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Post by kaoru on Dec 29, 2016 6:28:17 GMT -5
- 7th Dragon III Code: VFD - Very similar to Tokyo Mirage Sessions. The battle system and team building is what won me over. It's unfortunate none of the other games in the series made it to North America. You know about the fantranslations for 7th Dragon and 2020? Especially 2020 looks and plays almost exactly like III. The DS game is more like Dragon Quest III, tho.
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Post by moran on Dec 29, 2016 12:15:43 GMT -5
Highs
Mega Man Collection, Earthbound, Resident Evil Remake, Rondo of Blood - All replays, but such great, fun, unforgettable games
A Boy and His Blob HD remake - Great remake to a flawed classic. Breaking the game up into levels was a good idea, making the puzzles and bosses flow pretty well. And really easy on the eyes as well.
Shovel Knight - Not much to say that hasn't been said a thousand times over about this one, just a really great throwback that was done really well
Wolfenstein - A style of FPS that isn't utilized nearly as much as it should be. Tells a good story, great controls, and a real focus on the action in front of you.
Ys Chronicles - So simple, but accomplishes so much with its characters and straight forward approach. Had a lot of fun with this one.
Dark Souls 3 - The series that has just ruined gaming for me finished with a bang. There's just something about playing in a world that just hurls attack after attack at you from all sides, giving you little to no respite the whole length of the game. After so many games in the series a lot of the surprises and creativity isn't there anymore, but still such a blast to play through.
Averages
Broforce - A fun surprise. Mindless action and stupid fun characters
Mighy Gunvolt - A good Mega Man clone, a little too short though
TMNT Arcade/TMNT: Turtles in Time - Replays, but always fun
Uncharted 1-3 - Fun cover based action shooters, don't understand why they were as popular as they were, but I really enjoyed them
Animal Crossing New Leaf - Didn't expect to enjoy this one as much as I have. I never got into the deries before, but had a lot of fun with this one
Lows
Ducktales Remastered - This is not a dig on Ducktales at all, the NES version is an all time favorite of mine. But I played this on a Kindle and god damn were the controls terrible. The amount of times that I dropped like a rock while jumping from ropes and vines in very crucial moments were maddening.
Fallout 4 - This is what the Souls series has done to me. I do not have the patience for these types of RPGs/Chore Simulators anymore. I just can't do it.
Witcher 3 - Nothing about this one clicked for me. Not that I think its a bad game, just more disappointed because I had heard such great things about it.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Dec 29, 2016 16:49:55 GMT -5
HIGH-FPS Classics: I finally gave the original DOOM (well, Ultimate DOOM) a proper shot, and I friggin' LOVED it. Favorite game I played this year. As a result, I also played through DOOM II, and started Heretic (which I lost my progress on due to the death of my hard drive). I'm now playing through Shadow Warrior, which is awesome as well, and I stocked up on a few other classics on Steam, so I still have Final DOOM, Master Levels, Doom 3, Blood (if I can get the aiming set up better, that is), and Quake for future FPS cravings. - Continuing my Zelda marathon: After the second year doing this, I have only two games left to do (SS and ALBW). And to think my original goal was to do them all in one year! This is way better though, since they get some room to breathe. Very glad that as a result I have now played through Oracle of Ages and Twilight Princess. -Paper Mario Color Splash: Very nice surprise and a good final big title for Wii U. People were very quick to judge this before it even came out, but I'm glad I decided to give it a shot. It's funny, charming, and it fixes pretty much everything wrong with Sticker Star. -Pokémon Sun (& Moon): Actually feels fresh, unlike X/Y. Lots of fun new additions and a good new set of 'mons. -Hexcells: So much fun. This looks simple, and in a way it is, but in the final stages you really see how the game opens up and how you have to think about things in way more complicated way than either of its big inspirations (Minesweeper and Picross). Thankfully there's a lot of puzzling left to do since Hexcells Plus and Infinite are in my Steam library waiting to be finished in 2017. If i had to reccommend one game to get right now, it'd be this. It's insanely cheap and it's even cheaper now that it's on sale. Special thanks to windfisch for gifting this. -Crash Bandicoot 1 & 2: Never beat them before, even though these were staple games for me as a kid. I'd like to seek out a working copy of CB3 some time soon. -Portal: Another classic I can now say I've beaten, and like DOOM, I feel a bit stupid for getting to it so late. I'm saving Portal 2 for later, since I know that's the final game in the series. -Kirby: Planet Robobot: Kirby games are always nice to play through. AVERAGE-Zelda: The Wind Waker (HD): This isn't a bad game by any means, but compared to other Zelda titles, and certainly 3D Zelda titles, I found this one a bit dissapointing. -Heretic: Not bad, but I got pretty far in it before my hard drive died, and it never got to that satisfying point DOOM did. The weapons and enemies just aren't as enjoyable and the item system does not work nicely when you're moving around, and to be honest there are way too many items anyway. It's hard to find a good spot to use them (let alone scroll to the right one in the middle of the action) and never knowing when you're gonna encounter them makes that even worse. -Pokémon Pearl: Again, not bad, but soooooo fucking slow. -Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+: I like this, but I find it a bit hard to care about the high scores, and it's a bit difficult to figure out just what the point is of the game (e.g. what a good way to score is). I wish there was some kind of endless mode with limited lives instead of all this timed BS. Maybe I have to unlock that... LOW-I don't think there were really a lot of outstanding lows this year. I can remember a few aggrevating moments in games, but they were still from good games. For example, the last two (e.g. half of the game's) dungeons in Majora's Mask were very annoying, and DOOM II had some annoying stage design moments that really cemented Ultimate DOOM as the better of the two. -There were a few games that I was looking forward to that I didn't get to play because of time/money concerns. Rhythm Paradise Megamix, Dragon Quest VII, Spirit of Justice...they'll have to wait for 2017 or beyond.
