#so. like is it even worth pulling for him exclusively for gameplay reasons if he's not going to juice the gameplay THAT much

[gachaparadise]

yaaarrgghhh... torn between rolling for Kazuha or Scaramouche. on the one hand. Kazuha is like. actually useful to me and would gas up Neuvillete. on the other. Hat guy is my little scrungly hater and i regret having to skip him so many times.

[yeocult]

ATEEZ as students studying

HONGJOONG:

king of self-care! but studies for 15 minutes then take a 2 hour break and calls it self-care (omg he thinks he’s me or smth)

has power naps every single day at least 30 mins because he’s Stressed

always thinking of ways to drop out during the middle of lectures

that one kid that talks to nobody & sits at the back of the class with his hood on to hide his airpods

doesn’t do it anymore bc one time it disconnected and “there’s some whores in this house” blasted out loud & now he’s paranoid

shows up to group studies but lets the group carry him,,, but he puts out One Really good idea to get his name on the paper

only cares about topics he’s interested in, other than that he’s just astral projecting

“yo can you send me your answers so i can compare mine?” but he copies it and says “we got the same answers” (all men do is lie</3)

calculates his marks; “ok so i need at least a 80 on this...oh wait no, a 95...damn okay...”

the type to arrives late with ice coffee

SEONGHWA:

wakes up at 5 am to study instead of staying up

scented candles and lofi music for the ~studying mood~

a linguistic learner

learns best by teaching others so he’ll do group studies often to help other people

teaches people without making them feel dumb

uses grammarly for his emails with 3 paragraphs asking 1 question with a proper greeting and a ‘sincerely, park seonghwa’

professor: ok - sent from iphone

you’ll never see him during exams week, he’s Gone

a loyal user of the outline method

his desk must be cleared at all times! a clean workspace makes it easier to focus

brings extra pencil just in case anyone needs them bc he’s the sweetest person ever (he’s fully aware that he’ll never get them back but it’s okay bc sharing is caring)

does his readings on time (you’ll never catch him slacking)

actually has his shit together for the most part 1/2

YUNHO:

writes “i love you” or “sorry” at the end of his tests (that he bombed)

the type to ask you to print “just one thing real quick” and it’s 15 page and at 2 am

uses emojis like :D & \(^o^)/ when sending emails to his professors

has a bad habit of copying word for word on the slide and he doesn’t actually understand/learn anything

goes to the library bc he thinks that’ll help him be in the ~studying vibe~

it doesn’t. ends up texting or watching youtube gameplay

has never heard of the colour-coding system in his entire life and ends up with a page filled with neon highlight

snacks breaks are the only thing keeping him Normal

leaves himself an encouraging note at the end of the reading page so when he’s finished he feels good !!

friends with all of the professors and uses all office hours

strongest points are his guessing skills in multiple-choice questions (process of elimination ftw!)

he tries his best, doesn’t care about marks that much because he knows it doesn’t determine him (and he’s right!)

YEOSANG:

probably runs a studyblr/gram

has the cutest note ever, his handwriting is so pretty!!

he thinks that buying an ipad pro & apple pencil will make him smarter

likes it bc he can doodle on it then erase them easily :”)

has to wear blue ray glasses because of how he looks at a screen so much

mildliners, muji 0.38 gel pen, 6 ring binder, minimal planner, washi tapes, you name it! he visits muji and daiso every other week

buys wayyy too many planners and notebooks which he never ends up using

only uses pastel mildliners because they’re easy on the eyes. cringes every time he sees yunho’s highlighters v_v

his flaw is that he spends 10 mins writing his header with brush tip pens

mutes the group project gc but gets his part done like the good classmate he is

sweats every time he gets an assignment back, takes a whole ten minute to mentally prepare himself

a visual learner; makes mind maps, flow charts, etc

actually has a working printer that he uses pretty often to prints lessons before class just to be Extra prepare

tells everyone he slept well but his bullet journal habit tracker for sleep says otherwise (plz rest!!)

exclusively uses college ruled paper like the sane person he is

SAN:

uses wide-ruled paper (unfortunately not everyone is perfect</3)

starts off very positive, motivated, and organized

then everything goes downhill by the second week

will definitely set byeol on top of his keyboard, take a picture, and send it to his professor as an ‘excuse’ as why he needs an extension (it works)

can’t sit still for any longer than 30 mins, his legs are always bouncing or fidgeting with pen

flashcard king! spends a lot of time on them but it’s worth it

a utensil chewer (always willing to share his pencil but when ppl saw the bite marks they’re like No Thanks >_>)

can’t study well with groups or himself bc he’ll be distracted,,, so he needs one person that can ground him bc when they’re in the zone, he will too be on his x game mode

sends his assignment at 11:58 pm hoping his professor will take the Hint (plz don’t be afraid to ask for help u_u)

prefers listening to ghibli studio soundtracks but then he either gets emotional or sleepy

sometimes forget to mute his mic and we just hear him groaning in frustration

“haha sorry i just stubbed my toe...”

then mutes his mic and goes back to his mental breakdown

MINGI:

the only person that studies every single day just to get his brain used to the information and running

probably listens to anime op or edm music for that Energy Boost

everyone either hates or love him because...

1. loves him bc he always comes clutched with study guides (and willing to share if he likes you enough)

2. he’s good at everything even if he’s not paying attention/doing it last minute

just naturally good at retaining information and applying them

asks Big Brain question that even the professors are shook

sometimes he gets super into the topic and wants to know Everything

“i’ve never failed an exam in my life” and he’s right! big brain mingi

fetal flaw is that he forgets easily (hence why the last minute) and has to write on his palm as a reminder

clicks his pens All the time so he switched to pens with caps just to keep others from jumping him

takes naps 10 mins before classes

actually has his shit together for the post part 2/2

“if no one got me, i know khan academy and quizlet got me. can i get an amen”

WOOYOUNG:

y’all know that one mf that doesn’t have a pencil?

yea he’s been using the same one someone lend to him before a test and never returned it

it’s been two months and it’s still working well and they’re never going to get it back

a minimalist,,,, but in a bad way</3 bc he carries his stolen pencil and paper that he spilled his energy drink over and that’s about it

just throw loose papers in his bag and forgets about their existence

doesn’t do binders or notebooks, just crumbled up paper

sometimes carries a textbook just to show everyone that he’s got his life together

really noisy for No reason, always wants to know other’s marks

a kinesthetic learner

hides his screen with he gets the kahoot questions wrong (you’ll never catch him slippin)

plays coolmathgames.com during class

doesn’t really know what to study/prioritize so he overwhelms himself with every single topic ever

thinks he’s god by pulling an all-nighter to look at the 60+ slides last minute

Swears he’ll change and do better next semester,,,</3

goes to the cafe, takes pictures of his notes & laptop, post it on his story, then leaves

JONGHO:

thrives off of red bull and ice americanos

gets notes and study guides from his upperclassmen because everyone loves jongho

an audio learner so he’ll probably work out or go on a jog while listening to lessons/audiobook

never pulls all-nighters bc it messes up his sleep schedule and says he’ll do it in the morning but he never does

doesn’t even own a highlighter, he’ll circle or underline stuff with a red or black pen

has never touched a textbook in his life

only the study guides and slides, his textbook is collecting dust rn

his notes are literally Only for him because his handwriting only makes sense to him

has questionable handwriting,,, it’s like decoding

multitasks a lot but it ends up taking a lot longer than he wanted to (bc it’s a myth)

very spontaneous; he’ll grind for 5 hours straight but sometimes he won’t even touch a pencil

works best when he talks about the work in groups and share information with each other, like having a convo about the topic

unmutes his mic Once after the lesson to say “bye”

does his work right after the lessons but then takes a short break & doesn’t even Look back for the rest of the night

-

a/n: tag yourself ! i’m a bit of hohong (i projected myself on all of them in some way lmaooo)

[radramblog]

Ultimate^2

Super Smash Brothers Ultimate has finally unveiled its final DLC character, with reactions ranging fully across the spectrum. Hot takes abound.

I mean, statistically, just about every possible opinion is going to be represented. There were at least 500,000 people watching the reveal stream, and that’s not including those viewing through restreams. That’s insane for a trailer of any kind, let alone for a console-exclusive video game DLC.

Now that it’s been like… a day and a bit, I think most of the spciest takes have probably been made, which is the perfect time for me to chip in with my own milder opinion. More of a butter chicken, really.

(no images in this one i’m lazy tonight)

I figure I’m this late already, might as well drop some notes on the other ones first.

Piranha Plant was kind of the definition of an unexpected pick. Not only was it from an already well-represented franchise, being fucking Mario, it’s also just…not a character. As such it makes an odd choice for a DLC fighter…except for the part where it was free. If you owned the game in its first month. And frankly, I don’t think people would have been happy if it wasn’t. As it is, though, it’s a perfectly fine character- surprisingly cute, actually.

I’m unsurprised about Joker’s inclusion. With how huge Persona 5 became in both Japan and the west, capitalizing on it to make a shitload of money makes perfect sense. The character plays well enough, though the meter gimmick was kind of a daunting sign of things to come. All that in mind, though, the most surprising thing about Joker being in the game is that they still haven’t put P5 on the Switch. Atlus please.

Hero and Banjo/Kazooie were announced on the same night, and I distinctly recall someone saying that this was one for the Japanese audience and one for the Americans. I mean, I’ve never played Dragon Quest, so I guess I fell into the latter? Both series have a long, well-regarded pedigree (Banjo’s lack of recent offerings notwithstanding), so both arguably deserve their respective positions. Hero is the much more notable character gameplaywise, though, with the incredibly complex mana and spellcasting mechanics. Complaints about RNG in Smash aren’t completely unfounded- though it has existed in the past in the form of, say, Luigi’s misfiring side-B- but I know a lot of people think Hero took it too far. If I’m honest, though, the weirdest thing is just having Akira Toriyama-ass 3D models in the game. Banjo’s gameplay is…awkward. The kit is kind of a mess, but at least the gimmicks weren’t going too hard, you know?

Next was Terry, perhaps the most obscure character on the entire list in 2021. I actually really like Terry in this game- while he’s still trying to emulate a similar feel to Ryu/Ken, the difference feels more natural, if that makes sense. Maybe it’s because I’ve never really devoted significant time to them, but Terry’s kit feels easier to work within than the Shotos when going between characters.

Finally for the first Pass, we had Byleth. I think it’s for the best that they announced the second Fighter’s Pass before this released, because if both 4 and Ultimate had ended their run on Fire Emblem DLCs then people would have been pissed. I mean, people were already pissed, but like…moreso. As someone who has played Three Houses, I do think the game is worth celebrating, but having yet another Fire Emblem Protagonist (read: basically a blank slate) in the game over all the substantially more interesting characters 3H has to offer is just really frustrating. Also the final smash looks like dogshit, like FE3H has overall worse animations than Smash for obvious reasons but I’m pretty sure this attack looked better the first time around.

FP2 opened with Min Min, which brings ARMS to the table. ARMS. The only first-party fighting game Nintendo has outside of Smash, so it looks a bit less weird next to everything else but…come on, man. I think this was the most confusing pick of all of them- the game came out in 2017, and having Min Min in Smash would serve as promotion for a sequel…which hasn’t been announced. There was a graphic novel in the works, but it was cancelled earlier this year. Oops? At least the stage was fun.

