2023 Roundup
The idea of ranking everything i played this year is inherently nonsense, some of these games are so different that it feels asinine to even implicitly compare them, but i'm gonna do it anyway because I have ranking brainrot and I cannot stop myself. This is specifically games I played for the first time this year.
BONUS: Games Released in 2023
1: Lies of P (is this really my GOTY? I really like this game but I don't think it's GOTY material...)
2: Armored Core VI
3: Baldur's Gate 3
4: Hi-Fi Rush
5: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
6: Pseudoregalia
7: Fire Emblem Engage
8: Void Stranger
9: Gravity Circuit
BONUS: Games Released in 2023
1: Lies of P (is this really my GOTY? I really like this game but I don't think it's GOTY material...)
2: Armored Core VI
3: Baldur's Gate 3
4: Hi-Fi Rush
5: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
6: Pseudoregalia
7: Fire Emblem Engage
8: Void Stranger
9: Gravity Circuit
88 Games
Link to Review
Wont bother to reiterate my review but this game is perfect in my eyes, honestly kind of representative of what I look for in games... hell, maybe in art as a whole. 10
Wont bother to reiterate my review but this game is perfect in my eyes, honestly kind of representative of what I look for in games... hell, maybe in art as a whole. 10
1
Frankly owns, I like most ACs but this feels like the most balanced in that it's narratively interesting, mechanically fun and aesthetically cohesive all in one, which I don't think any other AC achieves: 3 is interesting but not very fun, 7 and 5 are fun but have shlocky stories, 4 is flawed in other ways, which marks this as an easy pick for the best AC: The thematic marriage of English mythology and Spanish music, the relationship between Cipher and Pixy, the thick atmosphere of the missions, the doom and gloom of political machination, just one of the sickest experiences to grace the PS2 10
2
Link to Review
My first RE. Skyrocketed into being one of my favourite games. 10
My first RE. Skyrocketed into being one of my favourite games. 10
3
Link to Review
Was probably unsurprising that this would end up being my favourite Zelda, despite playing it much later than most. 9
Was probably unsurprising that this would end up being my favourite Zelda, despite playing it much later than most. 9
4
this was spellbindingly good, such a creative use of setting and fantasy concepts, a kaleidoscopically intricately constructed plot that unfolds and recontextualises earlier events, just some genuinely gorgeous prose in here. overflowingly rich with great moments and things to reflect on. I really feel the influence of 70s/80s text-based games here in the use of items in puzzle-solving, and the way dialogue choices are constructed to prioritize moments of subjective expression is also my ideal balance of player choice in these kinds of games.
But! Damn the combat is ass. I think Disco Elysium supercedes it in this aspect by having the gumption to not even have a combat system, and I still think that's my favourite incarnation of "isometric TTCRPG featuring an amnesiac tasked with unraveling the mistakes and regrets of his past life" but at the same time... this came first! by 20 years! and it's not like this is any less amazing for DE existing, i'm just drawing comparisons.
But! Damn the combat is ass. I think Disco Elysium supercedes it in this aspect by having the gumption to not even have a combat system, and I still think that's my favourite incarnation of "isometric TTCRPG featuring an amnesiac tasked with unraveling the mistakes and regrets of his past life" but at the same time... this came first! by 20 years! and it's not like this is any less amazing for DE existing, i'm just drawing comparisons.
5
Deeply funny exploration of old internet that doesn't feel like it's talking down to the past. Manages to lure you in with that charm and sucker punch you with some really emotional moments. Simultaneously goofy and profound, it touches on both online empathy and start-up venture capitalism in such an organic way. Features great artistic collaboration that perfectly accompanies it's earnestness. 9
7
Feels like a crowning jewel of immersive sims, a true passion project with inspired ideas like recycling, mimics (and typhon in general) and gloo gun, an oppresive tone and a great execution on player-created solutions. The story could have easily been a masterpiece but fumbles it in the latter half, my biggest issues are the backtracking and sound design, but overall it's an incredible game. Should've let them call it psychoshock you bastards. 9
8
Hard to believe this was released a measly 16 months after FF5. This game's greatness is well documented but I was really impressed with how it fused the strengths of 4 and 5. It retains the customization of 5 through relics and espers while keeping the job characterization of 4. The setpieces are really well done too and I was especially impressed with the multi-party dungeons and the structure of getting back party members after the half-way point. I think the only bad addition here is the free attacks enemies get when they die but otherwise its easily one of the pinnacles of pre-3D rpgs. 9
10
Incredibly good shmup, aesthetically superb, very good intuitive scoring mechanics which are conveyed well and lead to a natural flow without compromising on the memorisation loop that's central to shmups. The missions and difficulty modes and loadout options also makes the game more accessible in a good way. 9
11
now this is more like it! my only significant problem with Monolith was that I felt it just didn't have enough content to sustain a rougelike, but this solves a lot of that, and the game really really wormed into my brain this time around and now i constantly think about firing it up for a run. 9
12
simply one of the coolest audio-visual experiences ever created, no big deal.