Overall, a pretty good year if I look at the list of games I finished this year. - Another World - 20th Anniversary Edition (Steam) (beaten on 2016-09-01) – This game is really hard, in a pretty cheap way. You're pretty much expected to die over and over again until you figure out whatever obscure means there is to get past each specific obstacle. I got fed up with trying to figure out how to do things in this on my own, so I ended up finding a video playthrough on Youtube and referring to that as soon as I got stuck at various parts, toward the end of the game. It just got too aggravating to have to redo stuff over and over again, especially considering how painfully stiff the controls are. Having just beaten this, I can see how this game was ahead of its time, and how it has been influential on many game designers since then. It's not very satisfying to actually play, though. At least I have it under my belt now. Literally my opinion on this game. Cool idea/atmosphere, bad execution as far as 'levels' go (checkpoint placement, in other words).
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Post by toei on Dec 29, 2016 16:54:24 GMT -5
LowSeiken Densetsu 3I don't get the love, I'm constantly cursing up a storm, since it plays way too stiff and bosses seem way overpowered. Yep. Secret of Mana is quite overrated, but at least it's still decent. SD3 sucks balls. Whenever you enter a new screen outside of town there's usually monsters, at which point you switch into your fighting stance so you either have to fight them or painfully drag your characters to the other end of the screen, seemingly against their will. That wouldn't be as bad if fighting was any good, but the system is stiff and sort-of-half-turn-based in the most awkward way. Add to this the fact that there's basically no story or character scenes beyond each character's introduction and basically no memorable moment and you have probably the worst action RPG I've ever played, inexplicably held up as some sort of classic.
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Post by jackcaeylin on Dec 29, 2016 17:02:05 GMT -5
It reminds me kinda that I should treat my backloggery better^^
HIGH:
King of Fighters XIV: I really like this game. It has a great roster and you can unlock tons of artwork pictures. My only concern is that some team endings are a bit flat, especially the team Art of Fighting. Nevertheless it had some great endings like the ending from Team Villain or Yagami. I will never forget that potatohead speech.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines: a fun surprise, but it has very tedious bossfights and the gameplay is a bit clunky
Dark Souls 3: a great way to finish the series, it is a very beautiful game, the trees, bricks and castles have tons of details and I really liked the multiplayer in this game. It was funny to hunt people in the forest. Some people tried to run away, but well they can run away, but they cannot get away. I prefer to invade a realm, which has the host and a sun warrior, because I can destroy their jolly coop. I really miss the forest, it was awesome to hunt all this people and some helpers. Some people even begged for their lives xD. I really enjoy when they beg me to spare them, but I still destroy them xD.
Freedom Planet: I never had the game on my radar, but due to the positive response on this message board I tried it and I really enjoyed it. great music, great gameplay I want to play something like that again in the following year.
Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess: a very unique game, it has some unique traps, liked the new structured story
averages:
the escapist: was a funny game with some unique things, I am thankful to silentstorm, because he mentioned the game.
Persona 5: I was excited, because, according to an interview, Hashino stated that the game will have some unique differences, but it was more of the same. Just a different theme doesn't make the game unique. The game was really neutral for me regarding experience.
FF XV: I enjoyed the game, but I had to watch a boring movie and 5 anime episodes, because of the weak structured story. Besides the OST was pretty weak like the story. I liked the attempt, but a Tabata game is a Tabata game. I prefer proper stories and not stories like 3rd Birthday or Type-0.
Broforce: a great game, my only concern: the actual gameplay was a bit flat even in the highest difficulty
Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: I wanted to try it. I just want to see why people treat it like Excalibur. I liked Black Jack. It is relaxing to play Casino games, but I am not really the target audience for this game. Maybe if it has more complex modes like fishing or car/Jet Ski things, then I would like it.
DEX enhanced edition: great attempt, a game with 2D Sprites, which reminds me of Deus Ex, but it really needs a proper budget, the last quarter of the game felt toooo unfinished (from a technical point of view) and ruined the game.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness: underwhelming, it could be so much more
Bioshock: great game, but too many gamebreaking issues (the ps4 version)
LOW:
Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse This game was so awful, honestly friendship? really? in a mainline game?? I remember Shin Megami Tensei 1 exactly, everyone treated you like shit, Law Hero and Chaos Hero helped you, but you kinda knew, since the beginning these guys are comrades and not instantly friends and they had development, then you could choose your route and in the end you get your very awesome philosophical answer, but in this case.............. I really hate how they tried to please the Persona fanbase with this game. This is kinda my Final Fantasy XIII of the Shin Megami Tensei series, Then the difficulty, it doesn't really have a difficulty. It was too easy. It doesn't have a challenge and the dungeons are jokes. I don't know the future of SMT, but the most loved game from the director was Pokemon GO. 2017 could be a grim year.