As much as playing them is awkward and complex, the Minecraft addition was fitting. Only the best-selling game around. I think people weren’t sure if Microsoft would go for it, but they let us have Banjo, so sure. I’m mostly just annoyed that they couldn’t get any of the songs from the actual game in there- like, you got one in from the fucking mobile game, but you couldn’t just get C418 on the phone?

Sephiroth is definitely one of the hype-ier releases from this pass. The character is iconic, as is his theme and his home game. I’ve never played any Final Fantasy game, but I can still respect the name. Once I remember how to spell it. The whole bossfight aspect to his release was also quite cool, while it lasted.

On the other hand, I have no love for Pyra nor Mythra. There’s so much wrong with these ones, frankly. They’re another swordy character, immediately following Sephiroth too, and they go back on Smash’s very deliberate decision to split characters like Zelda/Sheik and Samus/ZSS up (Yes I know Pokemon Trainer does the same thing but I have a lot more leniency for them). Add in their being from a JRPG much less well-known or remembered than the previous couple characters and the designs being…questionable, I have a big issue with the whole thing. This was also around when I kinda stopped playing the game in general, and they definitely didn’t help pull me back in.

Kazuya might have, though. With the exception of him and Sephiroth, all the characters from the Fighter’s Passes were pretty much protagonist-types, but this motherfucker pulses with the essence of bad guy. What I’m saying is that he’s fucking cool, and while he’s ludicrously complex, that makes perfect sense since…I mean just look at the combo lists from Tekken 7. His inclusion also kinda rounds out the list of biggest fighting game franchises out there being rep’d in the game, though I imagine now I’m going to have stans from Mortal Kombat or whatever on my back. They’re not going to put a fatality-capable character in Smash, guys!

Finally, this rounds us around to the original point of this article. Let’s talk about Sora. And by that I mean…I don’t really have a huge amount to say about him. Kingdom Hearts is a franchise that completely passed me by growing up, and I don’t think I have the time or energy to devote to it now. I’m sure it’s good, people seemed really excited for him to be in the game so they have to have gotten that love from somewhere, but I don’t share that feeling.

That’s not to say that I don’t think he deserves a slot. The idea of “deserving a slot” in Smash Bros is kind of an odd concept, even though it’s come up a lot so far this post. But a slot in this roster isn’t just a place in a popular fighting game, because at this point, Smash is kind of a museum of (mostly Nintendo) games- and so having representation is a forever acknowledgment that the franchise is, or has been, an icon to so many. Kingdom Hearts, to my knowledge, has 100% earned that position, and so Sora getting to be playable here makes perfect sense. He wasn’t my pick (Touhou representation never I guess), but I’m happy for those who wanted him.

As far as the actual gameplay looks, he reads like a character that kept in mind what people didn’t like about Hero when he released. It’s another sword-based character, which I think at this point speaks more about the demographic of video game characters than it does about Smash. But I appreciate that the Magic Bullshit is toned down, and that it’s also his only real gimmick (The 3-hit combo feature is A Thing, but other characters e.g. Bayonetta have already done that, so whatever). His recovery potential looks patently absurd- like he just gets Pikachu/Pichu’s Up-B as a Side-B that can also be chained with his actual Up-B? This guy better be light as hell or he’s going to be super hard to take out. I dunno, I think he looks solidly fun enough- more dynamic and aerial than the other swordfighters, at least- and that’s good enough for me.

And I guess that marks the end of Smash Ultimate. Not with a bang, but with a key…dude. It’s been a very solid run, the game managing to keep itself fresh across several years of development, even as other games have risen and fallen. Smash is kind of forever at this point, I think, though the finality of Ultimate’s ultimate character implies that this particular iteration may be coming to its end. And seeing as it is always one Smash per console, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Switch itself was nearing its endgame as well.

Okay but also it’s pretty funny how they heavily censored everything Disney out of Sora’s DLC except for that little Mickey charm on the trailer, like how much must that one shot have cost them, was it even remotely worth it, I don’t know but I kinda want to

[gascon-en-exil]

So Who’s the Queen?: A Chess of Blades Review (Part 1)

A gay male dating sim with a recurring motif of chess references and not once are any of the guys likened to queens. How positively appalling.

That missed opportunity aside, this quick little indie visual novel caught my attention about a week ago and got me invested enough to generate two posts’ worth of discussion. Admittedly this is only the second visual novel I’ve actually played through - the first being the delightfully raunchy Coming Out on Top - but I’ve picked up a bit of other examples of the genre from fandom osmosis and watching playthroughs on YouTube so I’d like to think my reference pool is at least a little larger than that. Despite the apparent lack of a fanbase a few of my followers expressed interest in hearing what I have to say on the game, so here we are. Note that as this is one of the very rare occasions where I’m not presuming that I’m writing for an audience already familiar with my subject I’m going to do my best to avoid major plot and characterization spoilers in the event that anyone wants to check this game out on Steam. I will be talking a fair bit about the lategame sex scenes, but given the nature of Chess of Blades I don’t think anyone will be spoiled to learn that the main character gets up to an assortment of naked sweaty fun with his various love interests. This will be a review in two parts - this one covering my general thoughts on the game’s overall story, themes, and presentation, and the second one on the love interests and their individual routes.

Protagonist Rivian Varrison is a young nobleman of an unnamed kingdom modeled after a vague blend of early modern European nations. The son of a celebrated military strategist, Rivian is sent on his own to attend a week-long celebration for the king’s birthday at a remote royal castle despite his mildly antisocial tendencies and lack of familiarity with court life (and sex, because of course he’s a virgin). During his time at the castle he becomes embroiled in one of several plots by antagonistic forces that threaten to destabilize the kingdom’s foreign relations, and with the help of a collection of men who want to bone him Rivian has to avoid getting murdered, save the day, and also figure out what and who he’s going to be doing with his life once the party’s over. Oh, and there’s a quick handwave in dialogue near the beginning of the game establishing that homophobia is not a problem in this setting. Arbitrary sidestepping of serious real world obstacles, yay!

However, from my limited understanding of traditional yaoi homophobia is not often as much of a concern in the genre as might be expected, and this is one of several elements of CoB that give me the impression that, like yaoi/BL, the game is written with a female audience in mind. Rivian hits all of what I assume are defining traits of an uke intended to be identified with by a female player; he’s a waifish and inexperienced sub bottom with flowing hair and sensitive nipples, all of which come into play in some way for every sex scene. I don’t mind it though, because I just so happen to also be a waifish sub bottom who can find him quite relatable. Not the bits with hair pulling and nipple play perhaps, because I get next to nothing out of either, but I can use my imagination. Suffice it to say that CoB is clearly inspired by the conventions and dynamics of yaoi even if it isn’t always entirely beholden to them.

I wouldn’t even say it’s the sex or those particular dynamics that comprise the main draw of the game, because both the political and romantic storylines offer enough enjoyment on their own to encourage multiple playthroughs in order to see everything. It helps that the main conflict differs depending on the romantic route, and each comes with its own antagonist(s). Characters - love interests included - who act in a certain role in one route may serve an entirely different one in another, or they may not appear at all. At the heart of all the nefarious goings-on lies a shadowy organization presumably modeled after the politically divisive Jesuit order of the Catholic Church minus the religious motivations (the fact that the organization appears to be named after their founder St. Ignatius of Loyola is a dead giveaway), although there’s enough variety in the specific antagonists to allow for more than one reading of what’s really going on with all these murders and kidnappings and such. The distinct but interwoven nature of the four storylines manages to do a lot with a small cast and a compressed timeframe, and while I don’t think you’ll find anything truly groundbreaking in terms of narrative I feel like it would be rude of me to spoil the particulars.

Gameplay is...well...

...just that, really. It’s a series of fifteen or so questions with two choices each that determine which storyline and romantic route you’ll follow and then eventually whether you get the good or bad ending for that route. That’s a bit sparse even in comparison to other visual novels I’m familiar with, but it works well for what it is. The algorithm for determining the romantic route especially is less obvious than you might expect, as it’s impossible to favor one man exclusively at the expense of the others. Moreover, if you don’t favor one man to at least some degree Rivian gets murdered before the plot even gets properly started in a generic bad ending that’s almost comical in how unexpected it is.

Presentation is a bit of a mixed bag. The artwork is serviceable and even quite good at points. but there’s a fair amount of stylistic variation and the NSFW art in particular doesn’t impress me very much. The soundtrack is excellent for an indie game, with fourteen original pieces that all do a great job of matching the tone and atmosphere of the scenes. I have no complaints about the writing apart from the odd typo or awkward phrasing choice, although there are a few quirks I couldn’t help but pick up on. For instance - Rivian, all of the love interests, and several of the side characters get compared to animals at multiple points. In exactly one scenario there’s the implication that this might lead into some offscreen pet play, but aside from that it’s just a rhetorical device. Maybe Rivian is secretly a furry? The chess motif is also less prevalent than I was expecting; it’s actually more prominent in the names and icons of the game’s Steam achievements, rather than in the game itself.

Then there’s the matter of the voice acting. While I appreciate the ambition of an erotic visual novel with multiple routes having full voice acting, the execution often leaves something to be desired for a number of reasons. The most common is that the VAs affect noticeable accents for many of the characters, usually to make them sound posh and refined, and either because of inexperience or because of just how strong the accents can get some of their line reads can come across as stilted or unnaturally paced. Rivian is unfortunately one of the more notable offenders. He’s the character with whom the player is meant to identify, and yet his voice is so obviously affected that it took me some time to stop thinking of him as a parody of a nobleman designed purely as comic relief. I found his voice less distracting in major emotional scenes thankfully, although on that note I also have to point out that the sex scenes are fully voiced as well. This doesn’t help anyone on the whole, not least because of how difficult it can be to authentically vocalize getting your dick sucked or taking a cock in your tight virginal hole. Also...there are sound effects for some of the kissing and blowjob scenes, and I really wish there weren’t. In all seriousness, if you’re audibly slurping that much while doing either of those things you’re either being intentionally sloppy because your partner’s into that or you’re extremely slow on the uptake about what to do with a penis or someone else’s tongue in your mouth. I suppose I should be thankful that we’re spared tonguing sounds during the rimjob scenes or the slapping of balls on ass. It’s worth noting that the option to mute some or all of the voice acting exists, but I stuck it out because there were some performances I genuinely liked and because I was determined to get the full experience - for better or worse. 

Whether what I described above justifies the rather steep price tag for an indie visual novel (because of the voice acting, possibly?) is a personal call, but for what it’s worth I enjoyed my time with the game in spite of those shortcomings and do recommend it for fans of period M/M romance, particularly the kind you’re likely to find in Japanese properties like the ones from which CoB clearly draws inspiration. I feel like I’m getting ahead of myself, though, as this post is going to have a second part. Next time I’ll be critiquing each of the four love interests both in and out of bed, which will undoubtedly make for a fun and extremely filthy bit of writing.