13
Fromsoft finally getting the PS2 at their disposal but deciding to make KF4 even slower is a crazy level of creative exactness.
juicy, deliberate slowness that provides a lot of friction, a lack of control that accentuates being at the mercy of your environment, reinforced by resource management, wonderful interconnected level design, crunchy ps2 interlacing, haunting harpsichord melancholy soundtrack, and many other minor things make this game so great.
I think, later on, it starts to have this problem where you have so many resources at your disposal that the game needs to start throwing bullshit at you to pose a challenge, which can get annoying, and some things are really obtuse (at one point i missed a critical item and spent what felt like hours combing through previous areas to find it) , but it was still great.
juicy, deliberate slowness that provides a lot of friction, a lack of control that accentuates being at the mercy of your environment, reinforced by resource management, wonderful interconnected level design, crunchy ps2 interlacing, haunting harpsichord melancholy soundtrack, and many other minor things make this game so great.
I think, later on, it starts to have this problem where you have so many resources at your disposal that the game needs to start throwing bullshit at you to pose a challenge, which can get annoying, and some things are really obtuse (at one point i missed a critical item and spent what felt like hours combing through previous areas to find it) , but it was still great.
14
cute af, love the simplistic sound and colours in this, and the story is still incredibly affecting and layered despite its simplicity. If item switching was a bit better and some of the signposting was a little better this would probably be competitive with Majoras for favourite Zelda, but it still really sticks with me and that counts for a lot. 8
15
Thief understands two things really well: That excellent immersion is created by soundscapes, and that excellent stealth is created by good lighting and quotable guards, and then you put some excellent levels on top of that! Garrett's detached misanthropy works well with the goofiness of the guards, like you're just observing all these immature idiots while running circles around them. I think it drags a little near the end, but it's still a really lovable game.
16
this shit goes unbelievably hard, thing oozes coolness from every pore. Only complaint is the repetition of bosses but it's top class other than that.
17
some of the most fun i've had with friends in a long time... despite how there's not a huge amount of variables it somehow hasn't gotten old yet, looking forward to the future updates.
19
pretty hard to rate a purely multiplayer game amongst all these singleplayer games, but i like videoball a lot, feels like one of those games you'd play on school computers but... really elegantly designed and deep and aesthetically pleasing.
unfortunately my friends don't like it nearly as much so I haven't been able to play it a lot.
unfortunately my friends don't like it nearly as much so I haven't been able to play it a lot.
20
Very unwieldy and confusing to newcomers but between the almost-too-deep mech customization and the apocalyptic bleakness mixed with corporate cleanliness and Electrosphere-esque branching path futility you get a pretty great game. 8
21
Link to Review
The most conceptually interesting Ace Combat, not as fun to play as other ACs but that's sort of the point. 8
The most conceptually interesting Ace Combat, not as fun to play as other ACs but that's sort of the point. 8
22
This inherently invites comparisons to Tetris, but I think Lumines actually does pretty well in this comparison. I've always hated the stipulation that Tetris is a "perfect" game, or more accurately I guess I hate when people conflate perfect with all-encompassing. Despite Tetris' mathematical foundation, it makes artistic commitments as a game and these are not universal. Tetris is execution-oriented, its playstyle differences are parochial, I don't mean that as a critique, Tetris is a game about blunders, Lumines is a game about lack of foresight, short-term vs long-term, tetris is about a slowly accelerating pace along a quantitative scale, lumines is about radical changes in pace/beat that lead to qualitative changes in play, neither is "better" simply by being one thing over another, a "perfect game" isn't even desirable - to create something you have to make decisions that foreclose other possiblities, to develop an idea is to make something imperfect.
both games put you in a trance, lumines connects this ludo-concept with musical culture, this is cool and creative. Unlike Hi-Fi Rush, Lumines allows music to emerge from play without imposing constraints on the rhythm of the resulting blend, this is cool and creative and unique.
both games put you in a trance, lumines connects this ludo-concept with musical culture, this is cool and creative. Unlike Hi-Fi Rush, Lumines allows music to emerge from play without imposing constraints on the rhythm of the resulting blend, this is cool and creative and unique.
23
great, despite the things covering it up. A lot of annoying quibbles like the controls (how does this control worse than ico?) and the constant tutorial popups and the godawful framerate but brushing that aside it's really impressive how well realized the core concept of trying to wrangle an animal is. I love trico, little idiot, and I think this one-ups Ico in making you feel a personal connection with your companion. I don't really like how much this indulges in certain filmic tendencies, like wresting away camera control or the various orchestral swells that just don't feel necessary. More emotional but less contemplative/minimalist, kinda depends which you prefer.
24
My "final fantasy marathon" got interrupted by BG3 + AC6 so it's kinda not a marathon anymore, but I do intend to play them all. X in particular is one of my favourites and probably has my favourite story along with VII.