God Eater: Resurrection: It didn't click, I think, I don't like hunting games, besides the gameplay felt a bit restricted.
Ys Origin: it was a disappointment for me, it felt like a rushed copied game of Falcoms earlier games and the bossfights were a bit boring.
Overwatch: At the beginning I adored it, but it doesn't really have content. After a while, I stopped.
Trails of the Cold Steel: I think my expectations were too high, because of Ao no Kiseki/Zero no Kiseki, which is not the problem, but Trails of the Cold Steel was too Anime for me and I don't like that everyone is a special being. It has too much tropes and clichees.
Fire Emblem Fates: "sigh"
Let it Die: At the beginning it was really interesting, but I don't have much freetime. I can't grind 100.000+ gold just to revive my character. Due to the fact that you are constantly raided, you have to get the money on one run and you kinda need 3-4 hours without a break. I like challanges, but not tedious/time-costly challenges.
Gravity Rush: The gameplay isn't my cup of tea and the story was a bit flat.
I am pretty sure that I forgot some titles. I just want to point out, even if I was maybe a bit mean, I was only mean, because I liked the game/series to an extend.
Yours sincerely
Jack Caeylin
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Post by silentstorm on Dec 29, 2016 17:36:39 GMT -5
ShantaeAlso not understanding the love this recieves, there was not a single second of enjoyment to be had for me in the first hour, so I quickly dropped it like a STD-riddled prospect. Well the first Shantae is easily the worst one of the series to me, the second is much better even if a bit too short. Still, i like the first game and the franchise in general, even if i think the games are too easy.
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Post by windfisch on Dec 30, 2016 17:57:32 GMT -5
Because I'm lazy, I won't mention all the games I've played, just a couple of notable ones. I'll also write about one (or just a few) games at a time and will be adding others to this thread later. So this is intended to be work in progress: Shadow Blade Reload: This is certainly not the best game I've played this year, but I've put more time into it than I'd have thought. What kept me coming back was the general game-"feel": controls flow nicely, once you get the hang of things and the different stages are usually well designed. You have a variety of options to deal with most situations, which increases replayability. There is even friendly fire that can be used against enemies - which is always a plus in my book. In terms of presentation it is a bit bland and repetetive, though. You can certainly sense that it used to be a mobile game at one point. Character animation is nicely done, but the backgrounds are pretty uninteresting and the overly saturated lighting effects give it a cheap first-generation-3d-graphics-card-look. However, I did like the nineties-comic-book-style cutscenes. Those are obviously cheesy and over the top. But they're a nice homage to that specific time period and played in a refreshingly straight fashion (as opposed to many indie developers who attempt to do "irony"). I do respect that. Even though this game has been updated a few times, there are still some bugs left to be fixed, like getting stuck in seemingly solid walls at times. Since this game is build around the concept of speedrunning and improving your highscore, these bugs and glitches can be quite annoying, even though they don't appear frequently. Because of the soso presentation and the occasional bugs the regular price seems too steep for me – but at a discount (like this one: Nemesis Bundle 2) I'd recommend it.
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Post by Weasel on Dec 31, 2016 0:47:46 GMT -5
My 2016 in Gaming?
Oh wait. You didn't mean like that, did you.
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Post by moran on Jan 1, 2017 17:50:40 GMT -5
Weasel That was fantastic. I thought 2017 was gonna pull through, but that last tombstone was devastating. Can I share that?
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Post by Weasel on Jan 1, 2017 17:58:00 GMT -5
Weasel That was fantastic. I thought 2017 was gonna pull through, but that last tombstone was devastating. Can I share that? Yeah, go for it!
