Don't know about you, but when I do end of year retrospectives I tend to forget neat stuff I played early on, and I think that's a shame. So post what you played so far: neat old games, weird bullshit you bought on a whim, hot takes, cold takes, upcoming stuff we should look out for, etc! Here's some of mine:
Overwhelm
Haven't gotten around to finishing it. It is marketed as a hard reverse metroidvania where the enemies get upgraded instead of you, and you only get a limited number of lives. While all of this does describe the game, what I found most cool was the atmosphere. The game is retro, and has a color palette composed of black, white and red, but some of the bosses have this really fluid animation that makes them uncanny, and there's some "glitchy ambiance" to the encounters, where the screen will cut to static and things will move around. Kinda feels like playing an old videogame creepypasta and I think that's reason enough to play it.
Killing Time at Lightspeed
Text based game where you are stuck in a spaceship looking at social media back on Earth. The dialogue is cheesy at times and the social commentary a bit heavy handed, but it conveys the feeling of being out of touch, left behind, disconnected from the world around you, specially towards the end.
Slay the Princess
Visual novel game. Only has a demo out at the moment, but I liked the writing. It is both a Stanley Parable deal, with a (kind of) adversarial narrator, and an interrogation type of game (trying to determine if the titular princess should/could be slain). With the way the game responds to player choice, I think that if this leans into the horror direction it can be something really cool, like a more fleshed out version of the stuff Until Dawn implied it was doing with the psychologist sections. The devs are also making a game called Scarlet Hollow that is a more traditional visual novel, but still really good from the chapter I played.
Melatonin
Neat little rhythm game that borrows heavily from lo-fi zoomer aesthetics. I hadn't played a rhythm game that doesn't rely on visual input before, so that was nice, but since then I played some of the rhythm heaven games and those are much better. Some people say that it's a game made for you to watch instead of play, but I disagree (though I recommend it only if on sale, it's too short).
Fear and Hunger
So, this is a game that falls into that category of "games that want to make you miserable". I've seen people compare it to Pathologic, don't know if that comparison makes sense because I dropped Pathologic early. This is a survival horror RPGMaker game with really hostile design: party member permadeath, ability to lose limbs with really scarce (and costly) opportunities to get them back, the fucking Lisa: the Painful save system makes a comeback, and generally obscure mechanics, lore and objectives, etc. It wears its influences in its sleeves with 0 shame, from Berserk, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Dark Souls, etc. but it still feels cohesive somehow. It's also really edgy. Most of the times it serves the mood, but it can get gratuitous and gross, to the point I feel weird recommending it to anyone even though I think it's interesting (PLEASE CHECK THE CONTENT WARNINGS).
HyperDemon
Shame on everyone in the entire internet for not telling me they made a Devil Daggers sequel! It's even better than the original, with much prettier visuals, trippy as fuck, and has some cool twists to the formula. One of the best arcade experiences out there.
Paradise Killer
This one is kind of well known, but I think it deserved more praise. Doing the Phoenix Wright formula in an open ended role-playey way is genius. Doing so with a single giant case in a completely alien setting with demonic vaporwave aesthetics seals the deal. Though I do have some gripes with the "friction gives things meaning" principle the devs used as a design pillar, informing things like how things are spread out in the open world, or small annoying things like the door puzzles. Like, I can't deny that some of the frustration made the ending trial more cathartic but they could have toned it down a bit.
The Travel Game
Dirt cheap game that is basically just a logic puzzle with some vaguely creepy atmosphere. Nothing special, I wouldn't really recommend it, just think that logic puzzles are a bit underexplored as a game mechanic. Apart from a small part in a game called Subsurface Circular, and that one level in Dishonored 2, I don't think I ever saw it used. I kind of like picking up pen and paper and doing some predicate logic from time to time. Could work well in investigation games.
I think that's all! I played more stuff but it was either not worth talking about or well tread ground (no one wants to hear another take about how silent hill 2 is not really that scary).
Ixion (which is like if Frostpunk was a bit more ambitious and less good, but still fun)
Barotrauma (janky fun with friends, probably pretty miserable solo, probably miserable with internet randos)
Returnal (like the game a lot, though I wish runs weren't quite so long. Some graphical glitches on my computer though, which is annoying)
Rock Band 1, 2, & 3. The games so good they killed the genre. Also the only reason I held onto the ps3 I bought on the road.
