With Formula Retro, have to admit that’s one of the million cheap racing games on Switch I’ve not even considered.  I see it’s on sale on Steam too; will give it a try this weekend!

29. Cuphead The DLC [8]
It's the same recipe but with even better quality ingredients. Some of the new bosses are as good as/better than anything in the main game. The parry challenges that replace the run and gun levels for coin collecting are more enjoyable too. Short but sweet. Although I still think there's a dissonance between the visuals and mechanics that isn't addressed.

92. Rogue Legacy 2 - Xbox Series S (15hrs)

Super sequel that doesn't quite have the majestic combat of Dead Cells, Hades or ScourgeBringer but might pip the lot in terms of the overall package.  I played the original for a few hours on Vita but had to fold after a dozen or so deaths as I couldn't handle the structure back then.  I don't think I even liked comparatively straightforward Metroidvania games at that point in my gaming career, so it's fair to say I'm a changed man.  Maybe I'll be playing 100hr JRPGs in a few years? [Future narrator: oh no he isn't]. I loved the simple walk, jump & wallop gameplay of the original, which felt like it had roots stretching as far back as the 8-bit era, but couldn't handle either the proc gen or one life thing.  I've grown accustomed to it since (thankfully, as plenty of the games that really catch my eye these days seem to adopt a similar approach), and this is more welcoming than most in terms of user-friendliness.  It has house rules for a start, which you can tinker with to make it easier or more difficult in various ways.  I opted for 85% enemy damage and health from the off, which felt perfect for the most part*.  Furthermore there are added niceties in the structure compared to the majority of games of its type.  Warp points that you can pay to unlock permanently.  Bosses that stay dead.  The ability to lock the layout of your previous run as many times as you like (for a percentage of that run's gold, brilliant for retrying bosses).  Characters that level up, base stats that continue to improve, perks to invest in, gear/rune buffs that remain equipable once purchased, multiple character classes each suited to different scenarios.  Plus more I'm forgetting.  The more you play the easier it gets, in a way, but the late game is genuinely tricky and pretty much all the bosses put up a good fight.  It's nasty and nice in equal measures, whereas something like ScourgeBringer revels in being mean.            

Jumping, attacking, dashing and pogoing all feel great here - much like the original the foundations err on the simpler side.  At no point did I feel that the basics were letting me down, which is essential for a high quality rogue.  Being a roguelike the phrase 'there's a lot more to it' is obviously a given with regards to combat intricacies/synergies and whatnot, but it's essential for all good examples of the format to offer a nitty-gritty combat loop that withstands a ton of repetition.  This certainly does.  I rushed it a bit to clear my plate for a delicious last course, but of all the 2D rogues I've played this is the one I'd be most willing to put serious hours into.  There's all sorts of untapped excellence waiting for me if I return, no doubt.  

I mostly played on a Series S but had a few runs on the old One S in the front room, which suffered from performance issues in the second area.  That might be patched out at some point and it might not, so play next gen if you can.  Not quite GotY, but it would be if I hadn't played Olli Olli World.  [9]

*I had to reduce it further for the final boss though - I'd reached level 83 by that point but didn't feel powerful enough/was too scrub, so nerfed it down to 70/70.  My advice to anyone starting out would be 'don't rush it', as the last three guardians all mean business.  

93. Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course (3-4hrs)

I'm a huge fan of the original - along with Ori it was the main reason I treated myself to an otherwise unnecessary One S* - partly because it played such a tight boss hell game and partly because it's one of the best co-op experiences on the market.  I used to play through choice cuts with retroking and along with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Portal 2 it was one of the highlights and would sit proudly in an all-time couch co-op Hall of Fame (games where the two player experience felt intrinsic rather than tacked on are rarer than you'd think).  It's a notoriously demanding game anyway, but due to the damage soak multiplier I thought co-op was a lot harder than playing solo.  Perhaps that's because we both tackled the two player mode first, but it was a sublime game to learn from scratch as a team - the risk/reward character revive threw a welcome spanner in the works missing from the sp mode too.

In terms of difficulty the DLC feels like a different prospect entirely.  I eventually double dipped on the game and burned through simple mode on Switch last year (Tilly noped out of actually playing after two or three stages iirc), so maybe I've put enough yards in to sew Good At Cuphead badges onto my sleeves, but this was a breeze, comparatively speaking.  Retro & I are both a'ight at the old style games (or 'flat games', as Tilly calls them), even so I distinctly remember one of the OG bosses nearly thwarting our plans to progress at least a little every session.  In contrast, with the added hit point given to Chalice in the DLC (not to mention the invulnerable roll and precise air-dash parry) all bosses in this fell quite comfortably within 20 minutes apeice on regular difficulty.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing as the game feels noticeably better to play with Chalice's moveset, but veterans might raise an eyebrow.  As a random statement I'll pluck out my arse, for this to be as tricky as the main game Chalice would have to have her HP nerfed to 2 rather than upped to 4, especially considering one of her specials grants you a shield.  I'm not complaining though, for £6.79 it was a magnificent experience to push through, and on a Cuphead boss tier list only a couple of these would sit in the lower half (agree with Jon that the final boss wasn't as glorious as you'd be entitled to expect, and the hidden boss was more of a neat game changer than a genuine highlight).  The parry side-dishes are truly wonderful too, and each one changes tack commendably.