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Post by Bobinator on Jan 2, 2017 17:18:42 GMT -5
It's a little late, but now that I've had some time to think on it... THE HIGHSPicross - I never spent much time with this before near the end of this year, mostly because I never really understood the rules until now. Now that I've had some time to figure out how it works, I've been kind of addicted. I've grabbed all the games in the official series I can, along with a cheap, casual deal with some hidden object scenes... I don't dig those, I just wanted more Picross that badly. Except for the variant where the game doesn't tell you if you made a mistake. I got Paint it Back, which chooses to go that route, and I refunded that real fast. Hexcells - For similar reasons as the above. Frustrating on several levels, yet I still end up coming back to all three of them. Killer Instinct - First-year winner of the prestigious "Best Reason To Install Windows 10", "Best Darkstalkers Revival We'll Ever Have", "Best Revival Of A Franchise Nobody Thought Would Ever Get A Revival", "Best Use Of A Battletoad", and "Best Use of a Bulgarian Choir in a Fighting Game" awards. Road Redemption - Truthfully, I don't usually go for Early Access stuff, but I decided to make an exception. Still waiting on this thing to get finished, but I really enjoy the core they've got here. Mostly because it's a game that lets me get into a mid-air katana duel, ending with me decapitating a dude. Reminder that this is all going on while on motorcycles. Yes. <3 THE MIDSDoom 2016 - Truthfully, I'd probably put this in the highs. But lately, my hard drive has been screwy, and it takes so long to load the thing I don't even want to bother, so I'll have to wait until I can replace the drive before I can put some real time in it. So, because I'm petty, it goes here. Ultimate Chicken Horse - I admit I don't really go for the Super Meat Boy style of platforming, nor do I pick up a whole bunch of wacky party games that Youtube celebrities love. But I've still had a lot of fun with this in multiplayer. It's fun to try and figure out the most asshole level to make to make your friends suffer through, I can't deny that. Street Fighter V - I admit I got this one as a gift, so the many mistakes this game makes, like the lack of an arcade mode, the input lag... they're still an annoyance, sure, but they don't bother me quite as much as they could have. And I will admit, after the pile of molasses that was Street Fighter IV, SFV does feel like an improvement. It does a little faster, which was my biggest complaint with IV. I'll play it if my friends want me to, but I don't see myself playing it a whole beyond that. Thing is, KI literally does everything this game does but better, so I'd much rather spend time getting better at that game. Seriously. Play Killer Instinct. THE LOWSDead By Daylight - The only way I can unlock more of the game's content is by playing public multiplayer? Yeah, you can piss right off with that. Hopefully the Friday the 13th game doesn't do that, because the initial concept was pretty cool. Farnham Fables - I wish I could say that the worst part about this game is that you solve a puzzle by giving a fox a little lizard girl's loincloth for it to sniff. I wish I could say that the worst part is that you can have one of the main characters repeatedly tickle the armpits of said girl's older sister. I wish I could say the worst part is that said older sister doesn't have her breasts (Yes, on a lizard, just to be clear) out at all times. But no, the worst part about this game is that I've played Humongous Entertainment games that were more difficult and lengthy than this game. I'm awful at adventure games and I could probably beat this one in... 15 minutes, no walkthrough, if you rushed me. Bot Vice - At first glance, I admit I was intrigued by a cover-based arcade shooter that took inspiration from Wild Guns. I don't know what it was, though, but I found this one pretty impenetrable. Maybe it was how many buttons you had to keep track of, maybe it was the way enemies constantly swarmed towards you while others kept shooting projectiles... I guess I'm not hardcore enough, so I had to refund it. I did hear they added an easier mode, so maybe I'll try it again sometime. See ya'll in Super Weenie Hut Jr.'s, I guess. Ducktales Remastered - This is not a dig on Ducktales at all, the NES version is an all time favorite of mine. But I played this on a Kindle and god damn were the controls terrible. The amount of times that I dropped like a rock while jumping from ropes and vines in very crucial moments were maddening. I would blame this less on the game and more on the fact that you were trying to play a 2D platformer on a touch screen.
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Post by windfisch on Jan 3, 2017 11:03:06 GMT -5
Next: Metroid's heirs
Axiom Verge
I was not sure about it even before I played it. But good Metroid-likes (not just Metroidvanias) are hard to find and so I gave it a try. About 4 hours later I decided that I was done with it, even though it was a back and forth and there were some elements that I liked.
But ultimateley I did not enjoy the experience: It is too combat heavy for a title that is all about backtracking and respawning enemies. The combat itself, even during the impressive looking bossfights, felt like tedious work to me. Even the exploration and backtracking was not very satisfying, because there is not much variety in the environments. I get that it's supposed to be an homage to the NES Metroid. But compared to the latter it lacks simplicity and elegance. Instead it oftentimes is way too busy and noisy in terms of visuals and audio as well.
At times it really comes close to being something cool, like the moments you encounter those huge iconic Giger/Super C-esque humanoid heads. But then the terribly self aware dialogue comes into play as do the gimmicky glitch aesthetics..
Axiom Verge tries to create an immersive atmosphere, while deconstructing it at the same time. It also tries to be both Metroid AND Contra. For me it did not succeed in either.
Another Metroid 2 Remake
To make it short: I loved it.
While it does not quite capture the original's spirit, it absolutely succeeds in being a worthy sequel to Zero Mission - which is a huge accomplishment in itself. Definetely a high point.
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Post by moran on Jan 3, 2017 11:20:06 GMT -5
Ducktales Remastered - This is not a dig on Ducktales at all, the NES version is an all time favorite of mine. But I played this on a Kindle and god damn were the controls terrible. The amount of times that I dropped like a rock while jumping from ropes and vines in very crucial moments were maddening. I would blame this less on the game and more on the fact that you were trying to play a 2D platformer on a touch screen.[/quote] Oh definitely. They game looked great and was a great update to an already awesome game. I've played touch screen platformers before sadly, but this was just the worst.
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Post by windfisch on Jan 3, 2017 12:03:14 GMT -5
Killer Instinct - First-year winner of the prestigious "Best Reason To Install Windows 10", "Best Darkstalkers Revival We'll Ever Have", "Best Revival Of A Franchise Nobody Thought Would Ever Get A Revival", "Best Use Of A Battletoad", and "Best Use of a Bulgarian Choir in a Fighting Game" awards. Darkstalkers vs Killer Instinct is cetainly on my list of "crossovers that really should happen (but probably won't)".
