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desolationlovers · 4 years ago

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oh yall thought i was done x posting? lol. kamui character rant under the cut

the thing about kamui is i dont know that hes a very deep character??atleast not how clamp has written him and esp not in the manga.

he spends a lot of the manga being confused and often manipulated. and hes really just a kid.

his first big character arc is debastardization basically. when hes introduced hes a TOTAL asshole (the anime added scenes to make him more of a dick at the start but also has a bit of an explaination? ill get to it). hes shown as very rude to everyone around him, yelling at people to get out of his way or get lost, including his previous friends. hes also shown to have absolutely no care for his surrondings and regularly fights and uses his powers in places where bystanders could be injured and leaving roads bridges or nearby buildings in ruins. when confronted about the latter by hinotos knight (his name is saiki) he straight up says he doesnt care if anyone gets hurt. which i mean ok nothing wrong with a character being an asshole. the extreme in your face way kotori and fuuma describe kamui as a kid being very shy and Very quiet and gentle makes this characterization confusing but hey people can change i guess. the confusing part is that as kamui slowly beings to let his guard down he says that the big reason he was so standoffish especially wrt kotori and fuuma was because he wanted to keep them at a distance so they wouldnt get involved with all the end of the world stuff. which makes sense obviously! kamui was absolutely aware of how dangerous it might get. his entire plan was to get the shinken (the sacred sword) and bail because he didnt want any part of any of it. what i dont get is why he was totally cool with bystanders being injured or killed. during his fight with saiki they were in a neighborhood! on people roofs and shit!! saiki is the one to lead them to an abandoned construction site so no one gets caught in the crossfire. and kamui almost kills saiki!!! which i will let slide a bit because kamui was being followed and had been attacked by spells literally that morning. but later on he apologizes to saiki but never explained his reasoning why he didnt care about destroying peoples houses??? and its never brought up again?????? also theres a scene added to the anime where he kicks the shit out of kotori and fuumas dad??? because he wouldnt give kamui the sword?? bro thats ur best friends dad you jackass!!!!!

in the anime they added flashbacks for the time after he moved away from tokyo which i think make his whole character make much more sense. when he first moves and goes to a new school he accidentally uses his powers and makes everyone afraid of him. fast forward past elementary school to high? school? its unclear. at school hes a lazy slacker that never goes to class and never talks to anyone, big ol loner. he sees that a local gang has been stealing kids money and beating them up. so he decides to put on a tough guy persona and confront the gang telling them to knock it off and scaring them shitless with some fun ass kicking psychokenesis. now i am SO on board with this addition. kamui being ostrisized for being weird and scary when hes already a super shy kid, so he embraces this scary intimidating image and tries using it for good because hes still ultimately kind hearted. he gets too absorbed in this tough guy persona that he loses touch with the original purpose of it and just uses it as a shield because he himself is afraid and confused. and maybe even hiding behind it because hes so afraid of having this huge destiny that he doesnt know if he can live up to and how can someone who decides the fate of the world be just some quiet oversensitive guy.

except all of that is my own speculation and analysis because they really do not go into ANY detail about this. i wouldnt say its to the point where it feels like they just flipped a switch and hes nice now but it def feels like that. and it annoys me because after he kind of apologizes for being a dick it doesnt really get brought up again?? i think he broods over it once or twice. but i would have really liked to see flashes of it coming back in high stress situations or something? he has a lot of points of grief and depression but its always meloncholic rather than angry and it really makes him feel like two different characters i wish it was way more of a mix.

anger would also be good with the whole overarching theme of trying to break out of the path destined for you. its constantly said that theres only one future by the dreamgazers although hinoto wants to change it. its supposed destined that kamui will lose and earth will be destroyed. anger but more importantly PASSION is whats needed break out of what has been preordained and to carve your own path. passion is also whats needed for the main part of the second half of kamuis character arc, figuring out what it is he REALLY wants. what his true wish is.

i also think anger could have been a good inverse to the deliberate mirroring of kamuis character and subarus character. subaru really represents despair and being completely swallowed by grief. his story is that the man he fell in love with (named seishiro) was just manipulating him for fun and is actually an emotionless assassian. subaru is so destroyed by this realization he goes into a depression and because of this is unable to save his sister being killed by seishiro. his goal is literally to be enough of a nusance to seishiro that hell kill him. literally he wants to be acknowledged as important enough to bother killing. its pointed out often how subaru and kamui are so similar, with how fuuma killed kotori, and how theyre both kindhearted ro a fault. its an intentional reflection. subaru even pulls kamui out of a similar depressive state after kotori dies. he and kamui have a whole heart to heart about how some peoples happiness can look pitiful to others and how hes going to fufill his goals even when other people are worried for him. and most importantly about how not everyone can be happy with an outcome. i think it would have been really good for subaru to represent someone overcome with depression about how awful the world is and paralyzed with that sadness and kamui would be the rightous anger and compassion needed to actually change the world. “lets this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair” you know? it would have been a really good parallel considering part of x’s themes are literally about having compassion for humanity. but that reading possibly shoots itself in the foot because the language used wrt the two possible futures are things to stay as they are or for a “revolution” to occur, meaning killing everyone to let the earth heal. so ideas of change are insinuated to be connected with the seven angels and genocide. which uh. not going to get into that.

i do like when he starts going to the clamp school he goes back to being shy and quiet and kind of gets pushed around by people with more force of personality. very fun uncomfortably relatable. its ok man im extremely passive too.

anyway final thoughts kamui needs more passion. clamp give me the rights. also let subaru and kamui hang out and have a brotherly bond. no creepy shit. just subaru being an akward older brother that knows what kamuis going thru and gives bad advice bc he has god awful coping mechanisms.

side note we arent ever told about his likes/dislikes hobby or anything of that nature. the blankest of slates. so my city now. i think hes into obscure indie music and has thousands of hours in various life sim games like animal crossing and stardew valley.

#lees posts #forgot to post this last night #clamp posting

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blubberquark · 5 years ago

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More On “Bright Souls“

People compare games to Dark Souls a lot, to the point that “X is the Dark Souls of genre Y” has become a meme, reached saturation, and died, all the while games journalists are still saying it unironically because they cannot find a better point of reference. People who didn’t seem to enjoy Dark Souls use it as a shorthand for a game that is punishingly difficult to the point of turning off most casual players, but with a dedicated fan base that welcomes and enjoys the difficulty.

So is Super Meat Boy the Dark Souls of platformers? Is I Wanna Be The Guy like Dark Souls? Is Dungeons of Dredmor like Dark Souls because of all the lore in item descriptions? Is the first Diablo the Dark Souls of anything?

What is it that makes people enjoy the difficulty of Dark Souls? Can we add this thing to a game, but make the combat easier, or is difficulty all there is to it?

I decided to talk to Dark Souls players to find out, and I catalogued a list of features from Dark Souls that set it apart from your usual JRPG or action RPG, not just mere difficulty. I wanted to find out what people mean when they say “like Dark Souls“, especially those people who like Dark Souls.

Interestingly, the first Dark Souls is hard in a different way from the later Souls games. Dark Souls 2 and 3 have tougher enemies, more enemies at once, more linear level layouts, and better/easier healing. These games keep the Estus mechanic and the fighting, but they streamline the rest.

If you asked people what being a Souls game means after only Demon‘s Souls and Dark Souls, they might have talked about the level design, the Metroidvania aspect of a half-open world, the secrets to be found, and the way the way the bonfires and Estus interact with the rest of the level design. If you go by that, then Hollow Knight is the Dark Souls of Metroidvania games.

What was kept in the other games was the deep lore, the oppressive atmosphere, the theme of decay and decline, and the way the main story was only loosely tied to the lore. In Zelda games, the connection between Link, the plot, and the fate of the world is much more apparent. Many people mean really mean “grimdark world with deep lore you can ignore if you want to and themes of decay, decline, and overcoming disproportionate adversity through sheer determination and perseverance“. In that sense, maybe Undertale is the Dark Souls of, well, something.

I was also told that the first Dark Souls allowed different play styles. You don’t need to be a glass cannon with a giant club and no armour, perfectly dodging every enemy blow. You can also play as a spell caster, or use a bow. That it’s tough, but fair, except in that handful of moments when it isn’t, when you are attacked without warning, when you have to do precision platforming with clunks controls, when you have to walk a tightrope through a rain of arrows, when you have to wade through... but I digress. Losing is fun, they say. Losing is part of the game. You can level, but you can’t really grind your way through. You can grind a bit, and the game rewards you for doing so up to a point, but you still need to be careful, because you can fall off a ledge. You can keep your souls safe and adopt a more cautious play style. People are split on whether enemies permanently de-spawning is a crutch for new players or a punishment for grinding souls and rare drops.

Dark Souls is difficult, but it has a way of balancing itself out. Enemies despawn, there are messages and bloodstains to help others find secrets or to warn them to not fall off a cliff. This has forced people to seek help online and created a large online community. You may think online gaming communities are especially toxic, but Dark Souls is not primarily a game where you beat each other (although there’s also PvP). Community members encourage help each other succeed.

Dark Souls is what has been called a wiki game. Other examples are DCSS, Minecraft, Don’t Starve, Reus, Stardew Valley, Terraria, or Spelunky. There are many secrets, loosely-connected systems, things you encounter but don’t understand the significance of. If a game has a sprawling crafting system, you might not ever encounter an item because you never craft the precursors you need to make it, or you encounter it in the world but don’t know how to craft it. Cave Story includes secrets you wouldn’t figure out during normal play, even when you beat the whole game to get to the good ending, like the Bubbler and the Nemesis. Yet you can play the game just fine without these secrets. Dark Souls seems to want you to look in a wiki, or in a strategy guide, or to ask your friends about secrets they found. Minecraft has gotten better at discoverability of crafting recipes in recent years, but added more content and peripheral mechanics to tip the balance into the direction of needing to look up more things.

In all of this, the Castlevania games and Hollow Knight come closest to being like Dark Souls without being a soulslike, followed by third-party soulslikes, e.g. Nioh and Ashen. But Hollow Knight still has the themes of decay, corruption, power and immortality as a curse, twisted shadows of former greatness, and overcoming against all odds through determination and perseverance.

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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30 Best Nintendo Switch Games

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After four years of the Wii U, we were eagerly anticipating its successor. While there were plenty of great games on the doomed platform, the Wii U just never caught fire with the public at large. But four years into the Switch’s lifespan, and Nintendo has turned things around dramatically.

Instead of winding things down, the Switch shows no signs of slowing down, with plenty of excellent third party games in its library, as well as more than a few innovative titles from the Big N as well. The platform has also been a great way to bring underrated Wii U gems to a broader audience of Switch adopters. With a rumored 4K upgrade on the horizon, there’s a good chance that the Switch may even have another four years ahead of it,

But for now, these are the very best games available for the portable-console hybrid:

30. Untitled Goose Game

2019 | House House

Anyone who’s even been to a pond can attest to one simple fact: Geese are dicks. Untitled Goose Game lets you finally live out the fantasy of being one of nature’s most annoying creatures, flapping, honking, and generally being a nuisance to the residents of a fair English town. The only thing missing is the goose poop covering everything in sight.

