Rally-Vincent--- Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, Cassylvania said: I have so many games that just sit in my backlog, unplayed, while I impulsively buy some random game I've never heard of that just so happened to go on sale and then wonder why I'm not having fun. Do you play them because those games are relatively short and quicker to cross off the list? Three 40ish-hour games instead of a 110 hour one? Or is it if you finish the games you know will be fun, after that you are left with "I wonder how those games will be?" Saving safe bets so you always will have fun games to resort to? Edited November 28, 2023 by Rally-Vincent--- 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 2, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 2, 2023 (edited) On 11/28/2023 at 1:12 PM, Rally-Vincent--- said: Do you play them because those games are relatively short and quicker to cross off the list? Three 40ish-hour games instead of a 110 hour one? Or is it if you finish the games you know will be fun, after that you are left with "I wonder how those games will be?" Saving safe bets so you always will have fun games to resort to? I think I do tend to favor shorter games over longer ones because I get more satisfaction crossing three games off a list than one. You know what I think the problem is? RPGs. If I was a betting person, I would say there's most likely a relationship between people who like RPGs and people who suffer from panic attacks due to the size of their backlog. Anyway, it's somehow December already, so we should get this underway... The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #53-52 Decided to short the acronym this year, but the rules are the same: any game I platinumed/100%'d this year is eligible for this list, even if it was released a long time ago. That's because if I only included games that released this year, this would be a three-way contest between two Atelier games and a Star Wars game. I don't know how exciting that would be. Let's take a look at all the eligible candidates again and then we'll go over the logistics for those who missed them the first time. 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Marie Remake Atelier Ryza 3 Axiom Verge 2 Bee Simulator Bugsnax Carrion Catmaze Cotton Reboot! Dandara Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human Doom Eternal Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Drawngeon Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Endling FAR: Lone Sails Forma.8 Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Haven Hundred Days Inside Katamari Damacy Reroll Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series Lake Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry Life is Strange: True Colors Lost in Random Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Mighty Switch Force! Collection Minit Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Omno Rain World Rise of the Slime Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Subnautica: Below Zero The Artful Escape The DioField Chronicle Time on Frog Island Tropico 6 Tunche Two Point Campus Unpacking Virginia Yoku’s Island Express Rather than doing individual categories this year, we'll simply going to do a countdown from the worst game on the list to the best game. I do NOT know the order yet. We're going to discover that together. I do, however, have a rough idea of where these games are going to rank because I gave each of them a rating from 1 to 5 stars. A game with a rating of 1 star is complete trash, while a game with 5 stars is among the best I played in 2023. By the very nature of this, I'm going to be choosing the weakest link from the list each time, so forgive me if I'm a bit harsh on some of my placements. It's not that I disliked a lot of these games, but rather some game has to fill in every spot. I will start out with a positive, though. While I consider this one of the weakest years of gaming for me personally, there aren't a lot of games on this list that I outright despised. Rather, I'd say a lot of games are going to end up in that meh/mediocre pile in the middle. That's going to be the hardest to sort through. In fact, of the 52 games that you see there, there are only two that I'd say were utter garbage. Those are the two we're going to cover today. And I'm putting them at the bottom of the list because they're the only games that I can look at and say, "Yeah, NOBODY would enjoy this." (Or, if somebody did, there are SO many better options for similar games out there.) Obviously, that's a bit of an exaggeration because I can go through the Steam reviews right now and see some people liked them (that's actually the reason I bought one of them), but the devs reviewing their own game doesn't count. Let's get right to it. #53 - Bee Simulator You guys probably thought the reason I got rid of the individual categories is because of the game(s) at the top of the list. In reality, it is because THIS game was going to sweep every "Worst Game" award out there. It's basically the anti-Persona 5. Laughable graphics, horrible controls, a nonsensical story (but what did I expect?), and some of the most cringeworthy voice acting I've ever heard in a video game. And I get it. The game was made for kids. They wanted to keep it PG. Well, no six-year-olds are playing this game because they're all on Fortnite. Why did I play it? I dunno. Maybe because I like simulators and thought it'd be cool to fly around as a bee. I liked flying around as a mosquito in one of the weirdest games ever made (Mister Mosquito). Conceptually, I like what they attempted here, but every aspect of this game would have to be improved for