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Platinum_Vice

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2023

How was it? It was pretty damn good, man. 

 

I’ve found my voice and my groove. My uploads on this checklist this year have given me great pride. I really do see this thread like my own monthly magazine feature. Sometimes it’s a single review and sometimes it’s more substantial. Eventually I might throw in some other feature-type uploads too. A month ago I was thinking about that magazine-type nature of the thread during a drive to work and I was struck by lightning with a play on words that I have to substitute in as the title this checklist. Goodbye ‘Old Man Yells at Cloud.’ You served me well, but I am so taken by ‘Skill Issue’ that it completely eclipsed the prior title and feels much more suitable (and tongue in cheek!)

 

The Year of the Alphabet 

 

I made it. I succeeded in the alphabet challenge. Considering that I had only completed up to Foreclosed as of the end of June, and was still working on Outer Wilds in October and Solar Ash in November, I surprised myself with this end result. Somehow I also completed seven PSNP Community Events as well. 

 

The full alphabet is almost eligible for nominations in the...  

 

2023 Skill Issue Game of the Year Awards: 

 

0-1.png

 

Holy shit did I play some garbage this year... and some incredible experiences as well.

 

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is the only ineligible game because it’s just a port of a recent experience.

 

Let’s go! 

 

1.

Best level design

This is an aspect of game design so intrinsic to the experience of the medium and yet its so poorly represented by way of critical acclaim. I write about it often and it is one of the critical elements of gaming that separates this artistic medium from other artforms.

This may be a complex space that acts as a canvas for various gameplay mechanics (such as the Dishonored series), it may be a simple space with clarity or another outstanding factor in its design (such as The Witness, Portal's escape sequence, or N++), it may be a grand playground that provides exemplary freedom (such as Grand Theft Auto V’s Los Santos) and it may be a means in which multiple smaller areas are stitched together in three-dimensional space (such as Prey, the original God of War and Bloodborne). It may be an example of a technical breakthrough (such as Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and the first Crash Bandicoot). It may be so versatile that it works wonders regardless of whether you traverse it from A->Z or from Z->A like Halo: Combat Evolved). It may be an instant-classic multiplayer map that provides hundreds of thousands of hours of exciting gameplay across the globe. 

Level-Design.png

 

Nominees:

- Elden Ring

- Inscryption

- Maquette

- Outer Wilds

- Tunic

- Viewfinder

- Wreckfest

 

Right off the bat I’m in a bind - this might be the tightest category. 

 

As great as all of these games are, the degree of collective genius required for Elden Ring, Inscryption, Outer Wilds and Tunic elevates them from the pack. In any other year, Maquette, Viewfinder and Tunic could have easily found themselves leading the charge; I just happened to stumble across genuine brilliance this year. 

 

:bronze:

Lf29caa.png

Elden Ring’s Stormveil Castle, and later, Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree displays the might of a AAA studio.

 

1-1.png

 

:silver:

La74f05.png

The continued twists and rug-pulls of Inscryption’s design is a key factor in its second-place ranking. Not only is it fantastic in its limited 2D scope, but then multiple translations to the third dimension blew my mind... 

 

[screenshot redacted]

 

:gold:

Le51f11.png

… and yet the 3-dimenional and 4-dimensional puzzle-box/clockwork genius of Outer Wilds must put it somewhere in a ‘Top 5 of all time’ list for level design. Astoundingly special. 

 

1-2.png

 

 

2.

Best soundtrack

Awarded to the game with the tightest strings, the sweetest melodies, the fattest beats and the dankest drops. 

5-Audio.png

 

Nominees:

 

:bronze:

Lad3cf8.png (320×320)

Disco Elysium’s auditory experience greatly elevates the atmosphere of the town of Martinaise. The melancholic trumpet is directly tied to my memory of that game. Hearing it brings me back to the mood and catharsis of the holistic experience. 

 

:silver:

Ldab14f.png (320×320)

Bear McCreary’s soundscape to accompany the end of the world is particularly epic. Four separate tracks give me chills – it goes to show the power of a well-directed orchestra. 

 

:gold:

Le51f11.png

Outer Wilds takes home another win. Not only does the soundtrack have the highest quantity of individual pieces that blew me away, but each of them could legitimately be the individual track of the year for me too. Settling for a winner out of ‘Travelers', the eponymous ‘Outer Wilds’ and the various emotions brought about by ‘End Times’ is impossible. Further, Outer Wilds knew the importance of silence, too.

 

 

 

 

3.

Best visual style 

Awarded to a game with standout aesthetics. 

6-Visual.png

 

Nominees:

- Astro's Playroom

3-A1.png

 

3-A2.png

 

3-A3.png

 

- Backbone

3-B1.png

 

3-B2.png

 

3-B3.png

 

- Cyberpunk 2077

3-C3.png

 

3-C2.png

 

3-C1.png

 

- Disco Elysium

3-D2.png

 

3-D3.png

 

3-D1.png

 

- Elden Ring

3-E1.png

 

3-E2.png

 

3-E3.png

 

- Foreclosed

3-F1.png

 

3.F3.png

 

3-F2.png

 

- God of War: Ragnarok

3.G2.png

 

3.G1.png

 

3.G3.png

 

- Horizon: Forbidden West

3.H2.png

 

3.H3.png

 

3.H1.png

 

- Norco

3.N1.png

 

3.N2.png

 

3.N3.png

 

- Solar Ash

3.S3.png

 

3.S2.png

 

3.S1.png

 

- Tunic

3.T3.png

 

3.T2.png

 

3.T1.png

 

- Viewfinder

3.V1.png

 

3.V2.png

 

3.V3.png

 

 

:bronze:

Ldaaa68.png

The uber-legible yet thoroughly bespoke Astro’s Playroom takes the design ethos of the entire history of PlayStation and converts it into a playable museum. It is a beautiful celebration. It is family friendly. Most importantly, the visual design features micro-details in every direction. Every surface, every obstacle, every mechanic... they are all directly inspired by PlayStation hardware and software.

 

3-A6.png

 

3-A4.png

 

3-A5.png

 

:silver:

L40eb6c.png

It doesn’t matter if you’re in the city, indoors, in cars, in a menu or just soaking up what makes each individual character unique. The translation of concept art to the neon-soaked cyberpunk aesthetic is inspiring. 

 

3-C6.png

 

3-C5.png

 

3-C4.png

 

:gold:

Lf29caa.png

The quantity of high-quality locales ensured that Elden Ring abducted this award and brought it back to the Lands Between. 

 

3-E5.png

 

3-E6.png

 

3-E4.png

 

 

4.

Most immersive atmosphere 

Awarded to the game whose atmosphere was unforgettable. It beckoned for my return from whatever real life responsibility I was supposed to be tending to and called me to escape into another world. Combining visual style, intimate audio and high-quality writing to create alternate realities that suspend my disbelief for deep immersion will always leave an impact with me. 

7-Atmosphere.png

 

:bronze:

Le51f11.png

Don’t ask me about the things that await the travellers in Outer Wilds. I spent an eternity at the end of the universe and I experienced it 22 minutes at a time. There are no regrets. My review describes how immersed I was in this game. This indie darling is recommended. 

 

4.3.png

 

:silver:

Lad3cf8.png

Martinaise is a real place full of real people. And one lonely trumpet. 

 

4.1.png

 

:gold:

La74f05.png

I can still hear the unfurling parchment on the desk of Leshy’s cabin and the sounds from talking cards. Sight, sound and gameplay form a perfect synergy in Inscryption and it pulled me all the way in. 

 

4.2.png

 

 

5.  

Favourite character 

Awarded to the most relatable character, the one with the greatest depth, or the one whose cause evoked the most sympathy. The driving engine of any great story.  

8-Character.png

 

Nominees: 

5.1.png Jackie Welles and Goro Takemura from Cyberpunk 2077

 

5.2.png Kim Kitsuragi and [redacted due to spoilers] from Disco Elysium

 

5.3.png Kratos, Thor and Odin from God of War: Ragnarok

 

Somehow these characters are all from only three games. There were definitely not enough character-based games in the rotation this year. And where's the badass chicas? :hmm:

 

:bronze:

5.4.png

Thor is by no means the most likeable of this group of characters but I did thoroughly enjoy the richness of his design, motivations and struggles. I don’t even see Santa Monica’s vision as a ‘re-imaging’ or a ‘modern interpretation.’ Rather, the Norse had mead-goggles when they drew Thor those many, many years ago.  

 

:silver:

5.5.png

The further development of Kratos’ character landed a bullseye with me this year. The rebooted Dad of Boy continues to surprise me. 

 

:gold:

5.6.gif

Kim Kitsuragi. Companion of the decade, maybe. A gentleman and a scholar. Ever-patient. Witty. Supportive. The best detective in Revachol. Kimball had my back 1000% even when I called him a “binoclard.” He can dance a mad boogie, too. 

 

 

6. 

Most fun gameplay hook

Awarded to the game that brought me pure joy – even if it was only for a fleeting moment. It could have been a single sequence or a full gameplay mode; it could be intellectually heady or brainlessly schlocky... what aspect of gameplay brought me the purest sense of fun this year? 

9-Fun.png

 

Nominees:

- Jurassic World Evolution 2 required that I complete a series of 5 Challenge maps after completing the campaign and other game modes. They forced me to fully understand and apply all elements of the game and this was my favourite part of the experience. This was absolutely a case of putting a player under the pressure of a hard mode to create a diamond. Sometimes added difficulty is the ticket to genuinely fun gameplay. 

 

- Inscryption featured multiple different styles of games and elements as it repeatedly shed its skin to reveal a more complex beast with greater depth than before. Of the many Acts and phases of game, it was both the first one (Leshy’s Game) and the final one (Kaycee’s Mod) that truly stood out, but the many facets of the experience were unlike any other game in recent memory. 

 

- God of War: Ragnarök’s middle act of three was its tightest and where the gameplay and story were strongest. I seemed to demolish my way through it. 

 

- Solar Ash has a unique set of movement mechanics. Players... ice skate (rollerblade?) their way through levels and on the backs of colossal enemies that make up the game’s boss encounters. It feels beautifully smooth and flowy, and yet there is still a responsive direction-break mechanic on the flipside of the coin, too.

 

- Tunic featured multiple extended periods of fun including a simplistic but stylish combat style. My favourite part was a grand endgame puzzle that required deep analysis of the game’s digital manual. I will say no more except that that final puzzle would have been worth the price of admission alone, yet instead it is the delicious icing and cherry on a well-constructed cake. 

 

- Viewfinder surprised me with its quantity of gameplay mechanics. I expected the game to largely revolve around the well-advertised photography feature but this was only one of the hooks that it used to keep me glued to the screen. 

 

:bronze:

L8463e6.png

Jurassic World Evolution 2

 

6.1.png

 

:silver:

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Tunic

 

6.2.png

 

:gold:

La74f05.png

Inscryption

 

Cabin.png

 

 

7.

Best trophy-hunting experience of the year

Awarded to the game whose trophies improved, accentuated and complimented the gaming experience. Trophy hunting made these games even better. 

1-Journey.png

 

:bronze:

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Viewfinder

 

7.2.png

 

:silver:

La74f05.png

Inscryption

 

7.3.png

 

:gold:

Ldaaa68.png

Astro's Playroom

 

7.1.png

 

Four games this year elevated the experience by shepherding me into surprising and uncommon situations. They made the gaming experience better. Outer Wilds is the fourth game. It missed out because it had two or three very frustrating trophies and they didn’t require me to complete the core story. 

 

 

8.

Longest grind

Awarded to the games and trophy lists that so unapologetically disrespected my time. 

4-Grind.png

 

Nominees:

- Backbone

- Cyberpunk 2077

- God of War: Ragnarok

- Horizon: Forbidden West

- Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

 

:bronze:

L56cadd.png

How many playthroughs did I need for Backbone? ...Three? Four? Five? Just what I wanted after not liking what happened to the story in the first playthrough: buggy trophies requiring full restarts. 

 

9.1.png

 

:silver:

L4467f2.png

Horizon: Forbidden West reminded me that it is time for open world games to take a nap.

Side questing in this game made me want to take one. 

 

9.2.png

 

:gold:

L798249.png

What do you get when you have 5 hours of a good experience followed by 70 hours of repetitious grinding? Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. 

 

9.3.png

 

 

9.

Hardest game

Awarded to the most unyielding game of the year. 

3-Hard.png

 

The fact that none of these three games are considered ‘hard’ on this site speaks volumes about what I have been in the mood to play recently: games that aren’t that hard. However, it was a worthy category last year and will be a worthy category next year, so let's just find the three hardest of 2023.

 

:bronze:

L25db7f.png

Z-Warp is sitting at 78% PSNP rarity. It only took 3 hours but that is double the average playtime. I don’t think I’ve taken twice as long as the expected gameplay time to complete any other game before this... I am very new to Shoot ‘Em Ups. So it gets the bronze.