Untitled Goose Game is a short but sweet experience inspired by classic stealth games that adds just enough charm and innovation to make it one of the best indie games on the platform.

29. Dark Souls Remastered

2018 | FromSoftware

There’s not much more that can be said about Dark Souls that hasn’t been said about this revolutionary action RPG title already. Its tough-as-nails difficulty, foreboding atmosphere, and esoteric storytelling have made it a fan-favorite and critical darling.

The Switch port doesn’t change much. It’s actually a visual downgrade from the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions without the benefit of 4K resolution, but being able to play Dark Souls on-the-go more than makes up for that. This may not be the best version of Dark Souls, but the gameplay still stands up, and like a lot of Switch ports, being able to finally play the game on a handheld makes it a worthy pick up.

28. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

2017 | Ubisoft

“What if Mario starred in an XCOM game?” might sound like the basis for some very ambitious fan fiction, but somehow Ubisoft pulled it off with Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. The Rabbids actually fit into the Mushroom Kingdom pretty well and the Rabbid impersonations of Mario and company are hilarious.

Even if Mario games aren’t typically your cup of tea, the tactics featured in this turn-based strategy title add a layer of difficulty rarely seen in the plumber’s resume. If you aren’t careful, the corrupted Rabbids will repeatedly hand you your ass on a platter.

27. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

2018 | Nintendo

The Captain Toad levels were the best parts of Super Mario 3D World, one of the few well-reviewed Wii U exclusives that haven’t yet made it to the Switch. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker delivered more of what people loved, this time for the 3DS.

Ignoring traditional Mario-style platforming for isometric puzzles that bar jumping, getting all the stars in every level of Captain Toad is genuinely challenging but rarely frustrating. Captain Toad also stands out as one of the better Wii U ports for the Switch, thanks to a number of new levels, although many of them are only available as paid DLC.

26. Starlink: Battle for Atlas

2018 | Ubisoft

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a fun space shooter bogged down by a confusing and frankly unnecessary toys-to-life gimmick. The basic premise equates to a sort of smaller scale No Man’s Sky, but with highly customizable ships and weapons.

The big draw for the Switch version is exclusive Star Fox content, missions that feel like the animal-themed space combat game people have wanted from Nintendo for years. They’re certainly better than Star Fox Zero. The retail version even comes with awesome Arwing and Fox McCloud toys.

With gamers largely burned out on the toys-to-life phenomenon, Starlink didn’t exactly light up the sales charts, but it did sell best on the Switch and is scratching that Star Fox itch.

25. Hollow Knight

2018 | Team Cherry

Nintendo basically created the Metroidvania genre, but the company has been remarkably stingy about releasing new 2D Metroid games. Thankfully, Hollow Knight is here to fill the void with its insect-filled underground world. While there have been many takes on the Metroidvania formula over the years, a Tim Burton-esque aesthetic gives Hollow Knight a unique edge over the rest of the field.

Of course, Metroidvanias are only as strong as their maps, and Hollow Knight’s giant, secret-filled levels are easy to get lost in for hours. And then there’s the Dark Souls-inspired combat, which requires both patience and skill to master. We can’t wait for the sequel.

24. Xenoblade Chronicles 2

2017 | Monolith Soft

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is not for casual gamers. The main story alone takes more than 60 hours to complete and you’re looking at well over 100 hours of gameplay if you dig into the side content. Its systems, particularly the Pokemon-style Blade system, aren’t very user-friendly and require time to truly understand. But for those who are willing to keep with it, or who enjoy complex stories and mastering all the intricacies of a JRPG, there are few games of this caliber available on the current crop of consoles. And none of them are on the Switch.

23. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

2019 | Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is arguably the very best game for the original Game Boy, held back only by the portable’s lack of buttons and color. The Switch-exclusive remake easily rectifies those issues, and improves on this classic with so much more, including customizable dungeons and a delightful new art style inspired by children’s toys.

The core Link’s Awakening experience remains as enjoyable as it first was back in 1993, with the deceptively small Koholint Island giving way to nine labyrinthine dungeons and some of the best puzzles in the entire series. This is a great example of a remake done right.

22. Stardew Valley

2017 | ConcernedApe

There’s something oddly relaxing about farming games that Stardew Valley taps into better than any other game in the niche genre. Maybe it’s the especially calming music, the charmingly well-written characters, or just being able to live out your agricultural dreams at your own pace. Whatever the exact reason, Stardew Valley has garnered millions of fans since its original release.

Part of the appeal is the regular updates. Just when you think you’ve seen everything, ConcernedApe will add new content to keep the game fresh. And while Stardew Valley is a fantastic experience on any of the numerous platforms it’s currently available on, being able to play it anywhere on the Switch arguably makes it the definitive version.

21. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

2019 | Nintendo

The Switch’s success has allowed many Wii U games to enjoy a second life. With their brief levels, Mario games have always been perfect for handhelds, and with its pitch-perfect controls and heavy nods to Super Mario Bros. 3, New Super Mario Bros. U is arguably the best side-scrolling Mario game of the last decade. The Switch port even includes all of the New Super Luigi U content previously only available as DLC and a new playable character, Toadette.

20. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

2017 | Bethesda Game Studios

We probably didn’t need another version of Skyrim, and the Switch port doesn’t look that much better than the original 2011 release, but as with other ports of older games, the ability to play one of the greatest RPGs anywhere is a good reason to double (or triple) dip. And there are a few cool unlockables though amiibos, like the Master Sword.

It’s impossible to ignore such a classic RPG on the Switch, especially now that you can play it on your lunch break or on the bus. But seriously, Bethesda, you can stop porting Skyrim now. Get to work on The Elder Scrolls VI and maybe bring that to the Switch.

19. Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee

2018 | Game Freak

The Pokemon franchise has been around so long at this point that the Let’s Go games are actually the second remakes of the original 1996 Red and Blue games. That’s okay though, as even the last remakes were released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004. By 2018, it was time for a new coat of paint.

Let’s Go freshens things up with modern 3D graphics, wild Pokemon that are now visible in the overworld, and Mega Evolutions from more recent games. The biggest change is the most divisive: motion controls for catching Pokemon. It can be a little silly at first, but it actually adds to the game’s charm.

18. Luigi’s Mansion 3

2019 | Nintendo

Luigi has long played second fiddle to his more famous brother, but after three spooky solo games, he’s built up a successful franchise in its own right that ranks up there among Nintendo’s best. If the previous Luigi’s Mansion games had a flaw, it’s that they got a little repetitive. Luigi’s Mansion 3 thankfully fixes that problem with a massive 17-story hotel with plenty of puzzles to solve and ghosts to trap. And while Luigi’s Mansion 3 is a fantastic single player experience, what really gives it legs is its co-operative modes for 2-8 players, making it the best ghostbusting game since, well…Ghostbusters.

17. Octopath Traveler

2018 | Square Enix

Square Enix’s love letter to 16-bit RPGs might just be better than the classics. Octopath Traveler boasts an innovative battle system that tweaks the typical turn-based formula and unique “HD-2D” graphics that are unlike anything else in the genre. It’s easy to lose several hours playing in portable mode or at home on a big screen. And while the story drags a little bit at times, it’s still worth playing to the end to see how the tales of all eight protagonists play out.

16. Astral Chain

2019 | PlatinumGames

PlatinumGames’ streak of creating the best and most unique action games in the industry continues with Astral Chain. Everything that has made the developer’s past titles like Bayonetta and Nier: Automata instant classics is on full display here, from the massive set pieces to the bonkers anime-inspired story of humanity making its last stand against an interdimensional threat.

And while you’d think those previous efforts pushed combat in an action game to its limits, Astral Chain’s innovative gameplay finds way to introduce new twists to the Platinum secret sauce. Here, you control both your main character and a fully customizable tethered Legion to maximize combos. This is the perfect game to tie you over until Platinum finishes up Bayonetta 3.

15. Bayonetta 2

2018 | PlatinumGames

The first Bayonetta was a sexy, stylish take on action-adventure hack and slash games, with some of the smoothest combat around and a badass protagonist. Bayonetta 2 doesn’t mess with the winning formula but adds more combat options and some of the most ridiculous setpieces ever put in a game, like a battle on top of a moving fighter jet. If you’re looking for something a little less family-friendly on the Switch, look no further than this hectic action game.

14. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

2018 | Retro Studios

The original Donkey Kong Country trilogy is a highlight of the 16-bit era, but in hindsight, it was more beloved for its graphics than its gameplay. It was only once Retro Studios took over the series that the franchise began to live up to its potential, with super smooth platforming and levels more creative than even some of Nintendo’s Super Mario games.

While Retro’s first Donkey Kong Country game on the Wii was a little too punishing, Tropical Freeze got the balance between challenging and frustrating just right. The game was originally released on the Wii U, and the Switch port adds Funky Kong as a playable character. This is an excellent platformer to play with a friend, too!

13. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury

2021 | Nintendo

Super Mario 3D World is a top-notch Mario game, so it was always a shame that it released on a platform as underwhelming as the Wii U. The genius of the game is how it so perfectly combines the best elements of 2D and 3D Mario games. Levels have clear beginnings and endings, and ultimately you just need to climb the flag pole at the goal, but there’s also plenty of room for exploration to track down every last green star. Plus, the cat suit is one of the weirdest and best power-ups in any Mario game.

Everything that made the original Wii U release a must-have remains the highlight of the Switch port, but the addition of Bowser’s Fury, a new adventure where Mario and Bowser Jr. must quickly complete missions before the arrival of a giant, enraged Bowser, makes this one well worth a double dip.

12. Pokemon Sword and Shield

2019 | Game Freak

Sword and Shield may not be the best games in the long-running Pokemon series. Arguably, the lack of some older Pokemon (even after two big expansions) is a pretty big mark against it, but the eighth generation still has a lot going for it thanks to more streamlined gameplay, a massive open-world, and the fact this is the first time a mainline Pokemon game can be played on a home console. That’s something that fans have been clamoring for since the series’ inception back in 1996.

So no, you can’t quite “catch ‘em all,” but you can still have a great time battling the gym leaders of Galar in the seemingly never-ending quest to become the very best.

11. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

2018 | Firaxis Games

Despite the Switch’s early success, it’s still home to relatively few third-party console exclusives, but Civilization VI alone almost makes up for that deficit. This is an uncompromising PC port with 24 different civilizations available from the get-go, and all of the features from the original version. It also works great with either a controller or touchscreen controls. If you’re looking for a 4X strategy game on the Switch, Civilization VI is the one.

10. Diablo III: Eternal Collection

2018 | Blizzard Entertainment

Diablo III is one of the best games of the last decade. The Switch port is late to the party, but if you really want to slay demons on the go and don’t have a laptop handy, this is the perfect way to play the classic action RPG.

The Switch version adds a handful of Legend of Zelda items, including a Ganondorf costume. It’s not an earth-shattering exclusive, but it’s an easy excuse to sink a few more hours into this game.

9. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

2019 | Nintendo

Nintendo is still mostly known for accessible games that appeal to a wider audience. But then there’s Fire Emblem, a series of hardcore tactical RPGs where every battle can mean permanent death for you and your allies. While still true to its roots, Three Houses takes some liberties with the typical Fire Emblem gameplay. There are still plenty of battles to be fought, but the first half of the game largely takes place at a monastery where you’re a teacher preparing your students for war. And the long-used “weapon triangle” has mostly been replaced with the need to equip the best weapons for each character, adding a new layer of strategy.

