Dialogue Tree

Underground Highlights: The Best Outlying/Experimental Games of 2021- Part 5 (Finale)

January 18, 2022 Scott Thurlow Dialogue Tree

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5: Wondrously Weird & Borderline Bonkers

Now we arrive at the final section in the series. As I mentioned at the outset, these last two in my opinion best represent the spirit and style of games in the exploratory sphere I’m hoping to shine a light on. They are the most exemplary and arguably ambitious of the bunch, serving as my final pieces of evidence that encompass the essence of the entire endeavor.

For the penultimate title, throw on a trench coat and fedora, as we head to the seedy bars and back alleys of Backbone. A debut by developer EggNut, published by Raw Fury (who I’ve come think of as a lower key Annapurna, picking up very solid titles in the last few years.) Released June 2021, it was self-described as “a post-noir roleplaying detective adventure in which you step into the shoes of a raccoon private investigator in dystopian Vancouver.” Backbone is actually more of a laidback side-scroller/adventure game heavier on dialogue exchanges and atmospheric themes. It’s largely linear, with only the barest illusion that choices/options might alter the storyline. So just a note, it’s not strictly a traditional RPG in the above advertised sense.

Backbone is instead a story set in an alternate near-future world filled with anthropomorphic animals channeling various noir chestnuts played off against your role as downtrodden detective Harold Lotar. Harold is a haggard raccoon P.I. living in the dumps and struggling to make ends meet. So par for the course in his line of work and this genre, he is tasked with investigating mysterious happenings and disappearances in the city. Backbone introduces all this in a straightforward manner, initially hitting the expected notes of the source material. And then in a daring display, it veers jarringly into grindhouse/horror territory. I would venture that when that turn comes (and trust me you’ll know it immediately) it is the litmus test/breaking point test for most.

The scene in question hits roughly 1/3rd into the plot, and from there fully embraces it, sprinting through and reveling in its pure left-turn oddness. I completely understand the view that it might be too much of a stretch, and could turn many off. But my view is that’s exactly the point. It’s a ballsy artistic choice both in terms of the internal themes/narrative, as well as big ask for the player’s suspension of disbelief. Yet I maintain it’s worth it in the end precisely because of its boldness and insistence on seeing it through. What Backbone ends up feeling like is a Raymond Chandler novel that, when time came to apply his signature trope, the man with the gun who came through the door was David Cronenburg. It’s certainly not a pitch you hear every day, but Backbone is determined to committing to it.

Backbone incorporates broad questions regarding applicable contemporary concerns such as: the morality/ethics of possibly beneficial (but highly experimental) technology, biological modifications and the side effects of their use on both society and the environment in the long-term. In addition it layers in more personal existentialist anxieties that are treated equally importantly, as imparted by the scale of viewpoints from the range of characters who occupy various echelons in this version of Vancouver. The quality of the interactions/musings on these topics isn’t profoundly engaging in every single instance. Many discussions are realistic, resonant and emotional. But at times they can turn into an immersion breaking ‘trying too hard/pretentious’ bent of arthouse pseudo-philosophical/mystical metaphysical ruminations. More often than not though there’s enough substance and insight to keep it all mostly compelling. In this way, Backbone is reminiscent of Kentucky Route 0, and that is a positive comparison in my book.

While certain plot elements and conversations may be polarizing, there’s one aspect of Backbone I don’t think can be derided in any way: its top-notch pixel art. It is some of the very best, noticeable even among the many titles doing the same. Strolling across refuse-strewn motel parking lots and deteriorating theatres and later through corporate residences situated next to high-rise labs, the world never ceases to impress and one-up itself visually at every turn. Backbone’s world building is a big part of its strength and appeal, as locations practically bleed the style through the screen in their fantastic renditions. This is only elevated by brief moments of switching to pulpy comic cut scenes during key moments and connecting chapters. And of the jazz-y noir-ish leaning soundtracks in the discussion, Backbone features easily the superior score, solidifying its place in the field.

The graphic landscape is limited in scope but densely packed with minute details, clever background inclusions, and the right amount of believability to the point where despite the nature of its furry populace, everything in Backbone seems perfectly natural. As you spend time in this world and mull with its characters, you end up wanting to know more about these creatures and their reality. How did they come to inherit this version of Earth? What really is going on both within and outside the bounds of the narrative? Will there actually be any answers forthcoming? 

Backbone reaches perhaps just a little too far to totally achieve its intents. It presents a blatant challenge to the audience fairly early on, accepting that it might lose members of that audience for it. I won’t argue that bits are clumsily integrated and reactions will vary extensively. You may well find it various shades of frustrating, boring, and/or disappointing. But that’s also why I highly recommend Backbone, and placed it at this spot on the list. It’s a stimulating work on the forefront of experimentation. It supplies an array of topics which take center stage over mechanics/gameplay, before throwing an entirely genre-changing curveball into the mix. It then hopes you’ll give it enough credence to take the leap and see the rest of it through as a whole, including its own cracks in the pavement. I whole-heartedly second that you do exactly that. If nothing else Backbone is a piece of conversation starting art. Where exactly that conversation goes depends highly on personal subjectivity, but it is assured to be interesting ground no matter the case.

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Finally we come to the last title, of which I have the most to say about– UnDungeon. Kickstarted in 2017 by Laughing Machines (great studio name too) it’s been out in various early access builds since, being fine-tuned and updated along the way. Research shows it was originally supposed to be pure rogue-like with some RPG mechanics thrown in. Over the course of development it pivoted into a more narrative focused title, yet still retaining some vestigial elements of the former. It was eventually published by tinyBuild and released November 2021, barely promoted and buried like so many others. Until I got my hands on it. Let me state before we go any further that my review/impression of UnDungeon will be all over the place, much like this game itself. I know it’ll seem disjointed at parts, and while I’m attempting to keep it all coherently manageable, there’s a lot to break down and delve into, much of it crossing over at various points on the Venn diagram of topics. So just fair warning for what lies ahead.

First thing’s first: I hate the title. That is, the actual name “UnDungeon.” Within an hour of playing I came up with numerous, better, and more appropriate ones. I know that’s pretty subjective, but I’m just saying there are definitely better choices and if you end up playing it, I bet you’ll agree. But let’s focus on the actual game itself. The funny thing is, even though I saved this one for last and it’s ostensibly the most ‘out-there’ title, in fact I would actually posit it’s exceedingly familiar at a cursory glance.

UnDungeon channels the golden era of SNES action J/RPGs, and admittedly that hits near and dear to me. Nostalgia is certainly a factor in this choice, but to give an idea, the fairest and most recent-ish comparison I’ll make is to Hyper Light Drifter, at least in terms of presentation and broad aspects. A more obscure reference might be that it reminds me quite a bit of the Numenera games, both Torment: Tides and the parent tabletop incarnation. UnDungeon plays out like an Arthur C. Clarke/Philip K. Dick/Frank Herbert acid trip cocktail composed of ambitious byzantine sci-fi. Your grand journey begins as you are reborn an animated construct from the subspace-time stratum of proto-matter that permeates the membrane of the Void. Brought into existence by a recent reality-shattering cataclysm to herald and thus prevent the further collapsing of the seven capital dimensions after The Shift, by finding the decaying world piers and activating their energy cores because…!

Immediately all this high stakes cosmic setup and lore is thrown at you from the intro onwards and never really lets up. If anything, it accelerates into increasing complexity as it builds and veers towards plaid levels of fucking absurd. Every single word of it though is clearly lovingly chosen by artists/writers who are, if nothing else, extremely enthusiastic about sharing this Frankenstein’s monster world they’ve painstakingly crafted. Stripped down to its bare components, it is unlikely to be anything not seen before (up to and including a literal bazar of the bizarre.) However UnDungeon filters everything through its own twist on a multiverse spanning psychedelic sci-fi yarn, populated with a diverse cast of characters. The developers have it all firmly laid out in their minds and are attempting to beam it directly to you via a hypnotically absorbing fever dream, in video game form.  

There are certainly criticisms to be made. Sure, it doesn’t all make sense, all the time. Yet after a few sessions with it I had to ask myself: were Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Illusion Gaia and all those other beloved worlds in the same vein from my youth any less obtuse? Maybe. Maybe I’ve absorbed so much since those, and become so irrevocably cynical and jaded in the wake that I’m unable to see with fresh eyes. The point is even given all that, UnDungeon contains so much of the kind of setup I’ve always enjoyed, it could be a modern spiritual successor to them and the possible entry point for younger audiences to experience for the first time. A conduit in the medium to immerse themselves in the way I did with the above mentioned titles when I was but a kindling. And crucially, like them, UnDungeon is so impressively sure of itself; backed by an unwavering sense of confidence that you’ll find something cool in the swirling tapestry of the setting, one with an esoteric history and epic destiny that you are now a part of.

That might be as good as place as any to segue into the presentation, because fucking hell, visually it’s incredible. Boasting some of the most stunningly detailed 16 bit pixel art I’ve ever encountered, and the absolute best of the bunch on this list, I was constantly awed by its direction. Matched to a subdued and melancholic Western-tinged synth soundscape, it is truly masterful at establishing the look and feel of its decaying world/s. Together they do a seamless of job of selling this rich universe with superb atmosphere and striking style. I don’t have much else to say on this front because it really is that amazing and that simple. Just take a look and see for yourself. If that doesn’t impress you, then you are as emotionless as one of the soulless semi-immortals trapped in the static abyss between the matrixes of reality.  

Let’s talk now about the mechanics and gameplay. As mentioned, UnDungeon’s design is generally composed of easily recognizable templates. I can literally list off the elements it contains one by one and I guarantee every single one you’ve seen before. Quests are fare like: find this techno-magic McGuffin, rescue some NPCs, discover a monster’s cave and slay it, etc. There’s a karma system, companions, upgrades, inventory management and equipment upkeep. Weapons/effects/stats/items possibilities are all extensive, with a myriad array of choices and an equally robust crafting/trading system. Perhaps even too extensive and robust, owing to its rogue-like roots.

Combat is deceptively simple/familiar but soon enough becomes Souls-like in dickishness. It’s easy enough to grasp to start, the core is real-time hack-n-slash with spells/abilities. But everything soon ramps up, introducing some weird and sometimes outright unnecessary, not to mention player-unfriendly wrinkles. The enemy placement/encounters along with their ranking system can swiftly become overwhelming bordering on insurmountable. Yet fittingly, that is perfectly in keeping with the nature of UnDungeon as a whole: cramming all these systems, none of particularly unfamiliar design, and piling them on top of each other until it all threatens to collapse completely, just like the multiverses in its plot. It can be daunting in its pacing of narrative and mechanics, but if you’re willing to invest and give it a chance, everything becomes somewhat more manageable, up to a point.

I say that because in full disclosure, I poured about 15 hours into UnDungeon, reaching what I thought was the end, and would have been satisfied if it were so. Instead, that was seemingly just the conclusion of one world as it were, as afterwards the story continued, and a whole other map beyond the first opened up. The problem was by that point I discovered I was hopelessly underpowered and understocked, while because of the way the enemies work, the difficulty ramped up into nigh-impossibility.   

And lest you think me not of the ‘get-gud’ mentality, I ended up restarting a new game and attempting to use the foreknowledge and training to do exactly that. Except the game got more grueling, just as difficult if not more the second time around. On this playthrough I only made it to about the first third of the initial area until I hit a wall I just couldn’t power through, even though I had overcome it before and knew what was ahead. So while I did put it aside, I still could not stop thinking about it, and earnestly wanting to see it all through to the end eventually. While I may never do so, the simple fact that it was able to provoke that sensation so intently is a huge credit in my book and something that honestly hasn’t occurred much with any recent games to that degree, making it one of the most impactful to me. 

Backbone and UnDungeon are exotic and strange beasts for sure. Perhaps one more than the other. Nevertheless they both clearly have a specific well-thought-out vision/intent/ambition behind them, even if the execution can be uneven, whether intentional or not. They’re at once gorgeous, bizarre, flawed, and awesome pieces of gaming artistry. Messy but not in a janky way. Pretentious yet un-ironically exuberant in sharing their depictions and presentations. They channel well-worn mechanics and story threads in an identifiable retro aesthetic filtered through a kaleidoscopic post-modern lens, imbuing themselves with a sense of newfound wonder.

These are inspiring fringe works from aspiring avant-garde creators. Those who are tinkering with intriguing takes and off-kilter risks, away from the tired dullness of AAA main stream (and even arguably the established indie scene.) If, like me, that sounds appealing to you, then you absolutely owe it to yourself to experience them firsthand. As in my view they embody the hopeful possibility that gaming art like this can continue to exist and thrive in the face of everything that seems set against it, and that is the true cause for celebration.

So with that, I hope you enjoyed my breakdown of these titles, and again I urge you to check any/all out based on my thoughts and descriptions. Let’s support this type of creativity and boundary-pushing, reward the artists’ efforts, and ensure that more like them will be both viable and encouraged. Here’s to that happening in 2022 and beyond. Cheers my friends!  

Underground Highlights: The Best Outlying/Experimental Games of 2021- Part 4

January 14, 2022 Scott Thurlow Dialogue Tree

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4: ‘M’ is for Moody

After the whirlwind tour of the Milky Way and beyond, we now return to the confines of largely normal Earth-side reality, with two titles grounded in more common occurrences, namely a breakup and the death of a family member. These next pair are also more ‘game-y,’ containing more developed mechanics married to their narrative frameworks.

First up is Maquette, a debut by Graceful Decay and published by (you guessed it) Annapurna. There wasn’t much information I could dig up about its development history or the dev in general other than, like a large percentage of this list, it’s a small startup endeavor. What I can tell you is that it released in March of 2021, and was also an early PlayStation Plus title on PS5 (a mystical device that supposedly exists.) Even then, like most others here, it was out with little fanfare and overall coverage.  

In terms of genre, Maquette rest firmly as a walking sim puzzler (and if you know me, you know I enjoy a good one of those.) Billed as an “Escher-esque recursive simulation” framed around the dissolution of a 20something couple’s relationship. In its tale of two lovers (and eventually exes) Kevin and Kenzie, Maquette strives to channel an Edith Finch vibe. It does at times tap into that vein of bittersweet melancholy, even if the dialogue can be a bit stiff and perhaps cringy in spots. The voice acting sells the emotion though, even when the actual lines fall flat. It’s not enough to distract all that much, but given this is a story based heavily in reliving past conversations between two people who are presented as representing the quintessential modern dating paradigm, I thought it at least worth mentioning.

So while the narrative overall is fine, it’s there and does its job without much complaint, the core concept is what drives Maquette. Based around an Alice in Wonderland-like mechanic, wherein there exists an exact diorama replica (the titular structure) of the world around you, and via stepping into it yourself as well as bringing in objects nearby, you either grow/shrink them to open/create pathways forward. It’s a very neatly pulled off design, and a satisfying visual trick. Each vignette is a set of well-thought out obstructions/solutions, and a captured moment in the history of Michael and Kenzie’s romance and breakup as it unfolded. It’s relatable if not particularly revelatory material. Life gets in the way, people drift apart, etc. But it is that mundane aspect that makes Maquette so easily accessible. Sometimes shit sucks, and it might be no one’s fault, so you’ve got to remember the good times, not dwell on the bad, and keep going as best you can.  

In the art design field Maquette employs this hazy, dreamily surreal watercolor style that I’ve come to be quite fond of, even if it might be in danger of becoming overused in titles like this. Here though, it does perfectly match Kevin’s recollections of himself, Kenzie, and what happened from their first meeting to falling in love and then falling out of it. Memories aren’t perfect replicas of events, and the look of the world smartly reflects this. It’s an impressionist painting of what was felt at a given time in the past, and how that might have changed when viewed from a later perspective. Which of course is itself reflected in the overall essence of the puzzles, and is what Maquette does best. 

Like most of its ilk, Maquette does fall on short side, but every level is completely self-sufficient. Each of the 7 sections moves the plot along at a solid pace, and provides new/interesting challenges in approaches to advance and see the whole picture. It’s not Portal tier, but it is more complex compared to other similar titles. The journey may be more interesting than the destination, especially in light of the story’s conclusion. But the time spent on the carefully constructed road to reaching it never overstays its welcome and presents some enjoyable puzzle models embedded in an everyday slice of life piece.

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From love and death of it, we move onto the inevitability of death itself in Mundaun. Also released in March (so I guess ‘M’ is for ‘March’ too) from developer Hidden Fields and published by MWM Interactive (who similar to Annapurna, are probably more well known for their film distribution.) Mundaun is a mystery/horror folklore tale rooted in Nordic/Swedish tradition. By default, it is entirely voiced in a native dialect, Romansh, which lends it credibility and an air of a great foreign production.

The story begins with middle class worker Curdin, who receives a letter from his childhood priest informing him that his beloved grandfather, Flurin, has passed. To honor his grandfather, Curdin returns to the village of Mundaun (which awesomely is an actual place in Switzerland) to attend the funeral as the only other family member able to do so. Immediately the game drops you into this idyllic community nestled in the snowy Alps via a winding bus ride in a fantastic opening scene. While the setup may be commonplace, it veers into a sort of supernatural/magical realism hybrid, setting the stage of a remote and possibly perturbing place, the very definition of a normal seeming town with more than its share of darkness beneath.   

After paying his respects, Curdin encounters a sinister individual while visiting the barn where Flurin supposedly died in a fire. This figure hints that there was much more to Flurin’s life (and demise) than previously suspected. Based on this disturbing encounter Curdin begins to investigate the increasingly strange circumstances of his grandfather’s death as well as discovering secrets dating back decades into the past. Other local figures, like the aforementioned priest as well as an obligatory spooky little girl accompanied by the goat she apparently communicates with, offer their own cryptic knowledge.

Drawing from vintage folk horror like The Wicker Man and Children of the Corn, Mundaun is excellent at establishing a false sense of safety before introducing its more uneasy elements. Initially, the town is threat-free, and while the sun is out you’re free to leisurely poke around. At night however it slowly populates with a growing number of unsettling foes to be fought or avoided. These are small in variety but extremely effective in their creepiness/danger factor. A title like this also needs the necessary eerie soundscape, and Mundaun delivers with its desolate windswept mountains and creaking, groaning interiors.  

Mundaun contains a number of mechanics in the FP survival horror tradition: health/inventory management, and a choice of stealth/combat to deal with enemies. Most of your wanderings entail mainly key/McGuffin hunting, rooting for that bit of direction that will provide further clues and point to the next general objective. There are optional upgrades to seek out as well (my favorite being gathering ingredients to brew coffee which increases max fear resistance, obviously.) All mostly standard stuff, and all well-implemented. Additional areas of the town and surrounding countryside, each seemingly more inaccessible and foreboding than that the last, open up as the in-game days/chapters go on. The methods to navigate these are distinctive, such as riding a ski slope or driving up a mountainous road in a beat up old tractor van. Worth mentioning too is the standout UI, as it’s one of the most natural and immersive done in such a title.  