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Post by Gendo Ikari on Jan 3, 2017 12:54:22 GMT -5
While my list is substantial, contrarily to last year I didn't prune much from it. I definitely played less, due to a complete change of living place and having left behind my better PC for the time being, only recovering it the times I went back to my old home; there have been some months with no game touched, even if I keep myself updated with the releases. I'd like to dedicate more of my free time to just playing but it's too early to tell. At least, I've got more money to spend on games - which however just translates in having an even bigger backlog. The considerations I opened the 2015 thread with still stand, along with the "new entry" of VR games which for now, and with few exceptions, seem mostly unsubstantial "videotoys", far from making me even just consider getting a VR set. TOP Bulletstorm - Perfect to close the year. Too crass but it's my only complaint in front of great graphics that are also fast and very optimized, the Skillshot system that encourages variety in the gameplay, a campaign of the right lenght, and setpieces at every step. What crazy world is one where a game like this, even published by a major, doesn't find enough success to get a sequel greenlit! And how unfortunate that the upcoming remaster may be instantly killed by the pricing.
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - How to effectively modernize a classic, both in visuals and gameplay, while never losing sight of its roots. Incredibly addictive.
Mute Crimson EX - A retro-inspired "hardcore" platformer that's however always fair thanks to its excellent level design and tight gameplay; I died a lot but always wanted to go on. Hilarious and voluntary "Engrish" and clear trichomatric visuals. Possibly my biggest surprise of the year.
Superhot - How to take one of the most overused genres on PC and make something really original out of it. It's more like a puzzle where you must carefully plan your moves. The menus and general interface, with their mini-games, are the proverbial cherry on top.
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition - When you update what was one of the finest titles of 2015 already, it inevitably becomes one of the best of 2016, too.
Valley - The simple and bland title didn't promise the great experience I got from this game. While linear and with simple controls, it's a fun ride in a dieselpunk power suit and its gradual upgrades, with some original ideas, great setpieces and atmosphere, and an unoriginal story that's still good enough to keep the player involved; when it seems it's almost over, then there's a whole new section to do. It's got a sense of scale and wonder I didn't find in many higher-budgeted titles. HIGH Deathsmiles - Regardless of the theme, it's a great Cave shmup that has also, contrarily to Mushihime and Dodonpachi, been ported and sold in its full content, with no need to purchase DLCs to get other modes or revisions.
Ookibloks - An action/puzzle with a monkey who bounces around to touch blocks with bananas, avoiding enemies and looking for bonuses. It's one of those games easy to learn (it uses just the four directions) but hard to master, while being very fun. It's also got incredibly cute visuals that make it look like a lost Japanese PS1 game.
Deadfall Adventures - Doesn't excel in anything except some luscious locations, and sometimes I met annoying bugs, but it's a basically an unofficial Indiana Jones game that doesn't skip on any of the genre tropes - good doses of irony and levity, nazis (and soviets, too), ancient temples full of death traps, mummies, a mine cart section, even puzzles solved with the help of old notes, and with a distinct difficulty level for them.
Cave! Cave! Deus Videt! - A Visual Novel with unique style and premise, being set in the world of Bosch's paintings. Some parts are tedious but the overall experience was interesting. Venti Mesi - From the same developer, a series of vignettes about Northern Italy during the Republic of Salò. This time I found the visual style off-putting, but it worked with the concept of reading about a time of civil war in my country (especially in a time full of revisionists and dangerous populists).
Event[0] - Set in a derelict space station in some alternate 1990s, has mouse for movement and the rest of the keyboard to interact with the station's AI through a text-based interface. Such AI seems to "simulate" a not too advanced one but can get unnerving, as sometimes its replies seem random; yet, given the very short duration of the game, there's a lot to try upon replays. An experimental game that deserves points for trying.
The Metronomicon - A crazy and original rhytm game that's also a fantasy parody, pitting a party of characters against partying monsters. Better suited for a gamepad but still great fun.
Kingdom Rush - It doesn't set to invent something new, it is "merely" an excellent tower defense with cute graphics, great variety of enemies and a satisftying sense of progression.
The Turing Test - One of the best imitators of Portal I've seen: clean visuals using an excellently optimized UE4, handles greatly, and immerses the player in many puzzles that are creative and varied while never very difficult, leaving space for pleasant "eureka" moments. The story is narrated and voiced well but may feel cliched and pretentious at times; I also thought the ending and its last-minute variation were not satisfying. Everyhing that came before, however, was really worth playing.
Klang - A platformer with rhytm game elements - the character can slash in four directions and enemy attacks come mostly in rhytm with the beats of the music. The setting feels like "Tron meets techno music", and the cutscenes which look out of the early 2000s end up very appropriate for the atmosphere. Short but intense and stylish.
In Between - Gravity change is hardly a new concept but is used well here: beside interesting puzzles, there are beautiful 2D graphics and a story that, while wholly unoriginal (and maybe also emotionally manipulative), is good enough to follow throughout the levels.