 

8.1.png

 

:silver:

Laafdac.png

Pursuit Force was one of (if not the) hardest game on the PlayStation Portable. As a PS5 port it has a rewind feature and I was resting on it for more than half of my playthrough. The game ultimately forces the player to complete a TAS (Tool-Assisted Speedrun) to even complete the campaign. Somewhere between the distinct need to use that requirement and the resulting ease of the game afterwards is the determination that a compromised silver award is appropriate.

 

8.2.png

 

:gold:

L8463e6.png

Jurassic World Evolution 2 simply wanted perfection in its final gamemode.  

 

8.3.png

 

 

10.

Biggest flop

Awarded to the game that failed to meet my hype. 

10-Flop.png

 

:bronze:

Lc427fe.png

I suppose this one is on me. I shouldn’t have had any expectations for Foreclosed, but I did because it looked so clean, and then it flopped onto the floor and flailed around bung-eyed like a fish-out-of-water right from the word ‘go.’ 

 

10-3.png

 

:silver:

L4467f2.png

Horizon: Forbidden West is disinteresting, lacking in passion and “safe.” I’m convinced that the side quest dialogue is written by AI. The negatives start to outweigh the positives by the series’ second entry. 

 

10-2.jpg

 

:gold:

L56cadd.png

Backbone is a tragedy. It starts so strong! The art style and music are stellar and the dialogue slaps! It consists of five acts and the first two are fantastic. The next three take a sharp turn into new territory and a leap over the proverbial shark. The narrative adventure is the game, so it needs to be (at least) interesting and dependable. Ideally it should be even better than that. Unfortunately structure and theming go out the window in the second half of this game. If you’re going to make conscious decisions to divert from what players expected/bought the game the play, then it should have some underlying message or intelligent reasoning. A deus ex machina, or an abandoning of Chekov’s Gun, or a genre change could have a positive effect (see my incessant praise of Inscryption), but in Backbone it just reeks of the developer running out of time or passion, or having abandoned the project halfway through and picking it up years later because 'this really just needs to be finished and published already.'  

 

Changing the game’s name a year after release is on-brand... ironically, unlike the change in narrative direction, the name change to Tails Noir is a clear improvement. 

 

10-1.jpg

 

 

11.

Stinker of the year

Awarded to the smelliest game that I played this year.  

14-Worst-game.png

 

:bronze:

Lc427fe.png

Foreclosed does not even believe in the player’s right to alter the most basic aspects of control inputs. The script and voice acting stinks like rotten fish.

 

11-2.gif

 

:silver:

L673665.png

 

Your Computer Might Be At Risk thinks that it is artistic but my eyes started to bleed within an hour of playtime. I am the only platinum achiever and this feels about as prestigious and productive as Tom Hanks’ solo venture to a deserted island (now available at home on VHS).

 

11-7.png

 

11-8.png

 

I enjoyed the game as much as Tom Hanks enjoyed his vacation and we are grateful that these experiences came with free dental.

 

11-1.png

 

I checked PSNP this morning to see that I don't even have 100% on this beauty anymore... the devs released DLC with a bronze trophy attached today. The thought of reinstalling this bad boy to retain my sole ownership of the game's 100% trophy status made me throw up a little in my mouth.

 

:gold:

Lb28e2f.png

Quintus and the Absent Truth. More like Quintus and the Absence of Talent. And Gameplay. And Assets. This feculent double-flusher is the worst thing that I have ever played. I don’t know if this experience counts as a “game.” This is gaming’s answer to Tommy Wiseau’s The Room but no one else seems to have realised this yet. Absolutely worth recommending to an enemy.

 

11-3.png

 

11-4.png

 

11-5.png

 

11-6.png

 

 

12.

Biggest surprise

Awarded to the game that most-exceeded expectations. 

11-Surprise.png

 

:bronze:

L25db7f.png

This EastAsiaSoft beauty has a 78% platinum rarity on PSNP. My first shoot ‘em up since Galaga & Galaxian.

 

12-1.png

 

Z-Warp may be easy to complete when compared to genre equivalents but we had some teething issues. Overall I enjoyed it way more than I expected to.  

 

:silver:

L3a7268.png

Wreckfest gets pretty average reviews by... pretty much everybody. Wreckreation was one of the two games listed in my “Most Anticipated Game of 2023” and it was delayed until 2024. Completely oblivious, I installed and began playing Wreckfest without realising that Wreckreation will be a direct sequel to it, and unironically enjoyed the simplistic arcade racing gameplay that I find inherently (and mindlessly) interesting. An unpopular but personal opinion: Wreckfest is alright, alright, alright. 

 

12-4.png

 

:gold:

L8463e6.png

Of all of the games that I really enjoyed this year, it was Jurassic World Evolution 2 that gave me the biggest surprise. I was so engaged that I’m actively looking to play park builders and management sims much more often. It isn’t flashy within the scope of that genre, and nor is it particularly amazing among other dinosaur games or experiences within the Jurassic Park IP, but I just loved every minute of it. 

 

12-2.png

 

12-3.png

 

 

13.

Game of the year

Here it is. Awarded to what I believe was the best game that I played this year (regardless of what year it was released). 

15-GOTY.png

 

Nominees:

- Disco Elysium

- Inscryption

- God of War: Ragnarok

- Outer Wilds

- Tunic

- Viewfinder

 

:bronze:

Ldab14f.png

Review - 9.5/10

 

A huge AAA effort. An incredible and cathartic family story that hip and shoulders its way into the middle of another family's story involving re-imagined Norse Gods. Fantastic gameplay, visuals and OST, and the technical aspects were highly polished. I loved it. 

 

:silver:

Le51f11.png

Review - 9.5/10

 

Mind-blowing concepts and concept delivery. An explorative mystery quest requiring visits to multiple puzzle boxes which orbit a sun and within a grander puzzle box. An essential indie title that should not be spoiled, but it does require dedicated attention and maybe a pen, paper and stopwatch to assist in ensuring that you optimise your time inside this adventure. 

 

:gold:

La74f05.png

Review - 10/10

 

Perfection. Genre-bending, eye-catching, enthralling, immersive perfection. Not the most emotionally-resonant experience when compared with even just the two (very cathartic) runners-up, but definitely special nevertheless. 

 

 

Coda:

Most-anticipated game of next year

Awarded in anticipation of something special on the horizon. 

16-Horizon.png

 

Wreckreation? The Wolf Among Us 2? The Plucky Squire?  

 

No, Hyper Light Breaker. 

 

Hyper-Light-Breaker.png

 

_____________

 

THANK YOU to everyone that read, commented on and enjoyed this thread this year. I can promise that your love and support has been extremely well received. I hope to see you again in 2024. You make me feel heard and that feels wonderful. As you know, I absolutely welcome feedback and discussion as per usual. 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! ❤️❤️❤️

 

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Shrooba Collaborator

Shrooba

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Always awesome to see Astro's Playroom get some love! I think I've said it a few times before, but I still think it's the best showcase of the PS5 controller's capabilities. Other PS5 games I've played tend to use it as a glorified rumble feature, but Astro's Playroom really pays attention to all the physical details Astro Bot interacts with, and how it should flow through the feel of the controller. I don't know how other to explain it than directly processing what the character feels to what the player should feel. Well uh, not emotionally, you get what I mean. 😂 It definitely provides the most immersive feedback out of it, so it's great to see that same care for the controller likewise shown through the motifs of each PS console generation, etched into the environments as you displayed. On the other hand, there's Quintus and the Absent Truth... More like Absent Textures, am I right?.... No?....... I'll see myself out. 😂
Haven't much seen of Backbone, but it's a shame it wasn't a hit since you mention it having a strong opening. But man, looking at those screenshots, at least it's nice on the eyes! Reminds me a ton of The Wolf Among Us. I mean hey, it's animals in a noir setting! Or, for Backbone anyway, they're animals that can freely be animals. 😅

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Platinum_Vice Enthusiast

Platinum_Vice

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25 minutes ago, Shrooba said:

Always awesome to see Astro's Playroom get some love! I think I've said it a few times before, but I still think it's the best showcase of the PS5 controller's capabilities.

 

Yep! 26 games on the console this year, Astro used the controller better than the rest put together!

 

26 minutes ago, Shrooba said:

Quintus and the Absent Truth... More like Absent Textures, am I right?.... No?....... I'll see myself out. 😂

 

Oh dude - deadly accurate mate. Complete shambles.

 

26 minutes ago, Shrooba said:

Haven't much seen of Backbone, but it's a shame it wasn't a hit since you mention it having a strong opening. But man, looking at those screenshots, at least it's nice on the eyes! Reminds me a ton of The Wolf Among Us. I mean hey, it's animals in a noir setting! Or, for Backbone anyway, they're animals that can freely be animals. 😅

 

Yeah Backbone had potential! I liked an underlying class struggle that the animals were living within. There's definitely a hierarchy for the different species. It was cool!

 

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realm722 Enthusiast

realm722

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Awesome job with the awards! So happy to see Inscryption taking home some silverware. :D I've officially taken Foreclosed and Backbone off my Wishlist. Two games with intrguing art that you persuaded me out of. Shoutout to Jurassic World 2 for being such an unexpected good time apparently!

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DrBloodmoney Grand Master

DrBloodmoney

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The Vice Awards!

 

Awesome work as ever dude - full disclosure, I actually read this the other day, but was scandalously away from the computer, and on phone-only access, and the very second I tried to do a quote comment, by phone damned near exploded, so my accolades had to wait 😂

 

On 12/17/2023 at 3:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

1.

Best level design

 

Nominees:

- Elden Ring

- Inscryption

- Maquette

- Outer Wilds

- Tunic

- Viewfinder

- Wreckfest

 

 

:gold:

Le51f11.png

 

 

You know you're in a solid year when even Viewfinder and tunic can't get a look in...

...but hell YES Outer Wilds has to win that one!

 

 

On 12/17/2023 at 3:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

 

Best soundtrack

Awarded to the game with the tightest strings, the sweetest melodies, the fattest beats and the dankest drops. 

 

Le51f11.png

Outer Wilds takes home another win. Not only does the soundtrack have the highest quantity of individual pieces that blew me away, but each of them could legitimately be the individual track of the year for me too. Settling for a winner out of ‘Travelers', the eponymous ‘Outer Wilds’ and the various emotions brought about by ‘End Times’ is impossible. Further, Outer Wilds knew the importance of silence, too.

 

 

 

This was the most difficult category in my own awards this year - and for the first time, it literally came down to music alone, without even having any mention of voice acting or foley etc...

...but good to see I wasn't the only one with a smorgasbord of awesome soundtracks to whittle down!

 

See you picked the same sample from Norco that I would have - the awesome Check2Cash track! - but I gotta admit - if Outer Wilds had been in contention for me this year, even THIS year, it would likely have been in there too!

 

 

 

On 12/17/2023 at 3:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

 

3.

Best visual style 

Awarded to a game with standout aesthetics. 

 

 

 

:gold:

Lf29caa.png

The quantity of high-quality locales ensured that Elden Ring abducted this award and brought it back to the Lands Between. 

 

 

 

 

Surprised, (but not mad!) to see Elden Ring make it in this one, given some of the screenshots in contention - great to see some pixel art love for Backbone, and those disco Elysium shots are so cool looking... but man, did Elden Ring have some incredible art design!

 

 

 

 

On 12/17/2023 at 3:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

4.

Most immersive atmosphere 

Awarded to the game whose atmosphere was unforgettable. It beckoned for my return from whatever real life responsibility I was supposed to be tending to and called me to escape into another world. Combining visual style, intimate audio and high-quality writing to create alternate realities that suspend my disbelief for deep immersion will always leave an impact with me. 

:gold:

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I can still hear the unfurling parchment on the desk of Leshy’s cabin and the sounds from talking cards. Sight, sound and gameplay form a perfect synergy in Inscryption and it pulled me all the way in. 

 

 

 

Another one impossible to argue - Inscryption is just so fucking weird and dope, and that 3D style is so strange, in the best way!

 

 

On 12/17/2023 at 3:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

 

5.  

Favourite character 

Awarded to the most relatable character, the one with the greatest depth, or the one whose cause evoked the most sympathy. The driving engine of any great story.  

 

 

This one is so much fun - forum pre-crime alert.... I might steal some version of this category next year 😛

 

On 12/17/2023 at 3:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

 

6. 

Most fun gameplay hook

Awarded to the game that brought me pure joy – even if it was only for a fleeting moment. It could have been a single sequence or a full gameplay mode; it could be intellectually heady or brainlessly schlocky... what aspect of gameplay brought me the purest sense of fun this year? 

