#I haven’t finished it yet but so far the environmental storytelling is cool

[the-one-eyed-seer]

I love the details that show the main character of unpacking is Jewish

[dabidagoose]

What's your fave video game sountrack(s)? =^o

Ok that is a very loaded question so this is gonna be a long ass response, I hope you're prepared for what you've done.

(ok there's a tl;dr at the end if you want it sorry for this lmao)

FIRST POINT my immediate thought was the Ikenfell soundtrack (actually my immediate thought is I can't fuckin' choose they're all amazing but. then ikenfell). On the personal side, I was pretty much obsessed with the game for like three months straight, and i fuckin' love aivi and surasshu's music. I am also a simp for chiptune so jot that down. Moving past what may very well just be personal preference there are some incredibly interesting musical choices and impeccable choices story-wise that hit just. SO fuckin hard. Like emotionally. I won't elaborate on to the context and why the song works so well but the final battle theme is absolutely SPECTACULAR. (I could elaborate though so. ask if you will and i'll write another spiel on why it breaks my heart and soul). But also to reference a less-plot relevant piece I'm gonna bring up Alchemy is for Everyone. The squish bass sounds at the beginning are SUCH a fun environmental sound, it is really just NOT a sound I hear often which makes the track really stand out. And it fits SO perfectly for all the slimes and just. It's so WET. I love it. Makes me wanna wriggle. Which ok is probably also personal preference on reflection because my friend hates a wet song that I love but. Ok it's GOOD. Anyways continuing to the melody the fuckin PITCH bends. This is digital music at it's peak. We get the fun sounds. We get the fuckin pitch bends. Which are so fun because having slightly out of tune notes is such a fun feeling. It's a little off kilter, it's a little different. It's just SO funky and sounds so awesome to bend those pitches just a little bit, take full advantage of the medium and play around with it. Now I'm gonna talk a bit about why I love aivi & surasshu's music so much which. Ok so I believe(?) they coined the term "digital fusion" where you're mixing all these fun fresh digital sounds with real instruments/more traditional sounds and it can work SO fuckin well (for extra musical literature on this subject I'd like to suggest Yoann Turpin and specifically Chip Ship). Which we already get a taste of that where the pitch bends are playing on piano but it really kicks in when the violin takes over the melody and it's SUCH a graceful instrument in comparison to all this funky/awkward stuff we've had. The dichotomy is fuckin awesome. The violin is like a graceful victorian socialite ballroom dancing in after these pitch bends just pinned their arms to their sides and wiggled their hips around. We then get a third spacey instrument (I. have no idea what it is.) and it is. SUCH a switch. We have moved from awkward and stilted to almost too perfect and graceful (I forgot to write before but the high piano at the violin adds so much) to a moment of awe and discovery. We are now exploring the universe, the world of science and alchemy, and it is fantastic. The song almost seems to have it's own little narrative, and this is just a backing track for exploring one of the buildings!!!! This is within the first couple hours of gameplay, it is incredibly non-plot-relevant but SUCH a piece of art. I am absolutely in a slime ball watching amazing science happen so precisely and it is. so fuckin cool. And I could probably go off about every single other song, but in the interest of keeping away spoilers and finishing this post before 2 am, I will not. (Addendums because I can: this is less wet than the one my friend hates, and also this song is MOIST. I would also like to mention It's Showtime and Between the Lines as other song favorites but if I went into them I would never sleep.)

Okokokok. So. So SECOND point (I'm. so sorry.) I looked at my video game music soundtrack (I have two main soundtracks one for just every music but I didn't want to overwhelm it with VG music so I made one just for that that has ENTIRE soundtracks from almost every game I've played which. oops.) and I found two other contenders based mostly on I Really Liked The Games. The Oneshot soundtrack and the Night in the Woods soundtrack. Ok I'm gonna talk about Night in the Woods first cause HOLY shit. holy shit. The fucking astral songs. Those are fucking masterpieces. Such a simple ensemble but it creates such an INTENSE atmosphere. I really love instrumental music can you tell. I specifically want you listening to Astral Train for this one (played it for my senior recital and even though I had to play the violin part on clarinet I maintain it was one of the best choices I've ever made), but we the way the layers blend together is a fucking masterpiece. Since this song had to be designed so that any layer could play alone and each one could join in any order, each part of the quartet has to be interesting, but they still all must blend together and so they each get melody moments but the harmony/bass lines have to be interesting as well and. They ARE. This is such a hard task and it's accomplished SO. INCREDIBLY. WELL. (Side note: also makes for a good ensemble piece for, say, your and your friends' senior recitals, so everyone gets fun parts, a chance in the limelight, and a chance to rest, haha totally irrelevant note right there definitely no connection to my real life). With Astral Train we really get this cool ghostly train feel and through all the Astral pieces we REALLY feel the absolute intensity of Mae's dreams and the music creates such an immaculate vibe. It is unmatched. The rest of the soundtrack contains plenty of bops in a variety of genres too, where the bass songs have to be both playable and fun (Die Anywhere Else my beloved), and we get nostalgic and mischievous music fit for this ragtag team. This is the feeling I've had hanging out with my teenage friends at 10 PM in a parking lot. It is absolutely perfect for this video game. The music is SUCH a bop and really emotionally connects to me cause the game is such a bop of a plot. It is truly fantastic. (Addendum: Ok listening to Gregg rn and. Holy shit bop. I love him. I love this)

