This be my OP. Here we go -
1. Tharsis (PC, 2016) | January 3 | 3 hours | 3/5
On my first attempt I thought this is some RNG bullshit. Explosions popping off, dice disappearing, crew members dying. Kept at it, got better at juggling the systems and finished on Easy a couple times. Once you've seen what the game throws at you it becomes clearer how to manage and what to prioritize. Nothing too complex but methodical and brisk, with unlockable classes and higher difficulties if you want the game to really hate you.
2. Offworld Trading Company (PC, 2016) | January 8 | 8 hours | 4/5
An economic RTS set on Mars where you're a CEO instead of a commander. Matches are fast paced and cutthroat without being mechanically taxing. Early strategy is crucial, games tend to snowball once someone takes the lead and highly contested finishes seem rare. There's illustrated characterization that falls a bit flat and clashes with the clean look of the game, though there's also some good writing in there across the different tutorials and modes. Gets a bit stagnant once familiarity sets in but I can see myself coming back now and again for a skirmish or daily challenge. Also for the A+ soundtrack by the legend Christopher Tin (Baba Yetu).
Homeostasis
3. The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine (PS4, 2016) | January 14 | 35 hours | 5/5
I've been savoring my time with The Witcher 3 so finally finishing Blood and Wine has been bittersweet. They nail the story, a serial killer whodunit with courtly intrigue and vampires. They nail the duchy of Toussaint, an intoxicating blend of southern France and fairy tales, with interesting stories and a towering capital and a vinyard estate for Geralt. They don't quite nail the additions to Gwent, though I still played too much. They definitely nail the hidden quest with your horse. A fond farewell to one of the greats.
4. Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (3DS, 2016) | January 17 | 65 hours | 3/5
Another one that I slowly picked away at before finally putting to bed in 2017. In retrospect I have more fondness for managing my party and aligning attacks for boosts than I do for the relationship building scenes they enable. The cast is serviceable for the most part, particularly the kids, but it's a weaker element and something feels like it's been lost in translation. There's home base building mechanics and online integration, the soundtrack is memorable, it's a good game of Fire Emblem with a good amount of content. Mission objective variety could be better and the overarching story doesn't seem like it's worth 3 long games, but part of me still wants to YouTube Conquest and play through Revelations on a Switch someday.
Dusk Falls
5. 140 (PS4, 2013) | January 20 | 1 hour | 3/5
A cool little rhythm platformer, well designed and well paced even if it only takes about an hour to play through. More mechanics are introduced than I expected, and though some ideas could probably stand to be fleshed out further there's something to be said for its condensed approach. Backgrounds pulse to the music and loud color palates range from pleasing to eyesores. Each level builds as checkpoints are reached and layers are added to the beat, culminating in abstract boss battles that each bring something different to the table. Enjoyed my time with it, glad I grabbed it on sale.
6. Kathy Rain (PC, 2016) | January 22 | 5 hours | 4/5
I'd heard good things about this one, and for the most part it lived up to its reputation as a strong, original point-and-click with a likable protagonist. Small town amateur sleuthing with supernatural elements at play, similar to the first Blackwell, but the rules of Kathy Rain seem a bit more incoherent at first brush without additional context. The pixel art looks nice, world building and writing is on point and there's some good voice acting in there. Doesn't bring much new to the genre and it stumbles a bit towards the end, but still a promising debut and I'm in for Part 2.
7. Peggle 2 (PS4, 2014) | February 3 | 8 hours | 3/5
It's.. more Peggle! And it's been a while since Peggle Nights so that's cool. The new characters are hit or miss but there's a couple of strategically useful new abilities like the boulder that rolls down the board and an electric shot that lights up nearby pegs. I skipped through pretty much all the cutscenes, do not care. Done with all the campaign missions but there's a good amount of content left in the challenge modes for when I need a Peggle fix.