 

 

:gold:

La74f05.png

Inscryption

 

 

Correct, sir!

 

 

On 12/17/2023 at 3:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

 

7.

Best trophy-hunting experience of the year

Awarded to the game whose trophies improved, accentuated and complimented the gaming experience. Trophy hunting made these games even better. 

1-Journey.png

 

:bronze:

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Viewfinder

 

 

:silver:

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Inscryption

 

 

:gold:

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Astro's Playroom

 

 

I think we got a lot of cross over in what we dig in a trophy list - Viewfinder is a great one, but I can totally see how Astro would take the win here - that game is just a stonking good time, and the trophies only help it, and never hurt it!

 

 

On 12/17/2023 at 3:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

 

 

Hardest game

Awarded to the most unyielding game of the year. 

 

 

:gold:

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Jurassic World Evolution 2 simply wanted perfection in its final gamemode.  

 

 

That was a surprise! 

I've heard little snippets about this game from the unlikeliest of sources, but it does seem to have resonated further afield than I might have expected!

 

 

On 12/17/2023 at 3:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

 

11.

Stinker of the year

Awarded to the smelliest game that I played this year.  

14-Worst-game.png

 

:bronze:

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Foreclosed does not even believe in the player’s right to alter the most basic aspects of control inputs. The script and voice acting stinks like rotten fish.

 

 

:silver:

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Your Computer Might Be At Risk thinks that it is artistic but my eyes started to bleed within an hour of playtime. I am the only platinum achiever and this feels about as prestigious and productive as Tom Hanks’ solo venture to a deserted island (now available at home on VHS).

 

 

:gold:

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Quintus and the Absent Truth. More like Quintus and the Absence of Talent. And Gameplay. And Assets. This feculent double-flusher is the worst thing that I have ever played. I don’t know if this experience counts as a “game.” This is gaming’s answer to Tommy Wiseau’s The Room but no one else seems to have realised this yet. Absolutely worth recommending to an enemy.

 

Lol - so one of these - Foreclosed - I have already bought but not played...

...but the other two have been quietly removed from the ol' wishlist...

 

...I thank you for your service 😐

 

 

 

On 12/17/2023 at 3:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

 

 

12.

Biggest surprise

 

 

:gold:

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Of all of the games that I really enjoyed this year, it was Jurassic World Evolution 2 that gave me the biggest surprise. I was so engaged that I’m actively looking to play park builders and management sims much more often. It isn’t flashy within the scope of that genre, and nor is it particularly amazing among other dinosaur games or experiences within the Jurassic Park IP, but I just loved every minute of it. 

 

Okay, now I feel better - it was a surprise to you too! 😂

 

 

On 12/17/2023 at 3:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

 

13.

Game of the year

Here it is. Awarded to what I believe was the best game that I played this year (regardless of what year it was released). 

 

 

:gold:

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Review - 10/10

 

Perfection. Genre-bending, eye-catching, enthralling, immersive perfection. Not the most emotionally-resonant experience when compared with even just the two (very cathartic) runners-up, but definitely special nevertheless. 

 

 

Woot Woot! 🙌

 

 

 

Great capper from the year, m'dawg - look forward to new issues of Vice in 2024 👊

 

200.gif

 

 

 

 

 

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Platinum_Vice Enthusiast

Platinum_Vice

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15 hours ago, realm722 said:

Awesome job with the awards! So happy to see Inscryption taking home some silverware. :D I've officially taken Foreclosed and Backbone off my Wishlist. Two games with intrguing art that you persuaded me out of. Shoutout to Jurassic World 2 for being such an unexpected good time apparently!

 

Thanks dude! I agree - if any readers of this thread take anything away from me this year, it should be "play Inscryption" !

(And also Outer Wilds 😅)

 

I wonder if you'll be doing a similar end of year post?

 

10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Awesome work as ever dude - full disclosure, I actually read this the other day, but was scandalously away from the computer, and on phone-only access, and the very second I tried to do a quote comment, by phone damned near exploded, so my accolades had to wait 😂

 

Well it's cool that you returned to give me some love, dude, so many thanks.

 

10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

You know you're in a solid year when even Viewfinder and tunic can't get a look in...

 

That really is one of the common threads in the stitching here. They were both so great in so many ways. Tunic, in particular, goddamn! Still thinking about it. Two great games.

 

10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Surprised, (but not mad!) to see Elden Ring make it in this one, given some of the screenshots in contention - great to see some pixel art love for Backbone, and those disco Elysium shots are so cool looking... but man, did Elden Ring have some incredible art design!

 

Is it just me or is pixel art such a gorgeous art unto itself? I love it. I'd take pixel art over the sharpest realism any day of the week.

 

10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

forum pre-crime alert.... I might steal some version of this category next year 😛

 

Tom Cruise in Minority Report has given you clearance. 

'Appropriate' away, good sir!

 

10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

I've heard little snippets about this game from the unlikeliest of sources, but it does seem to have resonated further afield than I might have expected

 

A real life, close to home source? It's pretty on-par for the genre, but management sims are alongside deck builders in chomping at my heels a lot as of late. I think the success this game had in these awards might be moreso due to that personal bias towards the genre than any other reasoning. Definitely had a good time, though!

 

10 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Lol - so one of these - Foreclosed - I have already bought but not played...

...but the other two have been quietly removed from the ol' wishlist...

 

...I thank you for your service 😐

 

There's a part of me that wants to see you play any of these three just to read you dunk on them, but yes, absolutely avoid all three.

 

:coffee:✌️

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pelagia14 Collaborator

pelagia14

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RIP to the "Old Man Yells at Cloud" meme - the new thread title is pretty neat, though! The magazine inspiration is fantastic, too.

 

While writing the below comments, at one point I had to scroll back up here to make sure that I express how delightful your award category images are! I love how unique they all are, while still capturing the essence of their award category~.

 

1. Best Level Design
What a fantastic category! "4D" is also a genius way of describing Outer Wilds. 

 

2. Best Soundtrack
I 1,000% agree with Outer Wilds, especially with how it understands the value of silence.

Unrelated, but I didn't know that we could embed Spotify song previews into posts, that's neat!

 

3. Best Visual Style
How funny that you ended up playing games A-H that all had great graphics! I was legit starting to wonder if you had decided to nominate every single game for its aesthetics. 😂

 

The art style of Backbone/Tails Noir intrigues me - I wasn't aware that it had a great high-res pixel aesthetic.
ETA: I see it won your gold trophy for Biggest Flop. Since 2/5 Acts seem to hold up strongly, I'll perhaps pull it from the PS+ Catalog at some point, without having high expectations in mind.  

 

Woah, with Astro I didn't even *catch* the reference to HDMI ports in its environmental design! I remember seeing things like the PS3 console menu icons and was just so delighted with all the details they captured. I really should go back and revisit that game soon, it's been some time.

 

Finally, damn but those Elden Ring screenshots with the gold trophy are incredible!

 

5. Favorite Character
Gosh, Thor was done so incredibly well. The design, the voice, the motivations... and what an unforgettable fight. 

 

11. Stinker of the Year

When I looked over your list of contenders, "Your Computer Might Be At Risk" was the only game I hadn't heard of before. Now I understand why, and I don't need to bother you with asking if it is worth checking out. 

 

Omfg, "Absolutely worth recommending to an enemy" for Quintus is a fantastic burn that says everything I need to know. The comparison to Wiseau's movie almost makes me want to experience the "so bad it's bad" for myself, but I'll take your word for it.

 

12. Biggest Surprise
While my profile doesn't have any builder/sim games on it, I do enjoy the genre - so I'm surprised that I haven't heard of this game before. That, or when I did come across it I had no idea that it was a builder/sim game. Since I already have a few games in my backlog, I'll just keep an eye out for the game in the future to see if it would spark my interest.

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Platinum_Vice Enthusiast

Platinum_Vice

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2 hours ago, pelagia14 said:

While writing the below comments, at one point I had to scroll back up here to make sure that I express how delightful your award category images are! I love how unique they all are, while still capturing the essence of their award category~.

 

You're a gem, did you know that?

 

2 hours ago, pelagia14 said:

Unrelated, but I didn't know that we could embed Spotify song previews into posts, that's neat!

 

I've been trying to figure it out for ages... always thought that it would accentuate this thread (that's why I've used hyperlinks), but it was DrBloodmoney that figured it out.

 

I know you'll start doing it to, so I'll let you in on a secret: it's not actually through the embed feature. When you're on Spotify on your computer, just copy the song and paste it into a comment.

 

2 hours ago, pelagia14 said:

3. Best Visual Style
How funny that you ended up playing games A-H that all had great graphics! I was legit starting to wonder if you had decided to nominate every single game for its aesthetics. 😂

 

I didn't realise this until I was compiling the post! As a visual person, interesting graphics can be very arresting.

 

2 hours ago, pelagia14 said:

The art style of Backbone/Tails Noir intrigues me - I wasn't aware that it had a great high-res pixel aesthetic.
ETA: I see it won your gold trophy for Biggest Flop. Since 2/5 Acts seem to hold up strongly, I'll perhaps pull it from the PS+ Catalog at some point, without having high expectations in mind.  

 

Oh it is undeniably gorgeous.

 

If you're still going to play it, please get a second opinion. DrBloodmoney enjoyed the change in narrative direction; hop over into his checklist and weigh up the opinions.

 

2 hours ago, pelagia14 said:

5. Favorite Character
Gosh, Thor was done so incredibly well. The design, the voice, the motivations... and what an unforgettable fight. 

 

Oh and the bit where he uses Mjolnir as a defibrillator?!?!

 

2 hours ago, pelagia14 said:

12. Biggest Surprise
While my profile doesn't have any builder/sim games on it, I do enjoy the genre - so I'm surprised that I haven't heard of this game before. That, or when I did come across it I had no idea that it was a builder/sim game. Since I already have a few games in my backlog, I'll just keep an eye out for the game in the future to see if it would spark my interest.

 

Yeah it reminded me of Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis which I had on PC and PS2. I went in to JWE2 with that prior game as a benchmark and, while it took a couple of hours to get to this opinion, I was definitely convinced that JWE2 far outstrips Operation Genesis in features and quality.

 

Still pales in comparison to other management sims and city builders though.

 

Thanks for dropping in!

 

2 hours ago, Eqill5 said:

Congrats on all your accomplishments this year Vice! 🍻 A very enjoyable read as always.

 

You're too sweet Eqill!! Thanks for being you!

 

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DrBloodmoney Grand Master

DrBloodmoney

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2 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

If you're still going to play it, please get a second opinion. DrBloodmoney enjoyed the change in narrative direction; hop over into his checklist and weigh up the opinions.


@pelagia14 It was interesting reading @Platinum_Vice’s views on the Backbone switcheroo, because our difference in tastes on it it sort of mirrored another game - the ending section of TLOU:P2!

 

In both cases, the devs make a pretty jarring gear-change (in Backbone’s case, a tonal and genre switch, and in TLOU:P2’s case, a bait-n-switch ending/ continuation- but in both cases, I think we actually had similar reactions….

….but I think I tend to give the dev more of the benefit of the doubt, and think “well, I’m going to assume that was deliberate, so if I’m shook, I guess it worked?” 😂

 

I will say, the difference though, is with TLoU:P2, I’m 100% convinced it was a choice, and we just had different opinions on that choice…

…whereas in Backbone, I might be straining harder to see the positive side - as Vice’s theory that the change was maybe driven by budget and time constraints more than pure artistic choice is not an unconvincing one…. And I do think the game is fundamentally better in the early parts (gameplay-wise for sure)…

 

… but in the end, I think I just play enough games that don’t surprise me, that when one really does, even if it’s not an entirely successful surprise, I’m still like “well, I didn’t see that coming… so I guess I’m on board… questionmark?!” 😂

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Copanele Grand Master

Copanele

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First of all, I need to thank you @Platinum_Vice for 1. delivering such a great post (and lots of great posts/reviews throughout the year), it's a continuous joy to read all the game experiences, and 2. I really need to upgrade my laptop because damn it took a while for it to load up all the images 😂

 

I might have to join the Inscryption gang too, y'all are praising it way too much :lol: hope my moderate YuGiOh skills will be able to help with this card game!

 

Also

On 12/17/2023 at 5:32 AM, Platinum_Vice said:

:silver:

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Horizon: Forbidden West is disinteresting, lacking in passion and “safe.” I’m convinced that the side quest dialogue is written by AI. The negatives start to outweigh the positives by the series’ second entry. 

Ha! Told ya!

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DrBloodmoney Grand Master

DrBloodmoney

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2 minutes ago, Copanele said:

 

I might have to join the Inscryption gang too, y'all are praising it way too much :lol: hope my moderate YuGiOh skills will be able to help with this card game!