I haven’t mentioned the art style yet, as I’ve been saving it because even amongst the other designs in this list, it stands out near the top. Meticulously rendered in hand penciled sketches, it creates the impression that everything is an off-putting lithograph come to life. Truly excellent to behold, it is the perfect complement/contrast to the picturesque elements imperceptibly transforming into bleaker versions of themselves, insidiously blanketing larger swathes of the town. It mirrors Curdin’s rising terror at the things he uncovers and the hidden, forgotten corners of Mundaun that his quest for the truth sends him to.   

Throughout its duration Mundaun expertly balances established elements with amazing visuals; like an illustrated Swedish Grimm fable that jumped off the page into a long lost Resident Evil game. It nails a few of my close interests and influences: FPS surv-horror in an impeccably uncanny atmosphere bolted onto a classic cursed/Faustian bargain story composed with a modern sensibility, all with eye-popping graphic design to sustain the whole way. There is some solid replay value as well, with multiple endings that change the flavor of Curdin’s fate in non-trivial ways. Mundaun is one of my favorite titles of 2021 in general. It was a hugely pleasant surprise, and I think deserves to be in the discussion of best indie horror games. For any fan of such, it is essential playing material. Just keep an eye out for mystical goats.

Part 5 (Finale)

Underground Highlights: The Best Outlying/Experimental Games of 2021- Part 3

January 11, 2022 Scott Thurlow Dialogue Tree

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3: Cosmic Catharsis

It’s time to space out in this section, as the following titles take us through the far reaches of the known (and unknown) cosmic horizons, exploring the nature of reality and oneself, often at once. A quick caveat: both the below are quite short, roughly 3-4 hours each, as well as containing very little in the way of mechanics. Indeed, main criticisms against them were for being less videogames and more ‘interactive movies.’ While that isn’t without validity, my argument and reasons for choosing them are exactly due to that aspect. These two toe the line between ‘game’ by strict definition and reach across to something akin to a digital art show to which interactivity has been integrated. Nevertheless, they fit right into the sphere and spirit of this series. So let’s blast off into the outer regions of far-flung nebulas.  

Our first trip through interstellar introspection is Genesis Noir, from developer Feral Cat Den, published by Fellow Traveler. Originally designed throughout 2016 and Kickstarted in 2018, it was picked up somewhat quietly by Microsoft in 2019 in their indie grab, and finally released on GamePass in the spring of 2021. Though it received minimal attention, it also gathered praise from those few who did check it out, and to which I will be adding my own approval.  

Genesis innocuously begins with a seemingly down to earth setup. A struggling watchmaker, appropriately named No Man, searches for the murderer of his former lover Miss Mass by a popular local saxophonist, Golden Boy. It’s a no nonsense classic noir set up. But very quickly it turns into something else, something much more. These characters also act as representations/personifications of fundamental forces i.e. energy, time/entropy and mass. Genesis is both a pulp drenched mystery and a crash course in the history of physics theories, from the creation through the possible ends of the universe as a whole. And it is skillful in the way it is able to combine them into a single thread, having one be an almost literal microcosm of the other.

No Man’s quest sends him backwards and forwards through the formation of the known universe on a mission to synthesize a black hole, which would prevent (by destruction) said murder (and universe from forming.) To do so, he ends up participating in events like seeing the first stars alight to the evolution of life on Earth. The whole ordeal is marked by a minimalist hand-drawn chalk-y sketchbook style (think Spy vs. Spy) with a wonderfully done nightclub jazz score by Skillbard. This mix is infectious, as the soulful tones follow the epic journey No Man embarks on for its duration. From witnessing the creation of protons, planets and plants to eventually seeing the rise of humankind, No Man is confronted with and contemplates the primal powers leading up to his current predicament before deciding what to do about it.      

It’s a bit difficult to describe and convey in either words or static images just how much of the magic of Genesis Noir is in its incredibly fluid animation and transition scenes. It has some of the most well directed use of visual perspective and orientation I had ever encountered. It comes across more akin to a grad school indie film that happens to be in game form, certainly more experimental than most titles covered here already. And while I do understand the complaint of “not really a game,” Genesis is so cleverly conveyed via the medium that the spectacle alone is worth the price to behold.     

In terms of actual gameplay it admittedly thin. What is there consists of a smattering of light point-and-click adventure segments. You’ll pretty much be manipulating objects in a scene, rotating viewpoints or matching notes to progress the unfolding of the noir story via way of the Big Bang. Some of these puzzles can be a little obscure and unintuitive even given their simplistic nature overall, but these are minor hurdles in an otherwise nonstop fascinating unfolding of animation and environmental storytelling interspersed with dreamy poem-like text interludes.

The whole shebang plays out like a dream in fact, with leaps in logic and the introduction of sudden side characters who help and hinder along the way. No Man tumbles through a tumultuous roller coaster tour of space-time that culminates in a show stopping finale of graphical/animated wizardry. Yet despite its focus on the sweeping grandiose of the cosmos, Genesis Noir is a short and sweet ride. It does however come close to capturing the awe and splendor of the vastness of space with its exceptionally unique animation and aesthetic. It is a playful but thoughtful celebration of ideas and philosophies regarding the nature of reality and how we relate to it in our everyday lives. Take my word, buy the ticket and take the incredible visual ride Genesis Noir has on offer. After enjoying the aesthetic treat, you just might find yourself reflecting on what it means to be part of this strange existence too.

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If Genesis Noir is the opening act here, then Artful Escape is the triumphant headliner. Envisioned and partly developed by a former musician who left the industry to focus on creating games, I mention this fact because it clearly shines through in Escape’s aural landscape. The music/soundtrack is integral to the experience, equal to and just as important a part of the story as the characters themselves. Escape is published by Annapurna Interactive, segueing me into another side rant: AP’s game publishing side is on the way to becoming something like the A24 of the scene. They’ve picked up many great underground/up-and-coming titles in recent years. Definitely keep an eye on anything they’re attached to, as chances are it’ll be interesting and/or cool as hell.

In Escape you step into the shoes of Francis Vendetti, a young aspiring musician living in the shadow of his more famous and long-deceased older relative, who is a clear Bob Dylan reference. Francis returns to his humble hometown of Calypso to ostensibly be the main attraction in the annual festival celebrating his idolized uncle. The problem for Francis is that he isn’t quite comfortable being put in this position, and would much rather concentrate on becoming his own man and artist instead of being inextricably linked and expected to be to something he knows deep down that he’s not.

Grappling with this burden on the eve of the concert, he’s awoken in the middle of the night by otherworldly visitors and promptly whisked away on a Bill & Ted-esque space rock opera. The connection is even more prevalent in the character of ‘Lightman.’ This dude is basically Rufus and George Clinton rolled into one. He serves as a mentor to Francis, elucidating him on the ins and outs of the galactic music circuit, helping Francis hone his own inner rock prowess one shredding solo at a time. 

While he tours the dark side of the moon and other colorfully fanciful alien worlds alongside Lightman, Francis continues to struggle with his self-doubt, identity, and the creative process. He works through coming to terms with his own ideas and image of what one can be versus external pressures and pre-existing expectations. Whilst doing so, he molds and reshapes himself bit by bit, shedding the stigma previously attached to him and veering from the road he was ‘supposed’ to take. Each time he entertains an increasingly growing extra-terrestrial crowd, rocking various interstellar venues harder and harder, Francis also makes gains in building up the confidence to truly come alive on and off stage. 

Mechanically Escape is a stripped down platformer with QTE rhythm ‘bosses’ at the end of each planet/section. Again it’s very loose, established and uncomplicated gameplay, but the simple act of ‘holding x to rock out,’ jumping and windmill strumming your way through each level is its own entertaining reward. Like I mentioned in the opening, the music is so strongly connected to Escape’s (and Francis’) identity that they become one and the same, and you as the player by extension come to feel like a guitar god with them, if only fleetingly.    

Escape does feature some pretty big names for this tier title in the voice work department. Lena Headley, Jason Schwartzman, and Carl Weathers(!) are among the most notable adding their talents to the cast. There are also lots of nice background details/gags/puns scattered throughout, while the design of many of the alien worlds pays tribute to psychedelic album covers/art. More than any other title in this series, Escape embraces the pure magic of music, effortlessly evoking the afterglow of a killer concert that sticks strongly in memory. When the final chord has reverbed away, Escape neatly wraps up Francis’ tale. He returns to Earth a new person, fully embracing who he has chosen to become and prepared to forge his destiny going forward. In this way Escape contains shades of Sable as well as something like Night in the Woods in its exploration of introspection and self-discovery. And similar to those, it caps off the encore by imparting a positive message about finding your own way and voice in the world, even if it means taking a risk and going off the path others have laid down for you without considering if it’s what’s best for you or is what you truly want. If Buddy Holly and David Bowie (Buddy Bowie perhaps) dropped in for a (game) jam session with Pink Floyd, the result would be Artful Escape. And that is a performance that should not be missed.

Part 4

Underground Highlights: The Best Outlying/Experimental Games of 2021- Part 2

January 7, 2022 Scott Thurlow Dialogue Tree

Previously in Part 1

Part 2: Wandering the Wastelands  

These next two share a tenuous link in general setting, i.e. the titular ‘wasteland’ but that is only a very broad overarching connection. In tone and gameplay they are almost mirror opposites. Yet each approaches from an angle that capitalizes on their respective strengths to cement immersive experiences–one tending toward tense and the other a calming zen-tinged voyage.

Let’s start with the former in the form of Chernobylite. A PC release from earlier in the year and ported to consoles a few months later. It was Kickstarted a few years back in 2019 by The Farm 51, the devs of Get Even (which in my opinion was a fine try but rather unremarkable in the end.) As might be implied from the title, Chernobylite is very much unabashedly in the vein of Russian/Eastern European post-apocalyptic titles like STALKER and the Metro series, channeling the ever popular Radiation Zone vibe. Even so, it brings its own spin on that well-tread ground with an interesting story and originality in its supporting lore. It avoids some clichés but also leans into and embraces others respectably to provide a solid entry in the genre.

Your role here is one Prof. Igor Khymynyuk, former physicist, and now turned (for lack of better term) Stalker, venturing out in search of his missing wife and the mystery surrounding her disappearance combined with the strange happenings in the Zone. The framework is sturdy, a firm foundation fleshed out along the way via its two core mechanics and supported by good atmosphere/attention to detail. A fittingly haunting soundtrack adds a nice layer and goes a long way to maintaining Chernobylite’s sense of uneasy tension.

The main loop is split between active FPS sections separated by downtimes of hub base construction/upkeep and team management. Each in-game day starts with choosing a mission/task attached to a list of locales. These entail a moderate range of mid-size levels with slight variations on goals and opportunities depending on story progress. You can also send any companions on more minor off-screen missions, with various odds of success based on their equipment and abilities. Taking care to assign each of them to those with the best chance of succeeding, which will in turn provide further supplies and other bonuses.

There will generally be two or three possible leads to pursue specific to certain maps, meaning you’ll have to choose and optimize which ones to tackle and when. Once you drop into a level, you’ll alternate between resource scavenging and/or recruiting more NPCs and/or key info gathering. There are soldiers and mutants/monsters to fight or stealth around, accompanied by the obligatory Geiger meter mechanic. As you comb through and revisit locations, accumulating more breadcrumbs (and sometimes just bread) you’ll begin to unravel more of Igor’s life and backstory, with the long term goal of gearing up enough to have a decent chance at tackling the overhanging heist/rescue mission.

The base building portion is comparable and even handles similar to something like Fallout 4, but nowhere near as unwieldy nor finicky. Individual tolerance and patience for such systems varies, but I would argue it isn’t too annoying or time-consuming here, and contains just enough to keep you chasing the next upgrade and perhaps sparing a little on the side for extra lockpicks/ammo/health kits etc.

Both the action oriented FPS maps and the hub construction are soundly designed and fully functional, propped up by touches and tidbits along the way to make the characters and their situation sympathetic. For example, training with the NPCs you’ve managed to convince to join grants not only stat improvements but also adds some moments of interaction that play out quite well and establish deeper character connection and development. These parts serve as an effective connective tissue and a way to bolster investment. There are multiple endings and smaller permutations possible dependent on previous choices. All are nicely woven in too, especially as played out during the extended final encounter, making for a strong finish and a memorable conclusion.

I won’t deny there are bumps and rough edges in Chernobylite’s trek through the Zone, mainly in the technical area. But given its more modest roots and clear ambition, it has the potential to become a sleeper hit/cult classic/hidden gem. It’s easily better and noticeably improved over Farm 51’s prior releases. Chernobylite slips comfortably and confidently into the sub-genre/canon of ‘Zone’ games and is worth your time if that’s an area you’re into. I’m quite interested in what the studio does next, and hopefully it gets a boost in some key areas (like production quality) to increase exposure and garner a wider fan base.

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After surviving the radiated dangers of Chernobylite, let us shift to the soothing and stress-relieving landscape of Sable. Announced back at E3 2018 and shown off sporadically before finally releasing in Sept. 2021, it was a title that immediately grabbed my attention. A debut title by developer Shedworks (named so by the indie duo who worked on and made it literally in a shed. Right on!) inspired by, in their own words, “Star Wars and Breath of the Wild.”                  

What is probably most immediately noticeable about Sable is it strikingly slick comic style, highly influenced by Mobius. Utilizing a soothing subdued color palette that impressively and dynamically changes with the day/night cycle, it is some of the best looking and distinctive art design in recent memory. The entire world emits a welcoming and warm vibe, complimented by an equally serene soundtrack by Japanese Breakfast. It beckons the player to step into the splendor of the setting.

The story is basically a coming of age tale, framed through a futuristic but ruined planet littered with the remnants of wrecked spacecraft and gigantic rusting terraforming machines. Here you are the titular Sable herself, a young woman on the cusp of embarking on a ritualistic walkabout (or more accurately rideabout) of discovery and introspection. After bidding your tribal home farewell, you set out to meet and greet various inhabitants spread out far and wide before settling on a vocation, marked by collecting sets of masks representative of each respective possible career.

As per above, the visual storytelling is top notch here. So much of the world can be extensively explored, and searching through its windswept landscapes and crumbling monoliths will tease out narrative morsels that gradually add up to expand the lore. To its credit, nothing is ever rotely exposited, instead doled out in manageable and well-written snippets. At its best, Sable’s aesthetics combine with the player’s imagination, bridging them together to create a wondrous sense of discovering this place’s unique lost history/culture and possible future.

Sable plays essentially as a laid back exploration/puzzler, with no combat whatsoever. It does have what could be described as light quests, with a deft touch approach to hand-holding and sign posting the player. The world is populated by a reasonable number of NPCs, who largely dispense simple fetch/discovery quests, all serving to nudge you towards various locales throughout the expansive feeling (but in practice mid-size) world.

If I had to compare it to some others, Sable would be something like an intersection of Eastshade, Journey, and Haven (all excellent unto themselves.) The sheer sense of freedom of movement is definitely one of if not the biggest highlights alongside the artwork. Gliding across the beautiful ruins on your custom hover-bike under the shades of the rising moon while distant towering formations and imposingly shattered landmarks dot the horizon, knowing you can go explore them at your leisure, is a truly freeing and delightfully relaxing experience.

Thematically Sable pulls off a tale of positivity, something that many games could surely use more of in these uncertain times! It’s one of initial doubt overcome by eventual empowerment; of self-realization and acceptance after having gained both internal and external wisdom. It’s also a somewhat brief journey, clocking in at around 8 hours, with perhaps an extra one or two if you stop and smell every single desert rose. Like the transience of youth itself, it revels in its time before settling down with a satisfied sense of adventures had and rest earned. If you’re looking for something to unwind with, and gorgeous to look at, Sable will impeccably hit that spot.  

More: Part 3

Part 4

Underground Highlights: The Best Outlying/Experimental Games of 2021– Intro & Part 1

January 4, 2022 Scott Thurlow Dialogue Tree

As we put 2021 in the rearview, I wanted to pivot a bit from the traditional ‘Best Of’ list and instead shine a spotlight on some titles that I feel are further beneath the usual radar. I’m going to be looking at ten of the most interesting/experimental-leaning titles that probably slipped through the cracks, two at time in a five part series.

My thought is to go through them roughly in order from likely familiarity/relatively known, gradually moving through the more obscure and ‘out there’ ventures, and culminating on the two that I think most exemplify the category of game/style/mindset I wish to focus on in this series, delving into them with the deepest analysis. These are, I propose, the most creatively engaging works being made in the industry right now, and the goal is to attempt to outline why I feel that’s the case, and share and spread the word about them.

By nature, they are all from fairly new/smaller/unknown studios. I’ll provide a brief overview and some details about the developers as well before jumping into my analysis and breakdown. So with all that out of the way, let’s get to it:    

Part 1: Freshly Familiar

Don’t let the subtitle mislead, these first two here are great games. It’s just as I said in the intro, they’re probably the highest visibility entries and thus can serve as a good starting point. So let’s start with almost certainly the most well-known title in the mix by now—The Forgotten City.

This one started life in 2015 as a Skyrim mod meticulously handcrafted by a dedicated solo developer. It rapidly built up reputation within the community, garnering much praise and attention. This culminated in being recognized with wins in both the Australian Writer’s Guild and Game Developer Awards. With renewed interest and a (slightly) bigger team/budget, Forgotten City was heavily reworked and revamped over the course of the next 4 years into a fully polished standalone. The final version dropped back in Sept 2021, exposing a new and larger audience to its fine-tuned experience.

In the new and improved incarnation, City takes its core premise—a story and character centric time travel mystery—and sets it in a picturesque Roman-styled city. You as the PC are then thrust into this place, where it is made apparent that the seemingly serene hamlet is haunted by an ominous ‘golden rule.’ That rule, if broken, will kill all its citizens, and you by extension. To prevent this, you must uncover the root of the strange edict and unravel how and why it’s happening, luckily quickly enough gaining the ability to reset the loop if/when events go awry. Armed with this power, you can now repeat the day, filling in the general rules of the loop by meeting NPC inhabitants and learning their personal history/routines/motivations, gradually acquiring knowledge to follow/solve leads and opening further threads.

These are the main activities the gameplay consists of. A majority of your time will be spent going through dialogue trees and exploration/puzzle solving. This is occasionally broken up by brief sections of combat scattered in. A valid enough criticism may be that combat could’ve been utilized a bit more/expanded, but it still very much works as is with a firm grounding. Besides, that aspect was never truly the main focus, as the actual star is the narrative itself and its robust components. It’s all kept engaging as you uncover more clues and retain info/items across iterations, thus making it more manageable and usually adding a new piece or two of the puzzle each time. There are multiple solutions and endings, each varying in degrees of narrative resolution, but all coherent and complete. While I will admit (trying to avoid spoilers) the ‘true reveal’ wasn’t as shockingly clever as it may have wanted to be, your mileage may vary on its use, but again it nevertheless made sense relative to what preceded it.