Ok now onto Oneshot, which, admittedly, does not have as strong a holding on the podium as these other two do, but curse me for having been emotionally destroyed by the video game because now I am emotionally attached to the music too. But, again, ATMOSPHERE. I am once again gonna be speaking in the interest of spoilers here, so I hope anyone who's finished the game will forgive what I'm not saying, but the entire landscape of this desolate planet is just SO much. The world is so simple and empty, and yet awe is often mixed with this feeling of despair. This is incredibly fitting for Niko, for the hopeful little pal they are, and creates an incredible effect. (I included specific song reccs for the last but I don't quite for this - so I'll just say now that I'm listening to On Little Cat Feet). The visuals are fairly simple, the map small, and just looking at the game the world feels incredibly small. But the music makes it all seem so vast. We really get put into Niko's shoes (or their little cat feet I suppose), and get to see this world for the vast, terrifying, but incredible place it is. The music makes you feel like that child seeing a new world for the first time, (this isn't spoilers past the first chapter but I'm warning you anyways) even though you are meant to be a god, you are still made to feel small and the world still large. The music does so much of this work, and it's incredible. Throughout the soundtrack the underlying angst, the despair, remains present, and the game has so much more impact for the music. No game is incomplete without it's music, and Nightmargin does a fantastic job creating this music for Oneshot. I haven't analyzed the actual music instruments/structure so much, but it's those instrumental sounds again tearing at my heart strings again. I would also like to recommend this game beyond the soundtrack, since it is an incredible story, with some puzzling gameplay, and it has made me feel how no other game has. It is a masterpiece of a game, and I implore everyone to play it through. Get hints if you need to, or play alone, just make it to the Ending. You'll know when you're there. (Addendum: I think I'm very repetitive here but I refuse to edit it so you have to live with this. Anyways gonna say it again: Play Oneshot!!)

Now I have chosen three game soundtracks that had a story that incredibly connected with me, and music to bolster that story and those emotions in incredibly meaningful ways. But there are so many others with great music, but that didn't necessarily connect on such an emotional level. Portal and Portal 2 have fantastic soundtracks, Celeste has beautiful music, Underhero has some funky and spectacular beats, Undertale and Deltarune are famously incredible (although I also did emotionally connect with them... but they're already talked about enough. Lancer beloved.), Clam Man is just. Fun., Oxenfree is also incredibly atmospheric and spectacular, Sewer Rave just has nice beats, and Minecraft is nostalgic as all hell. There are so many games to choose from, that from the moment I saw your question I knew I would be writing a far too long Tumblr post to answer you, because it feels an injustice to just answer one without reasoning, or without bringing to light all of the other amazing sounds I've discovered.

To finally answer your question, I think Ikenfell deserves the top spot in my heart. My instinct was right, there's fresh sounds, great musical structure (see: Between the Lines that I didn't elaborate on), incredibly emotional sounds, and fantastic storytelling within the soundtrack. But I love all of these other soundtracks, so I must bring them up. For they also have spots in my heart.

TL;DR - Ikenfell wins but I also love Oneshot and Night in the Woods and many others so I don't know what to say chief (lies i have too much to say)

[destiny-smasher]

My personal 2020 GOTYs

1) Hades

This game, dudes. THIS GAME. A fraction of the budget, a fraction of the dev team size, reportedly HEALTHY development schedule and management...and imo it offers at least some of everything I want out of a single player video game. I have poured over 60 hours into this and I see myself putting in some more over time and ALL of the time I have spent has felt rewarding and edifying. Clever design, smart writing, organic voice acting, sharp gameplay, and all done at a fraction of the resources of these big budget, bloated games. You love to see it.

2) Final Fantasy 7 Remake (Part 1?)

I went into this year not caring much about this game at all. FF7 was a game I played as a teen, enjoyed, respected, and moved on from pretty easily. This Remake, so far, has done more than I could’ve expected in terms of actually REMAKING a game. It’s literally a new adaptation, and I as pleasantly surprised at just how hard it went. From realizing the world of Midgar into something so full of detail and plausibility, to reiterating and doubling down on its postmodern anti-corporation themes, to making Barret the character I loved the MOST somehow?? Combining everything I love about real-time RPG action with a tactical strategy element long missing from the genre, reimagining and fleshing out characters and concepts into something deeper and more meaningful...I’ve never considered myself a huge FF7 fan but this game was really something, and I absolutely cannot wait for more (and praying they do my girl Yuffie justice). I’ve been super skeptical of Nomura as a director given...the mess that has become Kingdom Hearts, but as it turns out, when he has others to reign things in, some surprisingly nuanced stuff for an anime game can come out of it. It has its flaws, to be sure, but it’s still the most enjoyable experience I had with a big budget game this year.

