twisty on 30/12/2016 at 14:38

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2016 has proven to be a bit of a strange year for me with gaming really. While there were many highly anticipated releases during this period, I've had such limited free time this year that I've either put the ones that I was interested in on the backburner or just lost interest in them altogether (e.g. No Man's Sky). In saying that however, I've still managed to fit in a fair number of games, particularly in the last 2-3 months, where I've crammed in a fair few of them. As such, there are probably a couple of titles that might make there way here once I get around to playing them as I've already bought them or will probably buy them at some stage.

The best/favourites of 2016

* Inside (PS4). An incredible follow up to one of the best platform games ever.
* Dark Souls 3. Another amazing Soul's game but just fell short of lifting it up to another level. Although to be fair, they have probably come pretty close to perfecting this formula so have probably made a wise choice by putting the series to bed for a while.
* Renowned Explorers: International Society. I'm not usually much of a fan of roguelikes but this charming little game has been one of the best finds all year.


Worth getting but not amazing

* Rise of the Tomb Raider. While it is a bit of an improvement on its predecessor for exploration and slightly more detailed puzzles, the constant battles towards the last quarter of the game made finishing it a real drag. And c'mon, having to fight against a helicopter gunship guys? (I seem to recall having to do this in a couple of silly FPS games during the 90s...)
* XCOM 2. While this improves on XCOM in a number of areas, it didn't blow me away.
* Abzu (PS4). This really is something quite magical and beautiful. However it is very short and non-challenging.
* The Walking Dead: Michonne. While it starts out with far too many QTEs, the strength of Telltale's storytelling skills soon lifts the experience close to the level of some of the better sections of the first two seasons.
* Invisible Inc. (iPad).
* Samorost 3 (iPad).


So so

* Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. I haven't quite finished this yet but think that I'm probably getting close. While I've enjoyed many aspects of this game so far, I have to admit that after a while the slow trudging over long distances with very little to do in between makes it feel like I am in some kind of elderly tourist sim.
* Fallout 4. I've loved all of the previous Fallout games but have yet to be captivated by this. More time with this game may change that perspective however.
* Skyrim special edition. Disappointing to see that there is little in the way of improvements to this game beyond a fresh coat of paint. With all of its old animations, systems and clumsy interface in tact, it still feels like I'm playing a game from 5 years ago.


Purchased but haven't got around to playing yet

* Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
* Witcher 3
* Soma
* Life is Strange

twisty on 30/12/2016 at 15:42

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Unlike Abzu, I haven't finished Journey yet but really liked what I've played of it so far. It's been something that I've only played in short bursts though. Compared to Abzu, there's far less variety to the visuals which probably has something to do with it but I'll definitely get around to finishing it fairly soon. But to answer your question, not at all.

Sulphur on 30/12/2016 at 16:09

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I've completed Journey, and done a decent amount of Abzu. I wasn't particularly moved by Journey's wordless odyssey (I know, bring out the pitchforks, etc.), but liked it for what it was. Abzu didn't particularly move me either, but I found its purity refreshing: dive in, get swept along by its visuals, and guide yourself to whatever probably gorgeous endpoint there is.

I suppose there's a story in there with the shark and the Journey-esque pictographs, but it's so incidental I just chose to ride the nearest manta ray/jet stream and feel the WHOOSH of my hair being plastered back against my scalp instead.

When it's not wowing you with its visuals, it's pretty lovely just swimming about or watching the fish in meditate mode. I think I've mentioned this before, but it's one of the most soothing games I've played.

I don't know if that answers your question, but I didn't approach Abzu expecting it to have anything to do with Journey beyond the visuals, if that helps.

demagogue on 30/12/2016 at 16:43

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I'll just give my commentary on games I played and liked this year. I imagine when I get around to Dishonored 2 it'll be best, since I loved the first so much. But I haven't played it yet so can't say now.

Firewatch. This was probably my favorite from this year. I liked the story. I liked the kind of open-world tasks. I liked how it mixed the story & tasks and hope it becomes a model other adventures use. I liked that it stuck to its indie bona fides and had the ending it had, even knowing it'd get slammed for being "anticlimactic" (which it almost universally has been). But if it had caved in and gave the plebes the ending they were hoping for I'd have been disappointed, and think it's much better for doing what it did. You can appreciate it if you watch a lot of indie movies, since that's the world it's coming from.

Abzu. I already like games that let you openly explore beautiful areas. I like cruising around in Space Engine looking for beautiful planets to take nice screenshots. So that's the sense I liked Abzu, and I might have even liked it more if it were just an open world procedurally generated ocean of beautiful scenes you could swim around forever looking for cool screenshots. As it was, it was a really cool experience in bite sized pieces, but not much more. I can see myself going back to swim around in particular scenes sometimes though.

Ori and the Blind Forest. It's nice to see good and original platformers still getting made, and I love the art style. I don't think it's anything very revolutionary, but as a platformer it has enough story and mystery to do better than most.

Hyper Light Drifter. This has a lot of X-meets-Y elements, Zelda meets Chrono Trigger meets Cave Story meets Fez, etc. It's really evocative. It has this big world to explore with secrets that make you want to explore further, but still the solid top-down gameplay in the meantime.

1979 Revolution. This is about an Iranian journalist following the Iran revolution balancing documenting crimes of the state with not getting imprisoned and beat up. It's solidly in the indie category, so not everyone's cup of tea but definitely mine. I really like it because it's part of this wave of good FP adventures (FPAs) getting made, and I like that stories are going to real world topics & places we don't normally explore. That said it's still somewhat awkward with the world interaction and gameplay. But the storytelling parts are great and it has a retro aesthetic and production that works well. I'm not that far in to be able say much though.

Edit. Regarding indie/Itch games from this year, my favorites were:

North. This had a big impact on me. It's about a refugee in an alien world jumping through all these bewildering hoops to get immigration status in a country that isn't really that happy to see his kind there to begin with. At the time I was applying for immigration status in Japan, so I had an instant connection to it. Really great story telling, although it's still a homebrew Steam game with some clunkiness.

RogueLight. This is a retro-platformer where the hook is many areas are dark and you have to light them up with your fire-arrows, and the levels are procedurally generated although progressively harder. It's hard to say why I got so addicted to it, but it hit some sweet spot and I kept playing it until the end. It convinces me that even people making homebrews can polish their gameplay as well as any commercial game.

Sulphur on 30/12/2016 at 17:19

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I'm surprised to see Firewatch figure in here as much as it does. To be honest, I liked its down-to-earth, isolated yet intimate narration, but I don't feel it did enough with it. I liked the ending, which was the sort of poignant and grounded reality check you don't see much of in gaming. My issues with the game lie in the fact that it never really married its physical traversal of the park's geography with in-depth exploration of either character. There were hints of complex personalities at play, but this was swept to the margins by the big mystery which, ultimately, spent too much time sending everything into a tailspin and didn't serve the overarching narrative in a meaningful way.

Was it realistic? Yes. Bravo. Delilah is a realistically drawn, flighty yet funny voice on the walkie-talkie. Henry is a conflicted, lonely man looking for solace, and also escape. Tonally, however, the fact that neither person has really developed all that much in their time at the park makes me wonder if the ultimate message is that people are entirely too resilient to change.