The true greatness of City is its attention to care and detail in the world and storylines, and how it melds . There are moments when you’ll discover a new interaction or useful item hidden away, which opens up possibilities while filing in more knowledge that can be exploited later down the line. Also in the course of its presentation, you’ll notice copious intelligent nods to ancient history/culture/philosophy from which it takes inspiration. NPCs are written extremely well, even though notably the models do show their stiff Skyrim DNA animation-wise. But this is greatly made up for by excellent voice acting and personalities, which goes a long way to selling the characters and the believability of their situations.

Throughout it’s roughly 15 hours Forgotten City showcases a creatively woven combination of elements. And it pulls these off with a satisfying flourish, bringing its own take and commentary on established templates. The whole endeavor deserves much credit, setting the general tone for titles to come, and is why I chose it as the leadoff entry.  

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The second title I’ve picked here is Death’s Door, the sophomore release from Titan Souls developer Acid Nerve, published by Devolver. Released in June 2021, it unabashedly shows its source influences (i.e. Zelda et al.) but with an updated and wonderful presentation. Nostalgic-tinged retro may still be all the rage, but there is an important distinction between merely repeating the past as a prop, and using it as a springboard to interject more modern ideas.

Death’s Door manages to do just that with an almost perfect balance. And again the reviews and response reflect how well it does so. Combat is fluid and tightly satisfying, the story compelling, and the art/level design absolutely stellar. It starts from familiar ingredients but refines them to various degrees. Door understands precisely what its predecessors were, and exactly why they worked. It then takes those time-tested structures and wraps them around its own strong sense of world-building and earned confidence in gameplay.

Your role in Door is a bipedal weapon-wielding soul-collecting crow who works at the “Dept. of Death” in a fantasy afterlife of Kafkaesque nature, complete with its obscure rules and regulations, clearly analogous to real bureaucratic institutions. Even grim reapers have to punch in, and shit goes wrong on the pipeline sometimes. Which is why, after such a mishap, your nameless crow must set off to navigate a series of locales/dungeons in search of a stolen soul and the reasons behind its theft. It’s a pure darkly-leaning fairy tale setup, but one of distinction in a rather muddled mess of games doing the same. It is pleasingly charming in its exploration of somber subject matter juxtaposed with some absurd humor. Both are handled well, and themes of loss, grief, the afterlife, and finally hope/acceptance in the face of all those are touched upon throughout the journey.

The vision and feel of the world is where Door truly shines, entwined with the aforementioned design, to impart a lovingly crafted series of environments. (Side Rant: I think perhaps at this point a term can be coined for the use of diorama-like perspective Unity art, as has been done in a number of titles both in and out of this specific genre. Like a famous quote goes, “you’ll recognize it when you see it.”) It also throws in familiar-feeling but equally thoughtful puzzles, sprinkling in upgrades and other secrets throughout for the thorough-minded explorer.

All this while constantly battling an increasing bestiary of inventive monsters with some quite tense encounters, especially when it comes to the main bosses, where the Titan Souls influence/evolution shows most strongly. There are a handful of weapons and abilities to work with, each unique and different enough functionally so that none feel redundant or unnecessary, in addition to the above mentioned extra and hidden upgrades.

Death’s Door is immediately accessible, but not a simple breeze either. Similar to many of its other aspects, it contains what approaches to be the perfect challenge curve. There’s of course a secret ending/epilogue requiring more adventuring/exploring post-credits (or if one is extremely meticulous it is possible to achieve in the first playthrough.) But the main storyline is entirely satisfying unto itself, and the process from start to finish never gets dull or repetitive. There is always something very cool to see, fight, or find every step of the way. It’s modern Zelda-like done damn right by those who know precisely how to do it, and gets a heartily enthusiastic crow caw for that.    

Thanks for reading and check out the next parts:

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Data Dump: 2020 Games Lists At-a-Glance & Raw Thoughts/Impressions

April 14, 2021 Scott Thurlow Dialogue Tree

With our Top Games of 2020 episode out now, here is my accompanying list as well as all my rantings about each and every title I played during 2020. Peruse and enjoy.

2020 Lists [this year’s through-line would be excellent use of soundscapes: Tsushima, FF7, WL3, Doom, Meta, GR, CP, ZA4, Curse, Visage, Amnesia, WD: L, Haven, CP77]

Top 5

1 Cyberpunk 2077 [whether or not it’s the ‘best’ (though it for sure is!) could be considered moot due to the whole circumstance of the post-release debacle. It is certainly the most important game of the year in terms of impact and reverberating through the industry/medium and beyond. A fantastic core experience with technical hitches that were middle of road at best in terms of marring said experience. It’s really the baffling PR choices made by this specific studio combined with subsequent responses that make it the most interesting case study of the year. But to reiterate, it does kick the most ass in the most ways]

2 Ghost of Tsushima [strong second, sat at #1 until CP77, even so, badass horserace]

3 FF7 Remake [having never fully played the original, found it engaging and enjoyable, story and gameplaywise, with extremely high production value]

4 Kentucky Route Zero [avant-garde indie of the year, the most resonant/well-constructed one]

5 Doom Eternal [jockeyed for position vs. RE3, in the end Eternal > Doom ‘16, while RE3 < RE2. DLC Pt 1 released end of year to cap it off, other releases eventually eclipsed RE3]

Honorable

1 Wasteland 3 [Improvement in almost every way, one of the best recent CRPGs, amazing soundtrack to boot]

2 Cloudpunk/Ghostunner [Justify the tie as an indie cyberpunk double feature. Both use the aesthetic/setting well, yet are polar opposites on gameplay/tone. CP slower paced, deeper narrative and thoughtful themes vs GR frantic futuristic ninja murder-death simulator with obligatory trope ridden story stapled on. Cloud takes the edge as the more intellectually/emotionally impactful piece. Can see them each achieving well-earned hidden gem/cult classic status, soundtrack shout out to both as well]  

3 RE3Make [very solid but criticism that it felt more like, admittedly good, RE2Make DLC is valid] 

4 Haven/Falconeer [Under the radar indies with unique spins. Great use of Unity especially art/graphics. Engaging implementation of ideas in cool worlds, also share a satisfyingly smooth freedom of movement/navigation in game. Thus a tie]

5 Watchdogs: Legion [Legion wins vs. Valhalla in the Ubi civil war]

Mid-Tier/Solid

1 AC: Valhalla/ Last of Us 2 [close tie, each having specific self-indulgent wank, otherwise fine]

2 Metamorphosis/Call of the Sea [Tie for niche W-S puzzler using classic literary material/framework. Commendable jobs with the material, just not quite breakout]

3 Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2/Carrion [tie for best retro award, justified by M-V connection, literally in Bloodstained’s case]

4 Maneater/Zombie Army 4: Dead War [Tie for comfort junk food. Fun during, forgettable after. Maneater a slighter spicier/more memorable meal]

5 Spiritfarer- The most YMMY type title. Narratively commendably competent, relaxing experience but eventually grindy gameplay.

Shit’s Weak [all indie horror/psych-thrillers, in a year that sadly, competition for was weirdly rife in the lackluster area]

1 Remothered: Broken Porcelain [the most annoyingly janky/technically flawed and worst written of all the horror-thrillers]

2 Those Who Remain [less glitchy vs. Remothered, but easily less memorable than 3-5]

3 Maid of Sker [muddling middle of the road, not doing anything new/unique but fine environment]

4 Amnesia: Rebirth [as stated in full review, completely ‘whelming’] 5 Visage [not bad per se, certainly the best 2020 indie horror comparatively, closest to making the cut for Mid-Tier but still slightly wanting]

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2020 Games: Raw Thoughts/Impressions/Ramblings  

Kentucky Route Zero: Stumbled upon somewhat offhandedly, apparently somewhat of a semi-pretentious cult favorite. Released in 5 main acts interspersed over 7! years with tangentially related interludes, starting in 2013 with the final chapter in 2020 alongside a collected console version. Originally crowd funded then pub’ed by Annapurna (who also did Outer Wilds.) Bought with the refund PSN did for the odd Moons of Madness delay situation. KRZ self-describes as a ‘surreal road trip visual novel piece’ composed of strange dialogues in various Lynch/Jarmusch-lite setpieces/vignettes, all amusingly melancholic with an overall vibe of being something like a fever dream of capitalism’s toll on the average citizen and thus the socio-political landscape as a whole. Wonderfully bizarre, eerie, and ever so slightly obtuse while not taking itself too seriously the whole time. An excellent standout example is the phone menu skit. Simplistic yet striking art style. Takes a drop of blood from/has flashes of a slew of things like: Water Tastes Like Wine, Brazil, American Gods, After Hours, Night in the Woods, Twilight Zone, Raw Shark Texts and Edith Finch at moments without ever feeling exactly like any of them specifically. Definitely quite distinct/unique and confident in itself as an original work. That said, it’s not quite mind-blowing next-level shit, but as far as its clear ambition to exist as a piece of substantive art in the medium goes, KRZ for sure is of note/interest to a particular sector, of which I am definitely a member. GOTY list for artistic achievement/endeavor.

Zombie Army 4: Dead Army- Sniper Elite with zombies (from the same devs w/largely same assets) with all the grindhouse B-movie fare semi-silliness and gameplay that pretty much implies. First one I tried outside the mainstay WW2 titles. Has elements of L4D, Vermintide with co-op options, customization, horde mode and level/ranking/upgrades. Solo’ed just the campaign on hard. Bit of arcade style ala FC5 + its Zombie-specific DLC obviously, along with Doom 2016 i.e. combo/score tracker, special execution kills restoring health etc. Even makes 8-bit level up noises when picking up ammo etc. A back to basics 3PS after KRZ and the other more artsy/experimental titles I played prior. Still prefer the main series since shooting hordes of endless undead is somewhat antithetical to quietly picking off soldiers from afar, but it works well enough for the most part and is mechanically solid. Some review said it had Carpenter-esque motifs for the sound design; that’s pretty spot on, and adds a nice touch. A junk food game for sure, good dumb fun done well similar to Just Cause et al. and sometimes that’s satisfying enough. Took exactly a week to do. Summer 2020 bought the first 3 compiled for $5 and played through on normal. Were fine/fun too, but 4 is better than all.  

Pathologic 2 Episode 1- A well-received “reimagining” of a weird-but-cool PC cult classic from 2005 by the original devs. Described somewhere as akin to ‘playing through Tarkovsky’s Stalker’ which was both hilarious and attracting. PC version Feb 2019 then quiet on the port until announced less than a week before release 3/6/20, just before my birthday/prior to the onset of the C-virus heh. Thus for $36 I bought and played through on and off at that time. By design is high in difficulty, though later for 2 they added a (rather extensive) range of optional sliders. I tweaked them to the low end to wander through the hazily anachronistic magical realism tinged Industrial Revolution unnamed Town, encountering its oddball citizens and goings-on without excessive (however purposeful) frustration, even if that meant missing the intense stress inducing intended experience. That said, on first playthrough I got trapped in an unwinnable loop, dying and respawning repeatedly at the same point unable to heal/cure myself, each time taking a permanent stat penalty, in a nightmarish spiral. However thematically impactful, was practically real fuckin’ annoying, thus had to bust out the almighty save scum to push on. It wasn’t the first instance of such and that was grating, if again perhaps the point. Artistically is most reminiscent/similar to Deadly Premonition crossed with Vampyr and a bit of We Happy Few, flawed as those all were. Some elements/UI are counterintuitive and/or ill tutorialized (though again scant hand holding is part of its package) combined with noticeably stuttered framerates, constant freezing/loading and late game crashes. Putting aside mechanical jankiness, the writing is philosophically Russian as hell filtered through a bizarre and often creepy but not wholly incomprehensible ‘living theatre’ metaphorical and sometimes literal framework. The vibe is surreal and strange, somber yet playful with introspective fourth-wall breaking lines/scenes sprinkled throughout. It can be infuriating that it’s great when absorbing the narrative/atmosphere, but that will often (and I do mean often) be broken by the aforementioned performance issues and/or the difficulty spikes. The world/setting is so unique and well realized, it seem an oddly harsh choice not to be able to immerse in it without the intense pressure and steep curve. Finally there is the matter of the fuck you non-ending if taking an earlier in-universe deal to alleviate the death penalties, which I did but still hit a wall. Eventually restarted entirely and finished on a second playthrough, which speaks volumes. Reloaded at the final fork to do 3 possible endings, the 4th being the above slowroll. With all that, it certainly is an intriguing/thought-provoking title and can see why it’s held in such esteem by devoted fans and critics. Fantastic discussion piece and a beautiful but messy piece of art. Supposed to be 2 more main episodes (the original was 3 separate storylines/character perspectives) but scant news that can be found says that may or may not happen due to lukewarm sales. Grabbed one and only short DLC a month or so after for $10 in support, nice to dip back into the world if only briefly.

Doom Eternal- Had it PO’ed but decided to finally skip/boycott Gamestop and get it digitally, due to their handling of the virus situation combined with their general assholery to employees for years prior. A hill I decided to die on at the time. Across this line you do not…etc. As for the actual game, aside from Bethesda’s bitchiness with their .net shit and having to get around that, it’s intense frantic fun as promised with a few cool tweaks to the previous rock-solid formula. Slick/tight as hell on all fronts, looks and runs great even on my aging PS4. Pretty much all one could ask for in the sequel. Played on hard, took a week and change, happily spent time to find all extras/secrets. Must be noted had a few ludicrous hiccups/glitches that really shouldn’t be present in a title of this caliber, all were easy enough fixes, still stupidly annoying. Overall highly enjoyable and one of the best produced 2020 releases. Season pass for 2 part DLC, easily locked up. Duked it out with RE3 to make GOTY list, as I deem it more roundly
improved overall from Doom 2016 vs. RE3 a slight downgrade from RE2. DLC 1 was just as solid.

Moons of Madness- Was looking forward to this one for a while. PC 2019. Lovecraftian tale set on Mars. PO’ed digital w/ slight discount. Had a 1/21/20 port date, then got delayed three days before release and PSN gave out refunds for it. Yet 8 gigs worth of it/entire thing still downloaded then a patch for another 7, total 15 all the while the locked icon remained on my PS until the new 3/24 date when it became avail to buy again and unlocked/played as normal. Strange situation overall. It’s a solid enough sci fi isolation walk-sim in the vein of Observation and SOMA, both good influences. Although the omnipresent black goo/gunk I think looks the same in all. Starts off with mostly standard stuff– find this, fix that etc. dropping glimpses and hints of the monsters as it progresses and ramps up. Serviceable though veering to cliché at times writing/voice acting but graphically/aesthetically quite high production value for a smaller dev. Could’ve used an extra chapter to actually go to the titular moons, though I liked the more classically Lovecraftian option of two possible endings quite a bit even so. Convenient enough to Plat. A decent W-S take on cosmic space horror. Worth checking out if into that specifically.

BL3 DLC 2 Love, Guns & Tentacles- Followed up Moons with this, to keep the Lovecraft theme going. Fun to see their more light-hearted take on the material within the existing world. It’s a kind of great fuck you to Lovecraft the man as well, with the framework being a gay marriage on Planet Innsmouth basically. Very cool visuals, required refs/riffs on the source. One quite good chain of sidequests. Along the way acquired some sick combinations of guns that destroyed enemies which made it extra entertaining. Liked it better than DLC 1 Handsome Jackpot though that was pretty good.

Control DLC 1 The Foundation- Was excited to jump back into this world but bit of a rocky start with being rusty as well as confusing quest directions and grueling combat encounters. Adds a few new abilities and extensions of previous ones. Still very neat setting to explore and good expanded lore/after-story content, when not frustrating/time-wasting due to the above. Trippy Train quest also dickpunch design, but cool idea. Was considering getting all DLC specific trophies but it just seemed like more of a chore than it might’ve been (RE3 was more engaging to Plat.) Foundation was overall decent enough but the second Alan Wake tie-in better. 

RE3 Nemesis Remake- Demo looked and played just as excellently as 2. Never got to play much, if any, of the original (it’s blurry in my memory) so was a fresh experience in a way. PO’ed the digital, since Gamestops were closed at the time for C-Virus, awesomely fitting of course. Access to dl on stroke of midnight, quarantine release party! But since Sony throttled the speeds, took forever. It is slick as hell, RE engine perfectly suited for rendering the modern vision. Almost more ‘colorful’ in a sense, with the neon dread drenched streets of Raccoon city vs 2’s largely interior PD and lab etc. (though since it is set mostly around/during the events of 2, they can get away with reusing some assets/locations) Somewhat akin to 2 (again roughly narratively concurrent with) play switches between Jill and Carlos (though they aren’t separate campaigns) broken up by boss scenarios with the titular Nemesis. The original clearly was the transition to the action era going into RE4 and the remake contains a nice mix of elements from 2 and modernized iterations of that period. Has all the other hallmarks of Capcom’s so far highest quality remakes, they are absolutely the new standard and while part nostalgia/part RE3 never being as popular comparatively thus steers me to maintain 2 is the better title, 3 on its own delivers top tier surv-horror-action from the once and (at least at this point) current reigning champs of it. It’s quite conducive for replay, shorter than 2 with fun unlockable bonuses helpful for tackling increasingly harder diffs, of which there are 5 total. Each run needed to Plat remained both enjoyable and intense since higher diffs throw a few curves and changeups into the mix, and did a final leisurely playthrough on easy for the last trophy. ~30 hours spent. Have to credit the modern/remade REs staring with 7 and onward for getting me into multiple replays, since not usually my style. Resistance multiplayer mode included but installed separately (helpful for storage purposes.) No real interest in it, had other titles to go onto. Mostly due to the criticism of it feeling more like RE2 DLC vs a full title, loses a few points.

My Friend Pedro- Devolver pub’ed, solo auteur dev. From 2019, dropped on PS 4/2/20. Supposed to be quick funny/fun ‘bullet hell ballet’ platformer with over the top cartoon violence. Wanted to check out, $20, decided w/ E’s input to pick it up vs Vampire: Coteries. It’s neat and visually appealing. Not pixel art, more of a modern sheen. A mix of something like Hotline Miami and Counterspy, mechanically and genre-wise. Well designed, enjoyable to play and watch the carnage unfold, can be done in quick bursts. Ala Miami has a score/grade for each level of course, though I often don’t get into that much. What story exists is pretty much what’s to be expected from a title of this nature/pedigree, it’s there mostly as a framework, throws in both clever and cliché parts. Soundtrack fine but not particularly grabbing. Solid indie junk food game, worth it mostly though not achieving new heights. Good for one leisurely playthrough.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake- High praise/reviews. Originally wasn’t planning on getting it, though demo was indeed impressive. Based on advice from my trusty droogs (who do fondly recall the original) decided to check vs other concurrent considerations. Locked up ~ week after release. Time at last to see what all the fuss is about, given never having played the original/no attachment to it, unlike every other gamer on earth, which obviously makes me the most qualified pundit on the planet at this point to ‘objectively’ review/experience it. Graphical fidelity/visual presentation top notch, soundtrack to match. Clearly a lot went into production value. World design cool with the future magic/steampunk aesthetic. Writing mostly solid but it’s the stellar acting that truly sells it, even if it veers into anime-cliché here and there. Many genuinely humorous/heartfelt character moments/interactions all perfectly delivered, but still grounded under a more serious setup. Did the original have such an obvious environmental theme/bent and some more mature language? Either way works here. Gameplay on the whole nicely tuned, mix of real time action (DMC5 ish) with ATB bar building alongside on the fly party switching/ability/spell selection. Useful and in-depth inv/upgrade system. It does look and run beautifully, though sometimes the action can get confusing in hectic battles. Quite linear vs more open world, can seem somewhat penned in given the expanse of the world presented otherwise. Pulls out every stop with the rush of battles/bosses during the last 2 chapters. The ending itself by accounts seems to be a meta take/subversion/weird retcon of the events/legacy of original and the audience’s expectations of it, but I can’t speak much to that. It mostly works well enough, maybe just a touch Evangelion-esque but nowhere near those insanity levels. Being technically only 1 (albeit large) part of a range of future releases, thus not the full original saga, cliffhanger sequel bait is basically baked in. Yet does achieve its own internal sense of complete/consistent tale taking ~50 hours playtime personally. Refreshing and overall quite fun/entertaining to play a (perhaps to many the)classic JRPG that retains the core elements, extensively updated with modern sensibilities/improvements. A high caliber package, GOTY list.