 

 

Not to pile on... but I am reliably informed that some passing familiarity with YuGiOh does, in fact, serve you VERY well in understanding a particularly awesome late-game part....

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1 hour ago, Copanele said:

First of all, I need to thank you @Platinum_Vice for 1. delivering such a great post (and lots of great posts/reviews throughout the year), it's a continuous joy to read all the game experiences,

 

🥰 you're too kind.

 

1 hour ago, Copanele said:

and 2. I really need to upgrade my laptop because damn it took a while for it to load up all the images 😂

 

This may be Romanian internet, my friend, although the narcissistic part of my brain is slightly tickled by the notion that this thread requires upgraded hardware 😆

 

If PC is so good, then why haven't they released PC 2? 

 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSc4Wi1DraS0ompR4VG5US

 

1 hour ago, Copanele said:

 

I might have to join the Inscryption gang too, y'all are praising it way too much :lol: hope my moderate YuGiOh skills will be able to help with this card game!

 

1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Not to pile on... but I am reliably informed that some passing familiarity with YuGiOh does, in fact, serve you VERY well in understanding a particularly awesome late-game part....

 

Well then I guess...

 

sIpzGMl.gif

 

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Platinum_Vice Enthusiast

Platinum_Vice

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Looking ahead to 2024

 

Being part of the trophy checklist mini-community (a very welcoming space that anyone can become a part of) has brought me more recommendations than I ever expected. Some have been directly given to me and some have been indirect or just very highly reviewed and noted nevertheless. Recommendations or positive endorsements from others makes up about 50% of my backlog/wishlist (currently 175 games long). It’s about time that I branched out and trusted those respected opinions.

 

That is the main purpose of repeating a platinum alphabet for a second year in a row. An alphabet simply forces myself into some sort of structure (genuinely helpful for me) while also preventing me from stacking 50+ games back to back in some sort of iron gauntlet. This gives me a happy medium.  

 

In 2024 all 26 games will be on the PS4 this time, not the PS5. The spirit of this self-imposed challenge is to genuinely explore the recommendations of other hunters that I respect with an open mind. More specifically, this list should be slanting towards games that are really getting on in age now. Some of them are fairly early in the PS4 lifecycle and a few date all the way back to the PS1. These games are almost entirely those that just keep coming up in discussions and I just haven’t prioritised them. If I don’t just commit to them then they’ll never get played. Almost all of these games fall into a group that can be best described as "wait... you haven't played that yet?"

 

SORRY for all of the tags if they’re unwanted, but if I respect someone’s opinion and that leads to a game being added to my backlog/wishlist, then I keep track of who gave it the thumbs up. So even though this post is/appears to be self-indulgent on the face of it, it is truly more of a thank you to people who have been contributing to this community and to my continued enjoyment in exploring this art form. I truly hope that being tagged in this post is interpreted that way. I debated internally about tagging people in it for far too long.

 

Further: plenty of PSNP friends aren't tagged purely because your recommendations were prior to when I started a backlog/wishlist (or I never saw your positive comments in your checklists/status updates, or they're quietly hidden inside your head). There's plenty of people that I hope aren't offended by not being tagged. 

 

Bah, the main point is : I look forward to also experiencing these things that you've enjoyed. Thank you.

 

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Apotheon 

A side-scroller set within Greek Mythology? Yes please! 

Recommended by: @Copanele, @DrBloodmoney, @realm722 

Years since release: 9

 

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Bastion 

Popping my Supergiant Games’ cherry. 

Years since release: 9

 

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Control 

The art-style and lore greatly interested me and that was before I did a double-take at how fun the action looked. Very frequently recommended. 

Years since release: 5

 

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Dying Light 

This one never seemed to become a priority until three workmates individually recommended it to me during 2023. I mean, it’s pretty much the law that I play it, now, right? Trying to apply an open mind. 

Recommended by: my friends Muddy, Ben and Chris 

Years since release: 9

Backup in case it sucks (I fear that it might :hmm:😞 Do Not Feed The Monkeys L6c91d5.png

 

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Elasto Mania Remastered 

I found out a year ago that this had been brought to the PS4. I played this on PC way back in 2004 and brought it home on a floppy disk. I spent hours making my own custom maps as well. It will be a fantastic trip down memory lane and the nostalgia should be delicious. It will be the jankiest and low budget game here and simply isn’t very good. :giggle:

I showed my son some of the trailers for the games that I’m going to play this year, and when I asked him “does this look fun?” he would always say “yes.” When I showed him Elasto Mania he gasped and immediately said, “that looks cool!” which just means that we might find some TV time to spend together for a treat when we’re both well behaved. 

Recommended by: me from 20 years in the past! 

Years since release: 1 [24]

 

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Furi 

The soundtrack for Furi is already deeply embedded into my library. It should be strange to finally hear it accompanying some gameplay. I don’t really know what to expect, though...? A boss-rush... and that’s all I really know. I saw a trailer years ago, added it to the backlog, and never looked it up again. But with so many recommendations and with the accompanying score by Carpenter Brut (:whip:), I have faith that this should be an interesting experience. 

Years since release: 7

Backup: Final Fantasy VII [the PS1 -> PS4 port]L4c1026.png – I’ve never played a Final Fantasy and this would be the place that I'd start. The Remake doesn’t interest me at all though. 

 

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Grim Fandango: Remastered 

So this is an early adventure game, right? It seems as though everyone that plays this game falls madly in love with it. 

Years since release: 8 [26!]

 

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Hollow Knight 

Metroidvanias are fairly new to me. I’m willing to expand my horizons and start with a regularly-recommended indie darling. 

Years since release: 6

Backup: Hitman: Blood Money L2dede7.png

 

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Islanders 

This one was on the radar for ages. Looks like the exact chilled-out experience that I would enjoy. And it’s gorgeous... 

Recommended by: @realm722, @YaManSmevz

Years since release: 2

 

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Jazzpunk 

This one comes from two equal sources: recommendations and then watching the trailer myself. The sense of humour tickled me and it should carry the game if the other aspects don’t end up capturing me. 

Recommended by: @DrBloodmoney, @YaManSmevz

Years since release: 8

 

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Kingdom: New Lands 

Kingdom came purely from @realm722's recommendation. It looks pretty cool. To be honest, my understanding of the premise and the trailer really just makes this entry look like a jumped-up Miniclip flash game, but time will tell and I’ll give it a crack because it still seems to be up my alley. 

Years since release: 6

 

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Lair of the Clockwork God 

Apparently LotCG is essentially two separate games in one? I’m trying to stay spoiler-free... recommendations are solely to blame for my plans to start this one.  

Amount of PSNP owners: only 266!! 

Years since release: 4

 

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Mark of the Ninja: Remastered  :ninja:

Mark of the Ninja is recommended freakishly often for what it is. It’s also going to be my first experience with a game from Klei. It doesn’t look like it will be my cup of tea but I’ll bring an open mind. If worst comes to worst: Manifold Garden as a backup, but a future desire to play Klei’s Griftlands hangs in the balance. 

Years since release: 6 [12]

 

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Nowhere Prophet 

“Starving” is a singular word to describe my desire to play another deck builder.  

Recommended by: @DrBloodmoney

Years since release: 4

 

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Oddworld: New & Tasty 

The port of PS1’s original Oddworld. Let’s see if it’s any good! 

Recommended by: @Eqill5 

Years since release: 10 [27!!]

 

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Pyre 

An unmissable experience, apparently, and thoroughly unique... what are we talkin’, an NBA Jam RPG? Is it like Golf Story? I don’t know because I’m trying to stay spoiler-free! 

Years since release: 7 

 

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QUBE 2 

This one really comes down to a lack of options. QUBE 1 didn’t blow my hair back, and I tried QUBE 2 twice on PS5 but it ate my save game each time. If the opportunity arises, I will yeet this hexahedron over the fence an replace it with something more... well... more. This really shows the only real drawback to structuring a playlist around the alphabet. :hmm:

Years since release: 6

 

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Resident Evil HD 

Yep. Never played it. Never played any of 'em. Criminal, I know.

Let’s see if this game is the birthplace for the recurring visions that I have had of doors opening in a black void for... far too many years. 

From what I understand, combat depreciates resources which leads to dramatically-increased tension?? Also: puzzles?! Also: fixed camera?! Also: a great-grandfather to my beloved Prey?! Ok: I have to like this one.

Years since release: 9 [28. This game is 28 years old  in 2024!]

 

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Sleeping Dogs 

The game with the most amount of recommendations out of my whole backlog. 

Years since release: 10

Backup: Slay the Spire L575355.png

 

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Transistor 

Supergiant Games represented for a third time. Death punishes the player by forcing a re-spec, right? I tell ya, the artstyle is drop-dead-gorgeous. I’m pretty hyped for this one. :eyebrow:

Years since release: 10

 

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Unpacking 

Oh yeah. This is happening. Somehow Unpacking charms the pants off of everyone on PSNP, so I’ll start Unzipping now, shall I? 

Years since release: 2

 

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Valfaris 

A.K.A. Slain II, baby!  

Years since release: 6

 

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We Love Katamari ReRoll+ Royal Reverie 

Again: another series that has been foreign to me. I’m trying to experience more Japanese games as it seems to be a sticking point. Maybe this gameplay-led experience will help tear down the walls. 

Years since release:  1 [19]

 

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Xing: The Land Beyond 

X options are limited, and when in doubt, default to the puzzle game! 

Years since release: 7

 

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Yoku’s Island Express 

A fair excuse to fill out the ‘pinball’ requirement for the Platinum Every Genre Challenge because it's apparently quite charming, but if I have enough time at the end of the year, I will consider substituting Yoku with Yakuza 0, because I am still yet to give that series the time of day and apparently that is a criminal offence. 

Yoku is recommended by: @Cassylvania, @Copanele, @DrBloodmoney, @pelagia14, @realm722 

Years since release: 6 

 

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Zero Escape: The Nonary Games 

Zero is the amount of experience that I have with visual novel games. Zero is also the amount of options that I have for games starting with ‘Z’. It does look fucking dreadfully boring though, so please wish me luck here. Hopefully the desire to play something from every genre and an attempt to play something more Japanese will help me if Zero Escape leaves me feeling like I have... um... zero escape. Apparently there's puzzles. I do really want to try to enjoy something Japanese this year. Just... just give it a chance, Vice.

Years since release: 7 [17] 

 

 

Again: thanks to everyone tagged for just being you. Hopefully, by the end of the 2024, we'll have even more in common than before.

Enjoy your holiday seasons and I wish you the very best in your gaming endeavours on 2024, and more importantly, IRL.

:highfive:

 

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Super_Mep Collaborator

Super_Mep

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@Platinum_Vice

On the puzzle game Xing when you get to the puzzle where you have to organize some animal objects on pedestals be very careful when you set them down to reorganize. I had mine melt through the floor causing multiple resets. Thankfully I was only losing like 15 minutes of progress each time but still annoying.

 

Your list looks great can't wait to read your reviews. You'll love the combat in Control! But hey if you understand the story come back and explain it to me like I'm five. 🤣

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realm722 Enthusiast

realm722

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WOW! This is exciting. What an incredibly fun way to sort of set out your plans for the year when it comes to what games you'll play!

 

9 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

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Apotheon 

A side-scroller set within Greek Mythology? Yes please! 

Recommended by: @Copanele, @DrBloodmoney, @realm722 

Years since release: 9

 

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Bastion 

Popping my Supergiant Games’ cherry. 

Years since release: 9

 

Two very good selections! Apotheon has aged fairly well in my memory since I completed it and whatever jank you'll experience with the combat I think is forgiven for all of the other memorable aspects the game provides. While you also didn't include me in the recommendation list here, I also enjoyed Bastion. What I will say is I believe the game is comfortably Supergiant's "worst" as it was their first title. This is a good thing for the studio! That being said, their "worst" game is still a solid 7.5/10 and I think it has aged gracefully given the era it came from.

 

9 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

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Furi 

The soundtrack for Furi is already deeply embedded into my library. It should be strange to finally hear it accompanying some gameplay. I don’t really know what to expect, though...? A boss-rush... and that’s all I really know. I saw a trailer years ago, added it to the backlog, and never looked it up again. But with so many recommendations and with the accompanying score by Carpenter Brut (:whip:), I have faith that this should be an interesting experience. 

Years since release: 7

Backup: Final Fantasy VII [the PS1 -> PS4 port]L4c1026.png – I’ve never played a Final Fantasy and this would be the place that I'd start. The Remake doesn’t interest me at all though.

 

I already foresee Furi winning awards at your 2024 GOTY Post. That is a remarkable game. Difficult, no doubt, but remarkably forgiving for all that it asks you to do. My only recommendation would be this... LEARN HOW TO PARRY. You'll thank me later. Oh, and if I may add... I had never played a Final Fantasy game either. And then I played the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Now I love Final Fantasy. Just sayin'.

