#indie goty 2023

[milkpumpkin96]

Sea of Stars Review

Sabotage Studio ambitiously pumped out a 90s-style RPG as a follow-up to their well-received title The Messenger.

I had not heard about this game until my father informed me that he majorly helped fun its Kickstarter . . . and then I became further intrigued after learning that Rainbowdragoneyes was one of the main soundtrack composers. It also turns out that Sea of Stars is inspired by some of my other favorite games, like Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger.

Knowing this information, how could I not give Sea of Stars a try?

[MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING]

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

In all honesty, I adore this game. It has just the right sprinkle of 16-bit nostalgia paired with gorgeous level design, an epic soundtrack, and a silly and fun cast of characters. The game itself is fairly easy and Sea of Stars is devoid of platitudinous high-fantasy elements, which may be alluring to game players that do not often like/are not used to hardcore RPGs.

As much as I love this game, it is indeed flawed in several ways. But overall, Sea of Stars is a fun romp and an interesting prequel to The Messenger, in which the latter is a 2D platformer more akin to Castlevania or Metroid. One could tell that Sea of Stars was definitely more of a passion project.

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GAMEPLAY: 8/10

Unlike The Messenger, Sea of Stars is a turn-based RPG similar to other 90s titles like Chrono Trigger, Final fantasy, and Dragon Quest . . . but it also has the simplicity and playfulness that a game like Super Mario RPG provides. The creative director Thierry Boulanger himself stated that Sea of Stars was mainly inspired by some of the games listed above.

Sabotage Studio eloquently implements 16-bit graphics that appeal to nostalgic, old-school players yet are simultaneously pretty enough to grab the attention of anyone. There are a lot of neat mechanics to the game, ranging from cooking to puzzle-solving to combat to minigames, like Wheels.

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Like many RPGs, players have the ability to cook when camping beside campfires! I enjoyed this mechanic because the cooking itself was brisk, but it had cute graphics to showcase the process of making a dish, like cutting vegetables and stirring the pot.

Cooking is introduced once the Warrior Cook Garl joins the party. The process is very straightforward and one can find ingredients pretty much anywhere: if you see something sparkling on the landscape, pick it up and use it for a recipe! Dishes can aid players in various ways, such as the peach strudel (requiring peaches, diary, wheat, and eggs) which refreshes 12 MP in combat, and Papillote (requiring onions and potatoes) which revives party members from a K.O. state and restores 50% of their health.

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Sea of Stars also has some puzzles scattered throughout, albeit most are optional/extras rather than being a part of the main game. There are several little puzzles to solve in order to access certain treasure chests, and there are also bigger puzzles found in Solstice Shrines and Sunken Ruins. Some of these puzzles are surprisingly challenging, so they are certainly fun for audiences up to the test. In order to achieve the "True Ending" of the game, most of these side puzzles must be completed.

I appreciate the way Sabotage Studio implemented these puzzle-solving quests! They are optional, but challenging and fun for puzzle enjoyers or those willing to work for a better ending. Players have to use the minstrel bracelet and/or the manual ability to shift around the night to day cycle in order to solve these riddles for the most part . . . and a good sum of them cannot be solved until you progress a good amount through the game. I initially became worried that I could not solve the puzzles in the Moorlands when I first arrived there, only to find out I needed to be further in the game and I could easily backtrack there later.

So, do not fret--you can always return back to areas and solve the riddles there at any point in the game!

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Another highly enjoyable game mechanic is the ability to set sail. Early on in the game, after exploring the port town named Brisk for the first time, players meet a charming pirate crew consisting of Yolande, Keenathan, Valtraid, and Captain Klee'shaë (the alter ego of eventual party member Seraï). You will go on a quests with them to obtain a famous ghost ship called The Vespertine, which can then be used to travel the seas to reach all of the game's destinations.

This ship is primarily used to travel to each location in the game and will also take you across the Sea of Stars itself! The sailing mechanic is not only useful, but easy and fun to navigate. With the Salient Sails relic equipped, you can move around even faster.

Players can also enter the ship and walk around the deck and cabin. Oboard, players can talk to characters, save their game, cook recipes, play Wheels, access their game statistics, and listen to the pirate crew's band (which acts as the game's soundtrack library).

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When it comes to difficulty, players can acquire various relics that adjust how challenging the gameplay is. There is no actual difficulty setting.

For example, the Guardian Aura relic reduces all incoming damage by 30%. The Tomb of Knowledge relic increases XP by 20%. The Amulet of Storytelling fully heals every part member after each battle. There are others, but all of these relics make the game easier (which is good for speedrunning or if you want to simply enjoy the story of the game).

Then there are relics such as Dubious Dare, which increases enemy attack damage by 40%, and Artful Gambit, which reduces the party's HP by 95%, but successfully timed hits deal double bonus damage, and successfully timed blocks reduce damage to 1. These relics make the gameplay significantly harder.

On default settings, Sea of Stars is not difficult at all. Although, I am embarrassed to say that I died exactly 13 times!

The relics I had equipped did not affect the difficulty of my game too much, only equipping them for mechanical purposes. The Salient Sails relic increased my sailing speed by 20% and the Sequent Flare gave me a visual cue that I successfully timed my blocks and attacks.

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My biggest criticism is that I wish the boss fights were more challenging. I found the bosses to be significantly easier than fights against multiple tougher enemies . . .

The bosses had loads of HP, so it may have taken a while to defeat them, but I rarely experienced any K.O.s and total deaths during these fights. I view this as a negative thing because I adore challenges and want to feel intimidated and frustrated by big bosses. I think that Elysan'Darëlle (whom you fight in the normal ending) was the biggest disappointment, in that I defeated her in measly minutes without issue. I was around level 21 when beating the game.

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Despite the lack of challenge, the aesthetics and combat moves the bosses of Sea of Stars provide are absolutely stunning.

The setup, the atmosphere, the anticipation, the twitching, the shapeshifting, the magic . . . all of the elements in every boss fight were unique, fun, and alluring. I personally enjoyed fighting the Dwellers (even though the plotline forces you to lose to the Dweller of Strife), and several of the endgame bosses the most (such as the Gun Goddess who resisted most magic-based attacks and shot the ever-loving hell out of my party).

The enemies became increasingly more difficult as you progress through the game. Surviving a group of three or more tough monsters can be quite the challenge. I suffered some of the greatest struggles in Brisk's battle coliseum, dying four to five times against the "Basic Basement Batch."

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The BEST fight in the entire game was against the final boss of the True Ending: Aephorul.

I find it rather unfortunate that players do not get to fight this coward at all during the normal playthrough of the game. Of course, Aephorul (A.K.A. The Fleshmancer) is essentially a God, and it is near impossible for even Solstice Warriors to actual kill someone of this caliber. Even in the fight in the True Ending, you do not actually kill him, but rather put him in his place . . . taking The Fleshmancer down a few pegs, destroying his ego and understanding of the nature of reality.

This was a long, gruesome boss fight. Aephorul has a lot of HP, and I was locked in battle for at least an hour. He has several stages to his boss battle, and at some point the fight transcends into a retro-style arcade game (like Galactica) where you fly into the air and shoot frantically.

I was not as big of a fan of this shift in gameplay. This happens in the Aephorul fight as well as the final takedown against the World Eater. Sure, it does spice things up and prevent the turn-based RPG style from getting dull, but it was not really my cup of tea.

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MUSIC: 10/10

Absolute kudos to Eric Brown, A.K.A Rainbowdragoneyes, as well as Yasunori Mitsuda, famous composer for Chrono Trigger.

The soundtrack is perfect, complimenting every character and setting quite well. To me, while sometimes the music becomes repetitive, it is never annoyingly so. Sea of Stars makes sure to avoid too much repetition by adding reprises to earlier beats, such as changing the main Battle On! track upon entering different areas (or by not even activating that battle music at all sometimes).

Of course, many tracks are reminiscent of classic Chrono Trigger music, and one may also recognize some callbacks/motifs to The Messenger. These callbacks can be noticed in certain area themes like Glacial Peak.

The music just feels motivating, encouraging players to continue trekking and fight on!

I am always a fan of battle music. Some of my favorite tracks include:

The Storm Calls for You!

Songshroom's Wonders

Doccari Village

Battle On (Day)!

Encounter Elite! (this song always gave me the chills)

The Frozen Peak (Night)

Garl's Theme--Dance of 1,000 Suns

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STORY 6.5/10

I have seen others say this before . . . the story just keeps going, and going, and going . . .

Overall, Sea of Stars harbors a classic tale of good triumphing over evil. The two player protagonists, Valere and Zale, are special heroes called Solstice Warriors whose objective is to wipe out Dwellers and protect the world from further harm. The warriors ultimately must save their world, traverse the Sea of Stars and save Seraï's planet, and then take down The Fleshmancer. Valere and Zale travel around with fun, quirky side characters

The story appears to be straightforward, but it is rather . . . all over the place. Every time you think you are near the end of the game, think again! Sea of Stars features several in-game climaxes, which is kind of nice because I did not want it to end in some degree, but also kind of confusing.

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This is the best summation of the plot I can provide:

Every once in a while, children may be born on either the winter or summer solstice. These children are called "Solstice Warriors" as they harbor a special kind of powerful magic, intended on being used to protect the world from evil. Solstice Warrior babies are dropped off to a village called Mooncradle, where they are raised and trained at Zenith Academy.

The story follows Zale and Valere, a summer and winter solstice child respectively, who train at Zenith Academy for years before heading out into the world. Zale harnesses sun-based abilities and Valere harnesses moon-based powers, and they learn how to utilize their powerful magic from other Solstice Warriors named Headmaster Moraine, Erlina, and Brugraves.

A great, ancient evil known as The Fleshmancer has created Dwellers of Woe and Strife across worlds and timelines, who harbor insane amounts of power that can only be squandered by solstice magic during solar and lunar eclipses. Solstice Warriors are trained to fight these beings during eclipse events.

Valere and Zale travel with their childhood best friend, the warrior cook Garl, in order to defeat the remaining Dwellers before they can transform into the even more powerful World Eaters in due time. Along the way, the heroes encounter a surplus of unique characters such as Teaks, who is a historian that informs players on lore, the pirate crew of Brisk, and Seraï, a mysterious fighter who eventually joins your party.

However, as Valere and Zale are heroically questing, the lives of solstice warriors Erlina and Brugraves take a turn for the worse. During the fight against the Dweller of Woe, Erlina and Brugraves betray their friends and their duties and reveal themselves to be worshippers of The Fleshmancer. They join the other Fleshmancer acolytes and halt the progress of the heroes from defeating the Dweller. This causes absolute chaos and the destruction of Brisk, preventing the Dweller of Woe from extinction and reviving the formerly defeated Dweller of Strife.

Eventually, the party discovers The Archivist hiding himself within the Archives . . . who turns out to be Resh'an, The Fleshmancer's former friend/co-alchemist. Resh'an agrees to fight alongside the heroes, but he strictly states that he cannot engage in battle with Dwellers.

When the party engages with the Dweller of Strife, it appears that they are horribly losing. In a desperate attempt, Seraï takes one of Resh'an's flasks and throws it at the Dweller, breaking the agreement between Resh'an and The Fleshmancer, and summoning the latter. The Fleshmancer, named Aephorul, then recruits Erlina as his lieutenant and sends Brugraves away, proceeding to mortally wound Garl. Resh'an uses his abilities to temporarily extend Garl's lifespan on "borrowed time" so that the warrior cook can finish helping Valere and Zale follow through with Garl's mission given to him by the Elder Mist.

After Garl dies, the party is permitted by the sky giants to cross between worlds over the Sea of Stars in order to reach the Fleshmancer's lair. The crew travels to another planet that is technologically advanced, and Seraï reveals herself to be a cyborg from this planet. She was on a mission to find solstice warriors to help free her people from the chokehold The Fleshmancer has upon them. Seraï's world is deprived from light and the moon has been sunken into the bottom of the ocean.

On this quest to save Seraï's planet and stop Aephorul once and for all, the party encounters some lost, trapped souls, including B'st, whom Resh'an makes a glass body for so that they can fight alongside your party. Valere, Zale, and crew eventually reach The Fleshmancer's lair after gaining the ability to fly and then have to fight Elysan'Darëlle, formerly known as Erlina.

Once defeating her, Resh'an convinces Aephorul to accept defeat and understand that his twisted life approach is inferior. Both alchemists then depart, and Zale and Valere begin to sense that a World Eater is forming. The two heroes give their heartfelt goodbyes to their friends, ascend to the status of Guardian Gods, and defeat the World Eater. Valere and Zale now permanently circle the universe as Gods to protect the world from further developments of Dwellers.

If players complete all the necessary side quests required for the True Ending, before beating the game, the party finds a device in the Moorlands that Resh'an built called the Chronophage. This can be used to travel back in time and prevent Garl's death. B'st takes Garl's place and takes the fatal hit from The Fleshmancer, but his glass body (and will to live) prevents him from the same fate of death. This replacement prevents a time paradox, allowing all party members to live.

In the True Ending, players fight Aephorul himself as the final boss after Garl provokes him. Elysan'Darëlle appears in this other world alongside a transformed Brugraves, and it is ambiguous of their fate. Zale and Valere still transcend into Guardian Gods and only come back down once a year on Garl's birthday.

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Hopefully, that summary made any sense. The plot is simple at its core, but events just keep happening and "twists" are thrown around, so it is really hard to verbalize a gist.

Some story elements are left ambiguous, however. The relationship between Resh'an and Aephorul s never fully explained. Players get to see brief flashbacks of the two alchemists before they became immortals, which leads to a potential understanding that they were certainly more than just "business partners." It is also not fully known where the two run off to after the final fight, and when it cuts to the corrupted Erlina and Brugraves, they are roaming an unknown place/planet. I am also not exactly certain how Seraï traversed the Sea of Stars originally and became part of a pirate crew. Nonetheless, the ambiguity is kind of fun and up to interpretation, perhaps leading into The Messenger.

Even though the plot length was overly long, I cannot complain too much. I really did not want the game to end!

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Though to be frank, completing Sea of Stars with the normal ending is . . . kind of a disappointment.

The Elysan'Darëlle boss fight was a bit too easy, and her attack patterns were rather predictable and boring. When I defeated her, I thought, that's it? It then became a shame that Valere and Zale would not engage with Aephorul at all--of course, the game recognizes that it would be weird if mortals could kill a God so easily (which occurs in other video games), but defeating his Lieutenant did not seem like it would destroy the entire mindset that The Fleshmancer had been harboring for centuries. Was that all he had? Of course, we do not know of the dialogue that Resh'an had with him following the brawl.

After the boss fight . . . that is it. I felt a bit conflicted about this. This was the only time where I was perplexed that there was no more story elaboration following afterward. The game essentially ends. Valere and Zale sense a World Eater, and you must fight it (but this battle is simple and quick). Then, the end.

