Fine, Moot.  Fine.

1. Immortality (XBSX) - 8/1 (?hrs)
This is... something.  Some kind of thing.  I don't know what kind of thing, but it's a good thing.  A brilliant piece of thing.

If you've played Sam Barlow's previous games, you know what you're getting yourself into.  The complexity is a step above with a lot more live action footage to sift through and interrogate, but the performances and the writing elevate this to a far loftier position, thanks in no small part to the lead role played by Manon Gage and the smaller (in screen time at least) and even better performing role from Charlotta Mohlin.

There are many facets to the game, including insight into filmmaking, three interesting films to piece together, and the subverted underlying (and somewhat unnerving) game story to uncover.  This really must have taken some putting together and it's a wonder that it all hangs together so well.

It falls just short of a [10] for me as I found my attention wandering ever so slightly on occasion and also losing sight of whether I had already unvovered and viewed a particular clip before (in hindsight I could have used the 'favourite' option), but is essential for anyone who wants more from gaming than shooting aliens in the head.
[9]

8. Lunistice - Switch (1hr 32mins)

Well now.  I've read a couple of things suggesting internet word of mouth has been spreading for this since it launched in November.  Much as I'd like to type 'buzz' it's probably more of a low-level hum as a few dozen people have realised it's surprisingly legit, but please understand (as they like to say in Nintendoland): this is a quality game.  Nintendo Life weighed in with a big 9, but they slapped the same score on Demon Turf: Neon Splash, so I'll be forever dubious of their 3D platforming takes.  Then Nintendo World Report went high with an 8.5, and in my experience/opinion they're pretty reliable when it comes to grading indies of all types.  It's £4.99, so I didn't even wait for a sale, and honestly I'm pretty blown away with how good this is at what it does.

So what does it do?  It mimics into the screen 32-bit platformers to an extent, but a) there weren't really an abundance of those and b) it's abundantly clear this is better than the few that exist.  For comparison's sake, the running and jumping here is also superior to Crash 4, and the rails sections are better that those seen in Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart.  I like this sort of thing, despite the fact that I've never been keen on the Bandicoot games, and both Super Magnetic Neo and the first Sly Cooper would do reasonably well on my 128-bit favourites list.  This is more of a speedrun/assault course type than those, but the controls are pretty much perfect for everything you'll need to do and it succeeds where so many 3D platformers fail - judging where your character is in relation to obstacles feels bang on, and I rarely misjudged jumps due to misinterpreting distances.  You can jump, you can double jump and you can spin attack, which doubles as an extra jump if you time it right, and aside from rudimentary camera controls that's it.  It really is impressive how well this plays, especially considering how many comparable titles bodge the basics.

TLDR: If a 32-bit styled, 60fps funnelled 3D platformer with excellent controls and neatly designed checkpoints, a non-fiendish difficulty level, plenty of scope for replayability and a campaign that only consists of seven levels sounds like something you might enjoy, please trust me on this: you won't be disappointed.  A lesser-known gem that deserves to be appreciated.  I think @wariospeedwagon might have fun with this, but it might be worth @regmcfly giving it a go as a nice companion piece to Super Kiwi 64.  I'd be surprised if I find a better bargain basement banger this year.  [8]

9. Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider - Switch (3hrs)

Me two weeks ago, after buying Sports Story at launch: "I'm done buying indies at launch". Also me, as soon as this dropped on the EShop yesterday: *CLICK*. Luckily this one feels like it was actually finished before release, so it's an increasingly rare win for day one gaming.

From the developers of Blazing Chrome, which I replayed in anticipation last week, this is a pick-a-linear-stage retro inspired side scroller that feels like someone combined a few megabits from Strider, Shinobi III, Ninja Gaiden, Power Blade and Shatterhand, gave it a lick of paint from tins marked 'Ranger X' and 'Hagane', and turbocharged a Mega Drive to run their vision (or attached it to a Mega CD, for a more specific tech I reckon). If you've played Cyber Shadow, Panzer Paladin or Steel Assualt you'll know what to expect - a 16-bit love letter that feels like it's mimicking the era precisely, but really isn't because it's so generous with its checkpoints and save system. In terms of screen to screen difficulty it's like playing a notoriously tricky game on practice mode (you know, the sort of mode where it probably wouldn't let you progress past level 3). If you use a continue you don't even get booted back to the start of the current level, just the last checkpoint you reached. Probotector this ain't. Ergo I'm not sure what the 'hard as nails' vibe to most of the reviews is all about, as this was a walk in the park compared to most similar titles. To the point where I wouldn't describe it as difficult at all, thanks in no small part to the fact that the bosses - which are mostly well designed with nice patterns - can just be brute force battered for the most part, occasionally at the first attempt (which rather ruins the whole 'well designed boss' thing). I approached the game with caution at first, even returning to stage 1 immediately to nab a couple of extra lives, but there's really no point, even less so after you find the health regeneration perk. Once you use a continue for the first time it gifts you an armour perk that caps the level grades at B if you equip it, and I didn't consider using it once. So the difficulty feels a bit off, but perhaps that's because I'm well versed in the format. But then surely so are most people who buy this sort of thing? Bizarrely I'd say this is a piece of piss on the whole, but my opinion seems to differ from most reviewers on this so clearly I'm just l33t.