 

9 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

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Islanders 

This one was on the radar for ages. Looks like the exact chilled-out experience that I would enjoy. And it’s gorgeous... 

Recommended by: @realm722, @YaManSmevz

Years since release: 2

 

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Kingdom: New Lands 

Kingdom came purely from @realm722's recommendation. It looks pretty cool. To be honest, my understanding of the premise and the trailer really just makes this entry look like a jumped-up Miniclip flash game, but time will tell and I’ll give it a crack because it still seems to be up my alley. 

Years since release: 6

 

 

Hell yea, I love being the guy who recommends niche stuff. I think you're going to really enjoy Islanders. The visuals are fantastic and it's just a really sweet brisk experience that I struggle to ever see somebody finishing and saying "I had a bad time with this". Your Kingdom: New Lands thoughts will be interesting. I remember the game in a fairly positive light, most of all for the marvelous war bear that carried me through much of my play-time.

 

Definitely play Bastion before you play Transistor. Mark of the Ninja is remarkably well-made. Pyre is going to be fantastic and win some awards at the end of 2024. Unpacking's great too. You have a truly stellar list of games here. Hope you have fun and the results come back as equally positive as the recommendations you received!

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YaManSmevz Enthusiast

YaManSmevz

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10 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

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Apotheon 

A side-scroller set within Greek Mythology? Yes please! 

Recommended by: @Copanele, @DrBloodmoney, @realm722 

Years since release: 9

 

 

Dude, yours might be the review that finally gets me to play this one - it's been on my radar as well!

 

10 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

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Bastion 

Popping my Supergiant Games’ cherry. 

Years since release: 9

 

Nice! I think you'll enjoy this one. And agreed with Realm, it's the best place to start with Supergiant!

 

10 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

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Elasto Mania Remastered 

I found out a year ago that this had been brought to the PS4. I played this on PC way back in 2004 and brought it home on a floppy disk. I spent hours making my own custom maps as well. It will be a fantastic trip down memory lane and the nostalgia should be delicious. It will be the jankiest and low budget game here and simply isn’t very good. :giggle:

I showed my son some of the trailers for the games that I’m going to play this year, and when I asked him “does this look fun?” he would always say “yes.” When I showed him Elasto Mania he gasped and immediately said, “that looks cool!” which just means that we might find some TV time to spend together for a treat when we’re both well behaved. 

Recommended by: me from 20 years in the past! 

Years since release: 1 [24]

 

That's fuckin cute, man. I love it✊️🥹

 

10 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

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Grim Fandango: Remastered 

So this is an early adventure game, right? It seems as though everyone that plays this game falls madly in love with it. 

Years since release: 8 [26!]

 

Nice! That's a charming visit to the late 90s there. However... some advice that I'm not proud to give? Have a guide ready. For the most part it's standard problem solving stuff, but there are a few incredibly opaque moments where it's like "why would I have ever thought to do that??"

 

10 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

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Islanders 

This one was on the radar for ages. Looks like the exact chilled-out experience that I would enjoy. And it’s gorgeous... 

Recommended by: @realm722, @YaManSmevz

Years since release: 2

 

10 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

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Jazzpunk 

This one comes from two equal sources: recommendations and then watching the trailer myself. The sense of humour tickled me and it should carry the game if the other aspects don’t end up capturing me. 

Recommended by: @DrBloodmoney, @YaManSmevz

Years since release: 8

 

Yay! Great to see both of these, nice short blasts of different kinds of fun😎

 

....that felt weirdly graphic, I apologize.

 

11 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

 

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Resident Evil HD 

Yep. Never played it. Never played any of 'em. Criminal, I know.

Let’s see if this game is the birthplace for the recurring visions that I have had of doors opening in a black void for... far too many years. 

From what I understand, combat depreciates resources which leads to dramatically-increased tension?? Also: puzzles?! Also: fixed camera?! Also: a great-grandfather to my beloved Prey?! Ok: I have to like this one.

Years since release: 9 [28. This game is 28 years old  in 2024!]

 

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Sleeping Dogs 

The game with the most amount of recommendations out of my whole backlog. 

Years since release: 10

 

SO excited for you to play these!

 

Y'know... as opposed to the other games I said I was excited for you to play. I was lying, okay?? Completely full of shit. THIS time I'm excited for real.

 

11 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

Somehow Unpacking charms the pants off of everyone on PSNP, so I’ll start Unzipping now, shall I? 

 

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11 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

 

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Valfaris 

A.K.A. Slain II, baby!  

Years since release: 6

 

YAAAAAASS!

 

11 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

 

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We Love Katamari ReRoll+ Royal Reverie 

Again: another series that has been foreign to me. I’m trying to experience more Japanese games as it seems to be a sticking point. Maybe this gameplay-led experience will help tear down the walls. 

Years since release:  1 [19]

 

I love the concept of Katamari, but personally I thought Damacy was such an awful experience from a completionist's standpoint. This one appears to be a lot more forgiving, plus better mechanics, so yes yes do it, and not the other one never ever okay awesome.

 

If there's one thing I love more than gaming, it's run-on sentences OH YEAH.

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pelagia14 Collaborator

pelagia14

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13 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

Looking ahead to 2024

 

Being part of the trophy checklist mini-community (a very welcoming space that anyone can become a part of) has brought me more recommendations than I ever expected. Some have been directly given to me and some have been indirect or just very highly reviewed and noted nevertheless. Recommendations or positive endorsements from others makes up about 50% of my backlog/wishlist (currently 175 games long). It’s about time that I branched out and trusted those respected opinions.

 

Seriously, the amount of games you listed that are in my backlog is scary! Granted, a lot of the same people are responsible for some of them, lol.

 

Shared backlog games: [Bastion, Control, Furi (?), Grim Fandango: Remastered, Hollow Knight, Hitman backup, Pyre, Resident Evil HD, Slay the Spire backup, Yakuza 0 backup)

Games pending backlog acquisition: [Islanders, Lair of the Clockwork God]

Games I've played: [Apotheon, FFVII backup, Unpacking, Yoku's Island Express]

 

Ooooh, Nowhere Prophet is a deck builder?! I feel like DrB might have mentioned it recently, but I can't remember... either way, will have to look into that one!

 

Yo, you're gonna play *three* Supergiant Games in 2024?! 🥰 I was about to ramble about how much I adore Transistor, but then saw that I've already influenced its inclusion on your list! 😂

 

I'm a big fan of the ridiculously campy and over-the-top Resident Evil franchise, so I'm super curious to read your thoughts on that game when you get around to it. Honestly, I'm excited to see all the Vice gaming insights for 2024, since minus a few tough letters they are all solid games! 

 

Smevz really has me interested in the Valfaris soundtrack, so that's another game that I'm interested in learning more about! 🥳

 

(I'm also considering playing Zero Escape: The Nonary Games at some point to get a Z game completed, so perhaps we can slog through that around the same time! 😂)

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Platinum_Vice Enthusiast

Platinum_Vice

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8 hours ago, realm722 said:

I already foresee Furi winning awards at your 2024 GOTY Post. That is a remarkable game. Difficult, no doubt, but remarkably forgiving for all that it asks you to do. My only recommendation would be this... LEARN HOW TO PARRY. You'll thank me later. Oh, and if I may add... I had never played a Final Fantasy game either. And then I played the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Now I love Final Fantasy. Just sayin'.

 

Damn the Remake made a fan out of you huh? Ok that's an unexpected spanner in the works, not going to lie.

 

8 hours ago, realm722 said:

Hell yea, I love being the guy who recommends niche stuff. I think you're going to really enjoy Islanders. The visuals are fantastic and it's just a really sweet brisk experience that I struggle to ever see somebody finishing and saying "I had a bad time with this". Your Kingdom: New Lands thoughts will be interesting. I remember the game in a fairly positive light, most of all for the marvelous war bear that carried me through much of my play-time.

 

Definitely play Bastion before you play Transistor. Mark of the Ninja is remarkably well-made. Pyre is going to be fantastic and win some awards at the end of 2024. Unpacking's great too.

 

Ok... so I need to use the War Bear in Transistor, learn to parry in Kingdom, play Bastion last and remember that Furi is more chilled out than Islanders. Got it 😜😎

 

8 hours ago, realm722 said:

You have a truly stellar list of games here. Hope you have fun and the results come back as equally positive as the recommendations you received!

 

I have a hunch that you're right!! Cheers Realm 👊

 

6 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

However... some advice that I'm not proud to give? Have a guide ready. For the most part it's standard problem solving stuff, but there are a few incredibly opaque moments where it's like "why would I have ever thought to do that??"

 

Oh damn, ok. Such an unfortunate reality for Adventure games, right? Especially the older ones. Older arcade games wanted to be obscenely difficult to eat those tokens, and then adventure games wanted to be so wacky with the puzzles that it extended the playtime and generated water-cooler buzz, huh? I'm sure I'll enjoy it anyway.

 

6 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

THIS time I'm excited for real.

 

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Excitement for 2024, colourised.

 

3 hours ago, pelagia14 said:

Seriously, the amount of games you listed that are in my backlog is scary! Granted, a lot of the same people are responsible for some of them, lol.

 

Shared backlog games: [Bastion, Control, Furi (?), Grim Fandango: Remastered, Hollow Knight, Hitman backup, Pyre, Resident Evil HD, Slay the Spire backup, Yakuza 0 backup)

Games pending backlog acquisition: [Islanders, Lair of the Clockwork God]

Games I've played: [Apotheon, FFVII backup, Unpacking, Yoku's Island Express]

 

Ooooh, Nowhere Prophet is a deck builder?! I feel like DrB might have mentioned it recently, but I can't remember... either way, will have to look into that one!

 

Yo, you're gonna play *three* Supergiant Games in 2024?! 🥰 I was about to ramble about how much I adore Transistor, but then saw that I've already influenced its inclusion on your list! 😂

 

I'm a big fan of the ridiculously campy and over-the-top Resident Evil franchise, so I'm super curious to read your thoughts on that game when you get around to it. Honestly, I'm excited to see all the Vice gaming insights for 2024, since minus a few tough letters they are all solid games! 

 

(I'm also considering playing Zero Escape: The Nonary Games at some point to get a Z game completed, so perhaps we can slog through that around the same time! 😂)

 

Oh it's totally confirmed - our tastes are too similar!

 

mr-bean-cheating-on-test-ac8iia96g1v60lw

 

3 hours ago, pelagia14 said:

Smevz really has me interested in the Valfaris soundtrack, so that's another game that I'm interested in learning more about!

 

Yeah the soundtrack sounds great from my little dabbling adventures here and there. Very exicted.

 

Valfaris II is due out in 2024, too. 

 

The dev's prior game to Valfaris was Slain: Back from Hell. I played it in 2022. It wasn't the most brain-busting experience however I enjoyed it a lot. Review here if you need one. The soundtrack in that game was SICK and it looks like Valfaris is really just a spiritual sequel to Slain anyway. Something to think about.

 

3 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Wooooooooo! Resident Evil HD! Really hope you like it man! They did loads of great stuff to this classic remake from the original which is my favourite! Let us know what you think of it!

 

Will do dude!! 👊👊

 

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Cassylvania

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Pretty good list. Glad my boy Yoku is getting some representation. Of all the ones I've played but wasn't mentioned (Grim Fandango, Islanders, Kingdom: New Lands, Mark of the Ninja, Pyre, RE, and Unpacking), I thought they were all great. My one suggestion would be to maybe play Grim with a guide. I think my experience was soured by trying to figure those puzzles out for myself. RE has those tank controls, which suck, but then you'll have an excuse to play games like RE2 and RE7, which were amazing. Kingdom: New Lands has a sequel (that I swore was the same game) if you like it enough.

 

I'm a little leery of seeing any list with Katamari on it, but I guess that one is good...?

 

Overall, yeah. Looks like a fine way to spend the year.

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Shrooba

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Furi and Grim Fandango! Killer games. Furi has an incredible soundtrack. I was in that exact same boat as you, having listened to the music before even picking up the game itself! 😂
As for Grim Fandango, it has this aesthetic that only point-and-click games have-- the sorta home-y feel where, even in dire moments, you've always got the time to walk about, simply absorbing the scenery however you wish. As Smevz said, a guide will definitely help out. There's some preeeetty obtuse stuff in there, but a guide'll make it all go very smoothly. The Second Year in Grim Fandango is very special, I love the vibe of it... you'll know what I mean when the time comes! 😉

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Platinum_Vice Enthusiast

Platinum_Vice

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025

Series: Red Dead Redemption

 

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Note.png[Born Unto Trouble]

 

Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption is a standout, essential, must-play experience. It is authentic. It is emotional. It is a well-crafted blend of a cathartic narrative and one of the tentpole open worlds in the early days of the industry’s transition towards that formula in the AAA space. Few other games deserve a comparison to the perfected balance of quests and activities that expand the players’ immersion and playtime without unnecessary bloat or compromises of quality. 