[gamearamamegathons]

Trauma Center: Second Opinion: Surgery-Induced Rage

[Content warning for surgery stuff, and also bugs/spiders]

Circe here! I've covered two chapters this time, so there's a lot to get into. Let's get right to it. The first part of chapter 5 is just about treating a huge outbreak of GUILT. This gives the game an excuse to re-use a lot of its previous surgeries, just more difficult. First off, we have to handle five Kyriaki cases in ten minutes. This is actually pretty tense, but I'm glad I didn't lose. There's only so much fun you can squeeze out of doing the same surgery five times in a row. After this, they make a big deal out of there being a new airborne strain of GUILT, but it's actually just triangles again. This time, if you let the mist leave the surgery area, the infection spreads and you lose. But there's no reason for there to ever be a risk of that happening, so that plays out exactly the same. This game actually seems to pull that trick a lot, making a big deal about mutations that change the gameplay in barely-noticeable ways. Case in point, we now have a Tetarti case that they say is stronger, but I actually didn't notice a difference. There's some plot stuff about politicians obstructing the distribution of our GUILT treatment drugs, but that gets handled so it's not really worth making much of a fuss over.

Things get a bit more interesting afterward, when Delphi operatives break into Caduceus. The doctors make the logical step and decide that they should catch the intruders. This is a big government operation, are there no guards or anything...? Well, Dr. Meyers confronts one of the infiltrators and gets a picture of him, but she's infected with a new GUILT in the process. Introducing Paraskevi, which is a bit of an interesting one, and kinda fun to deal with. It's a sort of segmented worm thing, and we have to stun it with the laser, and cut it in half with the scalpel. We have to keep doing this until it's small enough to remove, creating new pieces moving around in the process. It's also burrowing through her organs, and if it reaches her heart, it's instant game over. So we just gotta get them all before that. They say you should stop the Paraskevi before it burrows, but it doesn't seem to telegraph that before it does. I eventually figure this out later, but we'll get to that.

We find out that the infiltrator was actually Dr. Blackwell, who is Angie's father who left his family behind 13 years ago. It looks like it's time to go raid Dr. Blackwell's lab, so naturally Derek and Angie are going with. There's a huge exchange about whether Angie's emotions will get in the way, but Angie insists she wants to go. I could complain about this scene, but it's not worth the effort, so let's move on. When we reach the Delphi lab, it looks like Delphi's higher ups have evacuated and left their researchers to die. Which seems like a bad move, these aren't just generic replaceable flunkies, but whatever. Naturally, we won't allow even the bad guys to die of GUILT, so we start treating one of them. Inside his organs, we find...well, basically little bugs crawling out of him. Gross. This surgery isn't very complicated, you just laser them as they come. When a lot of them clump together, they can form a larger blue bug that does a lot of damage to the patient, but if you keep at it, you'll clear them out without too much trouble.

The big one is the next surgery. We find Dr. Blackwell himself, infected with his greatest creation, Savato. This is the strain we just dealt with, but this time there's a whole boss monster here. It's basically a spider creature that makes a web around the victim's heart to drain their energy and make it stop. We have to cut away the webbing, but it *melts scalpels* so we gotta just keep getting replacement scalpels every time we cut a strand of web. Naturally, it can create more of the little guys, but they're not too hard to clean up as you go. After this part, you have to laser off a protective layer on the Savato's body. Once this is burned off, you can cut it with the scalpel. We have to repeat this a few times, and then we get a serum which can kill it. Injecting the serum causes it to flip out and start making lacerations everywhere, so Derek automatically uses his dark magic. Even then, though, it's too fast to kill, so you have to figure out that you need *double* dark magic to stop time completely and kill Savato once and for all. Uh, hope you didn't use up your healing touch already, that would suck. To be honest, Savato isn't that hard and even a little bit boring, since you have to laser it a lot and there's not a lot of visual indication of how long you have to laser it to get rid of its protection completely. But I guess it's not a big deal.

After this, we get Dr. Weaver's final episode. We see her at the Delphi lab pre-raid, where she's treating a researcher infected with Kyriaki. While she's doing this, we also see the medium-sized blue Savato again. But she's told to keep them alive while she treats the Kyriaki, because they need to be extracted to use as samples. This is a bit annoying, but not too bad as long as you keep the patient's vitals up. After the Kyriaki are gone, you get a serum to stun the Savato and extract them. After this, Dr. Weaver is told to evacuate, and they let her go since Delphi doesn't need her anymore. However, she kept the Savato samples, rather than handing them over. Seems like kind of a massive oversight that they just forgot to ask for the samples, but oh well, I guess.

The next section is mainly text, which is weird. I think this may be the bridge between the original content and a new remake-exclusive chapter, which would explain it, I guess. It's pretty sloppy, though. Basically it says that Delphi were exposed, and Dr. Blackwell cooperated with the investigation, so Delphi were effectively wiped out. Their home base was a fortified ship, which housed their leader Adam, who's essentially just an emaciated GUILT host at this point, I guess. It's weird. After this, we flash forward a few months, after Caduceus has largely been successful in eliminating GUILT.

Derek and Angie travel to Caduceus's European branch to see some new research they're working on. It looks like they've created a treatment for regenerating cells, which sounds pretty neat. We also meet Dr. Weaver again, going by her real name, Dr. Kimishima. The characters explain that there are still cases of GUILT cropping up, and they suspect that Delphi splinter groups are to blame. We treat a Tetarti strain that actually *is* harder, because rather than seeing their colors, we have to go by the toxic mist they emit, which is correctly color-coded. It's a neat idea, and not too tough to handle. Tetarti treatments are pretty chill, no matter what gimmicks they add on. Unfortunately, Derek collapses after the surgery. It looks like he, too, has been infected, and Dr. Kimishima will have to treat him.

This surgery is kinda tough, because we have to deal with Kyriaki and Paraskevi at the same time. This is right near his heart, so we have to deal carefully with the Paraskevi. Luckily, they're smaller this time, but it's a bit hectic between the Paraskevi and a much more aggressive Kyriaki. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Dr. Kimishima also confesses her involvement with Delphi, and explains that she traded her services and the Savato samples to Caduceus Europe in exchange for immunity...so that's why she's here now. Good to know.

After this, we learn that the regenerative treatments are actually created from Adam's GUILT-infected cells. I don't see anything inherently bad about repurposing a disease for healing purposes -- that's the entire basis of vaccines, after all. But the other characters seem very unhappy about this development. After this is revealed, we move on to a conference where Caduceus Europe goes into greater detail on their research. There's a very strange exchange where they explain that the government wanted this research to heal soldiers, and Hoffman claims disapprovingly that this would 'remove the risk of sending men to war'. He seems to think this is bad, even though the soldiers wouldn't even be fit to fight after this treatment, they just...wouldn't...die. I don't know, I guess it's an anti-war message, after a fashion, but I can't really get behind the sentiment that soldiers should suffer more. It's not like governments care about what happens to them after they're no longer useful, so this whole angle seems...confused, and it's never brought up again.

Whatever, let's cut to the money shot everyone's waiting for. They bring out a patient who was treated with this stuff, but then something goes wrong and his...blood...explodes...it's not really clear. Point is, GUILT-infected blood just got over a room full of the best doctors in the world and that *seems bad*. Derek is immune because he was infected once before I guess, so he's gotta get to work. The first GUILT we gotta treat is Pempti, and again, they claim it's different somehow, but this one seems to play out...basically the same as before. Maybe it takes more hits? If you keep it under control, that really doesn't make much difference...so...eh.

It's the next surgery where things really get fun, and by 'fun' I mean welcome to hell. In this episode, we have to do four surgeries in a row, in ten minutes. But unlike the last one of these, they're all different, and they're mostly very difficult rather than pedestrian Kyriaki treatments. First up is triangles, and you might think this would be the worst one, but with some practice, I actually managed to do it without a lot of difficulty. After that is Kyriaki, and there's nothing to make it any more difficult than before, so this is the one easy one. Next up, though...the third one is Deftera. You might remember that Deftera is the one where you have red and blue moving tumors, and we want them to collide so we can suck their fluids out. This surgery has some issues. First, the patient is bleeding everywhere, so there's blood pools obscuring the area that we have to suck out to do anything with the stuff underneath. All the while, there's four Deftera are spreading tumors everywhere, and it basically comes down to sheer luck if they collide in a timely manner, and if the same-colored ones collide, it makes everything worse. And it's just straight up random. Worse yet, when I try to suck out the Deftera's fluids, sometimes I just get interrupted for no apparent reason. And don't forget, once you've weakened the Deftera enough that they can be cut out, they start wreaking havoc and doing major damage. If the patient is below 30 vitals or so when that happens, they basically just die. And because so much is happening, if you ever have to stop to recover vitals, you're going to fall behind and never catch up. I tried to reduce the load by using the healing touch, but somehow I was having a hell of a time inputting it correctly, so I was just wasting time while the patient bled out.

Readers, I am not an angry person by nature. But this really, really...really...pissed me off. The combination of the unfairness of the surgery combined with the fact that I have to repeat two unrelated surgeries every time I failed was really pushing me to my limits for the first time in this entire game. For my mental well-being, I eventually caved and switched the difficulty to easy. It's good that I did, too, because the fourth surgery requires you to deal with another Paraskevi, except this one is right next to the heart and full-sized. This is where I figured out what should've been perhaps easy to understand in hindsight: a Paraskevi piece will only burrow if it's left un-stunned for too long. So as long as you take caution and regularly re-stun all pieces present, you'll be fine. On easy mode, anyway. Still, just to tie off this hideous episode with a bow, I did lose at this surgery once more before finishing off the whole affair.

After that, the 'final boss' is a bit anticlimactic. We find that Hoffman was infected with Savato, so we have to fight it. This strain has a gimmick where the web can hurt the patient more if it goes for too long without being cut, but that barely made an impact, and it played out pretty much the same as the last Savato. Long, but not all that hard, in the grand scheme of things. After that, we get the epilogue, and there's not really much to say. It's the happy ending you'd expect, more or less. Caduceus Europe is very sorry that they tried to create a new life-saving treatment, and promise to never do it again. Derek and Angie go home. Beyond that, I'm not invested in these characters to be that concerned where their lives end up after this, but it seems like they're doing fine, so, you know. That's good.

Beating the game unlocks a new set of extra-difficult postgame surgeries. I...may just skip these. We'll see. But either way, we're not quite done with Trauma Center: Second Opinion yet. Join me next time, when I pull together the threads of the game's narrative to form a coherent whole that I have only hinted at until now.

[odanurr87]

2018: My year in games

2018 was another good year for gaming as far as I’m concerned, provided you haven’t played Fallout 76 that is. Sony’s still releasing great exclusives, to the point I’m left wondering whether they can keep it up, and we’ve had some interesting releases on PC as well. I don’t have a clue as to how Microsoft is doing, but their one exclusive title I might’ve been interested in, Sea of Thieves, had a messy release and is only available on the Windows 10 store (no, thanks). Notably absent in the release schedule this year was EA’s BioWare, who have been working to release Anthem come February 2019, a title I have little hopes for considering how much it departs from the games the developer is known for as EA tries to embrace the Destiny “live services” crowd everyone is so keen on getting these days (*cough*Bethesda*cough*). CD Projekt RED is also on standby as they continue to work towards Cyberpunk 2077′s release... sometime. Well, at least we know we’re probably getting it sooner than Star Citizen or Half-Life 3. Thankfully, it was a year absent of controversies, like, say, a studio using a franchise to cash in on the battle-royale rage with minimal effort, or a company mocking consumers and telling them not to buy their game... Oh... Well, shit, guess no year is absent of controversy then, but it’s nice to see EA’s spreading the love.