As if all that didn’t make for dozens of hours of gameplay, the ability to choose which of the titular three houses you belong to has radically different consequences for the game’s story. It takes a very long time to experience everything that Three Houses has to offer.

8. Super Mario Maker 2

2019 | Nintendo

Super Mario Maker 2 is the definitive Mario game, building on its already near-perfect predecessor with new power ups, a world maker, and assets from Super Mario 3D World. The star of the show is the almost endless supply of user created levels that constantly surprise with twists on other genres and some of the most fiendishly difficult levels ever devised. And if you’re the creative type, the course maker remains one of the most intuitive modes in any game, allowing you to design perfectly playable new levels in just a few minutes.

Even if making Mario levels isn’t you’re thing, Super Mario Maker 2 includes a surprisingly fun story mode of 100 original levels that stand toe-to-toe with anything else in the legendary franchise.

7. Hades

2020 | Supergiant Games

Rarely do story, gameplay, and atmosphere mesh together as well as they do in the rogue-lite Hades. You play as Zagreus, the prince of the Underworld, with the simple goal of escaping from the monotonous life you’re forced to lead under your apathetic father. You’ll die a lot during this quest, but each time you’ll get a little stronger and gain new abilities from the gods of Olympus that keep the experience fresh. Hades knows exactly how to leverage its setting, perfectly capturing each deity’s unique personality and abilities.

The rogue-lite gameplay is also well suited for short bursts of gameplay or marathon sessions, making it a perfect fit for the Switch, which is currently the only home console its available on. It’s easily the best third-party game on the system, and one of the best reasons to pick up a Switch if you haven’t already.

6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

2017 | Nintendo

Mario Kart 8 is the best kart racing game ever made. That was true with the original Wii U release and it’s true of the Switch port, which includes all previously released DLC and adds a few new characters and a completely reworked battle mode. Each and every track has its own challenges and the addition of anti-gravity racing is a nice update to the formula.

With tracks and characters from F-Zero, The Legend of Zelda, and Animal Crossing, Mario Kart 8 also feels like the most complete Nintendo racing game of all time. There’s really no reason for a Switch owner not to have this one in their collection.

5. Splatoon 2

2017 | Nintendo

Nintendo has never developed a multiplayer shooter like Call of Duty or Halo. Odds are it never will. But the Splatoon series is just as good as those shooters, especially the second installment. Like with the original, the focus of Splatoon 2 is to use a variety of paint-spraying weapons to cover as much of each level as possible. It’s actually a lot more fun and creative than most of the high-profile shooters out there.

Splatoon 2 adds quite a few new levels, weapons, and unlockables. There’s also a sizable single-player mode, and a ridiculously fun cooperative mode called Salmon Run. If that’s not enough content, Nintendo released the lengthy Octo Expansion DLC in 2018. A copy of Splatoon 2 could occupy a Switch gamer for months.

4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

2020 | Nintendo

For a lot of people, Animal Crossing isn’t just a game. It’s life. New Horizons was always highly anticipated, but its release at the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdowns made it a much-needed escape for millions of people. Birthdays, graduations, and weddings couldn’t be held in-person, so many were celebrated within New Horizons. Even President Biden and Hong Kong democracy activists set up their own islands.

Even without the specter of Covid-19, New Horizons would still be one of the best games on the Switch. Nintendo has been perfecting the franchise for two decades now, but this version of Animal Crossing is easily the best yet, allowing for near-limitless customization of your own little world. And yet you’re still free to play at your own pace, without any of the pressure of the outside world. The ultimate appeal of Animal Crossing continues to be that it allows us to live our ideal lives.

3. Super Mario Odyssey

2017 | Nintendo

Is Super Mario Odyssey the best 3D Mario game? It’s hard to argue otherwise. Odyssey borrows its level structure and progression system from the beloved Super Mario 64, which Nintendo had largely ignored for the last two decades. Several new twists on the traditional 3D platforming formula, like the ability to throw your new hat buddy Cappy at enemies to take control of them, make Super Mario Odyssey feel incredibly fresh. There probably won’t be another platformer this good on the Switch.

2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

2018 | Nintendo

Super Smash Bros. has remained wildly popular since it debuted in 1999, and there’s always been a lively debate about which title is the best in the series. Melee arguably has the best mechanics, while Brawl’s Subspace Emissary boasts the most complete story mode. The Wii U game looks fantastic, but the Ice Climbers and Snake were sorely missed.

Ultimate tries to satisfy the fans of each game by including every character who’s ever appeared in the series (plus a few new ones), more than 100 stages from throughout the Nintendo universe, a deep adventure mode called World of Light, and interesting tweaks to even the oldest characters in the roster. If Ultimate isn’t the perfect installment of Smash Bros., we don’t know what is.

Further Reading: Super Smash Bros. Characters Ranked

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

2017 | Nintendo

Breath of the Wild is the perfect marriage of traditional Legend of Zelda 3D gameplay and innovative new systems. The world and story are unmistakably Hylian, yet the game puts a major focus on exploration and experimentation to an extent never before seen in the series.

Yes, the number of weapons have been cut down drastically, but the handful of abilities — like freezing time and creating ice blocks — create even more ways to complete the game’s challenges and traverse its world. And you will want to explore every last inch of Hyrule’s beautifully realized world.

For almost two decades, Zelda games closely following the formula established by Ocarina of Time, one of the greatest games ever made. Breath of the Wild throws out almost all of the concepts that Ocarina pioneered and redefines Zelda as something more open-ended and exciting that will hopefully continue to evolve over the next few years.

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waringawaw153-blog · 5 years ago

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What's new in Farm Expert 2017 PC

As a teenager, made anyone yet dream of spreading up to become a farmer, wasting the days charging close to your back lawn next to your own toy tractor with attempting to see sheep in the regional field to bring home with you? No, just me? Anyway never mind, even if this took place your childhood ambition, Farm Expert 17 provides the chance to accept also ride the very own farm! The sport is nicely varied, with you having to fully prepare fields before crops can be increased, to making sure you push livestock otherwise they move too childhood and die, this game can undoubtedly enhance the organisational skills.

Farm Expert 2017's been hidden, cultivated and brought in by Silden and sold on the local produce market by PlayWay S.A.,FE17 definitely has certain preliminary appeal if you enjoy a good simulation game. The game boasts some very beneficial look as far as the weather is concerned, a match soundtrack when you hop in to your tractor and plenty of to do to keep you tiling away for hours on end.

However, all these parts are let floor before a little unfortunate and persistent bugs, together with some fairly horrendous directions and physics for the cars. And although it is very varied, it goes through from a lack of depth which could give a little underwhelmed. There is and a multiplayer side on the game, while getting this to really act remains more akin to brown secret than computer games.

With no word to talk about let's walk permission because of the nitty-gritty of what you can do from the sport. Because there is quite a bit. Today by I right start, I do first want to come good with cry that it was my own former ever real farming sim game (unless I could count Stardew Valley?) so I just want to move forward and around sorry for any really noob-like comments. Going on…

Setting up is appealing easy, with fill in you're met with a menu asking to build a page which is only a trouble of establishing a call with move on since here. FE17 contains a number of ways you can pick by entering Free Travel and Multiplayer (I'll talk more about the multiplayer in the flash). For me, however, the first go-to status remained the Tutorial. There's somewhat of a language barrier with approximately incorrect time and grammar, but once you get forgotten to the idea all pretty straightforward. This performed, however, consider myself almost five seconds to figure out exactly how to help repeal because I stupidly thought it was a regular WASD setup rather than having to press Z first in order to change government. But once these hiccups, I did find myself enjoying the game. There's something strangely meeting about having to experience the motions of changing up to a piece of equipment, hitching this in place, folding this out and then merrily tootling down toward your own subject designed for a being work.

Once I had learned the basics of actually shifting and farming, I jumped right in work my fully-fledged farm. You get some options to choose from, basically ranging from Easy to Hard. Naturally, as a total amateur, I decided on the Calm option. Thanks to our decision I started off with a great calculation of cash and a significant healthy amount of procedures already in my possession, i really can press on with believe our main field, gathering a few plants and getting to work. I found myself rather enjoying our schedule as a farmer, finally achieving the target of motivation a tractor.

Yet, I gradually started to see several affairs. For beginners, the handling of the instruments is just not up to scratch, specifically on the street that you'd think will be smooth but for some ungodly reason cause your cars to bump along constantly. The game also doesn't seem to element in the included significance of machines you hitch on to your tractor, allowing you to accelerate at a lot the same time as you usually would. After a while, I learned that the physics in the game might produce some very horrendous cock-ups.

And later on, I too learned that the ground really had absolutely no influence on the rate regarding the car, allowing you to charge full speed up high mountains then carry on your own mini-adventure…

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So yes, the real physics on the competition put anything to get desired. But the real gameplay is fairly varied. So if you never want to just push around stand and returning crops all the time, then no worries! You can go into animal husbandry having a number of different options for which animals to keep and ensuring that to hold them fed as well as offering them for meat just before they die of older times. Or you might grow orchards to make your own delicious fruit, having to fertilize and harvest the supply yourself, and even have to lug the envelope time for the truck! But you may do want to bond with clear old-fashioned crop farming, in which case you have to choose the plants depending on the season, carefully cultivate fields properly and then make sure not to go by them over or otherwise they'll be destroyed!

There's also vehicle maintenance with trouble to take into thought, so you have to fill up up your own tractor with petrol to hold it working, make sure that fine with neat (as obviously, it is critical for tractors?) as well as repair or better this currently then once more to make life easier.

Pretty varied, exactly? Right. Unfortunately, this selection does not translate to depth or order. So of course, you can grow your plants, care for creatures and spread fruit orchards. But there's no variety in pricing in the stores, so there's no need to look around for top buying or selling prices as every shop will give the same results. This lack of economy frankly lets down the whole practice. Your being do want food, but not any run or time outside their pens. You never also have to supply them yourself because anything you buy gets automatically assigned to the authors plus the monster somehow get admission on the food themselves. And with orchards, after yard and fertilizing them there's nobody else you really need to do until they're able to be accepted. This lack of depth turns the game in new of your calendar watching experience.

You can hire a workforce to help you out, and watch them go about their drive is vaguely interesting at first, but soon loses the novelty. Other NPCs in the entertainment do not provide any conversation and generally, work to completely look at and give the world a appearance of excitement. Without success, I must say.

There is too supposed to be a multiplayer part for the game, but lord only gets how you can actually meet people. I've trawled many forums with others having related concerns with no resolution forthcoming. Multiplayer is there anything that is created last minute, so perhaps it will be improved in the future?

The first thing I'd say is that this game does not really boast the most amazing graphics, with some of the textures looking pretty difficult and quite a few popping issues going on. But I'd assume the vehicles seemed pretty good overall, and the weather effects were quite well done. There's something oddly fascinating about watching puddles found on the field while this raining.

