Your 2015 in gaming – highs, averages and lows
Dec 15, 2015 5:53:23 GMT -5
Post by Gendo Ikari on Dec 15, 2015 5:53:23 GMT -5
And here we are, for a new edition of what you played in 2015 – it doesn’t need to be something new, just the games you played throughout this year. For me, it’s been very intense gaming-wise, although I've definitely grown less patient and less open to put up with a game until the end if I find it not good enough, or to give it second chances.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
TOP
HIGH
AVERAGE
LOW
DIGGING HOLES
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
A Steam-ing pile – It was evident last year already, but even if there are still plenty of interesting to great titles released on the platform, Valve has further abdicated on quality control. Refunds seem an awkward way to put a patch on that big hole, but there’s a limit on how much crap you can put out, and it’s not beneficial for the games themselves, as meritable ones often risk getting lost.
“Indie”? – At this point, we may just say that there’s been a great return of low to mid-budgeted productions and games made by a few people, like in the past, which also allows for more experimentation (although even those, increasingly tend to stick to more popular genres). The term has become so (ab)used it’s almost meaningless.
Key Config Allergy – It’s perfectly acceptable that some games play better with a joypad, but I see no reason to not allow control customization as several titles do. And it’s not only limited to multiplatform games or late/bad ports, even several PC-only releases suffer that. The reason so many developers see that as an afterthought escapes me.
Poor Horror – The genre has become one of the most mistreated by small developers, especially when done in first-person 3D. Even some better attempts end up with some flaws too much to be great.
It’s an Unreal Unity – Those engines are practically swallowing all development. While they are certainly convenient for developers due to their market models, and excellent when used well, on less capable hands they are leading to a further standardization of the scene.
“Indie”? – At this point, we may just say that there’s been a great return of low to mid-budgeted productions and games made by a few people, like in the past, which also allows for more experimentation (although even those, increasingly tend to stick to more popular genres). The term has become so (ab)used it’s almost meaningless.
Key Config Allergy – It’s perfectly acceptable that some games play better with a joypad, but I see no reason to not allow control customization as several titles do. And it’s not only limited to multiplatform games or late/bad ports, even several PC-only releases suffer that. The reason so many developers see that as an afterthought escapes me.
Poor Horror – The genre has become one of the most mistreated by small developers, especially when done in first-person 3D. Even some better attempts end up with some flaws too much to be great.
It’s an Unreal Unity – Those engines are practically swallowing all development. While they are certainly convenient for developers due to their market models, and excellent when used well, on less capable hands they are leading to a further standardization of the scene.
TOP
The Cat Lady – Rough around the edges, heavy in themes and imagery, but for the same reason daring and unique, with a dark story that however ends on notes of hope, and a fantastic art direction to complement it.
Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason - Poor engine aside, what may be perceived as flaws by some (clunky weapons, restrictive environments) are fine, and in tune with the game's setting, atmosphere and narrative which are among the best I've ever experienced, topping all with a very satisfying ending. Its unavailability from digital outlets only furthers its cult status.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Maybe the original will never be topped, but this is a worthy relaunch of the franchise, and a rare game that kept me up at night. Notice that I played the vanilla version, I’m saving the Director’s Cut for the future and I’ll probably enjoy it even more.
Deus Ex: Revision – A great breath of fresh air. The reworked environments feel new and familiar at the same time, and with a base game that was already fantastic, a new run was due (although as of this writing, it’s still underway).
Grim Fandango Remastered – The remastering could have been better, but the quality of the game itself is unquestionable; maybe it’s even better than ever, considering that few games have been on the same level in writing and plot since.
Guacamelee! Super etc. – The original was already a great Metroidvania and one of the games I enjoyed the most in 2013, so an updated version with a healthy dose of additional content could only be better. Best moments: the new boss, and realizing I could use the Intenso power in chicken form too.
Half-Life 2 – Long campaign, great map design, great characters (in modeling, animation and personality), the Gravity Gun, and especially lots of variety in the situations – every time you think you’ve seen all, there’s something new. Episode One and Two are even better, but tragically the series is stuck in a limbo since then.
The Magic Circle – An very “meta” game, set into an unfinished videogame and full of commentary and jabs at developers and players, it also has a genuinely fun gameplay based on breaking that world by modifying its entities. It’s short, and the interface is clunky at times, but they’re little issues compared to the fantastic surprise this was.
Odallus: The Dark Call – The creators of Oniken don’t disappoint and even exceed the expectations I had. Truer to NES specs than most “retro” titles, a masterpiece of pixel art (especially sprite design), great level design with alternate paths and secrets, just the right length and challenge, and an ending very worth the 100% completion.
Ori and the Blind Forest – Beside some bad difficulty spikes, it’s a game that invents little to nothing new but does everything greatly, including very beautiful visuals and moving intro and outro. I especially liked the save point system, which is left to the player’s discretion and counterbalances the difficulty most of the time.
Red Faction – I expected just an average game and instead I found a short but surprisingly solid, varied and fun campaign, thanks especially to the non-linear map design that makes good use of environmental destruction, not only for visuals, and some great vehicle sections.
Resident Evil Revelations 2 – Finally the pairs of characters really work because they are complementary to each other. Visuals are not the best and it’s got weak links to the first Rev’s storyline but, simply put, it kept me wanting to play further, something the latest numbered episodes didn’t manage to. The spin-off series has become better than the main one.
Skullgirls 2nd Encore – It’ll never have a roster as large as older, long-estabilished fighting series but the further addition of Beowulf and Robo-Fortune makes the game stronger than ever, I appreciated the visuals and the gameplay even more than the first time.
Technobabylon – Fantastic low-res graphics, great writing that manages to narrate a serious cyberpunk thriller without becoming overly dark, just the right length, mostly good puzzles. A few bizarre ones and some uneven voice acting are little compared to how much I liked this adventure.
Transistor – Expected little more than a reskin of Bastion and found something different in the move planning, which also lessens the problems with the isometric perspective. The incredible number of combinations you can experiment with the Functions is its best aspect, the art direction is even more beautiful, and once again they got fantastic atmosphere, voice acting and songs.
Trine – Sometimes the physics cause problems, and controls are a little sluggish, but it’s still a great game and a worthy spiritual successor to The Lost Vikings. Trine 2 has everything a good sequel should have, including tighter controls and some of the most gorgeous visuals ever. To top it off it has Goblin Menace, an example of how good DLC should be done.
Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason - Poor engine aside, what may be perceived as flaws by some (clunky weapons, restrictive environments) are fine, and in tune with the game's setting, atmosphere and narrative which are among the best I've ever experienced, topping all with a very satisfying ending. Its unavailability from digital outlets only furthers its cult status.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Maybe the original will never be topped, but this is a worthy relaunch of the franchise, and a rare game that kept me up at night. Notice that I played the vanilla version, I’m saving the Director’s Cut for the future and I’ll probably enjoy it even more.
Deus Ex: Revision – A great breath of fresh air. The reworked environments feel new and familiar at the same time, and with a base game that was already fantastic, a new run was due (although as of this writing, it’s still underway).
Grim Fandango Remastered – The remastering could have been better, but the quality of the game itself is unquestionable; maybe it’s even better than ever, considering that few games have been on the same level in writing and plot since.
Guacamelee! Super etc. – The original was already a great Metroidvania and one of the games I enjoyed the most in 2013, so an updated version with a healthy dose of additional content could only be better. Best moments: the new boss, and realizing I could use the Intenso power in chicken form too.
Half-Life 2 – Long campaign, great map design, great characters (in modeling, animation and personality), the Gravity Gun, and especially lots of variety in the situations – every time you think you’ve seen all, there’s something new. Episode One and Two are even better, but tragically the series is stuck in a limbo since then.
The Magic Circle – An very “meta” game, set into an unfinished videogame and full of commentary and jabs at developers and players, it also has a genuinely fun gameplay based on breaking that world by modifying its entities. It’s short, and the interface is clunky at times, but they’re little issues compared to the fantastic surprise this was.
Odallus: The Dark Call – The creators of Oniken don’t disappoint and even exceed the expectations I had. Truer to NES specs than most “retro” titles, a masterpiece of pixel art (especially sprite design), great level design with alternate paths and secrets, just the right length and challenge, and an ending very worth the 100% completion.
Ori and the Blind Forest – Beside some bad difficulty spikes, it’s a game that invents little to nothing new but does everything greatly, including very beautiful visuals and moving intro and outro. I especially liked the save point system, which is left to the player’s discretion and counterbalances the difficulty most of the time.
Red Faction – I expected just an average game and instead I found a short but surprisingly solid, varied and fun campaign, thanks especially to the non-linear map design that makes good use of environmental destruction, not only for visuals, and some great vehicle sections.
Resident Evil Revelations 2 – Finally the pairs of characters really work because they are complementary to each other. Visuals are not the best and it’s got weak links to the first Rev’s storyline but, simply put, it kept me wanting to play further, something the latest numbered episodes didn’t manage to. The spin-off series has become better than the main one.
Skullgirls 2nd Encore – It’ll never have a roster as large as older, long-estabilished fighting series but the further addition of Beowulf and Robo-Fortune makes the game stronger than ever, I appreciated the visuals and the gameplay even more than the first time.
Technobabylon – Fantastic low-res graphics, great writing that manages to narrate a serious cyberpunk thriller without becoming overly dark, just the right length, mostly good puzzles. A few bizarre ones and some uneven voice acting are little compared to how much I liked this adventure.
Transistor – Expected little more than a reskin of Bastion and found something different in the move planning, which also lessens the problems with the isometric perspective. The incredible number of combinations you can experiment with the Functions is its best aspect, the art direction is even more beautiful, and once again they got fantastic atmosphere, voice acting and songs.
Trine – Sometimes the physics cause problems, and controls are a little sluggish, but it’s still a great game and a worthy spiritual successor to The Lost Vikings. Trine 2 has everything a good sequel should have, including tighter controls and some of the most gorgeous visuals ever. To top it off it has Goblin Menace, an example of how good DLC should be done.
HIGH
Bastion – I didn’t find it the masterpiece claimed by many, mostly due to a gameplay that can get just confusing and frustrating (the “No-Sweat” mode seems a sign of little trust in the overall balance), with the isometric perspective not helping. Still, fantastic visuals, atmosphere and narrator, and fun enough to warrant a NewGame+ run.
Battle Fantasia – A late (to say the least) PC port by ArcSys, it may be considered a “Tier B” production, with PS2-era visuals and the cheaply made character of Odile, but tight gameplay, pleasant art direction and a colorful cast make it quite fun.
Broforce – Took long for it to become a really complete product, and some levels have remained terribly unbalanced. However, beyond the gimmick of a bunch of movie characters to play as, the game is genuinely fun, with the highly destructible environment creating plenty of “explosive” moments.
Castle of Illusion – I felt some modern elements (like the thankfully rare moments of true 3D movement) were not really necessary, and the unskippable mini-cutscenes are annoying, but overall a good job has been done to remake the classic game for a new generation; very fun while it lasts.
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic – Painfully predictable storyline and too much confusion at times (I felt forced to quicksave a lot), but the combat system was very fun, especially when kicking away, and the many objects – rope arrows are great – and RPG elements spiced it up so that it never got boring.
Driftmoon - A light and light-hearted action RPG that never takes itself seriously and is quite fun to play, even if combat is a bit simplistic. Plenty of fun characters, surreal dialogues and some situations actually influenced by the outcomes of dialogues.
