Best of the Decade – Number 8: 2013

Next on the chopping block is 2013. A pretty solid year for games and I played a lot this year. I didn’t play a ton of the Triple A offerings, but there were a lot of great indie titles and some really solid third party offerings. So, without further ado, let’s start with those that I didn’t play:

• Metro: Last Light
• Metal Gear Rising
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf
• Saints Row 4
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
• Rayman Legends
• Super Mario 3D World
• Pikmin 3
• Beyond: Two Souls
• State of Decay
• Ni No Kuni
• Path of Exile
• Gran Turismo 6
• Guacamelee
• DmC
• Battlefield 4
• Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (Note: technically this is an expansion which I normally wouldn’t count, but I’ve heard it’s basically a separate campaign, so I’ll include it on the same logic that I included 2014’s Shadowrun Dragonfall)
• Forza Motorsport 5

It might surprise people to see that I played so little of Nintendo’s offerings this year, but I didn’t have a Wii U at the time and my interest in the 3DS wasn’t really there this year. Most of the games here I do want to play at some point though.

 

All right, quickly run down a couple of games I either didn’t like or didn’t finish.

DotA 2 – I’m begrudgingly putting this here because I did technically play it. A bit. Like one or two games. I was already losing interest in League of Legends at the time, and DotA did little to convince me to stick around. I did redownload it last year to play some Auto Chess though. That was pretty fun.

Remember Me – I reviewed this years ago, and my opinion of it is mostly unchanged: It’s okay. Not a mark of shame going here. I had some fun with it, but I felt like it only really scratched the surface of what it wanted to do. A decent time, but not in the running.

Tomb Raider – Pretty sure I reviewed this one as well. A reboot of the classic Tomb Raider franchise, this game was solid, but I felt it was somewhat derivative of other titles (such as Uncharted), had a pretty uninspired story, and Lara’s character development just felt so cookie cutter and forced. I think Yahtzee once pointed out that getting the shit kicked out of you does not count as character development, which is a good point. It’s just a shame that developer Crystal Dynamics seems to think otherwise. I never got into any of the sequels, but I didn’t hate this one, so I’ll definitely try to give those a shot at some point.

Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon – This one I actually DID play through start to finish. I’m a big fan of the first game, but not so much the second. The first game was short, but made up for that weakness with a sprawling mansion that was fun to explore and a huge amount of varied, bombastic, and over-the-top boss battles. It was basically a boss rush mode. Dark Moon instead tries to adopt a mission style formula, which fails, and greatly limits the boss fights for some reason. And the ones that are there are just dreadful (except for the first boss; the spider. That one was clever and fun, which only got my hopes up and let me down for the rest of the game). Not a TERRIBLE game, but very boring and not something I’d want to revisit.

 

And now, let’s step into the good games. Strap in, because there were a lot of quality games this year.

Dead Rising 3 – I only got around to playing this one a few years ago. While it sacrifices some of the over-the-top cheese B-Movie horror elements of the first two games, it adds a massive, sprawling world, lots of weapon combos, a new emphasis on vehicles, and just excels at being a fun zombie killing adventure. Probably my least favorite of the series up to this point (and had some especially dreadful DLC), but still a fun time.

Gone Home – The first of the indies. Get used to them, because there are a LOT coming up. This is basically the father (or mother, if you will), of the “Walking Simulator” genre. And for good reason. While light on gameplay, Gone Home tells a gripping story in a unique manner, and the act of exploring the old house and finding what secrets lie within is a really stellar adventure.

Gunpoint – A really cool and well designed mix between a sidescrolling adventure game and a puzzle game, Gunpoint has a unique mechanic which lets you rewire entire buildings on the fly, from making it so when an elevator arrives on a floor it turns out the lights, to causing someone’s gun to go off when a door is opened. You can really let your imagination run wild in this one and come up with some really creative solutions. All around a really spectacular game. With a little more polish and content, I could easily see this taking GotY.

Rogue Legacy – I played this one a LOT. From the fine folks at Cellar Door Games (makers of classics like “Don’t Shit Your Pants” and “I Have 1 Day”), this is a really solid roguelike dungeon crawler. It’s funny, it’s goofy, it’s action packed, it has a surprisingly good ending to what you’d assume is a paper thin story, and it just has buckets of content. I can’t wait to see what the team has in store, as they’ve recently announced Rogue Legacy 2. But just on its own, Rogue Legacy is still an excellent time.

The Stanley Parable – Another walking simulator. Where Gone Home made a mark by telling a gripping story in a unique way and letting you explore an old house dripping with secrets, The Stanley Parable gets by just being absolutely hilarious. Listening to the Narrator try to guide the player, reason with them, and just all together give up in the end is a joy, as is hunting down unique endings. Not much else to say, except that there is an expanded version of the game scheduled to release this year, so this won’t be the last time that we don’t hear from Stanley. Because, you know, he’s a silent protagonist? I’ll just get to the next game.

Pokemon X+Y – This game gets a surprising amount of hate in the community alongside Sun+Moon and, more recently, Sword+Shield. Personally, I don’t see why. While it may be a somewhat… safe game for the franchise (at least narrative wise), it makes up for it with some really well designed pokemon. People love to dog on Klefki (the Keychain pokemon), but I think most of the designs in this generation, especially the starters, were superb. There were also some much needed quality of life changes on the competitive side. Buffs and nerfs where needed, streamlining EV training, and breeding… this was really the best generation to get into competitive. And I think Mega Evolutions were a great addition as well. They added some really cool strategies competitively, and they were just such a cool addition. It was a cool mechanic and it was fun. I also really like what they did with the visuals. While I’ll always have a soft spot for the pixel art of the earlier games, I think this was a VERY good effort to bring Pokemon into the third dimension, and the Kalos region looked bright, colorful, and really just gorgeous. And, on a smaller note, it was SO fun to get around on roller skates. But at the end of the day it is just a Pokemon game, and despite all the polish and quality of life updates, I can’t in good conscience give GotY to a game that’s still fundamentally the same as the first few entries.

Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us Season 1 – Hey, remember when Telltale existed? Nobody? Huh. Well, in their early days before they completely oversaturated the market by releasing games WAY too quickly, they were busy releasing games hardly at all. The Wolf Among Us had a HUGE gap in releases between Episodes 1 and 2, but once it got going, it really drew me in. The canonical prequel to the Fables comic series (which I’ve never read but I really should get into), this tells the story of Bigby Wolf (AKA, the Big Bad Wolf), currently working as sheriff of Fabletown, which is a hidden village occupied by characters from fairy tales who are hiding in plain sight in suburban America. While there isn’t much interaction with anyone outside of Fabletown, just watching these classic fables reimagined in all these twisted and fascinating ways is just a joy. And seeing them all through the eyes of one of the most famous bad guys in history is just a brilliant idea. Here’s hoping Season 2 comes out… eventually, now that someone else has taken up Telltale’s old projects.