It also has a little terra-forming effects as well, so when you're preparing your industry some of the machines you use actually form trenches and other changes in the realm, that changes how the vehicle may handle over them, that is quite effective. And starting what I understand from doing a bit of reading, something which doesn't go on here Farming Simulator sport or some other competitors. Character styles are attractive plain and forgettable, but besides the unnecessary NPCs, there's not really enough characters in to take much notice.

I personally recovered the soundtrack really enjoyable. There was something a little entertaining about the music opening up when you shot into your own tractor. The fact that the inlet regarding the engine changes depending about whether the inside or outside the car was quite nice too. But, once you saw the cycling positive impact, Farming Simulator 17 Big Bud DLC Download that leads as a bit annoying. Also, every time you got out of the tractor the character would for some reason think they were start and become the right sound. As well as that a handful of the vehicles which took absolutely no doors still played the door shut sound each time you got off. A complaint for me, but still a tap.

Due to our lack of exposure to previous farming sim games, I found myself enjoying Farm Expert 2017 at first, but the moment I had partaken to all the varied tasks I found myself getting bored very rapidly. With at last many the errors could attest to be relatively frustrating. If this tough happened a somewhat more improved and had a little detail added to it, i would absolutely price it top. The multiplayer certainly feels tacked on next the entire experience only becomes somewhat of a drag eventually.

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hirias-gaming-habitat · 7 years ago

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1, 5, 14, 21, 23, 39, 41, 56 (my cousin would always do this, and if we had angry guests in Zoo Tycoon we'd drown them or feed them to dinosaurs ... yeah DX) 67, 70

Video Game Asks

1. First game you played obsessively?

- It really depends on how young I was tbh, the three I can remember playing ALL THE TIME as a child though were the Kelly Club game (I still have the disc, it lags a bit but actually STILL works on my current computer! Even though it’s almost 20 years old!), Barbie: Beach Vacation (several of the Barbie games actually, I also remember enjoying Barbie as Rapunzel, Barbie Pet Rescue, and Barbie Horseriding Adventures), and the first Pajama Sam game, Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It’s Dark Outside (I can’t BELIEVE that game is 21 years old now, omg) which tbh I sometimes still play today - the Humungous Interactive games were really fun!

5. Ever use cheat codes?

- When I was younger? No, because I don’t think I really knew how then, I mostly used to use the internet for dress-up games and didn’t really realise stuff like that was something I could just Google (although, most of the games I played didn’t need cheat codes). Oh WAIT unless cheats for The Sims count?! Cause I used to play The Sims and The Sims 2 round at friends’ houses and they taught me the ‘klaupicus’ (I think that’s how you spelt it), ‘rosebud’, and ‘motherlode’ cheats. Still use Sims cheats today :P And if walkthroughs count, I do use those more than I’d perhaps care to admit :P

14. Favourite game music?

- Ooooh this is a tough one, I have lots of favourite music/soundtracks in games. Love the Nancy Drew game soundtracks, the ones for Telltale’s games are pretty good, the Heart’s Medicine (a time-management game series) games generally have really lovely soundtracks, the music in Stardew Valley is GORGEOUS, can’t forget Life is Strange - the licensed tracks are particularly well-chosen but the original score is also great - Oxenfree’s soundtrack is amazing… Oh, and gotta give a shout-out to the music in The Sims 3, that stuff is catchy (I’ve played so much TS3 that I recognised a piece of music from it when it was being used as “gameshow” music on TV in an episode of Elementary :P) I think that’s about it for my absolute favourites.

21. Game you didn’t like or understand as a kid but you do now?

- (I have no idea why) I think when I was a kid I didn’t used to understand why people liked Tomb Raider, but I do totally get the appeal now and I’ve even been playing the 2013 version of Tomb Raider myself!

23. Game you’ve logged the most hours into?

- Before Steam, got no idea. But going by my Steam records, currently The Sims 3 (I thought that might be the case, lol) with 131 hours played.

39. A sequel you would die for them to make?

- Three words: EMERALD. CITY. CONFIDENTIAL. It’s a point-and-click adventure game set in Oz, about 40 years or so after the original Wizard of Oz, it presents Oz in a very noir-esque style, and the main character is a private detective called Petra. SUCH a good game, probably one of my favourites of all time. Unfortunately it’s not possible apparently because I think they don’t have the rights to it anymore or something? I already asked the creator (Dave Gilbert) about it a couple of years ago on Twitter. He DID (I think) say though I think theoretically they could make a game that takes place in the same universe (Oz) since it’s public domain or something, they just couldn’t use any of the characters or places (I think) they used before :P (Which defeats the point a bit but tbh I’d be curious to see what it’d be like)

41. A genre you just can’t get into?

- Horror. (Exceptions for things like The Walking Dead game and maybe a couple of other things, if those count) It’s not a film or TV or book genre I like either, it’s just really not for me :P

56. Did you ever play Rollercoaster Tycoon and kill off your guests?

- Did I ever play it? Yes! Did I ever kill off the guests? No, mostly because I didn’t even realise that was a thing, I wasn’t much good at the actual game itself if I’m honest, I could barely figure out how to play it properly, let alone kill off characters :P

67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share?

- My sister used to watch me play all the time, any time she did that was pretty happy and fun and it’s sweet to remember. Also sometimes she’d unintentionally help heaps without meaning to. One time, I was playing Pajama Sam 4: Life is Rough When You Lose Your Stuff and there was this bit when I was trying to figure out how to get Sam across this river made of fizzy drink/soda. Now, I was playing this around Christmas, and my sister randomly came into the room with something in her hand and said something like “Look, it’s a nutcracker!” and boom, it was a *lightbulb moment* because a few places back in the game, there was this giant nutcracker, and one of the only things I had in my inventory was a giant peanut. I raced back to the nutcracker as quickly as I could, clicked on it with the peanut and used the hollow peanut on the soda river - and bingo, that was the answer! That was a fun moment.

70. Very first game you ever beat?

- It was probably the first Pajama Sam game (as I said earlier, No Need to Hide When It’s Dark Outside), not exactly sure though.

Thanks Holly! :D

Send me a gaming-related ask!

#ask #wanderingthroughwickford #ask game

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yvocaro · 7 years ago

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Only a few weeks left in 2017, soon it will be time to choose our Handheld Game of the Year again! Looking back on the year, it seems to me that I didn’t buy as many games as I used to. The beginning of the year I bought quite a few, but ever since I got the Switch, I mainly focus on the same games. Much easier on my wallet, I can tell you!

It’s been a special week, I finally bit the bullet to invite new writers to the site. Maybe you know I have been running this site for almost four years now, still love it. But it will be nice for me to be able to share, and it will be good for the site to have some fresh new faces. Vic Thorley has published her first article yesterday, she tells a bit about herself to get acquainted. (Read the article here)

If you are interested, consider joining our small team as well. As I don’t generate any income from the site myself, I can’t pay anything, but I do offer fame and glory ( of sorts, lol) and a review code for new games from time to time. Write me at [email protected] and we’ll take it from there!

Now, let’s see what the week held in Handheld Gaming News!

Tote bag Persona 5

A couple of years ago I loved playing Persona 4 Golden on my Vita, and it made me a fan of the series. Sadly, the newest game, Persona 5 is only available on the PS4, so I can’t play that one. Still, these tot bags that are fashioned after the game look pretty good. Might be because I have a serious handbag-addiction!

AnotherAngle, a company that makes goods for various media properties, is coming out with two tote bags based on Persona 5, both of which come out in March 2018.

Ho-oH in Pokémon Go

Back in mid November, Pokémon Go sent players a Global Catch Challenge, to test whether the players could catch a total of 3 billion Pokemon within the time period. Players succeeded, unlocking Farfetch’d and Kangaskhan which were region exclusive before that.

Niantic have now announced that Ho-Oh will appear in Raid Battles at Gyms globally until December 12, 2017. This bird is too tough to capture it alone though: Trainers will need to bring friends to work together to whittle down the health of the rainbow bird for a chance to capture it.

Christmas has come to Pocket Camp

You probably noticed, if you play Animal Crossing Pocket Camp on your smartphone: the festive season has started. Although I’m chuffed at the festive furniture and clothing you can collect, I was a little bit disappointed that come December 1, there wasn’t any snow on the ground. Still, it’s great to see the tradition of special festivals carried over from the main games to the smartphone version. (Read more about it here)

In addition to the Christmas event – Animal Crossing Pocket Camp Android users can get a special Login Bonus from Google Play for a limited time only. It features a rainbow Isabelle tee, a rainbow K.K. Slider tee, and a rainbow cap. These items will only be available until January 7th.

Update Stardew Valley Switch is live

The patch for Stardew Valley on the Switch is live, and it fixes an whole list of bugs. It ads other things too though:

Players should see a significant improvement on save times, the saving screen is now animated.

The new video recording feature on Switch is now supported

When a controller connects or disconnects, the Controller Support Applet now appears to ask which controller you want to use to play the game, instead of silently switching to the new controller.

Nothing major, though it’s nice that you can make a video recording now.

The Sexy Brutale coming to Switch

To be honest, I almost clicked past this news myself, purely based on the title. Weird title for a game that is rated 12+. But this indie game looks very good, one I’m keeping an eye on! The game was on Steam first, and got raving reviews. The title can already be played on Xbox and PS4, and will come to the Switch on December 7.

This is the game description by Tequila games, the publisher:

During a single, endlessly-looping day within “The Sexy Brutale” – a stately English mansion converted into a bizarre casino and named by the enigmatic Marquis – players take on the role of elderly priest Lafcadio Boone. To progress, Boone must hide, watch and learn the colorful stories of the other guests at the ball in order to save them from grisly deaths at the hands of the mansion’s staff. By discovering the key moments and methods how each guest can be saved and gaining occult-seeming powers linked to their masks, Lafcadio is able to explore deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the mansion’s past and inhabitants to uncover the truth hidden at the heart of The Sexy Brutale.

Check out the trailer!

I guess that’s enough for this week. I’m going to go back to a bit of gaming, and a lot of real life work this week. A good thing Sinterklaas will visit us December 5, so I have some fun to look forward to!

Thanks again for reading, and have fun gaming!

Handheld Gaming News week 48 Only a few weeks left in 2017, soon it will be time to choose our Handheld Game of the Year again!

#2017 #2017 Friday&039;s coffee #Friday #gaming coffee #handheld games #Ho-oh #Isabelle shirt #Persona 5 #pocket camp #pokemon go #rainbow cap #Sexy brutale #stardew valley update

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guidetoenjoy-blog · 6 years ago

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The 35 best indie games on PC and consoles

New Post has been published on https://entertainmentguideto.com/awesome/the-35-best-indie-games-on-pc-and-consoles/

The 35 best indie games on PC and consoles

Update: Added the open-world survival indie RPG Outward

Although the best PC games with money to splash are quickly evolving, so are the best indie games you might not have heard of.

One of the best things about our best indie games list is that most of these more obliterate titles, unlike AAA game publishers, don’t try to manipulate you out of every penny any chance they can get. Free from corporate influence and constant badgering for your fund, the best indie games represent the pure artistic vision of the developers- especially if you have one of the best gaming PCs.