End of File: Prototype – It lasts only 30 minutes but it’s the best use of perspective-based puzzles since, well, Perspective, without falling into the excessive complications of Antichamber. The minimalistic, geometric 3D graphics are also very fluid while still offering some beautiful environments. All my hopes for this to become a full product one day.
E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy – Barely here, due to how often it gets player-unfriendly (those damn fonts, make them bigger!), and not speaking of the stilted translation from native French. But with some patience it’s still a fascinating experience: a true RPG component in an FPS, in a fantastic cyberpunk/mystical setting. Dejà Vu…
Gateways – Starts as an apparent budget 2D clone of Portal, then it shows the many more mechanics it has at disposal, coupled with fiendish and ingenious puzzles. Even with that modern (and beautiful) “peeking” effect, the pixel art brought me memories of DOS shareware games.
GhostControl Inc. – Ghostbuster meets classic X-Com: you rise from garage upstart to large ghost hunting agency, through many turn-based missions. Variety wears thin after a while, and the interface is clunky at times, but the concept is “why no one thought this before?” great.
Gravity Ghost - The erratic physics are at times unnerving, but the game doesn’t want to be challenging at all, so it can be forgiven to enjoy hopping between small planets, with a pleasant art direction, a surreal atmosphere and some touching moments.
Grow Home – At first I was put off by the controls but after getting used to them I started having a lot of fun: the robot is adorably awkward, the climbing mechanic is simple and clever, I dig the “lo-fi” visuals and growing the giant plant up and up while finding more crystals for upgrades is gratifying. Great to play in short sessions.
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus-R – This PC version has come really too late: compared to BlazBlue the visuals are dated, 4:3 window included, and as often happens the default keyboard layout makes hard to just navigate options. However the game is still fun to play, offers a good roster and has difficulty settings accessible even to non-experts.
Heroes of a Broken Land – Visually unattractive, the usual quirks with procedural generation, but the mix of turn-based strategy for the overworld and first-person grid movement for dungeons, and the wide range of options to generate new worlds, make it unexpectedly addictive.
High Strangeness – It’s very short and the 8-bit dimension is not much, but luckily it has fun combat and interesting puzzles to make it a brief but fresh experience beyond its main gimmick.
Insanity’s Blade - Starts slow because you are too weak at first, enemy spawning is unfair at times, and the visuals are not always consistent, but it gradually grew on me: the action is simple and repetitive but it’s so fun it never gets old, the experience system makes no death feel useless and the stage progression, with hidden weapons and alternate paths, seems to have taken some cues from Dracula X.
Kalimba – Hobear and his fourth-wall-breaking humour felt unnecessary, since the game doesn’t really require it: cute and clear graphics based on triangles, tight controls, excellent level design, difficult but generous with checkpoints, and in general a great implementation of the concept of controlling two characters at the same time. The results screen is fun and an incentive to replay a level better.
The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match – Not the most “amicable” fighting game on PC, but the huge roster of characters allows for really unlimited playing.
Layers of Fear – Little more than walking and triggering events but, for once, a really solid horror experience with some creative scares and great visuals, which is a lot in a sea of mediocre releases. It is, however, to see how it will evolve from the current Early Access version.
Leo’s Fortune – The view is too zoomed in and it’s very easy, but this platformer with some physics proved much more fun than expected, bringing me back to older indies like Gish and Gumboy.
The LEGO Movie Videogame – There are some inherent weaknesses of the “LEGO something” series, but also all the strengths – the wide array of characters, their different abilities and some great setpieces keep things fresh. As a plus, to stay true to the movie this time even the environments are fully made of Lego pieces, giving the visuals some great consistency.
Lifeless Planet – Despite some infuriating platforming sequences and repetitive puzzles, it’s been one fascinating experience. The author accomplished that with limited resources, including an impressive sense of scale (there is a rare feeling of traversing miles and miles of terrain) while keeping it linear and manageable.
Magnetic: Cage Closed – The art direction is bland, and the narration won’t certainly prompt to finish it nine times to see all endings, but the core puzzle/platform gameplay is extremely solid and makes it one of the best Portal-likes around, with the Cube-inspired setting (modular environments shifted around) that allows for some variation in playthroughs.
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood – Has some issues at keeping a consistent quality, with passages that can easily get infuriating, but most puzzles and situations are well-thought and leave a great sense of accomplishment when solved. It also looks really pretty and has a general feel of a CGI cartoon.
NaissanceE – Fantastic “minimalist” environments for a surreal first-person runner/platformer that gets better and better - except the very last level, including the ending, or lack thereof. The strobe lights section too… Still a game I enjoyed more than expected.
Neo Aquarium: The King of Crustaceans – It has not the most fluid of gameplays but the concept, setting and writing are all so crazy awesome that you can easily overlook its flaws and play as a laser-throwing lobster pitted against other crustaceans.
One Finger Death Punch – Never was stickman fighting so simple and fun; it’s one of those deceptively simple games that generate a “just one more level” syndrome. Also fun to know that the developers were previously infamous for putting out a lot of garbage on XBLA.
Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross – A doujin fighting game with very high production values (the voicework in particular is impressive), an excellent “companion” to reading the sound novel from where its cast comes from. Would be great if the rumour of an official localization being considered turns out true.
Proto Raider – Beyond the ASCII graphics gimmick – they are still great to see though - lies a fun and clever one-button game. Just a pity that its 60 levels are over very fast.
Quake II – The setting and art direction are really generic, and the campaign drags on a bit, but excellent level design and very satisfying action stand up the test of time; it may have aged worse than some FPSes from the same era but is still a great entry. The Mission Packs are on the same level, for better or worse, but at least Ground Zero ends with a great boss.
Quake IV – Even if it’s definitely a “modern” FPS, very different from Quake II to a jarring extent (even in the total enemy redesign), it’s got a surprisingly solid single player campaign which I enjoyed a lot.
Quantun Conundrum - Barely here due to the excessively repetitive graphics and a few questionable levels in the last part, it’s still a quality Portal wannabe, by one of the original creators no less, and most levels proved really enjoyable and sometimes even ingenious.
Remember Me – It has some serious setbacks - repetitive combat, simplistic platforming and a plot not fully realized - but it still offers a fun combo personalization system, responsive controls, and impressive story and world. Definitely a “minor AAA game” in a good sense – I’m keeping an eye on further Dontnod games.
République Remastered – It may receive an award for the stupidest guards in a stealth game ever, but the engaging interface, most collectibles that make sense and are useful to know more of the background and story (the exception being all those “ads” for other indie games, sheesh), great writing and stellar voicework got me hooked. Really takes too long to reach completion, however.
Revolver360 RE:Actor – Beautiful VR-like graphics (albeit confusing at times), intense action, and the original feature of the player-controlled stage rotation, a “true” example of 2.5D gameplay that makes stages much more dynamic – pity there’s only four of them.
Scourge of Armagon, Dissolution of Eternity – The two official expansion packs for Quake would have been ever better if they tried something more than a few new weapons (or variations of old weapons) and enemies, but offer excellent level designs and challenge, and end with a great boss fight against a giant dragon. A good complement of the base game.
Serious Sam 2 – Possibly the weakest of the series but in a very relative way. It may be too cartoony and silly, and less intense, but offers a nearly unrivaled variety of enemies and environments.
Serious Sam 3 – The Earth setting and darker tones (at times clashing strongly with the character’s jokes) are partially detrimental, but after leaving the urban landscape of the first levels it becomes a “classic” Sam, with the last levels being insane in the number of enemies.
ShadowBlade Reload – This ninja-themed platformer does not set to reinvent anything but to just offer a series of levels to beat with speed and skill, and perfectly succeeds at that; not a single time obstacles felt cheap and checkpoints are generous. Story and design are painfully ‘90s, and the bosses a bit anticlimatic.
SideLine – A long-lost DOS title from Taiwan, the bit of effort it requires to be run on DosBox is repayed by a game of a surprising quality – possibly one of the best PC-only shmups of the mid 1990s.
SOMA – Some of the best atmosphere and environments ever (to the point I wished it lasted longer), a story full of interesting themes, but writing and voice acting sometimes not up to it, and lame enemy AI and patterns. Another excellent game by Frictional that also avoids retreading Amnesia’s ground, just not the groundbreaking masterpiece claimed by many reviews.
Spirits of Xanadu – It’s very short, enemy respawn has an annoying rate and some puzzles rely on really difficult clues, but it’s still fascinating, also thanks to its low-poly visuals and obvious inspirations from System Shock (it’s published by Night Dive, unsurprisingly).
Stick It To The Man! – All puzzles are very simple, and the escape/avoid sequences get repetitive quickly, but the game is far from shallow thanks to the *gorgeous* 2,5D graphics and plenty of fun situations, complete with a strong dose of dark humor.
Strider – It commits some of the “typical” sins of Metroidvanias, and at times its low budget is evident, but manages a convincing combination of elements from the 1989 games with modern ones. A good example of how to bring a franchise to a new generation while not forgetting its roots.
Super Cosplay War Ultra Infinity – What a surprise to find out this game was updated once again in 2014. At this point the years on its back are felt, and the extremely high difficulty (not to speak of the bosses) is always a big hurdle for a single player, but it’s still fun, crazy and easy to get into.
Super Panda Adventures – Under near-amateurish (yet cute) graphics and thin story lies a really solid Metroidvania that offers tightly designed levels; its only big sin is to fall in the tendency to give bosses inordinately long life bars.
Super Time Force Ultra – The idea of using the actions of recent past selves to your advantage isn’t really new but is implemented in an excellent way here, especially the “prevent a death to get a power-up” mechanic, and watching the replay of a level is especially gratifying. Also the great pixel art I’d expect from the makers of Sword and Sworcey. I really didn’t like the writing and humour though.
System Shock Infinite – The story is obviously fanfiction-y (and not to speak of the amateur voice acting) but this mod adds a solid extra layer to the base game, especially the cyberspace levels, giving one more excuse to replay it. Glad to have tested it as a not-hardcore fan.
Tengami – Short and simple, but an incredible visual treat (a 3D storybook coming to life) and some puzzles are still quite clever. One of the most “relaxing” games I’ve played this year.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter – Despite its limits - especially the many invisible barriers and the fake open-ended structure - it managed to be a good experience; obviously the gorgeous visuals helped in setting the atmosphere, but I liked the way the murders were reconstructed.
Touhou 15: Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom – The series could use some serious hiatus and shakedown at this point, but I can’t deny it’s always quite fun to play (until the bullets aren’t overwhelming, at least) and the music great.
Volume – Basically a set of VR Missions, with some story bits here and there and the occasional voice acting of Andy Serkis: they can be ignored because the core gameplay is fun and rewarding, also thanks to generous checkpoints.
White Night – Instadeaths, uncomfortable camera angles and far-between save points risked pushing it down a category but in the end I liked the story, the great art style, the effective use of light and darkness and the general sensation of playing a spiritual successor of the first Alone in the Dark (the developers are French as well). Also a surprise to see Activision as a publisher.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood – The final boss is disappointing and the narration not as solid, but engine apart – which still offers some great vistas anyway - why fix what wasn’t broken? Especially the second half has some great sections, and this time there’s the entirety of Wolf3D’s first episode as “nightmare” levels.
Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space – While it betrays the spirit of the original with a lot of inappropriately ribald or mean-spirited humour, on its own it stands as a long and challenging adventure with high - if inconsistent - production values, and the love put by its creators is evident by the improvements over the 2008 version and the cameos of the original creators.