I do understand why this is more love-it-or-hate-it than the other FFs though, I really like the snappiness of the combat coming from IX's sludge and how swapping party members is integrated, but the question-and-answer structure of elemental counters, piercing, statuses etc. does lead the combat to feel very prescribed and on-rails. This is (obviously imo) intentional, it mirrors the linearity and on-rails nature of the areas which itself mirrors the narrative points about societal obligation and the will to rebel against what is expected out of you by society.
And I love that story, Spira weaves a tale of a society laden with convenient silence and religious taboos, nobody confonts their problems, the past continues to haunt the present and this is echoed through every character: Chappu haunts Lulu and Wakka, Jecht haunts Tidus and Auron, everyone has this notion that going on this pilgrimage will redeem them. There's this scathing critique of institutional elites here with Seymour abusing his power and every important figure turning out to be an "unsent", and all of these themes congregate around Yuna’s constant self-sacrifice for the people of spira. This would be a smoothly operating tragedy if it weren't for Tidus and his himbo questioning of everything. Like a child, he wants everything to be justified, and the love story that gets weaved into this complex knot is genuinely just touching and tragic in the best way... Implicitly I feel this game is a critique of "wisdom", it's a critique of the idea that getting old, getting "wise" constitutes learning to accept the world as it is, as is brilliantly told through Auron's tale. An awkwardness permeates every scene, escorting your friend to their certain death is awkward, going against every preconception of how the world should work is awkward, Tidus is awkward, he's a subversion of the cool guy more directly than the subtle subversions of Cloud and Squall, I like this awkwardness, yet I understand why others find it unbearable. FFX is inherently divisive, I think that's why it's interesting.
I do understand why this is more love-it-or-hate-it than the other FFs though, I really like the snappiness of the combat coming from IX's sludge and how swapping party members is integrated, but the question-and-answer structure of elemental counters, piercing, statuses etc. does lead the combat to feel very prescribed and on-rails. This is (obviously imo) intentional, it mirrors the linearity and on-rails nature of the areas which itself mirrors the narrative points about societal obligation and the will to rebel against what is expected out of you by society.
And I love that story, Spira weaves a tale of a society laden with convenient silence and religious taboos, nobody confonts their problems, the past continues to haunt the present and this is echoed through every character: Chappu haunts Lulu and Wakka, Jecht haunts Tidus and Auron, everyone has this notion that going on this pilgrimage will redeem them. There's this scathing critique of institutional elites here with Seymour abusing his power and every important figure turning out to be an "unsent", and all of these themes congregate around Yuna’s constant self-sacrifice for the people of spira. This would be a smoothly operating tragedy if it weren't for Tidus and his himbo questioning of everything. Like a child, he wants everything to be justified, and the love story that gets weaved into this complex knot is genuinely just touching and tragic in the best way... Implicitly I feel this game is a critique of "wisdom", it's a critique of the idea that getting old, getting "wise" constitutes learning to accept the world as it is, as is brilliantly told through Auron's tale. An awkwardness permeates every scene, escorting your friend to their certain death is awkward, going against every preconception of how the world should work is awkward, Tidus is awkward, he's a subversion of the cool guy more directly than the subtle subversions of Cloud and Squall, I like this awkwardness, yet I understand why others find it unbearable. FFX is inherently divisive, I think that's why it's interesting.
25
apparently my "least favourite" ueda work but i still really like it. sensual and otherworldly, i'm one of those freaks who actually likes the combat - it's not "fun" but its fatiguing and repetitive in a way which I think works with the tragedy unfolding in the story. Some of the puzzles are annoyingly obtuse though... This particular work has had so much influence and I just like some good ol virtual art ok?! 8
26
Simultaneously simple and deep, a wonderful early imagining of what could be done with twin-stick controls, feels like a deeply underappreciated peak of 80s arcade design. The seed and season mechanic is genuinely genius. 8
27
Was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It's an incredibly pure expression of discovery smuggled into a 128kb cartridge and it's remarkable how much they got right in the first attempt. Most of all I was surprised by how engaging I found the combat to be; it's this very dynamic hit-and-run style of constantly repositioning and weaving in and out of ranges that I found really enjoyable. It also just has really wonderful aesthetic charm. I didn't find the obtuseness that bad but bombing random walls can sometimes feel asinine. 8
28
Link to Review
Kind of an Ace Attorney greatest hits album, synthesizes the best bits into one package. 8
Kind of an Ace Attorney greatest hits album, synthesizes the best bits into one package. 8
29
The pinnacle of classic tetris. Software for the deranged arcade dwellers, sound effects that you hear in your dreams. I didn't clear master because I started to have hand pain...
