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This is legit probably my favorite thread of the year, thank you as always every year to those who run it, sorry there is no Rarity this year but great job on the OP, VG! Anyways.... I might have gotten a little carried away so uhhh, click here to skip all these  and go straight to JUST the list. It was an incredible year for great games, and there were many fantastic ones that came out this year that I haven't even had a chance to play yet, let alone great games from previous years. This is a good problem to have!https://i.imgur.com/BNeg5nJ.mp4 10. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020): Gameplay wise this isn't all that different from 2018's Spider-Man game (another favorite!), though Miles does have some abilities that Peter Parker doesn't. Really, what you're getting is more of the same from that previous game, which was just fine by me, but it's the story that really makes it all work. Miles coming into his own as a superhero, getting out from under the shadow of Peter, and the acceptance of the community which embraces him as "their" Spider-Man tells a complete story in a relatively compact experience that doesn't outstay its welcome. It's not without its faults, particularly around the central villain, but all in all it captured that sense of a sweet-natured young man trying his best to make his little part of the world a better place, and there's nothing more Spider-Man than that, whether Peter Parker or Mile Morales. That on top of beautiful graphics, the incredible sensation of the web-swinging, the Arkham-lite combat in a beautifully rendered slice of New York City, and the strong mix of comedy, drama and action makes this an easy recommendation, particularly if like me you're stuck waiting for the PC version of Spider-Man 2 to eventually come out. https://i.imgur.com/4r8QNvh.mp4 9. Resident Evil 2 Remake (2019): Not a goddamn thing about any of this makes sense. The fallen city, the design of the police station, the puzzles that are frankly baffling if you take a moment to consider them from a "real" world perspective, or the giant underground lab or really anything. Doesn't matter, game loving rules. It's absolutely gorgeous, the graphical makeover from the original 1998 version doesn't always quite mask the by now somewhat primitive game design but I was having too much fun to really care. It's a game with a ton of replay value, as you're "ranked" on your performance, and completing the game unlocks new paths you can take as well as playing with different characters who have fundamentally different experiences. Leon and Claire go to the same places and fight (largely) the same enemies, but things take divergent paths that also completely change the plot at points (the Tyrant monster that constantly stalks Leon in his game getting easily slaughtered on Claire's path by HER stalking monster was a wonderful moment to experience for the first time), and while playing either/or gives you a complete story, doing both paths fleshes out the entire experience. In 2023 you'd think the zombie genre was well and truly exhausted, but somehow a remake of a 20-year-old game in that genre manages to breathe fresh life into it. I can't wait to play the remakes of Resident Evil 3 and 4 and see what bat-poo poo crazy thing that makes no goddamn sense happens next! https://i.imgur.com/Uw5poUq.mp4 8. Hi-Fi Rush (2023): In January of this year, Bethesda announced they had a new game.... now! Developed on the quiet by the makers of The Evil Within, this was a game quite unlike those. Bright, cartoony, full of music, and coming completely out of the blue, Hi-Fi Rush caught most everybody by surprise, but a pleasant one! It's a simple game with a simple concept executed at a remarkably high level. It's a rhythm game that somehow I could play despite having none. It's remarkably funny, in a way that doesn't feel forced or cringe-worthy (at least to me). It's gorgeous to look at, designed to look like a cartoon, taking place on a giant corporate campus the size of a city in a fictional near-future where robots are ubiquitous (meaning you don't have to beat up a bunch of poor exploited workers... well at least not human ones!) It's a simple enough plot: beat several evil bosses to get their pass-codes to stop the evil program by the evil CEO to do evil things. But that's also all it has to be. Where the game shines is in the action, the gorgeous art, character, level and sound design, and perhaps most importantly an impeccable sense of comic timing. It's funny, sweet at times, and knows exactly when to ramp up the tension and when to undercut it: a secret ending from playing on past the main climax of the game is masterfully handled and sums up the game's own approach to itself. It isn't taking itself too seriously, and it's having a drat good time doing it, and I had a drat good time playing it. https://i.imgur.com/uH842dJ.mp4 7. Half-Life: Alyx (2020): How good was this game? So good that it tricked me briefly into thinking that VR gaming might actually be feasible. I was quickly disabused of that notion in my attempts to find other games, ranging from fine (Star Wars Squadrons) to making me feel immediately nauseous to the point I couldn't last in the game longer than a couple of minutes (Half Life 2 VR mod, Hitman VR). But Alyx just made everything work, designed from the ground up to make the absolute best out of the technology in a way that also made it playable. Graphically it's incredible, I spent a good 30 minutes just