 

That open world commands one of the most unique atmospheres in the medium. Westerns had never appropriately translated from the big screen to those within our homes and that is baffling; the rich landscape of the Wild West is ripe for experiences that promote violence from player agency.  

 

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Rockstar doesn’t choose to set RDR1 in the heyday of the Wild West, but at the end of it. The setting is a place of sweeping change and various conflicting perspectives of justice and morality.

 

Red Dead Redemption’s American frontier features an abnormal quantity of wildlife and environmental biomes and all of them are breathtaking due to not just their animated beauty, but also because of the original soundtrack. The vibrance and melancholic loneliness of the world’s atmosphere is brought to life by bombastic action tracks, softer melodic arrangements, and a third component which was extremely uncommon in 2010: a great depth of ambient subtleties which placed us directly into the setting. The combination of the auditory ambience and the visual fidelity created an atmosphere that could not be improved without setting up our consoles outside. I still can’t believe how enjoyable it was to be out looking for hidden treasure, hunting varmint and picking flowers in a desert – the experience was deeply authentic. 

 

Rockstar displayed restraint by deliberately minimising interactions with NPCs during your journeys between towns. This departure from the crowded cityscapes of Grand Theft Auto titles (and continued contrast to open world games following RDR) found a perfect balance for player interactivity on the frontier. 

 

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Clint Eastwood + Sam Elliott = Landon Ricketts... wish we got more from this guy!

 

Note.png[The Shootist]

 

Rockstar’s character-based storytelling shines in the Wild West. John Marston is a lovingly-crafted amalgamation of the many Clint Eastwood roles within the wandering cowboy archetype which dominated Spaghetti Westerns. John (and Arthur during Rockstar’s sequel) exemplifies traditional masculinity is ways that call upon Rockstar’s core demographic (disenfranchised males between 12 and 30) to emulate John's strength and loyalty. If one is to believe that Rockstar are “sexist,” “racist,” or "hard-leaning" to the right or left, one needs to only play any of the two Red Dead Redemption games to see Rockstar’s 'classically liberal' value system and a laissez-faire approach to political discussions born from their deep cynicism. John displays anti-sexist, anti-racist sentiments throughout this experience and without high-horse preaching. He manoeuvres throughout the Wild West as a lone figure attempting to reconcile his own moral compass with the anarchy and immorality of the changing times, and RDR empowers players to make their own decisions regarding how to (or whether to) proceed honourably.  

 

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It is not lost on me that John’s moral compass (like Arthur’s) was instilled in him when he was taken in by the Van Der Linde Gang, the meaning of which is deepened greatly by Arthur and John coming to their eventual conclusion that Dutch’s morality was in a rapid decline.

 

That brings me to a larger point: John was the first genuinely complex character that I was able to experience in this hobby. This is not due to a lack of other games on my radar in 2010; he is still one of the most developed characters that I’ve played as of 2024. Despite his incessant belief to the contrary and a lack of traditional ‘booksmarts’ or education, John is wise beyond his years. He is the first to listen and the last to speak. He is deeply loyal. He is an outsider. His life’s purpose is to find a place to belong. He found it for the first time within the familial Van Der Linde Gang and, when that become unsustainable, he found it again in the family that he made for himself and which he continues to care for. He is bitter and angry, yes, and particularly towards people born to a higher class (he carries a chip on his shoulder about how society characterises him based on his financial status) when those people fail to live by the value system that John embodies. That bitterness comes from John’s inherent belief that loyalty and honour (to those you care for) in a lawless and corrupt world are what saved him from depravity, yet he is surrounded by violence and evil from those who refuse to adhere to those values. 

 

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John's dialogue is a major highlight for me. He speaks with the wit of a wandering man and will occasionally throw out a zinger where it's deserved ("you couldn't shoot a fart outta your own ass!")

 

So much has been and continues to be taken from John but he remains steadfast in a hope that remaining true to his family and his honour will lead to success and peace. He has two relatable goals: protect his family and change his destiny.  

 

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From the many great examples of voice acting of Red Dead Redemption, none are as well-realised as Rob Wiethoff’s efforts as John. Wiethoff was essentially an ‘unknown’ to Hollywood and to gaming. Rockstar struck gold with this hire. Wiethoff appears to be a genuinely decent person and he shows great care and attention to the material.

 

Note.png[Horseplay]

 

Something that I’m trying to say is that John is a rare gaming figure that is worth aspiring to emulate, and RDR invites us to emulate him, and it is a positive male figure to be emulated if players are able to apply a mature lens. Even more so than Geralt a few years later, I found myself relating to John on many levels. 

 

Importantly, I do not ‘read into’ this character more than what Rockstar provides all players during an initial playthrough. My appreciation has been the result of direct extraction from the text, so to speak. I am so glad that this game was rich enough that I could experience not just this well-defined character, but also others such as Bonnie McFarlane, Dutch Van Der Linde, and both Abigail and Jack Marston. 

 

SPOILERS (for pretty much the rest of this review - ‘end spoilers’ is down below). 

 

John’s son, Jack (if indeed John is Jack’s father – the internet was abuzz with theories upon the release of RDR2) is a piece of work. He’s mean and... nasty ("BREAK YA DAMN NAG!") His inclusion in the epilogue was inspired and it gives us a wider perspective on the nature of revenge. His extreme bitterness is easy to accept because players feel his anger about John's fate, too. We did not need a prequel to see that Rockstar wanted players to understand the poisonous and cyclical nature of revenge. Jack inherited debts from the Van Der Linde Gang and his life is exactly what John and Abigail tried to prevent: that of an outlaw gunslinger.  

 

John’s redemption came first. Then did the redemption of Edgar Ross, who surely believed that his abduction of John’s family brought about a much-needed end to outlaw life in the West  by leveraging them for the extermination of the Van Der Linde Gang... especially considering that it was the Van Der Linde Gang who killed Ross' mentor. When Jack found him fishing on that bank, Ross was surely enjoying his retirement believing that he was a good man; the end justified the means. Jack’s redemption came last. It is of course fitting that Jack found Ross fishing because Ross first met Jack many years earlier during Jack’s first fishing lesson. 

 

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2023: the moment that I truly appreciated that the wrinkles on John's shirt and pants are just dark colours on the texture image instead of being a real shadow. I was fooled for 13 years! It gives John's appearance a timeless quality - looks great!

 

All of the aforementioned strengths of Red Dead Redemption would be nothing without the twists and turns of the plot. It is long and meandering – just like a spaghetti western. John is kept on the hook for months as he tracks down members of his old gang and the quest takes him to all manner of places. He feels lost throughout the journey. The gaming industry was, just as it is today, struggling with the notion that a game has to be long to justify the game's cost to the player. RDR lengthy plot was born out of publishing requirements and out of homage to the spaghetti western influences, and Rockstar wrote that into John’s character. A main character is rarely able to directly address 'princess in another castle' twists, yet John does, and the player feels an orchestrated fatigue by this process. Rockstar pulled our strings so that we felt John’s frustration and loneliness. We feel belaboured by the quest just like he does. 

 

Note.png[Jose Gonzalez - Far Away]

 

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The inclusion of Jose Gonzalez’s ‘Far Away’ landed a direct hit with me... I still remember playing in the dark and deep in the night long after my wife (then girlfriend) had gone to sleep beside me. The prior missions had a natural rise in action and tension so I was still alert and pushing onwards. I had felt that some sense of real accomplishment was on the horizon... and then John and I were thrust deep into Mexico, a foreign land of (then) massive proportions yet to be explored in the slightest, and as Jose sang, we were indeed “so far, so far away.” It was a touching surprise to experience a sung acoustic piece in a western-themed video game. RDR1 and RDR2 just have an uncanny ability to feel as if they are speaking directly to me in these beautiful moments of creative direction and I have zero doubt that anyone who reads this – having played RDR1 – would say the same about this moment.

 

Cutscene interactions with members of John’s old gang lead the player to believe that he has a history of unnecessary violence... That he is irredeemable. However, players witness John behaving differently. He is definitely quick to threaten violence when irked, and he is irked easily, this is true, but the people that irritate him are typical arseholes of Rockstar-design. They are deeply immoral (such as gravedigger Seth and Colonel Allende) or lacking in integrity (Nigel West Dickens and ‘Irish’). Almost every NPC is outright despicable and worthy of a swift kick in the behind. Strangely, John is reluctant to commence violence unless acting in self-defence. He is on a quest for redemption and only reacts violently due to two things: external violence thrust upon him by other characters... and the player. It is us which forces John into excessive shootouts. Rockstar created a gamified simulation that ensured that we were the dissonant force that was halting John’s path to redemption. Rockstar understood ludonarration better than any other developer and they weaponised it to great effect in both RDR games. 

 

Whatcha-doin.jpg

 

Finally, the epilogue is inspired. Just like how Bonnie McFarlane’s ranching missions were a tutorial for horseriding, shooting, cattle-herding and explaining the mechanics of your lasso, the epilogue inverts that equation. We return to Jack and find that his relationship with John is severely lacking. He fears John as if he is a foreign man. We spend multiple missions teaching Jack how to ride a horse and shoot a gun. We have returned John’s family to him and he (we) gets to fathering, and we do it via gameplay in the language of video games: we are literally Jack's tutorial. This is the sort of brilliance that elevates a ‘game’ into ‘art.’ 

 

END SPOILERS 

 

Also, side note: Undead Nightmare was an amazing DLC. I really enjoyed it. Look no further than this 30 second clip for Rockstar’s satirical view of humanity distilled into a single YouTube short. This is just one great moment in one of this industry's best DLCs. 

 

Trophy.png #100 (PS3) Red Dead Redemption, 10/10 

 

RDR2.jpg

 

 

Red Dead Redemption II

I played RDR2 on release in October 2018. In the lead-up to this review, I played it again in December 2023... I had to be sure. I recalled playing a 10/10 game. I also recall playing an additional 150 hours after the story was over to complete trophy requirements for the platinum. I also have five years of memories of multiple reviews and other YouTube video essays critiquing the game; they levelled many recurring criticisms towards RDR2. In the spirit of authenticity, I wanted to be sure of my thoughts on this game. I have come away with the only reasonable conclusion that I could: this is the best damn game that I’ve ever played. Far be it for me to rely on hyperbole – every player, in theory, must have a ‘best game ever played’ if they sit down and think about it. This game edges out the masterpiece that had that title in my mind before it. I’ll tell you why. 

 

In short: it’s a ludonarrative masterpiece. It elevates the industry standard for the relationship between a game’s simulations; interactivity; empathy and relatability to the playable character; and player goals, agency, and reactionary emotions throughout an orchestrated experience.  

 

Note.png[Outlaws from the West]

 

Rockstar were faced with a tremendous obstacle: prequel-itis. It is an obstacle that we don't fully appreciate in 2024 considering the amount of prequels flooding pop culture. RDR2 players already know the future of multiple characters. They know that John, Abigail, Jack, Dutch, Bill, Javier and Uncle will all survive this new story because they are the last surviving members of the infamous Van Der Linde Gang in RDR1. Meanwhile, players control Arthur Morgan, and fall in love with such gangmembers as Sadie and Charles, and Arthur, Sadie and Charles are not in RDR1. From the very beginning of RDR2, players question Arthur’s fate and therefore inherit a heightened tension from the outset. Rockstar weaponises the player’s knowledge of RDR1 in their creation of Arthur’s character and utilise him as a storytelling vehicle; he is the personification of inevitability. 

 

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Arthur Morgan

 

Arthur is the primary source of pragmatism and objectivity in this world, and therefore he can see the gang and their way of life dissolving at the end of an era. Where RDR1 took the slow death of the outlaw life and layered it onto John’s journey within that campaign, RDR2 takes the slow, chaotic, poison-fuelled death of the Van Der Linde family and layers it onto Arthur’s arc within this story. 

 

Note.png[That's The Way It Is]

 

The Van Der Linde Gang comprises of about twenty different NPCs. They ALL have depth for you to mine throughout playable time around camp and their interactions and social dynamics are extremely well-defined. My hyperbole continues: truly, RDR2’s features the best dialogue and voice acting in gaming to this day. 

 

The vibrance and depth to the characters around camp is unmatched to this day.  

 

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The attention to detail within this simulated experience? Unmatched to this day. The widespread application of a pursuit for perfection is so well-realised for a video game. 

 

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Attention. To. Detail.

 

The animations of an insane amount of animals is unmatched to this day (this game is also a National Geographic simulator). 

 

The motion capture a character animations? Unmatched for its time; I think TLOUII set a new bar in 2020 for character animations. 