However, merely because the best indie games don’t make a lot of money, doesn’t mean they can’t keep up with the latest AAA reaches in scope and ambition. In fact, the opposite is true: the best indie games can easily rival or even exceed mainstream games in both quality and scope- becoming artistic masterpieces in the process. And, they don’t have to rely on tired tropes just to sell millions of copies, like their AAA counterparts.

This is all exciting stuff, and if you want to dive into the best indie games, you’re in luck. We’ve put together a list all the best indie games on the PC market today. We’ve included both in vogue indies like Return of the Obra Dinn and Outward, alongside classic titles like Braid and Dwarf Fortress. And, don’t worry, we’re going to keep such lists updated with all the latest and greatest indie makes.

If you’re looking for the next great indie title, keep reading.

Linux, Windows or Mac – which one is best for you? Watch our guide video below :P TAGEND

Bill Thomas, Joe Osborne, Kane Fulton and Gabe Carey have also contributed to this article

Yeah, it’s not out yet, with Double Fine promising it’ll be out’ soonish’. Still, Ooblets is staying on our radar. Ooblets is being developed by first-time studio Glumberland, and is backed by Double Fine. The game is described as some kind of combo between Pokemon, Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, which has certainly captured our attention- and it should probably capture yours, too. The game blends an art style curiously reminiscent of post-apocalyptic sensation, Adventure Time, with gameplay that revolves around gathering animals called ooblets in the town of, uh, Oob.

In the game, you’ll be able to train and battle your ooblets against other ooblet trainers. At the same time, you’ll have to balance your ooblet training with the real-world responsibilities of being a farmer. That’s right, drawing influence from the likes of Stardew Valley, you can cultivate produce and decorate your house with various trimmings as well. You’ll also be able to join an Ooblet Club comprised of friends( NPCs) you’ll gratify along the way.

If you don’t know what to do in Ooblets, simply walk around and discover new shops and builds that suit your interest. Better yet, you can open up your own shop and sell make that you’ve grown on the farm as well as items that you’ve scavenged throughout the world. Otherwise, you can feed the leftover harvests to your ooblets to watch them level up and learn new techniques to be used in the turn-based, RPG-style battles.

Expected:’ Soonish’

Jonathan Blow& apos; s brainchild first appears to be a simple pastiche of Super Mario Bros, with a middle-aged curmudgeon replacing the titular plumber but still seeking to rescue a princess.

The longer you spend in the game, however, the more that’s revealed to you, progressing from a series of time-bending puzzles to quiet reflective texts- which doesn’t stop it from being the smartest puzzle game since SpaceChem. Blow himself has subtly hinted that the ultimate narrative may revolve around the atomic bomb.

First released as PC freeware by Japanese decorator Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya back in 2004 after five years of 100% solo developing, Cave Story predates the recent indie renaissance by a few years. Because of when and how it was first released, it& apos; s often omitted in indie gaming discussions.

However, this classic more than deserves to be on every best-of list for its caring homage to the classic action platforming games of the Super Nintendo era , not to mention its unbelievable music and breathlessly vibrant world. Oh, and don& apos; t forget the hugely intuitive controls, gobs of secrets and weapons that are simply too fun to use. If you& apos; ve yet to enjoy this one, you need to set it on your backlog already.

From family-owned and operated Studio MDHR, Cuphead has connected with millions of people around the world, many of whom commonly wouldn’t touch a run-and-gun platformer with a ten-foot pole.

Although its gameplay was inspired by classic games such as Mega Man and Contra, most gamers would likely compare it to a Fleischer Studios cartoon like Betty Boop. Because Cuphead employs a hand-drawn art style likened to a 1930 s animation, it’s been universally praised for its gorgeous visuals.

Cuphead is more than just its stunning visuals, however. It’s a series of 19 challenging and engaging boss, with platforming bits interspersed between them. It already attained our list of the best indie games, but Studio MDHR has announced that the Cuphead: the Delicious Last Course DLC, slated for 2019, with a new isle to explore, new boss to conquer and, most importantly, a new character to master.

Many AAA games serve as escapist power fantasies, where the player is ultimately able to dominate the game’s cosmo- right until video games aims. But, many indie games are the exact opposite- like the IGF award winner and suffering simulator Cart Life.

Papers Please is similar to Cart Life in that it& apos; s also an IGF winner with elements of misery about it. Merely, it& apos; s better – it’s a smart, weird sim about the compromised life of a border guard living under a totalitarian regime. It& apos; s ugly and desperate, but also innovative, uproariously funny and terribly smart.

Among the hardcore gamers we know, Spelunky is the go-to drug. Even today, several years after its release, some of them still play it every day, despite having completed it many times over. That& apos; s because Spelunky, an ostensibly rogue-like platformer with a definite objective, is tough, differed and highly randomized.

It also has more dark secrets than a presidential candidate, meaning there are a boatload of ways to finish it, and its daily challenges are a sure-fire way to public humiliation.

Does humor belong in video games? Well, according to the Stanley Parable, that’s a resounding’ yes ‘. This game is hilarious without being dumbed down. Players follow( or don’t) a very British narrator who alterations the world around you, based on your choices.

No choice is penalized, and every playthrough will be fresh with new humor and weird goings-on. Being trapped in the closet in The Stanley Parable is more moving and funny than the majority of members of other indie games.

If you missed out on this ironic gem back when it first launched, you’ll be happy to know that the developer announced the Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe edition for 2019, with fresh content, more endings and a console release. This Ultra Deluxe edition actually sounds pretty tempting, even for us- and we played it a whole lot when it first came out.

Farther reading: Retro-me-do! Digitiser’s Mr Biffo on his top PC games of all time

It took more than nine years to build, but Owlboy is definitely worth the wait. Originally designed for PCs and released in late 2016, this clever indie game masterpiece is now available to experience on Mac and Linux as well- and there’s even a Nintendo Switch version! Owlboy centres around a race of owl-human hybrid characters called, and aptly so, Owls. Of them, you control Otis, an Owl who is censured by his mentor for his inept flying skills.

The story finds Otis’ village destroyed by pirates who clearly have is consistent with the Owls. As a result, Otis has to work with an assortment of villagers in-game to take out foes. Of course, when boss combats develop, you’ll need to manage friends accordingly, as each character comes with their own situate of unique skill sets to use in conjunction with one another. If you’ve ever played and enjoyed a Kid Icarus game, this is one for the books. Otherwise, play it anyway.

Similar to The Stanley Parable, Gone Home falls into the unofficially labeled’ walk-to simulator’ genre. Where it diverts from the clever and philosophical Stanley Parable, however, is its focus on life’s difficult realities, as opposed to light humor.

After arriving at your childhood home following an overseas visit, you play as 21 -year-old Kaitlin Greenbriar who is greeted by an empty home. While gameplay is essentially limited to scavenging through notes to find out where your family is, the gripping narrative is exceedingly emotional and obligating, as long as you keep an open intellect. After all this time, Gone Home stands out as one of the best indie games out there.

Only SpaceChem has mixed learning with amusement as successfully as The Kerbal Space Program. The game is simple – design and build a spacecraft to take the cutesy Kerbals to the Mun and beyond.

Yet its focused use of real physic means that you& apos; ll find yourself following NASA as you’re building multi-stage rockets and space station as well as exploring the Kerbal& apos; s strange world on EVAs, before bringing your discoveries back for research on the Kerbal planet – that& apos; s if you can get off the ground at all. It& apos; s a huge, complex, challenging and fun game, that manages to be super smart without being preachy.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is the exact opposite of something like Kerbal Space Program – it’s an action roguelike par excellence. You play as a young son attempting to kill his damned siblings, mom and possibly the Devil, using only your tears, which he shoots from his eyes, naturally. This indie games is matched only by the equally visceral Nuclear Throne.

With dozens of bizarre items to collect, endless procedurally-generated levels, and tons of secrets, the Binding of Isaac is a very dark take on the exploratory model established by Spelunky.

Don’t let the pixel art graphics put you off- Undertale isn’t a game that would have fit on the Super Nintendo. That’s because, in Undertale, the decisions you attain have a huge impact on how the game objective and, more importantly, how it continues in New Game Plus.

While playing Undertale, you’ll come to realize just how much freedom the game gives you. Despite its highly inspired , not to mention intense, boss matches, you’ll be able to make it through the entire nine or so hours of Undertale as a total pacifist. Plus, when you go through the game a second time, you’ll bear the weight of the consequences from your previous operate. What’s even better is , now Undertale is out on the Nintendo Switch, so you can take this masterpiece of game design wherever you go.

From developer Playdead, Inside is comparable to its predecessor, Limbo, in some ways, merely with an added layer of depth that inspires constant wonder. This is mostly a result of the unspoken narrative, which revolves around yet another nameless boy. In Inside, however, the boy in the story is running away from a group of men who- if you fail to stay out of their sights- will try to mercilessly kill you.

Though it isn& apos; t quite clear why the boy is running from these men or why you should even care since you don& apos; t know who he is, so Inside will leave you begging for answers. The bleak, lifeless defining of Inside is more than worth the price of admission. Its minimalist art style alone is avant-garde enough to feel right at home in a museum. Factor in the fact that this game that& apos; s both fun to play and dripping with curiosity, and Inside is one of the best indie games fund can buy.

Developed single-handedly by Eric Barone, Stardew Valley is undoubtedly a technical feat for that little fact alone. If you’ve ever played a Harvest Moon game, you’re already very well known the premise of Stardew Valley – you may merely not know it yet. Stardew Valley is an addictive farming simulator, which assures you interact with townees to the point where you can literally marry them.

Stardew Valley isn’t just farming, though – it’s a whole bunch of interesting thing at the same time. You can go fishing, you can cook, you can craft stuff. You can even run explore procedurally-generated caves to mine for items and even fight slime-monster-things. However, you should keep in mind that your health and energy are finite, so you& apos; ll want to keep your character rested and fed to avoid suffering from exhaustion. Pass out and you’ll lose a considerable amount of money and items you’ve worked hard to attain. Stardew Valley will have you playing for hours on end, for better or worse.( Definitely better .)

From Canadian game developer Alec Holowka, inventor of the award-winning Aquaria( also featured on this list ), and independent artist/ animator Scott Benson, Night in the Woods is an unconventional side-scrolling adventure game centering around a 20 -year-old protagonist named Mae who drops out of college to move back in with her parents.

Featuring a tale largely based around dialog choices and mini games that set a spin on mundane tasks, like carry boxes up the stairs and eating perogies, Night in the Timbers is a timeless coming-of-age tale. Not only will you experience middle class America through the eyes of a personified cat, but virtually every interaction in-game will have you laughing aloud. And now that it’s available on the Nintendo Switch, you’ll be able to take it wherever you go.

If you’re a fan of the recent wave of games inspired by Dark Souls, you’ll perfectly love Hollow Knight. You take control of the Hollow Knight, and result them through the deceptively adorable scenery to take on boss and other difficult challenges. Much like Dark Souls, it’s not immediately clear what you’re actually supposed to be doing as the narrative is intentionally obtuse.

The Dark Souls inspirations don’t end there, however. It also embraces Dark Souls’s’ tough but fair’ philosophy, where the game is only as hard as you make it – you can overcome anything as long as you have patience and learn from your blunders. Hollow Knight takes these lessons from Dark Souls and injects them into a MetroidVania, with all the side-scrolling and upgrades you could possibly want. You can even play it on the Nintendo Switch now.