Zale and Valere revolve around the world as Guardian Gods; they left their friends and ended the conflict with Aephorul so abruptly. "Abrupt" is the best term for the normal ending. It was not bad in any sense, as it is a simple good versus evil story in the end, but something felt missing.

The true ending is definitely worth anyone's time. It does not make the end of the story magnificent or anything, but it feels better. I believe Garl was a missing key element in the normal ending and his presence makes dialogues, battles, and story elements more fruitful. His persistence triggers an actual fight with Aephorul, who is much more difficult and interesting to battle.

The Chronophage may be a cheap trick, an overdone time-traveling cliche, but it was overtly an homage to Chrono Trigger and it brought the best character in the game back to life! With Garl's resurrection, you also unlock a quest to retrieve an invitation to dine at the Golden Pelican. Having this moment at the dinner, in which all of Zale and Valere's friends and traveling buddies are invited, makes players feel more connected with these characters and more saddened at the prospect of having to near-permanently leave them endgame.

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The characters in Sea of Stars are mostly enjoyable, equipped with their own nuances and humorous dialogue.

Zale and Valere are the player characters, and you can choose to have either one of them as the lead of your party. Overall, the two are not much different from each other, and out of any characters in the game, lack the most distinguishable personality. It is kind of strange that they do have a considerable amount of dialogue, but they are lacking in individuation. They are supposed to be the embodiments of the Gods Luana and Solen but these particular namesakes/ideas are not fully fleshed out.

Zale is sweet, friendly, and easily humored. He seems to use laughter to cope with all sorts of emotions, laughing when he feels grief and sadness as well. He was foretold by the Elder Mist to "stare at the night inside of him," meaning to come to terms with his more negative, pessimistic emotions. When Garl died, he became whelmed with grief and unlocked the ability to fly in a passionate emotional outburst. He continued to struggle with this grief by not being able to get Garl out of his head, but Zale is overall a fairly headstrong person.

Valere is also helpful and friendly, but a bit more emotionally cool. After Garl's death, she begins to meditate a lot, which is also what she does to conduct her ultimate attack. Valere is headstrong like Zale but also seems to be more inclined to leadership, being the more effective communicator.

I have to say though, I highly appreciate the way Sea of Stars portrays Valere and Zale's grief. They process these emotions differently, and it takes time, and never quite goes away.

Then we have Seraï, who is interesting. She is kind of the cliche mysterious character with a double identity, but it is played straight by having her alias as Captain Klee'shaë . . . and the fact that Garl, Zale, and Valere knew she was leading two lives near the very beginning. Seraï is kind, a bit quiet, but also hot-headed. She warms up to the main cast eventually but always harbors suspicion and impatience with Resh'an. During the fight against the Dweller of Strife, she gets very fed up with Resh'an's limitations and steals one of his bottles to throw at the Dweller. Overall, Seraï means well and her goal is to save her home planet from the utter doom and misery it is facing. Later, there was the big reveal that she is a CYBORG! I kind of saw it coming based on her combat abilities, but still. This created quite a weird shift from fantasy to sci-fi. Most of Seraï's backstory occurs in the the final third of the game, which helps to keep the story interesting.

B'st, who you acquire later in the game kind of as Garl's replacement, is an absolute cutey. He's an unexpected alley and quite the tank. He is optimistic, strong-willed, childlike, and intelligent. He is a soul who was ripped away from his mortal body, left roaming the world alongside other lost souls, but after the initial encounter with him, Resh'an developed B'st a glass body. The body functions as long as B'st maintains a purpose and will to live. I think that he is a fine character . . . he is no Garl, but still cute. I also enjoy B'st's relationship with the little pet crab the party acquires after finishing the coliseum.

Now Garl . . . if anything, Garl is the main character. He gets shit done.

Garl is kind-hearted, funny, and brimming with optimism. While Zale and Valere lack strong personalities, Garl, their collective best friend, acts perfectly as the character with a voice, and conduit for players to actually experience the world-building. He is well-liked by nearly all of the cast, being fully allowed by Moraine and the Elder Mist to accompany the solstice warriors despite him being a magic-less mortal. Garl deems himself a "warrior cook" and cooks dishes for the party, as well as bakes a giant bread to awaken The Sleeper which was the task that then granted the main party permission by the Sky Giants to traverse the Sea of Stars. Garl was liked so much that after Brisk was destroyed by the acolytes, and some of the peoples had to be migrated to a new island, the migrants asked Garl himself to christen their village. He named it "Mirth."

When Garl was killed, it was almost have if the entire game was deprived. This character really brought some substance and relatability to the playthrough. After he was offed, I felt as if the story began billowing too quickly and all the characters felt more disconnected from each other. As stated, Garl was the ultimate conduit bringing everyone together, so rather than "friends" the cast was just simply a battling party.

B'st was an okay replacement, but then it got really weird and jumbled when Resh'an abruptly exited the party. If you choose to complete the True Ending, Garl's resurrection really feels like luster was reinstalled into the game and I started to care again. His presence utterly changed the endgame for the better and it made Valere and Zale's ascension to Guardian Gods more bittersweet.

Now Resh'an . . . oh man. I am unsure if I like Resh'an or not!

He is an alchemist, and former partner of Aephorul; an old, decrepit body that had sought to create the Elixir of Life millennia ago. This attempt was successful, and both he and Aephoral were granted godlike immortality at the price of their living flesh. Resh'an is reserved and respectful, but also arrogant and a bit of a stickler. He has come to terms with his immortality and chooses to respect all existing life, as opposed to Aephorul, who grew bitter of his fate and envious of living things.

Resh'an is also known as the Great Eagle, as he flies around in his eagle form to watch the world and drop off baby solstice warriors to Mooncradle. He is also referred to as The Archivist, because he spent centuries isolated in The Archives, creating, watching, and cataloging multiple timelines/parallel universes to see when, if, and how The Fleshmancer could be stopped.

Overall, this character seems mysterious and cool, and I enjoy using him in combat with his double-hit offensive moves and petrichor healing. Although, you cannot use him against Dwellers, according to his own rules. Resh'an's backstory is definitely the most allusive . . . but players do get to witness a flashback and a bit of an explanation of the Tale of Two Alchemists from the historian Teaks.

You would always wonder why in the ever loving hell Resh'an kept letting Aephorul slide: this man conjured millions of realities and just kind of waited around . . . even though Resh'an has the full power to end Aephorul's life, which no one else does. Instead, Resh'an chooses to rely on solstice warriors. You get the inkling that the two alchemists were more than just coworkers or friends. Because sure, two completely platonic dudes want to achieve immortality together. Also, Resh'an is kind of a clueless bitch and has this weird mental "uh-oh" moment towards the end of the game, and just leaves your party.

Aephorul himself, in the same light, is quite mysterious but also charming. Yet, he is also a clueless bitch and seems to be passively manipulated rather easily (such as by Caël and the other clockwork kids). He steps down from interfering in Zale and Valere's timeline in the end of the game because his poor little ego was brutally wounded.

Aephorul regrets the achievement of immortality, so he disparages all of life and seeks flesh (flesh-mancing, developing flesh castles and all), which is likely to fill this emptiness he harbors. You wonder if he had always been more on the evil side even before developing the elixr of life, as he gifts Resh'an his eagle form via dubious means.

There are a plethora of other characters, such as Teaks, Caël, Yolande, Malkomud, and Moraine, but discussing them would take quite a while. In all, the cast is diverse, silly, and enjoyable to interact with, but most characters only have surface-level personalities.

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SETTING: 10/10

Sea of Star's 16-bit graphics are visually stunning and pleasingly colorful, the settings in particular. I enjoyed traveling anywhere and everywhere: the jolliness of Brisk, the purple grasses of Mooncradle and its gorgeous Celestial tree, the quaint snowiness of Mirth, the variety of Mesa Island, the whimsy of Songshroom, the eeriness of Wraith Island, and so much more.

There are so many added visual details, including things that lurk under the sea, which players can witness as they sail around. There is a refreshing sense of freedom that you can return to any location at anytime, which is made even easier at the very end of the game after unlocking the flying ability.

I did not think that the locations in Seraï's world were as visually strong, but it had this relevant downtrodden aura and steampunk look. Players can feel the melancholy and isolation roaming through these techy, junkyard-looking levels.

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The most impressive, shocking visuals came from literally sailing across planets, through the Sea of Stars itself. Holy cow. The twinkling of the seas, the galactic skies, and the ominous wormhole(?) encroaching. . . players are in for quite the creative surprise. As you approach Seraï's planet, there is a sudden shift from 2D to 3D at it works so well. The moment felt magical and spectacular and easily earned the title of the most beautiful backdrop of the game.

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COMBAT: 7/10

The combat operates like any turn-based RPG with a level-up system, but with its own quirks. Players have an HP bar and an MP bar for magic-based attacks. There is also a combo gage that fills as enemies and players land attacks. And, there is an ultimate attack gage that fills as players use combos and complete magic-based attacks.

"Turns" in the game are per individual character, not by party and enemy groups. After Valere herself (for example) attacks, one turn has been passed. Enemies will have a little countdown above them signaling how many turns it will take for them to begin attacking. This usually ranges between 1-4 turns.

When a character's HP falls to 0, they do not "die." Instead, they get knocked out and will be able to get back up after a certain amount of turns. These little K.O. stars revolve around the fallen member's head, and depending upon how many stars there are, it equals how many turns it will take for a party member to get back up. They can be revived sooner with certain recipes, B'st's warble ability, or Resh'an's ultimate attack. For the most part, players are revived with 50% HP.

Having members being able to revive themselves after a certain amount of turns may make the game easier at times, but it is kind of a cool mechanic. It does not really make the gameplay much easier when versing a multitude of enemies at one time. Players can also equip relics to make the game more difficult anyways.

In combat, there are timed blocks and attacks. You press a button in order to perfectly block an enemy's attack and to deal more damage/strike more than once. Doing these timed attacks released mana, which can then be harnessed by characters so that when you select a basic physical attack, it also includes magic damage as well.

I am personally a big fan of RPGs that have timed hits. It makes me feel more involved, and more like I am actually playing a game, rather than just watching characters fight.

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You can use two or three party members in combat, out of the six you eventually gather. I never really favored any particular character, but perhaps most often my party included Valere, Zale, and Resh'an.

Garl is good for healing and has good physical defense, Resh'an was able to execute both arcane and poison damage (as well as group heal), Seraï has stealthy attacks, B'st is a tank and can revive party members, Zale deals solar and blunt damage, and Valere is a strong magic user that can deal lunar damage.

Although, Objectively, Resh'an is the most powerful party member by far, even when he leaves you only the puppet version of himself. His ultimate ability alone heals and revives all party members, as well as deals a significant amount of arcane damage.

Valere and Zale have to be used against Dwellers, as no other party member hardly does any damage against them. Resh'an cannot be used against a Dweller at all.

There are certain instances where a specific character is useful, and players are able to swap around party members in the midst of battle (unless they are K.O.d). Enemies may have these "locks" building up to a powerful attack. Players can break these locks with certain kinds of abilities, which will vanquish that enemy's next attack. For example, an enemy may have 1 lunar magic lock and two sword damage locks. To break them, use Valere's moonerang or crescent arc attack (lunar), and use Seraï's or Zale's physical attacks (sword).

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I enjoyed the combo and the ultimate attack mechanic. To unlock these moves, players must find scrolls hidden in treasure chests all over the map. Utilizing these moves really spices the gameplay up and creates all sorts of combinations.

The combo moves require two or three party members. The first one you get is called "solstice strike," involving Valere and Zale, which is basically just a physical attack but both members strike at the same time.

My favorites include soonrang, which is a buffed-up version of Valere's moonerang but includes Zale as well. This attack strikes all enemies indefinitely until you miss timing the hit, and deals both solar and lunar damage. I also enjoyed Seraï and Zale's "X-strike," which attacked all enemies with sword and solar damage, as well as Valere and Resh'an's "arcane moons" which is available at a low cp cost and hurts all enemies with arcane and lunar magic.

Every individual character has their ultimate attack, which would trigger a brief cutscene and unleash hefty, all-encompassing damage. They are fun to witness and rewarding to use once the gage is filled (although unfortunately it hardly helped at all during the battle against The Fleshmancer). Resh'an's ultimate, in which he ascends to the skies as the great eagle, is frankly kind of broken, because not only does it deal significant damage, but it also heals and revives the entire party!

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ENJOYMENT: 9/10

Though I have mixed feelings about the abruptness and ambiguity of the ending, I overall thoroughly enjoyed playing Sea of Stars.

The game offered even more content than seemed promised, and you can tell the amount of passion and love the game developers put into this title. It is certainly a leg up from the also well-received game, The Messenger.

The best parts about Sea of Stars are definitely its graphics and aesthetics, the soundtrack, and the variety of game mechanics. Although the combat kind of gets repetitive after a while and the story is all over the place, it was still a fun adventure nonetheless.

As a side note, there is a minigame within Sea of Stars called "Wheels," which is like a strategy slots game. It was invented by The Watchmaker and there are several champions throughout the game that you can challenge, and when you win, you collect more figurines/classes to play as and go from copper all the way to the platinum wheels level. I have to say . . . it may look complicated, but Wheels is highly addictive.

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 50 hours

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

PLATFORM USED: Nintendo Switch

DATE OF COMPLETION: March 2024

[slitherpunk]

games i liked in 2023 (And Other)

I like games ! You know that ?! and I played a lot 2023! and I liked a lot :). They aren't in any specific order, it's just a little highlight of games that stood out to me this year. I've attempted to write a few thoughts on each so I hope take a look. I wrote playtimes for some also but that is very subjective.

-Ones that actually came out 2023-

Lunacid https://store.steampowered.com/app/1745510/Lunacid/ I think I mentioned enjoying this in 2022 but it officially released so I can say it was one of my favorite games in 2023 :3! I like to feel around this game's walls for secrets. I like the npcs that are full of hope and whimsy despite the bleakness of its world. Chill and occasionally spooky first person dungeon crawling around moody caverns and ruins varying from underground forests to vampire castles and blood lake. (Blood lake!!!! Lake of blood!!! Big creature there.) Lots of fun weapons and spells to find, I like the one that lets you turn blood into coffins.

~20 hours

Orbo's Odyssey https://feverdreamjohnny.itch.io/orbos-odyssey If you played the massively popular demo for "Peeb Adventures" by feverdreamjohnny then you know that Johnny makes some fun and funny games and this is certainly one of them. speedy and satisfying platforming! funny dracula moments! short and sweet.

~2 hours

A Walk in the Woods https://mooncaller.itch.io/a-walk-in-the-woods Quaint little GBStudio game :) Made by some friends of mine for a jam :) It's cute I like it. There's minigames where you catch bugs and birdwatch.