it to be a fun open world sandbox. This game is the #1 reason I want to be more careful with my game selections in the future. I don't need to get stung again. #52 - Time on Frog Island I'm not an animal hater, I swear. I love frogs. But I don't love games that are boring and have a repetitive gameplay loop. Much like Bee Simulator, I like the concept here, but the execution is dreadful. It doesn't help that I also played A Short Hike this year, which does something very similar in having a small island for you to explore and various tasks that you can complete at your own pace. The difference? Time on Frog Island is sitting at #51 and you'll be waiting a long time for me to mention that other game again. Part of the reason this game sucks is because it's much more linear than it appears. The idea of being shipwrecked on an island and having to survive has been done well before. I'm not even against the idea that there are no consequences while you're on this island. I don't think you need a hunger or thirst meter to make a good survival game. Just a fun environment to explore. But this isn't fun. It's Fetch Quest: The Game. If I didn't make that joke in my initial review, I'm making it now. That's ALL you do in this game. Some frog says fetch me three purple flowers, there's a designated spot on the island where purple flowers grow, and you fetch them. Rinse and repeat. It is so mind-numbingly boring that even I, someone who will put the controller down while my character sleeps instead of skipping through the loading screen because it's more realistic that way, got tired of it. It also has that same issue as Bee Simulator where most of the game is super easy but then you come across some quest or challenge that hasn't been properly playtested, so it ends up being a lot more frustrating than I think the developers intended. It's little things like that which put these games so far down on my list. Things that you take for granted in other games and only notice when you play something particularly bad. And again, if it wasn't for OTHER games doing something similar, I might even recommend a game like this. The problem is, even if I exclude the games I played this year, you have stuff like The Survivalists and Wytchwood, which are just as kid-friendly but have a much more varied and fun game loop. We don't live in a universe where I can honestly say this game is worth playing, and that's COMING from somebody who champions games like this. I mean, I'm pretty sure I told you guys that my idea for the "ideal video game" is something very similar to what this game promises. But that promise is a lie. And that's it, guys. The only two games that I can honestly say are not worth playing, no matter who you are. And the best part is: I know none of you have played either of these games or have any desire to, so nobody is going to see their favorite game at the bottom of this list! And I think that's worth a celebration. We'll jump into the top 50 next time. I still have a lot of sub-par games to go through, but I can assure you that I'll have at least something nice to say about every other game on this list. That was something I couldn't do here. I mean, I guess Frog Island was kinda pretty to look at... Edited December 2, 2023 by Cassylvania I don't know how to count. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSeajay7 Posted December 2, 2023 Share Posted December 2, 2023 Oh, it's the Game Awards. I can't wait to see who wins the underdog award! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadaik Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 When I hear of voice acting in a game called Bee Simulator, I imagine one guy in a recording booth going Bzzzzzzzzzzzz... 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 3, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 3, 2023 (edited) On 12/3/2023 at 5:33 AM, shadaik said: When I hear of voice acting in a game called Bee Simulator, I imagine one guy in a recording booth going Bzzzzzzzzzzzz... Would it surprise you to hear that would actually be an improvement? The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #51-49 If you've already read the first post, I made a slight math error. Don't worry -- it's corrected now. Nobody will ever know, except anybody who is reading this. Because numbers aren't my friends, I've decided to go from a 5 star system to a more standard tier system (D, C, B, A, and S). It's worth noting that I wouldn't consider any of these games F tier, but Bee Simulator is damn close. Current Ranking D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Marie Remake Atelier Ryza 3 Axiom Verge 2 Bugsnax Carrion Catmaze Cotton Reboot! Dandara Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human Doom Eternal Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Drawngeon Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Endling FAR: Lone Sails Forma.8 Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Haven Hundred Days Inside Katamari Damacy Reroll Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series Lake Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry Life is Strange: True Colors Lost in Random Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Mighty Switch Force! Collection Minit Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Omno Rain World Rise of the Slime Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Subnautica: Below Zero The Artful Escape The DioField Chronicle Tropico 6 Tunche Two Point Campus Unpacking Virginia We're now into the 2 star/C tier games. I put twelve games into this category, so I think we'll take it three at a time. Assuming I did my math correctly, that should