Still, it's a quality little game nonetheless. Cyber Shadow probably had more quality, but it was spread out over a slightly overlong campaign punctuated with occasional average sections and hamstrung by fiddly controls in places. This plays better than Steel Assault (although doesn't quite look as gorgeous) and doesn't have the muddled weapon system of Panzer Paladin. It's all much of a muchness which you prefer as they're all decent, but without committing myself to anything too precise I'd say this goes in the middle somewhere. Nu retro connoisseurs should play all four anyway.

Admittedly it's (yet) another pixel art modern throwback. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, and there are multiple dozen spares in the bandwagon and on the horizon at any given time, not that they're threatening to come off any time soon imo (wot?). It's 'just' a good old fashioned, straightforward game, and if you like this sort of thing it's an [8]. I fucking love this sort of thing, btw. Juicy graphics, bumping soundtrack, varied stages and an into the screen bike section or two (think SNES/MCD Batman Returns). It's probably a little overpriced at £13.99 but definitely one to stick on a watch list to snag yourself an absolute bargain when it eventually hits the magical 50% off mark.

Will definitely be getting Moonrider at some point!  Thought it might launch on Game Pass (pretty sure Blazing Chrome did?).  Oh well, it'll be well suited to Switch.  Also realised I'd forgotten to get Steel Assault.  Onto the wishlist before I forget.

1. There Is No Game (PC) 8/10

This is a charming and often hilarious point n clicker somewhat in the vein of the amazing There's A Monster At The End of This Book Starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover - It's about a game that does not want to be played and it goes to great lengths to get you to bugger off and play something else.  

It does a great job of mixing things up across the levels, though the interface just involves you clicking on things.  You do get some tricky point n click puzzles, which would normally be a red flag, but I'm pretty sure everything is logical (once you're thinking like the game wants you to!) and it has a super handy hint section (if you ask for enough hints, it will eventually give you the solution.  I'm pretty lazy and used this multiple times, and once the solution was revealed, I usually felt a bit dumb that I couldn't work it out myself).  It's really user friendly, considering it doesn't want you to play it.

I'm reluctant to say too much more beyond: the jokes and puzzles are mostly of a high quality, and the story has a lot more meat on the bone than its premise might suggest, and it works!  It could probably shave an hour off it's 5 hour running time and not lose too much though - I feel like a couple of the levels wore out there welcome.  A great little clever oddball.

10. Lichtspeer: Double Speer Edition - Switch (3.5hrs)

Feels like I'm on a decent run of games I've thoroughly enjoyed. I've been meaning to get round to this for years - I think I even had it on PS+ at one point - but it never quite made it to the top of the pile of shame. In the early 2000s we used to play a flash(?) game at work where two stickmen took turns firing one-hit-kill arrows at each other over massive distances. Pretty simplistic stuff, but I loved the trajectory based core. Trailers to this suggested it borrowed the gist of that flash game (and other titles, I expect), but unfortunately added elements of tower defence which tempered my high expectations as I don't usually enjoy that format. It's not really tower defence per se, although it kind of is if you galaxy brain it and think of your character as the tower. During playable sections you're always stationary, and enemy hordes amble towards the player until you die or beat a given segment (of which there are usually five per level). Not my thing on paper really, but thanks to the feel of lining up and releasing the the spears it's absolutely glorious. Even der uber gut sehr German shtick didn't get on my nerves.