standing in the opening room wowing over how "real" everything looked, picking things up and examining them, writing on glass with a marker pen, just in utter awe. Then the rest of the game is that same level of stunning fidelity, dropping you right into the middle of the Half Life world, with all the associated imagery and sounds of the setting but now being experienced in the closest thing to reality you can get to. But it's also a good game! It's easy, REALLY easy, because for as much as Valve worked to make this both virtual reality AND a game, that same level of difficulty would probably be too much of a roadblock in this environment. But that ease doesn't work against it, in fact it just makes the game that much more enjoyable and accessible. I had given up on ever getting a Half Life 3, and as I played I found myself thinking,"Hey, if this is it, then great! It's a really fitting way to get to experience the world one last time and say goodbye to the setting even if it isn't a full sequel" and I was just happy with that, it was a nice unexpected bonus. Then I got to the end. Now my horrible, loathsome hope has been reignited. I'm CONVINCED we're getting Half Life 3, you can't take that from me! The ending of the game will be cruel if we don't... not quite as cruel as the ending of Half Life 2 Episode 2 was given I thought that was the end of any further Half Life games, but cruel nonetheless! I ended the game on a high, absolutely buzzing about the experience, willing to explore an entire new branch of technology I thought it was kicking off. That didn't come to pass, in the end it feels like a historical curiosity, a dead-end on the gaming evolutionary path, but an absolutely fascinating one I'm glad I got to experience, and which I strongly recommend everybody else try to experience for themselves as well too. https://i.imgur.com/gqo0ESA.mp4 6. Hitman: World of Assassination (2016-2023): I keep putting Hitman on these lists, and it's because the game just keeps on delivering! From Hitman in 2016 through Hitman 2 in 2018 to Hitman 3 in 2021 (but really 2022, thanks Epic) the game has delivered me hundreds of hours of fascinated Hitting Mans in wildly weird and different ways. Each game has included a complete version of the previous game in it, giving each one enormous value, and in 2023 everything got repackaged as simply Hitman: World of Assassination. But it wasn't just a rebranding exercise for a complete trilogy, the game(s) continues to be supported, with new Elusive Targets, challenges, community generated contracts for contests etc. But it wasn't just more of the same, because in 2023 the game also finally added the completed version of what was only available as a brief test run in 2022: Freelancer Mode. I've sunk I don't know how much more time into the game since Freelancer was added, at least another hundred hours for sure if not more. It revitalized the game for me at a point where I was feeling I might have finally seen and done everything. Which is ironic, since Freelancer essentially just plops you into pre-existing maps with the same characters doing the same things as always. The difference being it also adds in new targets doing their own things on top of all that, adding a new twist to the complex clockwork puzzle of a Hitman map as you seek to wipe out enough members of an underground crime syndicate to draw out the leader and assassinate them. Kill enough leaders and you wipe out an entire Syndicate, building resources to expand and develop 47's frankly beautiful house somewhere in presumably Scandinavia, as well as building a frankly terrifying arsenal of weapons and tools to use in your various murder puzzles. Except if you fail to kill a target, if you get shot, if you screw up, you lose what you have on you. If you blow it against a Syndicate Leader, you lose all your carefully assembled tools and have to start all over again from scratch. How any of this works doesn't really make any sense (I assume Diana is doing this whole thing as some bizarre enrichment exercise to keep 47 from being bored, and sneaks into his house to throw out his stuff and make him rebuild it) but it doesn't really matter, because it works to raise the tension, to find a balance between risk and caution, and also finally shook me free of my constant need to "perfect" a level and achieve nothing but Silent Assassin rankings. Now I'll go loud, or attack witnesses, or use explosives as distractions, or make use of any of the many other tools at 47's disposal to achieve my goals. It's true that if you play enough of the game (and I have played WAY too much) then even this Freelancer variation eventually becomes a "solved" "problem" as you figure out exactly how to game each Syndicate/level and offset the risk, but getting these took me a long and very enjoyable time. Now that I've basically achieved all but the most insane associated Freelancer challenges (killing hundreds of Syndicate Leaders and thousands of Syndicate Members) you'd think I'd finally had enough Hitman... but I haven't! Something about the game keeps bringing me back, and there are also mods that further expand Freelancer to maps not available yet in the official mode. There's every chance this'll be on my list again next year, it really is just the game that keeps on calling me back. https://i.imgur.com/zsA54tf.mp4 5. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017): Not having a Nintendo console as a kid, I'd never played a Legend of Zelda game before. I'd always figured when I had the time I might try and play through the games consecutively, but who ever has that time? Nah, far better to just pick one game, that way I wouldn't be investing too much time into things. A couple hundred hours later, I wrapped up Breath of the Wild and I was completely hooked on playing more Zelda games  It shouldn't be as compelling as it is. It's an open world game made in a period where open world was already somewhat old hat. It's simple, designed deliberately for wide appeal but obviously also to be accessible/appealing for kids/young teenagers. It doesn't really do anything I haven't seen in any other game, even the various powers are just variations of ones I've seen in many other games. Even the "you, the hero, have amnesia!" plot is a painfully ancient trope! No, Breath of the Wild is just taking a lot of pre-existing gaming elements and putting them all under the banner of a well-known IP. It's incredible. I can't explain WHY it works as well as it does, it just does! From the opening and the initially limited exploration of the Plateau to the game opening up to almost unlimited exploration, the sense of scale can be almost overwhelming. Link can go anywhere and do anything at any time, even to areas that clearly signpost you should be coming back later with some extra precautions prepared. Having not played previous games, there is no nostalgia explaining why the trials and tribulations of the people and the setting resonated so strongly with me, they just work through a combination of atmosphere, simple but effective characterization, and the slow uncovering of Hyrule's last century of history simultaneously for both the player and Link as a character. Exploring a world that survived but hasn't quite rid itself of a (literal) calamity offers a sense of both melancholy but also resilience. People live ordinary lives, happy lives even, but everybody knows there is a sickness at the heart of Hyrule barely contained by forces they don't really understand, with a half-remembered history of what it was like before then. Ruins dot the lands, the sites of old battles, abandoned forts, mysterious machinery that may be destroyed and ruined but might also still be semi-active and lethal. Monsters roam the world, containable but never ending, those killed returning with every blood moon, waiting for the inevitable return of the Calamity when Zelda's power finally wanes. That Link simply experiences all this and just rushes headlong into it with naive enthusiasm and a devotion to a charge he no longer fully remembers is wonderful. The character never truly speaks, making him somewhat of a blank slate for the player to project onto, but I like to think he's just a guy who has a sense of right and wrong and is determined to do the right thing no matter how difficult it is. Which isn't to say he's isn't full of personality, it's remarkable how much Nintendo makes him likeable, whether it's his reactions to things he sees and experiences in the world, or just his happy little humming as he cooks food, you get the sense that this is a character who loves life and never says no to anything or anybody (unless they're evil!). By the time I finished Breath of the Wild, I was incredibly invested in a character and a series I'd never experienced before beyond cultural osmosis. It's easy to forget just how big an impact this game had when it came out, what a remarkable achievement it was, how it made something so simple so compelling. I'm so glad I played it, so mad I waited wo long to do so, and desperate to play more Legend of Zelda games past, present and future to chase the high that this one gave me. https://i.imgur.com/DufyhWy.mp4 4. Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon (2020): Having finally caught up with almost all of the Yakuza games with Yakuza 6, I thought I was finally in a place where I'd never fall behind again once I played this one. That was only last year and there have somehow been like 6 new games since then! That's not a problem, I love these games, but they're also HUGE, I'll be playing these forever (again, not a problem!). Like a Dragon marks a break for the series, with a soft transition from the title Yakuza to Like a Dragon for the series (the latter was always the name in Japan I believe), a change from a real-time single character brawler to turn-based party combat, and probably most importantly shifting from eternal main character Kazuma Kiryu to Ichiban Kasuga. Luckily Ichiban is more than up to the seemingly impossible task of replacing Kiryu. While there are a lot of base similarities - an orphan who wrapped up his identity in a mentor in the Yakuza for one - Ichiban is definitely his own character even if like Kiryu he is a beautifully stupid and wholesome idiot. He sees the world and his job through the filter of the Dragon Quest games he loves to play (good taste!) and that is effectively what Like a Dragon does, it turns the Yakuza series somehow into Dragon Quest! Complete with "monsters", a party with specific roles including "magic", a jobs system (involving a literal employment agency!) and even dungeons! It's remarkable how much of the classic Yakuza remains in the game while also adopting this "new" approach, and just how well it pulls it off. On top of that is a story that, in typical Yakuza fashion, makes no drat sense at all but is extremely stylish and compelling, while also exploring in fairly shallow (it's still a Yakuza game after all) depth different social issues including sex work, unemployment, poverty and homelessness. Ichiban is an orphan raised in