8. Yakuza 0 (PS4, 2017) | February 26 | 80 hours | 5/5
My intro to the series. Came for the goofy charm and slice of life Japan ambiance, did not expect an affecting, well told story alongside. Sucked me in from the beginning and kept getting better, from the acting and writing to the direction and presentation. Strong characterization, slow burn mystery, hype encounters, memorable side missions and emotional notes that are earned. Solid brawler gameplay on top, never too difficult but satisfying. Got seriously sidetracked building real estate and cabaret club empires, even after 80 hours I still come back for more. Awesome game.
Interplanetary Spark
9. Clustertruck (PC, 2016) | February 26 | 3 hours | 3/5
A nice palate cleanser for when you're in the mood to jump on trucks instead of punch Yakuza. Like a lo-fi Trackmania with high speed parkour platforming. The physics are loose enough that there's a fair amount of jank and luck involved, but the off the rails feel is also part of the fun. Good stuff and something different, even if the harder courses were a little too tricky and unwieldy for my tastes.
10. Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure (PC, 2014) | March 5 | 15 hours | 3/5
I grew up with Tex Murphy adventure games, and this is certainly Tex Murphy in all his bumbling PI, B-Movie, 90's FMV point and click glory. The first half of the game is stronger, with the mystery at hand still unraveling and good balance pacing between puzzles, conversations and cutscenes. Later on it becomes a bit of a slog in a few key locations that feel overdesigned, while the story takes a turn towards the nearly indecipherable. Still a relatively successful throwback with low budget heart and a minor miracle that it even exists at all.
11. Fire Emblem Heroes (Android, 2017) | March 5 | 30+ hours | 4/5
Pleasantly surprised by how much I took to this one. It mostly starts and ends with the core gameplay loop - turns out a fast paced, smaller scale SRPG is a pretty fun concept for mobile. They nail the sweet spot of rounds lasting just long enough to satisfy while leaving room for just one more (until the timers kick in). I ended up messing with all of the modes equally, they pack a fair amount of content in. The cast is huge, the F2P and gacha mechanisms are there, and yea I bought some orbs in a fit of weakness but in hindsight I'm ok giving them some cash for the hours spent.
October update: Bumped up to a 4/5 due to the steady stream of updates and events. Still log in and play on a regular basis.
12. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U, 2017) | March 11 | 70+ hours | 5/5
Enchanting and engrossing, a masterpiece of the medium. The joy of pure exploration, line of sight discovery and emergent, open world moments married with Zelda's refined approach to action-adventure and puzzles, with a host of twists and new/borrowed mechanics to keep things fresh.
The richest interpretation of Hyrule to date, infused with a melancholic coziness reminiscent of Studio Ghibli and fitting for the nostalgic yet disorienting setup the game places you in. Every village and region fits the larger whole - NPC's, layout, local culture, and music are all superlative and distinct. And while the core mission sequences are some of my favorite in the series, writing your own stories off the beaten path is where the game shines. Hell, I decided to climb an intimidating and seemingly unremarkable mountain for no reason other than curiosity before storming the castle, thinking I'd seen most of what the game had to offer, and was left marveling at just how many secrets were left to uncover.
The framerate hits can be rough, cooking and weapon management could use some QOL tweaks, rain could be dialed back by 20% or so. Despite the acclaim it's not for everyone's tastes, with broadly paced game design that isn't afraid to be offputting or actively hostile to the player when called for. But this is the real deal as far as I'm concerned. Nintendo put some magic in this one.
Korok Forest
13. Rhythm Heaven Megamix (3DS, 2016) | April 1 | 8 hours | 4/5
In some ways the best Rhythm Heaven game simply by being a collection, and also the one I feel the least emotionally attached to. The whimsical story surrounding Tibby the pink bear child was something I completely skipped, and there was enough to skip that it still hurt the flow. Also points off for no Love Lab. Still the minigames remain fun, it looks slick, there's unlocks aplenty and Rhythm Heaven is cool.
14. Mass Effect: Andromeda (PS4, 2017) | April 2 | 45 hours | 2/5
A middling, formulaic and buggy entry in what was probably my favorite series of the previous gen. An expedition of adolescents, shitty comedians, and forgettable NPC's offering checklist fluff over cookie cutter landmarks, actively taking away from the thin illusion of frontier discovery. There's a nagging feeling of Mass Effect madlibs as plot points are established and few opportunities for actual roleplaying among the quips and zingers flying from every direction.
