didn't rank: Myst - I remembered playing this as a child and being utterly baffled by it. As an adult, I finally tackled it, and... not nearly as baffling as I thought, though gently caress that piano puzzle. Had a pretty good time. Dangeresque: The Roomisode Triungulate - I have no idea what the hell the Brothers Chaps are doing these days, but I hope they continue to do like one Homestar Runner thing every 3-4 years that lets me remember how much I love(d) Homestar Runner. Wonderful short little adventure parody. Full Throttle - Lots of adventure games hold up well. This was not one of them! Great art and style but holy poo poo these puzzles make Grim Fandango's seem like the peak of the genre by comparison. Unlike Grim Fandango, I don't think the story is good enough to make it worth playing through. It is short enough I didn't feel like I wasted my time, at least. --- 10. Super Mario RPG I've always found the various Mario RPGs interesting in concept and then bland in execution: love the quippy writing, but bored by everything else going on. SMRPG avoids this by being really fast-paced and even weirder than the Paper Marios and GBA games. Like, everything about Booster is a loving nightmare. What the gently caress dude. I haven't beaten this one yet, but I have collected five of the seven stars and I am encouraged by this game only having a 12 hour average time on How Long to Beat. It's still not a very deep or fulfilling game, but has been pleasant comfort food.  9. Jusant Don't Nod is a strange studio. I've always had a respect for them, but I've only ever played Remember Me and Life is Strange. I'm not a big modern adventure game/VN person, so I've always wondered if this studio had a... "less narrative-focused" game in them that I'd enjoy. Turns out, they did! Jusant is a climbing game. You hook into a wall (so you can't fall to your death) and use the RT and LT triggers to alternate hands as you climb. It's one of those very simple mechanics that you see shorter indie games build around, and when I first played it, I assumed the difficulty would be around navigating technical, tricky climbing sections with these buttons. Turns out, not really! Instead, the core gameplay is figuring out how to traverse a big room or cliff, like Uncharted or Tomb Raider reboot climbing sections - the climbing alternation is just there to give the movement more of a tactile feeling than those games have. Often, Uncharted climbing sections can just feel like extended QTEs, but in Jusant you always feel like you're in control of what's going on. I ended up playing through this in one sitting, and loved it. The lack of punishment for falling makes this a much more meditative game than I would have expected. The core story is simple and satisfying - I will always do a big sob when there's a little guy who's your pal and he's in danger. The exposition letters you find along the way didn't really land for me, but skimming them gives you a bit more backstory on the world that does help with some of the other emotional beats. The soundtrack is also both amazing on its own and really well-integrated. 8. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk I loving love Tony Hawk, and I love SSX, and... I've always wanted to love Jet Set Radio. But the thing is, I never had a Dreamcast or original Xbox, so I've only played the HD remaster of JSR, and I really do not enjoy playing it. Looks amazing, sounds amazing, yet really not my thing. I've heard JSRF has gameplay closer to what I'd like, but I've never had a chance to try it. So when this came out and the only negative reviews were that it was too derivative, I was intrigued. I've been playing it in bed on my Steam Deck this week, and... yeah, this is a near-perfect video game for me. Amazing art, amazing vibes, amazing soundtrack (which I really appreciated was the one thing they did not try to replicate from JSR; instead it sounds like what it should for a game released in 2023). The trick with BRC is that it's not a technical score attack game like a Tony Hawk - I mean, there's no balancing and you literally can't bail. It's a traversal game, and even the score challenges are testing your abilities to navigate the level (since you get multipliers from unique wallrides/corners, you can't just grind out a combo somewhere). All of the side stuff and objectives are super fun. The combat is understandably divisive. I am okay with it in some parts - for example, I liked the sniper challenge where you have to figure out how to get up to where guys are to take them out - but less ok with the general heat level mechanic. I think that's what keeps this game from reaching perfection. But it's a quirk, not a disaster. 