cover us for about a week. Now, looking over the list of games I put here... I didn't outright hate any of them. It's mostly the gameplay I'm going to complain about, as I consider that to be the single most important quality to the vast majority of video games. Which means the next game on the chopping block should be the game with the worst gameplay. Which would be... #51 - Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot The best thing I can say about this game is that it got me to watch the show (which isn't even true because I chose to watch it between play sessions). Normally, something like that would make a game more memorable or push the experience a little higher, sorta like when you go to the movie theater rather than watch the same thing on cable TV. So, the fact it still sits this low on this list tells you how bad the gameplay actually is. Combat NEVER changes. It's cool there are a variety of characters you can play as, but every battle comes down to you spamming attacks and waiting for your mana or whatever to refill so you can go back to spamming. Not only is it tedious, but it's downright infuriating when you die because your health can go from full to empty quicker than my grocery cart when I see today's prices. If any game on this list was going to cause you to break your controller, it would be this one. What I WILL say in this game's defense is it seems very faithful to the show. The graphics were nice. I liked the characters. VA was better than expected. But again, I think that comes from how much I enjoyed the show, not the game. There's also way, WAY too much dialogue. I wouldn't be against that if the dialogue was interesting or contributed something to the story, but you'd be amazed how little is actually said in that time. I guess that's faithful to the show too... #50 - Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series You know, I never heard of this series before I played it, and now I see it in the background of every video game collection video I watch. (And yes, I watch a lot.) I know there's a name for that, but it's 6:30 in the morning and I'm trying to think what to say about this game. It's...basic? The levels are short? The bosses are easy? I dunno. I feel this is the kind of game you might have nostalgia for, so maybe people hold it in much higher regard than somebody who would play it for the first time in 2023. But when I look at all the other platformers I played this year, how could I put this one any higher? The two novel things it has going for it (the 2.5D environment and being able to bounce off enemies for an additional mid-air jump) aren't so novel today. You get two games in one with this collection, which actually makes it worth its asking price, but neither one blew me away. I think this game was simply made for a different breed of people than me. *looks at the remaining games* ...oh God, I'm really going to do this... #49 - Haven I'm sorry. Guys... If you played this game and loved it, I get it. There's a lot to like here. The hand-drawn animations are beautiful. There's a story that I suppose you could get engrossed in. Those characters (I already forgot their names) are memorable (OK, maybe not). But it's so, so, SO cringe. I'm instantly reminded of the movie Her. I watched that with a group of people who all thought it was deep and insightful. I couldn't stop laughing at the idea of a man having sex with his iPhone. I'm obviously the least mature among my friends. But when a story doesn't grip me and I'm finding it more fun to make fun of it, that's not a good thing. But even if we put the story aside, what's the gameplay? You're cleaning up sludge on islands that are too big for their own good and engaging with a combat system that I'm honestly surprised got past playtesting. It might ACTUALLY be worse than Kakarot. The only reason I'm putting it above that one (and Klonoa) is because I see the passion that went into this project. I do have respect for this IP. I just can't take it seriously. (And the fact it has both a lot of 5 star AND 1 star reviews online helps me to validate my opinion.) With that said... Goku, Klonoa, and the nitwits whose names I can't remember... You're voted off the island. Please pack your belongings and don't come back with any sequels (or DLC babies). Edited December 8, 2023 by Cassylvania 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 4, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 4, 2023 (edited) We interrupt this awards ceremony to bring you an important announcement. Platinum #405 - Sea of Stars Sea of Stars is a turn-based RPG brought to you by the same developers as The Messenger and backed by approximately eight billion people given the length of the ending credits. But is this a sea you'll want to get lost in, or should you star...t something else? (Yes, I write all my own material.) For whatever reason, I didn't know about this game until recently, but I had heard it was getting rave reviews all year and I figured, "Hey, I don't have anything else going on in my life," so I started it without watching any gameplay or reviews. Kinda rare for me, but I'm a sucker for 16-bit graphics. What can I say? CrossCode spoiled me last year. In SoS, you play as...well, actually, you're given the choice of either playing as Zale (sun bro) or Valere (moon girl). I don't think it matters because they're both active in your party for the entire game and you're apparently given the option to change later if you'd like. Basically, it's just who you want to control on the overworld screen. I chose to play as Zale because I didn't want to be emasculated, but it's pretty clear pretty early on that