~30 minutes long

Undertale Yellow https://gamejolt.com/games/UndertaleYellow/136925 I've only completed the pacifist run and checked out a neutral run so far. as the title somewhat implies, this is a prequel to Undertale where you play as the fallen human who had the yellow colored soul. This Undertale fangame has a lot of charm!!! A lot of battles really feel like they could have been in the original, with quite a bit of extra flair in some circumstances.

~10 hours

vs really cool bird https://bobacupcake.itch.io/vs-really-cool-bird you know that really cool bird that rob bobacupcake made well you can fight it in undertale and it's really fun. yeah two undertale fangames. . . wat of it …

~30 minutes

Misericorde: Volume One https://xeecee.itch.io/misericorde I wont lie the main draw for me into this was cute anime nuns I sure didn't know a whole lot else about it when I dug into it. But it's (the first part of) a VN murder mystery! And I enjoyed it a whole lot. All the characters are memorable and I really enjoy how all of them have differentiating designs. The protagonist is so failgirl. She sucks so much and I love her. I'm very intrigued by the mechanics of the game's world, it clues you in near the beginning to expect something a bit supernatural/fantastical, which gives you (and later the protagonist) a curiosity about what's real and what isn't. The music is all very impressive too, with the ost reaching past 100 tracks varying through post-rock, folk, drum & bass, and others. (Remembering when the track "Scandal" played and my friends and I took a moment to be like- okay hang on this track pwns.) Big fan of its haunting locals and how the aesthetic of the game fits them well. Also the humor is a lot of fun, and I love all the moments getting to know the different characters. Very excited to see the eventual continuation of this.

~12 hours

Absolutely Perfect Specimen https://chambersoft.itch.io/absolutely-perfect-specimen It seems like a lot of people are craving toxic horror yuri lately. Here's a recommendation. It's a VN about the android maid "Pan" and the mad scientist girl who created her. Horrifying & gut wrenching & largely about having other people define you. The art and music is haunting & poignant and matches the ever increasing feeling of dread throughout. It's yuri with the chunks. Peak robotgirl horror for those who can stomach it.

~90 minutes

Wordhopper https://kokoscript.itch.io/wordhopper Very quaint word search type puzzle game for ms dos! I think its style is very slick and that's pretty impressive to see. Chill game with nice vibes and eyecandy visuals. also it was so cool to have played this and then ended up seeing the dev's booth at Vintage Computer Festival Midwest. I was like omg woah I just played this.

~bunny

Bossgame https://lilyv.itch.io/bossgame This game is yuriful as f*ck. Delightful humor and fun character dynamics! A simple-to-understand-difficult-to-master boss rush battle system that makes you satisfied to get it right, and enticing to get just a little farther if you get it wrong. There's a lot of detail and charm to this game's menus and dialogues and win screens, I remember noticing that once you beat a boss there would be some marquee text that would pass by with some prose on it. I love how it balances its silly moments with its heartfelt moments and its high octane moments. I like the character development and revelations had throughout the plot. & I like how good the protagonists are for each other :) It's very sweet. It's hype as hell. if you want some boss rush action paired well with that sweet sweet girl's love, you *will* play this game.

~5 hours

Elly's Adventure https://bikwins.itch.io/ellys-adventure Very cute and witchy!! You are the little witch girl "Elly" on an adventure to get your toys back!! Feels like a pretty authentic gameboy type experience, it takes a lot of design cues from Kirby's adventure and the like. I am a big fan of how playful it feels.

~1 hour

Nour https://store.steampowered.com/app/1141050/Nour_Play_with_Your_Food/ This was a treat for me, but I understand that not everybody is going to get it. It's a game where you play with food(and food accessories). And that's it. It knows what it was going for. I think a lot of people were expecting something else for some reason. It's a cute little toy game and I felt satisfied with my time with it.

~food

Hi-Fi Rush https://store.steampowered.com/app/1817230/HiFi_RUSH/ Do I have to say this game is super fun? It's a big one everybody probably already knows it. This game's dopey humor made me laugh a lot and I'm not afraid to admit it.

~12 hours

WHISKEY.ST2007S https://bonicle.itch.io/whiskey-st2007nes One of the last games I played in the year because it released super last minute. Does anybody else get a rush when running a shopping cart down the parking lot? This emulates that feeling. Short game where you collect whisky stones in the whisky stone dimension because you forgot to go christmas shopping until the very last minute. it rules. It's very short you can go play it right now & get a highscore.

~5 minutes

re:curse https://devpalmer.itch.io/re-curse Discovered this one near the very end of the year also. Fun little rpg maker horror/humor game about a weird scientist lady, her butch, and an evil clown computer virus that figured out how to warp reality. I got a kick out of it. and also enjoyed digging through the game's files, which was actively encouraged by the dev, which I thought was very fun.

~90 minutes

-Didn't technically get to until 2024 but released last year-

SWOLLEN TO BURSTING UNTIL I AM DISAPPEARING ON PURPOSE https://1207.itch.io/swollen-to-bursting-until-i-am-disappearing-on-purpose People love to dunk on a lot of indie rpgs for being "quirky Earthbound inspired and about depression" or whatever. Earthbound's great. If people can nail the kind of humor and absurdity it likes to pull off while also balancing difficult topics I think that deserves a high mark. SWOLLEN TO BURSTING was fun. Bizarre and charming places to explore & distressing secrets to find. I like how it blends meander-around-the-town gameplay with Yume Nikki sort of exploration and effects. Also I'm a big fan of the music. I like how it has the lofi sound which matches the early 3d look of the game.

~6 hours

HalOPE https://starbage.itch.io/halope Another for the fans of sweet little rpg maker games that have a lot of heart. HalOPE is about an incomplete little angel wondering through worlds. Each has a theme, usually to do with an emotion or feeling, and they do well at evoking that feeling as well as its antithesis. a lot of the music is very homey and charming at moments and unnerving at others, sometimes lonely, all doing well in their corresponding chapters to further the feeling of its specified theme. There are so many delightful characters and designs in this & I found myself feeling really attached to their tiny little stories. The narrative at the core of it all hit me. If I may be vulnerable, I cried a whole lot at various moments in this game. It was really cathartic. I feel very excited for people to experience this game.

~5 hours

-Favs I finally got around to that didn't come out 2023-

An Outcry https://quinnk.itch.io/an-outcry Kind of sad it took me so long to get to this one, but glad it meant I got to play the "definitive" updated version of it. Apartment wandering RPG maker horror. Bum smokes from your neighbors and use them to save the game. I wish I could unwrap a lot more of what I like about this game than I can without spoiling too much. But if I could, I'd probably go on for too long. Let me attempt to be succinct & not giving too much away. You can tell pretty early on that An Outcry is about taking action when necessary & not turning a blind eye. What it explores about player vs protagonist agency is very fascinating to me as well, and I enjoyed learning about the inspirations for why the game's narrative works the way it does. The character Anne is such a sweetie and I love her a whole lot. This game has a very tangible feeling, this apartment complex is dirty and crumby, it smells of smoke, and there's a surrounding desperation you can feel.

~5 hours

Pigments https://punkcake.itch.io/pigments Honestly I had gotten this game in a bundle and while I was playing it I hadn't looked at the name and I just kept calling it FRUIT. On call with my friends I'd be like "hey im gonna play more FRUIT". I straight up didn't read the title screen. But it's called Pigments. You play as a fruit and you try to paint the whole floor and not get sliced by buzzsaws. Fun little arcade type game.

~fruit

Bridge, October 3rd https://lowpolis.itch.io/bridge-october-3rd Very short vignette. I like it. It's what it says it is. I'm not going to overexplain.

~like a minute

-Other Games I Want To Mention-

Pseudoregalia https://store.steampowered.com/app/2365810/Pseudoregalia/ I think a lot of people might have already known this one but I felt like it was a pretty fun 3d platformer. There were a few issues I had with it (boss fight at the beginning was frustrating, and I got lost a lot [but it looks like there's been a map patch by now, so, perhaps for some that is a fix]). I enjoyed it but sure felt weird that the only accessibility option was to give the protagonist pants. What kind of joke is that?

~5 hours

Mushroom Musume https://mortallymoonstruckgames.itch.io/mushroom-musume (Disclaimer, this game is still early access, but I saw a lot of people talking about it last year. SO I will mention here?) Haven't played much of this yet, but I have enjoyed what I played so far!! As of writing I've gone through 6 playthroughs, I feel like I've hardly scratched the surface and I've been so impressed by its depth. It's very charming, you never know what sorts of fairytale shenanigans are going to happen, and it's very cool to see how your different stats will affect things. It very much plays out like a roguelike vn. Which is not the sort of thing you may expect to make much sense but it pulls this off well. Also all the mushroom girls are very cute and I love them very much. I hope the sad goopy one who had bugs in her skin rests in peace.

~mushroom

Knuckle Sandwich https://andybrophy.itch.io/knuckle-sandwich -_- Hm. Where do I start with this one. I was pretty excited for this one since the demo and kickstarter in 2018. I felt like the demo was a hell of a hook that got me curious & horrified. As time went on, it seemed to be shaping up into something really cool. turn based combat with action commands and wario-ware-type microgames?? with a banging soundtrack?? like, count me in!! Then it released and well, the gameplay, art, music all delivered. It was very fun and engaging in those aspects. But the story… oh it just devolves into disappointing nonsensical randomness. The whole hook at the beginning seemed to be completely thrown away for the wild goose chase plot that ensues, leaving you to wonder if it was ever going to be relevant again. It felt like it had no idea what it was trying to say or do. It disappointed me that a game that has so much good in so much else about it gets brought down so much for me by this plot.

~12 hours

Rhythm Doctor https://store.steampowered.com/app/774181/Rhythm_Doctor/ (Putting this one in mentions because it is early access.) I really enjoyed the act 5 release. When I first saw this game, I kind of shrugged it off, thinking "that base mechanic doesn't seem like it will last". I thought it was basically just that one ghost shooting game from Rhythm Heaven which I Hate. Well let's just say I am now seeking penitence for my previous transgressions. It's really fun. There's a lot more to it that I didn't know when I first took a look. Also, consistently amazed by people's custom levels, I had no idea that its level editor allows people to do so much in it, I look at some levels and think "This editor seems as complex as an industry standard video editor". I'm looking forward to what they're planning next, very curious how they could possibly one-up the last update.

~rhythm

El Paso Elsewhere https://strangescaffold.itch.io/el-paso-elsewhere This was really fun & funny so far but unfortunately I had been encountering an issue with a certain level where the game would crash. I reported the issue, got a response, and there has been an update since then so I think there's a possibility that it got fixed but I have not tried yet. I would like to return to this sometime but having to relearn controls midway through is always daunting to me.

~?

-Things that looked good but didn't get around to-

Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood https://store.steampowered.com/app/1340480/The_Cosmic_Wheel_Sisterhood/ Still don't know a whole lot about this. But there are witches, and I like witches.

Casette Beasts https://store.steampowered.com/app/1321440/Cassette_Beasts/ I haven't felt thrilled about Pokémon lately. I know a lot of people seemed to really enjoy this little monster-collecting-rpg. The style is appealing to me as a die-hard gen 5 fan. I started playing it but haven't set aside the dedicated time for it yet, but I'm excited to dig in more when I do.

Little Goody Two Shoes https://store.steampowered.com/app/1812370/Little_Goody_Two_Shoes/ Started watching a friend play this, and I'm certainly curious.. Some sort of horror fairytale but also there's yuri? Yum. Enjoyed the style and animation in the nightmare segments that I saw.

Venba https://store.steampowered.com/app/1491670/Venba/ I've picked this up a while ago but still haven't gotten around to it, but I'm eager to, I've heard nothing but good things.

Goodbye Volcano High https://store.steampowered.com/app/1310330/Goodbye_Volcano_High/ I think there are gay dinosaurs in a band and it's going to be the apocalypse? I have also heard nothing but good things about this.

-Things I watched friends play-

Signalis https://store.steampowered.com/app/1262350/SIGNALIS/ This was a pretty big one. You probably already know it, right? Watched a friend play this and I missed various parts but I understood a solid bit of it. hey. robotgirls are always getting put in these fucked up situations. have you noticed this? one time i got really high and cried about it. it isn't fair

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk https://store.steampowered.com/app/1353230/Bomb_Rush_Cyberfunk/ This one was also probably big enough you don't need me to sing its praises. but it looked really neat. swag.

-Various Thoughts-

Lately I've been thinking more about design and narrative. I feel like I haven't been doing as much analysis as I should be when it comes to games. I want to dissect more what games are saying and figure out meaning. Also attempt to see how the mechanics aid in that. I feel like most of my own work is pretty abstract & random. I simply make what I like. While that's fun and all, I still want to improve in a lot of ways, especially in having more of a theme or message. Figuring out how other games accomplish this is obviously a good step toward this.

If you saw games here that interest you I highly urge you to take a look, many are pretty short, and I pretty explicitly wanted to highlight some smaller titles. If you know me you know I like to uplift small games. (Save for the occasional big game, but that's rare these days) I think it's healthy for you to play and support independently developed & published works. I don't want to ramble too much this time about why that's important, but I hope that you might have found something you may enjoy here and if not then I encourage you to find small stuff that you would like. And I would like to encourage everybody to share their findings as well! Little games need our help to be seen and talked about! They don't have the budgets the big ones do for advertising, and advertising on your own is a whole ton of work. If you like something, spread the word! I'm sure the developers would very much appreciate that.

[stillness138]

isn't it wild how you can play through an entire indie game in a single day and be left with a deeper, more profound experience, story, moral or question all wrapped in a more unique and impactful art style than many triple a games nowadays. for like 8 bucks.

[thanksvideogames]

5x5 grid of babygirls featured in media I consumed in 2023

[typicalf001]

Here are my top twenty games of 2023 as well as a top twenty list for the non-2023 games I played. There's a list for games I'll try to catch up on during the new year and games I'll just assume are good. For those of you who can't read the slides here's the main list typed out.

Octopath Traveler 2

Lies of P

Blasphemous 2

Chants of Sennaar

Dredge

Venba

Cocoon

9 Years of Shadows

Remnant 2

Dead Space Remake

Resident Evil 4 Remake

Pizza Tower

Gravity Circuit

Amnesia: The Bunker

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Jusant

Lunacid

Undertale Yellow

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom

Warhammer 40K: Boltgun

[qixils]

What's your favorite game you played this year?

Excellent question! I'll start with some honorable mentions first...

Mario Wonder seems like an obvious pick for GOTY, and I did have a wonderful time playing it, but I haven't quite found myself wanting to come back to it again and again like I hoped. I absolutely love the badge system though and definitely want to incorporate some of its ideas into my game.

Mario Kart 8DX isn't really GOTY material but I did have a lot of fun with those 48/96 track races. And on that note I got into Trackmania a little bit as well this year(ish), its medal system is very fun and rewarding.