7. Pseudoregalia I said in another thread that I hate 3D platformers, and as I've been thinking about it, I don't really hate all of them. I liked Super Mario Odyssey, but essentially think of it as an open world game with a bunch of wacky fun poo poo that hides the part where you're platforming (this is also why I immediately bailed out of the post-game challenge poo poo where they actually want you to engage in platforming). I liked Ratchet & Clank 2016, but that was a game that felt much more informed by modern "action adventure" games than platformers. But I really just didn't think I liked anything that was derived from PS1/N64 3D platforming. Like, I tried to play Super Mario 64 in 2020, and I loving hated it. I'd seen Pseudoregalia around and saw it described as a love letter to N64 era platforming, and thus immediately discarded it. But it showed up on enough GOTY lists that when I bought BRC on Steam, I threw Pseudoregalia in my cart too - after all, I figured I could play a bit to see what it was about, and then refunded it. So, anyways, I ended up playing Pseudoregalia in one 8-hour session on my Steam Deck, and now it's here on this list. This both is and is not the game I thought it would be. On one hand, it is a platform-rear end platformer: unlike Super Mario Odyssey, this is not a game where you are excited to see what weird thing is around the next corner, what unique enemies and encounters are ahead, or what ways they can twist and transform the core mechanics. This is a game where you go through some cubical rooms full of platforms and boxes and walls, assembled in a maze-like fashion, collecting movement power ups until you can reach the end of the game. But the platforming is so much more accessible and fun than I thought it would be. I knew this game had some tech-y movement inspired by SM64 - and if you want to go see that, go check out the speedruns - but none of that is required to beat this game, or even reach most of the optional items. It has very generous checkpointing and healing systems that make failure very lightly punished, unlike platformers of the era with their brutal limited lives and limited HP. Moving in this game is, for the most part, a joy, even when you're backtracking through tricky rooms you've been through a few times searching for an item or trying to remember a place you couldn't access earlier. Like BRC, the big fault here is some questionable combat systems. That said, I did like the 3 or 4 boss battles in the game and a few of the more challenging combat rooms, which didn't quite reach "combat puzzle" levels but required some extra effort that was a nice change of pace. I have a couple other quibbles - the wall kick is difficult as hell to use correctly, and kept me from bothering with a few of the optional challenges. I did have to use a guide to find a couple items because the game really has very little signposting, nor landmarks to remember rooms by. But ultimately I left the game feeling satisfied in my mastery of its world, which is just such a cool feeling you don't really get from that many games. Maybe I should check out some other newer platformers. Maybe it'll turn out I like this genre after all. 6. The Case of the Golden Idol I'll keep it short on this one: this owns, more deduction puzzlers like this should exist. Played through this with my sister on a TV, which is probably the silliest way to play this game, but it was fun to "co-op" with each of us remembering about half the things going on in the game as we played. Love the way the scenarios build on each other, too. Still haven't played the last DLC, should do that next week... 5. Judgment I've always respected the Yakuza games, but never managed to actually beat one until Yakuza 7. Even though I thought of myself as not liking JRPGs (more to come on that...), somehow it connected with me more than all the brawler ones. I've tried to go back and play Yakuza 0, and I love the aesthetic and the vibes and the characters, and yet I always dip out halfway through because I just don't like the combat and the minigames and side stories are a bit overwhelming. Plus, it was hard to stay motivated knowing if I wanted to keep playing the series, I had six games ahead of me. But looking for something long and story-heavy to play with my sister, I grabbed Judgement on a whim, and put the controller in her hands so I wouldn't have to fight guys. I then proceeded to watch her play 50 hours of this goddamn game. Incredibly compelling story, albeit with some of the usual caveats for the franchise's casual sexism. My sister is not a big action gamer but she enjoyed the fights in this, and I think they look fun enough that I've got Lost Judgment on my 2024 plans. Maybe I'll get her a copy and we can book club it? 