But enough remembrance. You’re here for the list of my top games of 2018, or whatever category I come up with to sort them into, and that’s exactly what you’re going to get. 100% guaranteed, no microtransactions included. This year I’m going to try something different, listing the best games I played this year without ranking them, then selecting my favourite among these, my GOTY if you will. It may be rather unusual, and we all enjoy debating whether this game is the best or that other, but, on the plus side, it builds suspense for my GOTY, doesn’t it? After all, once you see a number other than 1 next to a title, you already know it won’t be my #1 choice. That and I’ve had a tough time trying to rank these games, especially the ones I’ve only just played. Perhaps I’ll change my mind later, but, for now, let’s what games were deserving of some praise this year, shall we?

PSA: This list won’t feature Red Dead Redemption 2 in any way, shape, or form, largely for two reasons: 1) I haven’t played it; and 2) it doesn’t particularly appeal to me, and its large runtime is one of the reasons why.

Let the epicness begin to this theme!

Best Aesthetic

Let’s start with a classic. Last year, the award went to Abzû for its excellent blend of pastel colours, pleasant gameplay, and wonderful soundtrack. It’s only fitting then that this year the award go to the game I recently called “2018′s Abzû”...

Released only a few weeks ago, Gris is another great example on how a game can exquisitely combine gorgeous artwork with an infinitely beautiful soundtrack, and provide an engaging, and rather creative, gameplay experience. Indeed, I'd go so far as say that is one aspect where Gris actually stands out over Abzû, with puzzles that are quite simple, but may require some lateral thinking from the player at times. The level design is fairly intuitive and I was hardly ever stumped as to what to do or where to go to next. Or maybe I was too busy enjoying the watercolour landscapes to pay much attention to where I was going. While Gris won't take more than 4 to 6 hours of your life, depending on whether you've found all collectibles, it is a visual and auditory spectacle well worth your time.

Runners-up:

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

Forgotton Anne

The PlayStation Exclusives

A Telltale-like game on steroids with spectacular visuals, thanks to an insane amount of mocap, and a great soundtrack, Detroit: Become Human really pushed the envelope in regards to choices and consequences within a narrative, so much so that every chapter has a story tree that shows the choices you made as well as the different branching-off points. Our story takes place sometime in the future of Detroit and explores the onset of an android revolution through three different characters, all of them androids: Kara, a housemaid android who runs away with a little girl called Alice; Markus, a domestic android turned rebel leader; and Connor, an advanced prototype specifically designed to help the police track down deviant androids.

Gameplay-wise, Connor’s story is definitely the best of the three, as it allows for more input from the player as Connor has to solve cases with his partner, Lt. Hank Anderson, played by Clancy Brown. These sections of the game are similar to the ones in the Arkham games, requiring you to analyze the scene and put together the clues to recreate past events. At times though, you’ll be placed in adrenaline-filled chases of suspects that make an impressive use of QTEs. As much as I loved this human-android crime-solving duo, the award for most dramatic and emotional story has to go to Kara and Alice’s odyssey to find a new home in the midst of all the chaos. I couldn’t help but feel immediately protective of Alice so I naturally roleplayed Kara as a mom, trying to set a good example for her through my actions. My one regret about this story concerns a decision the developers made, that takes place towards the game’s end and chips away a little at the significance of their relationship for no real value. As for Markus, he felt the more underdeveloped of the three, perhaps because he’s written more as a symbol than a person, becoming the Messiah for all androids (the game’s anything but subtle about this). He’s given a romance arc with the gorgeous Minka Kelly that, sadly, feels unearned, as her character, North, doesn’t have that many intimate moments with him.

Damn you for so obviously pulling at my heartstrings you two!

No story is without flaws and Detroit: Become Human is no exception. While it does feature humans interacting with androids here and there, I was surprised that the android revolution was 100% human-free, what seems rather disingenuous. The game also does little to explain android deviancy and actually muddles the issue by giving its Messiah a unique ability that ends up being not so unique after all. Furthermore, the story doesn’t explore at all the possibility that, even after going deviant, some androids would prefer to stay with their families rather than join Markus’ uncertain revolution. The game’s not particularly subtle in its depiction of android segregation in human society, to the point some of it struck me as more than a bit ridiculous (exclusive stairs for androids?), but I rolled with it thanks to the strength of some of its characters.

Clocking in at around 12 hours, give or take, this is one game that encourages multiple playthroughs as you read the decision trees to figure out where exactly you want to take the characters next and how to do that. A blind first playthrough is encouraged, especially if you want to end up an emotional wreck. For my part, Detroit: Become Human scratched my sci-fi and Telltale itch this year, and that’s why it makes it on my list.

A solid action-adventure title, and one that further disproves EA’s bold, but dumb, claim that single player games are dead. While perhaps not as visually striking as titles like Horizon Zero Dawn or Assassin’s Creed Odyssey -probably due to do the muted colour palette used to depict this world-, God of War remains engaging gameplay-wise, throwing in a healthy mix of satisfying combat and puzzles that will put Kratos’ skills to the test, as well as interesting side quests that never feel like a chore to play, thanks to how well integrated they are to the game’s theme and main story. The customization system is simple enough to understand and use, what is always welcome, and plays a key role in ensuring you will survive your journey, allowing you to upgrade your weapons, craft unique armours, and further tune the both with enchantments, through the tireless efforts of the best side characters in the game, the dwarves Brok and Sindri. The only fault I can find here is related to progression, and how the better armours in the game are available a little too close to the end. By that time, I had three great sets of armour to choose from when I could’ve used at least one of these earlier.

For those new to the franchise, as yours truly, you play Kratos, voiced by none other than Christopher Judge (Teal’c!), a Greek God (with a capital G) who has decided to exile himself to somewhere around Scandinavia after the events of the previous games. The game’s premise centers around trying to fulfill your deceased wife’s last wish to spread her ashes from the highest peak of the mountain. Along for the journey comes your BOY, Atreus, who does his best to connect with a father he rarely knew growing up, what strikes me as odd. Being a Spartan, and given his background, Kratos is more tight-lipped than I would’ve preferred, what makes communicating with his son rather difficult, at least in the beginning. While I understand and welcome what they tried to do with the characters here, I feel the father-son relationship could’ve used further development, especially in regards to a radical personality shift Atreus experiences out of the blue mid-way through the game and is gone just as quickly.

Infused as it is in Norse mythology, comparisons with 2017′s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice seem inevitable, but whereas that game retells the myths via a great narrator, in God of War you actually get to partake in this mythical world and explore some of them. Perhaps precisely because I had previously played Hellblade, most of the twists didn’t come as a surprise, but that doesn’t make them or the story any worse for it. I also have to give the game credit for its ending, which avoided some of the more cliché options available to it. Given the running theme, it would’ve been easy to turn it into something else entirely, and a few minutes leading up to it, I feared that’s exactly what the game would do, but was pleasantly surprised to find out otherwise. It even went the extra mile of hiding away the post-credits scene where one could expect to find it.

In the end, despite a few flaws in its storytelling, God of War is a solid entry in the single player action-adventure genre that I can easily recommend to anyone. If Hellblade didn’t scratch your Norse mythology itch, then God of War most assuredly will.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say this game has done for Spider-Man what the Arkham series did for Batman. Marvel’s Spider-Man is a great Spider-Man story and a very entertaining superhero game, that truly makes you feel like the highly acrobatic, web-slinging, joke-cracking, crime fighter. Swinging your way through NYC was a great rush, reminding me of Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst’s best parkour moments. But Spider-Man is only half of what makes the character great, and the other half, Peter Parker, is perhaps the best adaptation of the character I’ve seen to date, foregoing the tale of his early days as a superhero and reporter for The Daily Bugle, instead focusing on his career as a research assistant under Doctor Otto Octavius. He’s still broke as fuck though.

The story throws you right into the action at the onset, as you ensure Wilson Fisk finally goes to jail for the many crimes he has committed. It doesn’t take long before a new criminal group moves into town however, one that is far less concerned about civilian casualties and is determined to bring down the mayor of NYC, Norman Osborn. So begins a rather complicated web of lies and secrets that both Peter and Spider-Man will have to untangle as the city is slowly engulfed in chaos. Joining you in this fight are NYPD captain Yuriko Watanabe, Mary Jane Watson, now a reporter at The Daily Bugle, and even Miles Morales. Of the three, I liked Yuri the best and felt we could’ve used more time bonding with her. I know very little of Miles’ run as Spider-Man and, while I welcomed his addition to the game, it felt a little lazy to make him such a carbon-copy of Peter. As for MJ, she thoroughly annoyed me with her shtick of getting mad at Spider-Man for constantly saving her, moreso considering how she recklessly puts herself in extremely dangerous situations to begin with.

Less MJ and more Yuri please.

The game features an open world that gets layered with side activities the more you progress through the main campaign. It’s a good idea so as not to overwhelm players with a ton of busy work right at the beginning, and I’ll admit some of them give the player more insight into Peter’s past and Harry Osborn’s character. However, busy work they remain, and you’re obliged to tackle at least some of them if you want to buy suits or upgrade your equipment. While often creative, especially Harry’s research stations, their abundance highlight the lack of more (and more interesting) side quests (the amount of loading screens doesn’t help either). Furthermore, teases like Felicia’s Black Cat returning to NYC or even Silver Sable’s introduction were begging for side quests of their own. Even so, the game’s worst sin by far is how it forces you to play scripted “stealth” sections with Miles and MJ that I kept wishing I could skip. I’m a huge fan of stealth games, but these sections felt extremely forced, perhaps done out of a need to give these characters some agency.

In the end though, Marvel’s Spider-Man is one of the best superhero games to date, and perhaps the best story we never got to see on the big screen, but it naturally benefits from a running time longer than 2 hours. Ironically, it’s similar to the recently released Aquaman, in the sense that it throws a lot of familiar faces and action-packed set pieces at you, particularly towards its emotional third act, unfortunately sacrificing some villains (in terms of storytelling) in the process. Furthermore, this final act feels a little rushed, as if it were missing a cutscene or two in the beginning, and likewise in the end to explain the state of the world. Yet for me, Marvel’s Spider-Man’s crowning achievement remains making me feel like one of my favourite Marvel superheroes as I parkour, fight, and web-sling my way through New York City.

Best Soundtrack

This was not an easy choice to make as there were several titles with solid scores this year, such as Detroit: Become Human, created by three different composers for each of the characters, Peter Due’s Forgotton Anne, or even Joe Haisashi’s Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom. Even John Paesano makes a comeback from his average work on Mass Effect: Andromeda with an excellent main theme for Spider-Man as well as a few other great tracks like “City of Hope” (which plays every time you traverse the city), “Responsibility” and “Behind the Mask.” But the difficulty in choosing one of these increased exponentially when Gris released to an absolutely mesmerizing score by Berlinist, putting me in a similar predicament as last year. In the end though, only one gets to take home this prestigious award, and that game is...