Splatter: Blood Red Edition - Cheesy "pseudo-noir" atmosphere and muddy visuals aside, you've got thousands of zombies to massacre with gusto, and for all the other flaws of the graphics the lighting is excellent. Perfect for sessions of one or two levels at a time.
The Madness of Little Emma - I haven't played that much of this platformer/roguelike yet, but compared to many other games with procedural generation it feels much more amicable towards the player.
Chronology - It's short, and has no key config (as usual I'd start to say...), but I've seen much worse ports from mobile. Beautiful 2D graphics - the "era change" effect is really well done - and many clever puzzles based on the very different abilities of the two characters. Enjoyed this a lot while it lasted.
Defender's Quest - An unexpectedly good Tower Defense (although here the "towers" are characters), with some RPG management and especially an interesting plot - serious story but often funny script - to keep it together. I just wish the character graphics were a little more varied.
Streets of Fury EX - One of the goofiest and at the same time funniest scrolling fighting games ever, on top of being of the rare "Guardian Heroes" type. Needs more variety and inventive in enemies and levels, but the fighting system is surprisingly deep. It's already great in single player, a riot in multi.
Oxenfree - Slow and uneven pacing, with some padding too much, and little interaction beside the many dialogues, but in the end the story, coupled with the pleasant art, has proved very compelling. It could really work in some other media (and apparently, it is going to be adapted into one).
Layers of Fear - In the end, the full version added one more hour of play and at that point many scares were phoned in, but it was still quite creative visually. Despite its limits, it's been a good ride and much better than most other released horror games. The Inheritance DLC goes more for a surreal and melancholic atmosphere than scares, in line with the pont of view of the original protagonist's daughter and her search for glimpses of happiness within her difficult infancy, giving an adequate sense of closure.
Devil Daggers - A simple, almost perfect test of pure FPS skill, where the time you resist before being killed is the only thing that counts; the semi-retro visuals and great sound design are the cherry on top.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 - Dated visuals, excessively compressed storylines and repetitive gameplay, but the flashy combat and loads of characters make it still a blast to play, and it's generally a good use of the license. The PC version is far from brilliant but at least it's quite scalable.
Velocity Ultra - The bland visuals were off-putting at first but then I really enjoyed playing it; the teleport mechanic was a touch of fresh air.
1001 Spikes - It's a "masocore" platformer but beside the generous number of lives, I honestly appreciated the level design and the overall style, it's more genuinely retro th ant many other titles.
Windlands - Sprawling flying islands where you can roam in search of crystals, either as a challenge, or at the most relaxed pace with the lowest difficulty, which allows for the hooks to stick to any surface. Simple visual style that allows for large maps and a sense of beautiful desolation. Came in with little expectations and found one of the few games that may be worth a VR set right now.
Constant C - A puzzle/platformer with a bit of originality, gravity change is nothing new but goes side-by-side with the "time bubble" that allows some objects to move only when close to the character. Very hard at times, though. AVERAGE DreadOut: Keepers of the Dark - Like the original I wanted to like this more but it's often too rough around the edges, especially in the design of boss fights which are mostly shallow and annoying - in a game based mostly around them this time. Still, it's a love letter to fans (the ghosts confronted here are designed by backers of the first game) and shows a lot of promise for a future proper sequel.
Divekick - Its hyper-simplified gameplay is a parody of excessively complex fighting games, but the same simplicity made it too limited beyond a few hours. Still liked it graphics and humour (not great but worth of several chuckles).
Clandestine - Great idea to have the usual "mission control" of stealth games under direct control too, but not very playable in single, on top of a mediocre execution; one of those titles that would have needed a bigger budget.
Journey of a Roach - Funny with no dialogues, visually great, and the ability of moving on walls and ceilings is used effectively. Unfortunately it's also full of bizarre puzzles and very, very short.
Copy Kitty - The many combinations of weapons are fun (they reminded me of Gunstar Heroes in this sense), and the cutesy style isn't bad, but the controls are loose due to very floaty physics, levels are small and lame, the visual style a bit too flashy and therefore confusing at times.
Metal Dead - Not a bad adventure, due to good puzzles, but I often disliked its humour and the visuals are really too amateurish.
Firewatch - Gone Home meets Telltale dialogue system. I was told it's one of those "love it or hate it" games; in truth, I didn't manage to either love or hate it. It does several things right, like some fantastic vistas and great interaction between the two characters despite never meeting in person, but also feels really constrained and limited (the map helps, but in the ends there's just a handful of paths), with a sense of openness that's just fastidiously fake.
Fractured Soul - The idea of two parallel planes to switch to and for is implemented more than decently, but the game on the whole suffers shallow visuals and level design. Largely unspectacular.
Dungeons: The Eye of Draconus - The intent of making a parody of Golden Axe is laudable, and several passages are actually funny, but the actual gameplay is sloppy and the game ends abruptly. I'm tired of these "Episode One"-s...
A City Sleeps - I'm sure this will be great to play with a Xbox Joypad. Meanwhile, however, I can't appreciate such a lazy port.
Type Rider - The interactive story of writing and printing is fascinating, but gameplay itself takes the form of a shallow platformer with only occasionally clever bits.
Superfrog HD - The graphics are faithful to the original yet still flash-like, but the main problem lies in the game itself: it was nothing exceptional in its day, much less today.