So what are the key elements to its success? Firstly, the throwing arc for the one-shotting is perfect. Secondly, it's one of the best 2D headshot games I've ever played. Up there with Steamworld Heist for the thrill of a noggin strike. Thirdly, it's relentlessly difficult in an expertly designed way - these aren't randomised hordes shuffling towards you, as each checkpoint is a precisely designed exam. That's not to say that there's no leeway for personalised play - in practice there's not really a strict pattern to success, despite the specific enemy order, as you'll need to think on your feet to mitigate inevitable misses. It reminded me of One Finger Death Punch in a way, albeit with measured/less frantic feel. Things get a bit more precise for bosses, which tend to require more exacting pattern learning. The rote approach to guardians may be a problem for some as they're very difficult at times, but I can't think of a better way to handle them, so it gets a huge thumbs up for me (especially as there are some nifty variations of the basics to mix things up). The last boss took me just over a third of my total playtime to finally beat, but it was definitely still within the Good Frustration zone.

£1.79 x how addicted I was + the goodfeels of turning failure into success brings the fag packet maths total to a high [8] for me. Not for everyone, but I absolutely loved it. Right up my straße.

Somebody nees to tell Moot ‘addicted’ isn’t a word.

3. Somerville - PC 3hrs 35mins - Walk right to left (for the most part) in this War of The Worlds (but more really like Oblivion) puzzle game, I believe from some devs who worked on Limbo and Inside. Setting was great, puzzles easy enough apart from one that was just down to stupid controls, which leads me to the games weak point, the controls can be a bit fiddly and the camera can sometime let you down, especially in the more frantic moments. Overall, loved the feel of the game more than the gamplay but it is short. [7]

I reckon I can manage a dozen games this year.

I'm figuring majority these short (<10 hrs) games and a few triple AAA. Might even finish Ragnarok.

Boris going full Moot this year.

Minnesänger wrote:

Yeah, could do. Anyway, I have completed my First Game of the Year - will type it up this week. 1. Judgment - 49 hours

Delayed, but here's the type-ups from 2023, and the ones I didn't get round to writing up in 2022.


2022 Hangovers:  

Game 55: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
The most cromulent game I played in 2022? Quite possibly. 

I had some fun with this, it was startlingly pretty at times, there was a lot of love clearly invested into making it. This shouldn't be understated - there's a level of visual quality and attention to detail here that has no right existing in a 3rd party licensed IP tie-in. Some of the visuals and environs here are Sony in-house tier. I found myself frequently stopping to take screenshots and, in certain environs, switching into quality mode just so i could see what the game looked like with all the shinies (it looked fucking good).

Combat was fine, the story moved along at a pleasing pace. It didn't outstay it's welcome, it didn't have any bloat. It turned up, gave you a fucking good time, made sure to give a reach around and then left with a kiss on the cheek. Is this eternal love and the best game ever? No. But that's ok - it was an enjoyable ride, and that's enough. A very, very high [7].

Game 56: Two Point Campus
Theme Hospital, but not Theme, and also not Hospital. It's - again - a fun enough time, if this is your jam. Just about a [7].

Game 57: Stray
Very pretty. Very boring. Not sure this would get anywhere near GotY noms without the Annapurna name and the Sony marketing push. Narita Boy with whiskers. [4]

Game 58: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
I enjoyed this for about 15-20 hours, before a sinking feeling started to, er, sink in. This quest progression and combat encounters i've just been doing? I'm going to be doing this exact loop over and over and over again for every new region on the map. Fun until you've seen everything once but stupidly, needlessly bloated. A shame, as I was really digging the combat and vibe. [6]

Game 59: Peglin
Amazing. [9]

Game 60: Slay the Spire
Got my first Asc 20 Heart kills in 2022, so figure that counts as a completion of sorts. This has become my bread and butter game. Dunno what to play? Stick StS on. Tired and not up for much effort? Stick StS on. I can always go back to this, and am always discovering new strats and setups. Just brilliant. (Point deducted because it's fucking ugly, though). [9]

Game 61: Nioh 2
I struggled with the OG Nioh - fact is, despite beating all the Souls games, i'm not actually good at Souls-likes. Or rather, I'm ok when the difficulty is about pattern recognition and execution, and less good when the difficulty is mechanical input and competency. I just suck with fiddly control schemes, and the original Niohs Ki Pulse was a roadblock for me. 

Nioh 2 still has that Ki Pulse stuff, but the inclusion of Burst Counters, Yokai Shift and Yokai Spirits created a far broader battle system that let me get around my weaknesses. I got better at Ki Pulsing, for sure, but i mainly relied on using the Brute Burst Counter like a Bloodborne riposte and it carried me a long way. I also avoided weeb weapons - no Tonfa, no samurai swords or anything like that, instead choosing Big Axes and Hammers. It was a good time, though i would later find out that apparently the Brute yokai was the "worst" choice and that axes were the "worst" choice. I had fun, anyway.