This one was almost a toss between Gris and Detroit, but, in the end, I have to give it to the latter for the sheer amount of work put by Philip Sheppard (Kara), Nima Fakhrara (Connor), and John Paesano (Markus) into crafting three separate and distinct scores that not only feel authentic to each of the characters but are also wonderful to listen to on their own, effectively elevating the source material, something not many titles can boast. If you were to force my hand right now to pick between one of the three, I’d naturally have to go with Philip Sheppard’s score, as his Kara leitmotif was the one that stuck with me the most throughout the game. It’s a simple string composition but the things he does with it, the way he builds upon it, it’s something truly wonderful. It doesn’t hurt that I loved Kara and Alice’s story the most, from an emotional standpoint, and Philip Sheppard’s score plays no small part in this. Having said that, I also have to congratulate Fakhrara’s Connor score, far and wide the one that feels more at home in this sci-fi world, and Paesano’s work in elevating Markus’ character through his music, with great tracks such as “Something You’ve Never Seen Before” or “Markus’ Speech,” to mention a couple. Like last year’s NieR:Automata, Detroit: Become Human’s score is definitely worth a purchase.

Runners-up:

Gris

Forgotton Anne

The Animated Adventures

Of all the games in this list, none fit the category of “family game” better than Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. Everything from its bright and colourful art design that could be lifted straight from a Studio Ghibli production at times, imaginative world and characters, and cheerful soundtrack, made this game a delight to play from beginning to end. It was truly refreshing to play such a straightforward and sincere story about a young prince who wishes to unite the world in peace, working together with his mentor and a motley cast of allies from all corners of the world. The story is framed as a series of chapters, with opening slides and even a narrator to close each one, and it follows Prince Evan as he's exiled from his kingdom after a coup, yet finds the strength in his newfound commitment to bring peace unto the entire world. As such, he founds a new kingdom that you get to micromanage throughout the game, building and creating different facilities, undertaking research or crafting new weapons and armour, finding new recipes for your cook, or scouring the world for people keen on becoming the first citizens of your new kingdom. Unless you’re planning on rushing through the main story, kingdom building will take a good deal of your time, as you’re sent on quest after quest to gather ingredients, find missing people, or engage in battle from time to time. To give an example, it took me 37 hours to beat this game and I still had a ton of things to do on my quest log!

As perhaps one would expect from such a kid-friendly game, Ni no Kuni II is surprisingly easy to play, so much so that people actually complained it lacked difficulty levels, which were eventually added in a patch. If I had to criticize it for something, it would have to be for its world map exploration, which looks similar to Worlds of Final Fantasy, a design decision that clashes with the vibrant Ghibli-like art that is prominent throughout. Perhaps it was outsourced to a different studio than Level-5? Also, the amount of side content in this game can get a bit overwhelming and more than a little repetitive, but if my runtime proves anything, it’s that you can engage it at your own leisure (indeed, it takes 90 hours for a completionist run), or not. The game also features a sort of in-world Facebook/Twitter where you can check posts with pictures of events that have transpired, people looking for new jobs or challenges (a nice way to search for citizens), or even examples of the world’s flora and fauna. It’s a nice little feature that makes the world feel a little more alive and reactive than it really is. As for its score, composed by Joe Hisaishi, while it does have great tracks such as “The Curious Boy” (my personal favourite), “Kingmaker’s Theme,” or “Happily Ever After,” not to mention its main theme, and is solid overall (more so than other titles in this list), it’s probably not one I’ll often find myself listening to, which is why I didn’t award it with my Best Soundtrack award.

All in all, Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is a title I’d heartily recommend to anyone who wants to experience a charming and colourful bedtime story in a little country a long, long way from here...

Developed by ThroughLine Studios and released by Square Enix earlier in May, this game wasn’t even on my radar, but, like Ni no Kuni II, Forgotton Anne is a game brimming with imagination, that pleasantly surprised me with its great voice acting and soundtrack. Unlike Ni no Kuni II however, the game maintains its beautiful, hand-crafted, aesthetic throughout, making you the protagonist of an animated adventure with high production values, as you take on the role of Anne, a human tasked with enforcing the law in a world of forgotten objects turned sentient, called Forgotlings. When a group of rebel Forgotlings strike a power plant, Anne will have to track down the mysterious rebel leader and uncover the truth about herself and this world. Forgotton Anne is a game that allows you to roleplay a ruthless Enforcer as well as one that prefers more peaceful means of resolving conflict and these decisions are acknowledged throughout the game. Equipped with the Arca, a glove that allows you to manipulate anima (or soul energy), Anne will often be presented the choice of 'distilling' Forgotlings or sparing them, opening or closing certain doors for you.

The game plays as a platformer with puzzles that revolve around your use of the Arca to open doors, power up consoles, etc. These are not terribly difficult but you may find one or two that leave you scratching your head for a bit. Exploration is encouraged by way of collectibles and, in fact, a feature is introduced at the end of the game that allows you to travel back in time and replay certain levels in order to track down memorabilia and unlock achievements. It's a neat way of allowing replayability while in the context of the story and it gets extra marks from me for the additional effort.

While the story is largely predictable, it's by no means any less good for it and was, to my mind, perfectly executed. One lingering issue I have, nonetheless, is how the game makes a reveal halfway through, believing it'll have more impact than it actually did as I'd already been playing under the basis this was true. Perhaps they should've made more of an effort to hide it in the beginning. Then again, maybe that would've drawn more attention to it. Another issue I had storywise has to do with how underdeveloped, and slightly contradictory, I felt one of the endings was. It's a feeling I also had when playing the original Life is Strange and realizing how much more effort was put into of the endings as opposed to the other.

When all is said and done, Forgotton Anne is a charming animated adventure that will undoubtedly pull at your heart strings, but also make you smile merely for being allowed to partake in this world of ill-tempered teddy bears, trigger-happy guns, and Shakespearean mannequins, and it’s a definite recommendation.

Lara’s Final Chapter

Shadow of the Tomb Raider delivered almost everything I wanted from a new entry in the Tomb Raider series, but not all I would’ve expected from Lara’s final chapter. Together with her friend Jonah, Lara must stop Trinity from finding an ancient artifact in South America that has the power to reshape the world. However, in her rush to beat Trinity to the finish line, Lara may have inadvertedly set in motion a series of events that threaten to trigger an apocalypse. As a result, Shadow of the Tomb Raider turns out to be a darker game than its predecessors, a fact highlighted at several points throughout the game, but never sufficiently explored, though I give it credit for acknowledging it. Sadly, while Shadow tries to tie together the Trinity storyline from Rise, we learn very little in terms of the composition and overall goals of this shadowy organization, that is now practically reduced to providing cannon fodder for our favourite Croft. The main villain is a little more nuanced and sympathetic than previous ones, and for once the series doesn’t tie your hands behind your back during the final boss fight. Unfortunately for the game, I was more invested in fighting his lieutenant, who gets killed in a cutscene.

In terms of gameplay, Shadow doubles down on tomb raiding, adding underground and underwater exploration, but one can’t help but feel its maps are more constrained than in Rise, favouring the Uncharted series’ more linear approach, particularly when it comes to the game’s combat sections, which feel more scripted than ever before. Perhaps by way of compensation, the game introduces a new stealth mechanic that allows Lara to camouflage herself, thus getting insanely close to her enemies, and the ability to hang enemies from tree tops a la Arkham series. The crafting system now allows you to harvest insects to craft poison grenades or special arrows that turn your enemies against each other, though, regrettably, these are introduced rather late in the game. Weapon customization also makes a comeback as does Lara's ever-increasing wardrobe. Shadow also tries something new by introducing side quests, but thankfully never so many as to feel burdensome.

This game looks pretty to boot too.

The music is mostly unremarkable, working to great effect immersing you in the setting and building on the game’s atmosphere, as I’m sure was Brian D’Oliveira’s intention, but there's nothing that'll stick with you after you're done tomb raiding your way to the end. The pieces that stood out to me the most are “Lara's Dream” and the end credits song, “Goodbye Paititi,” but that’s about it. This might partially explain why Lara’s final chapter lacks emotional resonance; a lot of the emphasis is placed on the action, few, if any, leitmotifs or themes are introduced, with (maybe) only the main theme carried over from previous games. It would be wrong to lay the blame entirely at Shadow’s feet when the first game didn’t establish a musical narrative beyond Lara’s theme though. I don't recall a Jonah theme or a Trinity theme, for instance. Perhaps if the series had maintained a coherent musical narrative with its score the story beats would've been more impactful.

Our story ends in an uneventful note that I feel doesn’t do the series justice. It’s not a bad ending, but it doesn’t pack the same punch as, say, Uncharted 4 did. In a way, this is a curse of its own making, as the Tomb Raider series is tonally different from Uncharted; and whereas the strength of the latter rests in Nate’s interactions with his friends and family, Lara has always been terribly isolated in these games, Jonah notwithstanding. Thus, while not exactly the swan song our tomb raider deserves, if you played the previous two games, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is definitely not one to miss.

Best Side Content

I don’t think any other game I’ve played this year has come close to making its world come alive nearly as much as this game did. With plenty of side quests and side activities, it would be easy to make them seem like busy work, but this game somehow manages to turn them into events the player can look forward to, building the world these characters live in, making it feel real. Some are so entertaining that I found myself delaying the main campaign so I could play more of them. No game released this year did this better than...

While the game shows some signs of its age (it was originally released in 2015 in Japan), what it lacks in visuals it more than makes up packing its world full of fun things to do. Do you want to go out for drinks and do some karaoke? You can do that. How about some batting practice? You can do that too. Dinner? Sure. Car racing? You bet. Can I rock the dance floor? Like freaking Travolta. You can even play games at your nearest SEGA arcade, bet big on an underground fight ring (there are two), get into real estate or manage your cabaret club, by far the mini-game I had most fun with. The amount of detail put into some of these mini-games is beyond ridiculous and would definitely justify having a game of their own. Beyond these activities, you also get to meet a lot of interesting NPCs that have their own unique stories to tell and that you always feel glad to have helped at the end of the day. You can help a mother rescue her daughter from a cult, have the Chinese mafia fake a ring for a guy’s girlfriend, teach a dominatrix how to be better at her job, or even share your stories with a radio programme to win a prize, to mention a bare few. You can also have a few laughs at how bad Majima is tailing people and trying to hide from them.

Yakuza 0 is an example of side content done right, that foregoes the modern-day open-world formula, opting for a more constrained setting a la Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but that feels big and rich thanks to its content and characters. And on that note, let’s give it up for Judgement Kazzy!