Bioshock Infinite – Shockingly, not the first game in the Bioshock franchise that I’ve played. I’m kind of a massive bitch and avoided the first game in the franchise because I know it’s got a lot of horror themes, but I did give Bioshock 2 a try and thought it was all right. Bioshock Infinite, however, was a MUCH better game. Fast, flowing combat, an interesting story and world, great music and visuals, this game really has it all. And it ties it up with quite a mindfuck of an ending that I really loved. Just an overall really solid game.

Sorcery! 1: The Shamutanti Hills – This one is definitely going to have people scratching their head. This is a mobile game made by Inkle (the same guys who made 80 Days and Heaven’s Vault, featured on the 2014 and 2019 lists respectively). It’s a retelling of the 4-Part Choose Your Own Adventure books of the same name by Steve Jackson (notably NOT the same Steve Jackson who created GURPS, Munchkin, Chez Geek, Zombie Dice, and is head of Steve Jackson Games). This game is a remake of Book 1: The Shamutanti hills. And I LOVE it. It’s worth noting that I’m a bit of a sucker for fantasy, but this is the first time I’ve ever played a professionally made Choose Your Own Adventure game, and I just instantly fell in love. The world building, the interesting combat, the completely amazing and fantastically done magic system, just everything here got me so invested. But what’s really shocking is how replayable it is. There are tons of different paths to take on your way through the map, tons of secrets to find and unlock, and it’s so fun watching your character die a dozen times as you try to feel your way through an unfamiliar path. And from Part 1, the rest of the games get even bigger and more complicated. Something you did or an item you found in Part 1 can end up being immensely important in Part 4, which is what makes this series so amazing to play through. And after I talked it up this much, you might wonder why it isn’t in the top group. And… well, you’ll see in a bit.

 

All right, time for the heavy hitters. Here are the top contenders who fell just short of the goal.

Grand Theft Auto V – I also reviewed this game some time ago, and it was the first GTA game I ever played start to finish. And it was a hell of a way to start. The game is packed to the gills with stuff to do, has an expansive campaign, a really well done story, and the gimmick of having three protagonists that you switch between throughout the story was implemented SO well. The best missions in the game were when you had access to all three at once and could switch between them in the middle of the mission. A really great game, but while it felt like a very polished sandbox game, it still didn’t grab me in the same way as my favorite games from this year.

The Last of Us – A lot of people are going to balk at the fact that I’m not giving Last of Us GotY. Frankly, I don’t even think I’d put it in the top 3. Top 5, maybe, but despite everything this game does well, I don’t think it makes it all the way for me. Ellie and Joel’s crawl across America really was a hell of a story with a really bombastic and shocking ending that set up immense consequences and had huge implications that would radically rock how the series would progress going forward (or should have, at least. But let’s not get into talking about Part 2… right now). The game is gorgeous, has fantastic sound design, voice acting, and music. I do think that the combat isn’t… the greatest. It’s fun, but I’ve never been a huge fan of stealth games, and Last of Us is, in my opinion, primarily a stealth game. If you go in guns blazing every encounter, you’re going to have a bad time. And that’s not a mark against the game. Plenty of people like stealth games, I’ve just always been kind of lukewarm on them. And also, I feel that the game really has next to no replay value, which really says something about the gameplay. But once you’ve seen the story unfold once, you won’t be chomping at the bit to go through it again.

Sorcery! 2: Khare – The Cityport of Traps – And this is why Sorcery! 1 didn’t make the top of the list. Because Sorcery! 2 beat it out. Both released in 2013, and both were amazing, but in my opinion, The Cityport of Traps just blew the original out of the water. Khare is just such an expansive and amazingly fun city to explore. Stumbling your way through the first time is going to be painful for sure; the name doesn’t lie, and there are traps everywhere. Both the conventional kind, and traps in the form of the goddamn mother fucking NPCs who will stab you in the back at every turn. But after you’ve gone through it once, the game just begs you to replay it again. Find the secrets, find the best paths, and find the most efficient way to solve the Gate’s Riddle. An incredible follow up to what had already become one of my favorite mobile games. (By the way, anyone looking to play the Sorcery! games or 80 Days can find them both on the App store and on Steam. Though they’re cheaper on the App Store and far more accessible, since they’re available portably).

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies – Goddamn do I love me some Phoenix Wright. Probably my all time favorite visual novel series. And Dual Destinies is, in my opinion, one of the better entries in that series. I know a lot of people will disagree with that (I kind of understand not liking Apollo, but how can you hate Athena? She’s great!), but Dual Destinies really is a great adventure. While the 3D visuals aren’t nearly as charming as their pixel counterparts, they still do a great job of expressing characters. Also, just as always, the music is fantastic. Honestly better than it has any right to be for a visual novel. But this game had a big job to fill. Coming after Apollo Justice (arguably the weakest game in the franchise) and its attempt to soft reboot the series, this was Capcom’s statement that Phoenix Wright was back. And while many new characters appeared in this one, most of them, unlike in Apollo Justice, you actually like these ones. From the stoic new prosecutor Simon Blackquill down to the peppy, upbeat, and incredibly funny new detective Bobby Fulbright, Dual Destiny has a stellar cast and a really well made story, along with those classic Ace Attorney puzzles that bring you back for more.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – Arguably the last good game in the franchise. I suppose that isn’t fair since I haven’t played Origins or Odyssey and only dabbled in Syndicate, but I was so hurt by Unity and Rogue that I really don’t even want to give them a shot. Anyways, Black Flag was a triumph of a game. Coming off the mediocre AC3, Black Flag knew it had to bring out something special. So it took the best mechanic from AC3 (the naval gameplay) and built a whole game around it. And goddamn is it fun. While the story itself is a bit muddled and confused, the gameplay knows exactly what it wants to do. It wants to give you lots of tools, a big open world, and let you run buck wild. The freedom that the ship allows you is really a breath of fresh air, and changes everything. Exploration, combat, travel… the whole game is just a blast and takes every advantage that the ships offer. Plus you have the sea shanties, the breathtaking vistas, and probably the most stylistic combat that the series has ever seen. While some of the missions can be a slog (throwing in some terrible stealth missions that auto-fail you if you’re spotted), the game overall does everything right. It misses out on being the best game in the franchise (falling behind AC2, which is unfortunately not going to be featured here because it just missed making it into the decade by being released at the end of 2009), but a number 2 spot is nothing to be ashamed of. And speaking of number 1…