If you’re looking for a game that’s as unforgiving as it is fun, seem no further than Dead Cells. It takes gameplay inspiration from so many places- from roguelikes to MetroidVania. There’s even a clue of Dark Souls in there, to create a unique action game that will test your restrictions.

Each time you play this game, it will be different. And, while you’ll lose some progress each time you die- and you’ll die a lot- the game will become more and more rewarding as the complex and fluid combat becomes second nature. In the final release of video games, you get access to over 90 weapons, skills and abilities that’ll let you tailor your gameplay however you want.

Whatever you do, don’t get discouraged when you fail. Get up and try again, and Dead Cells will merely reward you in the end, which is why it has our vote for one of the best indie games in 2019.

Introversions was one of the earliest& apos; indie& apos; companies, releasing games like Uplink, Defcon and Darwinia whilst Vlambeer was still in short pants. After years of struggling, they& apos; ve eventually hit a huge success with Prison Architect, a game where you construct, faculty, attire and manage a maximum security prison, of all places.

With smart captives who are willing to do anything to escape, you& apos; ll struggle to keep them all inside – or keep them from rioting – and turn a profit. It& apos; s eminently playable, even more so in the near future as Paradox has acquired it and plans to make it available on all platforms.

These days, it’s hard to find an RPG that will really push you to your restrictions. Outward, with its focus on survival and tough combat, is one of these RPGs. There isn’t much in the way of narrative, but you’re placed in the middle of the world of Aurai, where you’ll have to struggle to survive. You’re not a hero, however, just the everyman trying to survive in a harsh world.

In many styles, Outward is like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. There’s a heavy emphasis on exploration, but you aren’t dedicated quest arrows or any kind of waypoint. You have to rely on your own ability to use a map, along with any directions that are given to you by quest NPCs. If you’re looking for a challenging RPG, this might be one of the best indie games for you.

Dwarf Fortress is its own genre, its own industry. This is a game that, before you& apos; ve even set foot in it, has to generate the entire geography, myth and history of its massive world. Then it tracks every single one of the dwarfs you& apos; re managing down to the hairs on their legs, and the particular horrible elephant murder that they’ve witnessed and are now carving on an ornamental chair.

Your undertaking is to keep the dwarves alive as they carve out their subterranean kingdom – given that insanity, monsters and starvation beset them at every stage, that& apos; s not easy. And dwarves, always, always mine too deep.

Run. Jump. Die. Repeat. That’s essentially the gameplay loop of Super Meat Boy, a fiendishly addictive 2D platformer that’s also bloody hard, with an emphasis on bloody. Gallons of blood is spilled as the game’s eponymous meaty hero leaps over deadly fells, spinning finds and strolling chainsaws in a bid to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from the evil Dr Foetus. Obviously.

Boasting solid controls, lots of humor and vibrant graphics, Super Meat Boy leapt onto the PS4, Vita, and Nintendo Switch in style.

It might not be Playdead’s most recent game, but Limbo is timeless. Even five years after its release, the game’s haunting storyline still affects us. You play the Boy, a child with glowing eyes who is cast into Limbo to find his sister. Making your style through a bleak and dangerous world full of hostile silhouettes, giant spiders and deadly gravitational fields, you’ll need to think quickly and perfectly day your motions if you’re going to survive.

Limbo is much more than a simple platformer: it& apos; s an experience, and one that will have you pondering the very essence of life by the time you finish. Deep, profound and absorbing, it& apos; s one indie game everybody should take time out to play.

If you& apos; re yearn for a retro-inspired multiplayer archery combat game( aren& apos; t we all ?), TowerFall: Ascension is the pick of the plenty. Fast, frenetic and teeth-gnashingly hard in hardcore mode, the game& apos; s mechanics are simple: fire arrows at your foes or jump on their heads to stay alive until the round ends.

Arrows that don& apos; t hit are embedded in walls, making for tense scenarios when you have to traverse the map while dodging foes to retrieve them. As such, practicing until you achieve Robin Hood-esque levels of accuracy is recommended. Ascension is best experienced with friends in local multiplayer mode, which remembers Super Smash Bros& apos; most manic moments.

It’s not often that a platformer manages to balance challenging and engaging gameplay with an emotional and thought-provoking narrative, but Celeste pulls it off. From the developers of Towerfall, Celeste follows the story of Madeline, a young girl who decides to face her mental health issues by climbing to the top of the mysterious Celeste Mountain. In doing so, she learns more not only about the mountain, but about herself as well throughout the process.

An inevitable classic, Celeste integrates the obvious jumping, air-dash and climbing controls into a brutal series of platforming challenges in upwards of 700 unique screens. And, if that’s too easy, you’ll unlock B-side chapters along the way, designed for only the bravest of hardcore players. Better yet, you don’t have to worry about waiting an eternity between each respawn. Instead, Celeste brings you back from the tomb in an instant, a welcome deviation from the typically extensive loading screens.

Have you ever wanted to land on an foreigner planet, and build a factory? We admit that it’s an odd premise, but we promise that it works in Satisfactory. You’ll land on one of three planets of varying difficulty, where you’ll be tasked with building and automating a factory to exploit the world around you.

The premise audios bland, but being able to explore these beautiful worlds in first person, while scavenging materials and fighting off hostile wildlife builds it all that more exciting. Plus, is there something better than sitting back and admiring something you worked hard on?

Satisfactory is in early access right now, and exclusive to the Epic Games Store, but if you can get past all that, you’re sure to get hours of wholesome simulation out of it.

After the fury success that was the original Nidhogg, it’s a shame to see the superior sequel get thrown under the bus. Nevertheless, in spite of its controversial art style, Nidhogg 2 packs a refined, stunning appear that the first version, a cult-classic, couldn’t even think to compete with.

In still frames, we can see how this could get misconstrued, but fortunately, it’s the fun and addictive local multiplayer gameplay that makes Nidhogg, well, Nidhogg. And it’s all there in Nidhogg 2. Additionally, every time you respawn, you get one of four unique weapons that only bolster the challenge.

Esteemed indie designer Jon Blow& apos; s follow up to Braid may look like an entirely different adventure, being 3D and all. However, the two are more thematically alike than you might think. The Witness, at its core, is another puzzle game that tells an interesting story through said puzzles.

This puzzler takes place in an almost equally impressionist- albeit heavily Myst-inspired- world, but it& apos; s story is far more nuanced and mysterious than Blow& apos; s previous. At almost every corner of this island that you& apos; ve simply woken up on( or beneath ), there is a clue as to how you got onto this island and why you& apos; re here.

Don’t get us incorrect, we liked Bastion, but we won’t deny that Transistor was SuperGiant Games’ best work to date. Much of that has to do with the blending of action-based and turn-based RPG parts contained within its cyberpunk futurescape. Likewise, in classic SuperGiant fashion, those mechanics are complemented with a stunning art style and a music rating so unforgettable it’ll induce you want to buy the soundtrack.

Leaving key gameplay beats up to the player, the narrative isn’t so variable. Transistor’s main character, Red, is a renowned singer in the city of Cloudbank. However, she’s been attacked by a group of vicious robots who call themselves the Process, operated by another group called the Camerata. In her journey, she detects the Transistor, a mysterious sword with the voice of a man. Soon enough, she’ll learn more about him and how he will shake up her world.

It’s weird to think that Oxenfree came out before the first season of Stranger Things, and yet, the two coincidentally have a lot in common. The 80 s-inspired heavy synth music composed by scntfc, for one, accentuates some genuinely gripping sci-fi horror focusing around – you guessed it- groupings of teens stuck on an island.

The story involves a handful of uniquely written characters, namely the main character Alex, along with her stoner friend Ren, her newfound stepbrother Jonas, her dead brother Michael’s ex-girlfriend Clarissa and her best friend Nona( who Ren happens to be in love with ).

The plot is explained through branching speech dialogues, similar to Life is Strange or modern-day Telltale games, and it features five different endings depending on your choices.

Exploring a surreal wilderness seems like quite the trend these days in gaming, and developer Campo Santo& apos; s debut only serves to keep it going strong. Set in the wilderness of 1989 Wyoming, you& apos; re playing Henry, a fire lookout that& apos; s all alone in the woods after exploring something strange in the distance.

That is, save for your partner on the other line of a walkie-talkie: Delilah. She& apos; s your only phase of contact as you explore the wilderness. Will you make it back alive? Will the decisions you stimulate help or harm the relationship with your only lifeline to the outside world, your boss? Don& apos; t worry about those questions just yet- admire those forestscapes first!

Rust is one of the more successful indie titles of recent times. By the end of 2015, it had sold more than 3 million transcripts, which isn& apos; t too shabby considering it wasn’t even finished — the game has been on Steam& apos; s Early Access scheme since launching in December 2013.

It seems people can& apos; t get enough of the Day Z-inspired survival sim. It ensure you use your wits and bearings to survive its harsh open world, starting off with nothing but a boulder. After assembling resources needed to build a house and weapons to fend off attackers( other online players, in other words ), Rust gradually becomes more intense as you defend your growing base — or attempt to breach others& apos ;.

Fans of the original Overcooked will not be disappointed by its second installment in the chaotic couch co-op series from British indie game developer Team1 7.

This time around, your undertaking is to defeat the& apos; Un-Bread& apos;( zombie baked goods) that have taken over the Onion Kingdom, by battling through brand new recipes including sushi, pizza and burgers in increasingly chaotic kitchens with up to three other people.

To add to the frantic fun, you must battle obstacles including random flames, collapsing floors and interfering passers by, all while get your orders out to the pass in time.

Things get complicated incredibly quickly, and relationships, friendships and family bonds will be tested as you work together to complete your recipes on time, inducing it a fun and challenging sofa co-op game that will construct you truly understand the meaning of “too many cooks spoil the broth.”

The natural progression of survival games, SCUM takes what predecessors like Rust and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds both succeeded at and iterate in impressive ways. And, while it’s still in early access, it offers a unique twist- combining the frenetic gameplay of battle royale games with the slow, thoughtful gameplay of a survival sim.

SCUM, unlike other similar games, is extremely heavy on the simulation side of things, however. You shouldn’t expect to run in firearms blazing, as you’re going to get tired promptly( just as you would if you tried running outside in person with a ton of stuff in your knapsack ). But, if heavy statistic systems is something your into, there’s a lot to love here. It’s like spreadsheets with a physic engine.

Just don’t go in expecting a polished experience , not for now. However, developer Croteam promises to add more features over hour, and as they’re backed by Devolver, you can trust that video games is going to shape up into something great.

Every so often, there’s a game that perfectly mixes and balances aesthetic, gameplay and narrative- where everything feels like it only, well, fits. The best indie games always excel at this, and Return of the Obra Dinn is proof. A mystery taking place on a derelict ship, you’re tasked with figuring out how the crew of this lost ship died, disappeared or worse.

The entire game has this old-school visual styling that, combined with the simple controls and gameplay technique make it keep feeling a nostalgic sort of adventure. Right from the sets menu, you’ll get to choose what kind of monitor you’d like to emulate- we picked an old school Macintosh option- that should give you an idea of the type of retro revivalism on offer here.