Battle Fantasia – A late (to say the least) PC port by ArcSys, it may be considered a “Tier B” production, with PS2-era visuals and the cheaply made character of Odile, but tight gameplay, pleasant art direction and a colorful cast make it quite fun.
Broforce – Took long for it to become a really complete product, and some levels have remained terribly unbalanced. However, beyond the gimmick of a bunch of movie characters to play as, the game is genuinely fun, with the highly destructible environment creating plenty of “explosive” moments.
Castle of Illusion – I felt some modern elements (like the thankfully rare moments of true 3D movement) were not really necessary, and the unskippable mini-cutscenes are annoying, but overall a good job has been done to remake the classic game for a new generation; very fun while it lasts.
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic – Painfully predictable storyline and too much confusion at times (I felt forced to quicksave a lot), but the combat system was very fun, especially when kicking away, and the many objects – rope arrows are great – and RPG elements spiced it up so that it never got boring.
Driftmoon - A light and light-hearted action RPG that never takes itself seriously and is quite fun to play, even if combat is a bit simplistic. Plenty of fun characters, surreal dialogues and some situations actually influenced by the outcomes of dialogues.
End of File: Prototype – It lasts only 30 minutes but it’s the best use of perspective-based puzzles since, well, Perspective, without falling into the excessive complications of Antichamber. The minimalistic, geometric 3D graphics are also very fluid while still offering some beautiful environments. All my hopes for this to become a full product one day.
E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy – Barely here, due to how often it gets player-unfriendly (those damn fonts, make them bigger!), and not speaking of the stilted translation from native French. But with some patience it’s still a fascinating experience: a true RPG component in an FPS, in a fantastic cyberpunk/mystical setting. Dejà Vu…
Gateways – Starts as an apparent budget 2D clone of Portal, then it shows the many more mechanics it has at disposal, coupled with fiendish and ingenious puzzles. Even with that modern (and beautiful) “peeking” effect, the pixel art brought me memories of DOS shareware games.
GhostControl Inc. – Ghostbuster meets classic X-Com: you rise from garage upstart to large ghost hunting agency, through many turn-based missions. Variety wears thin after a while, and the interface is clunky at times, but the concept is “why no one thought this before?” great.
Gravity Ghost - The erratic physics are at times unnerving, but the game doesn’t want to be challenging at all, so it can be forgiven to enjoy hopping between small planets, with a pleasant art direction, a surreal atmosphere and some touching moments.
Grow Home – At first I was put off by the controls but after getting used to them I started having a lot of fun: the robot is adorably awkward, the climbing mechanic is simple and clever, I dig the “lo-fi” visuals and growing the giant plant up and up while finding more crystals for upgrades is gratifying. Great to play in short sessions.
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus-R – This PC version has come really too late: compared to BlazBlue the visuals are dated, 4:3 window included, and as often happens the default keyboard layout makes hard to just navigate options. However the game is still fun to play, offers a good roster and has difficulty settings accessible even to non-experts.
Heroes of a Broken Land – Visually unattractive, the usual quirks with procedural generation, but the mix of turn-based strategy for the overworld and first-person grid movement for dungeons, and the wide range of options to generate new worlds, make it unexpectedly addictive.
High Strangeness – It’s very short and the 8-bit dimension is not much, but luckily it has fun combat and interesting puzzles to make it a brief but fresh experience beyond its main gimmick.
Insanity’s Blade - Starts slow because you are too weak at first, enemy spawning is unfair at times, and the visuals are not always consistent, but it gradually grew on me: the action is simple and repetitive but it’s so fun it never gets old, the experience system makes no death feel useless and the stage progression, with hidden weapons and alternate paths, seems to have taken some cues from Dracula X.
Kalimba – Hobear and his fourth-wall-breaking humour felt unnecessary, since the game doesn’t really require it: cute and clear graphics based on triangles, tight controls, excellent level design, difficult but generous with checkpoints, and in general a great implementation of the concept of controlling two characters at the same time. The results screen is fun and an incentive to replay a level better.
The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match – Not the most “amicable” fighting game on PC, but the huge roster of characters allows for really unlimited playing.
Layers of Fear – Little more than walking and triggering events but, for once, a really solid horror experience with some creative scares and great visuals, which is a lot in a sea of mediocre releases. It is, however, to see how it will evolve from the current Early Access version.
Leo’s Fortune – The view is too zoomed in and it’s very easy, but this platformer with some physics proved much more fun than expected, bringing me back to older indies like Gish and Gumboy.
The LEGO Movie Videogame – There are some inherent weaknesses of the “LEGO something” series, but also all the strengths – the wide array of characters, their different abilities and some great setpieces keep things fresh. As a plus, to stay true to the movie this time even the environments are fully made of Lego pieces, giving the visuals some great consistency.
Lifeless Planet – Despite some infuriating platforming sequences and repetitive puzzles, it’s been one fascinating experience. The author accomplished that with limited resources, including an impressive sense of scale (there is a rare feeling of traversing miles and miles of terrain) while keeping it linear and manageable.
Magnetic: Cage Closed – The art direction is bland, and the narration won’t certainly prompt to finish it nine times to see all endings, but the core puzzle/platform gameplay is extremely solid and makes it one of the best Portal-likes around, with the Cube-inspired setting (modular environments shifted around) that allows for some variation in playthroughs.
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood – Has some issues at keeping a consistent quality, with passages that can easily get infuriating, but most puzzles and situations are well-thought and leave a great sense of accomplishment when solved. It also looks really pretty and has a general feel of a CGI cartoon.
NaissanceE – Fantastic “minimalist” environments for a surreal first-person runner/platformer that gets better and better - except the very last level, including the ending, or lack thereof. The strobe lights section too… Still a game I enjoyed more than expected.
Neo Aquarium: The King of Crustaceans – It has not the most fluid of gameplays but the concept, setting and writing are all so crazy awesome that you can easily overlook its flaws and play as a laser-throwing lobster pitted against other crustaceans.
One Finger Death Punch – Never was stickman fighting so simple and fun; it’s one of those deceptively simple games that generate a “just one more level” syndrome. Also fun to know that the developers were previously infamous for putting out a lot of garbage on XBLA.
Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross – A doujin fighting game with very high production values (the voicework in particular is impressive), an excellent “companion” to reading the sound novel from where its cast comes from. Would be great if the rumour of an official localization being considered turns out true.
Proto Raider – Beyond the ASCII graphics gimmick – they are still great to see though - lies a fun and clever one-button game. Just a pity that its 60 levels are over very fast.
Quake II – The setting and art direction are really generic, and the campaign drags on a bit, but excellent level design and very satisfying action stand up the test of time; it may have aged worse than some FPSes from the same era but is still a great entry. The Mission Packs are on the same level, for better or worse, but at least Ground Zero ends with a great boss.
Quake IV – Even if it’s definitely a “modern” FPS, very different from Quake II to a jarring extent (even in the total enemy redesign), it’s got a surprisingly solid single player campaign which I enjoyed a lot.
Quantun Conundrum - Barely here due to the excessively repetitive graphics and a few questionable levels in the last part, it’s still a quality Portal wannabe, by one of the original creators no less, and most levels proved really enjoyable and sometimes even ingenious.
Remember Me – It has some serious setbacks - repetitive combat, simplistic platforming and a plot not fully realized - but it still offers a fun combo personalization system, responsive controls, and impressive story and world. Definitely a “minor AAA game” in a good sense – I’m keeping an eye on further Dontnod games.
République Remastered – It may receive an award for the stupidest guards in a stealth game ever, but the engaging interface, most collectibles that make sense and are useful to know more of the background and story (the exception being all those “ads” for other indie games, sheesh), great writing and stellar voicework got me hooked. Really takes too long to reach completion, however.
Revolver360 RE:Actor – Beautiful VR-like graphics (albeit confusing at times), intense action, and the original feature of the player-controlled stage rotation, a “true” example of 2.5D gameplay that makes stages much more dynamic – pity there’s only four of them.
Scourge of Armagon, Dissolution of Eternity – The two official expansion packs for Quake would have been ever better if they tried something more than a few new weapons (or variations of old weapons) and enemies, but offer excellent level designs and challenge, and end with a great boss fight against a giant dragon. A good complement of the base game.
Serious Sam 2 – Possibly the weakest of the series but in a very relative way. It may be too cartoony and silly, and less intense, but offers a nearly unrivaled variety of enemies and environments.
Serious Sam 3 – The Earth setting and darker tones (at times clashing strongly with the character’s jokes) are partially detrimental, but after leaving the urban landscape of the first levels it becomes a “classic” Sam, with the last levels being insane in the number of enemies.
ShadowBlade Reload – This ninja-themed platformer does not set to reinvent anything but to just offer a series of levels to beat with speed and skill, and perfectly succeeds at that; not a single time obstacles felt cheap and checkpoints are generous. Story and design are painfully ‘90s, and the bosses a bit anticlimatic.
SideLine – A long-lost DOS title from Taiwan, the bit of effort it requires to be run on DosBox is repayed by a game of a surprising quality – possibly one of the best PC-only shmups of the mid 1990s.
SOMA – Some of the best atmosphere and environments ever (to the point I wished it lasted longer), a story full of interesting themes, but writing and voice acting sometimes not up to it, and lame enemy AI and patterns. Another excellent game by Frictional that also avoids retreading Amnesia’s ground, just not the groundbreaking masterpiece claimed by many reviews.
Spirits of Xanadu – It’s very short, enemy respawn has an annoying rate and some puzzles rely on really difficult clues, but it’s still fascinating, also thanks to its low-poly visuals and obvious inspirations from System Shock (it’s published by Night Dive, unsurprisingly).
Stick It To The Man! – All puzzles are very simple, and the escape/avoid sequences get repetitive quickly, but the game is far from shallow thanks to the *gorgeous* 2,5D graphics and plenty of fun situations, complete with a strong dose of dark humor.
Strider – It commits some of the “typical” sins of Metroidvanias, and at times its low budget is evident, but manages a convincing combination of elements from the 1989 games with modern ones. A good example of how to bring a franchise to a new generation while not forgetting its roots.
Super Cosplay War Ultra Infinity – What a surprise to find out this game was updated once again in 2014. At this point the years on its back are felt, and the extremely high difficulty (not to speak of the bosses) is always a big hurdle for a single player, but it’s still fun, crazy and easy to get into.
Super Panda Adventures – Under near-amateurish (yet cute) graphics and thin story lies a really solid Metroidvania that offers tightly designed levels; its only big sin is to fall in the tendency to give bosses inordinately long life bars.
Super Time Force Ultra – The idea of using the actions of recent past selves to your advantage isn’t really new but is implemented in an excellent way here, especially the “prevent a death to get a power-up” mechanic, and watching the replay of a level is especially gratifying. Also the great pixel art I’d expect from the makers of Sword and Sworcey. I really didn’t like the writing and humour though.
System Shock Infinite – The story is obviously fanfiction-y (and not to speak of the amateur voice acting) but this mod adds a solid extra layer to the base game, especially the cyberspace levels, giving one more excuse to replay it. Glad to have tested it as a not-hardcore fan.
Tengami – Short and simple, but an incredible visual treat (a 3D storybook coming to life) and some puzzles are still quite clever. One of the most “relaxing” games I’ve played this year.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter – Despite its limits - especially the many invisible barriers and the fake open-ended structure - it managed to be a good experience; obviously the gorgeous visuals helped in setting the atmosphere, but I liked the way the murders were reconstructed.