a brothel, who became devoted with all his might to the Yakuza mentor who selflessly made a sacrifice for a dumb kid (Ichiban) whose own big mouth had gotten him into trouble that was none of the mentor's business. So Ichigan's seeming betrayal by that mentor hits hard after serving 18 years in prison only to emerge into a modern Tokyo where everything he knew and understood about the Yakuza was turned on its head, leaving him betrayed once more and dumped like literal garbage in Yokohama. From there he embarks on a quest to discover the truth while also unwrapping mysteries, making friends, and of course walking directly into a bunch of warring crime faction bullshit... because this IS a Yakuza game after all. Kart racing, real-world Pac Man, arcades, cabaret clubs, magic summons involving crawfish and chickens, gambling, underground fighting, collect-a-thons, missing cats, puritans, a satsuma that must NEVER fall from a tree or else a little girl will die, a homeless man turning a sweet shop into the most prosperous business in Japan in a week, cameos by people who are absolutely 100% dead what the gently caress is even going on here, Pokemon but with various human weirdos on the street, kimchi so spicy it makes true love happen, and of course plenty of cutscenes of surprisingly ripped middle-aged men. It's ALL there in this game. It IS a Yakuza game after all, and long may they keep coming. I'll play them all. Eventually. https://i.imgur.com/XtCzF20.mp4 3. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon (2023): At the start of this year I played Titanfall 2 and I thought that no matter what else, that was DEFINITELY going to be best giant robot game I played all year. Boy was I wrong. Having never played an Armored Core before but being willing to give anything FROM Software makes a try, I assumed that this would be an amusing sideline involving relatively slow combat from lumbering behemoths. Boy was I wrong. Instead I got a game that reminded me more of Sekiro than Dark Souls, even though mechanically they're nothing alike, and of course the mission structure is nothing like either of those games. I can't explain it, it just feels more "like" that than any of their other games! Surprisingly fast-paced and also deeply customizable, Armored Core 6 looks and sounds beautiful, and though some of the missions felt a little bit like slamming my head against a wall at times, once I got through to the end and the rather bittersweet finale I felt I had definitely gotten my money's worth. Surely though there was no need to play New Game+ though, all that would accomplish would be playing the same game again with access to better gear. Boy was I wrong. What they've done with the story is remarkable, with three distinct endings based on mission choices made, some of which are only possible with two or three playthroughs of the game, each with different perspectives based on the relationships you build and the choices you make. While that might sound unwieldy, the game offers so much variety and customization that you can play the same mission a dozen times and have an entirely different experience each time. Also, the difficulty curve of the game effectively flattens out on a second playthrough and even more on a third. It is the distinctly new missions that offer the challenge of adapting to having the familiarity of repeated missions turned around on you by alterations that can be minor or completely change the entire final chapter of the game. As you play, you meet or are contacted by a wide variety of characters, and somehow despite the fact you never once see a human in the game, are never heard responding or talking to anybody, and each character might only talk to you a half dozen times at most (aside from a couple of key characters) their personalities, alliances, trustworthiness or otherwise are all communicated with astonishing depth. Rusty and Snail in particular stand out for how efficiently their voice actors make you feel a certain way (absolute kinship with Rusty, utter loathing for Snail), but every character does a remarkable job: Chatty, Michigan, Iguazu (poor, pathetic Iguazu), Red, Swinburne, Carla, Ayre, even ALLMIND and Invincible Rummy! Plus of course Handler Walter in particular stands out. They show you more of the world you've dropped into, or draw you in to the insane politicking and maneuvering happening in the ashes of the planet Rubicon as corporations and rebels vie for control of what remains of the valuable but volatile "Coral" that wiped out an entire solar system in the past. The sheer scale of the game's environments is extraordinary, the soundtrack is superb, and the use of sound in general is incredibly well executed, with perhaps the standout moment coming when Rusty declares I won't miss!" which is so, so, so unbelievably cool. The robots feel somehow both fast and responsive but also weighty and massive. The more you play, the more familiar you become, handling your Armored Core becomes like second nature. I rarely bother to fully S Rank mission-based games but I couldn't stop myself with this one, and the sheer speed and efficiency with which you can rather naturally just dominate a level that you initially struggled and fought to clear never failed to astonish me (just as the ones that seemed to be stuck at A Rank no matter how well I handled it frustrated me!). Somehow this game about giant robots whacking each other in the face with anime swords got me feeling feelings, and by the end of my third playthrough and unlocking the final ending I