 

Like I said, I love me some indie games, and given how thick this year was with them, it should come as no surprise that one of them managed to climb to the top. As much as I loved so many games from this year, one stood head and shoulders above the others and was so fresh and innovative that I couldn’t possibly pick anything else. Of course, I’m talking about…

Papers, Please – So on paper, this game sounds like it should be avoided at all costs. It’s basically a bureaucracy simulator. You play as an immigration inspector at a checkpoint for the fictional country of Arstotzka in 1982. The entire game is just checking the papers for people coming into the country. Depending on if their paperwork checks out or not, you either approve their entry or deny them. So how does this game work so well that it can beat out the likes of The Last of Us, GTA 5, and Black Flag? Well for a lot of reasons, but the main one is that I have never seen a game manage to so effectively weave moral choices into a game. So frequently games just give you a very obvious black and white choice (will you kill that person or spare them?) and then give you appropriate alignment points. Papers, Please is far more dynamic. You’ll interrogate someone coming into your booth about why their passport is expired and their only response will be “please.” Despite there (basically) being no voice acting in the game, you can practically hear the desperation in their voice. Or maybe you just approved a woman to enter the country, and her husband has come in behind her, but his passport has a discrepancy. Are you really going to separate the two of them? And all this is balanced alongside the fact that you have your own family to feed, and making mistakes (intentional or not) comes out of your paycheck. This moment-to-moment moral choice system is excellent, as is how many truly gripping and tragic stories can be told in such unique ways using this system, but the actual gameplay is also surprisingly in-depth. Day 1 you’re simply approving and denying passports depending on what country they’re from. But by Day 20, incoming immigrants are dropping thick portfolios on your desk and it can be surprisingly engrossing to comb through each piece, cross referencing, making sure the name matches on each one, not expired, your picture matches… but wait a second, this seal is forged! Guards! Take him away! Maybe I haven’t convinced you, but designer Lucas Pope did something practically unheard of in the gaming industry: he made something unique. And it isn’t good just because it’s different. It’s good because it’s good. It’s damn good. And frankly, anyone who hasn’t should play through it right now. I promise you won’t regret it.

 

And that’s 2013! Hope you enjoyed it, and see you next time!

Best of the Decade – Number 9: 2019

Originally this year was at the bottom of the list because, if I’m being honest, I played little that actually interested me from this year. While I generally don’t think any year was entirely bad, 2019 is maybe overall the weakest. It did manage to squeak about 2014 at the last minute with a game I played over quarantine… but we’ll get to that soon enough.

 

First, a quick list of noteworthy games this year that I didn’t get around to playing but wanted to make sure you knew I wasn’t forgetting about:

• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
• Steamworld Quest
• Astral Chain
• Gears 5
• Super Mario Maker 2
• Telling Lies
• Tetris 99
• What the Golf?
• Apex Legends
• Daemon X Machina
• Resident Evil 2 Remake
• Death Stranding
• Luigi’s Mansion 3

I actually have copies of Luigi’s Mansion 3, Daemon X Machina, Astral Chain, and What the Golf?, I just haven’t gotten around to playing any of them. I’m pretty weary of putting any Tetris game as a “new” game, but Tetris 99 was popular enough and different enough that I think it merited mentioning. I could probably get a good feel for this game in an hour or two of playing, but I’ve never been a HUGE Tetris fan and I have an idea of what my opinion would be. Even if I do end up liking it, I find it HIGHLY unlikely that 99 will unseat my actual number 1.

To be honest, I didn’t play a TON from this year, and I’m not entirely sure why. So this year is maybe going to be a bit shorter, but it’s going to pick up past this point, mark my words!

 

And now, quick talks about games I didn’t like/didn’t finish:

Pokemon Sword and Shield – Oh boy did this one disappoint me. For the first mainline pokemon game on a home console, I expected this to be the definitive Pokemon game. But it just kind of fell flat. No real noteworthy new features except the Wild Area, a very by-the-numbers story, missing pokemon, poor performance, empty cities, lackluster content, little endgame… I guess it’s not a bad game, but very, very disappointing. Maybe the upcoming expansion packs will help bolster the game though? Here’s hoping.

Heaven’s Vault – Another game by Inkle (makers of 80 Days, mention in the 2014 list), this is maybe their first game that they published that wasn’t mobile. It’s a pretty fascinating visual novel about an archaeologist in a fictional world of islands surrounded by a sea of clouds. It’s advertised as another Choose Your Own Adventure game, but I kind of disagree with that. Your choices are much more limited in Heaven’s Vault than they are in most of Inkle’s other games, and it plays much more like a visual novel. And that’s kind of my main problem with it. It has a really cool art style and high concept, but very little actual gameplay. There are some puzzles for sure, and this weird vocabulary based meta game, but on a whole, it doesn’t have much interactivity and at times it can feel PAINFULLY slow, especially when you just have to sail around the cloud seas for five to ten minutes. And the sailing mechanics aren’t very fun. You get sick of it really quick, but the “fast travel” system is very limited, so you’ll have to play through a lot of it. I’m honestly going too far into detail on this one, but I was honestly pretty disappointed by Inkle’s first project on this scale. I just expected a lot more from them. Unfortunately, when they upgraded the graphics, they were forced to scale back a lot of what made their games so fun. Huge branching narratives, great writing, meaningful choices, great descriptions of areas, and just so much more depth of narrative. I had high hopes for this one, and while it’s still an interesting experience, it feel well short of my expectations.

Phoenix Point – Basically set up to be an XCOM competitor. Though it is quite a bit more complicated than XCOM, which I think is to its detriment. Not dissimilar to a game called Xenonauts that I played for a bit and then dropped. I didn’t finish this one, but would like to get back to it someday.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – I know this was GOTY for a lot of people, but I’ve never really been able to get into Soulslike games. I played a bit of this one and it was fun from what I played, but maybe I just need to be in the right mindset before I really get into it.

Outer Wilds – Pretty solid from what I played, but it’s another one that I didn’t get much into. A fun game about a Groundhog’s Day situation where you have to explore a galaxy before it goes supernova, and do it all over again to try to find out what the hell is going on. It’s definitely a very interesting game and I’d like to play it some more at some point, but for now it’ll have to remain as more of an honorable mention.

 

And now to games that I actually liked!

Untitled Goose Game – The indie darling this year. A fun, goofy, funny game for sure, but it was very short, and the joke started to run a little thin by the end. I felt like maybe there was a bit more they could have done to beef up the game and keep it fresh for longer.