That being said I still saw it through despite dozens of hours of padding. There's still enough mystery, satisfying powers, crew moments and systems where the numbers go up to be engaging. Environments are pretty and the space buggy does the job. Mass Effect is alright - recover an ancient AI, make a space rat your pet shit. But then there's those menus, the well documented animation shortcomings, a shaky ass intro, too much detective vision, locking up for seconds at a time during the final 1/3 of the game - in the end, even if I kind of have a soft spot for it the negatives outweigh the positives.
15. Persona 5 (PS4, 2017) | April 21 | 95 hours | 4/5
Intoxicatingly stylish. Cohesive and distinct presentation that's creative to the point of excess without forsaking readability. Presents an expansive mystery, cozy atmosphere and detailed environments with a strong sense of place. Characters have expressive animations and cool looking models, which helps to establish and flesh out the large cast of social misfits. Combat encounters are finely balanced between speed, flash, strategy and threat - my favorite iteration of the Press Turn system to date. Story dungeons are hand crafted and involve a substantial amount of one-off mechanics. Some ideas are stronger than others and some run a bit long, but simply trying goes a long way.
It's a hell of an RPG, but not a flawless one. English script has some clunkers and translation quirks. A few confidant arcs fall into traps of being redundant or shallow. Fanservice is lame, progression sticks to the series template with even more languid pacing and the central metaphors and scenarios don't all fit together quite as neatly as I'd like. That last one is partly due to cultural disconnect; the themes are universal and relevant, but P5 is still a critique of Japanese society from a Japanese mindset. Still, along with the requisite twists and revelations, those central themes pay off before the end and help to elevate the game past its blemishes. Also Shoji Meguro dusted off his Rhodes and delivered a GOAT contender soundtrack, again.
What's Going On?
Layer Cake
16. Full Throttle Remastered (PC, 2017) | April 22 | 4 hours | 4/5
Always nice to revisit the LucasArts canon and hadn't played through Full Throttle in a decade plus. It's even shorter than I remembered, and while it's hard to argue with a tight script it's bittersweet knowing the world building on the periphery was never revisited. I also got to remember that the bike fight section was some bullshit. Commentary track and new art style is okay, some of the moodiness gets lost in the translation. Ended up preferring it with pixels.
17. Everything (PC, 2017) | April 23 | 50+ hours (idle included) | 4/5
A neat thing that I feel good after spending time with. Ever since Proteus I've been itching for similar projects with a little more ambition and substance behind the procedural zen, and Everything definitely fits that description. Plays with scale and surreal mundanity in a Katamari-esque way and brings a philosophical focus to the randomness with warm narration by Alan Watts. Props for including a robust autoplay mode, as the visuals are perfect for a second monitor or screensaver.
18. What Remains of Edith Finch (PC, 2017) | May 3 | 3 hours | 5/5
Really nice surprise this one, one of the best narrative games in recent memory. Reminded me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude in a lot of ways, the magical realism and cursed family lineage. There's a strong sense of forward momentum as you explore and float through the Finch clan's morbid history with unique presentation twists and excellent voice acting from the various narrators. It's deceptively dense with some great environmental storytelling, a lot of ground gets covered in just 2-3 hours. Highly recommended, couldn't put it down and it's lingered in my head ever since.
19. The Unfinished Swan (PS4, 2012) | May 7 | 3 hours | 4/5
Had to give Giant Sparrow's first project a spin after finding myself smitten with Edith Finch. Found it to be another rewarding and focused experience, relaxing and darkly whimsical, with a captivating aestetic that shifts over time and ties in nicely with the gameplay interactions and narrative path. Not as profound as their most recent work but exibits similar strengths in pacing, design and storytelling.
20. NBA Playgrounds (PS4, 2017) | May 16 | 10+ hours | 3/5
I will always have a place in my library for arcade basketball. Closer to a low budget NBA JAM than modern day NBA Street, you build up a meter for randomized powerups that range from helpful to overpowered. Played through the campaign in a weekend and unlocked a solid roster of legends for online. Nothing groundbreaking and some questionable decisions regarding shot timing mechanics, but I had a good time.
21. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (PC, 2015) | May 21 | 12 hours | 4/5
Swery65's ode to Boston accents, police procedurals and Twin Peaks (again) works as a tonal cousin to Deadly Premonition while also being a far less sprawling and ambitious project - a concentrated dose of Swery. His creative sensibilities are well served by the adventure game format and Access developed a compelling interface for interacting with and learning about the few environments it has to offer. The fractured, heartfelt mystery at its core may never be solved but the hot dog scene and killer theme song will live on forever.
Theme of D4
22. Shardlight (PC, 2016) | June 9 | 6 hours | 4/5
23. Trackmania Turbo (PS4, 2016) | June 11 | 8 hours | 3/5
A sun soaked, arcade focused, surface level trip down the winding roads of Trackmania. Can't compete with the PC version when it comes to user tracks, custom servers and capturing all the janky joys of the series, but the feel and core gameplay of puzzle + time trial racing translates. There's different vehicles with different physics, chipping away at the linear single player progression can be workmanlike but it's a good time in short bursts. Multiplayer options are serviceable and the signature ghost race playlists are in, but don't think I'd ever reach for Turbo over the PC offerings if that's what I'm in the mood for.
24. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (PS4, 2016) | June 20 | 30 hours | 4/5
25. Picross 3D: Round 2 (3DS, 2016) | July 6 | 20 hours | 4/5
Methodically mining my way through Picross 3D 2 has been a long term endeavor, and a rewarding one. The soundtrack is soothing in that Nintendo elevator music way and the mechanics are a little more nuanced this go round with a second color to mark. Presentation can be a bit stiff but not much is really needed for the puzzles to shine. I did find myself making more inadvertent mistakes than I did with the original due to the controls, but it's still a welcome change. Also would inevitably reach a point where I began to brute force solutions and had to force myself to step away. Comfort gaming bliss, with a few small caveats.
Menu
26. Endless Space 2 (PC, 2017) | July 13 | 25 hours | 4/5
A dense 4X to get lost in for a weekend at a time, lording over the stars by means of an elegant UI that's efficient if almost too austere in places. Races are inventive and provide clear differences in direction for strategic approach. The exploration phase is engaging with quests and storylets to collect and track, space battles are passive but look cool, diplomacy options are disappointing, AI behavior can be wonky and the Unfallen theme has mad Oboes.
From the Heart
27. Fallout 4 (PS4, 2015) | July 23 | 80+ hours | 3/5
Finally crossed Fallout 4 off the backlog list. Credit to the game that I didn't want to commit to an endgame path I suppose, though none of the factions truly won me over in the end either. There's quality fights, quests and characters to be found but the commonwealth is a drab and familiar place, with a drab voiced protagonist where colorful RPG dialogue options used to be. Scratches the open world Bethesda itch but the cracks are showing.
28. Wiz Khalifa's Weed Farm (Android, 2017) | August 2 | ? hours | 2/5
Fuck it, I'm putting Wiz Khalifa's Weed Farm on here. I know it's a nothing game, even for clickers. I know it's gotten me to sit through a shameful amount of ads for even shittier looking mobile games. But there's something that kept me coming back for months. I wanted to have a dope ass weed farm. And at one point I somehow broke the game and got infinite money for a few days, so technically I won.
29. Pyre (PS4, 2017) | August 2 | 12 hours | 5/5
I've always liked and admired Supergiant's sensibilities and house style, and while Pyre's disparate influences won't be to everyone's tastes it quickly became the game of theirs that I outright adore the most. The presentation, music, atmosphere, and Jen Zee's gorgeously surreal artwork impresses with a meticulous attention to detail. The writing and lore crafting takes center stage, weaving a melancholy but uplifting tale of faith, revolution, ritual and kinship. This is a choose-your-own-adventure visual novel at heart, with an excellent cast of characters and a world that lingers in your head after it's over. And the 3-on-3 fantasy team sport that compromises the other half of the game also delivers, with enough depth to work as a robust competitive standalone experience once the story concludes.
Strange Voyage