Touhou 15: Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom – The series could use some serious hiatus and shakedown at this point, but I can’t deny it’s always quite fun to play (until the bullets aren’t overwhelming, at least) and the music great.
Volume – Basically a set of VR Missions, with some story bits here and there and the occasional voice acting of Andy Serkis: they can be ignored because the core gameplay is fun and rewarding, also thanks to generous checkpoints.
White Night – Instadeaths, uncomfortable camera angles and far-between save points risked pushing it down a category but in the end I liked the story, the great art style, the effective use of light and darkness and the general sensation of playing a spiritual successor of the first Alone in the Dark (the developers are French as well). Also a surprise to see Activision as a publisher.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood – The final boss is disappointing and the narration not as solid, but engine apart – which still offers some great vistas anyway - why fix what wasn’t broken? Especially the second half has some great sections, and this time there’s the entirety of Wolf3D’s first episode as “nightmare” levels.
Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space – While it betrays the spirit of the original with a lot of inappropriately ribald or mean-spirited humour, on its own it stands as a long and challenging adventure with high - if inconsistent - production values, and the love put by its creators is evident by the improvements over the 2008 version and the cameos of the original creators.
AVERAGE
Albedo: Eyes From Outer Space – Sadly here due to the clunky interface, several weird puzzles and a *very* ill-advised action section. Still, it’s nice to see a complex first-person adventure with a fantastic “50s pulpy sci-fi” vibe and art direction. I’m also glad to see the dev, whom I’ve known for years, create a spiritual successor of his old games, which already featured a night-watchman called Longy against giant eyeballs!
Among the Sleep – A psychological horror starring a toddler, it doesn’t manage to capitalize fully on its great premise because of its bland visuals, mostly shallow gameplay and collision problems. At least it wraps things up nicely at the end.
Anna – The setting is very fascinating (maybe one of the first indies to show what Unity was capable of), and the Extended Edition deserves praise for how much it has improved over the original, with expanded locations and the reworking or removal of many of the worst puzzles, but it’s still limited and quite obtuse at times.
Apotheon – It has a lot going for it, like the fantastic visuals, lots of weapons and secrets to find, and great boss fights, but the clunky controls are one really big hurdle – and worse, the developers didn’t learn from their previous experience with Capsized.
Arcana Heart 3 Love Max – Plays better than it looks, with a varied cast of characters that require quite some practice, but the visuals are cheap, the “Visual Novel” extra fluff almost invasive, the Ragnarok boss idiotic… And the PC port takes 7 gigabytes somehow!
Bionic Commando (2009) – Good visuals and solid swing mechanics, but combat is far from optimal, as is the design of many levels (damn radioactive zones). Not to speak of the dark atmospheres and ridiculous story; the rushed and abrupt ending leaves an ever more bitter aftertaste.
Blade Kitten – Sluggish controls, confusing combat and overlong levels make this less fun that it could legitimately be, especially with such mobility of the main character (going on any non-bumpy surface is fun) and a lot of optional areas. Interesting to see it live a “second youth” thanks to Steam though, with a DLC released last March.
Block Legend DX – A bizarre mix between a “collapsing blocks” puzzle and a roguelite, with cute pixel graphics and 8 bit music. Can get quite addictive… until I realized it was a grindfest that requires I don’t know how many plays just to unlock very little stuff.
Braid – Visually good, plenty of clever puzzles, I’d never say it’s a bad game, but somehow it failed to attract me much. Maybe another go in the future.
Broken Age – Act 2 resolves the most important plot points hastily, has most assets recycled (I honestly expected more completely new locales), and many of its puzzles aren’t more difficult but rather tedious and annoying, involving several back-and-forth-tracking and trial-and-error. Art, writing and voice acting are great and make it still worth playing, but my overall disappointment stands.
Catlateral Damage – Like many other “make a mess with physics” games (see Goat Simulator), it gets old fast but being a cartoonish cat on a quest to topple a lot of stuff is fun while it lasts, and probably better to tackle ten minutes at a time.
Chariot – A platformer where you have to move a coffin with wheels around, searching for a tomb the ghost of the deceased you transport is satisfied of. The concept is funny and original, but it’s nearly unplayable if you don’t have a joypad – you cannot change movement keys, forcefully bound to WASD, and you have to take at least six more into account.
Claire - Sadly here. Heavily inspired by Home and Lone Survivor, looking better than both and with a strong atmosphere, it unfortunately suffers maze-like environments, sparse plot and bugs.
The Darkness II – After the novelties of the slick visual style and the special powers wear off, what’s left is a very linear FPS with a painfully low variety of enemies, fun but that has problems supporting its own gameplay for the whole duration. I also didn’t like most of the characters, and story-heavy moments felt dragging on.
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round – The port isn’t great and the game often looks a bit dated (the framerate was constantly good, at least), the Story Mode is really lousy, the fanservice ridiculous at times, and in general I was reminded once again that I like 2D gameplay more. Yet, it’s far from a bad game and it’s good to see another fighting series land (awkwardly) on PC.
Deadlight – I was glad to have an Another World / Flashback type platformer with lots of style and atmosphere, and the first part is really solid, but it gradually falls apart to often imprecise controls, a ridiculous central part, an anticlimatic final act and questionable plot ideas. Enjoyed for the few hours it lasted but left a sad aftertaste.
Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today – A good adventure overall with some heavy themes, but it’s so grim you risk becoming desensitized after a while. It’s also quite cheap technically – matter of tastes too: I didn’t like the character design much - and closes with too big a cliffhanger for a following episode.
Dear Esther – I knew what I was approaching, and I honestly expected something a little longer and richer, even if what there is, is truly atmospheric and fascinating, especially the caves.
Dex – A cyberpunk 2D action/RPG (or a Metroidvania with some more inventory and stats) that offers a lot of things to do and really good 2D graphics, but suffers from stiff combat and platforming, simple and restrictive map design, and writing often not up to par. Better than the sum of its parts, and they laudably released an improved version some months later, but still not great.
Downfall – Too rough around the edges, and sometimes I felt it tried more to be shocking than being genuinely good. However, most puzzles are well-conceived and it shows the potential that has led the author to The Cat Lady a few years later; I’m looking forward to the Downfall remake.
DreadOut – Some badly designed boss fights, a confusing ending and especially several nasty bugs. A pity because I really wanted to love this: an Indonesian Fatal Frame, taking a lot from local lore, with a strong oldschool feeling – the PS2-era quality graphics, due to low budget, end up playing in its favor.
Drunken Robot Pornography – FPS and Bullet Hell (with some obvious limitations due to the viewpoint) seemed a great match, and the colorful visual design helped. After a dozen fun levels, however, it became evident that having bosses to dismantle carefully with increasingly strict time limits does not work too well.
The Evil Within – The solid gameplay, which offers “true” survival and a tough challenge, is however supported by weak plot, atmosphere and tension, and also questionable optimization on PC and some moments of unfairness. Still a laudable effort to revitalize a genre that lost its way. The DLC are appreciable because they mix things up with the gameplay (especially The Executioner).
Flashback (2013) – Not bad at all, some design and control quirks are not enough to break it, but it lacks personality, several features are unnecessary and the “new” Conrad is insufferable. Maybe the original could just not be “modernized” at all.
Galak-Z – Nice animesque setting and good gameplay basics, especially the ship-robot transformation with complementary abilities, but by the second “season” (out of five) you’ve already seen all and the missions start to drag on. Add the nonsense of releasing with the last season still missing.
Goblins series – The original trilogy has not aged graciously, especially the first episode, but all of them offer some great music and endless fun gags, while the dubs of 2 and 3 are useless (smartly, GOG included both floppy and CD versions in the package). The fourth has come out at least a decade too late, and looks really ugly compared to the old pixel art, but it’s not bad, it still has the spirit of the series.
Go! Go! Nippon! – The idea behind is good, and one can learn some genuinely interesting information about Japan, but the typical Visual Novel stuff crammed into it is detrimental – the way the girls fall for the player character is especially irksome.
Hector: Badge of Carnage – Not a bad adventure at all, with some good voice acting, but beside some game design problems – slow walking speed and transitions, illogical puzzles – it relies too much on cynical and gross humour, to the point it’s funny only occasionally.
Her Story – Really involving at first, it degenerated into a chore of trying even the most insignificant words in the hope of finding more clips, and I could see the twists coming a mile away. Still excellent as an experiment in something different, so I hope it generates some follow-up among developers.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number – Bigger and badder doesn’t mean better: the length of this sequel makes the many unresolved issues with the gameplay more evident, the few new things aren’t often for the better, and the story jumps the shark. It still has a solid core, some genuinely great moments, and a fantastic presentation, especially the soundtrack.
HuniePop – An embarassingly cheesy animesque dating sim, mixed with a surprisingly solid and enjoyable Match-3 puzzle. The latter part is even more enjoyable if you understand to not take the former seriously.
John Woo Presents: Stranglehold - High production values, great setpieces with an high level of environmental destruction, and several genuinely exhilarating moments cannot hide the repetitive action, the short duration, some camera problems and a weak plot.
Juju – A cutesy 2.5D platformer with great graphics but very simple level design and challenge. Still fun to play but obviously made for families – by Flying Wild Hog!!!
Karmaflow: The Rock Opera Videogame – Barely here, since it originally came out in a disastrous state. A simple, light 3D platform/puzzle game set in whimsical worlds, to complement some great musical scenes. While it got much better with the release of Act II, the level design is still full of annoying imprecisions.
Koumajou Densetsu Premium Pack – This is an effective average between the two episodes: the disappointing first with its imprecise controls and blurry graphics, whose only merits are the character designs and the soundtrack, and the much-improved sequel.
Legend of Korra – Scarce variety of enemies, a certain stiffness of the combat system, wonky camera, quite some grinding in older levels in order to achieve better results, next to no config options, lame filler plot. However, the hand of Platinum is still felt; better than many other games based on cartoons but could have been much more.
Lumber Island: That Special Place – Great atmosphere, visually a good notch better than your average indie horror, simple but convincing puzzles; on the other hand, very short, and very vague storyline (I failed to see the connection between the player character’s backstory and his discoveries on the island).
Lumino City – While it deserves to be played just for the fantastic art and setting - it’s practically a cutesy cardboard Neverhood - and its length can be justified by the objective difficulty to produce something like this, there are a few Myst-like puzzles too many, and the interface (it does not indicate interactable spots except in some scripted sequences) doesn’t help.
Metrocide – Different from your usual bird-eye shooter in that you need to be extra careful because every single killing can cause a ruckus, and has great atmosphere and lo-fi visuals, but its very punishing approach (often you can’t just escape a patrol or unmarked vigilante that came out of nowhere) is a serious turn-off.
Mind: Path to Thalamus – A surreal first person puzzler with many fantastic vistas, it however suffers from some level design problems and, worse, an atrocious script and voiceover that suck out a lot of the atmosphere. I still have to try the recent update however, apparently it has done much more than just updating the visuals to UE4.
Never Alone – A beautiful homage to the culture of Alaskan Inupiats, with many good ideas in the game proper and visually pretty, but marred by easy, banal levels and puzzles on one hand, imprecise collisions and controls on the other. For its atmosphere and how little it lasts, however, it’s worth a shot despite some bad frustration spikes.
Neverending Nightmares – Barely here, and only thanks to its wonderful art, which alone is enough to give it a try, and often excellent atmosphere. It is however very simplistic, the environments end up quite repetitive, and the story didn’t resonate with me - the author claims it’s based on personal experiences with mental disorders, but to an “average” player it still ends up as full of clichés.