Dicey Dungeons – I’m actually adding this one after I’ve already posted the list. It’s a really solid roguelike with a cute art style and a good sense of humor. Some really egregious RNG holds it back though; frequently it seems like skill takes a backseat to luck, and while luck will always be a part of Roguelikes, it feels like I have far less control in Dicey Dungeons than other games.

Teamfight Tactics – I’ve been playing some auto chess games recently and I had a lot of fun with set 2 of TFT. A fun distraction, but definitely not strong enough to push ahead of the crowd.

Superliminal – A really cool trippy puzzle game I found on Reddit that I played through the Epic Games Store. It uses forced perspective in really interesting ways and definitely borrows elements from the likes of The Stanley Parable and Portal. Unfortunately it isn’t NEARLY as funny as either of those games, nor is its story as strong, but it was fun enough to grab my attention.

Don’t Escape: 4 Days to Survive – A series I recently got into (and is very cheap and quick to catch up on), this is the latest in the “Don’t Escape” series, which is a flash game series from Armor Games which takes the “Escape a Room” point-and-click puzzle genre and flips it on its head. Instead of trying to escape, you’re trying to reinforce a location against something, or otherwise NOT escape. In the first game you’re a werewolf trying to stop yourself from killing anyone when you turn. In the second game you’re trying to reinforce a base before a zombie attack, etc. The first three games are actually all available for free on Armor Games and are pretty short bite-sized experiences (as you’d expect), but there’s also a Steam version which bundles the first three games together. And 4 Days to Survive is a Steam Exclusive game which is the biggest game yet (and, for the record, narratively none of the games are related, so you don’t HAVE to play the first three before playing 4 Days, but I’d recommend it nonetheless because they’re all free, short, and fun). You follow a man named David, trekking through a post-apocolypic wasteland. The weather is wildly dangerous and fluctuates on a dime, terrifying creatures roam the land, and raiders also want you dead. Worst of all, the moon is about to crash to the Earth and kill everyone anyways. But there is some hope in the form of a girl named Cate that you meet who claims she can help you find a spaceship and get out of dodge before everything goes down. But you need to survive for long enough to get that far. For 4 days, to be precise. Fortunately, in your dreams you’re getting premonitions of what dangers are to come that night, giving you time to prepare ahead of time. Sorry this turned into a mini-review, but I kind want to talk about this game and am not sure if it merits its own full review. Either way, it’s good, but pretty graphically primitive, skinny on content, has a bit of a confusing plot that itself doesn’t seem sure what it’s really doing, and pads itself out by making you play through different (but similar) situations in a second playthrough before giving you the true ending.

My Friend Pedro – An interesting take on a action movie kind of game, giving way to slow motion and stylistic kills. Unfortunately, all I seemed to be doing by the end was spamming the dodge move to become practically invincible. As it turns out, all the really cool stuff in the game is also not super easy to pull off or particularly effective, which makes the game less fun. Puzzles at the end of the game also tended to muck up the fun, as did trying to crowbar a coherent story into this game. It’s at its most fun at the beginning when enemies are pushovers and you can experiment more.

Griftlands – I love deck building games. Both physical and digital. In fact, digital DBGs can have something of an advantage over their physical counterparts and provide mechanics that would otherwise be impossible. Griftlands is a really ambitious DBG that goes for a heavier story than its counterparts and I’ve had a lot of fun with it. Unfortunately, its heavier story leads to a much slower format that you’d like for a Roguelike or a Deckbuilder, which gives the game a bit of a hitch (though a recently released mode offers the same DBG action with significantly less story, which definitely helps). Though it’s still in early access, so I can’t award it full points with all the rough patches it still has.

 

Not much there this time, eh? Well, on to the big contenders this year.

The Outer Worlds – (Not to be confused with Outer Wilds. They’re two completely different games that happen to have a very similar name and were both released in 2019) When I heard this game was coming out, I fully expected this game to run away with GotY this year. A new IP made by the team that made Fallout: New Vegas, one of my favorite RPGs? Sign me the hell up! The stars were right for this one to run away with it, but for some reason I just never felt the game was firing on all cylinders. The companions felt a little flat, the story somewhat uninspired, the good high concept let down by a somewhat uninteresting universe, and the game felt weirdly restrictive. Few weapon choices, less character build customization than I’d like, not terribly fun combat, and, most surprising, a world that simply wasn’t super fun to explore. The game is still solid and I had a lot of fun playing it (and some really great writing helps elevate it further), but I can’t help but feeling that the game just came up short almost entirely across the board. Here’s hoping Obsidian’s next endeavor goes better.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night – Another game I expected to really make a much better run at GotY. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed Bloodstained quite a bit. I’m a big fan of metroidvania games, and Bloodstained didn’t disappoint for the most part, though I found the 3D graphics looked a little… bad (making it pixel art just like Symphony of the Night probably would have been more appropriate and looked a hell of a lot better), the story wasn’t super interesting (and seemed like a direct copy paste of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia), and the combat was just okay. It still had a great world, good challenge, huge enemy and weapon variety, and exploring was a blast. I just felt like it had more in it.

Disco Elysium – Did I say that Untitled Goose Game was the indie darling of the year? Because I clearly meant Disco Elysium. Seems like everyone either picked Sekiro or this for their GotY. And… yeah, I can’t deny that it’s a really well made RPG. It has great writing, a deep world full of choices, a really fascinating character building system, some stellar comedy, great mystery, and a story that really kept pushing you through to the end. In particular, the idea to make each of your statistics in the game have their own personalities that you can talk to and interact with as you play is just brilliant and so well realized, leading to some of the funniest moments in the game (such as your Encyclopedia personality flubbing every answer on a quiz and constantly feeding you the wrong answers while you argue with it about how much it really knows). I do have to say that some of the writing and direction the story takes can be a bit… er, big for its britches. Sometimes characters are talking about shit and the analogies and symbolism just completely loses me and I find my eyes just glazing over waiting for it to get back to something I do understand. Also, the lack of any real combat in the game can make the game feel one giant book with graphics. Nothing wrong with a visual novel, but with how the game presented itself, I definitely felt like there’d be… a bit more action involved than I actually got. To be honest, this game made a serious run of it, but there were a couple games I liked more.