4. Final Fantasy VII, also (2) Final Fantasy VII Remake, also (11) Crisis Core –Final Fantasy VII– Reunion Ok, so, you know how when Covid hit and a ton of white-collar people were posting about their sourdough starters and other weird hobbies they were picking up while their employers were trying to figure out what the gently caress to do and everyone had free time? Well, I had a bunch of time off work because of the stuff going on with my family, and a ton of time to kill because of it. So Final Fantasy VII became my sourdough starter. I have always been fascinated by FF7. JRPGs are not my thing, generally. I played a decent amount as Blockbuster rentals growing up, but other than Pokemon, never actually beat one. But FF7 is FF7! It felt like a game I should try to beat and understand. I'd gone through the Midgar section a few times - once when I was young enough that I was playing on a PS2, and then got to the overworld and was immediately too intimidated to continue, and once more recently in 2020 where I played as far as the Gold Saucer before falling off. But with tons of free time and a Steam Deck, I decided to try Final Fantasy VII Remake. FF7R rules. There's not much to say about it. Just cool as gently caress for 30 hours. I found the combat quite challenging and didn't have the appetite for hard mode or the optional challenges, but was pretty happy when I finished it. Also runs loving great on the Deck, which is wild. But the thing is, I played FF7R thinking I knew the basics of FF7. Like I knew Cloud was an ex-SOLDIER and you do an ecoterrorism and then Sephiroth is like "I'm a weird clone guy and gonna end the world!!" and Cloud has to stop him and Aerith dies and all that. I figured that, plus my knowledge of the Midgar section, would be enough for me to understand the story of FF7R, right? Then this weird guy who looks like Cloud with black hair showed up, and I had no idea who the gently caress he is. So anyways, I got Crisis Core Reunion. This did not actually cut the top 10 but is a pretty good, pretty stupid use of about 15 hours. The gameplay is like a simplified version of FF7R, a nice change of pace. I only did a couple hours of the optional stuff but even that was enough to vastly overpower me for the rest of the main story. And now i know who that guy is! Case closed. Time to just wait for FF7 Rebirth. Not much more to be seen from Final Fantasy 7. After all, I've tried the original and never liked it, and I know most of what happens, there's no reason to try playing through it again. ...so, anyways, I got FF7 on Switch and played through all of it. What a weird loving game. Just. They don't make games like that anymore. They probably shouldn't! I played through this game clutching to a walkthrough for dear life, constantly toggling on the 3x speedup and random-battle-off cheats. There are a billion things I would have missed trying to play on my own - stealable skills that make fights vastly easier, the actual flashback with Zack, motherfucking Vincent - and while I don't need every game to come with a Ubisoft-grade map of poo poo to do, there is so much poo poo that is buried in this game I would have been so frustrated trying to do it without a guide. But drat is it good. The story, as barely-comprehensible as it is in its original form, is so evocative that I understand why people wouldn't shut up about it for decades. ATB feels good as hell, every boss fight feels like a challenge and an accomplishment, and the final Sephiroth fight sequence is still powerful almost 30 years later. I'm probably gonna buy a PS5 to play Rebirth. Goddammit. I am fully bought in on this game I spent years wanting to understand. I am not brave/stupid enough to investigate Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus, at least 3. Octopath Traveler II So, between Yakuza 7 back in 2020 and FF7 now, I was feeling like I finally "got" JRPGs. Luckily for me, another great one was available on the Deck. This seems to be on a lot of lists so I'll keep it short: just a great loving game that delivers on the promise of what a JRPG of this style can be. Great characters, great story, great combat - the final boss is probably the hardest thing I've done in a JRPG; god knows how people do the postgame bosses. A lovely time. 1. Alan Wake 2 Ok, here's the thing. I've only played about 3 hours of this game. It should probably not be on this list, it should probably be on the section earlier where I mentioned games I want to play more of in 2024. I fell off it because I've had poo poo going on and it's a tense/spooky game and I had to be in a good place to play it. That said: from what I played, and from every review, and every post, and every hint I've gotten of what comes later, it's