wrapped up my playtime feeling immensely satisfied and with a brand new series by FROM that I am eager to play more of. I thought they could only make fantasy sword 'n' sorcery games. Boy was I wrong. https://i.imgur.com/YnBBahV.mp4 2. Baldur's Gate 3 (2023): What if a game... but too much!?! It feels almost weird to say it, but maybe Larian didn't have to go as hard as they did? I'm glad they did though! After what seemed like an eternity in Early Access, Baldur's Gate 3 was released and to say it was a phenomenon is a massive understatement. But it's also so. much. loving. game. Every single screen, every location, every space is just cram-packed with details, and while you could be a psycho and NOT take the time to drink it all in, it felt like a game laser-focused on giving me exactly what I wanted from a Baldur's Gate sequel. If it was all pointless filler it wouldn't have worked, but almost everything felt like it had a purpose, all of it helped make each of the major areas for all three acts feel lived in and with a rich history. Graphically it was beautiful, and it was amazing that zooming right in to drink in all the details close-up or pulling out to get a comprehensive overview of the area you were moving in were both entirely viable options. But all that detail needed a strong story and strong characters to work, and the game had those too, with multiple party members (most of which could be your main character if you chose) having their own plots, motivations, backstories etc. Sure, some of them were a little over the top or grandiose, but it was doing what the game set out to do: recreate the sense of playing an actual D&D Campaign complete with a GM and perhaps party members a little too cock-sure about their privileged status in the world, and giving you plenty of freedom to experiment and play around with different ways of approaching the myriad events, battles and conversations you would uncover over the course of the game. Chances are, if you can think of a way to approach a battle, the game will let you do it, including something as simple as shoving an overly loquacious enemy boss off the side of a platform into a bottomless pit and bypassing the first phase of his battle! All of course with the ever-present threat of the tadpole in your brain as your personal motivation to continue beyond the political, metaphysical or simply "human" ramifications of the main plot if only to (hopefully) save yourself. Also, without spoiling anything, The House of Hope is one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had in an RPG. There is simply too much game to detail it all, Act 1 alone is massive and took me longer than some games to complete, and Act 2 is similarly packed followed by an astonishingly mammoth Act 3 that to the best of my knowledge nobody got to see before the game came out even in Early Access. The game became something of an obsession for me as I played it, and I certainly was far from the only one (and some obsessions ran deep, with people onto their 3rd deep-dive playthrough when I was still in Act 1 of my first!), because it really did carry me away in the best way. It had been a good twenty years since I last played Baldur's Gate 2, and then along came this astonishingly high-budget sequel that made me feel like I'd never been away. There are plenty of links to the original game (I'm frankly baffled by some claims that it bears no similarities to BG1 and 2 outside of the name) but it stands alone as its own thing too, and gives you a chance to wrap yourself back up in a fantasy world that people have been roleplaying in for decades now both through the games but also of course the tabletop experience. It's not without flaws by any means: the epilogue was a bit of a mess for one, though it's been continually patched and added to since release; the dice roll gimmick was cool but sometimes very overused for minor things; and Larian kind of chickened out of making the growing access to Illithid powers have any real trade-off to give you pause before taking them, when it should have been a huge deal. But getting to the end of a monster of a campaign and immediately thinking to myself,"So what am I gonna do when I play this giant-rear end game AGAIN?" speaks to just how incredible a job Larian did. If I didn't have so many other games in my backlog I'd be deep into the middle of another run through, and I certainly plan to do one again sooner rather than later. This is a game I think is likely to win Game of the Year for 2023, just because of how huge it was on release and what an incredible long tail it had. It certainly would have been mine... if it hadn't been for one semi-mute twink with a heart of gold (you can play one of those in this game too, if you like!). https://i.imgur.com/fNyX0HJ.mp4 1. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023): What can I say? Breath of the Wild made me realize what I'd been missing, and Tears of the Kingdom just solidified that I needed to experience more of Link, Zelda and Hyrule. Having poured a huge amount of time into BotW, I thought it would be sensible to hold off on TotK to avoid burning out. But the idea of there being MORE of that world to explore was too much to resist, and when I loaded it up and started playing I came to a stunning conclusion: this game blows Breath of the Wild out of the water. Yes it's the same (mostly) map, and (mostly) the same characters, and pretty much exactly (maybe?) the same villain, so you'd think this would just be more of the same. It is. But it's more than that too. Even putting aside the addition of verticality to the game in the form of the Sky Islands and the gigantic black depths beneath Hyrule, this game is a true sequel to BotW that continues a story that seemed completed, and in so doing succeeds extraordinarily in telling a complete story of its own that absolutely nails the ending in one of the most emotionally satisfying ways I think I have ever experienced. The bookending of the game, from Link's failure to catch Zelda at the start of the game to him succeeding when it counts and catching her as they both fall at the end is masterfully handled. But that latter spoiled section comes as a capstone to an incredibly cathartic final sequence that is mechanically straightforward and simple but emotionally a masterpiece of design. Where BotW was a world of melancholy but also resistance, TotK is a story of rebuilding (literally in some cases). People have moved on from The Calamity, the world is progressing, things are getting better... and when Ganon appears to try and take that all away, the reaction of almost everybody in Hyrule is to say,"Nope, gently caress that!" and take up the fight to keep what they've gotten back. At the forefront of it all is, of course, Link, and the game somehow manages to figure out a way to both maintain the urgency while also giving you the freedom to let Link just absolutely gently caress about doing weird, wholesome or outright bizarre things. Link becomes a guest lecturer at Hyrule's only kid's school! Link takes time to help reunite a band! Link sneaks into a Woman-Only City and gets thrown in jail! Link becomes a newspaper reporter! Link fights All the old abilities from Breath of the Wild are replaced with new ones, and while that was a bit of an initial learning curve (I kept forgetting early on I could literally make Link shift his body upwards through solid objects) I came to love them, particularly the Fuse Skill that lets you build an astonishing variety of vehicles, make-shift weapons and even rudimentary robots. Also, if you are far, far, far cleverer than I am, you can create stuff that I can't even comprehend how it works! This is a game that has taken what was considered by many an absolute modern classic and, in my opinion, improved on it in every single way. It's an incredible accomplishment, you can absolutely see why it took six years to complete it despite getting to work with what was already developed for BotW. That this game exists as it does on the Switch is another thing that blows my mind, and who knows what Nintendo will have in store for the next game in the series? I'll be there playing it for sure, after the 1-2 punch of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, I somehow STILL want more Legend of Zelda. While Baldur's Gate 3 was also an incredible experience, I never once wavered in my certainty that Tears of the Kingdom is my Game of the Year for 2023. Edit: Fixed some minor typos and formatting errors. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Dec 22, 2023 |
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Dec 4, 2023 01:16
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A simple version of my Top Ten without all the 10. Spider-Man: Miles Morales 9. Resident Evil 2 Remake 8. Hi-Fi Rush 7. Half-Life: Alyx 6. Hitman: World of Assassination 5. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 4. Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon 3. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon 2. Baldur's Gate 3 1. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
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Dec 4, 2023 01:16
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Captain Invictus posted:2: HI FI RUSH I had no idea, that is so loving cool! Hi-Fi Rush rules, y'all, it's a testament to how great 2023 was for games that it was so "low" on my list.
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Dec 4, 2023 07:46
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DMCrimson posted:10. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (4/5) This is amazing  Also I love the idea that Persona 5 was actually a stealth tourism campaign for Tokyo! Your review gave me very pleasant memories of taking my own rare international travel vacation and wandering blissfully around Tokyo a few years ago 
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Dec 4, 2023 18:47
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DalaranJ posted:*Do not tell the god of horses that I said this. It's too late, now you have to.... make him a nice meal!
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Dec 5, 2023 06:35
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Sir Sidney Poitier posted:#1 - Baldur's Gate 3 God, can't believe I forgot to mention Speaking with Animals in my write-up for BG3. Every day I woke up at camp I immediately chugged a potion of the stuff, I can't imagine playing through the game without taking every opportunity to chat with the animals and hear what they have to say. ESPECIALLY the cats.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtBE4JxTOmE
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Dec 6, 2023 11:26
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Lester posted:But, my brother, have you heard the good news? Right now, on a winter evening in the early third millennium, in the video game Cyberpunk 2077, you can ride the loving subway and look out the window. CHOO CHOOOOOOOOOOOOO gently caress, I was thinking I'd hold off on getting this for awhile but.... gently caress. 