I didn't play it myself but I did watch a huge supercut of Persona 5 Royal which I surprisingly quite enjoyed! Looking forward to going back and playing some of the older titles when their remakes come out.

I really want to mention some new 2023 indie game here but uh, I guess I didn't play too many new indies this year? I passed on Pizza Tower and was sorta disappointed by Viewfinder... best I can think of was ElecHead, a nice short and sweet puzzle platformer. Its total lack of language, even in the menus, is pretty cool and inspiring.

And finally, my bizarre pick for favorite game I've played this year probably has to be Trouble in Terrorist Town. I know picking a multiplayer game like this is almost a cop-out but I've watched and played so much of this game, it's so much fun. I'm always thinking about new traitor plays, especially with the game still getting new updates and items... easy game of my year.

[an-aussie-button-masher]

2023 Gaming Wrap-Up

   Welcome back to what is apparently a yearly tradition on this blog: the Gaming Wrap-Up! As we drag ourselves to the end of 2023, it’s always good to take a look back at the last 12 months and try to figure out just what was going on there. And well, this year…kinda sucked. It had a lot going on - it was stressful and exhausting at best for so many of us, but there’s always a bit of good within the bad (for example, on a more personal note, this was the year where I actually got a few of my articles purchased by publishers! Now I can, by definition, call myself a professional writer! Go me!), and video games are always an excellent escape from reality.   2023 had loads of great game releases, including some highly-anticipated sequels and remakes, while the business side of the gaming world had a fair few blunders and foot-shooting (Unity, anyone?). Before the end of the year, let’s all take a moment to remember all the highlights of the gaming world of 2023 - enjoy!

JANUARY-MARCH    Let’s get started with a bit of the old and a bit of the new - a pair of high-quality remakes of some classic survival horror games, Dead Space and Resident Evil 4, set a new bar for gaming remakes, with RE4 even being nominated for GOTY! Meanwhile, Pizza Tower took the indie genre by storm with its deranged animations and surprisingly catchy music, and Hi-Fi Rush ambushed us with a sneaky release and some toe-tapping rhythmic combat.   Fans of classic Nintendo games had a bit of a sad start to the year however, with the announcement that Nintendo would be completely shutting down all online services for the 3DS and Wii U, basically pulling the life support plug on the two platforms for good. Additionally, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) continues its streak of rough years; with X-Box, Sony and Nintendo all foregoing attendance, this years’ E3 was announced to be cancelled. With a rise in developers and publishers preferring digital and social media announcements over live shows thanks to the impact of COVID, could this be signalling the end of live gaming conventions like E3?

APRIL-JUNE    Moving on, 2023 also saw the release of some particularly exciting sequels - Dead Island 2 finally released after 9 years in development hell while The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom blew its GOTY-winning predecessor out of the water. Street Fighter 6 brought in Metro City veterans and newcomers alike, and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor continued the tale of Cal Kestis in his battle against the Empire in a galaxy far, far away.   From the small screen to the big screen, The Super Mario Bros. Movie joined the small-but-growing ranks of video game movie adaptations that are actually good, thanks to staying true to the games’ actual identity instead of trying to turn it into something else like so many other game-to-film adaptations. E3’s cancellation also wasn’t enough to stop the Summer Games Fest from being held, featuring a mix of live and digital shows and announcements. Also, this year was quite the mixed bag for game publishing companies - Embracer Group, a publisher for major development teams such as Gearbox Entertainment and Crystal Dynamics, went under some massive structural changes due to a major deal falling through, and was just one of many publishers that underwent huge changes in 2023.

JULY-SEPTEMBER    The latter half of the year didn’t see quite as many major game releases, but it was certainly a case of quality over quantity - Baldur’s Gate 3, an absolute narrative feat, practically overtook the entire second half of the year for both those familiar with the series or D&D and players entering the Forgotten Realms for the first time. Oh, and Starfield was released too.   Meanwhile, a cornerstone of video game voice acting, Charles Martinet, retired from voicing the Mario bros. Having provided the iconic voices of Mario, Luigi, Wario and Waluigi since 1994, Charles still works as a global ambassador for Nintendo in conventions across the world, while the superstar voice role would be taken over by Kevin Afghani later in the year.   Back in the business side of the gaming world, Unity - the group behind one of the most prominent game development engines in the industry - completely shot themselves in the foot this year as they announced an incredibly oppressive retroactive licensing fee to begin next year. This new fee would mean that every single developer that had ever used their engine would need to pay Unity for every copy of their game that has ever sold, even from before the fee took effect. Naturally, everyone disliked this, especially within the indie game community. The sheer amount of backlash caused Unity to rework the agreement to be “less aggressive”, but their reputation is beyond saving now.

OCTOBER-DECEMBER    2023 looks to be closing off with a bang - in yet another major simultaneous release, October 20th saw Spider-Man 2 expand the urban playground of everyone’s favourite web-slinging duo while Super Mario Bros. Wonder brought Nintendo’s flagship franchise in a fresh new direction. Meanwhile, another highly anticipated sequel, Alan Wake II, spun a terrifying new narrative just in time for Hallowe’en.   Of course, the biggest talking point for the end of the year was the Game Awards! Baldur’s Gate 3 beat out some incredibly tough competition for Game of the Year and swept the rest of the awards alongside Alan Wake II; a handful of exciting new games were announced, including a sequel to the classic World of Goo and a vampire-hunting action adventure starring Marvel’s Blade; and we learned that the Call of Duty developers can’t take a joke. However, the biggest announcement arrived just before the awards, bringing the entire gaming community together for one of the most anticipated sequels in video game history (besides Half-Life 3): Grand Theft Auto VI. Set for a 2025 release, 12 years after its predecessor, GTA6 returns to the sunburnt beaches of Vice City, introducing a modern Bonnie & Clyde as its’ pair of playable protagonists Lucia and Jason. 

LOOKING FORWARD    So, aside from the GTA fans that are probably cryogenically freezing themselves until 2025, what are your plans for next year now that 2023 is nearly over? There’s plenty of other games to look forward to - Star Wars and Marvel fans will be getting another exciting set of games with Star Wars Outlaws putting players in the shoes of the galaxy’s next big name in the galactic underworld, while Wolverine will be hacking and slashing his way through the neon-lit Madripoor. Taking our hands off the controller for a moment, a handful of other games will be taking their turn on the silver screen with a promising-looking Fallout streaming series and a somewhat more sketchy-looking Borderlands film. Can’t be any worse than the Halo series, right…right?

   I mentioned in last years’ wrap-up that 2023’s E3 is hopefully back on track, which has aged a bit poorly; well, there’s no need to worry about that this time as next year’s E3 has already been cancelled. At least that means saving on tickets, but is the age of big gaming conventions coming to a close? Time will tell, especially depending on if Summer Games Fest is still in the works. Maybe things are switching to a more digital-based platform for game announcements - as someone not fond of crowds, that suits me just fine.

   But, hey, that’s not until next year. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this look back at the gaming world of 2023, and I look forward to seeing you all again in 2024!   Happy holidays!

An Aussie Button-Masher

[wormdramafever]

The podcast Gaming In the Wild included Goodbye Volcano High among their Games of the Year 2023 (episode 191)!!!

From their episode nº 191.

They talk about GVH at 0:41 and 1:12!!

Visit their main site for other listening options.

It's GOTY season, and what better way to kick things off than with special guest and friend of the show Brad Gallaway, co-host of the So... Videogames Podcast. We went long and had a great conversation about everything from big hitters like Zelda, Starfield, and Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 to indie gems like Lamplighter's League, DREDGE, Birth, and many more. And as always, many thanks to all the show’s patrons! If you'd like to join them in supporting the podcast on Patreon, you can do so from $1 per month at http://patreon.com/gaminginthewild. Patrons get access to a catalogue of bonus episodes, and an invite to the show’s lovely Discord community. You can also come say hi on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Twitch - find all the links at http://gaminginthewild.com.

A chill video games podcast about interesting and creative games, from indie to AAA. Your host: Iceland-based games critic John Rogers. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitch to stay in touch and keep up with new episodes - find links at http://gaminginthewild.com. Gaming In The Wild is a listener-supported. You can support the show at http://patreon.com/gaminginthewild to join the listener community, and get bonus episodes and other fun perks.

[ggchamo]

The 29 Games I beat in 2023

This was a year of a ton of new amazing games, and even though I tried dozens, I missed many new awesome games this year, which will always be part of the fun of gaming.

I tried IGN's Playlist app, which buckets your list of games into different categories that sound helpful - Playing, Beat, Quit, Paused, Wishlist, Backlog.

Because I wanted a lot of games marked as "Beat" - I felt encouraged to play some of those shorter, faster plays - many of the games this year were on How Long To Beat dotcom under 10 hours and came highly recommended

One attitude for me this year was "well, I'm not having fun playing this game in the moment, but let's power through since i'm almost done." - This attitude really helped with the motivation to finish to be honest - getting it done meant it's off the backlog and I can move on to the next set of games in my very curated backlog.

Another theme in the games this year was nostalgia and exploring my childhood, so we had good representation of Pokemon and first-party Nintendo

Besides these games, I tried quite a number of games on Switch, PS5, Xbox Series S, and PC for at least a little session - if I don't hit credits it didn't make it on the list, although don't hold me to that

For ongoing games, I played many hours of Gran Turismo 7, some hours of Valorant (140 hours less than 2022 which was definitely lower than 2021...), and the occasional Overwatch/Fortnite/whatever session with people getting together. 2023 was not the same as 2020's peak of playing with friends on a daily basis, but this year I embraced curating things to my taste

I loved the three games I played with my fiance - Paper Mario, Hi-Fi Rush, and Sackboy. Anytime we share an experience it makes the payoff multiple times better.

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla -

Fuck - I really wanted to beat this one, so it was satisfying to get this one ticked off my list. They wanted to design something hard and worth the challenge and time investment, and I think they did it. I consistently was making progress until the last thing was to beat the final boss, and once I watched a youtube video and tried a different strategy, it opened up. Experience was cool - God of War has a great set of combat features, one of the very best combat systems outside of the god-tier Dark Souls team.

Pokemon Black 2 -

Buying an Analogue Pocket triggered this exploration into my childhood, and part of that was getting into collecting the Pokemon games I missed and revisiting them. I found a copy of this game slightly discounted from it's $160 avg price on eBay and was worried about getting a fake but was relieved it was authentic. So how was this game, not just as a hype item but as an experience?

It was worth the effort. It had a ton of cool pokemon (although needed more water pokemon in my opinion) and it actually was tough to beat - I ended up losing once or twice and had some dicey gym battles earlier on, but I thought the game was an interesting chapter in the pokemon games. It was very story focused and wanted to build some lore and some characters, not just create a million new cool pokemon. Gen V was a big blin spot for me so it was cool to spend some time back in these games after beating Pokemon Black for the second time in the past few years in the pandemic era.

Rollerdrome -

I found the game very tough near the last three levels (it was just overtuned for a casual guy like me and got crazy) but I found it very unique and aesthetically very iconic. These devs took some of the muscle memory from Tony Hawk games and added that famous "bullet time" mechanic as another way to pace everything. It's a great combo - I can even imagine a game where the shooting has to go with the beat. I am happy they had assists so I could avoid hitting my head against the wall for 20 hours.

Super Mario Wonder -

Another GOTY quality game, in a year where we had a new Mario and Zelda come out in a sea of sequels and really well-done indies. I'm not done with this game yet. I hit credits, but there is more to play here in the future. This game is exactly my vibe - and we got to see the demo in person in Seattle which was fun!

Jusant -

Short and sweet with very fun unique climbing gameplay that I enjoyed playing through. It was straightforward and interesting, and I enjoyed that quality many Indies have where it had a huge imagination that transcends their budget and tech restrictions. I felt like that team did a great job and I kept thinking I want to see more games like Jusant, taking the concepts further.

Pokemon Crystal Version -

I was in the mood for classic pokemon with tons of moments of nostalgia and feeling memories from back during childhood - and Pokemon always delivers, I need Pokemon games in my life. I was proud to finish the game after transferring the file to a new 2DS XL and regretting my choice of Totodile as my starter 30 hours in. I had fun and this game is timeless - I will play it again and it will feel like the first time I played it again because that's what these games do. They always feel new because in the world of Pokemon, there is always more to learn.

Spider-Man 2 -

Consistently fun and with very rewarding platinum trophy that wasn't that hard to finish - I found the experience of playing this game rewarding, familiar and very polished, and the game did not overstay it's welcome with bad gameplay. Not too different from the first games besides some very cool new features and types of scenarios with the same core gameplay as Miles Morales and Spider-Man 1.

Forza Motorsport -

In a head-to-head comparison between this and GT7, GT7 has greater replay-ability and tricks the mind into feeling like you're in a simulation. But Motorsport is maybe the better designed game - since it took some driver activities and made them gaming features. But in execution, they don't make a material impact on the experience and don't add much immersion since the driver levels have no impact on gameplay. I enjoyed the larger assortment of cars and the tons of races to play - but I didn't see the same love in the courses, which are really the core gameplay "levels." So I feel like I'm saying that this very expensive and detailed gameplay was lacking levels, which seems like a weird place to be for a game. So lots of complex feelings after playing for over 40-50 hours - I definitely will play this again.

Super Mario World (GBA) -

Someone set me up with GBA online and this was the first game I played - very cool experience playing through my first game in one or two sittings on a big screen with my adult brain and skills without my child limitations.

The Last of Us Part 1 -

In the first few weeks of October, I was having a great time revisiting a game that I played a few years before the pandemic (may have just been 2018/2019....) and also was watching the HBO show at the same time. It still is an awesome experience and still touches those same great heights because the game has that iconic aggression and unique feeling that you feel from what it asks you to do and what it puts you through. No other game feels Last of Us games, and they're on a different league of their own.

Cocoon -

Weird game. The sound design and the visual aesthetic stuck out as iconic to this game, with the gameplay being just multi-faceted enough to encourage me to try to learn new things - I think there was almost one point where I had to look something up but I sat down and tried my best and was able to move forward. I felt very smart and impressed myself.

Venba -

Awesome game and only one or two sessions long - it told a story and it made me think. I liked how the recipes felt like puzzles which is what cooking feels like!

Lego 2K Drive -

In late September, needed something quick and fun to play before Super Mario Wonder/Forza Motorsport/Spiderman 2 slapped me in the face - this was very rewarding and was very satisfying to look at and play - deep enough that it was fun but still very easy to pick up and play with all the different type of cars. One or two kind of down moments definitely didn't weigh down my opinion of the experience as a whole, although it's nice that it's free for PS Plus people 2 months after I bought it for $70.

Paper Mario: The Origami King -

My fiance beat this before and agreed to watch me play and Sherpa me through the experience. It was pretty awesome, although the base gameplay is a bit of an acquired taste...not too long but still took some time investment to finish all of the worlds and once or twice lose a multi-turn boss fight due to some unfortunate misclicks.