clear they made exactly the game they needed to. Way back in 2007, Alan Wake blew me away, and Control in 2019 was such a step up in every way that the idea of an Alan Wake 2 combining ideas from both was so exciting. And then they added in a bunch of amazing FMV based on what they learned from Quantum Break? Holy poo poo, man. I am probably going to end up playing the rest of this on Story difficulty just because I have trouble with games that combine horror with difficulty (why I've never gotten into "survival horror" as a genre) - it makes things too tense when jumpscares can be accompanied by me loving up mechanically. But I'm not here for combat, so it's fine. --- I am too tired from typing this all up to give it a full read-through, apologies for any typos or sentences I forgot to finish. I'm so glad that I got to have both new, unique experiences with games in genres I didn't think I'd ever get into, and also games that I thought I'd like that ended up being exactly what I wanted them to be. Easy top 10: 10. Super Mario RPG 9. Jusant 8. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk 7. Pseudoregalia 6. Case of the Golden Idol 5. Judgment 4. Final Fantasy 7 3. Octopath Traveler 2 2. Final Fantasy 7 Remake 1. Alan Wake 2 abraham linksys fucked around with this message at 22:11 on Dec 31, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 21:56
|
|
|
CharlieFoxtrot posted:I need a confirmation that the deadline is in PST referring to Pacific Standard Time (US west coast) and so is in approximately 12 hours from this post? I can confirm. I even changed my forum timezone just to make sure.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 22:17
|
|
|
Don't mind me, just slipping this under the door!! 2023 In Numbers Total playtime: 1038 hours Games finished: 27 (18 released in 2023) Liked but Didn't Love - Metroid Prime Remastered - Octopath Traveller 2 - PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo - Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - ASTLIBRA Revision - The Excavation of Hob's Barrow Expected to Love but Didn't - Dead Space Remake - Final Fantasy 16 - Slay the Princess - Spiderman 2 Wish I Had Time To Play - Talos Principle 2 - Lunacid - Street Fighter 6 Barely Missed the Top 10 14. Cyberpunk 2077 47 hours First game I've played this year on my brand new PC and HDR display... literally couldn't ask for a better tech showcase, but that wasn't the only that grabbed me about the game. The city was impressively realized, and I felt it love with some of the characters. Judy for life. 13. Cocoon 5 hours Just a delight from start to finish. Amazing sound design. All meat, no fat. 12. Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes / The Phantom Pain 55 hours (count only TPP for the rankings I guess) This was actually the first MGS game I've played in my life, one of the best stealth games with such a lovably goofy tone, despite dealing with topics that are not light-hearted. 11. Roadwarden 30 hours Game I finished literally just before I posted this list. I was struggling with putting it higher because it's such a well-made package, but in the end I didn't want to re-arrange my list at the last moment because I thought about it for a while. If you love fantasy, role-playing, and believable worlds, this one is a banger. Can't believe it was made in RenPy, because it plays unlike any other RenPy game I've played before. THE LIST 10. Alan Wake 2 30 hours I came to really like Saga Anderson and got invested in her story. Remedy turned the game into a survival horror with easily the best visuals you could've experienced in 2023, and I can't say no to that. I hope we get much less Alan Wake because he's such a boring character with nothing to say, though. Favorite moments: chapter ends with music, quiet exploration with Saga, pretty much the whole Watery 09. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon 24 hours What I love the most about FromSoft's output is the exploration and the combat as a companion piece to it, but AC6 doesn't have almost any exploration. What I didn't expect of this type of game was getting invested in the characters and loving the world-building and atmosphere. Favorite moments: Balteus, IB-01, AYRE, the whole Raven setpiece 08. Resident Evil 4 Remake + Separate Ways 30 hours I really liked the main campaign but thought it's a bit long despite not really being bored at any point. Separate Ways is more controversial for me because rehashing the same plot beats was not doing it for me at all, but I ended up getting so interested in Ada that it carried me to the end. I hope/wish we get a full Ada game in the future. Favorite moments: the slow leadup to the first Regenerador, every time talking to the