3) The Last of Us Part 2

I feel conflicted over this one in particular - I feel Neil is not longer a director I respect the way I did back with the first game. I feel Naughty Dog is falling victim to all of the late capitalist issues plaguing big budget game dev. But I also love this game. It’s much more flawed than the first, but that’s mainly because it’s more ambitious and complicated. It’s THE most flawed game on this game, honestly, but overall as a game I am compelled to respect its writing, its gutsier decisions, its art direction, acting, presentation, etc. It’s an impressive game and the most technically impressive game I played all year if not all generation. Props where they’re due, but at the same time, I think this game was poorly directed and I love it in spite of issues with its production, rather than because of some strong vision. That’s the big Sony bucks, I suppose, matched with a dev team willing and apparently somehow able to fulfil what they want to create. I still get the impression there was a bit of ‘design by committee for a mainstream audience’ kind of shit going on - how could there not with something this big? - and as a result I think the game is a bit bloated. Shave off about 3-5 hours from a few spots and it’d be a more focused game, and maybe I’d feel more edified and satisfied rather than weirdly conflicted. Even so, a huge accomplishment and I hope to see more games tackle premises as ambitious as this down the road.

4) Bug Fables

This game technically launched last year but it debuted on console in 2020, and I didn’t play it until then. This is as close to a follow-up to old school Paper Mario as it gets, while simultaneously doing a lot to forge its own identity and even improve on the formula presented in the previous games. Its rough around the edges but that’s mainly because it’s an independent game, and it’s amazing just how well the dev team was able to reproduce the scope and details of this specific subgenre of RPG, all while continuously implementing new game design elements and multiple features that make it feel more modern in its direction. Fantastic stuff, I’m still not even finished with it because I’ve been taking my sweet time, though I intend to finally finish it this month, and I have to say, it’s quite a special game in my opinion.

5) Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

Absolute banger of a multiplayer game, really love the presentation, the concept, the overall execution, the way the team has been updating the game every month or so in response to feedback and implementing new content. So good to see the battle royale genre FINALLY pushed beyond just...arena shooting. Can’t wait to see where else this game can go over time.

6) Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Somehow this one slipped my mind when I first wrote this up, despite having poured well over 100 hours into it this year. I think part of it is that New Horizons did a lot of things I’ve wanted the series to do for so long, and yet is still far behind in terms of so many other things I wish they would do. Quality of life things prevent me from really re-investing into it, and yet despite that I have to admit it REALLY sucked me in for a solid few weeks and I continued to play off and on for months. It was the perfect game we collectively needed right when it came out and graphically I can’t think of how to really improve on that style. A really relaxing getaway I needed earlier this year, though like with previous AC games, I don’t find myself going back to it as much as I’d think I would.

7) Going Under

A surprise hit for me, this rogue-like swooped in from ‘heh that looks amusing’ to ‘oh wow this is legit just a great game.’ Its weird visuals, funky 3D gameplay, and surprisingly sharp storytelling make for a rogue-like unlike any other and one totally near the top for me.

8) Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Squeezed this in just this past week or so, and this one also satisfied me greatly. I wish we’d see more big budget open-world games like this -- laser focused, not wasting any time, and not being repetitious aside for completionists. So cool to see another team’s take on Miles after how much I fell for Into the Spider-verse, and very glad the team both homages that movie while subverting some expectations fans of the film might have, all while continuing to adapt Insomniac’s take on Spider-Man from a couple years ago.

9) Demon’s Souls (Remake)

As a big fan of FromSoft who never got too far into this one originally, it’s been great to visit it as if it’s a new Souls game with an alternate art style. And a very clean art style it has. This was a good pick to be remastered because many, even FromSoft fans like myself, missed out on it, and it feels unique from its predecessors while still showing a solid foundation they’d go on to build from.

10) Crash Bandicoot 4

An amazingly well done follow-up to the original trilogy, this game GETS what makes old school Crash games good, and it improves upon things in a number of ways, from making Coco the alternate hero, bringing back old faces in new lights, going ham with the visuals both in raw art and unique filters when replaying stages, and giving incentive for completion with so many great costumes. Well done, great old school platforming with modern design sensibilities. 

Honorable Mentions:

CrossCode

This also technically launched before 2020 but I didn’t play it until this year, and I don’t think it hit consoles until this year. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect going in, just remembering that I had enjoyed the demo well enough. This game delivers in most ways you could want from an indie game, with an expansive world of sidequests and RPG growth, a flexible combat system that can be nailbiting and engaging, and old-school dungeon designs with lots of environmental and elemental puzzles that really ask a lot of you. All of this capped with a surprisingly great narrative with characters I grew to love, including a much needed protagonist with a unique identity unlike any in games that I’ve played, as well as extra bits of detail and production values invested at JUST the right moments where the story needs it the most. It feels a bit tedious at times and part of me wishes more of the sidequest content involved direct interactions with the named, recurring characters, but it’s still one of the most impressive and well-done indie games I’ve ever played.

Katana ZERO

Razor-sharp game design, this one. It’s a brief but intensely focused experience that feels like the video game equivalent of a slick, experimental indie film. Could do with some more replayablity for those who want it but what’s here is just damn good and I gobbled this game down like a fantastic, hand-cooked meal at an atmospheric dive bar barely anyone knows about.