Return of the Obra Dinn is a game that will require critical thinking, exploration and a ton of reading. If that all sounds appealing to you, and you’re all good with retro aesthetics, you will love this game. In fact, it’s one of the best indie games in a season marked with AAA decadence.

If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably spent hundreds of hours playing Roller Coaster Tycoon during your childhood. And, while there have been plenty of amusement park simulators over the last few years, they’ve never quite hit that place.

Until now.

Parkitect is the closest we’ve ever gotten to those early aughts park simulators, and we’re absolutely in love. From the cartoonish art style to the realistic simulation and Steam Workshop integration, Parkitect is one of the best indie games 2019 has to offer.

For years, thatgamecompany has been behind some of the best indie games on the market, merely most of them had been exclusive to PlayStation. One such game was Flower. Serving as a kind of a precursor to the beloved Journey, Flower puts you in command of a bloom petal, surfing through the wind.

You’ll activate different colours of flower beds to affect the environment, which will also get you different colored petals, until you have an entire trail of colour surfing high winds. It’s an incredibly relaxing and artful experience, and it might just be hiding a message about the industrial world we all find ourselves living in. Trust us, give it a shot as it’s one of the best- not to mention, most legendary- indie games ever.

Read more: techradar.com

#best #game #games #indie #itx2019s #like #more #x2013 #your

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dandelliongirl · 6 years ago

Text

Enjoying the chill

Literal and figurative.

It’s been insanely hot but my office is very cold so I’m kind of glad I get to come here during daytime. Sure, beach life and summer fun would be great and I’m a bit jealous of people with paid time off but hey - if I had time off it would be +5 degrees and snowing right now so at least other people get to enjoy summer now that I’m indoors.

My derm appointment last Thursday didn’t go as I hoped. Turns out I needed the old scar removed and a bit of extra buffer skin around it just to make sure they got everything out the first time around. So now I have a new set of stitches and no sauna/swimming for 2 weeks. I’m sure this nice hot summer weather is going to stop the day I get my stitches off and lake water will go back to being +16... I have an inflatable swim-doughnut spare tire thingy in case I want to go to the lake from the waist down but this sucks majorly. Also trying to keep the tape on my back makes showering real hard and getting sweaty and uncomfortable means that the wound itches a lot and there’s a high risk of inflammation. This is the worst time of year (or decade - even century) to have surgery of any type. But hey - cancer would suck more right? Gotta try to stay positive although it does feel super unfair. Even if I did have time off I couldn’t enjoy summer... I guess it’s good that I’m working anyway?

For some reason I woke up at 2:30 am on Monday to an anxiety attack. I haven’t had anxiety in a while and everything is 20 times worse at night when you really feel like you’re gonna die so in reality it probably wasn’t that bad but still bad enough to wake me up. I got up, went to pee and tried to fall back asleep but the anxiety woke me up at 3:30 again. I got up, drank some water, stretched and browsed twitter for a while since I thought there would be no point in trying to force myself to sleep and only make myself feel worse. Eventually I found a comfortable position hugging my teddy bear with my back against other plushy toys and managed to sleep until morning. The anxiety was with me all day Monday and partially Tuesday as well but now it’s mostly gone. It might just be the heat and a continuous need to drink water because I can’t think of any other reason for it. Or then it’s just a bunch of different stuff that I’ve got on my mind like my boyfriend returning, work starting to pick up next week, my stitched back, my disgustingly dirty house because it’s too hot to clean etc. Anyway I haven’t had anxiety like this in over a year so it was a surprise.

The yard at our summer house is going through some transformations. We have a new parking lot built and the spot for my new little sleeping cottage is prepped. I might have a new house by the end of this summer which is both exciting and kind of sad as my old dear little house is going to get taken away. The new one will be so super cute and free of mold so it’ll be easier for me to breathe there. ♥

So last week I hung out with my friend on Thursday after my disastrous derm appointment and it was good to have company. This time around I don’t really care to watch out or be careful with my wound or the scarring process and paying no attention to it has helped it feel less sore I guess. I had keloid scarring on the previous scar as well even though I was so so so careful so who cares at this point if the scar is just going to keep growing anyway.. Anyway me and my friend went shopping and played ACNL. The weekend was a bit rainy so I spent Friday at home watching YouTube videos and Skype calling my Israeli friend while playing some Stardew Valley. On Saturday I went shopping with mum and dad and after lunch we drove over to our summer cottage. It was a rainy but very warm day. On Sunday me and mum wanted to make a blueberry pie and going to pick blueberries I saw a viper snake on the path to the house. That scared us real bad since we haven’t seen any snakes on our lot. They usually hang out near the bigger road but I guess either the abnormal heat or all the new cottages being built around has somehow screwed with their territories. Anyway that was terrifying but we managed to make a delicious blueberry pie regardless.

On Monday me and my friends from ballet went on a picnic after I got off work. We spent the entire evening from 5 pm until midnight at the beach talking. We found out that one of my best friends from that group is getting married next summer and I’m SO excited and happy for her! We talked lots about weddings and the girls’ future plans now that they’re all high school grads and are going off to travel the world and go to college. I really hope we don’t drift apart.. I had such an amazing time and our little get-together was much needed. ♥ What’s better on a warm summer day than a picnic at the beach with some of my favourite girls and not a care in the world. ☼ Also wedding planning. ♥ ♥ ♥

So far I’ve been fine with the heat but last night was a bit tough. It was +30 in the house all night and I couldn’t really get a draft in because the air just wasn’t moving at all. Also, like a smart girl I made s’mores and monkey bread in the oven. Real hot. Everything was about to expire and I’m going on a diet starting August 1st so I have to get rid of all trash food in my house as soon as possible. It was bordering on uncomfortable but I managed to sleep so that’s fine. It was a sweaty and very warm evening watching mischacrossing 100% Breath of the Wild and play some Captain Toad Treasure Tracker.

My parents are coming back from the summer house today so I probably won’t go to the cottage today. I’m going to try and get a draft in my apartment but if it doesn’t work out I might have to come up with a plan B of what to do. Maybe me and mum can go for a walk/run. I could use it. I’ve been doing some squats and other body weight exercises at work this week. I’ve even napped a couple of times both on and under my desk. It’s hilarious but yeah - I misread my boss’ outlook calendar and she isn’t coming back until next week. A couple of my colleagues had an office chair race down the hallway yesterday so we’re all going a bit stir-crazy in here. Anyway I’m enjoying my time in the cool replying to the occasional request tickets and flowdock chat messages while watching videos on YouTube, listening to music, grinding the heck out of another Chip’s fishing tourney in ACPC + collecting gyroids, talking to friends, browsing Twitter/jodel/LinkedIN/Tumblr, watching twitch streams and taking care of other occasional stuff. Oh and taking long lunch breaks.

#personal #diary #July2018

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bigboobshaunt · 7 years ago

Note

Have you ever made a top 10 list of vidya you like? I enjoy reading your insight into games and I think it would be interesting to see that list and your reasons for liking them.

What is your favorite… sibling? Body part??

OK like, technically I did already make one, on this very site a long time ago (technically I reviewed the 10 that made the cut, separately), but I’m not super crazy about my analysis skills then and many that were on that list just ended up changing with time - both because I played more games and because I just ended up realizing I liked different games better.

Given that I absolutely love running my horrible mouth for probably way too long, your ask made me want to do one again, which was already an idea somewhere on the back of my mind.

A couple of disclaimers before we actually get into it:

No game is perfect. Games are made by human beings, who carry personal biases and intrinsic flaws. I love a ton of games and they are All flawed in different ways and amounts. If anyone tells you a piece of media is straight up perfect, you should run. I am not claiming any of the games on this list are perfect, and I am well aware of their issues. I have eyes and can read.

This is my list, the barometer for it is Me. If anyone reading this takes issue with picks (which is something I keep seeing happen and it still makes no sense) just simply don’t interact or make your own list. Not looking for arguments here.

These are not, of course, gonna be in-depth for all of the games, just what exactly makes me like them so much, which was what I was asked. There are only so many spoons an enby can have, after all.

I tried keeping it to one game per franchise (barring one arguable exception) because otherwise this would get much, much harder than it already was.

Additionally, I failed to round out 10 of them, only managing 9. I beat around the bush a LOT about what the 10th one was gonna be, but no matter what choice, I always felt like I was gonna betray myself in the end, so I have reserved a section for honorable mentions at the end. These are also not numerically ranked, because while I have a long-standing Favorite game of all time, which is the last one I’ll get to, the other ones occupy uncertain, ever-changing spots.

I’m currently sitting atop a good pile of games I’ve been meaning to check out for ages, and since 2 games I’ve played recently made this list, I think it’s prudent to also make a spot for games I plan on playing to completion soon.

Here you go, anon! (And anyone else who might be interested)

Stardew Valley:

This game is both the most recent release to be on this list and also the newest entry, since it literally hasn’t been a month since I’ve finished it, and that’s part of why I placed it first here.

Though saying I “finished it” is kind of a lie, and that in itself reveals the magic, even after the “soft ending” I just keep going back to it every day, because it’s a world that just puts me in such a relaxed state… I want to spend time in my farm with my bisexual husband every day and I’m already planning two other playthroughs even if my first one is already creeping up on 100 hours!

See also: I’m… not particularly into farming sims? I’ve tried getting into them before but I just found them a little inane and unfocused, if that makes sense, so if my love for a game can transcend even a genre itself, I’d say that’s a pretty well-executed game, generally speaking.

I just also find it super endearing that the entire game was made by one person. From the artwork, the writing and the soundtrack… it’s crystal clear that a LOT of love and genuine effort went into it, and that’s very heartwarming and gives me hope.

Speaking of love, it’s also the entry in this list that has the most queer representation in it, and that’s a huuuuge plus for me, as a nonbinary bisexual. It’s a pretty cute game, and it also still manages to juggle a lot of complex themes which are very personally relatable to me with surprising tact.

Pokémon Black and White:

This is going to date this post pretty hard, but I’m actually replaying this one riiiight now. It’s actually right next to me on the table. How quaint!

These have been my favorite main Pokémon games since their release, and it’s largely a case of me being awed by its story and characters when I didn’t expect to be. I also really appreciate the risk these ones took by excluding Pokémon of previous regions to post-game content, since it forces you to get to know the new ones (which are both plentiful and incredibly creative imho!!) as you make your team.

I really appreciate the moral themes explored in this game, and how they even toyed with core concepts that had been with the series from the word go, questioning the morality we were just supposed to accept from the onset of this franchise, to the point that I’ve seen many people feel guilty about opposing this game’s main antagonistic force, N (who’s one of my favorite characters in fiction, at that).

If we’re talking strictly about casts as collective, this one has my favorite, without a doubt, in terms of rivals, antagonists, gym leaders, and even other minor npcs. I liked how they managed to effectively tie in the gym leaders with the plot, which really should be done more often, and I feel the games suffer when that doesn’t happen (hey X and Y! what’s up). The character development a lot of characters get in the sequel (which while still good, I’m not as fond of) is also very good!

Am I also still salty about folks passing this one up and then posting misinformed, under-researched opinions about it, or even deriding the Pokémon designs? Maybe! …Yeah, okay, I am. I have vivid memories of forum posts at the time, okay?

