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swordianmaster Dec. 29th, 2020 04:20 am)
swordianmaster Dec. 29th, 2020 04:20 am)SO while it's something along the lines of a meme amongst my friend group to do an awards show with nominees and predictions and Lady Gaga in a meat dress and everything like that at the end of every year, I have.... not at all felt like celebrating gaming ever since... well. Since the Heartbeat incident. We don't talk about the Heartbeat incident, since I'd rather that stay in the past. But regardless, being openly adulatory of video games seems... gauche, nowdays.
That doesn't mean there were no good games, or anything! In fact, I'm going to give you a Top Five Games I Played This Year, in no particular order, because that's the next best thing. Keep in mind that only applies to games we started and finished for the first time this year (Sorry, Sumire, I know Stardew Valley is great and I know 1.5 just came out and I know it's driving you nuts that we can't actually go play it right this second) which also means that yes, these are entirely going to be PC titles, either on Steam or itch.io. If you want me to care about console games, buy me a Switch, dammit! (Spoiler: this is a joke. do not actually buy me a switch or I will feel like I owe you my entire life)
ANYWAY.
I went over this at the beginning of the year (even though it feels like it was three years ago) and I stand by everything I said then. You do need a certain amount of acceptance of grunchy PS-era 3D aesthetic and motionsickness/disorientation resistance, but it's still the best example of how to feel like a ruined, destitute millennial while still being something greater than your ruined, destitute millennial self.
Hhhholy shit I was not expecting to love this as much as I did. While the Steam page gave it a very distinct appearance of being your usual Edgy Teenage "Deconstruction" of Zelda games, what it turns out to be is actually a lot more nuanced than that, studying what it means to be a hero, to be a villain, the evils of capitalism, and the even-more-evils of fucking with Arbitrary Code Execution.
Friends don't let friends Missingno.
Anyway, if it wasn't obvious, Lenna's Inception goes off the aesthetic of Link's Awakening speedruns hard as fuck, right down to slowly consuming the world with glitchy garbage that you have to figure out how to traverse. (Unsurprisingly, it also has random seeded modes and speedrun options.) The graphics are great, and the soundtrack is fuckin' great.
Absolutely recommend.
(Parts One, Two, Three)
Did you love Undertale because of its charming character designs and heartwarming writing? Do you just really want to play variations of Slap Jack with increasingly arcane and inscrutable rules? Boy howdy, do I have the game for both of you.
By which I mean this game. This is absolutely that.
Half visual-novel-dating-game-esque dialogue simulator, half Weird Esoteric Slap Jack Game, Monster Pub is a game about a pub, full of monsters. Monsters of the "is a muppet" variety, mind you, not the "Frankensteins and Draculas" variety.
Anyway, it's a lot of fun, pretty inclusive, and you can definitely find worse ways to kill a couple of hours.
REMIND YOURSELF THAT OVERCONFIDENCE IS A SLOW AND INSIDIOUS KILLER.
Anyway if you like gritty, ultra methodical roguelikes where the difference between life and death is a bad dice roll away, Dankest Dungeon is oozing with aesthetic. Worth every penny, or even worth more than that if you got it free from Epic on Christmas.
Kind of like a low-key, much less stressful take on Papers, Please, Death and Taxes is a game where you, yourself, are tasked to be the Grim Reaper, deciding who lives and who dies. Turns out this involves a whole lot of paperwork and trying to make the "right choice" when the right choices are obviously red herrings meant to trip you up. Do you kill these people that your boss is telling you to, bringing the inevitable apocalypse ever closer? Or do you do your own thing and see what happens?
Has a surprisingly robust cosmetics system, by which I mean after a little while playing you can give yourself an Anubis makeover and I am all for that.
ANYWAY, those are my recommendations for this year. They're good games, Bront. A good number of them were in that itch.io bundle, so you may already have them. Play them. Consume. CONSUME.
That doesn't mean there were no good games, or anything! In fact, I'm going to give you a Top Five Games I Played This Year, in no particular order, because that's the next best thing. Keep in mind that only applies to games we started and finished for the first time this year (Sorry, Sumire, I know Stardew Valley is great and I know 1.5 just came out and I know it's driving you nuts that we can't actually go play it right this second) which also means that yes, these are entirely going to be PC titles, either on Steam or itch.io. If you want me to care about console games, buy me a Switch, dammit! (Spoiler: this is a joke. do not actually buy me a switch or I will feel like I owe you my entire life)
ANYWAY.
DIARIES OF A SPACEPORT JANITOR
I went over this at the beginning of the year (even though it feels like it was three years ago) and I stand by everything I said then. You do need a certain amount of acceptance of grunchy PS-era 3D aesthetic and motionsickness/disorientation resistance, but it's still the best example of how to feel like a ruined, destitute millennial while still being something greater than your ruined, destitute millennial self.
LENNA'S INCEPTION
Hhhholy shit I was not expecting to love this as much as I did. While the Steam page gave it a very distinct appearance of being your usual Edgy Teenage "Deconstruction" of Zelda games, what it turns out to be is actually a lot more nuanced than that, studying what it means to be a hero, to be a villain, the evils of capitalism, and the even-more-evils of fucking with Arbitrary Code Execution.
Friends don't let friends Missingno.
Anyway, if it wasn't obvious, Lenna's Inception goes off the aesthetic of Link's Awakening speedruns hard as fuck, right down to slowly consuming the world with glitchy garbage that you have to figure out how to traverse. (Unsurprisingly, it also has random seeded modes and speedrun options.) The graphics are great, and the soundtrack is fuckin' great.
Absolutely recommend.
MONSTER PUB
(Parts One, Two, Three)
Did you love Undertale because of its charming character designs and heartwarming writing? Do you just really want to play variations of Slap Jack with increasingly arcane and inscrutable rules? Boy howdy, do I have the game for both of you.
By which I mean this game. This is absolutely that.
Half visual-novel-dating-game-esque dialogue simulator, half Weird Esoteric Slap Jack Game, Monster Pub is a game about a pub, full of monsters. Monsters of the "is a muppet" variety, mind you, not the "Frankensteins and Draculas" variety.
Anyway, it's a lot of fun, pretty inclusive, and you can definitely find worse ways to kill a couple of hours.
DARKEST DUNGEON
REMIND YOURSELF THAT OVERCONFIDENCE IS A SLOW AND INSIDIOUS KILLER.
Anyway if you like gritty, ultra methodical roguelikes where the difference between life and death is a bad dice roll away, Dankest Dungeon is oozing with aesthetic. Worth every penny, or even worth more than that if you got it free from Epic on Christmas.
DEATH AND TAXES
Kind of like a low-key, much less stressful take on Papers, Please, Death and Taxes is a game where you, yourself, are tasked to be the Grim Reaper, deciding who lives and who dies. Turns out this involves a whole lot of paperwork and trying to make the "right choice" when the right choices are obviously red herrings meant to trip you up. Do you kill these people that your boss is telling you to, bringing the inevitable apocalypse ever closer? Or do you do your own thing and see what happens?
Has a surprisingly robust cosmetics system, by which I mean after a little while playing you can give yourself an Anubis makeover and I am all for that.
ANYWAY, those are my recommendations for this year. They're good games, Bront. A good number of them were in that itch.io bundle, so you may already have them. Play them. Consume. CONSUME.
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