Osu! 2 on DS -

Beating this was a spur of the moment and only took a few sessions, but I wanted to play through the "new" Osu game (although now the series over a decade old) for a long time and finally grabbed it off my brother. Iconic songs and I had a lot of fun - and I think I've gotten better mentally at rhythm games after more experience gaming and playing music in general. I was able to power through and beat it on normal without too much.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits -

Has been on my list for a while. I have no clue how. LOL like it may have been one of those rare PS4 games that got a nice PS5 upgrade in 2021 or maybe there was a good review that I saw. I think the game felt... unfair near the end. I ended up turning the difficulty down near the end and finalizing some of the later levels on my iPhone through remote play. Like I changed it to the story mode difficulty and just played through - not a great sign. It had amazing animation and just absolutely killer graphics, but maybe it was too much like God of War or Horizon Zero Dawn? I didn't come away like I gotta recommend this one to everyone, and looking back I liked that the game was short so I thought let's power through, which was a theme this year. I think I turned the difficulty down when I played on my phone just to give myself a better chance of pounding through the levels. Very beautiful though

Pikmin 4 -

dawg - my first Pikmin game. Absolutely fire, I enjoyed trying something new and I didn't find it frustrating or limiting at all, and I think I would play more of the post-game with the new planets and fill everything out in the future.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom -

Iconic and honestly this is the type of game that is on a different plane. Worth the 80-100 hours I put in to my first playthrough - an experience for the type of person that plays video games in the action adventure category, but it's good enough that it transcends genre and expectations. The game was as big as my imagination and I had some iconic moments in the game, like sequence skipping and also enjoying and exploring areas slowly and intentionally. It's worth playing again now that I think about it - just to do the depths again now with the experience of doing it the first time.

Pokemon X -

Set in a Pokemonized France and I played most of this game during breaks in my awesome French vacation this summer. Playing this game has connected me to my childhood, so I had a great time in my 30 hours. This would be worth multiple playthroughs - this was really the first game that I missed in the Pokemon series.

Playing this has been part of my recent 3DS exploration, where I am now trying to play the games I missed during high school and college times, because I was so busy to really play any games, especially not Pokemon. Finishing this game and seeing some of the subtle new changes they did after the Gen V era didn't fully register as these games were refined over decades, but I'm starting to make the connection between the recent games and the games from my childhood.

Pizza Tower -

this game was pure adrenaline. Holy crap. The polygon review got me onto this and I love 2D platformers, but the very unique and original presentation is what got me stuck to it. It was tough at times and also that fun type of creepy with the badly drawn kinda weird characters. I had fun, and I felt that was the game with

Sackboy: A Big Adventure -

Awesome game to finish with the fiance. It was a bit generic, not grounded on a specific character or point of view or set of values besides friendship and light vs. dark. but the multiplayer gameplay was what I was there for, and it delivered. It was a very fun experience playing the game with my partner and I always appreciate games that bring everyone in, not just a specific persona designed by capitalist-fueled marketing machines.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War -

Speaking of capitalist-fueled... I can't remember that many memorable moments but that is the point. the graphics looked amazing and I was happy to play game that didn't take a million hours to roll credits at. Another one that probably was padding for the list. LOL.

Tinykin -

this was another short one, and another one like Gears on Xbox. It was the first Pikim-type game I've played. Very original and once it got going it was fun to go through it. every now and then confusing but it was easy to knock out. I enjoyed the platforming and found it forgiving but not so easy it was boring. It felt tight.

Gears 5: Hivebusters -

Never found the Gears games rewarding enough to finish. Sometimes they felt too convoluted and I didn't feel comfortable. The reason we finished this one - it was short. LOL. it was enough though - felt like a proper experience and I actually enjoyed it. It's just not smooth enough for me to want to play another 60 hours, maybe one ady.

Stray -

a bit buggy, a bit sparse, but I was happy because it was short and sweet. Very creative and had great characters - but I couldn't tell you what their names were. I think it brought a unique experience with the cat features to very well trodden ground and the 3D platforming/exploration gameplay was refined but not as rock solid as the Nintendo types.

Hi-Fi Rush -

playing this game in January 2023 was a cool experience shared with my fiance and the game was incredibly unique and so so so cool. It was pure ecstasy when my girl beat the final boss after losing like 60 times. Hours of pain. When she finally beat it, it felt historic. What an icon!

Pokemon Violet -

yeah performance was ass but playing the new games, they are the best Pokemon games ever by definition. They always raise the bar and it's hard to appreciate until years later.

Metroid Prime Remastered -

I finally beat it like 10-13 years later, this was so action packed and familiar, guides really helped in moments.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury -

Short extra mode was a good time - so it was cool to start with a mario game this year. I remember it being not incredibly difficult but have forgotten some details since January it seems.

[eat-the-richard]

GOTY OF THE YEAR 2,000,023

IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME AAGAIN FRIENDS! Another overly long written ramble about the very best in my personal gaming life and experience delivered DIRECTLY TO YOUR EYEBALLS!

And what a year it was!! For gaming! All of it! Just a comprehensive onslaught of video game products from all different genres and developers. From Triple As to Indies to whatever the fuck we're supposed to call the middle ground of those two. No matter who you (yes, YOU, not the general ""you"") are, something came out this year that tickled your little small little balls in one way or the other.

The best part of all, though? A year like this will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!! Certainly not next year, like my god look at that 2024 upcoming games list, man. It is *slight*.

You wanna know why? Because this amount of quality output, of course, does not come from studios or companies or brands or even the almighty dollar sign. It comes, of course, from people. People who are insanely talented and passionate about their craft. Likely those who dreamed for years to be a part of this seemingly amazing industry of creative professionals all striving towards the same creative goals. And for gaming developers, 2023 was not a year worth celebrating. Sure the products that they worked on released to the public to play and enjoy, but as soon as these projects wrapped up, the studio or company or brand or even the almighty dollar sign ditched their ass RIGHT TO THE CURB!

Because to all of those previously mentioned abstractions, talent is expendable. Demand for talent should be at an all time high, given that gaming continues to be the most money-making entertainment medium of the 21st century. So more games should be in development, therefore necessitating more job opportunities and areas where passionate individuals can spearhead their own creativity into a golden goose. But, of course, this is not how abstractions operate. The talent who creates these fine pieces of art are mere cogs to them, oiling and greasing a machine that will continue to move as long as the pieces are in place. And there will always be a new crop of cogs fresh in the industry who will be willing to take meager pay, miserable conditions, and limited flexibility in their line of work, as long as they get a chance to work with the abstractions.

This, of course, will not happen. The continuous horror of the modern gaming industry spreads far and wide. Notably to our youth, as chronically online as they are, who likely will not want to invest their time and life into a career that will never respect them. As for the talent who have been laid off every month this year? They won't stick around. Their services are applicable in many other fields that not only pay better, but have far more job security. So the talent pool dries up, there will be increasingly fewer individuals looking to refill, and the gaming bubble finally pops.

We're at the precipice of it, and it's hard to ignore the warning signs. It's hard to write a piece about the "great year in gaming" we as consumers had as it feels like the industry that created it might not look the same way in 10 years. Gaming won't die, obviously, there's too much demand for it. But the 300 million dollar blockbusters, the 3-4 year crunch periods, the constant race to produce technological best. That will die. And this year was the last hurrah.

So, in that spirit, let's celebrate the year that was for me. The 10 best games from this year and previous that remind me why I love it in the first place. Why I want to support it, and wish it nothing but the best. And most of all, highlighting the talent who ultimately made it possible, rather than the abstraction who will tear it down.

---------------

Anyway! Enough of that SHIT!! Video games are cool, and I like them. Today, we’re going to RANK the TOP 10-ish GAMES I PLAYED in Twenty Twenty Three. But before that, let’s dive into some dis/honorable mentions.

REMASTER I REALLY LIKED BUT DIDN’T WANT TO RANK BECAUSE ITS A REMASTER OF THE YEAR: Metroid Prime Remastered (NSW)

Take your pick of, like, six or seven different 25-30 year old Metroid fans and slam them elbow-first into a padded cell. Once they come to and they start talking about Metroid, as you do in confinement, about five or six of them will confess that their first love was Metroid Prime. I would count myself one of them inside of the cell, even if it took me until 2015 and the shudders Wii U Virtual Console for me to finally give it a try.

The six-or-seven imprisoned Metroid fans will inevitably start comparing the two most popular entries in the series: Super Metroid and Metroid Prime. To me, Super Metroid is all about its scenario. Finely tuned and expertly paced, “Super” is a game I play for that jolt of the Metroid formula that currently makes up ½ of every game that comes out nowadays. But Metroid Prime is about atmosphere. The reflections of Samus’ face in the visor dotted by raindrops from above. The movement of fauna, shade & various enemies flowing through every screen. Honestly while I’m writing this the Phendrana Drifts theme is playing in my head.

Metroid Prime isn’t as precise as Super Metroid, but its ambiance is striking. This presentation, already beautiful on the GameCube, is only enhanced on Switch. Despite very little of the original Prime team still being at Retro Studios, you can tell this one was crafted with an enormous amount of respect for the source material. It gets the rare yet coveted distinction for a remaster/make/release of looking just as you remembered it your first go around, yet looking obviously much better when compared side by side. It does well to continue the legacy of this momentous game, to hopefully expose its importance to more than just the five-or-six of us currently jailed. 

By the way, the one other guy who didn’t grow up with Prime? He was chatting our ear off about the “subversive excellence” of Metroid Fusion or something. How “forcing linearity in an otherwise exploration heavy series can make you feel weak and frightened” and “it has a much tighter difficulty curve than any other title in the series.” Something like that anyway, couldn’t really hear over the all-time noogie numbers I was putting up while he was stuck in a headlock.

GAME I'M MOST MAD AT MYSELF FOR NOT FINISHING: Outer Wilds (PC)

Is it a me thing? Am I not the type of guy who would truly appreciate a game like Outer Wilds? Spoilers ahead, obviously. Don’t read this part if any part of your bones and back wants to try this one out, dead serious.

Because what a HOOK this game gets you in. The first time the sun engulfed my puny little carcass, the previous session reverses itself right in front of me and the world just completely reset itself? Astonishment, blown away? Other thoughts like that. Conceptually, Outer Wilds is a knockout. The obvious point of comparison is Majora’s Mask, but the mystery at the heart of Outer Wilds is a lot less simple than Find The Four Giants. It’s a weaving thread binding all the game’s planets, but one you must piece together largely yourself.

Which made dropping it back in April and trying to come back to it hard. I probably just have to totally restart it and really really focus on what each little node of information is saying. Or just use a guide or something idk

LEAST FAVORITE GAMING EXPERIENCE OF THE YEAR: Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon (PC)

Ok this title might be hyperbole a bit since I didn’t completely hate it, I just wanted an excuse to write about SONIC AGAIN! I LOVE BLUE MEN!!

Speaking of hyperbole, how about the reception of Sonic Frontiers? Seems like everyone was busting their loads over this one last year. I get it, to a certain extent. As BlazeHedgehog said in his one-hour dissection of the game this year, food tastes better when you’re hungry, and us poor Sonic fans are starving. I don’t think Frontiers is perfect by anyone’s standards, but it at the very least leaves a decent yet slightly rocky foundation for future games to knock it out of the park with.

The Final Horizon is “future games”, I guess. And uh, yeah this one didn’t knock it out of the park. Kinda bunted? Maybe tripped over first base or something idk how to make better baseball analogies than this. 

My main disappointment comes from the three new playable hedgehog/hedgehog adjacent creatures. Maybe it's my fault actually, since I had this wonderful idea in my head of how sick it would be for Knuckles or even Amy to have fully decked-out combat trees. Instead, these new characters are actually terrible at combat and you shouldn’t even try. They’re pretty specifically geared towards platforming challenges, unfortunate since all of them feel pretty miserable to control. My original review of this update was “Knuckles controls like an asshole” but they kind of fixed the controls so my review has been updated to “Knuckles controlled like an asshole* *when it launched therefore when everyone played it Knuckles controlled like an asshole”. 

Despite my gripes with base game Frontiers, at the very least it felt like a game that was rigorously playtested. Not polished by any means (for crying out loud they never fixed the pop-in), but most platforming challenges had a certain sense of flow to them that made the open zone concept work. Final Horizon does not feel properly playtested. Levels are far less scripted, which would be a great thing in an engine that didn’t feel this busted. The difficulty spikes up seemingly at random, with the three titan boss rush on hard being probably the most unfair challenge in a Sonic game that I can remember. Even the final boss (which features one cool scene where blue eyed Super Sonic gets shot out of a gun) requires a target switching mechanic the game never expects you to know or use by that point, unless I’m an idiot. Which is always the fear.

Ah well, at least it was free. And I don’t want this to be a sign for Sonic team to ditch the open zone for the next game. I do think it can work, but the main gameplay engine needs an overhaul. Not even a Sonic Utopia masturbatory “iT sHoUlD jUsT cOnTroL lIkE tHe ClAsSicS” style control necessarily, just one that feels inherently fun to run around an empty field in. Which is easy to say, I guess. “Make the Sonic feel more funner to control,” the critic says. “Allso give me a cheeseburger “

Congratulations on winning your oddly specific category awards, previously stated video game products! Time for the top ten which was going to be a top sixteen but I’m already incredibly late on this so I’d rather not write about six extra games sorry.

10. Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage (PS1/PC)

The intro to Spyro 2 was fun all three times I played it this year. Once on original hardware at a friend’s house, another time on my own through a PS1 emulator, and a final time through the Reignited trilogy remake. Reignited was where I played through Spyro 1 for the first time some years ago, and although the Spyro 3 remake is allegedly trash (according to my one friend who learned how to read by playing Spyro 3 at age 3), the remake of Ripto’s Rage is pretty OK by my less demanding standards. Plus it ran well on Steam Deck for whatever that’s worth.

Thankfully, playing the intro to Spyro 2 three times was actually a worthwhile thing to do! Unlike Spyro 1 which basically just lets you 100% complete every level the first time you go through it, Spyro 2 requires abilities and unlocks from later levels in the game to get every orb & collectable. Every time I replayed the various levels in Summer Forest, I learned which levels (even areas of levels) I should avoid until I learned how to climb up ladders or whatever. It is much more enjoyable on a replay to keep these types of things fresh in your mind rather than coming back to it years later as a grayed & tired old hag.

While I’m not as story-pilled as a lot of my gaming peers, even in simple games I appreciate when it feels like your actions have weight to them. Completing every level in Spyro 2 isn’t just about collecting the shiny objects and touching the top of the flagpole. Each area has its own particular race of organism coming to you with an issue caused by Ripto. And while it isn’t super complex, your actions through the level are helping that particular group of living beings. When going through the entire game, and thereby helping all of these groups with their minor or major little quibbles, it’s pretty satisfying to look back on once the game comes to a close. That element is, I think, what makes a crusty little game like Spyro 2 still hold up in the face of a very different world.