the true star of the show is Garl. You can think of Garl as the Sam Gamgee of the group -- loyal, brave, and relentlessly upbeat. Dude's even a cook. I don't want to go too deep into the plot, but basically Zale and Val are Solstice Warriors, which means they're destined to fight ancient monsters and defeat the evil Fleshmancer. Garl is their best friend, who doesn't have any special powers, but that means he's allowed to have a personality beyond that of stale bread. As kids, the three of them do something stupid, which leads to Zale and Val being taken away to train under the powers of the sun and the moon, while Garl is left alone. Now, as adults, they set off to do hero things. (This is all within the first hour of the game. I won't go beyond that.) So, like I said, this is a turn-based RPG. Combat is initiated when you either run into an enemy or one runs into you. From there, every character on your active party (up to three members) must make a move before they can move again. That means there's some strategy involved in who you want to attack first. As a move, you can use a melee attack, use a special attack (which requires MP), use a combo attack (requires combo points), or use an item (which is shared between the party). (There's also an "ultimate" attack, but that's unlocked later.) All that's pretty standard for an RPG. There are two things that make this combat system unique and more engaging than it otherwise could've been. First, there are time-based attacks. I don't know how common those are in modern RPGs. I'm playing through the Super Mario RPG remake right now, which has a similar system, but I feel it's not something that ever caught on. I'm not sure why because it's kinda cool here. If you press the attack button at the correct time, your character does a little extra damage. You can also take a little less damage by timing your blocks. But the cooler attacks are the ones that require your attention. I'm mostly talking about Valere's Moonerang. What this attack does is send a boomerang bouncing between Valere and each enemy on the screen. It starts out slow, but speeds up after each contact is made. If you're really good with your timing, you can do a ton of damage with a single attack. There's even a trophy for performing 25 bounces, which I thought was going to be really difficult until I got some practice in. But what makes this attack so effective and engaging is that Valere and the enemies aren't always standing in the same place, so the actual timing between button presses varies almost every time. That's...actually really novel. I wish there were more attacks like that in the game. Unfortunately, most of the rest just require pressing X right as the attack connects. The second way combat is unique is by the use of enemy "locks," which are confusing to explain but will make more sense if you play the game. I'll describe it the Cass way. Basically, some enemies (usually bosses or mini-bosses) have super attacks that will initiate after a certain number of turns. That number is shown above their head. Also above their head as a series of symbols, such as a sword, hammer, sun, or moon. Each attack you perform, whether physical or special, has one or more symbols associated with it. Each time one of those attacks connects, the corresponding symbol is removed from the enemy. If you're able to remove all the symbols before the countdown reaches zero, you interrupt the attack. ... Let me explain it using an example because that probably made no sense. Let's say an enemy has two swords and three moons over their head, along with the number 2. That means you have two turns to break all five of those symbols. This would seem impossible; however, remember you can perform more than one attack by timing your hits correctly. Since Zale uses a sword, you can attack with him, time your hit correctly to get off an additional slash, and then use Valere's Moonerang. As long as you're able to complete at least three successful bounces off the enemy, you'll prevent the attack. Even if you can't remove all the symbols, though, it's still worth trying to break as many as you can because it'll reduce the power of the attack. Again, pretty neat concept that I haven't seen in too many other games. Don't know how original it actually is. Doing physical attacks isn't completely useless. In addition to restoring your MP, enemies drop orbs that you can use to temporarily power up your abilities. You can absorb up to three orbs at once, so sometimes it's beneficial to perform multiple physical attacks and then use all your stored up orbs to either do a more powerful single attack or maybe to heal. Some enemies require a boost to take damage. Thus, battles are a little more involved than you might be used to with other turn-based RPGs. Now, the other big part of the game is puzzle-solving. This is where it starts to feel like CrossCode. There are the usual levers and switches and movable boxes, but you also gain the power to control the time of day. This...doesn't really come into play very much. I'm actually a little disappointed. There are several ideas and concepts in this game that feel like they could've been fleshed out a lot more. This is particularly noticeable if you play through the beginning on NG+ (something I did FOUR TIMES for a trophy). It feels like the game is really polished through the first couple areas and then you're slogging through filler for a long time. The animations here are top-notch. I really like the pixel art. You're also occasionally given hand-drawn cutscenes, which are unfortunately too short and kinda feel out of place because of how sudden and unexpected they are. I like