John Wick Hex- PC 2019. $20. Shorter semi-turn-based strategy take featuring our collective favorite hitman. A rocky first impression. ~10 crashes in the first few hours on top of some of the mechanics induced frustration. Second session admittedly smoother, but while a cool core design thought on paper matched with nice GN aesthetics, decent music and the actual movie talent (Mcshane, Reddick) voicing adding authenticity, in practice execution is not lazy per se, instead more sloppy and quite rough on many fronts: map readability, interface, erratic AI and avatar behavior. Makes it a slog most of the time, hard to strategize when assumed input/displayed info is inconsistent, as well as fear of yet another crash during. Stage clear replay also a neat idea but animations look choppy/off too. Unfortunately a pretty disappointing, underwhelming experience. Seriously considered getting refund which says a lot, but decided fuck it, and trudged through before Ion Fury. A better idea I think would’ve been to just ripoff Hotline Miami or Katana Zero (perhaps even Superhot) since those styles of lighting fast ultra-violence are built into the Wick IP and would lend to feeling like the character vs. as is. Ghostrunner did it better.

Ion Fury- Largely well received 2019 PC release. Ported in May for $25. Retro 90s FPS Duke Nukem/Painkiller homage/spiritual successor…built in an updated version of the Build engine. Pub’ed (though not dev’ed) by 3-D Realms. It is damn solid, certainly does what it says on the tin. Impressive old school level design, enemy encounters, item pickups/secrets, with the best modern tech rendering the aesthetics from one of the original standards, making it both crisp yet doggedly adhering to the era. Shooting/movement is frantic, good array of weapons w/ alt modes, very Doom-like as another clear throwback ref. Leans into the over-the-top action cheesiness, with the badass Sarah Connor expy protag quoting Die Hard, Army of Darkness or lines such as (while wielding the SMG) ‘I spray, you pray!’ etc. accompanied by a great score. All around excellent touches, quite enjoyable romp and a well-made title unabashedly wearing its influences/elements. Leisurely playthrough on third hardest diff, getting all secrets/Easter eggs using walkthrough. Closest thing to a Blood Dragon experience in a while. Biggest deal breaker: better get your skills/mindset into old school FPS twitch and quicksave like a fiend.

Maneater- Open world RPG/GTA, as a shark. $40, solid price point. Wanted disc copy, PO’ed via Gamestop w/ free shipping deal to test their service. Delivery window said 2-4 bus days after release but of course that made it over Memorial Day weekend. Fri of release got a confirm from UPS. Few days later, a GS email said it was delayed (though from what?) with a humorously dumb tautological explanation. Got it the following Wed afternoon, which was satisfactory. Ala Plague Tale and Greedfall, got more excited to play as release ticked closer and caught more footage. Middle to solid reviews. Biggest complaint seemed to be repetitive quest design and decent combat but lacking depth, balanced by good world design and fun abilities to mess around within it. That all is fair, it’s almost exclusively kill quests in an Ubi-lite icon littered map, but that design, while dated, does work best in this context. Not overbearing or even particularly large just for the sake of it, good on them there. At its core is largely enjoyable. Chris Parnell’s straight man narration of largely well written and genuinely humorous tongue-in-cheek reality show framework, pop cult refs coupled with solid though not amazing looking locales adds a lot. The undersea diversity of environments is a highlight, making what would be boring into interesting places to explore with distinctness, i.e. the swamp vs the freshwater lake etc. Chomping on sea life from fish to alligators, knifing through the surface to leap out snatching humans off beaches/boats is all highly entertaining. RPG/upgrade system is robust enough and fun to experiment with combinations of abilities. Can certainly be classified as another junk food game, but one of the better in recent memory. 17 hours total. Small glitch/bug on final trophy for Plat, but internet had a workaround. Mid-tier to low Honorable.

Those Who Remain- indie FP/W-S psych horror w. Alan Wake vibes. Low-key exposure. Took some digging but in late March the pub, Wired (looked more into them, did Close to the Sun and Deliver us Moon) announced a virus delay for both digital and longer one for physical. Grabbed digital for $20. Mediocre reviews, general sloppiness on design/world, lack of narrative impact/within genre as a whole. It is mostly underwhelming. While environments look nice, and it portrays all the standard creepy locations, i.e. abandoned gas station, diner, barn and backroad etc. well, framerate is a little choppy and checkpoints annoyingly spaced w/ instant deaths via monster done better elsewhere (Amnesia, Outlast.) Writing also pretty cliché, somehow reminds me of Soul Suspect, if anyone remembers that fucking game. Thinks it’s being profound but ends up in trope land 101. Voice acting detached delivery, which almost always breaks immersion when a character points out what should be shocking/strange things in a weirdly deadpan manner. Some cool things: the way the shadow people crowd just outside the light menacingly but motionless and switching between ethereal versions of shifting locations to solve puzzles, even if that is also neither particularly new nor unique (Layers of Fear.) Ala Perception, cool concept but iffy and unimpressive execution. Mediocre at best, weak list. 

Deliver Us the Moon- Atmospheric sci-fi of a mysterious happening on the titular planetary satellite. PC 2018, PS port dropped late April for $24. Should’ve got it vs. Wick Hex in hindsight. A good setup that builds investment with rock solid writing, pacing, and integration of themes. Crisp visuals, echoes of Moon the movie of course, also Observation, i.e. harder leaning sci-fi that manages to create some tense/cool moments while slowly unveiling more details of the narrative as you explore via the usual route of logs/puzzles etc. ~8 hours. Able to 100% via chapter select. Easily the better of the two Wired games (vs. Those Who Remain) and one of the best (for all intents and purposes) recent Walk Sims.

Borderlands 3: Bounty of Blood DLC. Western flavored romp with new characters vs. previous trend of bringing back known/favorites. The most Space Western thing to ever Western in Space. Slightly more serious in tone vs prior, but still bits of trademark humor sprinkled in, mostly works as a good changeup. Another solid DLC from the series, and the best of 3’s overall.

Last of Us 2- Delayed twice, first in Feb to May. Then C-virus made it TBA briefly until dropped in June. It was notably surrounded by a number of unfortunate controversies starting with the plot detail leak followed by the inevitable backlash of online dick behavior, harassment and review bombing. There are certainly greater issues at play and not to brush them aside, but most of that then contributes to muddying discussion of the actual storytelling itself. Which on the topic of, is better than 1 in a number of ways, but still not next level narrative, though I grant 2’s makes more sense overall in terms of character decisions and motives even if it took the earlier setup to get there. What it is and always has been is acceptably solidly written (I maintain Naughty Dog are best at pulp adventure, not gritty realism.) Core gameplay is tight, probably the studio’s most finely tuned 3P stealth-action that I comfortably fall into. Highest production value and fidelity on animation, extremely well voiced as expected, with some of the best in the biz. It is a fine move (but again not revolutionary) to swap between the perspectives/backstory of two characters who are each other’s antagonists, if only to arrive at a theme of ‘revenge is bad/creates a vicious cycle.’ Thank you, philosophers of Naughty Dog. It also gets a bit self-indulgent ala Rockstar and didn’t necessarily need to be as long, there were definite obvious stopping points before the actual end. So between the arguments for and against, ultimately I end up mainly standing my ground of it being no more or no less than completely serviceable, elevated mostly by the performances, level design and visuals. Overall a finely done sequel, mid-tier.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2- Announced then released fairly quickly. Breather after LOU2, before Ghost. $15. Every bit if not better than Curse 1. Spot on 8 bit feel, style, and sound. Solid replay value with extra/alternate endings and changeups on stages/setups w/ old and new companions, capped off with an unexpected but pretty cool 1941-like scrolling/bullet hell section blasting demons on the moon in a magipunk spaceship. Plat it, no annoying boss rush trophy either. The best retro fused release of the year.

Superhot: Mind Control Delete- Apparently originally a planned expansion that became a full title, a ‘hybrid rogue-like’ given out free for anyone who bought the original. Fan friendly for sure. Acceptably solid overall, basically more Superhot in indeed a rogue-like series of scenarios w/ cool new random upgrades ala Downwell. Played a bunch while awaiting Ghost, good time killer in a fun way. As E remarked, it’s more John Wick than the official game itself. Obviously the freeroll was a bonus, but it works just as well as the main game, pretty fun though ymmv as to how worthwhile it as a standalone.

Ghost of Tsushima- Delayed slightly from June to July in Last of Us 2’s shadow of virus schedule shuffling. Highly anticipated. It is indeed fantastic, perhaps my own hype and bias elevates it, still reviewed excellently by and large. AC: Red Dead Samurai, but that’s reductionist and doesn’t do it justice. Ala Horizon: ZD, takes a bunch of familiar conventions and weaves them together into an exhilarating take in a fresh setting. Shaving off the outdated, annoying elements and replacing them with a number of unique touches, especially the reduced HUD melding environmental clues with traditional mechanics, activities, and collectibles. Argument can be made that it is in fact a culmination of the best open world design past and present. Combat/stealth intuitive yet challenging, mastering the systems is supremely satisfying, and just by nature looks badass as hell, particularly the standoffs. Both the world itself and level of character/gear detail is stunning, artistically and aesthetically, while the load times are impressive as well. Story is notable, a bit more somber and serious, with a definite theme that it sticks to and builds upon with deft nuance start to finish. I chose the Japanese voice option with English subs for authenticity. Kurosawa grainy black and white filter is an amazing touch too. All around one of the best games of the tail end of the gen/Sony exclusives. The capoff being it’s convenient to Plat vs previous similar games, no missable or excessive time wasting bullshit. Was so well received Sucker Punch did free co-op oriented DLC. Good shit. GOTY list. Obviously had to duel vs. Cyberpunk, with Ghost losing by a razor’s edge.

Maid of Sker- Another virus delay, June to July. Indie FP surv-horror walk sim based on an actual ghost tale about a Welsh hotel. Writers from SOMA attached. Mixed reviews, gist being good atmosphere/score but uneven design/gameplay. It does have a solid environment and soundscape that combine quite nicely, especially since the framework is based on audio/musical motifs as well as mechanically for the monsters. Light Lovecraftian but somewhat distinct from others in its vein. Story/writing/voice all perfectly fine. Core loop is RE key hunting and finding safe rooms while avoiding enemies ala Amnesia, Outlast and Perception, with all the positives and negatives inherent to that flavor of games. Overall a decent entry in the genre from this year, certainly better than Those who Remain. Not standout like Ethan or Edith but roughly within range of Layers 1 and Moons of Madness. That said, vs. the rest of the field so far, drops to lower-mid weak.

Metamorphosis- Based on ‘Kafka’s imagination’ says the tagline. Did the story previous week for TLS. It’s fairly neat and decently clever, basically both major Kafka stories taking place concurrently. The player takes the role of Gregor transformed, solving puzzles/exploring from the perspective of a bug, while his still human friend Josef K goes through the events of The Trial, with the level design and narrative mirroring the famous bureaucratic absurdity. Even has alternate solutions for a few, some tied to trophies. Uses a bright and visually appealing surreal-lite art style reminiscent of a mashup between Edith Finch, Little Nightmares, and Outer Wilds. Playful music/score helps too. Is littered with direct quotes/scenes from the original works and Kafka himself, as well as other references both literary and beyond. Unique and well done, a largely faithful reverent homage with some additional humor/flavor thrown in. Has two possible endings, both appropriately downer. Convenient to Plat. Will likely only be appreciated by a much narrower audience range, but I’m well within that. For 24$ a worthwhile piece, quality indie W-S for the year.

The Council- Deep sale $8. Vaguely remembered about it when originally dropped in 2018. Focus Home pub’ed. Telltale episodic style with XP tree and more branching narratives. Set on a mysterious English Lord’s island post-American Revolution/pre-French. Not my favorite period, but an interesting enough setup. Play as the son of the head of the French sector of an expy for every secret society in any work like this, on a quest to find your missing mother and rubbing elbows with historical figures of the era. Napoleon and Washington obviously being ones, and even more obviously Washington head of the American branch of the Order. Graphically fine on the surface, but the actual animations/expressions and voice acting are all a bit stilted, firmly in uncanny valley land. Writing/dialogue can be uneven and exposition-y; sometimes solid, then incongruously anachronistically breaking the immersion. Some commentary comes across heavy handed, even if well-meaning at times. Most egregious is a mid-plot twist that spirals into ludicrousness by the end. More positively, it contains good ideas for expanding the conversation/investigation/inventory mechanics seen in the likes of Sherlock Holmes and the recent Lovecraft games, with a fairly robust skill/effort system (almost like Numenera) determining what options/actions are available in various situations. Serves as a blueprint for the evolution/future of the genre which I would like to see adopted and improved in others. Relaxing title with some rough edges, yet manages to be somewhat unique and more or less succeeds at what it sets out to do. 

The Messenger- From 2018, $10 sale. Devolver pub’ed. Ninja Gaiden homage mixed with some M-V retro style. Is old school hard, but not entirely unfair. Almost has a Mega Man vibe too with some of the laser walls of death etc, platforming and enemies. Graphically solid as hell, excellent music, level and boss design. Some bits of meta-commentary/references sometimes try too hard, but overall serviceable. Switches from 8 bit to 16 bit about halfway through, each representing a different time period in the story, 16 bit being the more M-V areas vs. the previously straightforward 8 bit action/platformer. Neat idea, works well overall. Came with free shorter DLC but with ramped up difficulty and some additional clever takes on a few NES-era classics. Overall for the price, very worthwhile.

Control DLC 2 of 2 AWE- Alan Wake tie-in, officially connected them both in same universe. Was looking forward to quite a bit. Think it’s easily better than DLC 1. Wake’s actor is always excellent, and the mechanics still feel great, no asshole/annoying scenarios like Foundation. Writing weird/solid/enjoyable as ever, a nice touch is a side mission that unlocks replaying bosses and set pieces like the Ash Maze. Ends on solid sequel bait of future game/story for both it and/or Wake 2, am on board.

Outer Worlds DLC 1 of 2 Peril on Gorgon- Pass for both $25. Noir-tinged adventure/mystery on a new asteroid location. Basically the plot of Serenity, but still cool jumping back into this world. Added a few small but welcome additions for weapons/gear etc, even if otherwise mostly more of the same from the main, which is completely fine. Remains fun, clever, and solid as hell, expect nothing else from Obsidian. Though did have a bug that seemingly prevented me from earning XP after a certain point.

Borderlands 3 DLC 4 of 4 Psycho Krieg & the Fantastic Fustercluck. Delve into Krieg’s mind/backstory ala Claptastic Voyage. Keeps up the quality overall, though I was never the biggest fan of Krieg as a character, it does a decent job of covering his past history and connection to the other cast. Level design remains visually appealing, quests usually entertaining and more loot always aids the fun factor. Close second/third best of B3’s DLCs.

Crysis Remaster- Originally July. Switch released on time, but backlash on lackluster looking trailer delayed it to Sept for others. Powered through on hard over the course of a few days. Disappointingly doesn’t appear up to snuff for such a legendary graphical beast, complaints were valid. Looks good, just not mind blowing/expected from the hype. An ok port job at best. Still, remains a fun and classic FPS, forgot how many weapon options are avail to mess around with. While design has been lapped at this point, had to start somewhere and thus some credit must be given to it on that front. For $30, harmlessly fine if slightly unimpressive.

Wasteland 3- Delayed from May. Isometric old school CRPG from inXile ala Pillars of Eternity, who for years has been Obsidian’s closest and best competitor. Reviews squarely positive, although most noted bugs/crashes, which I pretty much expected, but banked on being mitigated by patches since was holding off until after the prior FPS/DLC spree, given W3’s scope. Lives up to being a solid series sequel. Engaging story setup and generally improved gameplay/interface from 2, all around production value, from music (sidenote: apparently Mary Ramos served as music director, who frequently works with Tarantino. Given that, it makes sense that the soundtrack is perfectly and cheekily evocative, with the final unexpected element of the playthrough recap being sung vs narrated the touch that elevates it all) to voice acting, all while keeping the classic look and feel. Characters/quest writing exhibits their trademark balance of post-apoc seriousness and dark/absurd humor, fittingly since their lineage descends from FO1-2. Number of standout set pieces (Reagan Robot and the Gippers vs. Godfisher cultists, fights vs iconic Scorpitrons.) Did still have noticeable amount of crashes so bit of a sour mark. Conversely, found a quest bug that generated essentially infinite money, so exploited that a bit for large amounts of ammo. Its rough edges can be largely forgiven as otherwise it’s a quality experience in the genre, respectfully delivering on its promise, equally good if not better than W2. DLC to come, likely way down the line.

Rise of the Tomb Raider 20th Annv. Edition- Free PS+, filler/breather after W3 before the late Oct releases. Took up less space than expected, only 15g. Solid reviews from 2015, touted as one of the better/best modern titles in the franchise. Never played any TR entirely through. Came with all the DLCs and a trove of freebie items, cool on them. Rise does have slick production value, with the genre and era’s trappings of design/mechanics that mostly work together with the magic maguffin dujour linked to ancient Byzantium to make a solidly put together 3PA. A nice leisurely play and pleasant surprise, AAA junk food appetizer.