Are you aware if anyone has started making guitar controllers again? I'd love to play these games again but the price on peripherals is pretty ridiculous
Unfortunately I don't. The only 3rd party controllers I've seen look like trash or are absurdly expensive.
Pretty much only Hollow Knight and Outer Wilds, both of which I've been unable to beat.
The remake of Pharaoh, shockingly despite stripping down the gameplay they've not only failed to fix existing bugs, but introduced new ones. Still at least it works better on modern Windows.
Elden Ring, trying to finish the base game before the DLC comes out. Annoyingly I think I've done a bad build so the late game is really dragging.
Ridge Racer Type 4, PS1 racing game from back when racing games were allowed to be fun.
Against the Storm, cool rogue-lite city builder. Early access but with a lot of potential, a little repetitive though.
I've really enjoyed Against the Storm, although the settlement is always complete right when I really get my momentum going
Yeah, I think this is what makes it feel a bit repetitive, as soon as you get past that initial set up phase you're done and it's time to start over so you're always doing the same stuff. I do really like the game otherwise though, so hopefully they refine the gameplay loop a bit.
Against the Storm is probably the best thing I've played this year. It's a roguelite colony sim game. Probably the best in the colony sim genre right now.
I played a ton of Bullet Heavens (vampire survivors-kinda games) because they're super cheap. The best one (outside of VS itself) is probably Soulstone Survivors. Army of Ruin and 20 Minutes Till Dawn are also good, I didn't like Brotato as much as everyone else seems to have.
Picked up this neat little deckbuilder Fights in Tight Spaces. Good game, not enough content to justify the price tag tho.
Finally tried Cultist Simulator and I hated it. It's a story driven card game but all of the card abilities are on timers that you have to juggle or you lose, and all of the story is flavor text on the cards, so you either need to pause it every ten seconds to read a new card or not get any of the story stuff.
If you like Vampire Survivors and Soulstone Survivors check out Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok. Buddy of mine put like 100h into it in a pretty short time. Game is still in early access (as are many other Bullet Heaven games since its a pretty young gerne).
Hope you have fun with it. I cant vouch for it since I didnt play it but my buddy really seemed to like it.
The same two games I pretty much always play - the current Path of Exile League and the current Apex Legends league.
Battletech - turn based strategy/tactics, beat the story mode and have been experimenting with different mech builds and lances
Beyond All Reason - RTS that’s essentially a modernized, open source Total Annihilation. Been working my way through the single player scenarios and playing against the AI. Loved TA back in the late 90s/early 2000s so I’m having a lot of fun getting back into a familiar RTS. Playing offline is great because you can pause whenever and queue up orders like FTL if you feel overwhelmed
Skater XL w/ lots of mods - my go to for listening to podcasts at home
Lots of modded minecraft. Just recently finished Stoneblock 2, which was fun for the most part but fell off towards the end. Now I'm playing Glacial Awakening, still in the early stages and making myself a cozy little mountain base. Also running shaders for the first time ever, and damn does it make a difference.
I've got Control and Metro: Exodus waiting in the wings, but idk if I have the space in my life to get stuck in with either the way I'd like to.
I tend to stick with games for a while and only very occasionally play indie games. So my games this year are pretty boring. I'm still playing Monster Hunter Rise and its DLC expansion (which has made the game infinitely more enjoyable) and the free title updates have been pretty good, honestly probably better than MHW Iceborne's were at least until Fatalis at the end. I'm hoping that a new Monster Hunter game releases this year and that it follows in the steps of Iceborne more than Sunbreak; developing it so that it must be playable on a Switch (though I play on PC) has really limited the level of detail that they could have otherwise put in, as World didn't have that constraint. Honestly in ten years time I think people will be like "Wow, you're telling me Rise released after World?" But I'm still having a ton of fun with it, especially in multiplayer (which is co-op) even if it is a total grindfest in the endgame.
I also play Civ 6 for when I don't want something as fast-paced. It's a total libfest (I mentally roll my eyes every time that I see the late game governments are Fascism, Communism, and Democracy) and the whole concept of development over time in that game is what liberals imagine but doesn't bare that much semblance to reality even if you accept that it has to be simplified to be playable for most people, but I still find it fun to play and plan cities and districts out in. And they're still releasing new content for it years after release, which is cool.
What difficulty do you play Civ6 on ? I dont think I have tried anything higher than King (but Im not really good at the game). Also fully agree on that Civ6 is liberal as fuck...that said its kinda cute in a way. Like im currently playing Victoria 3 and that game is much more "real" in its politics by comparison.