8
8
30
I really really did not like the combat in this, I wondered to myself whether I just "wasn't an RPG guy", but after marathoning (most of) the final fantasy series and generally enjoying the battles, I think the combat in Earthbound just isn't interesting.
everything else is beautiful and inspired and an absolute landmark of soul and creativity. I like it more now because enough time has passed that I've forgotten how much I didn't like the combat. 8
everything else is beautiful and inspired and an absolute landmark of soul and creativity. I like it more now because enough time has passed that I've forgotten how much I didn't like the combat. 8
31
Really good iteration on the mechanics of gunstar heroes, having a game which is just a boss rush really serves Treasure well imo, I think boss design is consistently one of their best aspects. If I could offer one critique, I think the super-dash (forgot the actual name) is a little too centralising here, it giving you full invincibility is a little strong. 8
32
review I think the from games are a more complete package, more interesting from more angles, this is really sick from a combat + bosses angle though!
33
review we makin it off rubicon with this one
34
I think if this wasn't a really basic take on D&D it would be amazing, but I've kinda stopped caring about that. I've grown to be less harsh on it since writing a review (which i've deleted) and I think in the future i'm just gonna trust my immediate sense of quality more than arcane and nerdy doubts about whether d&d is good or not. This game is very good.
35
11/10 aesthetics. I'm not wild about classicvania but I do respect it a lot, and I think this is the one I can say I actually really like, even if it does grind my gears sometimes. 8
36
Played loads of Cave shmups at the start of the year, this was my favourite but DOJ is very very close behind it. 8
37
great shmup zone 8
38
I wrote a review of this but ultimately didn't post it so... here it is! read if you'd like but be warned it is quite long and has spoilers!!!!:
On paper I was prepared to hate this game, having compared it in my head to Virtue’s Last Reward, another visual novel with a melting pot of sci-fi concepts and non-linear timeline storytelling, but after enjoying this game I think my dislike of VLR is an Uchikoshi thing and nothing particular about any of those individual parts. The structure of 13 Sentinels is its best and most interesting aspect. There are so many layers that make each person’s playthrough unique, those being a) destruction vs remembrance, how much of each the player decides to tackle at once, b) choosing which protagonists to focus in remembrance, c) the individual protagonist’s stories themselves, which aren’t told chronologically and also d) individual timelines like Juro’s which allow for different orders of discovery, though this aspect is lesser than other nonlinear timeline games like Zero Escape. The structure, despite covering so many overlapping perspectives, wastes surprisingly little, with only a handful of events being shown to the player more than once and usually in a way which feels deliberate and tasteful, which is part of why I think I liked this compared to VLR, which in comparison devotes significant playtime to trawling through the same events again with little payoff.
As far as the story itself goes, these kinds of exaggerated sci-fi stories are hard to take seriously (especially once parallel worlds and “it was all a simulation” start getting involved) but the respect 13 Sentinels has for its sci-fi influences is admirable and it presents its tropes in a self-conscious and knowing way that makes them enjoyable. In particular I enjoyed how every protagonist here is a different reference: Sekigahara is Total Recall and a bit of Looper and Memento, Ogata is acting out a time loop Groundhog Day story, Natsuno is E.T mixed with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and a bit of Back to the Future, Takamiya’s story is almost 1-for-1 with Sukeban Deka, but also has some Blade Runner in it with how a character close to her ends up being an android, those androids themselves being obvious Terminator references. Ida and Miyuki Inaba’s dynamic is harping on Perfect Blue, with Inaba herself being a reference to Macross’ Lynn Minmay. Yakushiji heavily references Madoka Magica. Others like Fuyusaka ape on schlocky romantic dramas whereas Hijiyama and Okino have a romcom dynamic, both of which are probably referencing something specific I’m unaware of. The entire thing is probably heavily influenced by Evangelion, the design of the legged kaiju is a reference to War of the Worlds, and the events of 2188 seem to me to reference The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and its various inheritors, but there are probably so many more that I’m missing. I don’t think these are just references for the sake of it either. Science fiction as a genre is heavily concerned with the future of humanity, which perfectly accompanies the themes of personal redemption and generational guilt/succession going on here. An extra layer of reflecting on Japan’s national history is implied with the not-so-subtle insertion of 1945 and 1985 as two critical eras in the plot, the cultural trauma of losing the war set against the boom of the 80s set against a ruined future which underscores the 80s as a period of naive optimism, in more way than one. On paper there’s no way a story that goes to such an extent to include mechas and kaiju and clones and memory loss and time travel and AI and androids and simulation and nanomachines and a talking animal would be able to affect anything meaningful about the world. But I think it works because those things appear in service of greater ruminations about the reluctance of the old guard to hand things over to the new generation, a narrative that should resonate with anyone who feels like they’ve been born and thrust into a world that feels like it’s been screwed by the people who came before.