Necrobarista

Haven’t quite finished it yet but this is definitely one of the best visual novels I’ve ever experienced just due to how hard it goes on presentation and pushing for a more cinematic and thoughtful vibe than any other VN I’ve ever experienced. The characters and writing feel ripped out of an early 2000′s webcomic, for better and for worse, but all the same, it’s some fantastic stuff and it’s so refreshing to see a game set in Australia tackling a well-worn genre by giving it a new spin.

Slay the Spire

Another personal pick since this released in 2019, and I’m not quite sure which consoles it hit or when, but I didn’t get into it until early this year, and was totally hooked. Fantastically addictive, probably the most well-design deck-building rogue-like I’ve seen, certainly one of my favorite deck-building games in general. Apparently I’ve sunk 50 hours into it this year, more than most on this list, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that number spikes up again at some point.

[jacksgamediary]

What I’ve been playing lately

Hey there, internet, especially the three of you reading this. I’ve wanted to start a game diary for a while now, chronicling my experiences through different video games (and who knows, maybe tabletop games and other stuff too) as I play them. I love using Letterboxd to keep track of what movies I watch when, and as far as I have seen, there’s nothing out there as good for video games. So I started this tumblr instead. Because playing games is a series of unique experiences, more so than with passive media like film and TV, I figured it would be a fun and hopefully worthwhile experience to not just keep track of what games I play, but also how I experienced them.

I’m already in the middle of a few games right now, so I thought to start things off I’d write up a short post detailing what I’ve been playing recently and my thoughts on them.

Let’s start with my most recent playthrough:

The Turing Test (Bulkhead Interactive, 2016, PC version)

This is a game I’ve had my eye on for a while, since it encompasses a lot of things I love - science fiction, puzzles, first-person exploration and environmental storytelling - but I didn’t get around to playing it until a kind user over at the /r/GiftOfGames subreddit sent me a Steam key. (Awesome subreddit, go check it out if you have some spare Humble Bundle keys that need a loving home.) 

Overall, I definitely enjoyed the experience - it felt a lot like a cross between Portal and The Talos Principle, with a lot of philosophizing about artificial intelligence and the nature of free will, and the player moving from room to room solving puzzles with laser bridges and balls of electricity and whatnot. The story was pretty much your standard “AI gone rogue, and also it’s in space” plot, albeit with a few clever twists I didn’t see coming. Gameplay was pretty standard first-person puzzle solving a la Portal and the dozens of games it inspired, and while it was fun and challenging, it wasn’t terribly original, and the puzzles started to grate on me after a while. I wanted to get on with the story but had to force myself through the last couple puzzles to make it to the end. 

Ultimately, The Turing Test wasn’t really anything we haven’t seen before, but it was still largely very well executed and enjoyable. If this sounds like your kind of thing, I certainly recommend it. Favorite part: all the extra-challenging optional side puzzles that reward you with more story details.

Grow Home (Reflections/Ubisoft, 2015, PC version)

Grow Home is delightful. It’s a gorgeous game with a clean, low-poly art style and some unique platforming gameplay. You play as a robot named B.U.D., who is the best. He makes silly robot noises.

Your goal is to grow this giant plant from one floating island to the next and climb it until you can reach your spaceship. Gameplay consists entirely of walking, jumping, climbing, and (almost always accidentally) falling. To climb, you push the right stick in whatever direction you want to go and alternate pressing the left and right triggers, which lifts and sets down each hand. It can get tedious after a while, but has the advantage of making you really feel like you’re climbing, since it’s an actual gameplay challenge and not a throwaway “hold forward to climb” mechanic. Plus, there’s nothing more thrilling and satisfying than falling from a vine, reaching terminal velocity, and saving yourself from certain doom at the last second with a well-timed grab of another vine.

All the while, your AI protector M.O.M. is cheering you on with little messages of encouragement, and making comments about the plants and animals you meet along the way. SPEAKING OF WHICH:

He is my friend. My adorable sheepy friend. We will be together forever.

It’s a pretty short game, and the controls can be a little unwieldy at times, but overall I had a great time. Recommended.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions, 2014, PC version)

Pictured above: an orc who was born in the darkness, molded by it, and when Mordor is ashes, you have his permission to die #goodjoke

I got Shadow of Mordor for like $4 during the Steam Summer Sale a few weeks ago, hopeful for a worthwhile experience but not expecting much. For the first couple days though, I was pleasantly surprised, and played it pretty much non-stop (or, whenever I could). I liked the Arkham-style combat (I’ve played all the Arkham games and completed Arkham Knight to 100% three times over), the open-world setting, the option to be stealthy, and some of the abilities you gain over time - especially the teleport-to-an-enemy-a-hundred-feet-away ability. That was cool.

After a while, though, everything started to feel the same. It got repetitive pretty quickly, and while the nemesis system was really cool for a while, there wasn’t enough to differentiate each of the Uruks from each other, so it felt like a gimmick more than a real or personal narrative connection. On top of all that, the world of Shadow of Mordor seemed like a duller downgrade of the world I saw in Peter Jackson’s films and read about in The Hobbit, and the revenge-driven plot seemed really out of place for the LOTR mythos - not that I’m an expert or anything, it just felt tonally wrong. Plus, I really didn’t care about Celebrimbor and whoever the protagonist was. I don’t remember his name, all I remember is that he was Troy Baker. And I knew his wife and son for all of three minutes before they were killed off. Not the strongest introduction.