Devil May Cry 5 – I have a soft spot for this series. DMC4 was one of the first console games that I ever owned, and despite the problems it had, I really liked that game. And Devil May Cry 5 does not disappoint. It knows that DMC4 was rushed and DMC Reboot wasn’t what the fans wanted, so it returns to its roots and turns everything up to 11. Tons more enemies, three playable characters, tons of different weapons and abilities, lots of varied and huge bosses, balls to the wall action, an incredible soundtrack, snappy one liners… this feels like the ultimate Devil May Cry game. The story can definitely be goofy, but Devil May Cry revels in its silliness and manages to keep things rolling right back into the action whenever it gets in danger of getting too campy. And the combat system/action really is the star here. With three characters and tons of weapons and combos to pick from, combat never gets old, and killing enemies at the end is just as satisfying as killing them at the start. I will say that I wasn’t the biggest fan of how one character (V) fought, but that’s a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things. The story is pretty dumb, but sufficiently over the top and ends on a completely bombastic finale that definitely sets up a future game that I imagine will only get more insane. But still, not my favorite of the year.

 

At one point, I was set to make Devil May Cry 5 my game of the year. But while I delayed making this list and quarantine hit, I happened to finally play a game that had been recommended to me over and over again…

Slay the Spire – Hell. Yes. I touched on this when talking about Griftlands, but I absolutely LOVE deck building games. But up until this year they’ve mostly been physical only. But thanks to Slay the Spire, that’s changing. Digital DBGs are becoming more frequent, and I love it (on a related note: this year’s Monster Train is another fine example of a quality digital DBG and I love it). Slay the Spire is just a quality roguelike. You have four classes to pick from and each play differently. After each fight, you get a chance to add cards to your deck. Throughout the run you’re trying to manage your health, deck size, artifact count, all while trying to set up your disgusting Wombo Combo that will end up winning you the game. And that’s another thing: rather than discourage these gross, borderline game breaking combos, the game almost challenges you to find a way to make them happen. The game is difficult enough that sometimes that level of cheese is necessary to counter the game’s bullshit. But good bullshit. The kind of bullshit you want in a roguelike. You don’t want the game to just roll over and get beaten after the first run (COUGHIntotheBreachCOUGH). You want to EARN that victory. And Slay the Spire allows you to do just that. It has a really unique visual style (almost like a paper cutout art style), a great concept, and the devs are still updating it (one of the four classes was just added earlier this year). So here’s to a huge future for Digital Deck Building Games! And well done to Slay the Spire, my favorite game of 2019.

Series Review: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

“For the honor of Grayskull!”

5 out of 5.

Oh, sorry. Guess I got ahead of myself there. Let me start from the beginning:

I give Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power a 5 out of 5.

…

What? What are you still doing here? Did you not just read my words? 5 out of 5. Go watch it.

……………..

What do you want? A higher number? You want me to give it a 6 out of 5? 7? 8? What number do I have to give this show for you to stop reading this review and just go watch the damn thing?

Uuuuuuuuuuuuugh. You want me to actually explain myself, don’t you? Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. From the top again…

“Hey Adora.”

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a Dreamworks animation studio show put out by Netflix and is a reboot of the 1985 show She-Ra: Princess of Power. Which itself was a spin-off of the 1983 show He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. None of that is super important though and you need no prior knowledge of He-Man or She-Ra to fully enjoy this show. While it retains the same basic outlines of the show (including keeping all of the original names of the characters), it changes everything else. And this time, She-Ra isn’t a spin-off of anything. She has her own show without He-Man being stapled to her. He-Man hasn’t been rebooted since 2002 (though TWO He-Man reboots are currently in the works. I don’t think they have anything to do with this show though), and Dreamworks made the bold play of letting She-Ra lead on her own with a standalone reboot. And it worked.

But I’m getting ahead of myself (again). The story follows Adora, a soldier in the Hoard army that currently seeks to rid the planet Etheria of the evil princesses that infest it. Alongside her teammate and best friend Catra, they’re about to complete their training under their teacher and surrogate mother Shadow Weaver. On the eve of Adora’s first mission as a Force Captain, however, she stumbles across a strange magic sword and crosses paths with one of the enemy princesses, Glimmer, and her best friend Bow. Before long, Adroa learns that the Horde has been lying to her about the true nature of the Princesses and their role in this war. Along with these revelations, Adora discovers that the sword lets her transform into an ancient warrior princess named She-Ra. And with that, Adora severs ties with the Horde and vows to help the Princesses of Etheria defeat Hordak and his army and reclaim the planet. But Adora’s former friend Catra feels betrayed by Adora, and after being elevated to a Force Captain by Hordak, vows to do anything in her power to crush the rebellion and defeat Adora once and for all.

So what makes this show so great? Oh boy where to start.

The art direction is fantastic, and especially looks cool when you compare it to the aesthetics of the original show. Basically every character in the reboot was also in the original show, and looking at how they updated their appearances here is just fascinating. But also, each character and location has a distinct and memorable look. First One technology looks sufficiently ancient and yet still high tech, the halls of Brightmoon are bright, grand, and are so obviously made by people that don’t know war that it doesn’t even have a dungeon (forcing them to keep prisoners in guest bedrooms). It kind of looks like a cross between Steven Universe and Avatar: The Last Airbender if I’m being honest. It’s bright and sparkly when it needs to be, and dark and gloomy when that’s appropriate. Add to that some really crisp, fluid animation and She-Ra has the visual aspect nailed down.

I’m also a fan of the score of this show. It has some really epic instrumentals to really make the fight scenes as epic as they need to be. One small nitpick I have in the sound department though is the OP “Warriors.” It’s a little… uh… how to say this… on the nose? It’s short, but despite that, it’s mostly just repeating the phrases “We must be strong!” and “We must be brave!” I guess I’m kind of spoiled by anime, but it’s just… not very stimulating. It’s not a bad OP, but it definitely could have used some more work.

And now the meat of what makes She-Ra so great: The story, the writing, and the characters. Starting with the story, I love how they went about this reboot. There are basically two schools of thought when it comes to reboots: Retellings, and “Slash and Burn”. The retellings want to stick as close to the original roots of the show as possible, whereas the “Slash and Burn” route just completely redoes everything from the ground up. But both methodologies have issues. The problem with the former is that it tends to keep the flaws of the original (and especially with a campy 80s glorified toy commercial, there are a LOT of flaws to address) intact, and the problem with the latter is that you can end up with a show that’s so different from the original that it might as well be its own thing and basically pays no respect to the nostalgia people have for the original. She-Ra, however, took a similar approach that SomethingWittyEntertainment took when abridging SAO. Realizing that the basic story structure has promise, and tearing it down to that skeleton and working up from there. Still a sort of “Slash and Burn,” but with respect for the original that birthed it. A hybrid method, if you will, and it works wonderfully.