 

The fidelity of a gorgeous open world – particularly the forest, plains and snowy natural environments? Unmatched for its time.  

 

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There is a screenshot-worthy moment like this every 10 seconds. No exaggeration needed.

 

But these are not the real reasons why RDR2 is so special. I am now going to expand upon the red paragraph above. The best way to really sing this game’s praises is to do something that I have tried to avoid in this checklist for a long time: I have to analyse plot points. There will be HEAVY SPOILERS until I get to RDR2’s flaws at the end of the review. 

 

Note.png[Blood Feuds, Ancient and Modern]

 

A love letter to Rockstar’s ludonarrative experience 

 

In Chapter 1 we’re introduced to Arthur, the underdog family that is the Van Der Linde Gang, their antagonists (the O’Driscolls and Leviticus Cornwall – who will soon be provoked into the hiring of the Pinkertons that dog the Van Der Linde Gang) while also introducing game mechanics. The most important story beat in this chapter is Dutch's decision to rob a train against the advice of Hosea, a conservative gang member who Dutch considers to be his closest confidante. Arthur is present for the brief back and forth between Dutch and Hosea, and while Arthur is fairly silent during the exchange, the player is aligned with Dutch: "yeah, I want to rob a train, this is Red Dead Redemption!" We feel this way because the chapter chokes our ability to explore the open world properly and to engage in action-based scenarios. Choking the player’s freedoms in this chapter sows a deep appetite to break free in... 

 

Chapter 2 – the “golden age” for cowboyin’ in RDR2. The gang establishes a new campsite outside of the city of Valentine, and as the gang members become more confident, so too does the player in their travelling through the open world.  

 

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It becomes crystal clear to us that Arthur is not just the gang’s primary gun, but also their most dependable and loyal workhorse. Whereas Hosea is Dutch’s ‘Number 2’ in seniority and friendship, Arthur is like a favourite brother or first-born son to Dutch. All gang members come to Arthur for practical help with their problems. The old guns rely on Arthur for his dependability. The young bucks are thirsty to learn from his violent tutelage as they pick marks in nearby towns and surrounding farmsteads. Peripheral gang members rely on his friendship. In the absence of John’s desire to step up as a father at the outset of RDR2, Abigail relies on Arthur to teach Jack how to fish.  

 

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Sadie!

 

Due to the choked introduction to the world in the first chapter, players don’t have enough money to afford the many things that the open world offers them (horses, clothes, haircuts, provisions, guns and ammo). So you do three things:  

 

1. You hunt for wild animals to increase your ability to carry more items.

 

2. You take up side quests at the request of the many members of the gang (these are always immoral – thieving, assaults, and debt collecting for Strauss – by far and away these missions for the gang are most enjoyable, lucrative or action-based in this chapter). 

 

3. And then you donate back to the camp.  

 

The camp’s finances are available for anyone to read of course (of those chosen few that Dutch has taught to read), and the player will have mixed emotions to discover that they are the biggest contributor to the camp coffers by far. 

 

The player doesn’t just upgrade the camp because Arthur’s upgrades are directly tied to that mechanic (they definitely are), but also because the player is invested in the gang’s success and the other believable and lifelike characters around you. The player wants to spend time with the gang and the gang wants to spend time with you. Maybe this could go on forever...  

 

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"Have a little God-damn FAITH, Arthur!"

 

It is notable that the first two debt collecting missions for Strauss are mandatory campaign missions. After attending to one very particular debt, Strauss' missions become optional side quests, which is particularly clever. Later in the campaign, players will take on these missions for easy money, and their attitudes towards them will darken as Arthur's journey progresses. In my first playthrough I forgot that the first few missions were mandatory as my opinion of them changed. This factored into my semi-confusion by the end of Arthur's journey as to whether I had caused him to become sick by volunteering us into an optional mission - whether I had found an alternative ending - or whether all players had the same experience. I was blown away to think that it could be possible that Rockstar may have planned that state of semi-confusion for players.

 

Most crucially about chapter 2, it is important to note that players are finally let loose upon the town of Valentine and the larger majority of the open world at your disposal after having that access restricted for so long. Regardless of how honourable you wanted to play RDR2, and despite this being the time in the game where players will take their longest periods of adventuring in between main missions and go about the game at their own pace, Rockstar quietly shepherds the player to make dishonourable decisions. The player does this without realising that they are being funnelled down this path. The player thinks that they have autonomous will – and they do – but there is a cunning plan at work in the background. This forms the basis for the ludonarrative synchronicity of RDR2: in the earliest parts of this game, the player wants to commit dishonourable deeds either because they want the money, or just because that's the meat and potatoes of the 'fun' in this game.

 

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Rockstar employed a fantastic stylistic choice in RDR2: the landscape and skyboxes resemble oil paintings from Western American Art (aka 'Cowboy Art' / 'Old West Art' / 'American Frontier Art') from the Wild West era.

 

Note.png[Fleeting Joy]

 

In Chapter 3, Dutch and the gang are on the run again having broken Micah out of prison. Most of the gang agrees with the player: we only just made it out of Valentine alive. It’s time to lay low a little; let’s explore the new town that we've landed on and check out its surroundings. Let’s go shopping. Let’s take our feet off the gas for a second...

 

...But this is not within the nature of this gang. Rather than commit to honest work and fitting in, they prey upon the town of Rhodes and the two feuding families that run it. Of course, not only does each family have deep roots in the money-making pies of Rhodes, but there’s a forbidden love starting to bubble between a young man and young woman from the separate families. Dutch sees money-making opportunities as he tasks you and Hosea to infiltrate and manipulate both the Capulets and the Montagues. Meanwhile, in a bid for money, gang respect and, let’s face it, fun, all other violent members of the gang starburst in multiple directions like kids in a candy store as they get to work on the nearby townsfolk and farmsteads. The gang’s greed (under Dutch’s leadership) draws significant attention from what is quickly becoming an unreasonably long list of enemies on the frontier.

 

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The story begins to accelerate towards an impending doom in this third chapter. It features the last time that Dutch leads a rescue for a gang member (Jack), leaving other gang members to turn to Arthur to resolve real issues from then on. RDR2 exploits the players’ growing desire to take a breath and just slow down. The main questline from Chapter 3 onwards features crisis after crisis. This is a complete inversion of the ‘princess in another castle’ trope, because instead of being told that there’s nothing under every rock that you pick up, the player is instead turning over every rock and repeatedly finding rattlesnakes. People get abducted. People get killed. You get abducted. You want to just take a minute to sit at a campfire, reload your weapons and craft some super bullets because you’ve used all of your special ammo. You want to go into town and have a haircut because you look like you have the mange. You want to change your clothes because they’re covered in mud and blood. You want to clean your guns because they aren’t shooting straight anymore. Rockstar built in so many survival-lite mechanics and chapter 3 ensures that they’re always malnourished and 'in the red.' You want to confront Dutch and Micah and talk about what the fuck this gang is doing and why it isn’t laying low. Instead, you’re pulled from pillar to post by bloodthirsty guns Micah, Bill, Dutch and Sean.  

 

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After being abducted, you manage a desperate escape and barely live to tell the tale... but you do not tell the tale. You just go into town. Fuck the gang for a minute – you're having some ‘me time.’ Just give me five fucking minutes. 

 

But the player does not get five fucking minutes. Who is that smoking a cigarette on the main drag of town? Micah, Bill and Sean. Congratulations, player, Rockstar played you. You’re now starting another mission with these snakes. Is there a plan? No. Are you aware of what they’re doing? No. Grab a gun, Arthur, we’re working. And of course, something feels wrong. And of course, something is wrong, and someone dies, and the rest of us barely escape the hornets' nest, and we make it back to camp just in time... 

 

...Just in time to find out that Jack has been taken. 

 

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Chapter 4: The family relocates again. The slimy, stinky, money-grubbing, devouring ways of the player and the gang are reflected in their new setting: a slimy, stinky swamp on the edge of the money-grubbing, devouring city of Saint Denis. Rubbing shoulders with the rich and holed up in an abandoned mansion reignites Dutch’s desire to get back to work making money. This town is one the most police-centric places in America yet Dutch decides that it would be the perfect place to start grifting again. 

 

The genius of this chapter is that Arthur now has enough money to leave.
 

If you and he weren’t so loyal, you’d take all the gold that you’ve scrounged away like the good little hustler that you've been, and you’d take your favourite half-dozen gangmates and you’d actually enact Dutch’s mythical plan: fuck off to Tahiti. Get away from the many, many enemies that are hounding the gang. Of course, Rockstar are still masters of the marionette, and they’re pulling your strings to stay put and continue to “have a little goddamn faith.” The end goal of this chapter is to rob a bank, but the take can’t be that much more than what you have already amassed for Arthur’s own wallet. 

 

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Chapter 5: Following the death of key gang members in Chapter 4, Arthur, and a handful of the other main guns (Dutch included) are swept out to sea and away from the rest of the gang. Dutch maintains that he wishes to return to America to save the rest of the gang, but players know that he only seeks to return to scoop up the last of their hidden gold before riding off into the sunset alone. It is when Arthur and the player are completely lost, dehydrated and exhausted on a Cuban tropical island that it should be desperately clear to every single player just in case they haven’t clued on yet: this is where Dutch and Micah have led the gang. For a handful of crazy missions of intense shootouts (with nothing in between) out in the middle of nowhere, the player is left feeling marooned, lost and deeply misled. Dutch thinks that he is manipulating the local militia, yet the status quo clearly does not favour Dutch and Arthur. Rockstar took us to Cuba because they knew that they had to go to such an extreme length to shake off any players who were still starry eyed by Dutch’s charisma (just look at where Dutch has taken us). Rockstar wants us all on the same page for the final chapter.   

 

RDR1 gave us an acoustic song in Jose Gonzalez’s Far Away and Undead Nightmare gave us Bad Voodoo by the Kreeps. RDR2 has a whole handful of sung pieces throughout the 80-100 hour campaign with alternative emotional beats. Yet, the isolation and sense of being so severely far away from home that we had from Jose Gonzalez in 2010 is recreated on the tropical Cuban island through actual gameplay in this sequel.

 

Note.png[Unshaken]

 

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Chapter 6: Arthur’s final chapter features a chaos that is completely out of hand now. Every main mission is now an extended series of shootouts. You kill 30-60 people per mission and it is egregious. Where do these bodies keep coming from? These are massacres that would make the Van Der Linde Gang the most dangerous set of outlaws in America’s history by far. 

 

The excessive bloodsport leaves the player desperate to escape the madness of this dizzying runaway carousel ride. At this point in the game players instead seek to complete side missions because they are calmer and they tie up loose ends. Arthur's diagnosis of tuberculosis (caught from the cough of a dying man that we assaulted in Chapter 2) affects our health bar, stamina bar and deadeye metre for the rest of the campaign. Arthur has lost all appetite for cowboyin’ and so does the player due to what has become a very tunnel-visioned final series of missions of endless enemies. We know that this is not a symptom of developer fatigue because there is still two chapters of missions after Chapter 6, and they aren’t like this. No, Rockstar structured the main missions of Chapter 6 like this to synchronise our desire to escape the campaign with Arthur’s own desires. Rockstar undermined their own gameplay style on purpose. We seek side content here and are thoroughly rewarded for it with a large amount of emotional catharsis when we complete them. 

 

Arthur regularly coughs his way into blackouts. Death approaches. The whirlwind of change in Arthur’s life forces him to focus inwards and reflect on who he is: a series of choices. Honour versus dishonour. Loyalty versus selfish gain. Arthur seeks redemption and finds that it tastes sweet. He actively says as much to many characters and they notice him acting differently. We dance in lockstep with him as we cease to seek money from crime, go out of our way to protect women and children, donate, and otherwise lend our assistance to our favourite gangmembers. Your true friends in the gang are very easy to differentiate from the rotten 'takers.’ The decent folk all feel that the gang is dying and they look to your honour and your leadership for guidance.  

 

You seek the comfort of your friends and forge your own path, and when that fails, you seek to ensure that John learns from your mistakes. He was a rival to you; a sibling that you have only recently come to like, but he reminds Arthur of himself, and he seeks to change John’s destiny as he can no longer change his own. 

 

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Mary Linton and Arthur Morgan. Sometimes a picture can tell 1000 words.

 

Among all of this, the game continues to introduce new characters when your own loose ends are starting to tie up. The larger world continues to turn even though your sun is setting, and all Dutch can do is continue to see new opportunities to squeeze a new mark and manipulate a dangerous situation to what he believes is his own benefit. 

 

Rockstar is shepherding players to reject the outlaw life. All we wanted to do when we bought this game was embody a cowboy. Hogtie and gunsling. Grand Theft Auto in the Wild West. Arthur’s journey and Rockstar’s masterful manipulation of ludonarrative interplay changes what we wanted from this game while we play it. It causes the player to want to be better than that. Such brilliance was completely unexpected from this studio. 