If you love open-world fantasy action games, or Rocksteady’s Batman games, you’ll probably like Shadow of Mordor. If you’re just a huge fan of LOTR, I’d guess that the plot would probably just make you angry, or at least annoyed. If you like hearing the dulcet tones of Troy Baker talking with a British accent to an elf ghost who sounds kinda like Hugo Weaving, you’re in for a real treat.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - DLC Pack 1 (Nintendo, 2017, Switch)

After hearing all the great things about Master Mode and the Trial of the Sword, I finally caved and bought the Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass. And the minute I entered Hyrule again with something new to do, I had this feeling of comfort and euphoria - like, “ah, it’s good to be home.” To be back in Hyrule with new goals and challenges ahead, it brought Breath of the Wild back to life in a wonderful way.

So far, I haven’t tried Master Mode, but I have collected every DLC item and cleared the Trial of the Sword (after several tries). The third and final set of trials was far more difficult than the first two, and it was only with a lot of patience and careful resource management that I was able to eventually complete it. (Protip: don’t move on to the next level until you’ve found every useful item in the room. And save your Ancient Arrows for the end. Also: when you get to the white-maned Lynel, that’s not the final level. Not at all.)

The Trial of the Sword was almost more of a test of endurance and strategy than a test of skill. It reminded me a lot of The Challenge caves from The Witness last year - which was my favorite part of that game - in that it was a long, arduous process full of trial-and-error and figuring out new strategies, and which ended with a feeling of utter triumph and joyous pride at my accomplishment. (For the record, The Challenge took me a lot longer and I found it much harder. Still can’t listen to “In The Hall Of The Mountain King” without getting a little anxious.) I’m disappointed that none of the DLC outfits are upgradeable - I really wanted to beat Ganon wearing the Switch t-shirt and Tingle pants - but they’re still nice to have.

If you loved Breath of the Wild and wish there was more to do, the DLC pack is worth it. Plus, there’s still the story DLC pack coming later this year, which you also get if you bought this one. Definitely worth the twenty bucks, if you ask me.

Welp, that’s it for now. Here’s a list of the games I’m currently playing:

Final Fantasy VII (I have some THOUGHTS on this one. So so so good)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Maybe? Not sure if I want to finish it, I played a couple hours and got bored. Might just not be for me.)

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

Shovel Knight (my second full playthrough, this time on Switch; eventually I’ll play Specter of Torment and Plague of Shadows, too)

Sound Shapes

I also need to finish Luigi’s Mansion (which I borrowed from a friend like six months ago or something - sorry @nierlaw), Bastion, The Talos Principle, Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season One and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, all of which I’ve gotten at least halfway through but haven’t played in months. Plus, I’ve got a long list of games that I own but have yet to play, including Ico, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Spec Ops: The Line, Broken Age, L.A. Noire, Valkyria Chronicles, and Beyond Good and Evil. Thus is the struggle of a man attempting to be games-literate, whatever that might mean.

See you soon with a much shorter post!

[this-autumn-eve]

hey hey I need a new game to play. do you have any reccommendations?? preferrably something without much of a plot and a cool exploration kinda theme?? also not too pricey (under 15$ on steam??)

I’m honored you came to me for advice on video games! Almost all of the games non-plot heavy exploration games I know are $20, but when the Summer Steam Sale comes on about June 22, you should be able to get most of these titles for $15 and under easy in less than a month, just in time for summer! Or, if you don’t mind buying from Microsoft’s shop instead of Steam, you can also get Ori and the Bind Forest for $10 if you buy it fast (see below).

For now, try Fez ($10): A challenging exploration-heavy puzzle game, Fez is a game with a simple premise: the cube that holds reality together has broken into pieces, and you have to find them all to restore the world to working order. The game has a fantastic mechanic of switching between 2D planes, giving you four times the area to explore! Many of the game’s puzzles use environmental clues, but also require learning how to read several types of symbols and some platforming. A guide is highly recommended for this game (and all but required to 100%). If you don’t like puzzle games or collectathons, this isn’t for you.

Or if you have a PS3 or PS4, you can try out Journey ($15): This is personally my favorite game of all time, and I cannot recommend it enough. The premise is also incredibly simple here: you play as a cloaked figure whose job is to travel to a mountain. The story is told through the environment, but at the end of each level there are short but non-skippable cutscenes telling about the history of the fallen civilization you now tread on. This is probably the most linear game here, but it also encourages exploration within its environments. The defining gameplay feature here is that the game will randomly pair you up with another player (with or without PS Plus!) and you take the journey together. Showing each other hidden secrets, discovering new ones together, chirping back and forth (you can only communicate using this method), and eventually completing the game together is one of the most powerful experiences in all of gaming. This also makes the game incredibly replayable, making this game the most worth your money. The only downside here is that it is a Playstation exclusive, so if you don’t have a PS3/4 you’re out of luck. But if you do, this is THE title to get.