The writing is really the glue that holds everything together. Smart dialogue can say so much in so few words, and She-Ra’s writers know how to grab our attention and keep the plot moving. And it’s also so, so damn funny. There are tons of gags that will hit you out of nowhere and leave you in instant stitches. But really, what I appreciate about She-Ra’s writing the most is how they manage to keep things moving forward and keep pulling out revelation after revelation without stagnating or teasing out a reveal too long. I remember in something like Danganronpa how tired it can be for 90% of the story them to be teasing out one piece of information on what happened in the past, and every time they pretend they’re going to let you in on a piece of the puzzle, they’ll pull the rug out from under you and leave you just as confused and uninformed as you were before. And then not until the end will they hit you with a giant information dump that completely overloads and confuses you. She-Ra dishes out information on the story and characters in a very steady and consistent way, and this especially lets them be bold and bombastic with their finales. Those season finales, by the way, being some of the best episodes by far.

And it isn’t just comedy and story that the writing manages to nail. This show will emotionally drop kick you into a blubbering ball, and it will do it frequently. While the final season is where this happened for me the most, I definitely got misty eyed throughout the previous seasons. The show is great at pushing characters to their emotional breaking point and then letting the audience melt in front of the result. The writers aren’t afraid to push those boundaries, even if it can at times bring out the worst of a character. And at times BECAUSE it brings out the worst of a character. By the end, we’ve seen the best and worst of these characters laid bare to us, which honestly just makes you more attached to them than ever before. And it’s those kinds of risk taking that makes this show so great. Constantly upset the status quo, and the audience won’t be able to look away.

I’ve heard comparisons between She-Ra and Avatar before, and I think those are apt. Both shows realize two major important things for making a compelling epic: giving the main cast a large objective to tackle over the course of several smaller arcs within several seasons, and giving the enemy a face and letting us get to know them. A well realized and characterized villain cast is absolutely critical and can be a force multiplier on an already good story. And She-Ra nails that aspect.

She-Ra’s new story still casts the evil Horde led by Hordak, Catra, Shadow Weaver, and Scorpia to try to take over Eternia and destroy its princesses, and the rebellion led by Queen Angella, Princess Glimmer, and Adora. But the reboot realizes that there’s more to this conflict than just a war. While it’s true that Adora was also a Horde soldier later turned to good in the original, from what I can tell, her relationship with Catra is almost entirely new in the reboot. And that relationship is the key to making this entire story working. Not only does it allow us a grounded conflict point for the war as a whole, but it also helps us understand our characters better. And a great story is meaningless without great characters. Which leads very well into my next talking point…

She-Ra’s greatest strength certainly lies in its characters. I cannot think of a single character that does not work within the context of the story. Every single one of them fits their role perfectly and is expertly written. Not only that, but practically all of them have a unique arc that rounds out their character and just makes it a joy to watch them grow. Be it Glimmer’s struggle to learn how to be a leader, Scorpia’s rejected advances on Catra, or Mermista’s incredibly complex relationship with Sea Hawk. Of course, Bright Moon’s cast is excellent. Just on the topic of Adora, Glimmer, and Bow’s friendship, the twists and turns it takes is just as wild and unpredictable as… well, a real friendship. But once you add Glimmer’s strained relationship with her widowed mother Angella, all the other princesses of Etheria, Swift Wind, Madam Raz, Light Hope, and more… it’s practically impossible for me to even paraphrase all of the nuanced relationships and interactions on display. But what really pushes it over the top are the villains. So many series make the mistake of turning their villain into some generic monster that becomes such a bore to battle. But as I mentioned earlier, She-Ra knows the importance of a good villain team, and the villains of the Horde are incredible. Catra, Scorpia, and even Hordak all have complex personalities and unique relationships and, most importantly, we get a chance to see them all in action. Some episodes will have us mostly following the Horde, which gives us more time to be with and connect with these villains. Hell, I found myself getting so attached to the villains that at times I wasn’t quite sure who to side with at times. By the end of the series, you’re going to be shocked at who you end up rooting for. The only minor issue with the villains is that the final season brings in a new villain who’s meant to be the biggest bad of them all, the big obstacle for the heroes to overcome. But because he wasn’t around for the first four seasons, he isn’t nearly as interesting as our original villains. He ends up more as a punching bag than anything else. The writers definitely try to cram some interesting stuff in there for him, but we end up knowing next to nothing about his background or motivations, which makes it hard to get invested as him as the villain, and likewise makes defeating him feel like a secondary objective of the season even if it’s supposed to be far and away the primary objective.

But at the center of it all is that conflict between Adora and Catra. It’s painful at the start to see two people who obviously care about each other end up on opposite sides of the war, but their personalities so perfectly clash that you end up practically begging to see how it turns out. Adora has something of a hero complex, desperately wanting to save everyone and frequently throwing her own safety out of the window to accomplish that, which is frequently not the best solution and tends to get her into more trouble than it solves. She also feels this great burden thrust upon her by the title of She-Ra and lacks confidence in her ability to become the hero that everyone needs. Catra, meanwhile, has a chip on her shoulder the size of Texas. Her whole life she was getting upstaged by Adora and psychologically abused by Shadow Weaver, who was meanwhile grooming and doting on Adora the whole time. But despite that, they were very close friends. So when Adora switches sides, something inside of Catra snaps. She feels betrayed that Adora left again, frustrated that once again Adora is special and admired by literally everyone, and confused as Shadow Weaver still fails to trust her and seems more interested in bringing a traitor back home than to use the resource in front of her. And within these conflicting emotions, Catra reasons that if she can finally best Adora, everything in her life will finally come together and she’ll finally get the recognition she deserves. So we have two characters squaring off against each other, both with intimate knowledge of the other one and yet barely a clue what to do, and both who feel that they can’t afford to lose. Catra’s journey is honestly the most fascinating in the show because she, more than anyone else, has no idea who she is at the beginning of the story. And watching her struggle to figure that out make up the best parts of the entire story. And her own complex relationships with Scorpia, Shadow Weaver, Hordak, and of course Adora further enrich her journey.

If it sounds like I’m being intentionally vague, it’s because I am. I really don’t want to spoil anything, because this story is really, really good and deserves to be experienced with fresh eyes. The pacing is almost perfect and compelled me to watch all five seasons (basically four, since seasons 2 and 3 are each half seasons) in about a week. The last two seasons in particular I binged in just a couple of days. While the entire story is damn good, the ending is where everything comes together. The house of cards set up in the previous seasons comes tumbling down and it’s time to see how all the previous decisions and relationships established by these characters pan out. I’ll be honest, the last two episodes had me a blubbering mess. Tears were basically pouring from my eyes constantly. And that’s just a testament to how good these characters are. Even though I had some idea going into this how it would end up (it’s rated Y-7, so I didn’t expect half the cast to kick the bucket or anything), the story had me immersed and made me care about the characters so much that everything in the climax hit me and hit me hard. And like I’ve been saying, if you can immerse us and get us to care about your characters, everything else will come naturally. And this show had me more invested than most other shows I’ve seen in my life, which is one of the biggest compliments I can give a show.

