Games this year peaked early and high with
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
I'm just kinda all in on this series, they are some of my favourite games from the last ten years. There's just this incredible direction to them, it's that intersection of cinematic and interactive that basically runs circles around something like Alan Wake 2 in how it blends cutscenes, gameplay and music to create this great fantasy epic that simultaneously adapts, expands and comments on a classic story. It's the original creators revisiting their greatest hit with decades worth of hindsight to bring it into a new age. I still don't think the open world elements are very well implemented but everything else is absolutely breathtaking. It's such an unspeakable sadness that it performed below expectations.
Runner ups:
Selaco
First Person Shooter running on a heavily modified version of the Doom Engine released in Early Access earlier this year. Because it's an Early Access game that currently only includes the first of its planned 3 chapters this only gets an honorable mention but it's really, really, really good. Effectively it's the combat of FEAR in a sort of System Shock inspired city on a space station with a lot of detail and interactivity. Probably my favourite shooter in a really long time. As a big FEAR fan it just feels good to have something that plays like it and unlike Trepang2, the other big FEAR inspired shooter that came out a year ago, actually has good level design. It's got everything you would ever want, the highly reactive enemy AI, the satisfying gunplay, the environmental destruction and particle effects. Great game. When I played it on release the balancing was still kind of of iffy but considering it's an Early Access game I'm sure a lot of it will or already has been adjusted so I'll give it a pass for that.
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Silent Hill 2 is probably one of the best stories ever told in a video game and this remake offers a new way to experience it. I stand by what I said, I wouldn't really recommend anyone playing it instead of the original, at least not unless you have no other choice, but I would definitely recommend playing it in addition to the original. It has gorgeous environmental design and sound design, combat and camera that are definitely more palatable for modern standards and, for better and for worse, a good amount of additional content. Now, make no mistake, I will definitely say that opinions will vary on whether that new content fleshes out or just bloats the game, as far as I'm concerned it's more of the latter than the former. But nevertheless, Silent Hill 2 is a classic game, one in that list of pieces of media that I would genuinely say made me who I am today and the remake is a very respectful and tasteful homage to it.
And now for the category where I name the game that I feel deserves special mention even though it's too niche to make it into my regular Game of the Year roundup.
Outsider Game of the Year
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Indie puzzle adventure game following a woman being invited to the mansion/hotel of a mysterious artist to uncover his and her own past. This game was absolutely brilliant. A sort of Flower, Sun and Rain by the way of French New Wave. Between it's incredibly stylish black and white visual style, it's mysterious story and atmosphere that pays homage to Thomas Pynchon, Umberto Eco, Alain Resnais, Jaques Rivette, Orson Welles and Suda51, it's genuinely inventive surreal imagery and its wide range of mind bending puzzles it's one of the most impressive games I got to play this year. Like, straight up, if Rebirth hadn't come out, this would just be my game of the year. It's awesome.
Other stuff I've played:
Metaphor ReFantazio: Was pretty good but I kinda expected more. Liked the world, loved the Hieronymus Bosch inspired creature designs but the actual plot fell a bit flat for me. Not bad, just never quite clicked, found it fairly predictable and by the numbers. Probably intentionally so, considering it's meant to be a love letter to classic fantasy but I was a bit underwhelmed.
Stellar Blade: Forgot most of it the moment I finished it, aside from the lazy AI generated art assets.
Rise of the Ronin: I still maintain that in terms of actually making a good combat system, Team Ninja is way ahead of FromSoft and most other studios for that matter but the whole open world thing... really isn't playing to their strengths.
Shadows of the Damned: it's nice that this is on PC now.
Red Dead Redemption: It's nice that this is on PC now, too.
Ace Attorney Investigations 2: It's nice that this finally got an official english release, it's my favourite game in the Ace Attorney series. Personally, I prefer the fan translation, though.
Lorn's Lure: Indie first person platformer about climbing a desolate mega structure. Unironically hella neat. Nice atmosphere and gameplay that gets surprisingly challenging towards the end.
Sorry We're Closed: indie horror game. Sort of a cross between Silent Hill, Killer 7 and Persona but also really gay and also about angels and demons? Not as cool as it sounds but pretty cool.
Mouthwashing: Psychological horror game about a crew stranded in space. Leans a bit hard on shock value but it's well presented and has very strong character writing.