 

Arthur’s dying wish is for John to live a ‘normal life’ and we are lucky enough to not just have had a great experience with John’s redemption in RDR1, and a greater experience with Arthur’s redemption in RDR2, but we are also treated to a jump start on John’s redemption arc in RDR2’s...

 

...Epilogue. I found it be a very welcome bridging link between the two games. I started to see the end-of-game character twist coming after it become clear that Arthur was definitely going to die. His statement of intent to John gave it away considering that I had played RDR1's epilogue where a character change also occurs. The more that I played RDR2, the clearer it became, and this accelerated my desire to reach the end of Arthur’s story so that I could step into shoes that I had worn before. 

 

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John’s normal life in the epilogue is generally uneventful. Players may find it to be boring. And I loved it for that in the same way that I loved how other great games have benefited from the same thing. Uncharted 4 creates an itch for action in its opening act, too. I’ve already written about the clever use of RDR1’s “boring” farming missions. RDR2’s epilogue emulates that brilliance and creates an echo of RDR1 as a result.

 

RDR2 created conflicting feelings within me: on the one hand, I agreed with Abigail and Arthur – John needed to slow down, turn over this new leaf and make use of the opportunity that Arthur bought for John’s family. On the other hand... I want to shoot somebody! I wanted that in general because it’s fun and also because the game was blueballing me by presenting instances where NPCs deserved violent reprisals. John and I are one and the same during his pleading to Abigail; sometimes fundamental moral issues are at stake where one must stand up for themselves and for others. Rockstar teases the player for at least a half dozen missions before John Marston rides again, and in that moment, we are treated with a familiar recreation of John’s theme from RDR1 in its full glory as he leads an assault on a farmstead... and it is joyful.  

 

Note.png[American Venom]

 

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"LENNY!"

 

The housebuilding sequence is so unexpectedly fun. It is a tribute to how invested the RDR2 playerbase was in these characters that such a mechanically-simple mission is such a fan favourite. Rockstar only asks us to hit the X button in time with the beat for this whole mission. It’s just a (barely) interactive cutscene. And yet, we feel so accomplished by the end of it.  

 

In what possible reality was I living in, where I felt so in touch with a playable character, that I felt conflicted in this circumstance: Abigail wanted John to turn over a new leaf and give up a violent life. I wanted to abide by her wishes and be a good family man. John had also taken out a mortgage for a family home and had no ‘legitimate’ way to pay it off except to ride off with another woman to take up violent bounty hunting for cash. You want to know what Platinum_Vice was thinking all day during real life work? "I have to go home, tell my wife that we can’t watch our TV show tonight, and get to bounty hunting, because I still need $400 to pay off my mortgage and win back my family." 

 

END OF SPOILERS 

 

At every stage of this game, Rockstar has at least one significant ace up their sleeve that exploits the player’s connection to Arthur and the game world. At times it is to cause you to act dishonourably in the early game so that you have an amplified desire to act honourably in the endgame. At times it is to accelerate the missions and action within those missions to cause you to want to take a break, but then the game won’t let you, and so you become caught up in a whirlwind just like Arthur. At many times it is to reduce your ability to play at full capacity so that you and Arthur are simpatico. There's times when players want to go away from the linear missions and go into the free open world (and either can or cannot depending on Rockstar’s plans for your emotions at that given moment in time), and there’s times when I want to just get back to the linear story instead of freeforming my gaming time (and again, Rockstar will allow or prevent that for specific results). Always, I was tied to the feelings of the playable character through gameplay, and found that Rockstar made me feel like I was driving the bus, even though they were pulling my strings the whole time.

 

There’s so many ways that RDR2 does this and it blows all competition out of the water.

 

I struggle to see how any game could improve upon Rockstar’s masterpiece of an experience without the industry being subjected to a paradigm shift on par with the invention of the home console, the standardisation of twin-stick mechanics, the advent of online multiplayer, GTAIII's ushering in of open world game designs, mobile phone-inspired microtransactions, or Pokemon Go's success with alternative reality. I therefore can't see RDR2 being dethroned from this pedestal in my mind until the industry's (inevitable) transition to virtual reality... or beyond. 

 

I just think that they got this campaign right.

 

Note.png[The Housebuilding Song]

 

Detracting factors:

Spoiler

When I replayed RDR2 for the second time at the end of 2023, I expected to be struggling with an ‘awareness’ of multiple so-called flaws in the game’s design or execution due to five years' consumption of YouTube content of the game. Many of the negative criticisms that I braced myself to experience during this recent second playthrough came from content creators that I have come to respect and regularly agree with (such as NakeyJakey, the GOAT).  

 

I found myself, somehow, disagreeing with many “red pill” negative criticisms, and ultimately came to love this game more, and left thinking that most of the negative criticisms in the RDR and gaming zeitgeists were baseless misinformation or naivete. Almost all criticisms levelled at this game from many sources have either been made in bad faith (such as presenting a bug for comedic effect to assist a content creator’s own pacing issues in their video format), or they were outright false, or they relied on the critic’s lack of patience or skill, or were a gossip-led spreading of misinformation. Or they regurgitated someone else’s already-regurgitated opinion. Or they just didn’t “get it.”

 

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"Shell of safety!"

 

A letter to the critics. You’re wrong about RDR2’s...

Spoiler

1. Mission linearity. Yes, this game’s depth of programming is not deep enough to allow for ‘immersive sim’-level interaction of systems. This industry’s priorities have evolved. Graphical, animation and dialogue-based realism has eclipsed those ageing industry priorities. Rockstar’s programming efforts and attention to detail in other areas is far more impressive. The simple truth is that most players are not creative enough for emergent system interaction; the majority are casual gamers and they prefer the current industry trends (and/or multiplayer games). 

 

2. Similar main mission structure throughout the campaign. Please circle back to my spoiler-filled comments on Rockstar’s genius as I spent too long talking about the campaign. 

 

3. Slow pacing. Rockstar is not padding out game time like most other, longer single player / open world experiences. There is no bloat here. There is long form storytelling, though. Slower pacing is in the interest of world building, exposition delivery in natural conversations, and for the benefit of long-form narrative arcs. The character animations are also undoubtedly lengthier than other games; they are bespoke. Looting, skinning, buying items directly from the shelves of the local stores... it all takes an unnecessary amount of time if you’re rushing through the game. Nothing is more noticeably slow than the preparation of meals and special ammunition by campfire-light. You complete those tasks by the individual stew. You have to carve an ‘x’ into every individual round of ammunition one by one if you want to have a greater impact in firefights. Rockstar did not do this to “waste the player's time.” It builds immersion. Ultimately this is probably a matter of perspective; if you’re drinking the Kool Aid as much as I am, Rockstar are "clever" to make you carve into each individual bullet, to re-equip your guns every time you get off of your horse, to have to clean your guns so often. If not, then you’re absolutely going to hate these mechanics. 

 

 

However, granted, these three things sucked in RDR2:

Spoiler

1. The multiplayer release was empty and boring. Fortunately, MP isn’t factored into my scores in this checklist, otherwise I’d be starting the barbecue and preparing a roast. The map from RDR1 is remastered and built into RDR2... was this mainly for the multiplayer and then just tacked on to the single player in case players wanted to explore it? 

 

2. The interfacing team has caused some grief with some input issues. WHY do we still need to mash the X button to maintain running speeds? Is this an unchangeable mechanic in Rockstar’s engine? It’s horrible. There was also a couple of accidental violent outbursts from Arthur towards innocent bystanders in my first playthrough; some buttons have multiple uses, and the terrible idea of mapping a violent action and a non-violent action to the same button caused dramas!

 

3. The trophy list was horrible. Again, I don’t factor trophy lists into my review scores, but this game is the Greatest Hits of trophy hunting no-nos. 

 

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The Un-Greatest Hits of trophy hunting:

Spoiler

Online/server based trophies: 

a. Grinding to Rank 50 (for it was 50 hours of riding through the same town headshotting NPCs). 

 

b. Skill-based online trophy (‘The Real Deal’). 

 

c. A trophy requiring that you grief someone. 

 

d. Completing 5 events that spawn randomly. 

 

e. Saving a lot of in-game currency (or using real money via MTX) to buy 5 horses. 

 

f. Boosting missions. 

 

Single player trophies:

g. Finding every animal, scanning them and skinning them was ridiculous. The spawns were inconsistent. This must have taken 40 hours.

 

h. Requirements to get multiple 3 star pelts, except that you couldn’t get 3 star pelts until late in the game. 

 

i. Grinding out 18 bear kills and multi-hour grinds of FISHING. 

 

j. Collectibles. 

 

k. RNG-based objectives with gambling mechanics. 

 

l. Missable trophies in the campaign missions requiring spoilers.

 

m. For the first year post-release, achieving 70 gold medals in the campaign missions was very difficult. They almost always needed to be replayed (unless you spoiled yourself by looking up the requirements before you started each mission) but replaying them would leave players with minimal deadeye/health provisions and defaulted guns. All requirements had to be completed in the same run of the mission. This trophy has since been patched allowing players to achieve mission requirements separately and to import later-stage campaign weapons into each replayed mission. 

 

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250 hours.

 

 

RDR2 vs TLOUII:

Spoiler

Am I picking on TLOUII again? No, they're just very similar in a lot of ways, and they both are at the forefront of animation and character-based storytelling in this industry right now.

 

They both orchestrate player fatigue for ludonarrative synchronicity.

They both feature extended epilogues that successfully break traditional narrative structures.

They both involve some bold choices in relation to character fates.

They both use perspective shifts to explore revenge and redemption.

 

I think that RDR1&2 are exceedingly better explorations of the dangers of the pursuits of revenge. It’s not even in the same ballpark.

RDR1&2 explore greater complex systems that form the settings for those feelings.

 

While TLOUII presents a circle of revenge that Ellie and Abby break to end the circle, RDR1&2 separately (and even more successfully in RDR2) present generational and interweaving spirals of revenge, redemption, justice, chance, and the conflicting and competing motivations of multiple individuals. Rockstar approaches these issues with greater maturity and with less fanfare.

 

Rockstar provides the same degree of magnification in its examination of revenge but apply it across greater breadth and depth. As I see it, just like how comedy is drama + time, redemption is revenge + time + maturity.

 

Ellie and Abby taught us a basic lesson: revenge begets revenge. Arthur and John’s relationship teaches us a fundamentally more important lesson: redemption begets redemption. 

 

Unlike TLOUII, which forces players to continue the cycle of violence, RDR2 provides players with a interactive choices – the true power of gaming as an artform. 

 

 

Trophy.png #76 (PS4) Red Dead Redemption II, 10/10 

 

 

Red Dead Revolver:

Spoiler

And briefly, right at the end of this overly-long post, this is where Revolver belongs: in the footnotes.

 

Red-Dead-Revolver-20221116130107.jpg

 

Red-Dead-Revolver-20221117140334.jpg

 

It was competent as a PS2 game and the port to the PS4 was also... competent.

 

It was developed by Capcom and then sold to Rockstar as a finished product, so it is nothing like the two Redemption games.

 

The dialogue is ultra campy. The ‘snappy’ shooting mechanics felt fairly smooth but all other gameplay mechanics were functionally janky. Boss fights in particular were the weakest parts of the game from a mechanical perspective.

 

Red-Dead-Revolver-20221202205159.jpg

 

The characters were one or two-dimensional, and there were odd changes in tone throughout the patchwork quilt of the plot, as playable characters were rotated every three or so missions for flavour and variety, and they each seemed to be written and coded by different devs with separate visions. For example, I enjoyed the stealth mission when playing as Shadow Wolf (an Indian man), but did not enjoy the arena-style shootout against a magician and an army of midget clowns when I played as a dual-wielding, pinstripe suit-wearing Englishman.

 

Red-Dead-Revolver-20221116132656.jpg

 

Funnily enough, the PS2-era level design was something that I found enjoyable but that was because it reminded me of PS1 platformers from my early gaming days. The level designs interwove in a way that I presume prevented unnecessary technical load on the PS2’s hardware limitations, and so the levels therefore look like piles of spaghetti, even though the plot is far too campy and uninspired to be compared to a spaghetti western.

 

 (PS4) Red Dead Revolver, 6/10 

 

Red-Dead-Revolver-20221117132117.jpg

 

Red-Dead-Revolver-20221115203909.jpg

 

Red-Dead-Revolver-20221128141523.jpg

 

 

Thanks folks - a long review and a long time coming... what can I say, it must be the lumbago. <3

 

Here's a six minute video of me fucking around and being an idiot in RDR2. Spoiler free.

 

Edited by Platinum_Vice
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