13 Sentinels does a pretty good job at introducing the hook of each protagonist’s story at a good pace. But for my money, the best section of the game is the middle one, where the fact that every person’s experience of this story will be different, potentially radically so, allows each player to make their own speculations and connections between the events while also slowly unpacking the true answers in a way that feels surprisingly natural for a non-linear story, thanks in part to the locks that sometimes gate story progress and allow significant reveals to be funnelled down a single scene. That being said, I’m not a fan of the ending. There was a moment in the last third where I had this sinking feeling that there would be no way the game could resolve all of its threads in a satisfying way, and while I think its impressive just how many things actually have a cogent explanation, the reliance on the world as a simulation is unsatisfying, especially considering the lengths the game goes previously to provide grounded (or as grounded a story this batshit can be) explanations. My real negativity is for the end of the ending, in which a story that so extensively tried to demonstrate the value of letting go of the past, not trying to prolong your life forever, and entrusting things to the next generation allows all of it’s cast to be revived in the simulation for what I can only guess is eternity? Having Ida, Izumi and Morimura get their happy endings despite the monstrous things they do seems like it’s missing the point, to put it lightly.
My other big complaint is to do with that typical anime perviness. Did we need the characters to be naked in the Sentinel? The worst offender is Morimura, whose very serious role in the story is completely undercut by the voyeuristic outfit and poses the game puts her in, which ended up just making me laugh every time she showed up on the screen. I don’t think these devs actually understand how much of a sacrifice it is to have this kind of stuff in their games. It adds basically nothing in return for taking the player out of the story and making it very unlikely for me to recommend this game to people. That’s really bad!
Back to positivity. The parroted talking point about destruction being tacked on and poorly integrated is something I disagree with! Not only do the scant story beats of the destruction mode interestingly take on different meanings depending on how far the player is in the story, the entire premise of having the end of the story available at the beginning, setting up each protagonist’s story as the process of how they got there is really good! The cold, blue aesthetics of destruction mode feels like a very deliberate counterpoint to the warm orange tones and intimate setting of the story sections. The problem, if there is one, isn’t so much inherent to destruction mode or it’s menu separation from remembrance, it’s the pacing, which seems like an odd thing to say about such a nonlinear game but in my estimation it’s very difficult for a blind player to progress in a way which doesn’t leave massive blocks of destruction to be cleared all at once, which undermines the intention to break it up with the story. Personally I liked destruction. It’s admittedly poorly balanced and strategically loose but kinaesthetically it’s great, enemies give off this satisfying pop, the sound effects of the weapons are great, and the amount of shit on the screen serves to accentuate it as this frantic, desperate scramble to fend off the endless hordes (play on Intense, btw.)
light 8
On paper I was prepared to hate this game, having compared it in my head to Virtue’s Last Reward, another visual novel with a melting pot of sci-fi concepts and non-linear timeline storytelling, but after enjoying this game I think my dislike of VLR is an Uchikoshi thing and nothing particular about any of those individual parts. The structure of 13 Sentinels is its best and most interesting aspect. There are so many layers that make each person’s playthrough unique, those being a) destruction vs remembrance, how much of each the player decides to tackle at once, b) choosing which protagonists to focus in remembrance, c) the individual protagonist’s stories themselves, which aren’t told chronologically and also d) individual timelines like Juro’s which allow for different orders of discovery, though this aspect is lesser than other nonlinear timeline games like Zero Escape. The structure, despite covering so many overlapping perspectives, wastes surprisingly little, with only a handful of events being shown to the player more than once and usually in a way which feels deliberate and tasteful, which is part of why I think I liked this compared to VLR, which in comparison devotes significant playtime to trawling through the same events again with little payoff.
As far as the story itself goes, these kinds of exaggerated sci-fi stories are hard to take seriously (especially once parallel worlds and “it was all a simulation” start getting involved) but the respect 13 Sentinels has for its sci-fi influences is admirable and it presents its tropes in a self-conscious and knowing way that makes them enjoyable. In particular I enjoyed how every protagonist here is a different reference: Sekigahara is Total Recall and a bit of Looper and Memento, Ogata is acting out a time loop Groundhog Day story, Natsuno is E.T mixed with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and a bit of Back to the Future, Takamiya’s story is almost 1-for-1 with Sukeban Deka, but also has some Blade Runner in it with how a character close to her ends up being an android, those androids themselves being obvious Terminator references. Ida and Miyuki Inaba’s dynamic is harping on Perfect Blue, with Inaba herself being a reference to Macross’ Lynn Minmay. Yakushiji heavily references Madoka Magica. Others like Fuyusaka ape on schlocky romantic dramas whereas Hijiyama and Okino have a romcom dynamic, both of which are probably referencing something specific I’m unaware of. The entire thing is probably heavily influenced by Evangelion, the design of the legged kaiju is a reference to War of the Worlds, and the events of 2188 seem to me to reference The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and its various inheritors, but there are probably so many more that I’m missing. I don’t think these are just references for the sake of it either. Science fiction as a genre is heavily concerned with the future of humanity, which perfectly accompanies the themes of personal redemption and generational guilt/succession going on here. An extra layer of reflecting on Japan’s national history is implied with the not-so-subtle insertion of 1945 and 1985 as two critical eras in the plot, the cultural trauma of losing the war set against the boom of the 80s set against a ruined future which underscores the 80s as a period of naive optimism, in more way than one. On paper there’s no way a story that goes to such an extent to include mechas and kaiju and clones and memory loss and time travel and AI and androids and simulation and nanomachines and a talking animal would be able to affect anything meaningful about the world. But I think it works because those things appear in service of greater ruminations about the reluctance of the old guard to hand things over to the new generation, a narrative that should resonate with anyone who feels like they’ve been born and thrust into a world that feels like it’s been screwed by the people who came before.