Ninja Blade – Barely here, sadly. Delightfully over-the-top, and possibly set in the same universe as Metal Wolf Chaos! But the excess of QTEs and the dragged-on boss fights get old very fast; the game is too long for its own good, not pretty to look at, and the PC port is shoddy.
Of Orcs and Men – The solid dark fantasy setting (it makes me curious to try Styx: Master of Shadows) and an enjoyable combat system clash with many limits, especially the repetitiveness, the sometimes juvenile dialogue, and incredibly restrictive environments. It feels unfortunately half-baked.
Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds – Guardian Heroes seems to be the main source of inspiration, looks cute, may play nicely - emphasis on “may” because it’s another victim of the Key Config Allergy.
Pix the Cat – I wanted to like this more, especially with the fantastic idea of the “nested” levels of the Arcade mode, but I felt it getting old fast (I managed to unlock the Lab and Classic modes in a single, lucky Arcade run) and the controls sometimes suffered a slight lag that makes the difference between success and failure in many situations.
Raiden Series – The games are still a pleasure to play but the GOG-DotEmu Legacy collection is far from the best alternative, and also misses Raiden II.
Rampage Knights – Mixing scrolling beat-em-up and roguelites, with a visual style reminiscent of the developer’s older works (before Jets ‘n’ Guns). The gameplay is solid, lots of items with unpredictable effects, but as often happens with procedurally generated games, it gets repetitive fast, and unlocking other classes basically amounts to grinding time and again.
Redux: Dark Matters – Pleasant to play overall but just a quick diversion for a shmup fan, due to uninspired level design, incredibly gaudy aesthetics and excessive unbalance between the two difficulty levels.
Rock of Ages – Despite the wacky premise and fusion of genres, accompanied by some great art direction, I felt like both sections (defenses and rolling) counted too much on luck, and levels quickly got repetitive. Deserves points for trying something really different, though.
Schein – Another one I really wanted to like more. The mechanics, based on different lights revealing more or less convenient pieces of parallel realities, are great and the puzzles built around them quite complex, but everything suffers from lack of precision in the controls and collisions, which is a big flaw for a game like this. The mixed visuals and unconvincing voicework didn’t do it any favors.
Shrak - The first commercial add-on for Quake has not aged graciously, and often makes its little more than amateur origins clear, but since it was free from officiality they put some interesting weapons and enemies. Little more than a curiosity for oldschool FPS fans, but not that bad.
Silence of the Sleep – Impressive for a one-man production, its atmosphere and story are however hampered by clunky controls, severe pacing issues, and terrible stealth/avoidance sections. Most puzzles and some parts are clever (especially the art therapy scene) and the ending was worth it but at times it made me suffer, in the wrong way.
Silent Hill: Alchemilla – it chooses atmosphere to the point of being a pure adventure, offers many familiar locations in first person, and does well in rendering the atmospheres of the early episodes. However no dangers for the player and some excessively intricate puzzles, not helped by a stilted English translation, make this a laudable but flawed fan effort.
Spaceport Hope – Obviously inspired by Cave Story and with some nice touches of its own, it is however (and unfortunately) average in the truest sense: it does nothing badly, but it doesn’t do anything especially good, either.
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions – The concept allows for a good variety of settings, visuals and situations (the Noir levels are the best), but several boss fights drag on and there are far too many bugs; a couple times I thought I couldn’t even continue because a door that didn’t open until I quit and reloaded. Given some spectacular setpieces, it’s a shame.
Stairs – Many good ideas and it manages both puzzles and scares pretty well, but has an equal number of questionable choices on a technical, gameplay and narration level (like the abrupt and excessively cryptic ending). Points for trying; there’s potential to be hopefully used by the devs in the future.
Starlaxis – A puzzle game built on just three types of blocks, whose combinations issue orders to starships on a grid. The concept is fantastic and well executed; unfortunately, overly long levels make it greatly overstay its welcome. Were they (much) shorter, I’d be speaking of a little gem.
Stasis –It captures the look and feel of Sanitarium with delightful isometric pre-rendered graphics out of the late 90s, but suffers the weight of illogical puzzles and unskippable dialogues with wooden acting, which often hamper the atmosphere. Still an admirable project, if really too bleak.
Sublevel Zero – Basically Descent mixed with roguelite. It handles greatly and the colorful, low-poly graphics with voluntarily grainy textures are a delight, but its unmemorable procedurally generated levels wear thin after a while, and crafting is practically useless. If only there was a “fixed levels” mode…
Sudeki – I expected much worse: it feels half-finished but it’s playable. Beside the nice idea of ranged characters fighting in FPS style, the half-assed JRPG inspiration and clichéd plot, supported by the hilariously bad voice acting, make it close to a guilty pleasure, the probable reason it’s remembered. Well, that and Buki (‘s ass).
Super Cyborg – The first levels are great: despite garish colors, this Contra clone’s got a true 16-bit vibe, like a lost game from those days; but starting from the third boss it becomes monstrously difficult (I cheated to see further levels). A big shame, as it’s even got a top-view level to further show its inspiration.
This War of Mine – It obviously didn’t have to be “fun” but it didn’t manage to hold me. Probably I’m just not cut for these type of “survival” games, although the genre is certainly the best to render the civilian side of war and its drama – in this respect, the game certainly delivers.
Titan Souls – Dying dozens and dozens of times even after I figured out how to defeat an enemy, because less than perfection is always punished, just isn’t for me. That doesn’t mean it’s not a masterfully done game (for one, it’s got some of the best pixel graphics I’ve seen this year, and a great soundtrack to match), but I found it too aggravating for its own good.
Tower of Guns –Manageable bullet barrages compared to Drunken Robot, steampunk-ish aestethics (many textures look like they are literally hand-drawn) and excellent engine optimization, but unfortunately it got old quite fast.
Trine 3 – The switch to 3D movement with fixed camera isn’t beneficial at all, almost all the old character abilities have been removed, it’s very short and closes with a cliffhanger, feeling like just a first chapter. It still plays well overall, and is *gorgeous* to look at, but is a definite step back and it’s sad to think that it may jeopardize even its dev’s existence.
Unrest - It’s limited, most choices don’t have effect outside their “vignettes”, and graphics and sound are near-amateurish, but it’s an interesting experiment in storytelling, and it’s got a really original and different setting (ancient India with fantasy elements), for once.
Vertiginous Golf – Sadly here. A spiritual successor of Zany Golf, it however suffers courses so long and convoluted, it becomes a matter of trial-and-error, sucking out a lot of the fun; the nonsensical Story Mode, with obligatory checkpoints and pompous dialogue, meshes horribly with the rest. It can still be fun and the steampunk aesthetics are pleasant.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Better than many other movie tie-ins (and the movie itself) thanks to the fun, brutal gameplay and some nice environmental puzzles, it however suffers a scarce variety of action and enemies, making it drag on after the first half, and several boss fights that could have been better (Blob is fun, huge Sentinel or Cesspool, not).
Among the Sleep – A psychological horror starring a toddler, it doesn’t manage to capitalize fully on its great premise because of its bland visuals, mostly shallow gameplay and collision problems. At least it wraps things up nicely at the end.
Anna – The setting is very fascinating (maybe one of the first indies to show what Unity was capable of), and the Extended Edition deserves praise for how much it has improved over the original, with expanded locations and the reworking or removal of many of the worst puzzles, but it’s still limited and quite obtuse at times.
Apotheon – It has a lot going for it, like the fantastic visuals, lots of weapons and secrets to find, and great boss fights, but the clunky controls are one really big hurdle – and worse, the developers didn’t learn from their previous experience with Capsized.
Arcana Heart 3 Love Max – Plays better than it looks, with a varied cast of characters that require quite some practice, but the visuals are cheap, the “Visual Novel” extra fluff almost invasive, the Ragnarok boss idiotic… And the PC port takes 7 gigabytes somehow!
Bionic Commando (2009) – Good visuals and solid swing mechanics, but combat is far from optimal, as is the design of many levels (damn radioactive zones). Not to speak of the dark atmospheres and ridiculous story; the rushed and abrupt ending leaves an ever more bitter aftertaste.
Blade Kitten – Sluggish controls, confusing combat and overlong levels make this less fun that it could legitimately be, especially with such mobility of the main character (going on any non-bumpy surface is fun) and a lot of optional areas. Interesting to see it live a “second youth” thanks to Steam though, with a DLC released last March.
Block Legend DX – A bizarre mix between a “collapsing blocks” puzzle and a roguelite, with cute pixel graphics and 8 bit music. Can get quite addictive… until I realized it was a grindfest that requires I don’t know how many plays just to unlock very little stuff.
Braid – Visually good, plenty of clever puzzles, I’d never say it’s a bad game, but somehow it failed to attract me much. Maybe another go in the future.
Broken Age – Act 2 resolves the most important plot points hastily, has most assets recycled (I honestly expected more completely new locales), and many of its puzzles aren’t more difficult but rather tedious and annoying, involving several back-and-forth-tracking and trial-and-error. Art, writing and voice acting are great and make it still worth playing, but my overall disappointment stands.
Catlateral Damage – Like many other “make a mess with physics” games (see Goat Simulator), it gets old fast but being a cartoonish cat on a quest to topple a lot of stuff is fun while it lasts, and probably better to tackle ten minutes at a time.
Chariot – A platformer where you have to move a coffin with wheels around, searching for a tomb the ghost of the deceased you transport is satisfied of. The concept is funny and original, but it’s nearly unplayable if you don’t have a joypad – you cannot change movement keys, forcefully bound to WASD, and you have to take at least six more into account.
Claire - Sadly here. Heavily inspired by Home and Lone Survivor, looking better than both and with a strong atmosphere, it unfortunately suffers maze-like environments, sparse plot and bugs.
The Darkness II – After the novelties of the slick visual style and the special powers wear off, what’s left is a very linear FPS with a painfully low variety of enemies, fun but that has problems supporting its own gameplay for the whole duration. I also didn’t like most of the characters, and story-heavy moments felt dragging on.
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round – The port isn’t great and the game often looks a bit dated (the framerate was constantly good, at least), the Story Mode is really lousy, the fanservice ridiculous at times, and in general I was reminded once again that I like 2D gameplay more. Yet, it’s far from a bad game and it’s good to see another fighting series land (awkwardly) on PC.
Deadlight – I was glad to have an Another World / Flashback type platformer with lots of style and atmosphere, and the first part is really solid, but it gradually falls apart to often imprecise controls, a ridiculous central part, an anticlimatic final act and questionable plot ideas. Enjoyed for the few hours it lasted but left a sad aftertaste.
Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today – A good adventure overall with some heavy themes, but it’s so grim you risk becoming desensitized after a while. It’s also quite cheap technically – matter of tastes too: I didn’t like the character design much - and closes with too big a cliffhanger for a following episode.
Dear Esther – I knew what I was approaching, and I honestly expected something a little longer and richer, even if what there is, is truly atmospheric and fascinating, especially the caves.
Dex – A cyberpunk 2D action/RPG (or a Metroidvania with some more inventory and stats) that offers a lot of things to do and really good 2D graphics, but suffers from stiff combat and platforming, simple and restrictive map design, and writing often not up to par. Better than the sum of its parts, and they laudably released an improved version some months later, but still not great.
Downfall – Too rough around the edges, and sometimes I felt it tried more to be shocking than being genuinely good. However, most puzzles are well-conceived and it shows the potential that has led the author to The Cat Lady a few years later; I’m looking forward to the Downfall remake.