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Dec 7, 2023 03:26
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Jezza of OZPOS posted:1: Armored Core 6 See the thing about the gatling guns is that they loving rule and you shouldn't feel bad for using them. https://i.imgur.com/ui7iF6p.mp4 This is how 621 feels ALL THE TIME Once it occurred to me to slap two of them onto my mech I pretty much never looked back, it's so much fun!
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Dec 7, 2023 10:58
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Nobody has put Pentiment on their Top Ten lists yet, which is sad considering it was 2022's Game of the Year provided you accept Elden Ring's score was so high it hit a stack overflow and got reset back to 0.
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Dec 8, 2023 01:49
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Songbearer posted:2) Armored Core 6: My exact experience. I love this game so much 
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Dec 8, 2023 03:10
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Kerrzhe posted:1. Pentiment - Sometimes a story just takes your heart and wrings out the tears and shoves it back in your chest, full of joy of having been able to take part. What a beautiful, touching game. This is another game that made me feel seen, I chose Naturalist as you can see above and just this little interaction of looking at a flower most people consider a weed, but still finding beauty in it, speaks to me on such a fundamental level. This is the poo poo I am about. I played this game in January of this year and it stuck with me the whole way. I still get emotional thinking about it. It still makes me smile. Thank you, Pentiment. Finally! Hooray, I am so happy people are still discovering how loving great Pentiment is.
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Dec 10, 2023 00:02
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Maxwells Demon posted:I lived through the 90's CRPGs but this made me feel like I didn't, forgetting to save more than once and hour and then pathfinding kills my whole party and I have to go back an hour. Every time I do this I just sit there for a moment thinking,"But you've been playing these games for so long, how do you forget to do this!?!"
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Dec 11, 2023 14:05
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So glad to see Pentiment appearing on lists again, everybody play Pentiment! Absolutely loved this write-up, thank you. "Little Mom", your kid is very cool  
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Dec 12, 2023 00:04
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Silegna posted:2. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: The building mechanic was hilarious, but I wasn't a fan of building up battery power, I understand why it is there, but I really don't like it, because only one area in the game upgrades your battery and it can't be fast travelled to because it is in a cave. I may be misremembering or misunderstanding, as both of the following are in caves, but isn't the Construct that upgrades your battery sitting directly across from a shrine that you can fast travel to? Or if it is the mining guys inside the sky island cave who sell the charges you can use to upgrade, you can set up your portable teleport so you can always jump straight to them rather than having to jump to the shrine up above and then glide down to get to the cave entrance
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Dec 12, 2023 00:38
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TriffTshngo posted:I really, really liked Breath of the Wild. It was my favorite Zelda game until about 6 months ago. Same... but I also only played it for the first time like six months ago and liked it so much that I jumped straight to Tears of the Kingdom and... yeah, everything you said! Tears of the Kingdom loving rules and I gladly join you in the ranks of Zelda Story Likers 
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Dec 12, 2023 12:08
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The thing you have to remember about Control is that, from a completely objective standpoint, it loving rules
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Dec 12, 2023 12:26
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The bamboo forest in Kyoto is spectacularly beautiful, and I visited it in Winter when it's basically at its "worst"!
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Dec 13, 2023 03:37
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Phenotype posted:came down with Covid during my playthrough, possibly because Starfield's boredom weakened my immune system Goddamn if this ain't the best review I've ever read 
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Dec 14, 2023 00:35
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Hi-Fi Rush is just so much goddamn fun. Fun and good humor and enjoyment just shines out of every pore, and I can't believe it just got dropped out of nowhere back at the start of the year: hey here's a game we made, it's ready now, and it's really good!
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Dec 18, 2023 01:14
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drat that's a great write-up on BG3, and makes me want to start another playthrough except I have so many other games to play first! What a problem to have 
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Dec 19, 2023 01:15
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Oh poo poo Pocket Circuit racing is back in the new Like a Dragon game!?! 