13 Sentinels does a pretty good job at introducing the hook of each protagonist’s story at a good pace. But for my money, the best section of the game is the middle one, where the fact that every person’s experience of this story will be different, potentially radically so, allows each player to make their own speculations and connections between the events while also slowly unpacking the true answers in a way that feels surprisingly natural for a non-linear story, thanks in part to the locks that sometimes gate story progress and allow significant reveals to be funnelled down a single scene. That being said, I’m not a fan of the ending. There was a moment in the last third where I had this sinking feeling that there would be no way the game could resolve all of its threads in a satisfying way, and while I think its impressive just how many things actually have a cogent explanation, the reliance on the world as a simulation is unsatisfying, especially considering the lengths the game goes previously to provide grounded (or as grounded a story this batshit can be) explanations. My real negativity is for the end of the ending, in which a story that so extensively tried to demonstrate the value of letting go of the past, not trying to prolong your life forever, and entrusting things to the next generation allows all of it’s cast to be revived in the simulation for what I can only guess is eternity? Having Ida, Izumi and Morimura get their happy endings despite the monstrous things they do seems like it’s missing the point, to put it lightly.
My other big complaint is to do with that typical anime perviness. Did we need the characters to be naked in the Sentinel? The worst offender is Morimura, whose very serious role in the story is completely undercut by the voyeuristic outfit and poses the game puts her in, which ended up just making me laugh every time she showed up on the screen. I don’t think these devs actually understand how much of a sacrifice it is to have this kind of stuff in their games. It adds basically nothing in return for taking the player out of the story and making it very unlikely for me to recommend this game to people. That’s really bad!
Back to positivity. The parroted talking point about destruction being tacked on and poorly integrated is something I disagree with! Not only do the scant story beats of the destruction mode interestingly take on different meanings depending on how far the player is in the story, the entire premise of having the end of the story available at the beginning, setting up each protagonist’s story as the process of how they got there is really good! The cold, blue aesthetics of destruction mode feels like a very deliberate counterpoint to the warm orange tones and intimate setting of the story sections. The problem, if there is one, isn’t so much inherent to destruction mode or it’s menu separation from remembrance, it’s the pacing, which seems like an odd thing to say about such a nonlinear game but in my estimation it’s very difficult for a blind player to progress in a way which doesn’t leave massive blocks of destruction to be cleared all at once, which undermines the intention to break it up with the story. Personally I liked destruction. It’s admittedly poorly balanced and strategically loose but kinaesthetically it’s great, enemies give off this satisfying pop, the sound effects of the weapons are great, and the amount of shit on the screen serves to accentuate it as this frantic, desperate scramble to fend off the endless hordes (play on Intense, btw.)
light 8
39
an amazing puzzle game, builds really complex things from simple mechanics. Really fucking difficult in a way that's sometimes very frustrating (at least for me) Strong 7
40
Definitely flawed in a variety of ways, such as platforming, attack magnetism, discouraging experimentation, etc. but it's lovable in part because of what it represents - a big-budget developer making a stylized, earnest, fresh and structurally concise game. 7
41
Really creative shmup. Inspired Zeroranger a lot which is my favourite shmup. I played the arcade version so I missed the apparently profound meta-progression elements of the console iteration. Like a lot of shmups I've played this year I need to play it more to actually give a solid rating so consider these first impressions.
42
Can really feel the massive leap from the NES here, think I just like how hard this game goes for it - music, animation, story, it feels so passionate. Still a little too dungeon-crawly and repetitive for me though, I prefer the setpiece-driven stuff in 6 and onward, although I do really like how concise this game is.
44
Review this is another "writing for the sake of having written something" review, I don't really want to write stuff like this anymore.
45
Link to Review
subjective reactions to art reflect just as much on the recipient as they do the object in question, and I think my lukewarmness on this reflects on my own inability to meet its radical player-directedness half-way, basically, I did not like this game as much as Botw because I am a boring person. I've come to think that a lot of my critiques for this game are just as much issues with me as they are issues with the game. That is something I am just going to have to live with.
subjective reactions to art reflect just as much on the recipient as they do the object in question, and I think my lukewarmness on this reflects on my own inability to meet its radical player-directedness half-way, basically, I did not like this game as much as Botw because I am a boring person. I've come to think that a lot of my critiques for this game are just as much issues with me as they are issues with the game. That is something I am just going to have to live with.