Remothered: Broken Porcelain- Didn’t play the initial title, Tormented Fathers, but devs stated not strictly necessary to get into this one. Had a recap for the plot of that anyway so fine there. Release was moved up a week, thus giving me a jump on the 2020 Halloween games. Bought day one $30. Slowroll intro/fake opening level dissolving into credits was a cool touch, readying me to go along for the ride. It’s sure trying its damndest in a noble effort to be a solid/relevant indie horror game, striving for AA(24) style writing, characters, atmosphere, etc but more often finds itself devolving into B-movie clutter cliché/nonsense. Interesting setup at least and voice acting is well-done, so good on that I guess. But goddamn did my initial and onwards experience focus wholly on the annoying design, outright brokenness and overall sloppiness. Extremely janky prompts/interactions along with ill-tutorialized mechanics and frustrating uneven AI encounters. Exacerbated by getting caught in excessive glitches of, among other things: an infinite/nonloading screen, half clipping through walls rendering me immobilized, enemies not functioning properly (when sometimes they triggered at all) such that neither they nor I could be killed, a key item not respawning thus preventing progress, etc. Weirdly it never outright hard crashed, instead having to close and restart game app. Not that that’s any better. Reviews also backed up the numerous issues, some declaring it a straight up rush job and downgrade vs Fathers. Day two put out a 4g patch that was supposed to fix shit but didn’t notice any difference, most noticeably not registering my skill upgrades and not even being able to spend points to upgrade anything. Chapters are short, which in a better game would be a complaint, but is a mercy in this instance. Eventually hit a spot where in an endless chase I was stabbed dozens of times without dying, while monster took an equal amount of ineffectual gunshots, with seemingly nowhere else to go/do to proceed, or whatever I was supposed to do was not clear at all, though assuming something may have supposed to trigger again and didn’t. So tried to complete it for critical duty, but fuck it, game didn’t put in any effort, why should I, at that point enough was enough. Firmly terrible without being fun/amusing about it. Logline would be “Bates Motel meets a poor man’s Scanners on bad backstory acid.” Rebuggered: Broken Pathetic more like it! A hideous mess that, somewhat ironically, is in reality exactly the fractured disjointed story it’s attempting to convey. A wholly unworthy effort/investment. Extra disappointing since on paper had promising potential. Those Who Remain and Maid of Sker were at least by and large functional. What’s up with the subpar quality of most of 2020’s horror/thrillers?

Need for Speed: Payback- Was on PS+. Not supposed to be great, mostly cause of eh production value and mtx bs, but was free. Something I wouldn’t normally check out but ended up killing time with it after deleting Remothered in contempt the weekend before Doom DLC and Amnesia Rebirth dropped. If nothing else it’s a fun/entertaining enough competent arcade-y driver with expectedly cheesy by nature Fast and Furious ripoff/reject plot and voice acting. Although Naomi from Expanse is in it, so she’s actually solid. Was never planning to play it that long, so can’t speak to how asshole grindy/insidious the upgrade system is in the long haul, really just found it kind of inoffensively charming and the perfect cathartic breather to cleanse out the unpleasantness of Broken Porcelain. Throw in the category of decent mindless junkfood.

Doom Eternal DLC Ancient Gods Part 1 of 2- More classic Doom brutal but fun as hell action. It’s not fucking around either, pretty hardcore and throws you directly back into the fire with no ramp up, though with maxed out upgrades. ~6 hours so a bit lengthier vs what might be expected from such DLC, combined with Part 2 may add up close to a full campaign. Aside from the slightly jarring difficulty spike, no complaints and excellent bonus it snuck in before end of year to tack onto a surefire GOTY entry.

Amnesia: Rebirth- PO’ed w/ PSN discount for under $30. Frictional returns for a late gen entry in their seminal series. Reviews decent-solid but not glowing. Historical note: while I respect Dark Descent for its impact, Machine for Pigs was a superior iteration I think, and it wasn’t even Fric! SOMA is their best work to date that I stand by. Rebirth at the core remains a respectful variation on Mountains of Madness a/o Nameless City style Lovecraftian storytelling, and explicitly set in the same universe that Descent set up. Is glossier graphically, more fully and well voice acted vs previous and mostly maintains the aspects it always was best at, namely solid as hell atmosphere/writing with appropriately haunting soundscape. Gameplay yet more of the physics item puzzles, light source and ‘fear’ (i.e. insanity meter) management, creeping around monsters etc. It’s all workably there, but never seems to aim to rise above that level. Has all the expected hallmarks, but weirdly that is perhaps precisely the criticism. It’s unmistakably Amnesia, and at the same time it’s kind of just that, albeit with a slicker/fresher coat of paint. It’s hard/weird to critically slice this one up, given again its legacy but also valid to an extent complaint that the studio somewhat is riding purely on their reputation without necessarily innovating/improving on the formula they popularized if not invented. So it’s not quite substandard, instead merely standard with no standout aspects. At ~8 hours ends up an enjoyable enough even keel that manages to neither particularly disappoint nor impress. To quote Young Justice, it’s completely ‘whelming.’

Ghostrunner- PO’ed w/ PS+ discount under $30. Indie cocktail of Mirror’s Edge, Superhot, Valley(!) and Hotline Miami. Or maybe just Dishonored on crack/speed. Sold on that pitch plus trailer was quite cool. Positive early reviews. 17 main missions but built with more of the repeat session/speedrunning community in mind, who should certainly have a field day since it is both quite replayable and fast paced as hell. Twitchy precision ninja wall-running/grappling/katana-ing, one hit kills on both enemies/player, instant respawns upon death, all set to pulsing synth in nicely designed arena-ish levels offering a few avenues of approaching combat/platform scenarios. Can be punishingly demanding/difficult, compounded by same issues as always with doing this kind of stuff in FP cropping up, i.e. missing what seemed to be perfectly finely timed/executed series of maneuvers, enemies killing you from off screen/out of view etc. A limited but useful skill/upgrade system has you playing literal inventory Tetris, neat touch. When firing on all cylinders, elicits an alternating adrenaline pumping/satisfying cathartic comedown flow to it. Wraps everything in a fairly standard but unobtrusive cyberpunk dystopian story framework with matching slick neon drenched decaying city visuals. Sleeper of 2020.

Cloudpunk- PC released April, ported to PS in Oct. $25. Solid enough reviews, grabbed it since Song of Horror was delayed and as a follow up to Ghostrunner, keeping the cyberpunk streak going and because it’s the perfect inverse. Whereas GR is intense nonstop precision action made in Unreal of course, Cloud is a lower-fi Unity voxel art GTA-lite/Uber worker simulator set in Corporate Cyberpunk City #45-N57. Atmosphere/world visuals and building all top notch. Leisurely exploring the beautiful Lego brick city-world in flying car and on foot, delivering items/taxiing denizens of various dispositions and having philosophical conversations with them. Especially notable since the main character is a 20-something expy for a struggling Middle-Eastern woman, bereft of friends and family in a strange, overwhelming place. It’s not the easiest character/material to handle, and sometimes approaches pretentiousness, but mainly does it justice, in my view and estimation anyway. Both Rania and the characters she bounces off of are well realized through soundly written and acted interactions that often reflect/comment on pertinent societal concerns/realities through a semi-satirical near-future bent. At first the personal stories seem separate, but throughout them a greater tale about the city at large is interwoven in cleverly organic ways, well executed. Artistic and engaging in a charmingly relaxed style, stellar soundtrack/score to accompany. 2020’s Night In The Woods. Displays a sincerity backed up by real heart that goes a long way. I found myself quite invested and had an unexpectedly great experience with it. The true sleeper hit of the year, perfect combo w/Ghostunner.

**As an amusing aside, while the names of the above two are individually serviceably fine, they are also so borderline generically conventional as to be completely interchangeable: Ghostpunk, Cloudrunner, Ghostcloud, Punkrunner. Meanwhile 2077 is just like yep, Cyberpunk, done here**

Hollow Knight Voidheart Edition: Free PS+. E talked it up earlier. Remembered it getting high praise as a modern indie successor to the (mostly Metroid end) of the M-V genre with a slight D-S bent. Given out near tail end of this gen, good deal. Dipped toes in a bit when Legion didn’t arrive as expected. Great, crisp art style and combat, cool world. Classic M-V navigation which can vary for me. Hate getting lost/stuck/unsure of what to do/go next. Didn’t quite grab me/wasn’t feeling it at the time, not because it was bad though, will be keeping it for later. Did Visage instead.

Visage- $35 under the radar kickstarted/early access horror title. Full release dropped around Halloween. Missed it in the face of all the others, but supposedly quite good one, so picked up about a week after to make up for the lackluster batch previously. Self-described as channeling P.T.’s vibe i.e. wandering around a modern eerily empty house solving light inv/environmental puzzles while seeing subtle tricks with lights, doors and Layers of Fear-style spatial warping. Though it opens on a pretty intense scenario, the story is overall standardly fine. Presentation is what elevates it, crisp graphics while maintaining a largely well implemented and genuinely unnerving sense, without totally relying on cheap jump scares (though it’s certainly obligingly got those too.) When the usual grotesquery finally does hit, it’s done perfectly well; it’s just that I’ve seen so many variations of that same stuff, but that’s indie horror I suppose. A subdued (but solid) soundscape/lack of expected ambient music in such a title might seem an odd decision, but the minimalism undeniably adds to creating an off-putting King-like sense of uneasy dread, making it somewhat stand out from so many others attempting the same. There is always going to be that fine line between repetition/boredom by traversing the same sections attempting to figure out how to proceed vs. keeping up tension. With a shorter ~6 hour run time is able to cut out many frills, gets you in and through with little padding. No technical issues either, points there. Would be really cool in VR as a great haunted house experience. Will hand it the best/most rounded of them for 2020. Worth checking out especially for fans of the genre/style.

Watchdogs: Legion- WD2 was solid enough, certainly an improvement over 1. Legion’s footage looked pretty cool. Reception generally positive, praised the ‘recruit any NPC’ as akin to Middle Earth’s Nemesis system which is accurate-ish. While waiting for delivery, some darkly amusing events happened surrounding the game made especially funny due to their/Legion’s nature; source code leaked, had to be patched up due to crashes and other issues, and finally one of the radio/podcast personalities was taken out post-release due to protest against her allegedly bigoted real world views/statements. Also comical that the entire premise is an Orwellian surveillance nightmare in 20 Minutes Future London, yet Ubi would claim it’s ‘not a political stance.’ And while true it’s cheekily cartoonish, it is obviously a statement unto itself as a setting plus the backstory of corrupt government conspiring with a cutthroat corporation to frame a hacktivist group as terrorists in order to set up said 1984 state. The entire mission structure is built upon rallying the denizens to resist their oppression. Gameplay is highly entertaining and fluidly flexible given the amount of tools/options on hand. Quite enjoyable to mess around and hack everything in sight, fuckin’ up the city to stick it to the man, all the while surrounded by nonstop Britishness oozing from every pore of the world, including the radio stations. Swapping between a crew of randomly recruited citizens with various quirks/stats/items/models/accents equates to RP’ing through a film grad Guy Ritchie film, good logline. Digital anarchy in the UK is a right lovely lark mate, innit! Played with permadeath enabled, but since it doesn’t trigger until a handful of missions, spent a solid chunk of time building up my group/resources with no consequences. Credit Ubi a little for curbing some of their usual excess and having a smaller/denser map with less random chores/collectibles scattered everywhere. Too bad Valhalla didn’t follow suit, thus Legion is the better 2020 Ubi game.

AC: Valhalla- Ubi double kill bill w/ Watchdogs: Legion. Solid/high reviews. Definitely a good choice to finally go with Dark Age Viking-era Norway and England for the period setting. While I argue that they may never be able to top Black Flag, Valhalla takes a few cues from it, along with the RPG-ish elements introduced in Origins. However it doesn’t take Watchdogs’ cue for sizing down the map/world and instead takes one from RDR2 with the over-realism, which can be an overbearing finicky slog, especially with my OCD completionist tendencies. Poured 100+ hours into it, fatigue definitely set in towards the end. Best aspect is probably the combat; frantic/fluid, most Dark Souls-like series has had so far, various fun/cool abilities. Loot distribution more condensed at least, less random items of wavering quality thrown at you everywhere, and though skill tree initially seems ungainly, it ends up working. Most characters are well-realized/portrayed and the overall tale has a more somber tone than the previous couple. It manages to be both deeply personal and sweepingly epic, leaving home behind to set off for 800s Anglo-Saxony, and upon arriving having to navigate hostile land and the sometimes literal byzantine politics. Better written than last few titles, by a small margin. Along the way is bolstered by more light hearted/interesting side stories that run the gamut through English and Nordic culture/history/mythology. On the technical side was riddled with lots of small annoying bugs/glitches affecting quest progression/event triggers. Had to more than once reload saves from earlier/hoop jump to solve, and still got scattered crashes on top. Worst instances I can recall from the series, likely stemming from it again being just too bulky. Early on thought it might be a tougher call vs WD:L but overall Legion wins for pure fun/entertainment factor.

Cyberpunk 2077- The most roller coaster release of the year in terms of anticipation/hype/response. Had 3 delays, April-Nov-Dec. Leading up the mindset was something like ‘it better be the most/best cyberpunk to ever punk in cyber!’ Upon and post-release it was beset by the maelstrom (retroactively awesome term I choose) of: CDPR’s crunch controversy, last-gen review/footage embargoes, backlash on such due to poor performance/bugs etc. large day zero/one patches that still didn’t fix everything. CDPR then pledging even more patches in months to come, while promising/directing the most dissatisfied to get refunds, which got real messy real quick. Suffice to say not exactly the greatest launch look for such a high profile title and touted dev, and just got more bizarre as it unfolded. Like: Sony as a seemingly fuck you response, did offer full refunds and pulled it from the store entirely! Motherfucking unprecedented. MS shortly guaranteed refunds too but didn’t’ outright yank it. One of the best moments came via a reporting on the fallout, where in a CDPR meeting a question from staff to management/board was essentially ‘isn’t it hypocritical what you’ve done in this situation, with this particular game, given its specific themes?’ Which is amazingly hilarious and spot on. ‘You’re being the Corpos here, how’s it feel!?’ Then the investors sued! Simply incredible stuff.
As for the game itself, it is a quite immersive and incredibly fleshed out world (small but dense—no wasted space, which is probably the future of open world) channeling some of the best/most recognizable aspects of the aesthetic set up by one of the early TTRPG inspirations via Mike Pondsmith’s original vision. Plot/characters top notch work, best narrative/atmosphere/world as is their forte. Standout elements/moments that elevate it include: the evolving relationship between PC, Johnny Silverhand, and supporting cast; noir tinged missions and twists; song titles/references quest names; myriad attention to setting details accompanied by great dialogue and standout setpieces. Admittedly graphics can be a little fuzzy/iffy, AI a bit odd, and driving especially hit a few hiccups. Had a fine but not totally impressive few opening hours, then fell into a quite enjoyable groove through a chain of organic/emergent events/missions, but that culminated in a crash shortly after and more throughout the whole playthrough. Still, was sold enough to be excited for subsequent sessions. The oddest annoyance was it sometimes reset my inversion/HUD settings. The rough edges are undeniably present. Saga continued when ~week after release got hit w/ a fresh last minute 17G hotfix which had to clear up space for. And another week after that to fix a critical save corruption issue. Good on them for churning them out quickly, but goddamn it officially then claimed the ‘honor’ of eating up the most HD space for any game ever. Despite all that, at the core it headshots the high looting-crafting-hacking FPS RPG mark when it all works and that’s my favorite style. Even hours in kept itself fresh. Basically a déjà vu Skyrim/New Vegas situation, and if I can claim to love those despite all their considerable jank, (and let’s be fair, well before the era of regularly expected hotfix/patches) and am willing to forgive technical hitches vs. delivering a memorable story and stable enough experience, then is CP77 really all that different on that front? Perhaps the key factor is CDPR’s shadiness vs. their prior reputation. Final summation: Yes, it has bugs/glitches/crashes. But all that fell away when I was more often than not blowing heads off fellow cyberpunk criminals on the mean streets of Night City dressed in sick gear and rocking a fully upgraded magnum, or slicing them up with arm-blade implants while hacking the shit out of everything and genuinely invested/engaged/surprised by the quests/stories, main and side, from start to end. A delicious cocktail blend of: Bladerunner (of course,) New Vegas, Deus Ex, West World, Altered Carbon, and Borderlands, all topped off with its own unique spicy garnish and a truly killer soundtrack. Indeed ends up being my GOTY.

Carrion- Released Spring 2020, got on XS GP Jan ‘21. The Thing, except you play as the monster. Pretty cool concept, indie dev pub’ed by Devolver, obviously. 16-bit vibrant appealing pixel art, simple but elegant controls, especially movement given the nondescript amorphous tentacle-and-teeth design of the creature. Essentially a M-V, navigating connecting levels, unlocking abilities to progress in puzzles/combat. Short and enjoyable, good for brief sessions, 6-8 hrs. 100% it. Minor gripes: lack of overall map to mitigate the required backtracking, and a fairly mundane take on the material, not attempting anything beyond the bare bones. Could slip into a tie w Curse Moon 2 for mid-tier indie/retro.

Call of the Sea- Released Dec 2020. Good reviews. XS GP early ’21, as was the case with a block of games around the same time. Lovecraft-tinged, naturally. W-S puzzler. Solid atmosphere using a dreamy/surreal impressionist watercolor aesthetic matching the tone/theme, similar to Metamorphosis. Good voice acting, story/puzzles are mostly what would be expected but executed quite well. One of the better if not best 2020 supernatural-tinged sims. Tie w/ Meta for the genre and literary connection. Did all but 1 achievement. ~8 hrs.

Haven- Dec 2020. XS GP early ’21. A low key RPG-lite explorer/crafter, same devs as Furi. Sci-fi story of young lovers fleeing their oppressive homeworld in a stolen ship, (obviously) ending up on a dangerous planet, having to scrounge for survival and finding clues to their culture’s past along with each other/themselves throughout the adventure. Heavily anime in plot, tone and aesthetic. Excellent art, chillwave soundtrack matches the gliding mechanic while exploring/collecting resources in the world. Tying gameplay to narrative via the progression system of building each partner’s relationship trust/confidence through dialogue and combat/resting moments is a neat touch somewhat like God of War in that sense. Very relaxing with a solid core of emotional thrust driving it. Both characters are grounded and believable, voice acting sells it, though conversations can veer into overly cutesy territory. Unassumingly inoffensively enjoyable enough experience. Actual couples would probably have a better time with it. Did 85% of achievements. 15-17 hrs.

The Falconeer- On GP early ’21. Fairly under the radar. Solo dev, Wired pub’ed. Ride a giant falcon NeverEnding Story style, and dogfight/bomb other falcons, pirates, dragons, sea serpents and forts in a semi-feudalist Lovecraftian meets steampunk setting. Cool world building/mythology/lore with intriguing story, themes of classism/economics decently sprinkled in. Very appealing, crisp but soft art/visuals. Mechanically firmly functional, fine range of abilities/items. Can be both relaxing to soar above the ocean exploring locations, or intense battling in the skies while doing missions. Unique and quite fun. StarFalcon 2020. ~15 hrs, 100% achievements. Easily recommend and slipped late into honorable 2020 tied with Haven. DLCs to come.