Runners-up:

God of War

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

Assassins No More

Last year, Origins made it into my list through sheer spectacle, the lure of exploring Ancient Egypt, and the promise of a return to the modern storyline of the Isu with the introduction of a new set protagonist, Layla Hassan. This year, Odyssey ups the ante by delivering a story that, while still revolving around a family drama, no longer makes revenge the driving force of the narrative. Indeed, for a good chunk of the game, our character’s motivation (Kassandra, in my case) is a blend of making a living as a mercenary and exploring the world beyond her small island of Kephallonia. Given how beautiful and colourful the world in Odyssey is, I’d say it was a smart choice. The game also introduces more interesting side quests than its predecessor did, and better tied to the main campaign, with one of my favourites being the Silver Islands arc; perhaps in no small part thanks to how cute the rebel leader, Kyra, is. In fact, Kassandra can romance a TON of people as she explores the world and runs errands, but, sadly, no relationship is as well crafted as, say, your relationship with Triss or Yennefer in The Witcher 3. Some might come close to being as impactful, such as your relationship with Daphnae, one of the Daughters of Artemis, but they’re all mostly just one-night stands, with one particular relationship coming out of the blue as the game ends that I wished the game had set up and built further.

I know I said cute, but hot works too.

Gameplay-wise, Odyssey plays very much like Origins, with a more streamlined crafing system, that requires less variety (but still tons) of resources to upgrade your gear, but with blocking gone after the shield was removed, an odd design choice. You still get to level up your character, though the leveling-up curve is rather steep at the beginning, forcing you to play much of the side content that would qualify under busy work. It doesn’t help that the in-game store sells a Permanent XP booster that gives you an additional 50% XP for $10, as well as materiales to upgrade your gear, and has the balls to outright call them “Time Savers.” Ubisoft further pushes the in-game store and Helix credits by introducing a new currency in-game, necessary to buy crates with random legendary gear drops from a special vendor, that you get at a much slower rate than your usual credits. I’m not too mad about this, given that the game does reward you with some great-looking armours through normal playthrough, but it’s something we should be on the lookout for future titles.

Naval battles make a return and, simple as they are, I welcomed the distraction and opportunity to sail the Aegean Sea and discover new locations and secrets. At times, Odyssey manages to replicate the sense of wonder and mystery I experienced when playing Skyrim. On the other hand, Conquest battles, its newest addition to the franchise, fail to live up to the expectation. Beyond their limited scope, the worst sin they commit is how inconsequential they are, having no impact in the world around you beyond what banner the closest fort will fly. Curiously, these battles are missing from the main story's end content, what seems odd considering they would've been a perfect fit for the story. In fact, there's a stark contrast between Chapters 1-7 and 8-10, with the latter chapters moving at a brisk pace that is not necessarily justified. On the plus side, Ubisoft has seemingly embraced the Isu civilization, what has allowed them to include mythical creatures like the Minotaur or Medusa, and even throw in Atlantis for good measure. I only hope they’ll go the extra mile and throw in some Greek Gods as well.

The game has some well-placed humour as well.

For all the things it does better than Origins however, I feel Odyssey takes a few steps back, especially insofar the modern-day storyline is concerned. While Layla Hassan makes a comeback, her story is so short and uneventful that it comes across as an afterthought, jumping ahead in time and introducing a whole host of new characters we have never met and referencing events we know nothing about. Layla herself experiences a radical transformation from being skeptical of the assassins’ intentions to becoming one of their strongest supporters. Nothing about the modern-day storyline makes a lot of sense, with many gaps that are probably filled in with other material such as comics and novels, but I’ve always believed that to be the hallmark of lazy and poor storytelling. Either commit to the modern-day storyline or don’t, Ubisoft, you can’t have it both ways.

Overall, I feel like Odyssey is an improvement over Origins, and that’s why it makes it on the list. I am however, skeptical that Ubisoft will pull it off a third time before the charm and novelty of an open-world Assassin’s Creed game wears off -it already is thanks in no small part to its side content-, or before they push the Helix Store so hard down our throats that they have their own Battlefront 2 controversy. Perhaps they still have a shot with a game set in Japan or China. Only time will tell.

My favourite game of 2018

This wasn’t a particularly easy choice to make considering the different strengths and weaknesses of the games in this list, not to mention their different approaches to storytelling. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is a strong contender, but its world is so filled with busy work, its modern-day story so underdeveloped, and the push of the Helix Store so blatant, that I cannot in good conscience say this was my favourite game of 2018, let alone GOTY. Likewise, Shadow of the Tomb Raider was initially well-positioned in my mind to take it home, but it just didn’t stick the landing for what it’s supposed to be (but hopefully isn’t) Lara’s final chapter. Another single-player action-adventure title, God of War, gets almost everything right, but I couldn’t connect with the story of Kratos and Atreus in the same way I did, say, Kara and Alice in Detroit: Become Human. I could go on knocking out competitors, but I’d rather talk about my favourite game released in 2018...

Yakuza 0 is not a perfect game, but it gets pretty close at times. Set in the 80s, Yakuza 0 follows the characters of Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima, two rookie Yakuza who, for different reasons, have fallen in disfavour with their respective families, and need to figure out whether they have what it takes to return to the fold. That’s about as much as I can reveal without talking spoilers. No story in any of the games I played this year gripped me nearly as much as this one did (some moments in Detroit: Become Human come close), not only because of how well-written the characters are across the board (including the villains who come across as fearsome opponents), but also because of its many twists and turns that will keep you guessing what the real goal of the different players you find yourself involved with is. Your character, be it Kiryu or Majima, and his understanding of events by the game’s end, is radically different from his starting point, as you unveil plots within plots within plots, a result of the many and varied agendas at play here. To say this game has as many layers as an onion would be high praise... for the onion. Both Kiryu and Majima are powerful characters in their own right when fighting thugs, as demonstrable by the gameplay, but Yakuza 0 is quite ruthless in showing you exactly how out of their depth they are when they decide to take on... bigger opponents. You would think this is because Kiryu and Majima get beat up, and they do, a lot, but I actually found it’s the conversations they have with other characters, the villains in particular, that’s the highlight of the game. Yes, characters in Yakuza 0 talk, a lot, so you’d better get used to it, but these conversations, excellently voice-acted, fill the atmosphere with so much tension, dread, or sometimes anticipation, that you can’t help but be absorbed by them, as you can never guess what the other party might say that will surprise you. And this game surprised me a lot.

Man, the conversations in this game...

Having said that, it is true many of the twists and turns that were a surprise in the beginning started to feel a bit trite when they’re re-used in the final chapters. One that annoyed me in particular was the game’s use of the “Your Princess is in Another Castle” trope (incidentally, God of War also does this to some extent), sometimes forcing events a little much to pull it off. I suppose this has to do with the fact that this “Princess” becomes the sole motivation for your two characters towards the end, getting shuffled around so both Kiryu and Majima can get a crack at the villains. It works thanks to the strength of the characters and their dialogue, but I would certainly take issue with a lesser game that kept me running around the place for 4 or 5 chapters straight. I also felt that, of the two leads, Kiryu’s ending is the one that feels more natural to his character, as opposed to Majima’s, who experiences an odd personality shift that doesn’t seem to jibe with what we know of him. It’s possible this has to do with the fact that, while Yakuza 0 is the starting point in the series for our two protagonists, it’s not the first game in the series. As a matter of fact, there were 5 Yakuza games, released over the space of 10 years, prior to Yakuza 0.

Having previously awarded it with my “Best Side Content” award and praising it for its world-building, despite not being an open-world game (yes, you can have invisible walls and still make a great game!), Yakuza 0 only needed to deliver on its story and characters, and it did that in spades.

And that’s it for my list of the best games I played in 2018! It’s a bit of a long read, for sure, but I could hardly have done these games justice had I written less, and in some cases I probably didn’t write enough. What about you? What are some of the best games you played in 2018?

[johnmkenney]

Game of the Year 2018

2018 was an interesting year for games.  While there wasn’t as much depth as previous years, the games that stood out were truly something special.  This was certainly a year where big franchises that had been dormant for a few years came roaring back, but more importantly some developers released some truly unique new IP that took the industry by storm.  All of this combined for some great experiences that won’t soon be forgotten.  There wasn’t a ton of games I thought were fantastic outside of the top 10, but this was one of the most difficult years to order the top 10 as the quality of each game was unbelievable.

As always, the rules for inclusion are as follows:    

The game must have its final retail release in 2018.  Thus, anything in an alpha/beta state or Steam Early Access does not qualify.  This rule is still being under consideration for removal.

In the case of episodic games, they must have their final episode delivered in 2018 to make the list.

While this list is comprehensive, I haven’t played everything.  Games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Dragon Quest XI, Hitman 2, Forza Horizon 4, Florence, and The Messenger all seem great but are unfortunately all still on my backlog.

Most importantly: the game has to be really good.  No-brainer there.

Honorable mentions:

While this year wasn’t as competitive past the Top 10, there were a few other games I played that deserved mentions as my final cuts:

Monster Hunter World - This was a causality of not having enough time to get deep enough in the game, but from what I played MHW does a great job making the series more accessible to a broader audience. Octopath Traveler - The game oozes style and has a great combat system, but unfortunately the late-game repetition and disjointed story keeps it from becoming something great. Yoku’s Island Express - It was truly a unique idea to mix pinball with Metroidvania, and it pays off with a fun game and a great soundtrack. 

Without further ado, here are my top 10 games of 2018:

10. Super Smash Bros Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora - Switch)

The follow up to Smash Bros for Wii U/3DS, this entry once again delivered.  Nintendo managed to bring back every character that has ever been in a Smash game, including characters that were cut from previous installments for various reasons.  The team managed to make enough subtle tweaks to most characters to keep the brawler as entertaining as usual.  However, the standout mode in this version has to be in the massive single-player Spirits system.  There are over 1,000 unique spirits to collect in this game, and to unlock most of them you need to complete a special battle that represents the character of the spirit you are trying to unlock.  These clever fights help pay homage to characters that don’t make the cut for Smash, and it is a nice touch to help add several dozens of hours of fun moments.  

9. Into the Breach (Subset Games - PC, Switch)

Following up to their 2012 indie hit FTL, Subset Games is back with another clever run-based adventure.  Into the Breach is something all its own though, as this turn-based strategy game tasks you with using a few mechs to defend various cities and structures from an invading alien menace.  Customization is key here, as you are able to unlock multiple squads and pilots that help completely modify your strategy to save the world.  One of the more brilliant parts of the game is that almost all the information is provided to you prior to each turn.  You know exactly where each enemy is going to attack the following turn, so the goal isn’t just to eliminate your foe, but also disrupt them.  If you see your opponent is poised to barrel ahead in a straight line towards a building, you can use a ranged attack to instead knock it of its path so that it instead rams into another adversary.  While it is incredibly challenging to have the perfect turn, everything is within your control so you know it was your fault if things go wrong.  Ben Prunty also delivers an incredible soundtrack yet again, as his melodies help really set the atmosphere for each tense battle. 

8. Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Studios - PS4/XBO)

Easily the most talked about game of 2018, Rockstar’s prologue to their 2010 western is an incredible technical achievement.  The amount of detail that goes into every aspect of this game seems mind-blowing, and it is quite easy to lose yourself in the world that has been created.  The story is also one of the biggest improvements in the game this time around, as seeing how Dutch’s gang fell leading to the events of the previous installment is a fascinating tale.  The protagonist, Arthur Morgan, has one of the more gripping character arcs seen in the past few years.  There is an absolute ton to accomplish in this game, as it is constantly introducing new side quests as well as presenting random stranger events that help make everything feel very alive.  Unfortunately, sometimes the gameplay gets in its own way, and some of the later missions can be a repetitive slog despite the gripping story being told.  This is one not to be missed, but there’s just enough keeping it from being a true classic.