46
Awful objective variety but so interesting narratively. A great example of ludonarrative dissonance actually enhancing the overall effect of the game's themes. Also, it has that Agnus Dei. 7
47
I like thinking about this game much more than I like playing it. It raises a lot of really good questions about the way we interact with virtual worlds, it's trying to resist this tendency to view games as existing to briefly give you pleasure and then be thrown away, it makes this point by asking you to love, i.e, being patient with the game characters in the same way that you would in real life, respect them and sort of think in a similar way to them to get their love points, this is an interesting take on immersion. On the other hand, this is frequently boring. I think this point could have been made in a much more elegant way, but i'm not sure, maybe that would compromise the vision. For that reason, I'm really interested in the games that this team would go on to make later (Chulip, L.O.L, Giftpia, etc)
48
About as narratively trite as AC5 but so much better in every other department. I think the fixated disappointment of the story has lead to this one being a little over-hated. The way I would put it: AC7 has excellent compositions. The music and scenery and scenario designs coming together. I think they're onto something and if AC8 sticks the landing with a good story, that's gonna be amazing. 7
49
Can really feel the passion coming from this one, I generally find I have a soft spot for these "synthetic" works which understand the genre so well and combine the best bits from different games (c.f. ZeroRanger) Wish there were more backgrounds though. Love the music. 7
50
Link to Review
Great fundamental combat that's a little marred by its levels and bosses. 7
Great fundamental combat that's a little marred by its levels and bosses. 7
51
Played through the whole game without realizing that there was a huge expansion DLC... so I guess I'll have to replay it.
52
Loved the dialogue, its a very quotable game. The general art direction and especially sound design is excellent. However, I hated the gameplay. precision shooting with a focus on specific body parts is just way more annoying and finnicky than RE4, which released at a similar time. most of the puzzles were really lame. I'm also not convinced that it's as deep as people make it out to be. there's some good end of history stuff in there but it's such a menagerie of concepts that it's hard to make sense of it. maybe this is just me needing to sit and digest for longer, it can sit here for now. 7
53
Very solid mystery game with an amazing eureka moment near the end. Slightly too confined to its word-matching mechanic and has the Obra Dinn problem of being able to guess the answer even worse than Obra Dinn has it. 7
54
a good cave shmup, nothing interesting to add. People seem to really really love this one so I'm willing to go back and try to discern why it's so special. 7
55
An incredibly fresh and creative approach to the 3rd person platformer. It's pretty rough in a lot of areas and the fundamentals of platforming are pretty bungled, but still incredibly creative and charming. 7
56
A great game compared to it's contemporaries but less creative in the level design department than the original. I think the humour in this one is a little worse than the original. 7
57
Love catching me some apes. Early PS1 vibes with some great music. Interesting controls but the camera sucks. Endgame drags a lot with about 3 instances where it seems like the final level but isn't. 7
58
It's fascinating how much of Treasure's DNA and design tendencies is already on show in their first game. Throwing enemies is something that would later show up in Mischief Makers, some bosses being very reminiscent of the ones in that game. The boss introductions and weapon combos/choices are Alien Soldier down to a T, and there's even some Sin and Punishment in there with how some bosses close in and force hand-to-hand interaction over just shooting. It's definitely a strong entry but at the same time a lot of their later games are stronger purely for the refinement that iteration allows. 7
59
I respect classic castlevania a lot, but I wouldn't say I love it. I'm mature enough to admit this is because I find them too hard, especially the later stages. The pixel art and music is still amazing and the tightness of the movement is satisfying in its own way. 7
60
good, I like DOJ more. I think the difficulty curve in this is kinda wonky. 7
61
Not a huge fan of the HL2 episodes, this is way better than episode 1 but it's still running on a lot of borrowed ideas from basegame 2. Light 7
62
soundtrack goes so hard and the replayability is great but it's not my favourite castlevania experience, definitely need to revisit this one.
63
this is neat. I would classify this as neat. It's an inverse tetris, that's neat.
64
Ended up enjoying this much less than I thought I would; having a momentum-based movement system with advanced techniques is probably the easiest way to make me like your game and yes, that is the best part of the game, a metroidvania that gates areas using expressive 3D movement powerups instead of just “get the blue missile to open the blue door” is a good idea, but it’s actually the “metroidvania” part of the game which I’m less convinced about. Going through this made me appreciative of how actual metroid and actual castlevania are good at subtly guiding you towards progress, a lot of which is helped by having a map. Pseudoregalia has no map and it doesn’t really structure its experience so it's very common to spend a long time just wandering around areas you’ve already been through trying to find where to go. The early game is frustrating because you’ll be constantly finding new areas only to realise you don’t have the movement upgrade to get through it, whereas the late game is frustrating because you know where you have to go, know what upgrade you need, but don’t know which specific place you need to go to find the said upgrade. People criticise Metroid Prime for just showing you where to go after a certain amount of time has passed but playing this makes me think it wasn’t such a bad idea.
Also, whyyyy does this feel the need to shoehorn in combat mechanics, why. Feels like they designed backwards from the final boss because that's the only encounter that feels like it justifies it.