If I have to criticize a few things about the story, I’d have to say that a few characters can, at times, slightly jump in personality and motivations, and the story doesn’t really have time to/care to explain how and why. Also, for as well as the final season ties everything up, I have a few issues with it. First of all, a few things about the world are never, EVER addressed. For example, fans of Masters of the Universe are familiar with Castle Grayskull, which is basically where She-Ra draws her power from (or rather, where her powers originated) but despite it still being part of her battlecry, nobody ever bothers to ask “hey, I wonder what Grayskull is?” Also, as I mentioned before, the final season’s villain is a bit of a let down. Compared to the villains we’ve had before, the series has shown me that it’s capable of so, SO much more.

I also feel like, as great and compelling as the final season is, it feels a little bit too tightly packed. The final two episodes in particular has a TON of shit going on to the point that you barely have time to digest it. It’s all good stuff, but if he had been stretched out into two episodes or had a double length episode to tie everything up, that may have worked better. Better still, the entire final arc of the show might have made more sense as two seasons, or at least an extended season. So many big moments and revelations happening back to back to back, and there just isn’t much time for each moment to breath and for characters to react to what’s happening. And it also would have given us a chance to see more of these characters interact at the end of their character arcs, which I really missed. Certain characters who I expected to have really moving reunions and moments in season 5 instead barely interacted at all. A couple characters were all but cut from the season entirely. And is it just me, or could anyone else REALLY do for an epilogue? Everything was wrapped up very well, but I’d just love one episode set a year or so in the future to show where everyone is and how everything developed. Maybe they’re saving that for a special, maybe they have more plans for these characters down the line (despite the fact that Season 5 is meant as the final season of this particular series), or maybe that’s just never going to happen, but just with how jam packed the final episode was, I just felt like one episode to show how everyone is getting along would give a real sense of closure for the series.

(NOTE: After finishing this review I did see that in the past couple of months fans have been asking Netflix to fund a She-Ra movie, and the showrunner says that she’s on board as long as Netflix gives it the green light. And with the number of people who have been asking for it on par with the number who asked for the Snyder cut of Justice League, I’m optimistic that this isn’t the last we’ll see of She-Ra.)

Some people could also say that the story is a bit predictable at times, but like I said, when you draw the audience in and make them care, it doesn’t really matter that the story is predictable. You care about what happens no matter how it happens. There’s also something to be said for how keeping some of the old names of these characters can definitely make certain aspects a bit… goofy. Having an anthropomorphic cat named Catra is a little on the nose, as is the water princess being named Mermista. But I think it was smart to keep the names as they are. It’s a great tribute to the original, and makes a great comparison point to show how each character was updated for the modern times, plus fans of the original show will definitely get a kick out if it knowing that basically all of the characters from the original show are returning.

One last thing I should mention is that some very thick people are probably going to say “this show has too many gay characters” and use that as a negative. Obviously, anyone pulling that card can fuck right off. But to address it very briefly, yes there are a lot of gay characters but… well, this is the Masters of the Universe…verse. No doubt everyone is familiar with how overtly flamboyant the original shows are. In fact, I wouldn’t find it surprising to learn that the original He-Man and She-Ra cartoons have a big LGBT following because… well, they’re just full of those kinds of themes. And the reboot doesn’t shy away from those roots. Rather, it embraces them. To an extent that’s pretty refreshing for a show that is meant for people of all ages. None of this wishy-washy “Oh, are they gay? Are they a couple?” She-Ra has the balls to say “I SHIP IT! THIS IS A CANONICAL GAY COUPLE BITCHES!” and let that be the end of it. Point is, yeah, there are heavy LGBT themes in this show. They don’t need to be justified, but the roots of the series justify it anyways. Don’t make a big deal about it. It makes sense, and it’s respectful.

I just really, really liked this series. It’s been a long time since a show has made me care THIS much about its cast, made me THIS obsessed with watching all of it, and made me so eager to share it with everyone. I cannot recommend this show highly enough. If you’re worried that it’s going to be too goofy, or that it’s for kids, don’t be. The show was smartly constructed in a way that people of all ages can appreciate everything on screen and I have no doubt that different people will walk away from She-Ra with different messages and lessons. If you haven’t yet, drop whatever you’re doing and go watch it.

I give Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power a 5 out of 5.

Happy? Now, for the love of god, go watch it.

Best of the Decade – Number 10: 2014

Well, something’s gotta come at the bottom, leaving me with 2014. Keep in mind, I don’t necessarily think that this is a bad year for gaming, it’s more that games this year just weren’t as impactful for me. So real quick, we’ll go over the noteworthy titles from this year that I didn’t play. For the most part, I won’t be making much comment on these games on any list:

• Destiny
• Dark Souls 2
• The Evil Within
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
• inFamous: Second Son
• Elite Dangerous
• Titanfall
• Divinity: Original Sin
• South Park: Stick of Truth
• Bayonetta 2

Not much to say about those games, just never got around to them. A couple (like Donkey Kong, Bayonetta, and Divinity) I do want to get around to, but that’s for another day. Now let’s quickly take a look at games I played and either didn’t like, or didn’t finish. I’ll talk very briefly about these  and then move on to the actual contenders:

Assassin’s Creed: Unity – Oh boy do I hate this game. I love the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and in my opinion, this was the first major failure. 3 and Rogue had serious problems, but Unity was a complete mess and started a new era of Assassin’s Creed that ignored story in favor of RPG elements and microtransactions.

Far Cry 4 – It’s Far Cry 3 but worse. Frankly, Far Cry 3 is the only Far Cry game I’ve played and actually liked.

Child of Light – I only played a bit of this game. What I played was all right, but not really compelling enough for me to dig into it.

 

Okay, so now some real contenders. I’ll talk briefly about games I liked that fell short, and then we’ll get into the big contenders. So now, in no particular order:

Dragon Age: Inquisition – A nice recovery after Dragon Age 2’s colossal failure. It was a fine game and all, but the story failed to live up to Origins, it had a repetitive mission structure, and again just left me somewhat disappointed in Bioware. And unfortunately, this wouldn’t end up being the recovery Bioware needed. If anything, it just kept the illusion that everything was peachy at the studio going for a little longer.

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U – I mainly played the 3DS version, but they’re both pretty similar. I love Smash, but they’ve never really pushed the envelope in a way that makes me say “Game of the year!” But having portable Smash for the first time was a major plus and, c’mon, it’s Smash.