DreadOut – Some badly designed boss fights, a confusing ending and especially several nasty bugs. A pity because I really wanted to love this: an Indonesian Fatal Frame, taking a lot from local lore, with a strong oldschool feeling – the PS2-era quality graphics, due to low budget, end up playing in its favor.
Drunken Robot Pornography – FPS and Bullet Hell (with some obvious limitations due to the viewpoint) seemed a great match, and the colorful visual design helped. After a dozen fun levels, however, it became evident that having bosses to dismantle carefully with increasingly strict time limits does not work too well.
The Evil Within – The solid gameplay, which offers “true” survival and a tough challenge, is however supported by weak plot, atmosphere and tension, and also questionable optimization on PC and some moments of unfairness. Still a laudable effort to revitalize a genre that lost its way. The DLC are appreciable because they mix things up with the gameplay (especially The Executioner).
Flashback (2013) – Not bad at all, some design and control quirks are not enough to break it, but it lacks personality, several features are unnecessary and the “new” Conrad is insufferable. Maybe the original could just not be “modernized” at all.
Galak-Z – Nice animesque setting and good gameplay basics, especially the ship-robot transformation with complementary abilities, but by the second “season” (out of five) you’ve already seen all and the missions start to drag on. Add the nonsense of releasing with the last season still missing.
Goblins series – The original trilogy has not aged graciously, especially the first episode, but all of them offer some great music and endless fun gags, while the dubs of 2 and 3 are useless (smartly, GOG included both floppy and CD versions in the package). The fourth has come out at least a decade too late, and looks really ugly compared to the old pixel art, but it’s not bad, it still has the spirit of the series.
Go! Go! Nippon! – The idea behind is good, and one can learn some genuinely interesting information about Japan, but the typical Visual Novel stuff crammed into it is detrimental – the way the girls fall for the player character is especially irksome.
Hector: Badge of Carnage – Not a bad adventure at all, with some good voice acting, but beside some game design problems – slow walking speed and transitions, illogical puzzles – it relies too much on cynical and gross humour, to the point it’s funny only occasionally.
Her Story – Really involving at first, it degenerated into a chore of trying even the most insignificant words in the hope of finding more clips, and I could see the twists coming a mile away. Still excellent as an experiment in something different, so I hope it generates some follow-up among developers.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number – Bigger and badder doesn’t mean better: the length of this sequel makes the many unresolved issues with the gameplay more evident, the few new things aren’t often for the better, and the story jumps the shark. It still has a solid core, some genuinely great moments, and a fantastic presentation, especially the soundtrack.
HuniePop – An embarassingly cheesy animesque dating sim, mixed with a surprisingly solid and enjoyable Match-3 puzzle. The latter part is even more enjoyable if you understand to not take the former seriously.
John Woo Presents: Stranglehold - High production values, great setpieces with an high level of environmental destruction, and several genuinely exhilarating moments cannot hide the repetitive action, the short duration, some camera problems and a weak plot.
Juju – A cutesy 2.5D platformer with great graphics but very simple level design and challenge. Still fun to play but obviously made for families – by Flying Wild Hog!!!
Karmaflow: The Rock Opera Videogame – Barely here, since it originally came out in a disastrous state. A simple, light 3D platform/puzzle game set in whimsical worlds, to complement some great musical scenes. While it got much better with the release of Act II, the level design is still full of annoying imprecisions.
Koumajou Densetsu Premium Pack – This is an effective average between the two episodes: the disappointing first with its imprecise controls and blurry graphics, whose only merits are the character designs and the soundtrack, and the much-improved sequel.
Legend of Korra – Scarce variety of enemies, a certain stiffness of the combat system, wonky camera, quite some grinding in older levels in order to achieve better results, next to no config options, lame filler plot. However, the hand of Platinum is still felt; better than many other games based on cartoons but could have been much more.
Lumber Island: That Special Place – Great atmosphere, visually a good notch better than your average indie horror, simple but convincing puzzles; on the other hand, very short, and very vague storyline (I failed to see the connection between the player character’s backstory and his discoveries on the island).
Lumino City – While it deserves to be played just for the fantastic art and setting - it’s practically a cutesy cardboard Neverhood - and its length can be justified by the objective difficulty to produce something like this, there are a few Myst-like puzzles too many, and the interface (it does not indicate interactable spots except in some scripted sequences) doesn’t help.
Metrocide – Different from your usual bird-eye shooter in that you need to be extra careful because every single killing can cause a ruckus, and has great atmosphere and lo-fi visuals, but its very punishing approach (often you can’t just escape a patrol or unmarked vigilante that came out of nowhere) is a serious turn-off.
Mind: Path to Thalamus – A surreal first person puzzler with many fantastic vistas, it however suffers from some level design problems and, worse, an atrocious script and voiceover that suck out a lot of the atmosphere. I still have to try the recent update however, apparently it has done much more than just updating the visuals to UE4.
Never Alone – A beautiful homage to the culture of Alaskan Inupiats, with many good ideas in the game proper and visually pretty, but marred by easy, banal levels and puzzles on one hand, imprecise collisions and controls on the other. For its atmosphere and how little it lasts, however, it’s worth a shot despite some bad frustration spikes.
Neverending Nightmares – Barely here, and only thanks to its wonderful art, which alone is enough to give it a try, and often excellent atmosphere. It is however very simplistic, the environments end up quite repetitive, and the story didn’t resonate with me - the author claims it’s based on personal experiences with mental disorders, but to an “average” player it still ends up as full of clichés.
Ninja Blade – Barely here, sadly. Delightfully over-the-top, and possibly set in the same universe as Metal Wolf Chaos! But the excess of QTEs and the dragged-on boss fights get old very fast; the game is too long for its own good, not pretty to look at, and the PC port is shoddy.
Of Orcs and Men – The solid dark fantasy setting (it makes me curious to try Styx: Master of Shadows) and an enjoyable combat system clash with many limits, especially the repetitiveness, the sometimes juvenile dialogue, and incredibly restrictive environments. It feels unfortunately half-baked.
Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds – Guardian Heroes seems to be the main source of inspiration, looks cute, may play nicely - emphasis on “may” because it’s another victim of the Key Config Allergy.
Pix the Cat – I wanted to like this more, especially with the fantastic idea of the “nested” levels of the Arcade mode, but I felt it getting old fast (I managed to unlock the Lab and Classic modes in a single, lucky Arcade run) and the controls sometimes suffered a slight lag that makes the difference between success and failure in many situations.
Raiden Series – The games are still a pleasure to play but the GOG-DotEmu Legacy collection is far from the best alternative, and also misses Raiden II.
Rampage Knights – Mixing scrolling beat-em-up and roguelites, with a visual style reminiscent of the developer’s older works (before Jets ‘n’ Guns). The gameplay is solid, lots of items with unpredictable effects, but as often happens with procedurally generated games, it gets repetitive fast, and unlocking other classes basically amounts to grinding time and again.
Redux: Dark Matters – Pleasant to play overall but just a quick diversion for a shmup fan, due to uninspired level design, incredibly gaudy aesthetics and excessive unbalance between the two difficulty levels.
Rock of Ages – Despite the wacky premise and fusion of genres, accompanied by some great art direction, I felt like both sections (defenses and rolling) counted too much on luck, and levels quickly got repetitive. Deserves points for trying something really different, though.
Schein – Another one I really wanted to like more. The mechanics, based on different lights revealing more or less convenient pieces of parallel realities, are great and the puzzles built around them quite complex, but everything suffers from lack of precision in the controls and collisions, which is a big flaw for a game like this. The mixed visuals and unconvincing voicework didn’t do it any favors.
Shrak - The first commercial add-on for Quake has not aged graciously, and often makes its little more than amateur origins clear, but since it was free from officiality they put some interesting weapons and enemies. Little more than a curiosity for oldschool FPS fans, but not that bad.
Silence of the Sleep – Impressive for a one-man production, its atmosphere and story are however hampered by clunky controls, severe pacing issues, and terrible stealth/avoidance sections. Most puzzles and some parts are clever (especially the art therapy scene) and the ending was worth it but at times it made me suffer, in the wrong way.
Silent Hill: Alchemilla – it chooses atmosphere to the point of being a pure adventure, offers many familiar locations in first person, and does well in rendering the atmospheres of the early episodes. However no dangers for the player and some excessively intricate puzzles, not helped by a stilted English translation, make this a laudable but flawed fan effort.
Spaceport Hope – Obviously inspired by Cave Story and with some nice touches of its own, it is however (and unfortunately) average in the truest sense: it does nothing badly, but it doesn’t do anything especially good, either.
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions – The concept allows for a good variety of settings, visuals and situations (the Noir levels are the best), but several boss fights drag on and there are far too many bugs; a couple times I thought I couldn’t even continue because a door that didn’t open until I quit and reloaded. Given some spectacular setpieces, it’s a shame.
Stairs – Many good ideas and it manages both puzzles and scares pretty well, but has an equal number of questionable choices on a technical, gameplay and narration level (like the abrupt and excessively cryptic ending). Points for trying; there’s potential to be hopefully used by the devs in the future.
Starlaxis – A puzzle game built on just three types of blocks, whose combinations issue orders to starships on a grid. The concept is fantastic and well executed; unfortunately, overly long levels make it greatly overstay its welcome. Were they (much) shorter, I’d be speaking of a little gem.
Stasis –It captures the look and feel of Sanitarium with delightful isometric pre-rendered graphics out of the late 90s, but suffers the weight of illogical puzzles and unskippable dialogues with wooden acting, which often hamper the atmosphere. Still an admirable project, if really too bleak.
Sublevel Zero – Basically Descent mixed with roguelite. It handles greatly and the colorful, low-poly graphics with voluntarily grainy textures are a delight, but its unmemorable procedurally generated levels wear thin after a while, and crafting is practically useless. If only there was a “fixed levels” mode…
Sudeki – I expected much worse: it feels half-finished but it’s playable. Beside the nice idea of ranged characters fighting in FPS style, the half-assed JRPG inspiration and clichéd plot, supported by the hilariously bad voice acting, make it close to a guilty pleasure, the probable reason it’s remembered. Well, that and Buki (‘s ass).
Super Cyborg – The first levels are great: despite garish colors, this Contra clone’s got a true 16-bit vibe, like a lost game from those days; but starting from the third boss it becomes monstrously difficult (I cheated to see further levels). A big shame, as it’s even got a top-view level to further show its inspiration.
This War of Mine – It obviously didn’t have to be “fun” but it didn’t manage to hold me. Probably I’m just not cut for these type of “survival” games, although the genre is certainly the best to render the civilian side of war and its drama – in this respect, the game certainly delivers.
Titan Souls – Dying dozens and dozens of times even after I figured out how to defeat an enemy, because less than perfection is always punished, just isn’t for me. That doesn’t mean it’s not a masterfully done game (for one, it’s got some of the best pixel graphics I’ve seen this year, and a great soundtrack to match), but I found it too aggravating for its own good.
Tower of Guns –Manageable bullet barrages compared to Drunken Robot, steampunk-ish aestethics (many textures look like they are literally hand-drawn) and excellent engine optimization, but unfortunately it got old quite fast.
Trine 3 – The switch to 3D movement with fixed camera isn’t beneficial at all, almost all the old character abilities have been removed, it’s very short and closes with a cliffhanger, feeling like just a first chapter. It still plays well overall, and is *gorgeous* to look at, but is a definite step back and it’s sad to think that it may jeopardize even its dev’s existence.