Wailing Heights - Comic-like visuals, great soundtrack, some brilliant dialogue, taking control of a character after learning enought about him/her to compose a small song... And yet it's stiff and inconvenient to control, finding interactable spots can be really painful, going back and forth just to transfer control of a character is annoying and feels like padding. A pity it's worse than it could legitimately be.
Dark Void - Fun setting (Bermuda Triangle! Jetpack furnished by Tesla! Reptilians!) and seamless transition from TPS to flight sections, but neither of the two parts is made particularly well (the flights can become even oddly tedious at times), while the story becomes messier and messier and doesn't even have the courage of a full closure, setting a sequel we'll never see. At least I can now play Dark Void Zero...
Wacky Wheels HD - While the original is overrated (with all its limits, it was still a laudable effort at making a Mario Kart clone on PC), I still prefer it over this remake that is fine and has no huge flaws, but also has no particular merits either, and feels very lacking in personality.
Irritum - A 3D platformer with a mix of vector and flat-shaded graphics and a mental/surreal theme, based on switching between three "planes" to make specific platforms materialize when needed. Not particularly great, but would have deserved to make through Greenlight more than a lot of other garbage on Steam.
Residue: Final Cut - Great setting, backgrounds and premise (the Aral Sea disaster is certainly not a commonly used theme) clash with awkward animation, shallow gameplay and a severely hit-and-miss script. They tried something different from the usual, at least.
The Town of Light - Despite the real-life setting and heavy themes, it suffered heavily from its lethargic pace. I was also baffled that this Italian production had a more convincing English audio track than the Italian one.
Velocity 2X - Why worse controls and platforming phases with the main character that are much inferior to the shooting ones? An example of why adding more isn't necessarily better.
Hail to the King Deathbat - High expectations for the "metal" theme but it turned out to be an originally mobile action game with simplistic gameplay and a lot of grinding required, on top of a bland art direction. Republique: Episodes 4+5 - Something must have gone wrong in the long wait after the third episode. Episode 4 attempts some nice variations on the usual gameplay but they're limited to it (it goes back to usual in Episode 5) and beside a big reveal about a certain character, it mostly felt like padding. The last episode recycles most locales, doesn't reveal much and closes with a rushed, disappointing ending - the long wait for the conclusion wasn't really worth it.
Battle High 2 - Making a fighting game with 16 characters on a shoestring budget is not easy, so the result is admirable, but still far from great.
Arcadecraft - Great idea of managing an arcade but after a while it turns much more limited than I hoped; at times it's also, ironically, more "arcade" (because of the quick timing required to move cabinets, repair them or kick people out) than management.
Second Chance Heroes - Quirky cast and easy to get into, but very limited abilities and customization, and obviously better in co-op - with servers now closed and no local options.
The Bunker - A nice small indie film that tries to put some player interaction inside, in a throwback to the "interactive movies" of the 1990s. Good direction and plot, while the main actor leaves something to desire. In rare cases of failure, checkpoints force to go through a lot of footage again - no ways to skip.
Cursed - A "casual" adventure game that looks like an Hidden Object one at first. Puzzles are simple and often based on long sequences of keys and emblems to open access to other objects and locations. Simple story and dialogues but really pretty scenarios, so it was still a mostly pleasant, relaxed experience until the end, with an annoying memory puzzle and finally a sudoku. Also a bug that makes the game unwinnable if you use a certain object in a place before another...
Western Press - a Typing game where the duel is won by whoever types faster. It's cute and fun but very limited - of course, it does better when played online. The exchanges of one-liners betweenm characters with pre-recorded laughs are very irritating, though.
Tabletop Defense - fun visual style (maps are made with cardboard and units are toys) but similar to many other Tower Defense Games beside that, and quite limited with options.
Defunct - A peculiar mixture of racing and exploration that can be really fun at times, but due to lack of camera control, it's difficult to be precise. It also doesn't manage to encourage straying from the main path, which can be cleared in under three hours. LOW Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit - A title that basically doesn't dare anything, neither in the rhytm game part, nor in the sexy content that quickly grows thin, also due to the bland visuals (are those 3D models out of a PSP?). Awfully stupid dialogue and unmemorable songs don't help.
Unhack - The basic concept of mixing a puzzle/maze with Visual Novel elements is nice, but everything is very underdeveloped and underwhelming, on top of a duration of just an hour.
Long Night Episode I - It shows some promise as an old-style survival horror game, but quickly collapses under the weight of constant chases. And the developer is no more, so it's not even worth playing hoping for future episodes.
The Floor is Jelly - At first I was really captivated by the dreamy visuals and the relaxing sound, but totally erratic physics and very wonky controls quickly ruined any enjoyment, as many situations felt resolved by luck rather than any skill.
Phantaruk - Obviously inspired by Frictional Games (there's even an "insanity" effect when looking at an enemy), but it ends up sub-par: few objects, the necessity of finding and taking some medicine at regular intervals to keep going mortifies exploration, stealth is often frustrating, very cliched and predictable story and setting. The backstory that explains the name of the title and the ending are interesting, but overall it's just a short discount SOMA.