Spiritfarer- On GP early ’21. Got fairly high praise, mostly for the story/characters followed by the explo-craft/farm mechanics that tie into the narrative. Framework is acting as the new Charon archetype for departing spirits and fulfilling their last requests in a cool looking/well designed world. Night in the Woods + Water Tastes Like Wine and they settled down in Stardew Valley. A number of the shades are the main char, Stella’s, friends/family/loved ones. Others are just random townsfolk, but all with unique/distinct personalities, likes/dislikes etc. and who transform into anthropomorphic creatures after joining Stella on her houseboat. They set forth on a bittersweet journey of coming to grips with loss and providing closure for both the passengers and Stella herself. Has a delightful hand drawn Disneyesque art/animation style that was recently the case in a rash of games I played around this time. A reflective laidback pleasantly chill low pressure smell-the-roses title with thoughtful themes and writing. Leans toward the routine/chore based loop of Stardew and the like. Fine but not one of my favorite core mechanics as it can become repetitive/grindy with all the various ingredients etc. required to satisfy the NPCs/build structures/advance through the story. Still, is another well done what I’m terming as a genre ‘Relax-em-ups’ ala Haven, Eastshade, et al. Soundtrack is soothingly fitting too but also not as standout as the aforementioned and similar others. About mid-way through I guessed the ‘twist’ would be that it was Stella who dying, not everyone else…called it! Still fine, even if it’s a bit obvious. Overall enjoyable just not quite to par with some of the above games. Free updates through 2021 but will likely pass if it’s just more loops of meeting NPCs and building shit.


7th Generational Heaven

March 9, 2021 Scott Thurlow Dialogue Tree

It was recently my birthday, and as I teeter ever more precariously on the precipice of being 40, a conflux of events (i.e. being trapped in my house largely alone by both the pandemic and local weather) allowed me to have another musing that I decided to turn into full article form. In the last month or so I went through a marathon of 7th console generation (X360/PS3) titles, some of which were replays of old favorites, others ones that I never got to back in the day. At the end, I realized that this generation is now removed and distinct enough to have its own retro feel/style, and indeed nostalgia. Agreed upon to have lasted roughly 11 years, from 2005-2016, it’s since been almost as much time removed from the 7th Gen. In light of that, I feel the games of its time can be looked back upon from the shores of the present and retrospectively assessed. 

I’ll readily admit the SNES period (4th generation as defined/agreed) was seminal for my sensibilities. Coinciding with my adolescent/teen years, by nature nothing can take away the profound influence of that era on myself. It was a time of legends, when Chrono Trigger, Link to the Past, Illusion of Gaia, Super Metroid, Mario World, and all those glorious monsters roamed the earthly realm of consoles, building monuments and constructing wonders in my pop culture mind. Their impressions are indelibly etched upon my formative gaming psyche and are firmly locked in place.

By the time of the 7th Gen though, both the medium and I had a more robust history and were (relatively) more mature. 30 years on from its infancy and rise, the industry and discussion around games were evolving. It was possible at that point to start learning to appreciate and analyze games in a deeper, more critically thoughtful manner. Though they still assuredly employed a bevy of tropes/issues for good and ill, creativity overall was flourishing. Gaming was comfortably coming into its own and a new paradigm was forming, shifting organically as it advanced.  

Another factor to consider when viewed/played through the modern lens, is that on the technical side, the generation was in full swing. Developers, programmers, art designers, and all others who had a hand in those sections were familiar enough with the hardware’s workings to be able to fully take advantage of its capabilities. World/map/level size was comfortably manageable; functionally spacious but in most cases nowhere near approaching the later bloated overwrought design philosophy. Likewise, textures and backgrounds, the ephemera and guts of the game worlds, were more refined than ever, though not exactly photorealistic. They were undoubtedly “graphics” but no longer distracting/immersion-breaking in the way the previous pixels and polygons could be. Character models/animations/cut scenes were increasingly realistic and on the charmingly better side of uncanny valley, though still clearly fake and residually chunky/blocky in cases. Finally, running times for single-player experiences generally clocked in at a sweet spot of 10-15 hours (with increasingly more containing a multiplayer/online focus as those components rose to prominence.) Long enough to be substantial/satisfying but without demanding too intense or excessive a commitment from players.

On the other side of production, writing and story arcs pushed innovative and fulfilling narratives, elevating characters out of simplified one-dimensional territory. While a majority leaned somewhat ‘cinematic,’ they were not necessarily attempting a 1:1 ratio to television and movies. Rather, they utilized elements that best served the plot and strove to fuse with familiar/established game mechanics. Voice acting was becoming more professional and fluid while still retaining a (sometimes purposeful) stiltedness. It was grounded and believable enough to sell the action/emotion despite sometimes ending up just a little too much or not enough to achieve that little extra. That description itself is ungainly, but it is the best way I can put into words. The overall feel is difficult to describe academically, but like pornography, you know it when you see it and when it works, or doesn’t.

All that to say that development processes, technology, and imagination combined seamlessly in the best examples of 7th Gen works. When everything was humming in tune and firing on all cylinders, the effect was like nothing else that could be attained in other media, creating that ‘future is now!’ mood. If I could point to a specific title, Alan Wake would be my clutch case. It melds the live action segments, acting and writing with the best of the mechanical/technical/performance methods of the era into a perfectly paced plot and riveting gameplay.

This balanced combination served to influence and spearhead an ushering in of a new direction/vision in games. Keeping in mind too the indie scene was still very fresh. While beginning to burgeon, it wouldn’t be for another generation and a half or so that the scene would start to fully bloom and eventually explode. There were certainly a handful of releases throughout which we’ll see reflected below, but at least at the time, it was the higher profile gourmet items that were yet at the forefront.

Thus we arrive at the zenith, what I say is the sickest stretch, culminating in 2010-2011. These two years saw a slew of top notch releases that were critically/commercially acclaimed, and are to this day well-remembered, often appearing on ‘best of’ lists and perennially in remaster discussions/requests (some of which have gotten the treatment.) The titles released in this short spell contain the essence of the 7th Gen, creating that specific nostalgic sense I mentioned above. Even if you may disagree with or dislike any of them, I submit that the gauntlet is so stacked that there’s bound to be some in there that one would be hard-pressed to admit aren’t due their credence. Let’s go through some highlights shall we, and tell me it’s not an incredible assortment.

2010: Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake (RDR and AW the same fucking day!) Fallout: New Vegas, CoD: Black Ops, Halo: Reach, Just Cause 2, Crackdown 2, Starcraft 2, God of War 3, Fable 3, Rock Band 3, Just Dance 2, Limbo, AC: Brotherhood, Super Meat Boy, Civilization 5, Bayonetta, Dante’s Inferno, Darksiders, Singularity, Dark Void, Rayman 2, Bioshock 2, Deadly Premonition, Heavy Rain, Metro 2033, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Dead Rising 2, Scott Pilgrim vs. The Word, and Mafia II (both recently remastered.)

2011: Dark Souls, Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, Minecraft (full release post-alpha,) Infamous 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, L.A. Noire, Portal 2, Witcher 2, Dragon Age 2, Dead Space 2, CoD: Modern Warfare 3, Killzone 3, Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3, Resistance 3, FEAR 3, Battlefield 3, Saint’s Row 3, Yakuza 4, AC: Revelations, Catherine, Alice: Madness Returns, Bastion, Dead Island, Shadows of the Damned, Duke Nukem Forever (I know, I know! but historically, it was this year) Terraria, Binding of Isaac, Driver: San Francisco.

While an argument could be had on the merits and details of each, that ’10 or ’11 don’t quite boast the oeuvre of its preceding/antecedent one, it’s a moot conversation in my opinion. This my friends is a goddamn epic horse race with some all-time big guns in both. No matter which in your opinion ‘wins,’ everybody gets paid out on the strength of the entire run. 

For reference and somewhat in the spirit of fairness, below is a briefer compilation of a few other high caliber titles from the 7th Gen outside that two year stint:

Halo 3 2007
Bioshock 2007
GTA 4 2008
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 2009 (i.e. the best one)
Fallout 3 2008
Batman: Arkham Asylum 2009
Dragon Age: Origins 2009
Borderlands 2009
AC II 2009
Dishonored 2012
Far Cry 3 2012
Last of Us 2013 (at the tail end leading into the next/8th generation)

All great stuff, and accuse me of cherry picking as you will, but I maintain none of those years individually contain the breadth and wealth of 2010-11. Do the research and reply! And either way, my intent was to underscore/emphasize a larger argument: That this illustrious period set an immediately recognizable template for what came after, and that in some permutation persists to this day. Identifiable echoes of the era reverberate across the following generations and easily into the most recent turn.  

Having the luxury of looking back and being able to play a slice of these titles formulated and cemented my stance on that. If I were a betting man, which I am, I would advise you to also look out for an upcoming wave of remasters and/or indies that will attempt to capture the aesthetics and modes of the 7th Gen. And that is not a bad thing by any means, as long as we qualify that with the ever-pertinent and infinitely applicable ‘when done right/respectfully.’

I hope you enjoyed traveling down this short memory lane and semi-prediction regarding the 7th Gen with me. As always, do ship any comments etc. should you be moved to do so, and I’ll see you in the upcoming days of retro future past.

-Scott Thurlow  

The Joys of Junk Food Games

February 23, 2021 Scott Thurlow Dialogue Tree

Since I’ve been quite quiet on the article side of things here, I thought I’d try to start back up this year by covering an idea I’ve had for a bit, but haven’t discussed or expanded upon until this point. (And that may or may not make it onto the actual podcast this season.) Nevertheless I’d like to go into what I’ve come to term as junk food games. Not ones based upon such properties (although those certainly exist, anyone remember Cool Spot, Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool or Yo Noid?) but titles that exist and serve to satisfy a shorter-lived craving. Games that don’t require excessive commitment, but that can and do hit a certain spot and leave you full but not bloated.     

By and large the titles that get the most attention usually remain the gourmet/premier entrées. An intimidating gauntlet of impressively arrayed main courses ala Red Dead Redemption, Fallout, Mass Effect, God of War, Witcher or [insert similar AAA open-world/massive RPG here.] Then you’ve got another category I coined– the buffet games, i.e. pick pretty much any Ubisoft title or facsimile thereof (Mad Max comes to mind.) These can be satisfying for what they offer as well; a large (sometimes overwhelming) assortment of a broad range of elements, some of which you may or may not find appealing. Finally you’ve also got the side snacks as it were, titles such as Goat Simulator, My Friend Pedro, Untitled Goose Game, and I Am Bread (rather aptly titled for my purposes.) Not quite complete combo meals, instead more like tasty finger food in game form.  

Still, I think there can be drawn a clear delineation or at least a set grouping to attach the label of junk food to the kinds of games I have in mind. I almost was tempted to call them mindless/dumb fun, but I dislike those terms as they seem much more dismissive, and my argument is that there is a definite and welcome place for these titles without necessarily having a negative connotation. Many are rather naturally the hallmark and purview of scrappy mid-tier developers with clear ambition, often working within a limited scope and budget constraints.

Perhaps a proper definition would serve us best at this point. For the kind of junk food games I’m thinking of, I mean those that don’t pretend to be anything but sheer entertainment; the burger, fries, and soda of the industry. They are made without ‘AAA’ money and staff, are smaller in scale/scope/length, and are intended less as heavily narrative/character focused (although they are not entirely devoid of those either.) More often than not though, the action/gameplay is at the forefront while the story sort of floats on top, or maybe more aptly functions as the dipping sauce. A good recognizable example of which might be something like the Just Cause series, though there are a number of others that lie in the sphere.  

In particular I would point to The Zombie Army Trilogy DLC/Expansions and specifically the 2020 standalone Zombie Army 4: Dead War as exemplifying the junk food classification. Indeed Dead War was the initial catalyst/impetus for this very topic. To me it is the quintessential junk food title. Having played most of the Sniper Elite titles previously and generally enjoying them, I was sold on the premise of an alt WW2 setting with, what else, Nazi zombies. Admittedly the idea in and of itself is by no means original, but it means the game can comfortably embrace the established tropes while utilizing its engine and assets to provide an engaging and entertaining experience. It’s good for soloing as well as geared with a Left 4 Dead style co-op experience in mind, and it all really clicks.

I recall a specific instance in Dead War when, following an intense wave battle scenario and before moving onto the next stage, an NPC radioed my character and delivered the line, “Hey, don’t forget to kill Hitler!” Yes, thank you, that is literally the central conceit here. Neither I nor I believe my PC avatar was ever in danger of neglecting to accomplish that vital goal. But you see, that’s why it’s the epitome of a junk food game! It’s such a ridiculous and even throwaway inclusion, but yet it totally fits for the game overall. It’s every perfectly serviceable 3rd Person Action/Shooter ever, with Nazi zombies. Of course it would have such an interaction. Within the confines of its own context, there is no other better moment to encapsulate it. I laughed both along with and at it, and went onto the next level eager to consume more.

Another strong contender for junk food game poster child would be Terminator: Resistance. Described by a number of outlets (who gave it the time of day to review) as “surprisingly decent,” it takes a very familiar framework and wraps it around utilitarian FPS/RPG-lite mechanics topped with franchise references/connections. A number of fans even consider it cannon, as well as a much better successor than the latter films. I personally had an excellent time with Resistance, and it snuck into my Mid-Tier/Solid list on Top Games last year. It didn’t overstay its welcome and delivered on pretty much every front it set out to. Definitely worthwhile, especially so since I snagged it on discount. Recently it was revealed Resistance did well enough to garner an enhanced edition, coming later in March this year, and I fully salute that.

There are a few others to mention to check out when you’re feeling in the junk food mood: Maneater is yet more great fodder (and also had a generational upgrade version.) It has a pretty unique hook, marketing itself as a “ShaRkPG” and features Chris Parnell doing a fantastic version of his trademark straight-man deadpanning absurd situations shtick. Finally, the latest junk food title I enjoyed as of date of writing is Werewolf: Earthblood (and more on that in an article to come.) Based on the World of Darkness tabletop setting, it plays like a stripped down Batman: Arkham style 3rd person stealth/beat ‘em up, in which you winnow down rooms of guards, then inevitably flip out and morph into the titular creature, tearing the remaining mobs of enemies to shreds. Gratifying as hell and I give it the official stamp of solid sustenance.

Certainly there are a slew of other titles that can easily fall into the junk food group (drop some in the comments if you’re so inclined.) My point is that it should be the case this category thrives and these games should be given their due for what they deliver. Sure, you might forget about the ‘meal’ in short order, but you probably won’t be able to deny it was delicious while you were devouring it. Until next time, happy munching my friends.  

-Scott Thurlow

Data Dump: 2019 Games Lists At-a-Glance & Raw Thoughts/Impressions

March 26, 2020 Scott Thurlow Dialogue Tree

Now that our games lists episode for 2019 is out, I thought for this year I’d provide an accompanying article. First is simply my own lists in order at a glance for easy reference. Following that, I keep a sort of stream-of-consciousness, lightly edited log of my impressions while playing each title or upon completion (including some I didn’t mention on air) which I’ve laid bare for perusal if any are so inclined. With that said, here we go:

2019 Lists (Common theme/thread this year=largescale worldbuilding for most)

Top 5

1 Outer Worlds

2 RE2

3 GreedFall (A24 of games)

4 Plague Tale (A24 of games)

5 Control

Honorable

1 Borderlands 3

2 Metro Exodus

3 DMC 5

4 Death Stranding- For a bit DS’s status was a little hard to pin down, but ended up giving it an honor mention for its attempts to try something risky and unique, from a dev who is known for out-there ideas/mechanics.

5 Sinking City- perhaps ironically threatened to sink under the weight of its ambitions, but that’s also what’s laudable in a sense, it attempted to do something cool with Lovecraft and the devs’ previous specialty with detective-centric mechanics. While it didn’t always get there and certainly room for improvement if they do another, it did contain some interesting enough ideas and setpieces throughout. Not as quality as GreedFall or Plague Tale, but does rest more or less in the same sphere as those. (Almost an A24 of games)

Mid-Tier. (Ala films, perhaps calls for new category henceforth. All were generally well done titles that lie between honor and weak, smaller and/or more niche at times, but generally worth it within their respective categories.)

1 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

2 Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order/I might put Resistance here, or at least can make a case [call it best licensed property title] 

3 Outer Wilds

4 Shakedown Hawaii Great retro styled game for the year consumable in small chunks [best retro]

5 Layers of Fear 2/Observation- similar enough to tie. Observation slight edge, but LoF2 worthy sequel too. Give credit to smaller, tighter walk-sim horror indie titles even if not as genre advancing as could have been/was claimed. [call it indie horror/walk sim]

Shit’s Weak

1 Wolfenstein Youngblood -see New Dawn below, but nowhere near as egregious mtx stuff, just narratively shallow/not as impactful as the other modern gen WS. Most damning thing is it’s by far the weakest of the new gen WS, the most forgettable of this list and didn’t really need to be made in the first place.

2 FC New Dawn- should on principle be bc of slimy mtx in a 1-player game and it wasn’t as much of a fun spin off as Blood Dragon, although that’s almost impossible feat at this point, it was unto itself largely uninspired vs the rest of the field overall. Still mechanically fun but forgettable too and lacking any engaging furthering of the story on from 5.

3 Blair Witch- This is the studio’s weakest/least interesting game, way blander vs their other stuff in spite of attempts to introduce some new gameplay elements. LoF2 which was earlier in the year was easily better and tangentially was odd they released both in the span of a few months.

4 Blasphemous- On the surface a decent retro style 2D Souls-shadow (new term coined) the most appealing aspect is the admittedly striking pixel/cutscene and overall art design plus work put into its lore. Gameplay however it comes up a little short and shallow. A few of the ostensibly core mechanics don’t click right or mesh well (the magic spells, the items) or just generally not fleshed/thought out enough. Not all bad but there’s certainly better out there.

5 Days Gone- Had some nice moments of story that occasionally subverted expected tropes, but not enough overall to make it standout. Everything else: the world, combat, quest, travel etc was all mostly fine, but just…mostly fine. The Miller Lite of 2019 games.

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2019 Games: Raw Thoughts/Impressions/Ramblings  

RE2 Remaster- fucking good as hell! familiar yet fresh, it’s 20 years on so I didn’t recall every plot and/or layout detail but the overall atmosphere/mood + enemy design/combat all combine to recreate the nail biting feel that’s true to my memory’s in the best way, it’s still intense as a motherf’er. Balancing near perfect pacing of plot and puzzle solving with harrowing enemy encounters throughout, that always keeps player on their toes. There are certainly changeups/streamlined segments vs the original though so it’s not a 1:1 ratio, which is a good design decision. Updated interface, HUD/map etc bring quality of life improvements but also keeps core elements like inventory management which always lends itself as another layer of nerve wracking in a good way. The graphics/new gen style is very slick and visceral, both visually and in audio, the whole package sets a likely new bar for remake/remasters, and perhaps surpasses the original for just being a top notch horror game. All in all, between 7 and this, RE is on an upward trend and this release is a true service to both longtime fans and a great entry for anyone who didn’t play the original RE2. [wrote article about it] One of the best horror games ever made, period. This remaster proves and solidifies that, 100% holds up and as mentioned is better than ever with modern improvements/capability. Platinum’ed it. Free DLC Ghost Survivors released a few weeks after. Was overall fine, but more of the gauntlet rush/time challenge mini sections than actual expanded story. 100% this too, though was def a bitch and a half.  GOTY list easily early on, stayed strong through most of the year but was finally upstaged by Outer Worlds. Still a very fine entry though, #2 or 3 on top.  