Unrest - It’s limited, most choices don’t have effect outside their “vignettes”, and graphics and sound are near-amateurish, but it’s an interesting experiment in storytelling, and it’s got a really original and different setting (ancient India with fantasy elements), for once.
Vertiginous Golf – Sadly here. A spiritual successor of Zany Golf, it however suffers courses so long and convoluted, it becomes a matter of trial-and-error, sucking out a lot of the fun; the nonsensical Story Mode, with obligatory checkpoints and pompous dialogue, meshes horribly with the rest. It can still be fun and the steampunk aesthetics are pleasant.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Better than many other movie tie-ins (and the movie itself) thanks to the fun, brutal gameplay and some nice environmental puzzles, it however suffers a scarce variety of action and enemies, making it drag on after the first half, and several boss fights that could have been better (Blob is fun, huge Sentinel or Cesspool, not).
LOW
Armikrog – The fantastic claymation is worth little among a game design anchored to 20 years ago, a massive infodump room (once again, great ideas for a world and no idea how to use them well), obtuse and repetitive puzzles, short duration and buggy release. A successful Kickstarter that promised too much.
Blue Estate: The Game – Starts moderately interesting but after a while all its weaknesses come down: levels drag on too much, running gags get overused, the humor rarely delivers (it’s not even that much over-the-top) and it’s also very mediocre to look at.
Death Cargo – The delightfully trashy visuals and atmosphere, and the extreme simplicity of move and fatality inputs, cannot cover how bad the coding of this game is, and the gameplay is even worse. Hopefully the upcoming update/sequel Gorebreaker will be the game this should have been.
Dementium II HD – Sadly here. Once out of the DS all its limits are evident and the visuals are horribly dated (although with a certain PS2-era charm), but it’s still far from bad to play… until the awful, awful final boss.
Deus Ex: The Fall – All things considered they reached a good compromise in the original mobile version, cramming as much of the original gameplay as possible, but the big cliffhanger closure and the shoddy port make its limits less bearable on PC.
Devil’s Dare – The pixel art is really nice, and levels that vary depending on the order is a great idea, but the core gameplay is stiff and frustrating – being open to a long-range enemy attack just because you are attacking another one is too frequent - and seems intentionally designed to raise the difficulty artificially.
Dusty Revenge – It would be fun as a brawler but it’s terrible as a platformer – and the latter element gets more and more used as the game goes on, although the fighting also gets increasingly frustrating, with overlong boss fights. It’s also nice to look at, but still feels like a big Flash game due to rigid animations and rare use of parallax.
Eidolon – A walking simulator posing as a survival game. The stylized graphics are very fascinating, as is the narrative background that unfolds with the documents you find around, but doing so is incredibly tedious because the play area is HUGE; my interest collapsed in a few hours, and even the bland survival elements became an annoyance.
Euclidean – Sink slowly into marine-looking environments, avoiding a few easy obstacles and… that’s it. Would be more worthy as an audio-visual experience if it wasn’t so incredibly short and insubstantial.
Eufloria – A “relaxing” game for sure, but it became boring to me quite early, and it’s not even that much artistically: the zoomed-out view is more efficient, so you’ve got little incentive to get closer and admire the trees.
Fahrenheit – Indigo Prophecy Remastered – Even given a second chance, it cannot change the abysmal “Simon” sequences and the even more abysmal plot that, after a really interesting and atmospheric beginning, steadily deteriotates into the ridiculous. An interesting experiment at the time but nothing more. To make it worse, the remastering is very lazy.
Gone Home – Starting as an apparent horror or psychological game and then revealing it’s something else is a good idea. The problem lies in the quality of the main story itself, very stereotyped, and most of the other elements add little to nothing to it. Also even shorter than I’ve heard (I was quite thorough, yet I finished it in little more than an hour).
Guns, Gore & Cannoli – The cool eurocomic-style graphics and the premise of zombies in the Prohibition Era promise much more than what it effectively is: a clunky and, most of all, extremely repetitive Metal Slug clone. It lasted me a few hours but levels still felt like dragging on too much.
Hatred – Once stripped of his controversial elements – which, in truth, range from bland to ridiculous – what is left is an isometric shooter that doesn’t play well with mouse and keyboard, has a strong lack of variety, and is even visually confusing (this is what happens when you don’t build visuals around monochromy firsthand).
Hektor – The semi-procedural generation, which causes changes even while in a map, to simulate the madness of the player character is an interesting idea, but drowns in too many damn headache-inducing graphical effects, the realization that death is desirable to get those changes at respawn (thus killing the tension), and an extremely derivative story and setting.
Inside My Radio – A triumph of style over substance: very short, very easy, and a badly designed final boss. Worth a shot for the visuals and sound but it’s over so quickly that it’s hard for it to leave an impression.
Kaiju-A-Gogo – Slow, grindy, incredibly repetitive, with a low sense of meaningful progression. Bad way to handle such a great concept.
Kung Fury: Street Rage – They could have done an homage to the beat-em-ups of the late ‘80s, instead they made a clone of One Finger Death Punch with none of the variety or fun.
Infinity Runner – Started fun, also thanks to the ridiculous premise (werewolf escapee in space!), but fell apart because of the drab visuals, the scarce variety and the fastidious quick time events – except the last which is quite aggravating. It even has the gall to close the Story Mode with an outrageous cliffhanger.
Kholat - The premise and beginnings are solid, but gradually crumble under the restrictive player movement, the unnervingly difficult navigation (using the map is cool but there are very few landmarks nor you can leave any), and especially a sparse and nonsensical story, whose ending made me regret the time spent on the game. What a waste of Sean Bean.
Lucius – A fantastic concept - be an unrepentant child Antichrist and arrange murders like accidents, or done by others - ruined by a rigid structure and generally mediocre execution. The sequel aims to fix at least part of the problems by making it relatively more open, but the execution is even worse and kills any potential left.
Max Payne – Gave it a second chance after many years, and it failed again. It’s certainly a milestone in the action genre, with its still well-implemented Bullet Time, and has great atmosphere, but I found and still find it very repetitive, frustrating and at times even boring. The sequel doesn’t improve much, and I didn’t even like the main story (shows-within-the-show were great though).
Monstrum – The first plays are really tense, because I like “ghost ship” settings and the design of the monsters is spot-on. Then comes the realization that the procedural generation and inability to save make all a matter of luck rather than skill.
Pineview Drive – How to make a really beautiful haunted manor, and reduce everything to “Door Unlocking Simulator feat. Ghosts”. Tedious and with an ending so cryptic, it forced the devs to explain it publicly.
Joe’s Diner – I hoped the developers of Pineview Drive could get better but despite the really original setting and premise, and the thankfully much shorter 30 virtual nights, it ends up more annoying and boring than anything else.
Prehistorik – A bizarre remake/mixture of the original games. Ugly graphics, questionable humour, imprecise controls. Also a reminder of how low what’s left of Interplay (whose logo appears here) has fallen. At least it prompted me to replay Prehistorik 2. “It still runs in 2015!” Indeed, it’s a classic compared to this one.
Project Night – Making an horror game heavily inspired, even in how the camera is managed, by the early episodes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill is a noble intent, but it’s soon evident it’s way out of the league of the lone programmer. Also one of the most idiotic main character models ever. The author decided to pull it off Steam.
Pulse – The concept of (unrealistic) echolocation to see around is fascinating, and the flat-shaded, low-poly visuals are nice, but the maps wouldn’t be fun to navigate even if they were fully visible. The game can be finished in an hour and is driven by a plot so useless they shouldn’t have bothered.
Rake- A textbook example of good concept (practically a hunting simulator where the prey is an urban legend monster), bad execution. The methods to track down the creature are useless compared to just wandering around and stumble into it. I managed to empty its life bar on the second night already and all I got was a “You Win”.
Red Faction II – Hastily made to ride on Halo’s success (the energy bar is shamelessly ripped from it), it wastes some good ideas and situations, like the hidden objectives, for one very short, mostly uninspired and frustrating campaign. The advertised four endings are just different narrations over the same movie. Shame.
Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition – Five years for two short DLCs that force you to replay the main game - which also holds up worse than its predecessor despite having half the years on its back - before unlocking them? Nope. The only impressive thing is how great it still looks.
Sideway New York – The mix of 2D and 3D, with the character being reduced to two dimensions over walls, would be potentially great if it wasn’t for the extremely loose controls and the dreadful optimization of the code; together, they end up making it more a pain than a pleasure to play.
The Stalin Subway + Red Veil – The setting would be interesting and some maps aren’t bad, but the gameplay is terribly frustrating and the bland and badly narrated story (not to speak of the dub) made even playing with God Mode not worth it in the end. They are not even a guilty pleasure with some artistic merit like You Are Empty, just plain bad.
Stay Dead Evolution – The effort to craft something new out of the original gameplay is admirable, but there’s not much you can do with no new footage (except the useless “lost stage”); if anything it feels even more limited, because one of the original foes was degraded to a bonus stage.
Submerged – Beautiful setting for an unfortunately dull game. The visuals are pretty but repetitive with the exception of a few landmarks, every gameplay element is so simplified it ultimately becomes a chore, and even with a duration of a few hours it feels padded.
Whispering Willows – The cartoonish artstyle, some interesting moments in the plot and an almost “relaxing” pacing cannot hide how slow, clunky and short this side-scrolling adventure is. The mechanic of the protagonist’s astral projection would especially have deserved more. Lasted an evening and couldn’t leave a much longer impression.
Wings Remastered – Never played the Amiga original so I can’t know if it has aged well or not, but this remake sports really low production values and extremely simplistic gameplay. It takes too little for it to become very repetitive and boring.
Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries – Some good art direction cannot save the extremely short duration, the gameplay undecided between dynamic action and 2.5D platformer, the terrible writing and the general lack of refinement. Sad but no wonder the developer is gone.
Blue Estate: The Game – Starts moderately interesting but after a while all its weaknesses come down: levels drag on too much, running gags get overused, the humor rarely delivers (it’s not even that much over-the-top) and it’s also very mediocre to look at.
Death Cargo – The delightfully trashy visuals and atmosphere, and the extreme simplicity of move and fatality inputs, cannot cover how bad the coding of this game is, and the gameplay is even worse. Hopefully the upcoming update/sequel Gorebreaker will be the game this should have been.
Dementium II HD – Sadly here. Once out of the DS all its limits are evident and the visuals are horribly dated (although with a certain PS2-era charm), but it’s still far from bad to play… until the awful, awful final boss.
Deus Ex: The Fall – All things considered they reached a good compromise in the original mobile version, cramming as much of the original gameplay as possible, but the big cliffhanger closure and the shoddy port make its limits less bearable on PC.
Devil’s Dare – The pixel art is really nice, and levels that vary depending on the order is a great idea, but the core gameplay is stiff and frustrating – being open to a long-range enemy attack just because you are attacking another one is too frequent - and seems intentionally designed to raise the difficulty artificially.
Dusty Revenge – It would be fun as a brawler but it’s terrible as a platformer – and the latter element gets more and more used as the game goes on, although the fighting also gets increasingly frustrating, with overlong boss fights. It’s also nice to look at, but still feels like a big Flash game due to rigid animations and rare use of parallax.
Eidolon – A walking simulator posing as a survival game. The stylized graphics are very fascinating, as is the narrative background that unfolds with the documents you find around, but doing so is incredibly tedious because the play area is HUGE; my interest collapsed in a few hours, and even the bland survival elements became an annoyance.