So, why didn't i properly finish it? Honestly, there was just too much game and I felt like I had seen much of what it had to offer. I enjoyed the mission-based structure and the boss battles, but once I had my fill i had little desire to see more. 120hz mode on PS5, despite the shadows and background textures being rough, was a joy (with VRR on) and I can imagine myself going back one day. [7]

Game 62: Railway Empire
When I was just a wee boy, I used to play A-Train on our old family Packard Bell PC. I never really played any Train Sims after but last year I joined a Discord for indie game nerds and ended up meeting a dude who was Big Into Trains. It seemed like a good opportunity to find out what the best train sim around was and, as it just so happened, a game he recced also happened to be on sale at the time. That was Railway Empire.

It's not bad. It's not the best game in the world either, but overall I'd say i'm glad I played it. So, the good? The game is set against the background of the development of the US cross-continental rail-line, so it's kinda weird in sim terms in that the missions actually tell the story and history of a real railway. You learn about the competing factions looking to build lines as well as the geographical, environmental, financial and political obstacles to railway construction at the time. It's hardly a serious historical text, but i enjoyed them committing to the bit, and it made the missions feel worthwhile. 

Another good thing is a focus not just on the rail lines themselves, but the function they serve and how they connect locations - there's a huge emphasis on the railway being a stimulant to growth during this point in history. Being able to connect resources like cotton to towns with textile industries, for example, stimulates growth and has affects all the way down the line - this game is all about cargo and goods, and there's a surprising amount of logistical planning here. 

But, the bad...it's fiddly. There's a lot of stuff going on, but the fundamentals - laying tracks, making sure trains can pass on a line without crashing etc. - all that stuff is a bit, well, shit. It just feels like there's a lack of budget and polish, though this seems to be an issue all across niche sim genres. Mission completion objectives can also be a little unclear and how much you enjoy the cartoon-y nature of your adversaries / competing rail operators will vary. Worst of all, it seems a bit content light - the main game only has about 8-10 missions and there's like a dozen DLC packs. It feels like a game that is being nickle and dimed though, again, i was ok with that as I've payed Kalypso published games before and so i know their approach to DLC and base game monetization. Anyone looking for a "complete" package though might feel a bit short-changed if they pay full price. [6]

Game 63: Catherine: Full Body
I don't know how many times I have completed Catherine by this point, but this was my third completion of Full Body, and I finally went and got the Rin path done. Atlus / Persona team keep kinda trying to include gay and trans characters, and the specific additions to Full Body are no exception. And, as always, they fumble shit hard, yet keep trying really earnestly. I don't know whether they deserve a pat or a slap by this point, but I will say that overall the Rin stuff was...really sweet, and funny and by the end I felt they did a good job with the payoff, even if the setup had rough moments. 

Unfortunately, Full Body as a whole is an uneven package (still) with some improvements from the base game, and also some parts which are just straight up worse. Frustrating then, but there's still not many games like Catherine out there so I'll take it. Here's to playing Catherine again in 2023. [8]

Game 64: Wasteland 3
Much better than Wasteland 2. Combat is alright and it taps that classic Fallout vibe perfectly, but it's kinda buggy and overworld traversal is rubbish. Still, it did the choice and consequence stuff right and kept me entertained for far longer than most games. A very solid CRPG. [7]

Game 65: Subnautica
Played until I got the big submarine and then got bored. Very atmospheric, nice early and mid-game gameplay loop, back the backend isn't particularly engrossing. Would try again if a VR2 patch is ever a thing. [6]

Game 66: Death Stranding: Director’s Cut
2nd run through Death Stranding, this one with the Director's Cut. It's Hideo Kojima which only means one thing - perfect, no notes. [10]



2023:

1. Judgment
After the disappointment of Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon, my hopes of more good RGG Studio games rested on the shoulders of Judgement. And, luckily, it's not bad. Not bad at all. 

Judgment feels like RGG trying to feel out their own niche for the game and it works...for the most part. The change in protagonist from former Yak Man / 4th Chairman / Taxi Man to a private detective is a solid one, and the gameplay additions that come with it feel...fun. Tailing missions aren't the best but for a first attempt they're not the worst. Drone stuff is fun and there's a pleasing amount of detective / lawyering thrown into the mix to make up for the decrease in (though not total absence of) Yakuza internal politics. 