And now, here’s some more $20 titles to get during the Sale!

-ABZÛ ($20, free until June 1st with PS Plus on PS4): This is the least plot-heavy exploration title I know, mostly due to the fact that the story is overwhelmingly told through the environment and can easily be ignored if you want. You play as a scuba diver exploring and restoring life to the ocean while interacting with hundreds of species of fish and solving simple environmental puzzles. This game has perhaps the best swimming mechanics I’ve ever seen in a video game, and it’s a blast exploring the (beautiful!) environments this game has to offer. This is the PC title I recommend the most to you.

-Hyper Light Drifter ($20): I haven’t fully finished this one, but it’s a beauty. You play as an unnamed solider who has to activate four (power stations? Crystals? Both? I’m not sure yet) in four different areas. Similar to ABZÛ, this game uses environmental storytelling, but has occasional cutscenes that tie into the overarching narrative. They are very few and far between though, as the narrative takes the backburner to let you explore some beautiful, distinctive, and complex environments. To find each of the power things requires a keen eye and fast reflexes- finding these stations will take a lot of exploration and secret paths, and this game is very action-heavy. You’ll need to tackle many different monsters and learn their attack patterns to progress. And you’ll die. A lot. Not recommended if you don’t want an action heavy game, but if you don’t mind, you’ll greatly enjoy this title.

-Ori and the Blind Forest ($20, $10 on Microsoft’s store until June 29th or 30th): This is a platformer with little amounts of action, but most enemies are easily killable and the platforming only makes it more fun to explore your environments. This game has the most plot, with semi frequent cutscenes and some tidbits of narration here and there. However, this narrative does a great job of building the world and touching on good vs evil tropes, so I recommend tuning in- plus, the exploration makes it worth the ride. You play as an adorable light spirit named Ori who is tasked with restoring a dying forest from eternal decay. You have to travel to different areas and explore to find keys, life and energy cells, map stones, experience points (which you can use to unlock new abilities like double jumping and breathing underwater), and eventually the item you need or place you need to restore to continue. It’s very similar to Metroid in that sense, and I couldn’t appreciate it more for it. The feeling of finding and charting new areas is a ton of fun, especially with the platforming elements (again, similar to Metroid). Not to mention each place has its own theme and sometimes even gameplay elements, and each look beautiful due to every frame being hand-painted. However, the platforming can be brutal at times, and there are times where you have to race an oncoming threat. If you absolutely cannot stand plot or platforming, then this isn’t the game for you- but out of all of these games, it’s definitely the most fun exploring.

I am also just starting to play Axiom Verge, but I don’t know much about it as of now in terms of plot levels. It is known to be a spiritual successor to Super Metroid though, and if that’s any indication it should be a great exploration game, if action-heavy.

Here are some other games I have never played but you might like based on my limited knowledge:

-Owlboy ($25): You explore the skies as a owl/boy hybrid thing. I’ve heard it’s a great exploration platformer.-Firewatch ($20): This could be plot-heavy as you have frequent conversations with someone on a radio, but you explore a lush forest with lakes, caves, and more. And DANG is it gorgeous.

There are my suggestions! I hope these were helpful! And if anyone wants advice on some games to play, I’m happy to help! I’ve opened asks on my indie blog (tothemountain) so you can always ask me there! :D

[symbianosgames]

Back in 2013, veteran game maker Warren Spector left the world of full-time game development to become an educator.

Three years later, he came back. He stepped down from his role leading the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy and signed on as creative director at OtherSide Entertainment, where he now leads development of System Shock 3.

"I wanted to make sure I didn't become one of those teachers who used to make games," he explained to Gamasutra last year. "Who used to know how games were developed and why. I knew I needed to keep my skills honed."

This affords him what seems like an interesting perspective on game development. Spector stepped outside the day-to-day concerns of working inside a studio and spent years trying to prepare young, aspiring game makers for challenges they face in today's game industry. Now he's back on the inside, helping to figure out the shape of systems and mechanics. Working through the production process. Making games again.

Gamasutra sat down with Spector at GDC last month to catch up on how the process is going, roughly a year into his full-time gig at OtherSide. It was an interesting conversation, especially if you're at all interested in where games are at these days, where they came from, and what sorts of stories they're best at telling.

How did your return to full-time game development go?

Well first of all, I did buy a PC finally. I knew the form factor I wanted, and I knew the graphics capabilities I wanted, and it took me a while to find just the right thing but I finally did. I don't know if I should plug the computer I bought, but I did buy one. And I've been playing a lot of games on it, which is good.

"I find that the idea of asking questions, and having a dialogue with your players, much more interesting than just saying 'here's my story.'"

And as far as getting back into game development, it's everything that game development is: it's joyous, it's frustrating, it's scary and annoying and great and exactly what I hoped it would be.

Have you hit production yet?

Oh, we're still in concept phase. I'm a big believer in figuring out what game you want to make before you start making it. So we're still hammering out game systems, working on our narrative, so we're very early on.

What do you think of GDC, having attended for so long and now being back in the role of a game dev attending?

Well I've been to every GDC since the '80s, when it was the Computer Game Developers Conference --

In Chris Crawford's living room?