For the price, panache and the swagger - the original was perhaps the most polished videogame I've ever played and this feels like it might earn an extra Michelin star - I'm feeling a big score coming up.  I don't do a lot of DLC, preferring to gorge on the main course until I'm too stuffed for pudding (me devouring art imitates life), but of the few I've played the only comparably excellent offering I can think of right now is the Octo Expansion for Splatoon 2.  Gourmet Lean Cuisine.   [9]



*YMMV; this was pre Game Pass and there were so few games on it that I needed at that stage of the console's life the purchase felt like a luxury for me, to the point where I still feel a weird urge to justify it to no-one in particular five years on.  I did thoroughly enjoy Quantum Break though don't @ me.

I'm seriously tempting fate by saying this - but I swear Cuphead doesn't feel QUITE as hard as it was at launch!  There must have been more difficult flat games that have come out in the meantime (also I would've played like Hollow Knight and shit after Cuphead).  

Still fully expecting the last couple of bosses to pummel me.

I'm on Switch too, it's really nice to see a properly swish, smooth game on the small screen.  Well worth the money already and haven't even tried the DLC levels yet.

I wasn't as keen as you but the combat was quality.

The coop multi is excellent too, but not enough people give it a go.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

95. Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition - PS5 (70mins)

More of an interactive art installation than a game per se, but this is where I put everything, even if it is the wrong place.  This actually feels a lot more freaky than most of the horror titles that try to unnerve the player with the usual spooky tropes little giggling ghost children or moving paintings.  Familiar music from the albums is interwoven with player interactions - sometimes audio layers are dependent on where you're standing, warping and distorting to excellent effect, sometimes you'll kickstart a track and let the visuals flow around you.  It's a well executed companion piece to the records and the slightly mazelike structure gently encourages exploration (and means you'll miss lots if you rush it).  I expect there are Easter Eggs galore too (there are plenty of QR codes for a start, but my phone won't read them).  It's all a lot more impressive than I was expecting for sure.  Don't bother with it if you don't like the music, obvs, but I'd love to play more of this sort of thing and can't stop thinking about how great a Hazards of Love (The Decemberists) interactive visualiser could be.  This was also the first time I noticed '3D Audio' doing its thing, which sounds great but it's not really '3D' audio, is it?  It just fades or rises to the left or the right earpiece rather than tricking you into thinking Thom Yorke is behind you.  Good luck playing Blind Man's Buff with these audio cues anyway. [Thumbs Up]

I had a couple of bongs and played that and got totally lost in it all was excellent.

96. Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5) - 10-12hrs

What a pleasant surprise.  I'm all for the short but sweet AAA approach with modern games and I'm appreciative of titles like Hellblade, Ryse, Titanfall 2 and Quantum Break.  I'll even doff my cap to The Order: 1886, which was far from terrible.  In many ways, gloriously shiny adventures that keep their ambitions in check are my ideal non-indie experiences these days.  I rarely want 30hrs of one thing, and that's a big reason why I often find these games hit the spot.  I expected this to be a pretty good not-too-distant-retro-sized adventure that didn't outstay its welcome, like a current gen Enslaved perhaps, but despite a few flaws I'd say it's considerably better than that.  

I definitely wasn't expecting such a strong combat system.  Muzzy convinced/goaded me into playing this on standard difficulty (I was all set for story mode as I'd read some 'boy this is tough' chat), and I'm glad he did because this is one of the best fight systems I've encountered in a 3D action game.  Put this on the cobbles with bigger hitters in the 3D adventure field and it'd more than hold its own.  Let's take BotW and God of War (2018) as its imaginary opponents for today.  Kena could effortlessly embarrass Link before he'd even registered as an undercard - like pants round the ankles, dignity gone stuff - then slap the shit out of Kratos without suffering much more than a flesh wound.  The combat really is that good.  And if you don't think it is, that's just because your mileage varied (I can't stop typing it!).  I definitely clicked with it and enjoyed all basic elements of the battle system and the extra layers unlocked as you progress.  It's actually quite brilliant to play, and I was more than a little surprised that the frequent tough-but-fair boss fights are probably the highlight.  I've never played a Souls game, but I've seen this described as a 'Soulsbourne' type, or having 'Soulslike combat', so now I'm sitting here wondering if I should pick a Souls game to try.  Learning and beating each boss in this was excellent, and if those games have combat on par with/superior to this (I don't doubt it's the latter, FYI) I might really enjoy them.  That's irrelevant for now though; what matters is that the fight system in this is genuinely great.