9. FEZ (PC)

For a while, I didn’t want to like FEZ. I had it on Steam, but only as a result of a Humble Bundle, back when you could specify how much of your bundle purchase went to each specific game creator. And I will never forget looking at Phil Fish and his stupid face, gleefully pulling his contribution slider allllll the way to the bottom, probably capping out at $0.01.

That was 2014. 10 years later, I have two thoughts. 1. Phil Fish’s controversy feels very very trite in comparison to what the internet or, fuck, even the ENTIRE WORLD has turned into. And 2. Phil Fish is a genius.

People were saying it at the time but I just didn’t want to believe them. And I probably didn’t have the capacity to wrap my head around what FEZ was doing. It’s an entry into what I want to define right now as an “unraveling” game (remember this, it will come up later!). On the surface, FEZ is simple. It even has simple graphics! You’re a simple man, living in a simple town, with only a jump button to your name. Then, another layer. A Fez, perhaps, on the top of your gay little head. In gameplay terms, the perspective now shifts when you press the triggers, I think all Fezes do that? Anyway, fun little platforming gimmick for a little 2D game, right?

Wrong. FEZ is a 3D game. Your position in the world is a little tricky to manipulate, but it is mapped in a 3D space. You can even view the world in 3D once you beat the game and get sunglasses. I think all sunglasses do that? Anyway, this allows for some inventive puzzle solving through trying to figure out where to jump and where to shift perspective to make your way out of the room. Can be pretty tricky, but ultimately achievable, right?

Wrong. The puzzles at the end of FEZ are not possible. Literally, I think. The last puzzle is not possible without datamines and brute-forcing it. But for the puzzles that are possible, the amount of honest to god code cracking you need to do at the end of the game is not what I was expecting. I had to bring out an honest to god notebook made of paper from wood and write down my interpretation of the game’s little language. Other games certainly take inspiration from the unraveling layers of FEZ,

8. TUNIC (PC)

Hope you were paying attention! Thank god this game comes right here on the list so I don’t have to test your attention span. TUNIC is also an unraveling type game, in sort of the exact same way to FEZ actually. It appears to be a gorgeous yet sort of simple claymation sorta interpretation of the original Legend of Zelda. You’ve got a couple a silly lookin enemies, item pickups like bombs and potions, you get to explore an overworld and some dungeons. It’s Zelda 1, right?

Wrong. TUNIC is Dark Souls. Beyond just being able to fat roll, enemy encounters can get brutally difficult, and they all respawn when you die. Upon death, you drop a bit of your coins on the ground in a ghost that will stick around when you come back to that same spot. You save and respawn at a fire. Now, comparing a game to Dark Souls is kind of like the most overdone thing in games writing at the point, but it definitely helps that you can get a sense of that original Zelda formula in all of FromSoft’s games. So TUNIC aping those trends feels like a good match, I think. From here, progression might start to make sense. You travel from save room to save room, clearing dungeons and beating bosses. Eventually you’ll find a really big one, and the game is over, right?

Wrong. TUNIC is a game about not being able to understand English. The story is pretty well known at this point I think, but the sole developer of TUNIC was inspired by playing through the notoriously obtuse-without-a-manual Zelda 1 without being able to understand the words of said manual. In TUNIC, you will find pieces of a very similar looking manual all throughout the world in no particular order and in a language you cannot read. Eventually in TUNIC you’ll hit a wall where you have no idea what to do or where to go. And suddenly, you look at a single page of the manual in a slightly different way, maybe even with your head tilted a little bit more to the right. And suddenly it all makes sense. 

There’s another way in which this game unravels but it’s sort of like the impossible puzzles in FEZ and I haven’t even begun to try and wrap my head around it. I beat this game with the bad ending and I still had a jolly ole time with it. Very much my sort of game this one is. No spoken dialogue, story communicated entirely through gameplay, and hard as balls bosses. Now if only this one featured a funny little dwarf….

7. Deep Rock Galactic (PC)

Me and my friends cycled through a lot of different games this year. Still wrought in grief over the loss of TF2 and Overwatch, I think. I was kind of the outside guy in these multiplayer romps, as I am burdened with two jobs and game at weird times of the night, but I got enough time in each of them to get the idea. But of all the multiplayer games I dabbled in, the one that I am so sad I wasn’t around to play more is Deep Rock Galactic.

DRG is immediately charming. Playing as a stupid drunk dwarf is kind of inherently a little ridiculous and Ghost Ship leans into that hard. There’s of course the dedicated ROCK AND STONE button, but did you know there’s a dedicated coughing button? Not even loud obnoxious coughing either; subtle, painful coughing that feels like a burden to deal with (don’t @ me I know it’s not supposed to be a coughing button). The hub of DRG is honestly the most fun part of the game, I think. Just spending time with the buds fucking around with barrels and getting drunk on exploding IPAs is quality stuff. 

I only played Driller, I think? The rest of the characters are probably fun though. I just liked being able to serve that oh-so-important purpose of pressing M1 in a direction and overheating by accident, as well as using my flamethrower to hurt my teammates. And using my C4 to hurt my teammates. I’m sure they all hate playing with me since I suck ass, but it’s hard for me to get mad at myself when I’m bad at the game since the stakes feel pretty low. Co-op games like this always appeal to me more than PVP for that exact reason, and I hope I can put DRG on this same list next year when I’m a little bit more seasoned.

DRG also fucked up my reflexes for every other game as I always want to press F to throw a flare into a dark room. Even in real life! 

6. Dying Light (PC)

Another multiplayer game, although this one isn’t really originally intended to be multiplayer. This game flew under the radar for me for a long time until one of my friends randomly suggested we play it co-op one day and we all happened to have it for free on the Critically Acclaimed Epic Games Launcher. First thing to address here, this game is shockingly seamless as a multiplayer game considering it’s obviously a single player game primarily. Ok, maybe not quite seamless since all the player characters are the same generic white guy protagonist. At least you can wear a clown outfit? But the connection never dips, you’re never kicked out for no reason, everyone gets to watch a cutscene at the same time. Great co-op experience overall.

Honestly, the story and scenario of Dying Light is very uninteresting to me. We haven’t even beat the main story yet. In fact, we go out of our way to not do the main story and just focus on side content as much as we can. Because the core gameplay of Dying Light is fantastic. Again, this game completely flew under the radar for me and I feel like the same thing happened to most people I know. So I was shocked at how good the game feels. Jumping from roof to roof rarely doesn’t work once you know what you’re doing thanks to the generous ledge grab system. And once you get a grappling hook? Bitch, every game should have a grappling hook. 

Combat is where the game really shines though. We set the difficulty to hard right away, which initially made it practically impossible to kill even the most basic type of zombie. If you’re just trying to whack the undead with a simple melee weapon, you’re probably going to get your health drained in an instant. Obviously you get better weapons, even guns towards the back half of the game. But you don’t want to use those all the time, especially guns since they make a ton of noise and alert a ton of infected. So it’s when you start unlocking cool-ass moves like the little kick you do to finish off downed enemies skulls, tackling zombies to the floor, vaulting over their heads to get a quick move on, even a whole ass dropkick to send them tumbling into a spike wall that Dying Light starts becoming fun as hell to just run around in. 

Dying Light is also tied with Zelda Tears of the Kingdom as having the most “dark” “darkness” in a game I played this year. You straight up cannot see anything at night in this game, and if you turn on your flashlight you might wake up your mom. She’ll grab and kill you!

5. Lethal Company (PC)

What makes writing about Lethal Company hard is that, in a way, it’s undeniable. There’s no wonder why this became one of 2023’s best sellers practically overnight. Its charm is just that apparent. But why? To me, it’s how it straddles the line.

Obviously, Lethal Company is hilarious. It’s baked into the animations, with a jerky running animation that radiates Scooby-Doo-like energy and the single greatest dancing animation in all of gaming. Despite picking up items to later sell being the whole point of the game, they pack in so many silly little trinkets that are hard to separate yourself from; some can even make sounds! The first time I ever picked up the airhorn was on video, and I popped off harder for that than anything else this year. You may find yourself barrelling off the edge of a railing to your death because you thought you could jump over a gap with a big screw in your hand. Lethal Company is not only trying to make you laugh, but gives you the tools to get into a situation that’ll make your friends laugh. 

But Lethal Company is also terrifying. Especially when you have no idea what you’re doing. Deep within the halls lurk otherworldly abominations with behavior that isn’t easy to parse your first time through. Some can be easy enough to avoid like the loot bugs and spiders. But others force you to change the way you move through the level, like the Bracken that requires you to constantly look behind you or else have your neck suddenly snapped, or the Coil Head that requires constant eye-contact or else have your neck suddenly snapped. If the terror was just contained to the halls, that would be one thing. But every Lethal Company player remembers their first time seeing the Forest Keeper, silently tip-toeing your way just out of sight else get eaten alive. You can certainly learn the patterns of each of these hostile entities to make progression easier, but keeping them all in mind while juggling the keys, ducks, and generators in your hands can often be too much to handle.

Despite all the horror elements, though, I never really get too scared playing Lethal Company? At least never for too long. And that’s the beauty of it - the line that the game is teetering on between comedy and terror. Even in observing the objectively very dangerous Bracken, it’s hard not to laugh at how sheepish he looks when backing away from you. When killed suddenly by a big dog outside your ship, the tension breaks once you realize that your friends are going to have to deal with that same dog and laugh as they die with you. Ultimately, Lethal Company’s charm lives and dies by how well it executes its two polar-opposite fundamental elements. 

If updates can give more of a reason to keep playing the game after you learn the trick to each of the monsters, then this will be a multiplayer game for the books. That and add in suit customization bro, like come on the rack is right there!!

4. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (NSW)

If I was 7, Super Mario Bros. Wonder would be my favorite game ever. I am actively envious of the kids who get to grow up playing this game. Mario always hits different when you’re first getting into this method of experiencing media. Learning the fundamentals of controlling Mario is a gaming memory I will always cherish.The timing required to stomp on blocks and enemies, juggling the power-ups required to get certain secrets in a level, and the flow state you reach in jaunting through the familiar sights and sounds are baked into my gaming DNA. 

As such, I found Super Mario Bros. Wonder to be very easy. There are some harder levels sprinkled throughout the game, but in a year that I beat every Super Meat Boy chapter without dying for fun, those didn’t give me much trouble. With that, plus the sheer number of Mario games I’ve played over the past 15 years of my life, I ate this game’s lunch and didn’t break a sweat. It’s probably unfair to knock a Mario game for being easy, but considering I’m not the only person who’s broached this criticism, I think it has enough merit. But again, I am envious of those who do not have this level of skill. To the kids wiping their greasy spaghetti hands on their Switch and Joy Cons, experiencing Mario for the first time because you liked Chris Pratt’s performance in the Mario movie. If this is your first time, this will leave an unforgettable impression.

Course-clear Mario games like Bros 3, World, 3D World, NSMB, and a bunch of other words and letter combinations are built on gimmicks. Gimmick is often used in a derogatory sense in gaming discussion circles to talk about shallow, meaningless fluff added to a game just to add a pinch of variety and extend run time. But as Mario has proven time and time again, gimmicks can be good, actually. It allows each level to stay fresh, with new ideas constantly being thrown at you with no time given to let any of it grow old. Mario Bros. Wonder is built off this same foundation, but goes absolutely nuts with it. The first part of every level is designed as normal, with some set of enemies, power-ups or other obstacles being presented at an easy pace. But as soon as you Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy, that gimmick is either flipped on its head or is magnified to the highest extent possible. When you allow your development team to design a game for years with no deadline, this is the type of experience you can create. 

Also, this should go without saying, but this is probably the best looking game I’ve played all year. It doesn’t do anything crazy technically (like this probably could have been done on the Wii?), but each screenshot is blooming with color, flavor, and life. Shouts out in particular to the new Luigi model. I have no idea what specifically they did to his proportions, but DO NOT change it. This is perfect. Look at him. Perfect.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (NSW)

Hilariously, this is the second Nintendo game in a row on the top half of this list that I’m going to spend half the review bitching about. Because TOTK is the exact same as Breath of the Wild. No, not in the way you’re thinking, although that is somewhat part of it. Not because the world is the same, the overall presentation is the same, the areas are largely the same, the combat is the same, the structure of the game is pretty much the same. Not any of that, rather that this game shares BOTW’s biggest problem - it gets worse the more you think about it.

Because while I was playing it, it felt like the coolest thing ever. Ultrahand is a marvel of design and programming, obviously. Should go without saying that the potential of ultrahand is boundless, and that week where everyone was posting their Zelda creations was very fun. The abilities in general are so ingenious that they actively tricked me into playing the same 100 hour game again. Ascend in particular is one of those things that just breaks your brain and makes you want to do it in every single game that you play afterwards. The first time I discovered the depths, after not getting spoiled on it and not noticing it at all in the game’s trailers, made me feel the same magic as those opening hours of Breath of the Wild. It also shares a spot with Dying Light for having the “darkest” “darkness” in video gaming. Congrats! The awards in the mail. And after what I believe to be one of the greatest endings a Zelda game has ever had, with a killer final fight and that moment with Link and Zelda at the end, I was convinced I had played my favorite game ever.

But of course, you cannot make these sorts of decisions on your favorite X thing ever in a day, a week, even a year. It grows with time. And over time, I had a stark realization that Tears of the Kingdom didn’t really fix many of the issues I had with Breath of the Wild, even if I thought they did at the time. Item degradation was annoying the first go around, but the second time, especially considering all the crafting you have to do to get good weapons, feels especially tedious. The story is just as daft and pointless, even if it ends on a better note. The “Sacred Stone?” repetition has already been memed to death at this point but it’s notable how I didn’t even notice it at first since I had already long since tuned out of the story. Dungeons still don’t hit the same as in previous Zeldas, with the precise almost Metroid-like design of items locking progression not even attempted for a second time. Even the depths, which enamored me so deeply when I first found them, gradually became a slog to travel through as its visual repetition and lack of unique content started to dawn on me.

When I was playing Breath of the Wild for the first time, in a life that feels like it was ages and ages ago, I distinctly remember being in awe of the world they had created and the joy I had in exploring it. Even though I had my faults with the game, as I kept thinking about it, that lasting impression is what sticks out so many years later. Will the same thing happen to Tears of the Kingdom? Will its strengths persist in my head in a decade? Or will its blemishes keep it from true greatness in my mind?