Far Cry New Dawn: more FC never really a bad thing for me, still one of the most rock solid FPS series, and fun at the core. Introduces a few new mechanics and tweaks to the previous loops, more RPG-lite additions etc but no major shakeups. The take on post FC5 nuclear destruction with a lush regrown world is decent, and the reskins of the weapons to be more cobbled together looking kinda like Bioshock 2/Fallout a nice touch. The over the top action and humor ala old man Hurk and especially Nana etc is more fitting for the framework and actually laugh out loud worthy at times. It was quicker but enjoyable overall, a nice extra helping of FC, but I understand mileage may vary on that. It was also pushy in a slimy way about buying extra resources, but I did it fine without paying a dime. Low honorable if that.

Metro Exodus: credit on its quality overall, although sometimes needlessly difficult/frustrating the way you move quite slow and enemies can swarm/spawn en masse when just trying to explore coupled with longish loading times upon death. Briefly turned the diff level up/down before settling on normal. I understand it’s supposed to feel methodical, realistic and oppressive/slow paced but sometimes again that equals annoying slogs vs immersion and enjoyment. But other than that, a nice expansion/progression from where the series started and I think the best yet. Atmosphere remains appropriately post apoc-surv- horror in Russia, while levels/maps are a little more open, room to breathe and build the world a bit more than just the warrens and tunnels previously. Writing/characters/development and attention to detail deeper and better than average, if you take the time to absorb them (ala train hub interactions/banter between missions–similar in feel to the Wolfensteins.) Some light morality elements, like whether or not you kill/subdue, go stealth or combat etc changes some of the dialogue/NPC reactions and thus ending. Solidly honorable, in a less strong year would’ve made low GOTY list. Bought pass for 2 DLC eps on sale. 1st was a solid throwback to the first two games of more claustrophobic tunnels/linear levels. 2nd was more openish like Exodus itself in a new map with a very nicely done story and a few small but cool tweaks to the combat mechanics.

Telltale’s Walking Dead final season – 4 eps total all okish, but definitely not a resounding last hurrah from them. Has decent ep1 set up and new storyline but it’s been a while since I recalled every action etc I took as Clem and every char/situation. Still, prolly is the best they could’ve done given the circumstances of its creation, kinda nice in fact to just leisurely play a TT game, be it the swansong it is. Formula remains solidly same as it ever was, but that means no real innovation. Not sure how deeply to humorously vs seriously explore the fact that the last ep opens/is framed with a literal sinking ship to escape from and then immediately a horde of walkers beyond, while the story moments and themes seem to me to possibly mirror what may very well be the developers’ mindset at/around the time. Made an article of it, over thinking or not.

AC Odyssey DLC Fate of Atlantis – greek version of Origin’s afterlife setting. Cool enough overall, nice items/new abilities and enemy types that were pretty hardcore. Ep 2 Grecian underworld time, it’s almost compulsory for this, so given that, it does a decent enough job of depicting it in context of why/how it ties in overall. Looks cool at the very least. Good boss fights to open/close the chapter framed around a quintessentially Greek journey in a video game-y way that was kinda clever. Ep 3 finale also keeps up the solid quality, well done characters and writing. Plot ties more into the Isu lore and Templar/Assassin politics/conflict etc as set up throughout the entire series while mechanically still a nice constant feed of loot and new/altered abilities.

Days Gone-  the descrip of it being AAA videogame: the game is somewhat apt, in the vein of Horizon ZD, it’s a take on a familiar formula in a fresher setting (pacific NW) and does some very decent things with it, solid and smooth gameplay, quite high production value, animation/voice acting all top notch. Along with better than average character depth, story takes some both predictably cliché turns but also some I didn’t 100% see coming so credit there. Surfacely resembles an Ubi map, although many activities actually connect back to overarching storylines in a circuitous kind of way. Playtime-value is rather high, with a lengthy campaign but see below re: fatigue a bit. Alt logline: Red Dead ReZombies mostly due to the motorcycle mechanic. Overall a commendable but not jaw dropping job. On the flip side, ran into a few odd hiccups here and there, nothing egregious but still annoying. Finally because it’s so familiar and open-world game fatigue kinda set in for another cycle, didn’t quite adhere to the same meticulous doing every side activity etc. due to fact that a few other, more interesting games released around same time. Verdict is a solid effort in the field, but maybe arrived too little too late to make a truly impactful mark.

A Plague Tale: Innocence – a damn sweet sleeper hit. Great art design and well-acted for a AA mid-tier production. Stealth-sneaking-ambush + crafting gameplay is fine although not changing much on the base template for the genre, however the introduction of the rat hordes in addition to some other basic puzzle elements adds a bit, plus the art/atmosphere and baroque soundtrack go a long way to adding tension. Biased on the setting of course, which allows it to veer into some darker territory almost from the opening onward. Relationship dynamic between the two main characters, as well as the supporting cast, as it unfolds is somewhat reminiscent of GoW which is obv a good thing, peppered with excellent little moments and interactions that add a lot to depth. Some reviewer described it as something like the Goonies in medieval Europe which is funny and mostly accurate. Earned the praise it has and pretty fuckin cool overall, good to see solid single player experiences are still being made at this level. Played through select sections of chapters again to Platinum for collectibles etc. Convenient touch to be able to without replaying them entirely. Def GOTY list material, deserves to be recognized for what it achieved in the game space it inhabits, and hitting 90% of the sights it shoots for. Garnered enough sales/attention that a sequel was announced late 2019, good signs and fuckin a.

Darkwood- bought on small sale, started briefly. It seems cool on paper as a top down retro graphic surv crafting game with a surreal setting and possible story, but this may be the last time I try one of these since it is so fucking unforgiving in terms of diff, almost roguelike with a DS death loss of item/recovery mechanic and less helpful in general about how/what to do as well as having a bit of a mess of an interface. Kinda like The Forest which was almost the exact same case in general. Perhaps at this point I realize I don’t quite enjoy games like this, although they seem appealing on the surface, in my interaction with their execution something is lost in translation. So, not completed at all, but it just didn’t grab me very well. Was going to do a little more to give it a bit more of a chance, but switched to Observation and LoF2 which are more in line with what I’m looking for in terms of horror/creepy atmospheric flavored titles at this point, so I did them instead.

Observation- Channels the 2001 vibe in a positive way. Neat to play as the AI with the human char as supporting NPC in such a scenario. Voice acting standout, combined w/ sharp and crisp aesthetics, solid droning/suspenseful sound design. Pretty enjoyable, slower burn, no cheap jumpscares, but underlined with a sense of mystery and dread at various plot beats, though some pathfinding and puzzle progression can be a bit obtuse. Not the most jaw dropping sci fi “trapped in space” plot ever, but it has a lot of personality otherwise to make it notable. Short and thus tight running time is a positive too at this point personally. Double feature-back to back w LoF2. Mid honorable, split with LOF2, but would prolly put this slightly above it if forced to pick just one.

Layers of Fear 2- mixed to somewhat positive reviews, some claiming it reaches a height of horror, majority of others that it’s decent enough with good moments but as a sum not all that impressive. Still checked it out based on the first and that it was said to be at least as good or better in most areas. Double feature with Observation. Has a rock solid aesthetic/atmosphere as expected and appropriately sinisterly vague actor-losing-themselves setup. Voice acting for the nameless and faceless director is notable, Tony Todd. Up to the usual tricks with shifting layouts and geometry, but nothing mind blowing or particularly standout so the latter desc above mostly holds, although some cool nods to both classic and modern films as again per the framework. Gave it a few goes to plat and similar to Observation, was short enough. A funny ZP-like logline might be: Peter Seller’s Psychedelic Nightmare directed by Werner Herzog. Not that it was ‘forgettable’ but instead undersold its potential while being overshadowed by better all-around titles. Sneaks into mid tier/decent.

Borderlands 2 Commander Lilith DLC tie in to BL3- Classic BL, with a good balance of their trademark humor and in universe seriousness with the characters and situation to bridge the gap between 2 and 3. Quite fun to get back into the world, shooting and looting with a nice touch on them for letting players roll up a level appropriate character to start and jump straight to the new area/ questline.

The Sinking City- Got okish to middle reviews. Personally think it’s fairly solid really, noticed a bit of minor jankiness/graphical infidelity, lack of enemy variety on top of which combat can certainly be cheap both ways, but nothing too major in the end. Devs being clear fans of the source material leads to a decent connection to an assumed bit of pre knowledge on the player’s part of overall Lovecraft lore. Mind palace/research investigation mechanic pretty good too. Pins the atmosphere nicely and respectable writing/acting. Better than Call of Cthulu easily, of the recent Lovecraft inspired games. Enjoyed it more as it went on, unlocking specific costumes was oddly compelling and the cases became more nebulous with some cool set pieces and appropriate odd characters as well. Bought the DLC for extra 3 cases which were mildly cool. Sneaked into the honorable cutoff for its ambition vs practical execution.   

Ghost of a Tale- wanted to check it for a while, got ported to PS in March 2019, snagged on sale in summer. A shorter indie with lauded art and decent writing. It’s neat enough, definitely unique style and has a sense of itself, cutesy for sure but without being too overbearing and some clever characters/interactions. Quest design is a little rudimentary and eventually became repetitive. Some annoying obfuscation of directions coupled with extensive backtracking made it lose some of its charm later on and didn’t quite finish it, but still a nicely designed original piece that is impressive for a single-dev game.

Wolfenstein Young Blood- not all that highly reviewed, mediocre at best was the thread. Although I thought it was decent enough overall, but I see the issues with it, they just didn’t bother me as much. Shorter than a full game but price reflects that so about even on that front. Core mechanics still work fine, addition of leveling system and upgrades etc also kinda there. Perhaps biggest issue is narratively it wasn’t nearly as strong as both modern Wolfensteins and the level/mission design could’ve been better given the pedigree of devs. Did all the missions but it did start to feel lazy/repetitive at the end. So while not terrible the whole way, it does fit in the weak list purely because of its lesser quality vs the other two previous games as well as how it measures against the current field. Not 100% shit per se, was fun enough while it lasted but then The Just Cause 4 Effect applies- coin a new term.

DMC5- received praise for being quite cool and a good return to form for the series that newcomers can also jump into ala RE2, which I agree is largely accurate. Bought deluxe edition on sale late summer 2019. It’s solidly done DMC for the most part, with Capcom knowing exactly what they’re making (A self-aware latter day B horror movie with demons) and making it work in the established style of the series. It’s like Evil Dead: it’s not going to be the best shit ever, but it’s never taking itself too seriously and definitely has a sense of anarchic glee in reveling in its silliness which elevates it somewhat above parody. Capcom has generally been pretty excellent in 2019 so wanted to support them anyway and have some fun with the new DMC along the way. Switching between characters for various chapters was a cool new idea, mostly works, and get to play as Dante exactly when you’re itching to do so, solid pacing. Good boss design/fights (GoW or FromSoftware-like, but it could be argued DMC was there along with them back in the day. But the enemies still feel unique/true to its core identity) Somewhat less impressive if not level design, then choice of art/setting for the levels themselves. Not the cool, huge gothic (and more open metroidvania feel if I recall) church/castles that 1 and 2 used well, but instead fairly bog standard urban city/buildings and demonic caverns that tend to blend blandly into the many kinds of it seen before. Wish the initial difficulty options were more than two, felt that it was sometimes a bit easier than it should’ve been, however time-saving it may be. In the end, a real enjoyable romp in its genre and series, well worth the price of admission.

Control- Some very fine work. Where Alan Wake was Twin peaks, this is more X-files/Warehouse 13. Even had in-universe lore connecting the two, nice touch. Has a lot of the hallmarks of Remedy/Sam Lake’s signature writing and art style which usually is up my alley. As well as always some collectibles being worldbuilding creepy and/or funny and/or both TV and Radio shows to find. Good sense of place/setting with some offbeat humor thrown in to match the suspense/supernatural tale. Mechanics solid as hell, good idea with one weapon easily morphing into the usual assortment and ties into its own lore. Almost like playing as Jean Grey- flying and TK throwing shit with the desctruco-physics looks cool and feels satisfying. Negatives: map is fairly unhelpful, especially telling what levels of each area you’re on vertically in a metroidvania situation. Weapon etc mods aren’t all that interesting, standard stuff done better elsewhere, and wish were able to carry or unlock more forms of the gun vs only two types at a time. Some combat scenarios can also seem overwhelming and the last bonus boss is an absolute bitch but still mostly doable with decent skill and use of abilities. Great use of a slowroll fakeout ending to cap the story off and set up followups, see ala DLC. Intriguing premise from a studio known for specializing in this kind of game/genre, largely well pulled off and I wanted to play more each time, eventually platinumed easily enough. Earned buying the DLC, on sale= 3 missions/levels total. First one was really the pre order deluxe bonus, two more to come. Control was neat and creatively unique/mechanically sound enough to sneak 5 spot on GOTY.

Greedfall- an old school bioware style RPG, from a dev wishing to fill the void left by the current BW, with lower fantasy 16th century colonial setting. Flew a bit under the radar but got quite excited for it near release. As a package overall it’s well done on many fronts, given the smaller studio’s nature/pedigree. Some visual and low grade jankiness makes it seem like a later PS3 game, but it has a lot of ambition and clear vision in its attempt to tackle the specific RPG style in a nonstandard, fairly unique setting. Combat plus range of items/skills/armor etc invokes a blend of DA:I, W3, Skyrim without being overbearing, fun and diverse set of tools. Writing and voice acting subtly downplayed which lends a bit of an air of gravitas to the interactions and factions and distinguishes it somewhat apart from the standard fare. It is utilizing a tested framework to explore a lesser done setting/atmosphere/historical era, with a touch of fantasy thrown in. Attempts more intricate/interesting quest chains and while not reinventing the wheel, it does a lot to flesh out the world and characters without feeling like old fetch/kill quests even if they can sometimes (but not always) boil down to it. You play a diplomat, so many of them are strings of convos, negotiations and investigations, all w/ nice lore building and at times surprising and well pulled off plot twists, some even tied into optional side ones that round out the layers of intrigue and politics at play at large. Even the romance options require paying more attention and choosing the right response in context, and not just blindly clicking the dialogue tree with heart icon every time. Pretty impressively done again given its natural limitations combined with the unmistakable care that went into it. Definitely scratches the niche itch that it clearly and proudly designs to reside in. Give much credit to the AA devs putting out titles like this, along w/ Plague Tale, unsung hero work being done and deserves highlighting. Would’ve liked to see DLC/more in this world, perhaps sequel.

Borderlands 3- it’s more BL, for better or worse. The core loop remains engaging and the world is a fun playground, even if it sometimes tries too hard on humor/thinks it’s cleverer than actuality, but did get some decent and unexpected chuckles throughout. The design still works after all this time, art style is slicker and more polished than ever while moment to moment gunplay is tight and satisfying, with the promised staggering amount of weapons to mess around with. Solid enemies make all the firefights entertaining if not challenging at the very least. Solo’ing using Beastmaster and ala the PSQL, a fun class to play as and can elicit some amusing emergent gameplay. A few cool but minor changeups to the tried formula, but it inexplicably and almost stubbornly keeps some of the annoying archaic ones. Still, for doing the template it pretty much codified, and for having some decent narrative beats that both expands and ties into the established lore, definitely worth it for one more time at least. It might be more over the top Michael Bay mindless violence (or a B movie version of GOTG) compared to say, GreedFall, but it knows that, embraces it in fact, and wraps everything around fine story and high production value (hate to have to mention this, but it was not scummy about mtx et al. so good on it there, but shouldn’t be a standout thing, yet sadly is) and is generally a blast to….blast through. A few nitpicks mostly due to the aforementioned outdated mechanics and in an effort to bolster endgame content, what could be considered padding for a few missions, as well as extra/hidden dungeons and survival challenge missions that are just for the sake of it usually. Post launch had various free bonus events i.e. Bloody Harvest Halloween special, was cool, with more planned throughout, a nice service to fans and not exploitative, credit there too. Bought paid pass on sale $40. 1 of 4 Handsome Jackpot was fun play in a Jack-themed overrun casino, same tight gameplay wrapped around a clever enough story framework.

Shakedown: Hawaii: Finally caught on sale for $15. Played as a breather after BL3 and before Outer Worlds which worked out really well in terms of a relaxing smaller game from the devs of Retro City Rampage, though I didn’t play that. For the most part quite fun complimented by a great outrun-style synth soundtrack, vibrant pixel art, and simple but pleasant gameplay that can be done in short bursts. A sendup of both late 80s and current conventions of capitalism through a GTA-lite-and-like framework married to a kind of simplified sim city acquisition and management mechanic. The end goal is to literally shakedown all of the properties in order to buy/own the entire island, which is pretty amusing and satisfying to do, broken up by decent story beats containing occasionally funny exchanges. 70% through though, my playstyle meant I was vastly ahead of the money curve/investment which meant I had no trouble buying whatever was required, and then some, removed a bit of the challenge, but a minor complaint. Every now and again some jokey and even mean spirited mini games are tossed in, ostensibly as commentary, and not that I dislike the nasty nature of them, but they can be kind of left curve vs the general more parodic playful tone otherwise. In summary, SH nicely scratches the retro arcade-y style itch with panache in a year that didn’t seem to offer much else like it. “Plat” it, technically wasn’t one, but did do all trophies and got about 15 hrs out of it.

Outer Worlds- rightly praised as return to form, with Obsidian filling in and continuing great work in the area where Bethesda, Bioware and others dropped the ball for old school single player story focused RPG/FPS. Logline: New Vegas in space! with a Firefly meets The Expanse commentary on corporatocracy run amok in the frontier of the stars western setting, but filtered with trademark charm, dark humor and oddball characters with a unique enough touch that it’s all very enjoyable and while wearing influences clearly on its sleeve, avoids being too derivative of any one particular property. Mechanically has all the hallmarks of what would be expected for the genre/format and doesn’t disappoint; robust assortment of skills, perks, and items all of which feed into the system at large, and have a use in some form, nothing wasted or included only as an afterthought. Solid gunplay, enemy array and design work all around. Zero bugs/glitches…it was Bethesda all along! Familiar in form maybe, but optimized to a high degree with a modern satirical pulpy sci-fi capitalism gone awry aesthetic tale. Takes high class writing sprinkled with myriad excellent small touches/careful details to explore and utilize all the above in. Basically the game I was waiting for all year, I threw myself into it, and it rewarded by hitting all my personal marks for its type. RE2 came out strong to start the year, and although OW doesn’t really revolutionize anything, it does both recapture and revitalize the essence of what made New Vegas et al. so good, for this gen, streamlining many elements all while putting an amusing but thoughtful spin on issues of modern corporate culture and even resource management in a retro zeerust styled alt future adventure. Even the length and pacing was near-perfect, with a significant but not overbearing ~ 30-35 hours. Maybe not as huge as others, but densely packed combined with the new IP, shows Obsidian nailing it with what they can do with true creative freedom (almost meta-ly ala the theme of the game itself) away from big pub influence/meddling.