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor – This one surprised me because I’m not really a big Lord of the Rings fan, but this game was really fun. Basically it was the good Assassin’s Creed game for the year. Still, the story wasn’t especially compelling and it lacked big, populated cities that are so fun to move around in that AC has.

Hearthstone – Hard to believe this game is six years old now. It’s fun, but it has had a lot of ups and downs over the years. And definitely not engaging enough for me to make it GotY.

80 Days – You won’t find many mobile games on these lists, except by the fine folks at Inkle. Those guys make very quality mobile games, and 80 Days is one of them. An engaging adventure around the world, and even got some free DLC later in its life. Fun game, but a bit lean in terms of content and gameplay.

Mario Kart 8 – Technically I’ve only played Deluxe on Switch, but it’s a very similar game. Probably one of the best Mario Karts ever made. But despite the fun I do have with it, it’s definitely short on single player content and story that I prefer in my games.

Shadowrun: Dragonfall – So technically Shadowrun Returns was a 2013 game, but Dragonfall was an entirely new campaign released in 2014, so I’ll bend the rules a bit for it. Shadowrun Returns’ initial campaign, Dead Man’s Switch, was terrible. Just a terribly boring story. Dragonfall rectified that and was a damn good time. Lots of interesting characters, an interesting premise, twists and turns… it had everything that Dead Man’s Switch was missing. But I never finished it and the bad taste in my mouth from Dead Man’s Switch keeps me from putting Dragonfall closer to the prize.

Civilization: Beyond Earth – It was a decent addition to the Civilization franchise, but most of its innovation really didn’t make the game better. Just more confusing. Frankly, no Civilization game since 5 has really engaged me.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War – Ah, this is that good indie artsy fartsy shit that I love. A really emotional and varied trip through World War 1, some tightening up and polish could have really pushed this game into high contention.

 

And now, the main contenders:

The Banner Saga – Man I really liked this game. A really interesting and different combat system that emphasizes strategy above all else, and a really gripping story pushing you through it. I don’t have much bad to say about it, but I definitely felt like it was missing… something. I don’t know. I’ve played the second game as well, but not the third. Maybe that will tie everything up for me.

This War of Mine – I touched on this when talking about Valiant Hearts, but I really love Indie games that push the story boundary, and you’re going to see a LOT of that on these lists. Frankly, I just think indie games are where all the innovation is nowadays. And This War of Mine really pushes that hard. A really dark game about a group of civilians trying to survive in the middle of a civil war until a ceasefire is called, it really drives home how helpless you are and what terrible things you have to do to survive. Lots of extra content added after release, this is just a wonderfully depressing game. But it’s gameplay loop can definitely get old after a while and lacks one long campaign to tie everything together.

Wolfenstein: The New Order – Talk about a turbo kick of a reboot to revitalize a franchise. We’ll talk about this more in a future entry, but we’re reaching the point where modern shooters like Battlefield and Call of Duty are getting their teeth kicked in (at least in my opinion) by story driven single player shooters and emphasize style and fun. This game wears its silliness on its sleeve. It knows that it’s ridiculous, so it just has fun with it, and it pays off very well. Great game, but not my favorite of the year.

 

But no, this was the year that an Indie hero would rise up and inspire countless retro style games to follow in his footsteps. I’m talking of course about…

Shovel Knight – I’ll be honest, I’m not a HUGE Shovel Knight fan like some others are, but I can’t deny that this is a damn great game, and hugely influential. Thanks to this game, retro revivals are still being made to this day and can still be hugely successful. And even just on its own merits it kicks ass. Visuals, music, gameplay, design, this game ticks lots of boxes and does it well. Technically I haven’t finished the main game, but I’ve played most of it, and even without me liking it on the same level of others, it’s pretty clear to me that this is the best game of 2014.

I’m going to be honest, Shovel Knight is going to be far from the only indie winner on these lists. Like I said, I think that true innovation and boundary pushing art and story in this medium are found in the indie titles. And frequently, in my experience, a little indie pixel-art game can be loads more fun that the biggest and most extravagantly made Triple-A game on the market. So my lists will tend to reflect that, but the Triple-A market definitely got their licks in all the same.

Anyways, I had fun with this list and hope that you enjoyed reading it. I’ll be back sometime in the near future with the next entry. Until then, stay safe out there and play more games.

Games of the Decade

With 2020 here, all sorts of outlets have been doing lists of the decade. Best movies, books, TV shows, songs, and yes, video games. And I decided to throw my hat in the ring and give my take. Obviously this is a bit… late for such a list. I was supposed to do this much earlier in the year, but with the quarantine happening I thought it’d be a decent chance to get caught up on some games I missed. And while that sort of happened, I definitely didn’t end up playing as many games as I wanted, which leaves some giant heavy hitters like Nier: Automata and The Witcher 3 off of this list. But 10 years is a long time, and organizing my thoughts is going to be tough, so let’s throw down some ground rules:

• I will be picking a Game of the Year for each year from 2010 to 2019, then I’ll be organizing those ten based on which I think is the best. Then I’ll talk about the years and my thought process in reverse order. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the year I think the best game is from was the best year, but it’s more of a rough estimate. This also doesn’t necessarily mean that these are my absolute 10 favorite games of the decade. If I were doing that, I’d have several games from the same years in my list, and I thought this would be an easier way to do it instead.
• The games will be organized by their ORIGINAL release date, even if I played a different version. For example, I played Gravity Rush: Remastered on PS4 (released in 2015), but the original Gravity Rush released in 2012, so it will count as a 2012 game.
• Obviously, this means that re-releases and remasters won’t count as their own entries. Full blown from the ground up remakes will still count as their own thing, however (Shadow of the Colossus for PS4 will not count, but Resident Evil 2 Remake will count). This also includes “special edition” games (Persona 5 Royale and Dragon Quest XI S Definitive Edition will not count).
• Games that were released episodically or had early access will be tricky. I’ll try to use the first date that an episode was released and the first date than and Early Access game was available to the public (so, for instance, the year that Minecraft’s public Alpha went live), but this rule is a bit fluid.
• I will also be featuring games that I know a lot of people were talking about from those years that I didn’t play, just so you know I’m (probably) not forgetting anything. I won’t talk about most of those, but they’ll still be listed.

I don’t know how long this project will take (hopefully not as long as the Pixar project, especially since I have my list already populated), but I’ll try to get a piece out every week or two. No promises though.

Quick preview of the first entry though. There was one year I was almost certain would take the bottom slot, but after one game in particular caught my eye, it managed to squeak up to ninth place. So the first year is going to be… 2014. Stay tuned.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Number 10: 2014

Number 9: 2019

Number 8: 2013