And that should about cover it. Overall, it was a much better year for indie games than for bigger releases. Which is fine with me. I'm excited to see what next year brings, with a new Nintendo console looming on the Horizon, Death Stranding 2 coming out and yet more interesting indie titles nearing completion.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
I'm just kinda all in on this series, they are some of my favourite games from the last ten years. There's just this incredible direction to them, it's that intersection of cinematic and interactive that basically runs circles around something like Alan Wake 2 in how it blends cutscenes, gameplay and music to create this great fantasy epic that simultaneously adapts, expands and comments on a classic story. It's the original creators revisiting their greatest hit with decades worth of hindsight to bring it into a new age. I still don't think the open world elements are very well implemented but everything else is absolutely breathtaking. It's such an unspeakable sadness that it performed below expectations.
Runner ups:
Selaco
First Person Shooter running on a heavily modified version of the Doom Engine released in Early Access earlier this year. Because it's an Early Access game that currently only includes the first of its planned 3 chapters this only gets an honorable mention but it's really, really, really good. Effectively it's the combat of FEAR in a sort of System Shock inspired city on a space station with a lot of detail and interactivity. Probably my favourite shooter in a really long time. As a big FEAR fan it just feels good to have something that plays like it and unlike Trepang2, the other big FEAR inspired shooter that came out a year ago, actually has good level design. It's got everything you would ever want, the highly reactive enemy AI, the satisfying gunplay, the environmental destruction and particle effects. Great game. When I played it on release the balancing was still kind of of iffy but considering it's an Early Access game I'm sure a lot of it will or already has been adjusted so I'll give it a pass for that.
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Silent Hill 2 is probably one of the best stories ever told in a video game and this remake offers a new way to experience it. I stand by what I said, I wouldn't really recommend anyone playing it instead of the original, at least not unless you have no other choice, but I would definitely recommend playing it in addition to the original. It has gorgeous environmental design and sound design, combat and camera that are definitely more palatable for modern standards and, for better and for worse, a good amount of additional content. Now, make no mistake, I will definitely say that opinions will vary on whether that new content fleshes out or just bloats the game, as far as I'm concerned it's more of the latter than the former. But nevertheless, Silent Hill 2 is a classic game, one in that list of pieces of media that I would genuinely say made me who I am today and the remake is a very respectful and tasteful homage to it.
And now for the category where I name the game that I feel deserves special mention even though it's too niche to make it into my regular Game of the Year roundup.
Outsider Game of the Year
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Indie puzzle adventure game following a woman being invited to the mansion/hotel of a mysterious artist to uncover his and her own past. This game was absolutely brilliant. A sort of Flower, Sun and Rain by the way of French New Wave. Between it's incredibly stylish black and white visual style, it's mysterious story and atmosphere that pays homage to Thomas Pynchon, Umberto Eco, Alain Resnais, Jaques Rivette, Orson Welles and Suda51, it's genuinely inventive surreal imagery and its wide range of mind bending puzzles it's one of the most impressive games I got to play this year. Like, straight up, if Rebirth hadn't come out, this would just be my game of the year. It's awesome.
Other stuff I've played:
Metaphor ReFantazio: Was pretty good but I kinda expected more. Liked the world, loved the Hieronymus Bosch inspired creature designs but the actual plot fell a bit flat for me. Not bad, just never quite clicked, found it fairly predictable and by the numbers. Probably intentionally so, considering it's meant to be a love letter to classic fantasy but I was a bit underwhelmed.
Stellar Blade: Forgot most of it the moment I finished it, aside from the lazy AI generated art assets.
Rise of the Ronin: I still maintain that in terms of actually making a good combat system, Team Ninja is way ahead of FromSoft and most other studios for that matter but the whole open world thing... really isn't playing to their strengths.
Shadows of the Damned: it's nice that this is on PC now.
Red Dead Redemption: It's nice that this is on PC now, too.
Ace Attorney Investigations 2: It's nice that this finally got an official english release, it's my favourite game in the Ace Attorney series. Personally, I prefer the fan translation, though.
Lorn's Lure: Indie first person platformer about climbing a desolate mega structure. Unironically hella neat. Nice atmosphere and gameplay that gets surprisingly challenging towards the end.
Sorry We're Closed: indie horror game. Sort of a cross between Silent Hill, Killer 7 and Persona but also really gay and also about angels and demons? Not as cool as it sounds but pretty cool.
Mouthwashing: Psychological horror game about a crew stranded in space. Leans a bit hard on shock value but it's well presented and has very strong character writing.
And that should about cover it. Overall, it was a much better year for indie games than for bigger releases. Which is fine with me. I'm excited to see what next year brings, with a new Nintendo console looming on the Horizon, Death Stranding 2 coming out and yet more interesting indie titles nearing completion.
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