One of the most meticulously designed open world maps I've ever seen. Every inch of this network of roads & railways & shortcuts is precision-engineered to give the player a new option every five yards. Truly lethal, I'm not surprised we're not allowed racing games this good any more.
Binary Domain
Entire studios live and die by their decades-spanning pedigrees of shooter franchises, yet Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios swooped in out of fucking nowhere to blow them out of the water. Hilarious, fast, furious. One of an embarrassingly low rank of games of this type where the enemies react in meaningful ways to your shots.
Beeswing
"A good tree has victims". Stare close enough at the screen and you start to see the human hands appreciatively building every one of Beeswing's vignettes. I was thoroughly not expecting a game to understand, to so deftly and honestly articulate grief, nostalgia and mending. Beeswing is just honest, It’s not trying to impress anyone or manipulate them into feeling something, it simply wishes to exist - just as its inhabitants live quietly near and far from their loved ones, opening up to anyone who'll listen. Beeswing isn’t sad, but it isn’t happy either. It recounts the lives of (I assume) people the developer knew growing up with a plain biographical melancholy that is difficult to properly explain. I’m so used to media recounting horrible events, making me depressed for the sake of a narrative that’s supposed to mean something. But Beeswing never tried to bring me down, in fact it’s so clean in its indifference to how the player feels that it would seem cold if not for how tangible and raw the things it says and the way it shows you them are. A recurring motif in this game in itself is this kind of honesty, not necessarily to "make the most" of our limited time on this earth, but to live true - to yourselves and others, as it's the greatest way to reciprocate love.
Batman: Arkham Knight
Maximalist nightmare, still feels next-gen.
Ape Escape 3
Kawaii potpourri
Anno 1800
Your eminence, Sim City 4 has fallen from the ranks.
Anachronox
One of the only comedy games to actually be funny on purpose. Lots of fun worldbuilding too.
ACA Neo Geo: Neo Turf Master
The word "scoundrel" clings to you like a dying lover. Slave to a thousand metas - power, to you, is not a means but an end. People talk about you behind your back, but what is the gossip of worms to an Eagle?
Fernabo
8 months ago