7. Donut County (Ben Esposito - iOS, PC, PS4, Switch, XBO)

Donut County is easily the weirdest game on this list as this is a game where you play as a hole.  While in most games that have pits you are used to avoiding them, here you are actually trying to have as many characters and objects fall into a hole as possible.  The puzzles aren’t difficult at all, but every time you suck something up, the hole gets larger so that you are able to go after larger items until nothing is left on screen.  It is a unique concept that works, and it is something that anyone can play.  What ties everything together though is the tremendous cast of characters in the game, as BK the raccoon and everyone around him will keep you laughing the entire way through.  There is a journal in the game, the Trashopedia, which includes hilarious descriptions written by a raccoon describing real world items.  It is worth ready every single entry.  The soundtrack does a great job pulling everything together, and the game only being 2 to 3 hours makes it a great quick jaunt for everyone.

6. Tetris Effect (Monstars Inc/Resonair - PS4)

At this point, everyone knows what Tetris is.  So, there’s nothing new that can be done with Tetris, right?  Wrong.  Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the mind behind Lumines, helped gets the rights to Tetris so that his studio could help work on a version of Tetris that functioned similar to his music-based puzzler.  While he only served as a producer on the title, his influence is clearly seen.  The hallmark mode, Journey, has you making a specific number of lines as the speed changes based on the tempo of the song that is playing.  All the while this is happening, interactive backgrounds also animate to the rhythm.  Once you hit your line goal, you keep your blocks on screen, but you are then transported to another song and environment to continue on with its own tempo with a new count of lines to achieve.  While the game was initially built for VR, it plays just fine on a normal TV and will have you glued trying to get that classic four line namesake.  The presentation also extends to multiple other challenging modes, including trying to build the highest combo as well as using 3 or 4 blocks to clear every line on a puzzle.  The weekly events will keep you coming back, and overall this a great package to help revitalize one of the best games ever created. 

5. Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games - PS4)

While the previous generation saw great comic success with the Batman Arkham series, it was often wondered when some other classic heroes would get a resurgence in the gaming world.  It took a while, but Insomniac found a way to capture that lightning with their PS4-exclusive Spider-Man.  Skipping the origin story that has been told to death at this point, you are transported into the life of Peter Parker years after he has already become Spider-Man and several of his foes are already locked up in the Raft.  Certain characters have yet to become their iconic villainous forms yet, while others are already terrorizing New York City like the Shocker.  A unique Spider-Man story is told here, as with the change of canon you aren’t sure the twists and turns each character arc is going to take which always keeps you on your toes.  Most importantly, the gameplay here is a blast.  Previous Spider-Man games always have trouble making it feel fun to swing around the city, but Insomniac’s version has you darting around the city with ease.  Random events happen in the city in real time, and everything is so tightly packed that you can accomplish anything even if you only have small amounts of time to play.  There are great nods to Spider-Man and Marvel lore through with Peter’s costumes and collectibles.  The underrated gem of the entire experiences are the sequences where you play as Mary Jane and Miles, as their ventures help show that everyday people are just as important to Peter’s success as Spider-Man is.  

4. Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 LLC - PC)

Definitely the most unique game on the list this year, Return of the Obra Dinn casts you as an insurance claims collector that needs to catalog the deaths and disappearances of a few dozen people from an abandoned ship that has just returned.  Ok, that might not sound captivating at first, but stay with me.  Lucas Pope (creator of Papers Please) made one of the most novel puzzle games here, as you are given an empty journal and an artist’s rendition of everyone who was aboard the doomed vessel.  You are then able to walk up to any corpse on the boat and be instantly transported back to the exact moment of their demise.  Sometimes you hear brief dialogue, but mostly you are just able to walk around a still scene of the exact moment of their death.  Here, you walk around and try to figure out who the person is, how they died, and who else was there.  While you can typically figure out how the person died, the true puzzle solving comes with finding out the names of who each person is from their involvement in other scenes, and it creates a deep loop of investigation and revisiting moments.  There truly is nothing like this game, and the unique look helps it give it a style all its own.  

3. God of War (Sony Santa Monica - PS4)

While multiple franchises saw returns this year, none had more of an impact than the return of God of War.  Previous installments in the series saw Kratos as a bloodthirsty screaming god looking for revenge, but this time around he moved away from Ancient Greece to Midgard for a quieter life where he is taking care of his son Atreus.  His wife in this realm has recently passed, and your objective is to honor her last wish of spreading her ashes at the highest point in the realm.  Part of what makes this entry in the series so satisfying is that it slows down the adventure and gives more weight to the combat as well as more options to vanquish your foes.  The light-RPG system implemented helps you determine what skills Kratos can utilize and lets your specialize your character more than previous games.  While the combat is great, the world and its story is what takes center stage here.  Kratos’ relationship with his son makes for great moments throughout and does a lot more to humanize Kratos compared to previous games in the series.  The supporting cast does a great job of making the world feel alive as well, especially Mimir who will help give insight to the history of everything around you in real time as you travel.  Kratos’ return is a triumph, and it helped make me care about a franchise that I thought I had lost all interest in.  The ending was left very open, so its very exciting to see where Sony Santa Monica goes from here.

2. Dead Cells (Motion Twin - PC, PS4, Switch, XBO)

Early Access has been a system that has certainly had its ups and downs, but Dead Cells just may be the best thing to ever come out of the program.  There have been games in the past that have attempted to fuse Metroidvanias and rouge-lites, but none have succeeded like this.  It’s simple, at the beginning of every run you are given a melee weapon and a choice of one other weapon, all of which differ depending on what you have unlocked so far.  From here, you’re free to explore the first level of the game and keep any upgrade that you find.  Also along the way you occasionally pick up cells from enemies, which serve as your currency for upgrades.  However, if you die before the end of a level, you lose everything that you picked up so far in that area.  This helps build tension when you’ve gotten a rare blueprint for a new item or a large number of cells, as you want to make sure you can reach the collector who will essentially bank your cells and let you buy things to improve future runs.  Its a loop that works.

While the upgrade system, the unique weapons and skills, and branching paths help set this rogue-lite apart, the true glory in Dead Cells is the combat and how tight the controls are.  There are few 2D action games that feel this good to play, and it makes some of the more frantic levels an absolute blast.  You’ll certainly get to the first boss in an early run, but he’ll likely demolish you.  Improve yourself a little bit, and the next time you get back to him you see progress but still no victory.  Hone your skills more, and the next thing you know it you are trouncing the first boss every single time you get to him.  Then as the game ramps up in difficulty in the following levels, you learn to adapt in new ways to advance even more.  After tons of runs and hours, you’ll eventually find yourself at the final test: The Hand of the King.  He is without a doubt the hardest aspect of this game that will do everything to crush what you thought was a perfect run.  But when you finally have a run that allows you to land that final blow and defeat him, it is something special that encapsulates the beauty of perseverance in this game.  This just might be the best rogue-lite since Spelunky.

1. Celeste (Matt Makes Games - PC, PS4, Switch, XBO)

At the beginning of the game, you’re told that Celeste is a game about climbing a mountain.  While that is very true, it’s about much more than that.  Celeste is a precision platform that stars a young girl named Madeline who is setting out to climb Celeste Mountain to prove she can do it.  Her intentions aren’t crystal clear at first, but she’s told by one of the other NPCs that she’ll fail.  She has told by her mother in a dream sequence that she’ll fail.  She’s followed by a dark version of herself that tells her that she’ll fail.  It becomes evident quickly that this is a game about conquering your own anxiety and doing something outside of your comfort zone.

While Celeste draws inspiration from games like Super Meat Boy and I Wanna Be the Man, there is enough to give the game its own identity here.  This game is punishing, but at the same time it is incredibly fair.  Anytime you die, you are sent back immediately to the beginning of the screen.  This allows you to easily evaluate how you made a mistake adjust or fine tune your strategy from there.  Soon obstacles that seemed impossible are nothing to you, and you instead need to figure out how to get through the next roadblock.  You get better and learn something every time you die, and that helps you propel forwards better than other similar games in the genre. There are also collectibles hidden on most screens known as strawberries, and they serve as an extra challenge to help make each level even harder if you want to take the extra step.  But the true difficulty lies in the bonus B-side and C-side levels that unlock should you find the other collectibles in each level.  These are remixed levels that are shorter than the main game but present new twists on the mechanics of each world, leading to one of the most rewarding feelings should you be able to conquer these.  They are not for the faint of heart.

[thesteadydietofeverything]

Video Game Year in Review: Remakes, Remasters, and Re-releases

I’ve never made a list of remakes, remasters, and re-releases before, but then again, I don’t think I’ve ever played so many in a single year to even be able to. 2018 was a particularly busy year in this end of video game releases, nearly exclusively due to the Nintendo Switch. Now in its second year, the Switch may have been light on brand new first party titles, but the rush of seemingly every developer to get new and old games alike on the portable console came into full swing. “When’s that game coming to Switch?” has turned into a question that could be reasonably applied to...just about every game, but perhaps no more so than great Nintendo games originally released on their previous, unsuccessful console, the Wii U. These games enjoyed a second life in 2018, with many, including myself, playing 2014 games that we never got to as if they’re brand new. Switch re-releases don’t account for every game on this list, but they are a very clear majority...

5. Bayonetta (Switch remaster) - This is the one game on this list that I actually didn’t like. But I tried. Like it’s spiritual cousin, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta is a game that makes you feel shitty for not being good at it. I consistently got low grades on my combat performance, but didn’t feel like the game was offering any particularly helpful guidance in how to improve. It just kept pushing me forward, with dwindling currency, supplies, and patience, all the while just being a bit of a dick to me. If I found gameplay to be more fun, maybe I also would have been more willing to be entertained by its puerile, edgy aesthetic, but as it was, that just became another thing to grate on my nerves. If there’s one thing I gained from this game, it’s the assurance that not every popular game from the late 2000’s that I missed out on while I was barely playing video games is worth catching up on.

4. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch re-release) - The Donkey Kong Country games have always eluded me. I never had a SNES, so I couldn’t quite get into the bizarre proto-3D graphics of the originals once I finally checked them out. Tropical Freeze is the game that finally proved to me why people love these games so much. Donkey Kong is an unusual platforming star - his hulking frame gives him a slightly out of control momentum that is off putting until it’s suddenly satisfying, and that moment within the first couple hours of play where how to control him suddenly clicked was the start of two weeks of compulsively playing this game to completion during my summer break.

3. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Switch re-release) - What a unique game. A puzzle platformer whose main mechanic sometimes feels like your player character’s lack of an ability to jump. With a perfectly minimalistic mobility design ethos, this delightful experiment encourages you to explore the little 3D dioramas that make up its levels to completion. I’ve been obsessively mining each of them for all they’ve got before moving on to the next one, and it’s slow going - I’ve still probably got about ⅔ left of the game to go. But the thought of it is actually making look forward to my upcoming, otherwise painfully long flight to Japan, because absorbing myself in this seems like the perfect way to make hours go by without notice.