Party of Sin - The concept was a potential winner: the Seven Sins as a bunch of anti-heroes with specific abilities. In practice, it has very clunky controls, a lot of confusion due to the large cast, limited options and bland 2.5D visuals. A poor man's Trine.
Steam and Metal - A bland shmup that is not even redeemed by its steampunk theme, as it looks very cheap and bland. Playable, but comes and goes leaving no trace.
Beatblasters III - it's pretty in stills but badly Flash-animated, cute but without coerence, jumping within a series of tasks and fights. The system to recharge energies is nice but quickly becomes tedious.
Concursion - the basic idea of multiple dimensions even within the same level is good but the execution is very mediocre, between imprecise controls and an ugly visual style.
Breached - cool concept of being stranded on an abandoned planet, with life-support systems failing, and having a set time to salvage the materials needed with the help of drones. The locales are fascinating (especially the giant derelict mining machinery), but it's all too limited and simplistic - even the drones are controlled only with the mouse, and the places to explore are really few.
Power-Up - A slow, gaudy-looking shmup with one of the least interesting weapon sets I've ever seen.
DLC Quest -Once shed of the satire (which is not even that clever), what is left is a very short and shallow platformer based on backtracking.
Overcast: Walden and the Werewolf - Some good ideas but too many horror cliches, mediocre and plastic-like graphics, and even worse gunplay, sometimes you without reason. It's short anyway, so there's little to miss.
Rock Zombie - A scrolling fighting game with absurdly large environments (public toilets and restaurant kitchens look like they're dozens of meters long), mediocre visuals and stiff gameplay. There's little under the three leather clad babes.
Vintage Hero - An indie Megaman clone that doesn't even know if it wants to be comical or serious. Pixel art is adequate but bland, and enemies are a mixed bag. A few bosses aren't bad but it's not enough for a game that has only six levels.
Through the Woods - Another horror game (with a strong psychological element) based on the folklore of the developer's country, Norway in this case; you are transported to a world that has survived the Ragnarok but is slowly dying. Great concept and an ending open to interpretation, cannot however save the limited interaction, human models out of the Uncanny Valley, and an abysmal script and voice acting; they suck out most of the potential there was.
Kill The Bad Guy - The concept seems perfect for some sadistic fun, but it quickly deflates when you realize that it's based on fixed points for traps, with very limited creativity.
Auralux - a minimalist strategy game based on a literal interpretation of "particles colliding". Like Eufloria (the most similar game to it I can think of), however, it quickly ended up boring and repetitive, on top of visuals that felt more lazy than minimal.
Arkadianax - The different shot types for 2D and 3D enemies is a neat idea, but controls are stupid and the strange 2.5D perspective doesn't help with reading the situation at hand.
Wondership Q - Ambitious, full of things to do and discover, but gameplay and level design are very confusing, and controls can be remapped only partially. And the voice of the player character is incredibly irritating! DIGGING HOLES The Falling Sun - Cool concept - WWII Burma, zombie-making horror unwittingly unhearted by the Japanese - but developer simply not up to it. Hardly worth waiting for further chapters.
Pixel Hunter - A lazily done Voxel platformer with non-existent level design, loose controls and inconsistent visuals. More than being awful it gets boring incredibly fast.
Xenic - A 2.5D shooter from 1998 that's unknown... for very good reasons: probably one of the worst I've ever tried in the genre.
Steel and Steam - A textbook example of how low some RPG Maker titles on Steam can sink. Could not suffer its script after the first 30 minutes.
The House - A "good" example of an awful indie horror game: no story or motivations for the main character, and excessive darkness, light sources are consumed in a second and then there's only total darkness - because lamps and fires do not emit light at all...
Shadow Ninja: Apocalypse - Awful "running game" with bad taste visuals (digitized explosions taken from some old library?) and the gall the furnish an Endless Runner mode as a separate DLC.
Timore - How a trilogy of bottom-of-the-barrel freeware horror games has managed to become popular enough to spawn a commercial follow-up... OTHERS / NOT CLASSIFIED TMNT: Shell Shocked - An OpenBOR project that so far has only one fully completed level and several test ones, but is incredibly promising: using the two Konami arcade games as a basis, it alredy sports interesting locations, an incredibly wide set of moves (both old and newly crafted) for each character, including team ones, and levels that stray from the usual side-scrolling fighting like, hear hear, remakes of the first NES game ones! [Hopefully less difficult.] Also with some fantastic remixes of the original music. Keeping an eye on this.
The Old City: Leviathan - Just a walking simulator where you can trigger a lot of ramblings, and search for "notes" that are in truth huge walls of text. I honestly couldn't make head or tails of it, and it felt incredibly pretentious. Sometimes the subtitles of the ramblings took three quarters of the screen space! Might try it again with a better disposition (which I didn't have at the moment). One thing is for sure however, the locales look incredibly pretty, especially the texturing; rarely I saw a developer managing to make even a sewer nice to see.
Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom - A game like this would be perfect to play with the mouse+keyboard combo but apparently the thought didn't even cross the minds of the porting team: joypad or bust, unless you are masochistic enough to use a key board-only interface. When I'll get one, the game may prove good but for now, I can only be sure that's another lazy port.
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