I guess CIV6 is kind of mild on purpose though like the disney equivalent of history.
I've beaten it on Emperor before. If I tried really hard I could probably go a level higher but at the end of the day I like playing the game more as a somewhat chill empire building game rather than always making optimal decisions and such - plus, it's really hard to get religions and wonders on higher difficulties and while I'm not somebody who spams wonders or anything (I have friends like that lmao), it's nice to be like "If I vaguely beelined this technology/civic then I could get this cool wonder that would make my empire a lot better" rather than it being taken 50 turns before I even get the tech, y'know.
I've just started playing Rise last week after buying on sale and I'm trying to rush to endgame. I really liked IB's title updates so here's hoping Sunbreak's are also cool. Honestly the dumb rampage stuff sucked ass but I think I'm done with the obligatory ones after Ibushi. Yeah the graphics are less stellar than World's by a mile, but also I sometimes watch switch footage and I'm baffled at how Capcom managed to squeeze so much out of a tablet with specs that are like a decade behind.
Yeah, I've looked at some of the developer commentary posts about Rise and Sunbreak and some of the areas they added in Sunbreak are literally at the limit of what they can put in, they had to use all kinds of wizardry to squeeze it all down to the Switch's hardware limits.
I think Sunbreak's title updates are better if you like interesting new skills, and Iceborne's are better if you're only interested in the monsters - it's hard to beat stuff like Raging Brachy and Alatreon and Fatalis (and my personal favorite Iceborne monster, Safi). I've been keeping up with them as they release and almost every title update, the gear they've added has substantially changed the meta, and not (just) in a "they added a skill that makes you do 10% more damage" way or whatever. Sure, it's powercreep, but I don't really care so much about that in the context of games like Monster Hunter - in PvP games it's more annoying.
If you're just doing all the title update monsters all at once then obviously you could like, progress from the first monster released in the TUs to the latest one in about a day rather than over half a year, so it might not have the same effect, but honestly with the deco and augment system, if you like a skill then you can have it, and some of them are pretty comfy skills so they don't become irrelevant unless you're somebody who wants to minmax. And I like the monsters added too, though a couple are quite brutally difficult. But the challenge is fun.
And TU5 (possibly the last) is coming in a couple weeks I think, so you still have time to experience that as it releases. Though good luck with the Sunbreak anomaly grind, my god.
Though good luck with the Sunbreak anomaly grind, my god.
I'm probably just going to hunt a couple of anomalies and then I will just use a trainer to fill my inventory. Partly why I avoided playing MonHun on the switch as soon as I found out there was a PC version in the works was because these games at some point become unbearable grinds. Honestly after my 15th Safi kill in MHW I was so done. Cheating stuff in made the experience 100 times more enjoyable. Probably the only action RPG where I can safely say cheating improves the experience.
that's understandable, i think there's also mods where you can make each anomaly investigation give like 20 times as much experience and just rocket up the ranks.
I played Nier Automata for the first time this year and that was awesome.
I want to second Paradise Killer. People should play that. I played it near the end of last year and it just vibed with me so well.
Here's the stuff that's stuck out to me recently
Season: Letter to the Future. Chill mechanics, exploration, and puzzles involving taking photos or sound recordings. It's extremely chill. It's all about reading stories or listening to people. It's kind of like if Death Stranding were in a straight line and had no combat. Just calm relaxing exploration. The story is a little too sentimental and sweet for me, but other people could probably enjoy it.
Citizen Sleeper: Really cool cyberpunk RPG.
L.O.L.: Lack of Love: Bizarre Dreamcast game about evolving some microbes into more complex life forms. It's similar to Spore. Really really good music. There's a dedicated button for pissing.
Live A Live: I play this every so often, but always come away feeling great. Compilation of little short jrpgs all around the premise of defeating hatred. Sometimes it takes the form of space aliens, sometimes a single person, but it's all really charming.
Sable: I played this last year but I can't get it out of my head. It's beautiful. The soundtrack is great, the graphics are beautiful. It's a game similar to Breath of the Wild but without combat. You explore a massive world on a hoverbike and learn stories. That's as much as you should know. Go play it.
And I've been playing a lot of fighting games, like Street Fight and Melty Blood. Been playing a lot of fast paced shmups too, like Cave and Touhou.