No, I missed that. It was in a little hotel somewhere south of San Francisco, and it was about 250-350 people, something like that. And I remember my most vivid memory of that was, first thing I went to was a session, a lecture given by a guy named Joe Ybarra -- a big-time producer at EA at the time.

And I remember thinking, "I will never know as much about games as this man does." And then a few years later, he was a friend of mine! But has it changed? Of course -- just look around. Now we've got what is it, 30,000 people coming? Some of them old gray-hairs like me, some of them 20-somethings. Indies, triple-A developers...it’s changed. It's a completely different show now.

What advice might you give to other game devs now? 

Well it depends on what kind of game you want to make. I'm not good at answers of one thing.

The first thing is, always try to make projects that are personally meaningful to you. I realize that it's easier to say and harder to do; sometimes you just have to do the work for hire, and create something that meets someone else's needs. But find something you're passionate about. Whatever you're working on, find something to be passionate about in it.

And then, don't be lazy. I don't mean in the sense of working hard or not, I mean don't assume that games are a mature medium. And that we've explored everything that game are capable of creating or doing. Find that one new thing. It doesn't matter what game you're making -- you can always sneak one new thing into a game. And always look for that one more thing in the work you're doing.

I remember you talked up the possibilities of AI in games, especially non-combat AI, last year. Where do you stand now?

Well, realistically, I'm not sure System Shock is the place to be exploring non-combat AI, given that we're going to follow along in the tradition of everybody being dead *laughs* and communicating the story through video logs, emails, AR projections and all that.

So this is probably not the game to be exploring that particular aspect of game design. But what I do want to do is take the idea of choice and consequence and recovery, the stages of choice, consequence, and recovery from those choices, I want to take that to a whole new level by creating an incredibly reactive world. And then letting players interact with the world in a deeper way than they have before.

So that's largely the thrust of System Shock 3, as much as I can talk about it.

Oh yeah, that's fine. I'm gonna be honest with you, I've never played a System Shock.

Gah! You know, you can still buy System Shock and System Shock 2.

I know! I think it's great. I've tried to play them both, a few times, but...they're pretty old.

It's funny, because needless to say, I needed to replay those games before starting to work on the third game in the series. And when I started playing the first one, I emailed Doug Church, who was kind of the creative driving force behind that first game, and all I said was 'oh my god, this game is hard!' And his response was just "...1994."

Environmental storytelling in the original System Shock

And I said "Oh my god, this game is big!" and his response was "1994."

"Oh my god, this UI is terrible!" "1994."

We did the best we could, you know.

Well since you've been reimmersing yourself in some recent games, are there any you'd call out as especially worth studying by fellow devs?

Well, Dishonored 2. There's a particular kind of game I find most appealing, and the Dishonored series is right in that vein so it's pretty cool.

So I'm playing Dishonored 2 right now, and...well mostly, to be honest, I've been a little disappointed in the games I've played, and haven't played very much. What I do is, I play a game until I get so frustrated that I have to stop, or throw my controller against the wall or something. Or I've learned everything I'm going to learn from it, or I finish it. And I finish very few games.

But you know, I've played some Metal Gear Solid 5. I'm woefully behind, so I've been playing some Shadow of Mordor. Certainly there's some intriguing different things in that game, so that's worth taking a look at. I'm obsessed with some mobile games, there's this little puzzle game called Hundred that I just love. I'm playing it obsessively right now. And these aren't new games, but I think the Go games from Square Enix are a ton of fun. Deus Ex Go, Lara Croft Go, and Hitman Go -- I just find those great ways to pass the time.

There was a minute there where we were sure Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis system was going to be the next Big Thing in game design. Seems like we were wrong -- not a lot of devs picked up what Monolith was putting down.

Well, it's kinda their thing. I can't speak for any developer but myself, but if somebody's already done something, what's the point of doing it yourself? It's like, come up with your one new thing.

And one of my rules for any game I work in is, there has to be one new thing, something no one's ever seen before or done before. And that's already been done. Why would I do it again? I mean, there are certain elements of it that I find intriguing; like, it's nothing new, but characters you interact with on an ongoing basis, who change over time, that's pretty cool. But having them interact with each other, you know, it's an interesting idea. It's theirs. It's not something I'm going to adopt.

So what is it about Dishonored 2 that impressed you, that you think is worth calling out?

Nothing specific. I think it's just the overall immersion of the world, and the behavior with the characters. My ultimate goal is to empower players to tell their own stories, and play the way they want to.

You know, I had a mission statement that was 12 pages long that no one would read. then it was an 8-page version, then a 4-page version, and I ultimately summed it up in two words: "playstyle matters." And the Dishonored games really express that exceptionally well.

So it's not any one thing, but I do wish other developers would take a look at that and do more of it. I'm looking forward to Mass Effect, and those games have certainly adopted some of that approach to game design, and the more people who do that, I think the better off we're going to be, as a medium. And the more enjoyment players are going to get out of what should be genuine interactivity. Most games fake it. The immersive simulation games try not to fake it. So it's that attitude, more than any specific thing.

Yeah, in your Deus Ex postmortem I was surprised to see you acknowledge how much was faked.