But yeah - that Yakuza backdrop is still there and still very present, even if the player character isn't one of the main drivers, rather than a passenger. The side-missions being tied into the whole detective agency thing works well, the side-characters are likeable / unlikeable as appropriate. There's plenty of side activities. And, yes, there's punchy-punchy. However, Yagami is no Kiryu and that's no bad thing. Kiryu is a wrecking ball, a force of nature - he's the Dragon of Dojima. Yagami is a decent fighter, a former street punk, but he's not The Dragon. And so his fighting style if more...gymnastic in nature. And it's fun. It's feels as smooth and improvisational as Yakuza fighting has ever done and feels like my favourite combat system next to Yakuza Zero. 

So, very much on board and I had a good time. But..it's not perfect. As mentioned, some of those detective mini-games aren't great, and Kamurocho feels a bit...empty. There's less seediness and the likes of Pink Street have been completely de-emphasised in terms of activities, which is fine, but it doesn't feel like they were suitably replaced. Drone races were kinda fun, but weren't enough to make up for the loss of other, more enjoyable, mini games. However, the biggest let down was the ending. 

Through the game, Yagami gets into scraps and fights, but he's no Yakuza badass. The game still hits those moments of Yakuza melodrama, and it still goes OTT at times, but never to the extent that the Yakuza games that, and that's fine. It's a more measured approach, less OTT, everything scaled back to compensate for the Yakuza games' ever increasing excess. I liked it. But...there's a killer in the game, and this dude was genuinely scary. Proper Terminator stuff - when he finally walked into a room and just absolutely murdered everyone, you knew that this guy was beyond everyone else in the game world. The game nearly ends with a court case. It does kinda end with a court case. It should have ended with the court case. But, it cops out - it needs one last punchy punch, and it's then that you beat the crap out of the Terminator. I really wish they hadn't done that, that they had let Yagami be good for an average guy but not Yakuza Hitman good. 

These mistakes are indicative of a game trying to find out what it is. Everything feels experimental and nothing feels beyond cutting. I enjoyed the characters and the legal side, i loved the combat, but the world, the detective minigames and the back-end story beats felt a bit off. Here's hoping Lost Judgment tackles some of those problems. [7]


2. Vampire Survivors

Fun enough. Evolving garlic was super easy. [7]


3. Marvel's Spider-man: Miles Morales 

Short and sweet standalone expansion in the Lost Legacy / Second Son vein. Sony are generally pretty good at these and I though Miles was an enjoyable, if uneven, romp. 

Best part about the whole thing was Miles and the emphasis on the community in Harlem - it feels like a far more intimate and local spin on a Spider-tale than the original game, and it works for what the game is, even if it does decide to Raise the Stakes at the end (because of course it does). It's beautiful, swinging is fantastic, and combat makes me smile rather than roll my eyes. It cracks along at a blistering pace and has very little to no main questline flab - every mission gives important information and pushes the game towards its conclusion. I liked that.

But, the one downside of it being shorter is that the open world busy-work stuff is even harder to hide. At the end of every mission you'll be told about how there's other hideouts / hidden labs / collectibles / sound spots etc. around the city as they pop up onto the map. There's no time to introduce this stuff gradually, so the game just straight up reveals it's open-world hand and it makes the artifice and gamey-ness feel even more artificial and gamey than ever. There's unlocks and skills but not that many because...the game isn't that big. But i guess they feel the need to have then anyway because games need RPG systems? Even more a annoyingly, the top power of each tree is hidden behind NG+. 

Still, i'd get annoyed at the Ubisoft ++ nature of the gameworld (wth Ubisoft + being Guerrilla) only to then be distracted by a fight that feels genuinely improvisational and expressive and fluid and...what was i annoyed at? Then i kinda wanted it to just finish and...it did. And it runs at 60fps with RT on. Jaysus. So, not bad. Not bad at all. [7]


Next:
4. Vaporum: Lockdown
5. BABBDI
6. Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition
7. Roadwarden
8. Railbound
9. Tangle Tower
10. Yakuza Kiwami 2

Stray got boring for me too. Loved the world and the aesthetic though.

GoTG - Yay!!
Stray - Boo!!
Death Standing - Word!!!

Minnesänger wrote:

Narita Boy with whiskers.

Not in sight for consoles yet unfortunately.  I really should nab a Steam Deck at some point this year. 

Caught my eye here: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2023/jan/12/babbdi-review-a-moody-urban-wander-straight-off-a-playstation-1-demo-disc

Yeah, Peglin is a corker.

You ever play Backpack Hero? Reckon you’d have a lot of fun with that one too.