One thing’s for sure: I never want to see a god damn Korok again. At least in this game you can create a device that sets them on fire, smushes them with a giant hammer, then catapults them over a mountain into a bottomless pit. Kinda fucked up you can do that…

2. Pizza Tower (PC)

Pizza Tower is fucked up game made by a fucked up man. How else can I explain the absolutely batshit insane ideas this game throws at you? The first level is called John Gutter. There’s another level in this game called “Oh Shit!” where you run around in the sewer. Mort the Chicken from the PS1 game Mort the Chicken returns to grab onto your head and force you to do double jumps. You’re forced to play golf. There’s a level where you get jumpscared by FNAF pizza topping animatronics and at the end you get to Shoot Them With A Shotgun. One of the bosses is a fucked up version of yourself that’s actually made of liquid and is secretly just a brain with eyes. You’re italian. 

I could go on. Despite my cursed Nintendo centric brain, I’ve never dabbled into Wario Land, which Pizza Tower obviously takes a lot of inspiration from. But when looking at gameplay of those older games after finishing this one, I don’t think I would really get a whole lot out of it. Pizza Tower is basically those Wario Land games made by a guy with as sick of a brain as I do, drawing all the assets with MSPaint and cramming each level with crazy bullshit and fun gameplay ideas. Those other games would probably feel kind of lacking in comparison. Like Mario Wonder, the levels in Pizza Tower are gimmicky by design, introducing one-off gameplay ideas and passing the ball to the next idea as soon as possible. So why is Pizza Tower higher than Mario Wonder?

Because Pizza Tower is an anime. When completing each level, you’re ranked from a scale of D to S, same as Sonic. At least that’s what it seems at first, though, as there is another rank. The coveted P-Rank is locked behind not just a perfect run collecting all the pizza toppings through the level, but looping back around and racing through that same level again. All within the time limit given to you when smacking the John at the end of each level. As you can probably tell, this is fucked up. Nothing else in Pizza Tower, not even the batshit level ideas, can reach how fucked up getting a P-Rank is in any level of this game. I’ve only gotten two I think? But Christ, what a rush it is. Pushing your familiarity with the controls and the level like this, reaching a glorious flow state is exactly where I love to be in a 2D platformer. And when I see that sick as hell anime OP ass P-Rank animation, I reach COMPLETE GAMING EUPHORIA.

I am so excited to jump back into this one once I have the time and give this the thorough beating it deserves. Just like how Peppino has been thoroughly beaten….. By The Cruel Hand He’s Been Dealt Through The Struggles Of Maintaining Your Own Pizza Business In A Horrible Capitalist Nightmare………

..

1. Pikmin 4 (NSW)

Hell yeah Baby!!! Pikmimn 4 Sweep! If you don’t play Pikmin 4 I’ll KILL YOu you stupid piece of shit!! 

Pikmin is doomed to be a niche. It’s got a bunch of cute little men walking around and a circular dog that you jump on the back of. But it is so brutally punishing that kids are almost certainly going to bounce off it. And the strategy-heads that would undoubtedly enjoy what it has to offer almost certainly won’t even give it a chance because of the cute little men and the circular dog. This dichotomy, of course, is why I love Pikmin.

I began the year in preparation for Pikmin 4 to finally play the original Pikmin on GameCube. Previously, I had one playthrough of Pikmin 3 but it honestly didn’t do all too much for me for whatever reason. So I wanted to go all the way back to the most busted up, brutal game in the series so I could understand the appeal. Within the first hour of play, all of my Pikmin had either been drowned or crushed by a giant Bulborb because I had no idea what I was doing. And that game has a strict time limit, so you can only fuck up so many times before you get a genuine game over. 

So what’s the appeal? Well Nintendo finally found a word for it in the marketing for Pikmin 4 that probably doesn’t exist in English so they just said fuck it and used the Japanese word anyway: “Dandori 段”. Basically being able to manage your tasks and resources in a timely fashion to reach maximum efficiency. Pikmin 1 forces you to figure this out to some degree or else you’re not getting home. And with the limited scope of that game’s levels, Pikmin types, and enemies, I think it’s a great way to learn. Each Pikmin has a clearly defined use case that directly corresponds with their color, and the obstacles in your path are easy to understand in relation to those basic abilities. Need a powerhouse that can take quick work of this giant beetle? Red is your go to. A ship part is stuck high up? The lanky and tall yellows are your guys. Water? Blue. You get the gist.

The problem with Pikmin 1? And every other Pikmin game for that matter? It’s not enough. It needs more. I’m cool with short games but Pikmin 1 can be beaten in like 3 hours. Pikmin 3 is like 10. Usually more content isn’t what makes a game “gooder” but I do genuinely think that the short run time of previous games made this idea of Dandori harder to tap into on a single playthrough. How did they fix this in Pikmin 4? 

WEll, my friend, they did this through VARIETY OF MODES!

The main story of Pikmin 4 is basically the 10 hour tutorial. A gentle romp through all the major areas, some largely easy enemies, no game-long time limit, heavy tutorializing, an introduction to all the Pikmin types, basically baby’s first Pikmin. Even if you only play the story, you have so much to sink your teeth into. The above ground areas are as fun as ever, with the addition of Oatchi as a Pikmin platform AND a way to introduce platforming into the Pikmin formula being such an obvious and fun addition. Caves return from Pikmin 2 as a break from the time-limit imposed by the rest of the game, allowing for some tighter combat sections and the satisfaction of scouring an entire area and getting 100% item completion. Dandori challenges scattered throughout the levels provide a taste of that hyper-focused time limit gameplay from Pikmin 1, forcing a greater degree of focus and understanding of the mechanics and design than in most of the rest of the game. Nighttime missions morph the usual Pikmin gameplay into more of a tower survival type of thing, protecting key areas while using the uniquely powerful new glow Pikmin. And each of the major areas all being in the garden of just somebody's house that you THEN get to go inside in what is by far the most unique level in a Pikmin game is some serious chef’s kiss type beat.

So that’s all well and good for the base game. But the post game? The post game? This is what takes Pikmin 4 to legendary heights. I CAN’T EVEN WRITE HERE everything I want to say because I KNOW YOU HAVEN’T PLAYED THIS GAME, and it was so joyous when I had these experiences blind. What I will say is this - this idea of Dandori and your understanding of it will be tested in some of the late game Dandori challenges. Entirely optional content by the way, nothing needed if you aren’t fucking with the idea of being an ancient Dandori master or anything. But this is the type of thing I live for in games. Mechanics and design being stretched to their limit, pushing your boundaries and forcing you to execute nearly perfectly to get the win. Usually uber-hard platformers are all that get this type of reaction out of me. Maybe I should be a strategy gamer? Am I finally ascending to be the Total War XCom Starcraft freakazoid I was always meant to be?

Maybe it was the surprise in how much I was enjoying Pikmin 4 for my entire 40 hour playthrough that gets it this high on the list. A marriage of gorgeous presentation, compelling mechanics, and content out the ass that no other game this year quite reached for me. DLC for this game is a must buy. Honestly, I might just play this game again some time soon, I need to make sure my feelings about it aren’t a fluke. 

And most importantly, YOU (yes, YOU, not the general ""you"") need to play this game. I DO NOT CARE if you have a Switch. DOWNLOAD THIS GAME FROM NSW2U.COM AND DOWNLOAD THE YUZU EMULATOR AND SEARCH ON GOOGLE “Nintendo Switch Keys Download” TO PLAY THIS GAME FOR FREE ON YOUR COMPUTER. Maybe you won’t even love it but DAMN IT I do. I’m glad Pikmin got another chance and for that chance to be the most feature-packed and gloriously executed game in the series by far. Hope this isn’t the end for our Pick-ed Men… Hope they don’t throw my colorful men in IP jail for 10 years again… Hope I can say hi to my good friend Olli mare one more time before I’m old and gray………

Thats it ok bye

[talesfromthebacklog]

Random: A gamer’s diary entry for October 2023!

While I finish writing, and playing, my next backlog games I’m excited to add to the wishlist ‘Little Goody Two Shoes’. Which looks like it’s going to be getting a physical release. (Which I won’t be picking this game up until the physical drops. I already know I’ll like it.)

One of my favorite YouTube channels called Nostalook worked on the trailer (and I think the in game cutscenes as well) and their work is stunning as usual. It really captures the 90s anime look. It deeply reminds me of Princess Maker.

Also it’s a shoujo yuri. Female romancable characters only! (And they’re all so ✨ PRETTY ✨) I can’t explain how HAPPY that makes me. I just hope it stays in an innocent direction.

You know, because in majority yuri isn’t made for women. 😐

I get it, but at the same time I feel locked out of the content because it’s so obviously not for me. But that’s a complaint for a different post on a different day! Makes me wonder if men feel the same way about yaoi.

I was very bad this month. There were a lot of physical sales. And then my preorders for new games rolled in. I always prioritize my physical games over my… “digital” games, so those will be in the front of my backlog!

Let’s take a look at what I picked up! (I paid full price for nothing on this list. I am wickedly good at finding deals and coupons. Which upon review I will attempt to pass onto you!):

Traumatarium

Dredge

Omori

FaeFarm

Inescapable

Sonic Superstars

Coffee Talk 2

Moon A Remix RPG

I’m already playing a few of these games, so my reviews on those should be out next week!

I decided to skip this month’s two biggest releases altogether until about next year. I want the GOTY Spider-Man 2 when it comes with all of the DLC for $20. The first one was amazing. I’m just willing to wait on it. Which is a similar story for Mario Wonder. I mostly use the fall season to get all the titles I’ve been wanting for a freaking sick deal. Why should I have to pay full price?

The older I get, the more I feel like I appreciate weird games and indie titles more anyway. I feel like those other projects have the freedom to take more aesthetic risks than the big companies. Not because of the creatives inside (They tend to always have good ideas), but the stockholders. 🙄

I adore some of these triple A titles to my core, but I crave to see more new things too. Different things.

Dave The Diver is a good example. That seems rad. I like ocean games. I like that we get more of them now. I’m gonna wait and see if that one gets a physical as well. You collect fish to go back to your restaurant to make sushi? Sign me up!

Don’t even get me started on Limited Run’s releases this month.

While ‘Persona 4’ and ‘This Way Madness Lies’ are no brainers for me; I was EXTREMELY on the fence about ‘Persona 3 Portable’. (I did pick it up reluctantly)

The remake of Persona 3 will be upon us soon and I don’t know if I’ll want to play P3P again. The problem lies in the fact that most of these games become much more expensive later. Buying it on “launch” from Limited Run usually IS the cheaper option.

That shit annoys me so bad. I don’t like picking up games for value. But because the game might be value I have to be ahead of the scalpers and pay for it at its maybe cheapest.

I collect games because I like ‘em. I want to play them and love them. I want to use my stuff. I don’t give a fuck about the “value”. I respect the folks that do care about that stuff but I plain just don’t.

But that’s also just kinda life. Not much can be done about other people. You can only truly control yourself. 🙄

Overall October has been an exceptionally excellent month for gaming! We’ve had so much good stuff come out this fall season. I’m excited for next month as well! Super Mario RPG will be making its re-debut and I can’t wait to talk about that one!

[sleepydross]

What is in your opinion the game of the year of 2023 so far?

Hm. So that's tough.

So Resident Evil 4, the Remake, is extremely good and fun, it plays well, it has lots of weird fun little mysteries and things, fun hidden collectables, but it is... A remake. And that puts a lot of folks off for understandable reasons.

Hmmm. I guess its still early. I tried checking what games came out so far and unfortunately a lot of the ones I'm excited for or think would be goty contenders aren't released yet.

It's kind of a shame actually, I might even bring up Fear and Hunger 2 : Termina, but it was dec 9 2022, not sure it counts. It's not a game for most people, Im sure, but if it's anything like the first one it has some very interesting things to say and I look forward to seeing more.

That's it, for me. GOTY games are kinda, idk, hard to pin down. Never know what could come along in the next few months, indie or otherwise, and take the gamingworld by storm lol

[maximuswolf]

What Developer You'd Support No Questions Asked?

What Developer You'd Support No Questions Asked? Notice quite a few developers/publisher are gaining traction or have been popular for a while. Was wondering if the community would share which developer they trust and would buy their game without question and why (As long as there' no major organizational change). I don't play many Indies, would be nice to see some indie developer recommendations.for me, in no particular orderCD Projekt RED - I get it, cyberpunk 2077 had a terrible launch. what's important to me is they fixed it and made it into a phenomenon game. I would get their game simply because it shows they care and did everything they could to fix and make the game better. also, I like what they are doing with GOGLarian - don't think I need to elaborate on this, only game in their catalog that' somewhat lackluster is dragon commanderFromSoftware - played demon soul on PS3 release, one of the best decision I madeRemedy Entertainment - From Max Payne to Alan Wake 2, almost every one of their independently developed game are either a cult classic or suprise hit. their games are all unique with suppressing good story and world buildingMobius Digital - Outer Wilds and it' DLC is one of the best gaming experience I have ever had. have a feeling any spoiler I get from their new game will ruin the experience, hence... going in completely blind faith on this one is high Capcom - nothing need to be said here, any of their remakes I would gladly buy blindAtlus - IMO King of JRPG in modern day, any of their mainline JRPG games is a blind buy for meGunfire Games - Remnant 2 is what put them on this list for me. if it was release on any other year than 2023, it would surely won one of the GOTY category. both the base game and it's DLC is full of surprises, secrets with amazing gameplay. looking forward to their next Darksiders game.HelloGames - no man's sky have been a huge disaster at launch, but similar to CD Projekt Hello games made a name for themselves simply because they care. this alone put the developer on my listDigital Extremes - played a few live service game in the past few years, Digital Exteme imo is the best live service developer out there. Submitted November 18, 2024 at 06:46AM by yangxiu https://ift.tt/TaJ5QWD via /r/gaming

[44gamez]

47 best Steam Deck games to play right now

Steam Deck allows you to play your favourite video games on the go, identical to the Nintendo Swap. The cool half about Steam Deck is that it’s principally a conveyable PC which makes gaming on the go enjoyable and pleasurable. We didn't prepare them in a particular order as a result of we perceive that every participant has their very own preferences. Nonetheless, I did embody my favourite Steam Deck video games upfront to assist whittle down what you may be in search of. This listing merely goals that will help you select what sport to take with you. Associated: 30 Finest Video games on Steam of all time

My favourite Steam Deck video games

The Steam Deck runs a shocking quantity of PC video games very effectively. When seeing which video games work effectively on Steam Deck, search for the “Verified” inexperienced verify. Video games which have the yellow “i” which can be marked “Playable” can run on Steam Deck, however they normally have a couple of options that don’t switch over effectively. Keep away from something that's “Not Supported.” The listing of video games under has been a few of my latest favorites to play on Steam Deck. Numerous the video games on this listing got here out in 2023, however there are some gems not from 2023 that I really feel want a particular shoutout. Cocoon