Yeah, unfortunately. There's a lot of stuff that isn't, too! What we did was, we had to make sure that each dominant playstyle was represented, for sure. But beyond that, players really did discover their own solutions. 

Sure, many devs these days cite that specifically as a big influence on their work.

Even back then, I was gratified that a lot of developers told me that they were inspired by it. And that was part of the point! 

I was surprised to hear you trace Deus Ex back to your time playing Dungeons & Dragons. How did you wind up playing D&D with Bruce Sterling?

I moved to Austin, Texas to go to grad school, and at that time Austin had an amazing science fiction writing scene. And Bruce was part of this circle of writers, and I fell in with this circle of writers, and another friend of mine, Bud Simons -- he writes under the name Walton Simons -- Bud had been playing in a campaign with Bruce. And invited me to come along to play in this campaign, and it was just...he was just a guy.

At that point, he hadn't even published his first novel yet. He was just a friend. I hung out with him at parties, and then eventually started gaming with him. I was a board gamer, and had never played D&D but then in 1978 there it was, you know? Everything else sort of went away.

So what happened to that Austin circle?

Oh, Bruce left the country and you know, we had families and you know, time goes away. People grew up. But tabletop roleplaying, like I said in my talk, was immensely influential. I wasn't playing just with Bruce, I was playing in half a dozen campaigns, run by various Dungeon Masters.

And just seeing how each one works differently, and yet there's always that same core of players telling stories together. That was seminal for me. It wasn't just important -- I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing without that. 

What, specifically, do you value about tabletop role-playing games, or perhaps tabletop games in general?

Well I get enjoyment out of board games, that's the primary thing I value them for.

Fair enough! I suppose I should have asked, what value do they add to your work as a video game designer? Do you prototype mechanics out on paper, for example?

Well, I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I've never actually done a paper prototype for a game.

I always think 'yeah, I should do that,' but the games that I make are complex enough that it's hard to keep all the rules in mind. And so there are so many little systems that have to interact with one another that it's hard to imagine making a board game.

One of the things that I don't know if I made the point in my talk very strongly, or at all, is if a game could be made in another medium, it's less interesting to me. I like to make games that couldn't be translated into a board game, or vice versa.

And yet so many video games can be traced back to tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons.

Oh, sure. We would have no video game business without Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. I always say that every game developer should get down on his knees once a day, face towards Lake Geneva Wisconsin, and say a little prayer of thanks to those guys.

  "I always say that every game developer should get down on his knees once a day, face towards Lake Geneva Wisconsin, and say a little prayer of thanks to those guys."

But it's also a problem, because I think personally, too many developers have been inspired by the mechanics of those games. And we have better ways of simulating a world than Gary and Dave had back then. So I would love to see us jettison -- forever -- character classes and you know, the character stats: strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, charisma....I mean, we don't need that stuff. So it would be nice to move away from that.

But also the content; look at the content of games, of many if not most video games, and it's right outta D&D or Traveller. And we could do so much more. Thank god for the indie guys and gals; the indie folks are at least bringing new kinds of content into games.

But Richard Garriott was directly inspired by his D&D campaign when he made the first Ultima game; and we just keep on making guys in chainmail and guys with big guns games. Which are right out of that adolescent power fantasy stuff that defined D&D and Call of Cthulhu and Traveller and Empire of the Petal Throne and all sorts of other games your readers have never heard of.

The other thing that's interesting about those old role-playing games is, I don't know if you're familiar with the term Monty Haul dungeon [pun on deceased game show host Monty Hall, a dungeon designed purely for combat and looting -- thus "haul"] but those were always the most popular things.

It was funny, when I got to TSR, where I worked for a few years, everybody up there wanted to get away from the Monty Haul dungeons, where you knock down a door, you kill the monster, you grab the treasure, you knock down the next door, you kill the monster, you grab the treasure.

And so one of the designers did an adventure module that was the most ridiculous, silly, over-the-top Monty Haul dungeon ever, as kind of a statement. And it was the best-selling module we did! It's what people wanted. And that's also inspired video game developers.

You know, we need to be asking bigger questions. And some people are doing that. Again, the Mass Effect games ask you to think about stuff, the BioShock games ask you to think about stuff. The key for me, as I said in my talk, was not to answer the questions. Video games ask questions. Other media answer them.

I find that the idea of asking questions, and having a dialogue with your players, much more interesting than just saying 'here's my story. Here's what I think about Topic X.' That's way less interesting.

Seems like you're still passionate about the future of game dev. Do you know what's next for the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy, now that you're gone?

I'm unclear about that, to be honest. Most of my brain cells are devoted to System Shock 3 right now. I know that they were talking about shifting its focus. Instead of bringing students in and teaching leadership the way we did, there was talk about bringing in guest lecturers and opening up more broadly to the general public.

But honestly, I don't know. I probably shouldn't even speculate! If they ask me for advice, I will give it. 

I ran into a bunch of my students here. It's cool -- they've all gotten jobs or done startups. We really did, I think, change some lives. Which is pretty gratifying. 

Headline photo captured by Ralph Barrera for the Austin American-Statesman