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky:

So this was the exception I was hinting at before, in the disclaimers. It’s a spin-off that’s quite different than the main series in gameplay, so I’m counting it. I really couldn’t live with myself if I made a list of my fave games and didn’t put this one in it, seeing as it’s one of the most surefire ways to make me cry there ever were.

Much like the previous entry, this one is yet another case of the writing taking me entirely by surprise. It would have been very easy to make this spin-off a quick cash-in just using the Pokémon name, but hot damn does this one’s narrative deliver in good writing.

The previous Mystery Dungeon game was absolutely no slouch in touching very dark themes, but I do feel like those were executed both better and more uniquely in the “sequel.”

Every part of this game past the time travel is just lip-smacking, and although it starts slow, you can definitely see pleeeenty of foreshadowing nearly everywhere, which makes replaying this one very fun. It’s definitely also on my “Must replay at least once a year” list as well.

I think every game in this list has a great soundtrack, but this one takes the cake in utilizing it to heighten my emotions. I think everyone reading this who’s familiar with the game knows what I mean when I say that the farewell scene (and the track that plays in it) is completely heartwrenching and beautiful. Definitely one of my favorite scenes in gaming.

I’m also gonna give a shoutout to the relationship between the player and the partner here for being super endearing and genuinely touching, whether you see it as romantic or platonic.

Sidenote: I will have the liver of that one reviewer who stopped at Apple Woods and then said this game was nothing special.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask:

The prize for reused assets done well goes to…

I would follow that up with a joke, but I’m not gonna. This is legitimately a good thing imo. I think it’s incredible that this game was made in one year because they had to rush it, and there’s a lot you can learn about game design and creatively cutting corners by the way Termina was created, too.

The fact that this game came out as great as it did is almost a miracle, everything considered! I really like the setting here, it’s so delightfully weird, and it makes me care about the fate of even its incredibly minor characters, which makes their impending doom and that of Link’s even more harrowing.

I could see how the time-management aspect of it wouldn’t fly with a lot of people, and admittedly I’m most familiar with the 3DS remake, so I can’t comment too much on how it used to be originally, but I think it largely synergizes well with the story. This IS a world about to end, so it feels warranted in a way that could be tough to justify otherwise.

This game also does something very well with horror, both in-game and in backstory, which is that it doesn’t spell out every implication and event out for you, but it implies juuuust enough that your mind makes you even more anxious and paranoid, as nothing could ever be as scary as your mind actually makes it out to be, and toying with this is way better than outright throwing scary shit at you… even if this game does that as well, what with those mask transformations and whatnot! Jeez.

Undertale:

I don’t know how to start this entry without outright saying this in some shape or form, so it’ll have to do - I don’t care about the fandom. I just don’t. They’ll do whatever the fuck they want with those terrible AUs and character biases, and I’ll bemoan it as usual, but I actively refuse to stop loving Undertale as it is because of them.

This game is a brilliant commentary on video games as a whole and has a great metanarrative! Pretty brilliantly and excellently executed, to be honest. It’s also yet another game that makes me cry frequently, and also makes me introspect more than I already do.

The gameplay itself can be hit or miss for me, but I don’t feel like it hurts the strength of what is there in other areas like storytelling, worldbuilding, soundtrack and character writing. It’s a bit like pinching a very hearty, stout elephant!

The different endings offer very, very different experiences that ultimately contribute to this setting and its commentary as a whole, even if I’m too much of a goody-two-shoes to ever do the No Mercy Run, but I enjoy the fact that it exists AND that the game itself calls me out for not doing it myself but watching it on youtube. Boy, did I get read for filth with that one.

It’s also a game that masterfully implements a very specific kind of humor that I can’t get enough of, and it does so while simultaneously developing its characters and giving each of them just enough time to shine. It’s a great cast, all in all. I just wish people would appreciate more than one of the characters.

Fire Emblem: Awakening:

Like the game that made me etch a symbol on my fucking flesh forever wouldn’t make the cut. Come on.

I feel like this is the game in the series that comes the closest to getting the balance of qualities I appreciate about gaming right. It could always be better in a multitude of areas, but there’s a reason why it’s one of my most replayed games in general. The more whimsical tone? Doesn’t actually come close to bothering me, at the end of the day.

A lot of people don’t really attempt to get to know the characters like, at all, and then go on to say really dumb shit about them on social media that I’ve been known to flip the fuck about, just a little. But there’s just so many little details and anecdotes about them that you can learn through supports that make them feel more familiar to me, personally, than other casts even within the same series.

This game is also the one responsible for getting me through a really hard time in real life, so of course I still hold it extremely dear while growing out my critical lenses about it simultaneously (Yes, this can in fact be done). It did something similar to the franchise, too, which is always incredible and noteworthy!

It’s also responsible for me being on this site, so you really can say that its impact on my life is the biggest on this list, and I’m… not at all ashamed of admitting that.

I’m pretty sure I’ve spent over 500 hours with this one, without even counting the hours spent re-reading supports and other convos for my writing. This is a lot of goddamn time, but I don’t necessarily want it back, and that’s a good thing.

Udobure owns my soul.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia:

If you were to suck out my brain into this fucked up jar thing and make it spit out my aesthetic biases in creative goop that creates games, two of them would come forth from this messy birth - Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and Bloodborne.

Given that I’ve actually played OoE myself, it goes on the list! End overview.

…Now, that’s not exactly untrue, but I would be underselling the game if I left that as is, so I’ll clarify other aspects about it that I enjoy.

The main character, for one, she’s one of my favorite protagonists, and it makes me glad she seemed to be popular, but I’m not exactly thrilled with how what a lot of people (and the company) remember about her is fanservice.

Her story really struck a chord with me. She’s been robbed of her own emotions and memories at the start of the game, and when she regains slivers of it throughout the game, they still feel foreign to her, but even when things look to be at their absolute lowest (REAL nice plot twist, by the by!) not even that will stop her from performing her duty.

Another thing I enjoyed about this one was the difficulty. Normally, I’m not one to prefer the higher settings just because, and even when I try them, I frequently find myself in the position of questioning the absolute bullshit some games pull to fake any actual difficulty, but it works here because it’s actually balanced really well with what you can do and what you have available to you, making you actually think strategically.

Another thing I liked about this title that makes it stand out from the rest of the series is the map variety, since Shanoa isn’t constrained to Castlevania for the entire run, the game has an actual opportunity to show different locales, which is nice, even if they sometimes get reused in a boring way with just a different paint job.

Bayonetta:

Thiiiiis one gets on here for the longest period of courtship, without a doubt. I’ve been wanting to play it ever since it came out, but only got around to it this very year, since it was finally released on a platform I owned.

Well, alright, that’s one of the reasons, the other reason it’s here? It’s fun as FUCK to play! Every movement you make, every action flows into another and the combos all feel very natural, easy, but not devoid of strategy or thinking behind them. Beyond the gameplay, the entire thing is so darn over-the-top in typical Platinum fashion. It’s a very enjoyable ride that never forgets video games are supposed to be fun, above all.

I absolutely adore Bayonetta herself as a character. She is so amazing and multi-faceted despite the fanservice packaging. She’s quipping like the best of them in one scene, like nothing ever affects her, and then also ripping your heart out later when she shows believable vulnerability.

I would be remiss to not mention the soundtrack, since it’s one of my favorites in gaming (beaten only by the very next entry on here) and is also my go-to for writing; Between fun, catchy themes like Mysterious Destiny and Tomorrow Is Mine, reimaginings of older songs that imho are better than the originals, like Fly Me To The Moon and Moon RIver and utterly jaw-dropping boss themes like Blood and Darkness and The Greatest Jubilee, the OST conveys every beat of the action spectacularly and makes the experience even more memorable than it would have already been.

Bayojeanne forever.

Legend of Mana:

I swear I’m not trying to be hipster-y by having my favorite one also be the least popular one on the list (by a long shot) but it’s likely that the fact that content for it is so rare somewhat influenced how close this game is to my heart, in a way. I think it made me cherish it more.

You won’t find another game quite like this one, I don’t think. The setting is extremely unique in that… you build it. You have to decide where every area in the game goes and all. It’s actually implied you’re rebuilding this world after all the magic in it has gone to shit. It’s something I really like, for sure.

It definitely makes you work for its story, and though the gist of it is presented in a cumbersome way, being exposited in history tomes you can acquire and view in a specific location… even they don’t completely spell out the backstory of this world, but in a good way rather than the usual “we blatantly didn’t finish this” kind of way. It helps that there is a lot you can learn about it from environmental storytelling and interpretation, as well. I like that, being asked to think about symbolism and what it means.

Another good point about this game that’s difficult to articulate is that it manages to create an entire world with its own set of morals and philosophies that, if taken at face value, can sound completely alien to us, but the game immerses me so deep into its world, that I end up understanding what they mean by it anyways and sympathizing where I might have not. I think that helped shape my introspective nature a lot, in retrospect.

There’s also the fact that although the four biggest story arcs aren’t actually linked at all, they do still absolutely play into the same major theme… even if a lot of people end up missing what it is due to how obtuse this game can be (It’s love, my dudes. Love and its classical understandings are the theme that permeates this game’s setting).

It’s also absolutely impossible for me to talk about Legend of Mana without gushing about its art design. Even if the graphics themselves aren’t great, the way it implements backgrounds still completely floors me every time I play. It does really interesting things with perspective, which you don’t see often. Hell, even the aptly-named Junkyard is unreasonably gorgeous.

The soundtrack, then? It’s Yoko Shimomura at her absolute best. It goes all the way between upbeat melodies and soul-rending compositions and it’s just intensely distinctive. A special note goes to the song City of Flickering Destruction, which still makes my heart tighten even after so many years.

Whew uh, this got long… if you’ve read this far, congratulations! You certainly can put up with an untold amount of bullshit. I’m sorry this became so disorganized, but I also… really enjoy sharing these. Really, I do. I hope I at least piqued your interest with even one of these entries. That alone would make writing this worth it a thousand times over.

Honorable mentions: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, Earthbound, Bloodborne, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Pokémon Emerald, Pokémon Sun, Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Digimon World Dusk, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros., Super Smash Bros For 3DS, Silent Hill 3, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil: Revelations, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Bravely Default, Night in the Woods, Shovel Knight, Zero Escape: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, Okami, Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

To play list: Dragon Age: Origins, Transistor, Bastion, The Darkness II, Skyrim, Hollow Knight, Dark Souls, Dark Souls II, Sonic Mania, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6, Alan Wake, Sonic Mania, Kingdom Hearts.

#Anonymous #video games #Jack's favorite games #I guess the overall trend is 'go dark thematically but handle with care and have fun with it'#I'm sorry for how some of the disclaimers come off I'm just a paranoid person and this site doesn't help #I think one look at the honorable mentions section reveals why this was hard for me #I'm also a character person and I appreciate characters who're pleasant and who I want to actively get to know and spend time with #before I'm a gameplay person and then I'm a story person #I'm just not a graphics person. I can appreciate when they're good objectively but they're not a necessity to me #I hope nobody started taking shots every time I said I enjoyed a game's world or cast

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