merchant 07. STAR WARS: Jedi Survivor 34 hours A huge improvement over Fallen Order, so much that it makes me all tingly thinking about what they could do next. Merrin was so cool and having her tied to the main story more was a great move. Favorite moments: Merrin's rollercoaster ride, every moment with Rayvis on screen, the twist 06. Immortality 13 hours I absolutely adored everything about the 3 movies and uncovering bits and pieces of what happened in the "real world" of the game. The true ending was cool but I found it hard to get emotionally invested in. Favorite moments: the first time THAT happens, first time realising that SOMETHING is not right 05. Baldur's Gate 3 82 hours The cinematic flair and world design, coupled with fun characters were what kept me going despite merely tolerating the combat. I've always loved the non-combat parts of RPGs more than the combat, and it's what prevents me from ranking BG3 higher, but also the non-combat parts by themselves easily are more enjoyable to me than most games I've played this year. Favorite moments: Lae'zel speaking, saving Nightsong, visiting Raphael at home 04. Jusant 5 hours This game was a joy to play from start to finish. Gorgeous visuals and perfect score. Favorite moments: almost the entirety of chapter 5, but especially when the music starts playing 03. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 160 hours Breath of the Wild didn't make any of my lists before and I've only finished it a week before Tears of the Kingdom came out, despite buying it in 2020. You could rightfully say it was pretty stupid of me to plan to buy and play ToTK on release, knowing all this, but somehow it ended up blowing my mind and fitting my likes and dislikes so much more than the first game. I didn't do everything but during my 160 hours with Tears of the Kingdom I did so much and I've enjoyed myself the vast majority of time. Favorite Moments: learning what happened to Zelda, first time entering the Depths 02. Misericorde: Volume One 11 hours Part recency bias but also big part a lot of things I love: enticing mystery, thick atmosphere, lovely trip-hop music, characters that feel alive, and crisp black and white visuals. Favorite moments: Catherine visiting Hedwig for the first time, Eustace going full Light Yagami, the secret thing 01. Lies of P 31 hours ...what? I would never expect this to even make the list at all not to mention stay in my memory so fondly I'd put it this high, and yet!! The studio did so well in all aspects that I can hardly find any faults with it. Great combat and cool enemy designs, smooth performance, and atmospheric music (when they remember to play any!!). Favorite Moments: finally kicking the final boss's rear end, the whole Laxasia cutscene, returning to Hotel Krat and hearing the music The Whole List 1-10 1. Lies of P 2. Misericorde: Volume One 3. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 4. Jusant 5. Baldur's Gate 3 6. Immortality 7. STAR WARS: Jedi Survivor 8. Resident Evil 4 Remake 9. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon 10. Alan Wake 2
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 22:18
|
|
|
Mr Alan Wake destroying all other GOTY contenders:
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 22:27
|
|
|
Tulip posted:10. Age of Empires II DE What on earth Argona posted:6. Tyrion Cuthbert - Wizard ace attorney. Starts off a bit too much carbon copy but around case 3 it really embraces its own identity and is far better for it. "Nothing will be concealed!" Gonna have to try this. I've played the original Ace Attorney trilogy so many times I practically have it memorized. Another take on the formula sounds great. abraham linksys posted:Myst - I remembered playing this as a child and being utterly baffled by it. As an adult, I finally tackled it, and... not nearly as baffling as I thought, though gently caress that piano puzzle. Had a pretty good time. I had the same experience playing Myst as an adult like a decade ago. Not nearly as mind-bending as I remembered it being. Definitely did cheat on the piano puzzle and the submarine sounds one though.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 22:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 00:19 |
|
|
Caught up on many pages of lists, shouts out to everyone playing Disco Elysium for the first time, shouts out to everyone keeping Pentiment in the running for another year and big shouts out to the poster who put Grim Dawn #2. Love that game, underappreciated even in the arpg space. It looks like I really should have gotten around to Alan Wake, and Against the Storm and Cocoon are also on my short list of games to get into in '24.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2023 22:45
|
|