2. Dark Souls: Remastered - Before this remaster, I had played brief moments of the original Dark Souls on a friend’s PS3. Really, though, Bloodborne is where I fell in love with Souls-style games, and last year I obsessed over the excellent, overlooked Nioh. Finally coming to this game after more recent games in its style was a mixed experience for me. Obviously, the rather plain, blocky textures of the last generation are already aging quickly, but the game still has enough style and atmosphere that I wasn’t particularly bothered by that aspect of it. The combat, however, felt...bland. I know, I know, this game and its predecessor, Demon’s Souls, are praised for revolutionizing action RPG combat, with their tight controls and deliberate moves. If it weren’t for this game, the combat I love in Bloodborne and Nioh wouldn’t exist. But having put so many dozens of hours into Nioh, a game with combo attack strings and multiple stances, made the switch back to a game where each weapon basically only has two attacks, feel just kinda elementary. Not easy, mind you - despite my experience with this style, I still found this game to be welcomingly challenging, but performing the same moves over and over again just wore thin.

Nevertheless, this game has something that no game inspired by it has quite been able to replicate, or even, seemingly, really tried to, and that’s the incredible, interlocking level design. Yeah, Dark Souls 3 and especially Bloodborne obviously pull some similar magic tricks in connecting separate sections together, but regardless, feel like fairly linear games. Firelink Shrine in this game has three separate directions you can head in to start with, and the paths just keep branching from there. This game puts remarkable trust in the player in her ability and desire to explore, experiment, and undoubtedly die many times before finding the path of least resistance (because even that path offers plenty of resistance). This is the aspect of Dark Souls that kept me going. Not only has it not aged a day, it’s almost even more impressive in retrospect, a lightning-in-a-bottle kind of  flash of creative genius.

1. Yakuza Kiwami 2 - Last year’s Yakuza 0 was my first Yakuza game, and this year’s Yakuza Kiwami 2 was my fourth. As you might have guessed, I’ve fallen very, very hard for this series. For those not familiar, Kiwami 2 is a remake of Yakuza 2, originally on PS2, just as last year’s Yakuza Kiwami was a remake of the original game. While that game used 0’s engine, which was made for PS3 originally, Kiwami 2 uses the brand new, very pretty engine used for Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, which was released earlier this year. This game recreates just about everything in the original game, and adds a hell of a lot more. This feels so much like a brand new game to me that I considered just putting in on my main top 10, and honestly, the reason that I didn’t had less to do with the fear of breaking any non-existent rules about what qualifies for a year-end list, and more to do with the fact that The Song of Life was already on there, and I just wanted more space to talk about how much I love the shit out of Yakuza.

This game improves on Kiwami in just about every aspect. The main story is a lot more compelling, and it’s obvious that Yakuza 2 is tonally where this series really came into its own, with its so-serious-it’s-actually-kinda-funny Japanese gangster soap opera, mixed with deliberately silly as hell sub stories. In particular, there are two very deep and expansive side stories built around mini-games added to this game: the cabaret club management game borrowed and modified from 0 and the Majima construction clan battles borrowed and modified from The Song of Life. While I appreciated these in those respective games, something about the execution in this game just got me absolutely obsessed. Kiryu’s roll that he fits into with the misfit hostesses of the cabaret club and their scrappy underdog story is my happy place. The older professional wrestlers that play the mumbly, grumpy businessmen/fighters in the clan battle mini-game led to a couple of scenes that had me gleefully cackling out loud. Starting this game out, I had arguably already spent more than enough time playing Yakuza games over the last couple years, but it’s a testament to just how endearing this game is that after 40 or so hours of play, if Kiwami 3 were to suddenly be surprise announced and released, I would have been happy to jump straight into it.

[thelongestdamnreviews]

Mega Man X4

Every few years, I get the urge to play Mega Man.  This time I only restricted it to the PS1 X titles instead of starting with the SNES X games, or even going back to the NES with the original series.  I've had X4 for forever given I got it not long after it released.  Like with other emulated titles, I played this under Retroarch with an Xbox 360 controller.

A Maverick attack at Sky Lagoon brings the floating city down upon another on the ground, resulting in severe casualties.  The Colonel of Repliforce, responding to the attack in order to save his sister caught in the crossfire, is detained and requested to return to Maverick Hunter HQ for questioning.  He refuses to disarm and leaves, causing the entire Repliforce to be labeled as Mavericks.  Repliforce then stages a coup in order to establish an independent nation for Reploids only.  And someone familiar is behind the scenes, pulling the Maverick Hunters' and Repliforce's strings to bring them into conflict...

The X series got several enhancements that came with jumping from a 16- to a 32-bit platform like bigger and more detailed spritework, more detailed environments, fully-animated voiced cutscenes, higher-quality music (that doesn't loop on the PS1 but does on the Saturn), pre-battle boss banter, as well as making Zero fully playable in a style completely separate from X.  It is also somewhat of a step backwards from X3 in terms of the "things to do" department.  There are no roaming hunters to defeat/destroy that change future bosses, there are no Ride Armors to collect, no armor chips...it's more straightforward like X1.  You have eight bosses to kill, eight Heart Tanks to collect, etc.  One thing that stands out is that the Fourth Armor has two different arms parts that can be swapped out if you revisit the capsules containing them. 

If you've never played any of the games in the series, these are side-scrolling platformers.  You warp into a stage and are tasked with getting to the other end of the area alive by destroying or avoiding enemies and stage hazards like fire bursting out of the ground or spikes that instantly kill you when touched.  This applies to pretty much every game that's not part of the Battle Network, Starforce, or Legends series, but the X games stand out from the Classic series with the original Mega Man due to the higher speed you traverse levels through an on-demand burst of speed called 'dash' that can initially only be triggered on the ground.  There is also the potential to explore with the wall-kick feature, where you jump at a wall and keep holding that direction while you jump repeatedly.  X is also able to find armor capsules hidden away in the stages that enhance his abilities such as body armor that reduces the health lost when hurt, or leg parts that allow you to do a dash in mid-air.  Destroying one of the eight bosses at the end of the standard set of stages earns you a limited-use special weapon that also is the weakness of another boss.  There is a pattern you can learn and follow to tackle bosses in a set order so you always have the best weapon ready when you face them down.  When you finish the initial eight stages, you move onto the final leg of the game where you face the true antagonist of the game as well as have rematch fights against the eight bosses you killed already. 

Ride ‘em, cow...robot?  There’s only one Ride Chaser-only stage in this game but I remember X8 had two. 

 X plays pretty much the same as always.  The legs armor upgrade allows air dashing (only left/right, no more up) as well as a temporary hover with the option to slightly move forward or backwards at the cost of flight time, the body part reduces damage and charges up an invulnerable tackle Nova Strike, and the head part gives special weapons unlimited ammo when using their uncharged versions.  The arms part either allows you to store up four charged shots or lets you release a massive shot that lingers when it strikes an enemy to deal extra damage, and both let you charge special weapons as always.  I found the Stock Charge Shot to be pretty underwhelming.  It takes a little longer to charge but for some reason it doesn't fire when you let go of the button, and that threw me off quite a bit.  Four charged shots on-demand should sound really good, but you can't combo bosses with them and their smaller size makes them a little harder to use in the stages.  Plasma Charge Shot on the other hand releases a gigantic blast and the lingering damage tears up regular enemies.  And will grate your ears with the repeating 'ting' sound when you hit something invulnerable. 

Zero has given up his buster and instead uses the Z-Saber exclusively.  He's geared more for experienced players since he has to fight up close, but he has a damaging three-hit combo to decimate enemies.  He collects Heart Tanks and Sub Tanks and all just like X, but he has no armor capsule upgrades so his game is harder overall.  He has a three-hit saber combo that will ignore the boss' invulnerable grace period until all the hits land.  Zero later gets a double jump and a Giga Attack of his own, but I largely felt like the devs didn't really know where to take Zero in this game given two of his eight won techniques aren't actual attacks, just upgrades like an air dash or destroying shots with the saber.  Zero also has a personal stake in the story given Iris is somewhat his girlfriend, and her brother is Repliforce's Colonel.  And if you didn’t catch the hint in X2, this game spells out who made Zero if you’re familiar with the Classic series. 

X has a variation of the Fourth Armor unlocked when you use a cheat code at the character select screen.  Use it and access an armor capsule to be granted the entire Ultimate Armor at once.  The only differences between it and the Fourth Armor is that it can only use the Plasma Charge Shot and it has infinite use of the Nova Strike Giga Attack.  Zero has a code too but it only changes the color of his armor to black--a reference to the fake Zero from X2--and this doesn't have any gameplay impact unfortunately. 

X5 and X6 at least change the color of his dash afterimages with Black Zero active. 

I thought that the stages felt a little longer than in older games, but that also is helped by every stage being split into two parts separated by a loading screen.  At least each half has some different features, like Cyber Peacock's stage having time trials in part 1 and gravity puzzles in part 2, or Storm Owl part 1 seeing you traverse smaller floating ships to taking on miniature laser cannons in part 2.  Jet Stingray is the only stage that's entirely autoscroll on a speeder bike up until the boss fight, and for some reason, Frost Walrus part 2 has a completely different background music from part 1.  The stage graphics change between both halves too and I thought that was nice for a change of scenery at least. 

There aren't many animated cutscenes but they're not bad for the later 90s style you may or may not remember.  Zero has a pretty nice one on his path that shows his and Sigma's first encounter before the events of the first game that's worth watching, though there's a sad one right before this.  People derided the voicework and I can understand why since it's okay at best.  They for some reason reused Mega Man's voice actress from Mega Man 8 to voice X, apparently to reinforce the idea that Rock is somehow also his little brother, X.  There are a few voice clips during gameplay, though it gets a little annoying since they're tied to jumping or attacking, like Zero's three-hit combo (hoo hah HOOOOH forever). 

You want to know how I got these scars?  It depends on if you’re thinking of the original continuity or the one where Day of Sigma takes place and Sigma gets Shining Finger’d by X. 

The controls felt great and the PS1 games allow X the use of his X-Buster as well as special weapons by putting them on Square and Triangle by default which really helps flexibility.  Sometimes you want to keep a special weapon readied while you have the buster charging or whatever.  The PS1 games have an interesting quirk with the dash feature in that if you hold down the dash button, you can get the momentum and afterimages of a dash jump when you jump, even while standing still or just running.  It doesn't have much practical use but repeated short hops with this can be one way to speed across relatively even terrain.  It seems to be an on-ground implementation of dash walljumps that appear in the other games. 

Overall, X4 isn't really a bad game.  The big draw for a lot of people was to finally play as Zero without him being a one-life wonder like in X3, and he can actually take on bosses this time.  The game's not really too hard even though the number of Sub Tanks got cut in half (but there's now a Weapon flavor and another item that bumps you to four lives when starting a stage if below four), and it's nice that you can fill the Sub Tanks even if your health isn't maxed.  Difficulty is pretty average with a couple of bosses being more annoying than outright difficult, though Sigma is one of them.  It's worth playing twice so you go through with X and Zero and see their side of the story, but for some reason there's no real mention or interaction with the character you're not playing. 

Stuff about to blow up. 

[barbrabatman36-blog]

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