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Dec 19, 2023 05:26
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That gif reminds me that I never really took advantage of the Monster Masks in TotK, and I love the animation of them sniffing at this weird little version of themselves trying to figure out what's going on
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Dec 19, 2023 15:14
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Mushroom butt, haha yes! But also thank you for the very comprehensive write-up!
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Dec 20, 2023 23:15
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Hell of a list. One Piece Odyssey was such a weird game in that I really enjoyed the hell out of playing it but I'd never recommend it to anybody, because it really is only carried by the charm/fun/familiarity with the characters. Hitman is a spectacular game, blows my mind how many hundreds (well over a thousand at this point I think) of hours of fun I've gotten out of all three games in this current run of the series, and I'm still not tired of playing it.
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Dec 22, 2023 02:36
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ToxicFrog posted:I bounced off Agent 47 and Silent Assassin pretty hard, but I really enjoyed Blood Money and this writeup has me thinking that next time I want some Hitman I should perhaps pick up this rather than replaying my favourite BM missions. Oh my God you have a HUGE amount of new mans to hit, and so, so, so much content you can do, you are in for a treat! Edit: IOI frequently will do a free mission for a week or so as a way for people to get a chance to see if the game works for them, definitely a good way to see if the new style of the game works for you.
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Dec 23, 2023 01:43
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The Grey posted:1. The Gunk One of the great things about this thread is sometimes seeing a game pop up as somebody's #1 that I have literally never heard of before in my life. Apparently it is an XBox game but it's on Steam too, and pretty cheap, and it looks quite neat, and has really positive reviews, and I'm flummoxed that it managed to go in completely under my radar.
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Dec 29, 2023 00:12
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Goddamn yeah that was a hell of a post, BP
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Dec 29, 2023 11:13
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Escobarbarian posted:Thank you for reading. This is always such an amazing thread, and I love reading your lists and being able to contribute myself. I can’t wait to see what 2024 has in store for us!    Every single person's list is completely valid because Top 10s are an entirely subjective thing, but with that said I'm delighted you see you put the objectively correct choice of Tears of the Kingdom as your #1 pick 
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Dec 30, 2023 02:25
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wash bucket posted:
 plenty of people played the original Street Fighter in the arcade... because they didn't pay attention and put their money into the old machine thinking it was Street Fighter 2 and cursed
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Dec 30, 2023 04:06
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The REAL Goobusters posted:Man this thread always loving delivers. Love reading everyones lists! Especially the write ups 
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Dec 31, 2023 00:59
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Hollow Knight rules, and in great news, it was announced in 2022 that Silksong would be released by the middle of June of 2023, so I can only assume it's just sitting there available for anybody to purchase right now!
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Dec 31, 2023 02:53
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So glad to see Pentiment getting some 2023 love, I will be thrilled if it manages to repeat 2022 and beat Elden Ring in the GOTY stakes again!
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Jan 1, 2024 03:55
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I am constantly in awe of how many games you manage to play (and how succinct but informative your write-ups for them are) and I'm in awe of this list
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Jan 1, 2024 06:11
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Infinitum posted:7.) Hi-Fi Rush This NEVER stops being funny to me, I love it so much
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Jan 1, 2024 06:21
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Microcline posted:so I don't get confused  I know you explained it in I think either last year's thread or the one before but I still can't make head or tail of this stuff. I do find it very impressive that you do, though!
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Jan 2, 2024 03:09
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exquisite tea posted:Green line means ranking went up from last year, red line go down. Woah woah, slow down, Poindexter....
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Jan 2, 2024 03:24
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Subjunctive posted:Also thanks to the goon who informed me about the Pentiment frog sweatshirt, I have acquired one. Oh my God: https://uk.gear.xbox.com/products/pentiment-frog-holiday-crewneck-sweatshirt
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Jan 4, 2024 09:51
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Yes Pentiment absolutely loving rules and it delights me that this thread has convinced a few more people to get to experience it, it's so drat good. Loved how sometimes the most stressed I got in the game was deciding who to go and have a meal with 
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Jan 5, 2024 15:05
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frytechnician posted:Anyway, gotta go, gotta play some more Pentiment this weekend. Enjoy your FIRST playthrough of the game!
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Jan 7, 2024 02:45
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Tears of the Kingdom is going to beat Baldur's Gate 3 this year, just like Pentiment beat Elden Ring last year and like Sekiro beat Disco Elysium in 2019. It's crazy how my top picks keep winning like this!
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Jan 13, 2024 05:28
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