Screenshot: Geometric Interactive My favourite indie sport in 2023 is Cocoon. Whereas there are numerous nice indie video games that got here out in 2023, Cocoon is an ideal five-hour expertise full of extraordinarily fascinating and difficult puzzles. The graphics are unimaginable, the gameplay is groundbreaking, and it’s made by Jeppe Carlson, the genius behind Limbo and Inside. Because it’s brief and doesn’t have numerous data on the display screen, it’s finest to expertise Cocoon on Steam Deck. Dave the Diver

Screenshot: PC Invasion Dave the Diver is one other beloved “indie” that gained the hearts of many on PC Invasion this yr. Cocoon is magnificent, however Dave the Diver has extra meat on the bones in case you’re in search of an extended expertise. Additionally, that is a kind of video games that feels even higher to play on Steam Deck than anyplace else. Hogwarts Legacy

Picture: Avalanche Video games Hogwarts Legacy might be one of the best Potterverse sport thus far, and it’s a enjoyable one on Steam Deck. Whereas the fight and story aren’t outstanding, the immersion is. It’s a sport that may be extra pleasurable on an even bigger display screen, however it works nice on Steam Deck in case you’re seeking to play on the go. Outer Wilds

Screenshot: Modius Digital Certainly one of my favourite video games of all time is Outer Wilds. This cosmic puzzle sport incorporates a totally functioning, interlocked photo voltaic system with fascinating planets and unimaginable ship and participant motion. It’s a must-play and it really works very effectively on Steam Deck. Dredge

Screenshot: PC Invasion Dredge is, but once more, an indie I completely cherished this yr. I haven’t performed something like Dredge – it’s primarily a fishing simulator however you'll be able to discover an open sea, improve your vessel, and fish (and be careful) for eldritch horrors. The ambiance is killer, particularly on Steam Deck. Hello-Fi Rush

Screenshot: PC Invasion Hello-Fi Rush was my 2023 GOTY all yr till Baldur’s Gate 3 got here out. That stated, Hello-Fi Rush is completely unimaginable and I like to recommend it to everybody. It’s an action-rhythm sport that completely captures that feeling of early 2000s mascot video games (i.e. Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, Ratchet & Clank). It’s a literal thrill experience that guidelines on Steam Deck. A Quick Hike

Picture: Adam Robinson-Yu A Quick Hike is one among my all-time favourite indies. The title offers it away — A Quick Hike is a brief hike. You discover a nationwide park full of anthropomorphic animals as an anthropomorphic animal. It’s extraordinarily cute and really enjoyable, the proper sport to snuggle up through the winter and expertise the outside. Lil Gator Recreation

Picture: MegaWobble If A Quick Hike was too brief for you, play Lil Gator Recreation. It’s principally the identical actual sport however with a extra conventional third individual digicam setup. It’s a tremendous sport that goes hand in hand with A Quick Hike — and it’s finest on Steam Deck. Return of the Obra Dinn

Picture: Lucas Pope A sport that I’m obsessive about that not sufficient individuals speak about or find out about is Return of the Obra Dinn. This can be a detective puzzle sport the place you'll want to piece collectively who everybody on the Obra Dinn is and the way they died by watching varied acts of the voyage. If I obtained nothing however a brand new Return of the Obra Dinn yearly, I’d be joyful, however sadly, there’s solely one among these video games to this point. Once more, excellent for Steam Deck. The Case of the Golden Idol

Picture: Coloration Grey Video games I gave a second advice like A Quick Hike so I’ll give a second advice like Return of the Obra Dinn. The Case of the Golden Idol is a point-and-click detective sport that’s extremely difficult, but extraordinarily rewarding. It offers that very same “I’m a genius” moments Return of the Obra Dinn does and works effectively on Steam Deck in case you follow the contact pads.

The very best video games to play on Steam Deck

Whereas the video games talked about above work nice on Steam Deck and are a few of my favorites, the video games listed under additionally work very well on Steam Deck and are a few of my favorites. I've numerous favorites, okay? Cuphead

Picture by way of StudioMDHR Cuphead is a superb sport to take with you by way of Steam Deck as a result of its ranges aren’t very lengthy, making it good for brief gaming periods. The sport’s problem will drive you to take it significantly with the boss battles, although, so it’s higher to play this when you've gotten time to spare. Neon White

Picture by way of Angel Matrix, Ben Esposito This sport is designed for speedrunning, which suggests you gained’t spend numerous time ending ranges. Practising the way you play it, nonetheless, is one other factor. You’ll have to develop your platforming abilities in addition to grasp its card-based battle system to complete levels sooner. I lately beat Neon White and might affirm it’s excellent each on the standard entrance and on Steam Deck. Elden Ring

Picture by way of FromSoftware Whereas FromSoftware’s epic is finest loved on wider screens, having the ability to play a sport this huge outdoor is one thing to rejoice. Get immersed within the sport’s narrative whereas defeating enemies within the Lands Between. My brother-in-law performed all of Elden Ring on Steam Deck and completely cherished it. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Picture by way of CD Projekt Purple The Witcher 3 options a gripping story, thrilling battles, and a lush world to discover. Steam Deck allows you to get pleasure from all the pieces you’ve cherished in regards to the sport however in a extra moveable format. Now you can go on adventures as Geralt of Rivia from the consolation of your seven-inch display screen. God of Conflict (2018)

Picture by way of Santa Monica Studio It’s a deal with seeing Kratos slay enemies on the large display screen. Now, it’s a deal with seeing Kratos do all that he does on the small show of a handheld system. Benefit from the sport’s intense battles and deep narrative, which is centered on the battle-hardened dad’s relationship along with his son, anyplace you go. Hades

Picture by way of Supergiant Video games This highly-acclaimed rogue-lite options intense fast-paced battles which can be simply as thrilling on the Steam Deck as they're on different platforms. You play as Hades’ son Zagreus as he makes an attempt to flee the Underworld, dies, tries once more, dies once more, and so forth. Vampire Survivors

Picture by way of poncle This enthralling motion rogue-lite has you doing all of your finest to outlive an onslaught from huge hordes of enemies on all sides. You may unleash bullet hell on them, however the actual goal is to final so long as you'll be able to every spherical. This Steam Deck title will make you overlook the time. And since levels have a time restrict of 15 or half-hour, you'll be able to plan for fast gaming periods on the go. Soulstone Survivors

Picture by way of Recreation Smithing Restricted Paying homage to video games like Diablo, Soulstone Survivors has you going through hordes of enemies. You kind a celebration, stage up your characters, and do your finest to defeat all of the enemies that come at you. This sport may need some bugs on Steam Deck, nonetheless, however you’ll discover fixes for them on-line. Slay the Spire

Picture by way of Mega Crit Video games This roguelike has you slaying enemies and executives as you make your approach by a spire. It options many parts that make it a novel sport on Steam Deck. It’s thrilling and will entertain you for hours at a time. Stray

Picture by way of BlueTwelve Studio This fascinating sci-fi sport places you within the paws of a cat that has to resolve puzzles, keep away from enemies, and make its approach by obstacles. Its runtime lasts roughly 5 hours, which suggests it’s nice for brief gaming periods as effectively. Persona 5 Royal

Picture by way of Atlus This trendy JRPG incorporates a gripping story, a tremendous soundtrack, and satisfying turn-based fight. It’s an attractive sport that gained the hearts of many gamers. When you cherished this sport on different platforms, you’re going to get pleasure from enjoying it on the go by way of the Steam Deck. Tales Of Come up

Picture by way of Bandai Namco Tales Of Come up is a Steam Deck-verified JRPG, and among the best ones to incorporate in your library. It incorporates a gripping story specializing in severe themes, an fascinating forged of characters to like, and a unbelievable fight system. Stardew Valley

Picture by way of ConcernedApe This enjoyable farming simulator immerses you within the slow-paced joys of constructing farms, cultivating crops, elevating animals, and making a revenue out of your produce. You too can construct relationships with the individuals round you on the town. The Steam Deck merely allows you to take this gem with you anyplace. Apex Legends

Picture by way of Respawn Leisure This fast-paced shooter allows you to play as Legends — characters who've distinctive talents — to shoot down different gamers in intense free-for-all battles. The Steam Deck is designed for video games like this, so ensure that so as to add this to your library. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Picture by way of TT Video games When you’re a fan of the Star Wars franchise, then you'll want to get this Lego model of the complete Skywalker storyline. You may select what episode to participate in, and likewise select the characters you’d prefer to play as. This can be a lighthearted recreation of a collection cherished the world over. Resident Evil 2 Remake

Picture by way of Capcom Though the Steam Deck’s show won't be capable to convey the horror in full, Resident Evil 2 Remake remains to be an exciting sport for the moveable gaming system. Relying in your character, you'll nonetheless dread being chased by Mr. X, or G. That is the proper selection for followers of the Resident Evil collection. Satan Might Cry 5

Picture by way of Capcom Fancy slaying hordes of demons in fashion? Satan Might Cry 5 may be among the best video games to get on your Steam Deck, because it allows you to carry the sport’s signature flashy fight and classy characters anyplace you go. This can be a must-have for the hand held. Threat Of Rain 2

Picture by way of Hopoo Video games This third-person sequel to Threat of Rain has you doing all of your finest to outlive assaults from hordes of hostile beings as you attempt to escape from an alien planet. A singular scaling system helps you develop into extra highly effective as the sport progresses, however how lengthy will you survive on this new world full of risks? Play it to seek out out. Terraria

Picture by way of Re-Logic This indie hit allows you to discover, hunt, struggle, craft, and construct in an enormous, procedurally generated world. It’s a sandbox sport that provides you the liberty to decide on what you need to do within the sport. Enjoying it on Steam Deck means having the ability to get pleasure from that freedom anyplace. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

Picture by way of Tribute Video games Inc. This 2D beat-em-up from the TMNT franchise could be among the best additions to your Steam Deck library of video games. The hand held runs the sport completely, its bodily controls make it simple to play the sport, and the sport itself is enjoyable to play on the system. This can be a must-have for individuals who get pleasure from beat ’em ups and side-scrollers. Remaining Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade

Picture by way of Sq. Enix Followers of the remake of the most-loved JRPG in historical past can take their time with it by way of Steam Deck. The primary sport allows you to play as crowd-favorite most important characters Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Barrett, whereas the Intergrade DLC offers you a greater take a look at Yuffie Kisaragi’s life. Read the full article

[xpiester333x]

So I didn't beat every game I intended to play in 2023 but what did I play?

Not nearly as much as last year but I've had a great year with games so here is the list that I played this year, and my quick reviews.

1. Persona 5 Royal (x3 cause I had to 100% it): I don't think I need to elaborate on this one. This game has me in its CLUTCHES - 10000/10

2. Persona 5 Strikers: Great game, really played like a sequel and felt pretty true to the original game despite being a spin off - 8/10

3. Theatrhythm: I put an embarrassing amount of time into rhythm games this year and put an especially embarrassing amount of time into this game in just a month - 10/10

4. Persona 5 Tactica: I enjoyed this more than I expected to, lots of cute moments and I enjoyed the original characters quite a bit - 7/10

5. Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight : I put an even more embarrassing amount of time playing this game - 9/10

6. Persona 4 Dancing All Night: Of all my rhythm games I played this one the least because I liked the QoL changes to the newer games but I still played it more than I want to disclose - 9/10

7. Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight: By far the best Persona dancing game strictly because the music from all the various P3 iterations (something I wish P5 had gotten) - 10/10

8. Shin Megami Tensei 3 (not finished): Definitely one I need to come back and finish this coming year. I was having a blast playing it, I just happened to get drowned in a million other games

9. Final Fantasy XVI: In any other year, it would have been my GOTY. It was truly one of my favorites this year. I'm dying to replay it and I really need to dive into that DLC - 8.5/10

10. Borderlands: Crazy how well this game has held up over the years. The last time I played a Borderlands game (2) I didn't have the best time but I've had so much fun with this one that it's redeemed the franchise - 10/10

11. Persona Q (not finished): I got 15h into this and loved every second of it and then it exploded in my 3DS, dead forever, and I'm sad - 9/10

12. Persona Q2: Like SMT3, I need to finish this because I REALLY loved this game, but it just fell to the wayside because of other games - 10/10 so far

13. Breath of the Wild: I bought this game on a socially awkward whim (funny story) and it was pretty fun but tbh it wasn't as fantastic as people made it sound - 7/10

14. Baldur's Gate 3 (not finished but God will I ever be? I'm 60 hours into it and still in act 1): absolutely deserved GOTY. A fantastic game, incredibly in depth, given constant love and updates from its devs, a quality voice cast, just absolutely a blast so far - 10/10 so far

15. Solasta: A less good example of a DnD styled game. Playing it with a group of friends currently and its not horrible but it doesn't look good when you log off BG3 and on to this - 6/10

16. Catherine (not finished): Absolutely going to finish this either this month or early 2024. I'm about half way through and what an experience. Can't even explain it - 9/10 (loses a point for making me feel dumb)

17. Persona 3 Portable: Great game, FemC, but also it's age def shows and that Tartarus grind is not so fun in the year 2023 - 8/10

18. I'm On Observation Duty 6: My life is more complete for having this game come this year. I love the Observation Duty games (but this one is HARD) - 9/10

19. Sea of Stars (not finished): I will be finishing this one in the near future. It absolutely deserved Indie GOTY, it's very good - 8/10

20. Cult of the Lamb: I played this off and on between other games. It's a fun simple little game that tickles that cute/horror itch - 8/10

21. Gris (mostly finished): I have like one level left. This game is visually stunning, the soundtrack is very peaceful - 8/10

22. Persona 4 Golden (replay): I wanted to 100% it and failed lmao (missed ONE achievement). But that's okay, it's always worth the replay - whatever I rated it last year

23. Core Keeper: Honestly a true alternative to Terraria. Played it with my friends, enjoyed digging a hole and dying to bugs - 8/10

24. Harvestella: I honestly still gush about this game daily. It was so enjoyable and I could gush more but read one of my past gushes - 8.5/10

25. Monument Valley: Super unique and fun perspective puzzle that was very worth the $.99 I paid for it on sale - 8/10

26. Monument Valley 2: See above, but sequel - 8/10

27. Inscryption: There is truly no game like Incryption. I hate to make the pretentious statement "it's more than a game, it's an experience" but it's kind of true. It's an experience, with cool game play - 9/10

28. Penko Park: This game spoke to me with it's aesthetics and it's monsters and its collecting - 7/10

[theindieinformer]

The Indie Informer Plays In Stars And Time

Of a list of possible 2023 GOTY contenders, my community chose for me to spend more time with In Stars And Time. Come join me!

Episode 17 We’re getting to the end of the year, which means I need to start thinking of my top indies of 2023. Of a list of possible contenders, my community chose for me to spend more time with In Stars And Time! And, this time around, I fall (not a figure of speech) into the game’s time loop mechanic. Support Videos This show is made possible by The Indie Informer’s generous supporters who…