Also, whyyyy does this feel the need to shoehorn in combat mechanics, why. Feels like they designed backwards from the final boss because that's the only encounter that feels like it justifies it.
65
A good remake but its a little sterile and bland, I'm not sure why some people think this is one of the best metroids outside of it's conciseness - which is admittedly nice. 6
67
They nailed mission variety with this one but compared to it's predecessors it has a corny narrative that really leaves a bad aftertaste. 6
68
For some reason they decided to make the net from 1 into a context-sensitive proximity-based unique animation and its so much worse. The monkey filming is funny and charming but the game feels a lot more prescribed in general. 6
69
LOVE the character selection and playstyles here but the actual bullet patterns are not to my taste. 6
70
this is my shit in general but I don't like many of the tracks here unfortunately. I haven't played the multiplayer mode which is apparently very good so i need to check that out soon!
71
Link to Review
One of the most fun FEs gameplay-wise but I really do think the story matters in FE games and this is one of the worst in the series, still had fun playing it though. 6
One of the most fun FEs gameplay-wise but I really do think the story matters in FE games and this is one of the worst in the series, still had fun playing it though. 6
72
Interesting game, has some cool ideas wrt exploring what it means to have a "normal" life and various possible endings but I personally found the second half of the game to be horrifically boring, which I guess is not a totally unintended reaction, I think I wanted something a little more concrete? it's one of those games where if it really resonates then it can be very powerful, but due to the vagueness it will be hit or miss, mostly a miss for me. 6
73
I like so many parts of this but god I hate the fog of war maps so much and there are so many of them.
74
review I hope I can revisit/finish this one in the future but the underlying story being so bad just saps my enthusiasm to do so
75
Bloodlines is a more casual, pick up'n'play take on the classicvania, half-way between the super-loose igavania and the super-tight originals, but I think this puts it in a weird spot; less congruous and clockwork than the NES games, but still kinda persnickety and punishing. I understand why people love it, I think it's ok. 6
76
This is a tragically unfinished game, it permeates almost every part of the experience and feels very threadbare, strung together by grindy quests and combat. Despite the monster hunter pedigree, there's not a lot of personality or character here, blank slate pawns and npcs with some truly drab dialogue, quests like "slay 44 undead" and "gather x herbs". There are cool ideas here, but they are not developed, and a lot of fluff has been injected to fill in the gaps: a slurry of inventory management and upgrade materials and numerical gear progression.
On the bright side, I think there's a possible world where this is amazing, which does make me excited for Dragon's Dogma 2, hopefully the suits let them finish it this time.
On the bright side, I think there's a possible world where this is amazing, which does make me excited for Dragon's Dogma 2, hopefully the suits let them finish it this time.
77
cute af! but also kinda goofy! it's really got some tedious parts and the grinding is still core to the experience, which kind of puts a cap on my love for it.
78
Not deep enough into shumps to understand why this one didn't land as well for me but playing it just felt like going through the motions. Similarly to Garegga, the historical importance of this one is something I respect but I would simply rather play a lot of the great shmups that came after it. 6
79
Very historically important and the music is great but holy shit those bullets are too small! 6
80
The NES FFs are cute, but way too grindy and kinda barebones in too many areas to really feel good for someone playing them in 2023. Definitely respect the roots tho.
Strong 5
Strong 5
81
The writing isn't bad (most of the time) and it has an interesting dice mechanic (at first) but the gameplay completely falls apart and gradually loses tension until it's just waiting for timers. All of the stories in the questlines feel so disjointed tonally, and there's some rare instances of really insipid writing. The lategame of this is probably the most bored I've been playing a game this year. 5
82
this is kinda just sauceless megaman x, doesn't have the cool upgrade system of that game and its ability system is pretty generic, levels are generic and have simplistic designs, everything is really really easy once you have the heal + some health upgrades, and if you're gonna copy megaman, at least have some fun with the naming schemes! every boss is just "cooler circuit", "power circuit". also sincerely felt the romero quote about videogame stories being like porn stories playing this. Screams 5/10 to me.
83
Link to Review
Good port, not so good game.
5
Good port, not so good game.
5
84
I played so many amazing games this year that it was a bit refreshing to play something genuinely, truly mid. pretty boringly serviceable co-op shooter but it's pretty funny that the main stylistic inspiration seems to be borderlands, lol. 2018 was a bit late to be making things with that kind of tone.
85
I think it's cool how experimental it is and putting it in historical context does help but man playing this was just a chore in a way that no other FF was.
86
incredibly eye-rolling "horny=funny" humour that rarely lands married with a super contrived mystery story with laughable reveals and a shoehorned timeline structure that only detracts. The voice acting is good i guess, Aiba and Date have a fun dynamic. 4
87
ugh. so much time spent on boring shit, so much recycled stuff coming from a game that already suffered from so much recycling, boring ass protags, boring meta shit that makes me roll my eyes, same old Uchikoshi wikipedia-dump exposition, somehow the humour has gotten even worse. 3
88