Death Stranding: Definitely a not for everyone title, depending on player’s willingness to go along with Kojima’s vision of gameplay and his distinctive storytelling style. Did find it an intriguing premise/set up if again not ridic in the way of his previous joints. Clearly by design, it’s supposed to feel like a trudging haul early on before more convenient/better methods and gear upgrades are unlocked, but all throughout mechanics heavily lean toward the overdone realism ala RDR2, i.e. excessively finicky and meticulous sometimes seemingly for indulgence’s sake. The casting and general production value/quality is sky high, quality (and obviously numerous) cutscenes. Most interesting aspect is the semi interactive online component, where structures built/items left by myself can be used by other players and vice versa combined with the obvious social commentary/like system. Was genuinely relieving at points that I could use a bridge etc that wasn’t previously there once enough regions were ‘connected’ via the story missions and even eventually an entire paved roadway. A neat idea that adds onto the themes etc that the story focuses on (if at times comically/heavy handed) while also feeding into gameplay and does somewhat bring a sense of comradery and gratitude for others (even if some light trolling ala Gwent specifically via the signs is possible, and impossible to avoid in most situations like this) to the otherwise desolate and empty, though pretty, game world. I felt incentivized to do some of my share, contributing supplies and access routes while thumbs-uping everyone’s shit, almost no matter what it was since it was easy enough to do so. However the core loop doesn’t really evolve or involve enough to do the same for the in game side deliveries, and even hours in missions could still feel like boring slogs. If nothing else I can respect Kojima’s auteur vision, even if as a traditional “game” it may flounder in some areas. Overall I liked but didn’t love it, and by the end was ready to move onto something less demanding ala SW. Not sure where to place it, honor roll maybe, or some kind of special mention, but not GOTY at all. Maybe a special mention that isn’t quite honor but is similar. Artistic achievement or something pretentious like that.

Star Wars: Jedi Fall Order- Picked up to check out based on decent to pos reviews, gave it a run through then to Louie for his bday. It’s mostly decent, noble effort to mix the clear influences of Dark Souls-lite combat, Uncharted/Tomb Radier, even some GoW setpiece/navigation and M-V/Zelda-like exploration in the SW universe with a new story/char, even if it’s basically a bog standard SW adventure with obligatory nods and cameos etc and a foregone conclusion given its placement in the timeline.  Even so, dug it especially as a follow up to Death Stranding, more light hearted action/spectacle, but knows that, embraces it all for exactly what it is. Could surely use a little more polish though, graphically/visually it’s a little last gen, at least on my setup and had some weird, sometimes favorable, sometimes not, glitches and hiccups. Voice acting and casting is quality though, so it’s mostly the graphical fidelity questionable. Also, perhaps it’s my lack of as much expertise in Souls-likes, but sometimes the combat doesn’t feel responsive enough given the tactical dueling mechanics it’s aping. As a continued theme/common element it seems this year, the worldbuilding is finely attended to given the source material of having to use the most recognized and often polarizing pop culture IP on the planet. Apparently it sold like hotcakes, so that prolly reflects the state of the industry in relation to this property as a whole. All in all Respawn delivers a quality enough product given the various pedigrees involved and is basically a fun, if a safely by the book, ride. Mid tier, could also just barely slip into weak for the technical reasons.

Blasphemous –touted as a well done “Souls-vania” with a cool grotesquely morbid pixel art style of religious iconography and story. Grabbed it $20 on sale to at least check out if not finish. It is indeed very slick and well directed visuals, some of the crispest/sharpest, filtered through a heavy dose of unrelentingly but gorgeously realized macabre Spanish inquisitional atmosphere and setting, with a perfectly matched auditory ambiance and decent writing to support its fairly deep lore. Reminiscent of Hyper Light Drifter in the sense of how it utilizes a core of retro style mentality and gameplay alongside a modern take on FromSoftware precision in combat and platforming/level exploration mechanics to create a cool unique feeling world. However as always with games of this nature, the flip side is that same precision required to repeatedly go through grueling gauntlets and trying tough battles multiple times to advance can be annoyingly grating and/or finding the proper progress path time consuming. Wanted to support more indies though and this one is a well done title overall with what it set out to do. But it ended up on lower weak list for limitations beyond the above, expanded upon there.  

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night- A return to form/modern version of Symphony era Castlevania with excellent updated art style. $25 on sale, back to back M-Vs with Blasphemous. Support the auteurs as well. It’s 100% what it says on the tin, certainly delivered on its promise of being the spiritual successor to the beloved titles in the series. Completely classic Castlevania action with modern gen graphics, rendered in a sort of 2.5 D cartoon-anime aesthetic with smooth fluid combat system all of which is quite lovely to play/see, especially vs the brutalist (yet beautiful in its own right) pixel art and punishing precision of Blasphemous. The mechanic of stealing enemy special attacks to use as spells and buffs is from some other earlier CV too, but one I never really played so pretty neat to have that thrown in as well. Enjoyed it for the most part, it’s slightly more forgiving than Blasphemous. Went through it leisurely, ended up doing the best/most complex ending via the usual extra super specific shit. Afterwards beat most but not all of the bonus bosses, eventually felt I had seen/played enough and wanted to move on. It is quite worth it for fans of the genre, all very solidly produced, just with same annoying issues as in any M-V of being stuck/wasting time on a particular boss/section etc.

Blair Witch- thought it was MS exclusive, but seems was merely a ‘timed’ one. Grabbed it on sale. Bloober usually does decent enough horror style walking sims (did Layers 2 this year.) Wasn’t as impressive as some reviewers I respect made it out to be, but it’s serviceable enough fare from them. While cool they got to work with this IP, I don’t have that much affinity for it, so can’t say if it did it justice. It is however the 1000th haunted creepy forest I’ve seen in a game which yes is usually good atmosphere and not that it isn’t so for this, it’s just that it’s such a worn out locale at this point and I’ve certainly seen it done better elsewhere. Having it be so dark at times, literally difficult to see, was also annoying when trying to navigate confusing areas/solve puzzles. Usually I’ll do multiple playthroughs on their stuff for trophies as they’re generally short enough, but passed on this. Blair does expand a bit beyond their standard mechanics and contains some fine ideas, yet I actually deem it their weakest work and prefer Observer and/or Layers, as both had a more unique/realized setting and use of their trademark space warping.

Where the Water Tastes like Wine-  ported this quietly under the radar it seems. PC from 2018, was really interested in it upon release. Bought w/ Obra Dinn as holiday gift for myself and again support indie cult devs on principle. It’s definitely a niche game being based on collecting and trading Gothic-Americana folk tales, a mix of both known and original material, that all in some way reflect/reference America’s turbulent history and social issues. Then growing and spreading those stories as you encounter more instances and chances to retell/hear embellished versions. To match, has great art style and visual design, a fantastically fitting soundtrack, and crucially– high quality writing/narration, since that’s basically the core of the experience that it lives/dies on, along with a few minor/token game mechanics attached. Simple but sleek controls, since there isn’t that much in true gameplay regard, but there is something genuinely compelling and relaxing about wandering through the stylized map of Dust Bowl/Depression era USA gathering new stories. It is satisfying when finding/picking the right ones via hints for the matching tone or ‘genre’ requested by the 16 specific, unique and well-realized characters that each sort of embody an aspect or historical period of America itself. As you do so, they also move across the map, with the goal of unlocking their complete stories by telling them enough of the kind they request. It’s along the lines of something like a cross between Valiant Hearts and a type of evolution of a Telltale-like that shows narrative-driven titles in the vein are still alive. The writing truly goes a long way, consistently capturing various moods and deep, meaningful themes, with the aforementioned embellishments actively adding to/altering previous stories in surprising and clever ways, essentially leveling them up, making them ‘worth more’ when choosing to tell at new junctures. At its heart is a great premise, though it certainly won’t appeal to everyone, it is my kind of title that I will happily support, as it can be thankless, based on sales reactions from the devs. I deem it an important title that would’ve made honorable easily in 2018 with a retroactively strong case for inclusion on GOTY even.

Return of the Obra-Dinn ported to ps4 Oct 19, bought with some Christmas money double indie bill w/ Water Wine. Support the auteurs, wanted to check out anyway as it was an indie favorite from 2018. Ian would probably love this one, for me it’s cool enough but I can see I might eventually get tired of it. It is a solid setup, solving the mystery of an 1800s ship with 60 specific crew dead via flashbacks from a magical pocketwatch of course, looking for vignettes and little environmental hints pieced together throughout, than you can revisit and learn new/more details as you explore/unlock more parts of the ship. Style is minimalist but effective, black and white almost graph paper-like art, although the fuzziness of some of it means occasionally particulars can be hard to pick out depending on angle and lighting etc. It achieves this feeling of playing through a Sherlock style pulp detective adventure novel or story without directly referencing or aping any of that material outright. That said, there’s a fairly strong possibility I won’t actually finish it, since I’m not as good as perhaps I think I might be at abstract-ish level logic/puzzle solving in this vein, but it is quite cool and fine again with supporting this kind of work.

Plague Road- bought on deep sale, $4. Mixed to low reviews heh, but it looks like a painterly cool art style, steampunk renaissance flavored in 2.5 world, so maybe even if it’s bad it might be worth seeing exactly how/why. Rogue-like levels with turn based strategy on a grid/board combat, which is a solid mix. It’s a bit underexplained as to what exactly the goal is and some of the mechanics, an early session with it doesn’t leave any particular bad impressions or noticeable suck. Jim Sterling is the narrator so that’s pretty neat. However further sessions shows it does get kinda repetitive and novelty wears thin. Visually appealing but mechanically shallow. Deleted it after few goes. Not enough to convince me to invest further.

Outer Wilds- not to be confused with Worlds of course. Picked up on winter sale $20. Gathered solid positive attention earlier in the year. Pub’ed by Annapurna’s division of ‘interactive entertainment.’  I dig the premise- Majora’s Mask-like groundhog day loop/mystery in space! with cartoony art/aesthetics. Clever set up and style, it’s a relaxing but intelligent title so far, great little soundtrack too. Gameplay consists of flying around space/exploring distinct and well-designed locations in FP, gathering more info each cycle, following clues and hints to and from the various planets/stellar bodies etc to uncover further pieces of the puzzle (very vaguely similar to Obra Dinn or a much less hardcore Witness, but I think I enjoy OW better vs both) before the Sun explodes and the loop restarts, but ostensibly each time a bit more closer to having all the facts/history of the story what’s happening and why. As a softer sci fi they can throw in QM and black holes here and there and when it all works together it can truly impart a feeling of discovery. Can see why it was praised. Downsides: it can be unclear what to do/what info is missing after a while, and the finicky controls/getting stuck via half clipping especially flying can make it aggravating unnecessarily. Played through a bunch but didn’t quite finish/do everything needed to end/see the final loop. Even so, it was engaging enough to make Solid list.

Trover Saves the Universe- bought for Steevo’s bday, lent to me to check out. Justin Roiland/Squanch Games, with the dialogue and style of meta-trope-y humor that implies matched to his cartoony aesthetics with solid chill out music. Sneaked it in mid Feb ‘20 ~6-8 hours. Gameplay is fine but mostly formulaic action/platformer, though the jokes do keep coming even if they can be hit or miss, it largely holds up. Does have a vague R+M vibe, but never reaches its highs. Gave out a free DLC level, which I did part of, but really was ready to move on by then.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire- PS4 port finally released in Jan 2020 w/ all extra content. Started up to do char gen and opening set up before blowing through Zombie Army 4. Allotted ~month to see and do as much as possible while at least completing main arc and most sides if not every piece of add-on. The third DLC added a possible choice that affected the ending in cool way. Noticeable graphical improvement and some scattered but welcome UI/quality of life tweaks. Loading times weren’t as egregious, although by the time I got going there were a few patches adding up to an extra ~10 gigs even with which still had some scattered glitches and crashes. Still, it is crisper and more refined. Expanded incorporation of elements like subclasses and the assorted skills/traits/reputations for convos/interactions, new ship exploration/battle/management mechanics, lots more quality voice acting (featuring the Crit Role cast.) While technically a direct sequel, it’s not strictly necessary to have played 1 and there’s a solid summary at the onset. Cool to see some returning characters, as well as expansion of the world-building on top of an already solid foundation. The setting shifts to a Greefall-like Age of Exploration angle (though in fairness Deadfire was first) of island nations occupied by a consortium of pirates, natives, and trading companies along with the obvious political intrigue to compliment the ‘hunt down a god’ main arc. Writing and overall presentation topnotch as Obsidian usually is, one of the best in the industry, will always support them. Has more to offer with extra polish vs. the first PoE and I recommend Deadfire over it + in general.

Terminator: Resistance- Released to little fanfare Dec. 2019. By March 2020 had big discount for $15, grabbed as bday present for myself with leftover PSN credit. Described as “surprisingly decent” if largely ignored. Is on par generally with the sense of good quick fun ala Zombie Army. ~15 hours, played on hard. Not the highest production value for sure, but a solid slice of AA FPS that happened (somehow) to work a big ticket license. Has the musical motif even and all the required references but knowingly so. Mechanically functions as a perfectly grounded shooter with light RPG, crafting and dialogue elements on mid-sized open-ish maps/levels. Nothing that hasn’t been seen or done before, but because the mechanics are in fact so reliable/applicable and nicely utilized, Resistance thus still mostly works and holds together pretty well for what it is. Games like this should also be respected when able to be done in a solid manner and that’s the case for this. 

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Whew, so there you are. A bit of an insight to my gaming madness with hopefully some helpful and/or amusing thoughts about most if not all titles I played during the course of 2019 and early 2020 leading up to the episode.

-Scott Thurlow

Game Developers Choice Awards 2020: Nominees/Predictions

January 14, 2020 Scott Thurlow Dialogue Tree

A new year (and decade) has blown in, which means it’s time for some more ‘best of’ discussions, specifically from the Game Developer’s Choice Awards, whose 2020 nominees were recently unveiled. I also covered The Game Awards back in December, but for better or worse, I always put a bit more stock in the GDCs, and is why I do both predictions and a recap for them. As ever, the caveats still apply regarding which games I was able to play and which I’m familiar with but did not as of yet check out firsthand alongside the cherry-picked categories of particular interest to me. With that then, let’s go into my predictions, justifications, and cynical takes.

First up is Best Audio. Sayonara Wild Hearts as I understand is a rhythm based game centered on J-Pop characters and related story, so assuming the audio is set to match that particular tone/feel, although I wouldn’t know. What I do know is that Control has an appropriately mysterious/menacing soundscape to match the weird and shifting ‘Oldest House’ serving as its setting and would be my top pick here. Death Stranding also contains some lovely and melancholic tracks to accompany the player’s journey through the beautiful highs of picturesque vistas and lonely lows of shattered plains, but can at times get lost in the background and just isn’t as memorable in my mind.

Moving next to Best Debut, I will attempt to avoid further repetition here, but Disco Elysium has been firmly established as a must-play game. It took TGA and the general audience by storm, and at this point every time it comes up, I only want to play it more. Purportedly a refreshing mix of CRPG mechanics and the highest caliber writing, I am now merely anxiously awaiting the console port, thus giving it the spot here if only by default. Outer Wilds would be second choice for its quirky take on a Groundhound Day-like time loop in a whimsical sci-fi setting.

Best Design can often be a tricky one to parse out. Untitled Goose Game became an instant hilarious meme generator and is honestly enjoyable to play, but I don’t quite think that means it deserves to be called the best in design. Instead it’s Sekiro that stands out here, as FromSoftware always put a ton of care into the core design tenets of their works, both in terms of the world/levels and the intricacies of the combat mechanics. Sekiro is no exception and certainly hits all those bases, which makes it enough for me to award it here.

On the Innovation Award front, there’s solid work here all around, but if we take the spirit of the term innovation and run with it, in that case I may sway towards Death Stranding. The idea of unseen online players all contributing in a positive manner to each other and even future players via creating infrastructures and leaving behind supplies to ‘rebuild’ the game world really does feel unique in its implementation. It takes the backdrop of a splintered American landscape that the story sets up and effortlessly ties it into the core loop to create a truly ‘asymmetrical cooperative’ experience that hasn’t quite been attempted previously and can be incredibly satisfying when encountered within the game. With no disrespect meant to the other titles, aside from Disco, they mostly run on more particular (but well-realized) gimmicks than a fully-fledged and integrated system that Death Stranding does, and that is why I’ll argue for it deserving the win for this.

Best Narrative is usually the category I’m most invested in and possibly the one that is toughest overall to judge. One might assume I’d automatically again point to Disco, but the competition is stiff, and this is the only place where Outer Worlds appears, and Obsidian did a bang-up job on it, which tempts me to just hand narrative there and call it a day. Death Stranding as referenced in my Game Awards article certainly smacks of Hideo Kojima’s energetic vision and approach to storytelling, which mean it can also be a little too in love with its own convoluted lore. From among the nominees here though, Control is to me the most complete package; a tightly constructed and self-contained tale that also rewarded players who went in search of uncovering further details about the strange goings-on within it.

I’m adding Best Visual Art this year (and onwards) as I feel it is important to recognize the pure aesthetic/artistry side of games as well as the writing and other aspects I regularly focus more heavily on. The games here all have some great visual designs going on. From Sekiro with its sweeping feudal Japanese world peppered with mythological/fantastical enemies and beasts to Control’s brutalist but beautiful architecture and hidden/shifting office mazes. As mentioned above in audio, Death Stranding’s world is also wonderfully realized and presented. Still, I think Disco Elysium’s dreamlike, surrealist watercolor style depicting an anachronistic city and its citizens fading from glory and falling into decay and squalor is the standout.

And that brings us on home to Game of the Year. My choice everywhere else—spoiler—The Outer Worlds wasn’t even nominated here by the GDC, so I’m a little bummed about that. From what did make the cut then, Control again would be my personal pick. Remedy delivers on their trademark “new weird” style of storytelling, sprinkling in oddball characters and interesting enemies for player avatar Jesse Faden to interact with, all with exciting abilities/powers acquired throughout to utilize in combat and exploration of the excellently design levels. However, the seasoned curmudgeonly critic in me says it’ll be a slug fest between Sekiro and Death Stranding given the current gaming climate. Sekiro already grabbed the top spot at TGA, but with the nature of the GDC, they may elect to instead honor Kojima and his creation for the coveted top spot, which if so would be fine, I just maintain that it isn’t quite on par overall with the above mentioned titles.

Well, there you are my friends, thanks for joining me as always, and I’ll be back here in March to compare my picks with the winners. Around that time our official TLS episode where we discuss and highlight our own games of 2019 will also release. Until then, I’ll catch you in the Oceanview Motel.  

– Scott Thurlow