Visually there's not much out there that can touch this on consoles.  Some might complain that it's a little by numbers in terms of art design, but only the types who might say the same thing about Ori (i.e The Wrong Ones).  I really liked the overall look, and if your mileage varies you are INCORRECT.  It all runs at a near-perfect 60fps on PS5 too, which makes it one of the most pleasant looking games of the fledgling gen (also available at 30fps on PS4, or in 30fps moran mode for PS5).  I've seen complaints that the areas aren't varied enough, but it's not a particularly long game and packs more variety in its locales than a big ol' epic might in its first 10hrs.  Underwhelming voicework aside the audio is strong too, especially with headphones.   

If you're looking for a something that feels like an ultimate form Xbox 360 game with a bang up to date layer of sheen that doesn't eat up weeks/months of your life as you chip away at the vastness, you can't go wrong with this.  It's not jack of all trades and it doesn't offer a vast open adventure for you to run into like a giddy hobbit, but it does offer a streamlined, high quality quest.  Even the skill tree isn't daunting, which might be a first for me.  

There are a handful of problems that keep it shy of a [9], but nothing horrendous.  The biggest issue I had was with (minor equipment spoiler, sorry) arrows not firing, and it followed me for the whole game.  There doesn't seem to be a way to draw your bow with an arrow attached and intentionally not let loose when you release the relevant shoulder button, and yet it happened to me dozens of times, usually in the heat of (the sometimes very hot) battles.  Yes, I know you have a finite ammo that recharges over time, no, that wasn't the problem.  I can't see anyone moaning about this online but it did my head in slightly too regularly.  Secrets aren't handled quite as well as they might be as the reward is often orbs, which are fundamentally useless.  You can buy hats for your rot buddies, but they're fundamentally useless too, given that they're cosmetic only.  Most of the cursed chest challenges - although fun to beat - don't offer any real incentive to complete either.  There are invisible wall issues, a few too many glitches and a handful of checkpoint oddities, plus the surface-only swimming feels a bit half baked (clicking L3 should've sped Kena up in water at the very least).  Nothing that can't be easily forgiven for sure, especially considering this is essentially a high quality indie.  From a team with no previous releases on their résumé.  TLDR: I really liked this. [8]

21.The Quarry - 10 Hours - 7/10 - Xbox Series X

Me and the Mrs love playing games from this genre together so we were quite hyped for this especially as it seemed to come out of nowhere, though unfortunately it fell slightly shy of what we expected.

It’s by no means a bad game, and technically it’s massively impressive for the most part. Looks sublime, sounds great, plays great, though the water effects are absolutely awful…Added some new bits and pieces into the formula, a rather pointless hold your breath mechanic but at least it’s something, and a few more choices instead of just directions or button presses. The story is teen flick horror which is exactly what you’d expect and it plays out nicely for the most part, but sometimes all of a sudden the characters or story will be somewhere else at the beginning of a chapter leaving you wonder what you missed somewhere and if it was because of a choice you made or just bad storytelling.

Our play through ended a little earlier as we got everyone killed…which was fun in itself, and we’ll have another go when it’s a little darker at night as it’s not right playing stuff like this in the summer.

Plays nicely, looks great for the most part, had a few scary bits and jumps, but odd storytelling, and some woeful water effects mean it’s just a decent addition to the play-a-movie genre. Definitely worth it for those that like this kinda thing in and around £25.

7/10

I took the TLDR approach:

acemuzzy wrote:

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5) 
Liked it a lot more than I expected. Doesn't outstay its welcome, while the combat isn't exactly Dark Souls it's not awful either, and oof those bosses are actually pretty full-on. And it looks stunning, top notch production values throughout really. [8].

acemuzzy wrote:

I took the TLDR approach:

acemuzzy wrote:

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5) 
Liked it a lot more than I expected. Doesn't outstay its welcome, while the combat isn't exactly Dark Souls it's not awful either, and oof those bosses are actually pretty full-on. And it looks stunning, top notch production values throughout really. [8].

'Not awful' is harsh on the combat! I really should play a DS type though. Sekiro for me, I think, unless a 60fps Bloodborne is announced soon. Worried Sekiro will be stupidly difficult though.

Just over twenty minutes

If that’s ok then yeah course dude! Get in done and back to you in a couple of days. The Quarry the other way if you like?

This is in answer to borrowing Kena Moot, quote doesn’t seem to be working?

acemuzzy wrote:

Just over twenty minutes

If you've replaced hours with minutes for comic effect I reckon I'd be able to stomach that. Can't say I've played many games over 20hrs long that I haven't wished were shorter though. Grid tactics stuff gets a pass, Zelda games are usually quite lengthy too.