Euclidean – Sink slowly into marine-looking environments, avoiding a few easy obstacles and… that’s it. Would be more worthy as an audio-visual experience if it wasn’t so incredibly short and insubstantial.
Eufloria – A “relaxing” game for sure, but it became boring to me quite early, and it’s not even that much artistically: the zoomed-out view is more efficient, so you’ve got little incentive to get closer and admire the trees.
Fahrenheit – Indigo Prophecy Remastered – Even given a second chance, it cannot change the abysmal “Simon” sequences and the even more abysmal plot that, after a really interesting and atmospheric beginning, steadily deteriotates into the ridiculous. An interesting experiment at the time but nothing more. To make it worse, the remastering is very lazy.
Gone Home – Starting as an apparent horror or psychological game and then revealing it’s something else is a good idea. The problem lies in the quality of the main story itself, very stereotyped, and most of the other elements add little to nothing to it. Also even shorter than I’ve heard (I was quite thorough, yet I finished it in little more than an hour).
Guns, Gore & Cannoli – The cool eurocomic-style graphics and the premise of zombies in the Prohibition Era promise much more than what it effectively is: a clunky and, most of all, extremely repetitive Metal Slug clone. It lasted me a few hours but levels still felt like dragging on too much.
Hatred – Once stripped of his controversial elements – which, in truth, range from bland to ridiculous – what is left is an isometric shooter that doesn’t play well with mouse and keyboard, has a strong lack of variety, and is even visually confusing (this is what happens when you don’t build visuals around monochromy firsthand).
Hektor – The semi-procedural generation, which causes changes even while in a map, to simulate the madness of the player character is an interesting idea, but drowns in too many damn headache-inducing graphical effects, the realization that death is desirable to get those changes at respawn (thus killing the tension), and an extremely derivative story and setting.
Inside My Radio – A triumph of style over substance: very short, very easy, and a badly designed final boss. Worth a shot for the visuals and sound but it’s over so quickly that it’s hard for it to leave an impression.
Kaiju-A-Gogo – Slow, grindy, incredibly repetitive, with a low sense of meaningful progression. Bad way to handle such a great concept.
Kung Fury: Street Rage – They could have done an homage to the beat-em-ups of the late ‘80s, instead they made a clone of One Finger Death Punch with none of the variety or fun.
Infinity Runner – Started fun, also thanks to the ridiculous premise (werewolf escapee in space!), but fell apart because of the drab visuals, the scarce variety and the fastidious quick time events – except the last which is quite aggravating. It even has the gall to close the Story Mode with an outrageous cliffhanger.
Kholat - The premise and beginnings are solid, but gradually crumble under the restrictive player movement, the unnervingly difficult navigation (using the map is cool but there are very few landmarks nor you can leave any), and especially a sparse and nonsensical story, whose ending made me regret the time spent on the game. What a waste of Sean Bean.
Lucius – A fantastic concept - be an unrepentant child Antichrist and arrange murders like accidents, or done by others - ruined by a rigid structure and generally mediocre execution. The sequel aims to fix at least part of the problems by making it relatively more open, but the execution is even worse and kills any potential left.
Max Payne – Gave it a second chance after many years, and it failed again. It’s certainly a milestone in the action genre, with its still well-implemented Bullet Time, and has great atmosphere, but I found and still find it very repetitive, frustrating and at times even boring. The sequel doesn’t improve much, and I didn’t even like the main story (shows-within-the-show were great though).
Monstrum – The first plays are really tense, because I like “ghost ship” settings and the design of the monsters is spot-on. Then comes the realization that the procedural generation and inability to save make all a matter of luck rather than skill.
Pineview Drive – How to make a really beautiful haunted manor, and reduce everything to “Door Unlocking Simulator feat. Ghosts”. Tedious and with an ending so cryptic, it forced the devs to explain it publicly.
Joe’s Diner – I hoped the developers of Pineview Drive could get better but despite the really original setting and premise, and the thankfully much shorter 30 virtual nights, it ends up more annoying and boring than anything else.
Prehistorik – A bizarre remake/mixture of the original games. Ugly graphics, questionable humour, imprecise controls. Also a reminder of how low what’s left of Interplay (whose logo appears here) has fallen. At least it prompted me to replay Prehistorik 2. “It still runs in 2015!” Indeed, it’s a classic compared to this one.
Project Night – Making an horror game heavily inspired, even in how the camera is managed, by the early episodes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill is a noble intent, but it’s soon evident it’s way out of the league of the lone programmer. Also one of the most idiotic main character models ever. The author decided to pull it off Steam.
Pulse – The concept of (unrealistic) echolocation to see around is fascinating, and the flat-shaded, low-poly visuals are nice, but the maps wouldn’t be fun to navigate even if they were fully visible. The game can be finished in an hour and is driven by a plot so useless they shouldn’t have bothered.
Rake- A textbook example of good concept (practically a hunting simulator where the prey is an urban legend monster), bad execution. The methods to track down the creature are useless compared to just wandering around and stumble into it. I managed to empty its life bar on the second night already and all I got was a “You Win”.
Red Faction II – Hastily made to ride on Halo’s success (the energy bar is shamelessly ripped from it), it wastes some good ideas and situations, like the hidden objectives, for one very short, mostly uninspired and frustrating campaign. The advertised four endings are just different narrations over the same movie. Shame.
Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition – Five years for two short DLCs that force you to replay the main game - which also holds up worse than its predecessor despite having half the years on its back - before unlocking them? Nope. The only impressive thing is how great it still looks.
Sideway New York – The mix of 2D and 3D, with the character being reduced to two dimensions over walls, would be potentially great if it wasn’t for the extremely loose controls and the dreadful optimization of the code; together, they end up making it more a pain than a pleasure to play.
The Stalin Subway + Red Veil – The setting would be interesting and some maps aren’t bad, but the gameplay is terribly frustrating and the bland and badly narrated story (not to speak of the dub) made even playing with God Mode not worth it in the end. They are not even a guilty pleasure with some artistic merit like You Are Empty, just plain bad.
Stay Dead Evolution – The effort to craft something new out of the original gameplay is admirable, but there’s not much you can do with no new footage (except the useless “lost stage”); if anything it feels even more limited, because one of the original foes was degraded to a bonus stage.
Submerged – Beautiful setting for an unfortunately dull game. The visuals are pretty but repetitive with the exception of a few landmarks, every gameplay element is so simplified it ultimately becomes a chore, and even with a duration of a few hours it feels padded.
Whispering Willows – The cartoonish artstyle, some interesting moments in the plot and an almost “relaxing” pacing cannot hide how slow, clunky and short this side-scrolling adventure is. The mechanic of the protagonist’s astral projection would especially have deserved more. Lasted an evening and couldn’t leave a much longer impression.
Wings Remastered – Never played the Amiga original so I can’t know if it has aged well or not, but this remake sports really low production values and extremely simplistic gameplay. It takes too little for it to become very repetitive and boring.
Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries – Some good art direction cannot save the extremely short duration, the gameplay undecided between dynamic action and 2.5D platformer, the terrible writing and the general lack of refinement. Sad but no wonder the developer is gone.
DIGGING HOLES
Bloodbath Kavkaz – It’s not good even in its shamelessness as a clone of Hotline Miami. Too broken to be even remotely enjoyable.
The Dark Stone of Mebara – The Lovecraftian theme would distinguish it from the average RPG Maker productions but its lack of any other effort, between really bad graphics and difficulty so extreme you can easily lose the very first fight (just imagine the following ones).
Despair – The only despair it can bring is having spent money on it, even if it was just 9 cents (it’s gone on sale at least twice at that prize already).
Gynophobia – Someone allowed this to be sold??? And while fingers may be easily pointed to Desura, a few months later it reached Steam too. Not controversial as the title would imply, a very poor FPS with also an idiotic framing story.
Mutant Colossus From Outer Space – Expected a cheesy zero-budget FMV game, was an appalling zero-budget Rampage clone instead.
The Note – Seems a generic cheap horror game at first sight, but it’s much worse: idiotic monsters that can kill you before you even realize (even when you should be safe inside houses), completely broken English, first-person camera clipping through walls, grass clipping through floors… what else?
One Final Breath – An episodic game whose opening episode lasting 30 minutes, made all of searching for keys and keypad codes, with an utterly ridiculous voice acting, and released with bugs like visible mouse cursor and a door at the very beginning that doesn’t open. I doubt I’ll bother with further episodes.
One Night – Escape from the worst serial killer ever. The aping of Outlast is evident (at some point you get a videocamera and use its NV mode to see better), no video options at all, bad to look at and to play. Another example of what turds Steam has come to allow – the broken English in the game also extends to the store page.
Robert D. Anderson and the Legacy of Cthulhu – Potentially awesome premise (Nazis plus lovecraftian horrors), nice hand-drawn illustrations… Then the ridiculous live-action footage started. And finally one of the crappiest FPSes ever revealed itself. Well, it is obscure for a good reason.
Stellar 2D – A ridiculous shmup with oversized ships and no semblance of an actual gameplay. The developer though good to have maluses that block horizontal movement or shooting to give some challenge, since all enemies are so easy to hit. It doesn’t even allow to skip its ridiculously slow developer logo at startup.
The Tape – Has some interesting imagery but it’s incredibly short, incoherent, insubstantial, buggy, and with heavy graphic filters to mask the mediocre graphics. Anything else?
The Dark Stone of Mebara – The Lovecraftian theme would distinguish it from the average RPG Maker productions but its lack of any other effort, between really bad graphics and difficulty so extreme you can easily lose the very first fight (just imagine the following ones).
Despair – The only despair it can bring is having spent money on it, even if it was just 9 cents (it’s gone on sale at least twice at that prize already).
Gynophobia – Someone allowed this to be sold??? And while fingers may be easily pointed to Desura, a few months later it reached Steam too. Not controversial as the title would imply, a very poor FPS with also an idiotic framing story.
Mutant Colossus From Outer Space – Expected a cheesy zero-budget FMV game, was an appalling zero-budget Rampage clone instead.
The Note – Seems a generic cheap horror game at first sight, but it’s much worse: idiotic monsters that can kill you before you even realize (even when you should be safe inside houses), completely broken English, first-person camera clipping through walls, grass clipping through floors… what else?
One Final Breath – An episodic game whose opening episode lasting 30 minutes, made all of searching for keys and keypad codes, with an utterly ridiculous voice acting, and released with bugs like visible mouse cursor and a door at the very beginning that doesn’t open. I doubt I’ll bother with further episodes.
One Night – Escape from the worst serial killer ever. The aping of Outlast is evident (at some point you get a videocamera and use its NV mode to see better), no video options at all, bad to look at and to play. Another example of what turds Steam has come to allow – the broken English in the game also extends to the store page.
Robert D. Anderson and the Legacy of Cthulhu – Potentially awesome premise (Nazis plus lovecraftian horrors), nice hand-drawn illustrations… Then the ridiculous live-action footage started. And finally one of the crappiest FPSes ever revealed itself. Well, it is obscure for a good reason.
Stellar 2D – A ridiculous shmup with oversized ships and no semblance of an actual gameplay. The developer though good to have maluses that block horizontal movement or shooting to give some challenge, since all enemies are so easy to hit. It doesn’t even allow to skip its ridiculously slow developer logo at startup.
The Tape – Has some interesting imagery but it’s incredibly short, incoherent, insubstantial, buggy, and with heavy graphic filters to mask the mediocre graphics. Anything else?