how spirited they made all the characters. Outside of Garl, you meet a group of pirates who are kinda funny, a mysterious alchemist, and an assassin named Serai who is probably the best character in the game. You end up with a good-sized party by the end of the game and I'm happy to say that the writers didn't "forget" about earlier characters who join the team. That's common in RPGs, where some characters get shoved to the background once their story arc is complete. Here, if a character joins your team, they're going to be actively involved in the story for the rest of the game. The music is great too. When you hear Garl's theme kick in, you can't help but get pumped. And...what else? There's a cameo from Jirard the Completionist (here he's Jirard the Constructionist), which...um, let's just say was an untimely discovery on my part. It'll be interesting to see if he remains in the game, if those allegations are true. There's a mini-game called Wheels that I somehow won, despite having no clue how to play. I'm not even sure the rules were ever explained. Oh, and there's a cooking system! I always like seeing that. There's something fun about collecting ingredients while you're adventuring and then resting at a campfire and having a meal with your friends...even if you can turn on the relic that auto-heals you after every battle, negating the need to rest to restore your HP. (In fact, there are LOTS of relics in this game that make the gameplay easier. I say turn them all on because the game is still fairly challenging.) I... I'm going stop beating around the bush here. I only need three words to describe this game: really good but. And, unfortunately, it's that third word that I'm going to spend the rest of the time talking about. This game is just... well, wait. Much like my TL;DR summary of Haven, if you absolutely loved this game, I get it. I see why it scored a 10/10 in so many places. All the reasons I just talked about are proof of why this is a very solid indie title. If it was eligible for my GOTY awards, it'd probably be somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, that's still B tier. There are just so many things that hold this game back. And a lot of it comes from just not having enough original material to fill the time required to complete the game. There is just SO MUCH padding here. Again, I don't want to get into the story, but it's not very good. It's not terrible either, but it's middle-of-the-road, which is not really what you'd expect in a genre that's full of games with enriching storylines. There are twists, but they're obvious. It also doesn't help that the dialogue cycles between being decent and being cringe. For example, as much as the writers want to make us like Garl, they...really, really overdo it. I just kept imagining one of the devs sitting next to me and elbowing me every time Garl spoke, saying something like, "DON'T YOU THINK HE'S GREAT!? LOOK HOW FRIENDLY AND SELFLESS HE IS!" And then Zale will be like, "Haha!" and Val will be like, "You're the best, Garl!" And then, among the pirates, there's one pirate who is always breaking the fourth wall (which I thought was funny, but then they kinda gave up on that in the later part of the game) and another pirate who always says, "...or my name isn't [his name]!" After. Every. Single Line. It's... grating. Characters need to be more fleshed out than this. I do want to spoil one little part early in the game, but I don't consider this to be an actual spoiler. It'll be in the next paragraph. I just want to point out why these writers need to follow the "show, don't tell" approach more often when it comes to storytelling. So, like I said, Garl is separated from Zale and Val for a long time. When they meet back up for the first time, Garl's theme kicks in and you're like, "Oh, hell yeah! Garl is back." And that music is still playing while he's chatting it up with his buddies and you're still banging your head to the melody and he asks to join them on their adventure and they're like no and...the music stops. That's such a powerful moment. I didn't need a developer leaning into my ear and shouting, "AREN'T YOU SAD!? GARL IS NOT GOING TO BE PART OF THE TEAM." I felt it because of the natural progression of the story and the careful placement of the audio cues. But that's not even the best part because then they change their minds and the music kicks back in and you're like, "HELL YEAH!" You'll notice I don't remember the phrasing of the dialogue at all. Just the overall mood from the scene. But the game keeps falling back on wanting to beat us over the head with certain things. There's filler in the dialogue, there's filler in the scenes, and there's filler in the gameplay. I swear, there's about 20 hours of content that could've been cut from the game because it doesn't go anywhere. That doesn't even include the HOURS you're going to spend doing post-game cleanup. Just for a true ending that...isn't even that impactful. I don't know, guys. I feel like this game was trying to punch above its weight. It comes across to me as a game that thinks it's a 10/10 but is really only a 7/10, which is pretty damn smug if you ask me. That said, this IS a recommendation from me because I think most people can look past my nitpicks and see a game that is original, charming, and wholesome. It just soured on me the longer I played and this is one of those games that I probably wouldn't have finished if trophies didn't exist. I said the same thing with CrossCode last year and I'm glad I stuck with it. Here, the payout wasn't nearly as good, but it had its moments. Edited December 5, 2023 by Cassylvania 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 4, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 4, 2023 (edited) We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #48-46 Current Ranking D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island C Tier 51. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 50. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series 49. Haven Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Marie Remake Atelier Ryza 3 Axiom Verge 2 Bugsnax Carrion Catmaze Cotton Reboot! Dandara Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human Doom Eternal Drawngeon Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Endling FAR: Lone Sails Forma.8 Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Hundred Days Inside Katamari Damacy Reroll Lake Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry Life is Strange: True Colors Lost in Random Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Mighty Switch Force! Collection Minit Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Omno Rain World Rise of the Slime Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Subnautica: Below Zero The Artful Escape The DioField Chronicle Tropico 6 Tunche Two Point Campus Unpacking Virginia So, I'm looking at the remaining games I put in the C tier and I'm realizing there are only three more that I actively disliked. The other six begin the point on this list where there was more I liked in each game than disliked. That's kinda interesting because that means there were only eight games (the five I've already discussed, plus the three today) that I'd consider outright bad. That means selecting them will be pretty easy. I just have to figure out the order. ...of the latter two. I know which one goes next. #48 - Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry The theme today will be games that disgust me -- not because they're bad (but they are), but because something about the gameplay or the subject material was gross or off-putting for me. Larry was certainly that, but I was actually surprised how tame the sex jokes were. I think I expected something more lewd than what we were given. Don't get me wrong -- this isn't a kid-friendly game, but I can think of several titles from the 80s and 90s, even among point-and-clicks, that got away with material equally crass. They were just more subtle about it. The problem is, when you come to me with a point-and-click, you better come fast and you better come hard. I have played a lot of games in this genre and it's kinda what I grew up with. This just fell flat to me. I can't remember if this is a game where I actively sought out and listened to every line of dialogue, but I remember growing tired of it by the midway point, sorta like an episode of Family Guy. The humor is simply too focused on a single topic, and you can only get so many laughs at Larry being an all-around loser. It doesn't help that all the best point-and-clicks have already been made. I have the sequel on my wishlist for whatever reason, and I'm always seeing it go on sale, but I just don't think I can bring myself to play it. I can think of much better uses of single dollar bills. #47 - Cotton Reboot! That's the game that added the exclamation mark, not me. Again, we have a remaster of a title from a series I never played. That makes it a better segue from Larry than the next game. And, just like Larry, this game made me sick -- in a seizure-inducing kind of way. Way too fast, way too many colors, and way too much going on at the screen at any one time. My first playthrough was about 40 minutes long and I can't remember anything that happened. It was pulling me in all these different directions and I was just trying to figure out the controls. Even when I was younger, shmups were never my genre. I feel like they were designed to drain the loose change from your pocket at the arcade. I like games that are chill, that let you take your time and explore and soak in the environment. This is simply another game that I think isn't for me, but there are probably people out there who love this. You'll have to find one of them and have them tell me where Cotton ranks among the other series in this genre. Given the fact that there are a TON of sequels and spin-offs, I assume this one is popular among fans of this kind of thing. I did like the comedy, though. #46 - Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle You know, I almost liked this game. Even though it looks like a mobile game, it's simple, easy to pick up, and surprisingly challenging. There was just something off about this game. Now, part of that has to do with the fact that I was playing it in a broom closet on an upside-down bucket for a chair. I can't control the situations in my life in which I play games, and some games will naturally enter my life at the lowest points, but I'm not sure my opinion would be any different if I played it today or at this time last year. The drab color scheme in this game, the lifeless graphics, the naturally closed-in environments... It was all very depressing. Maybe that's what they were going for -- a sort of Alice: Madness Returns vibe. But that game had a unique charm to it. It embraced the macabre and did something fun with it. Here, you're mostly just left in an empty house with your thoughts. That makes it slower and more deliberate than Cotton, which is why I'm ranking it higher, but that doesn't make it much more fun to play through. So, there you go, guys. The last three games that I can say I did not enjoy overall. These were just thematically unappealing. They're also pretty obscure, I think, so odds are most of you have never played them or intend on playing them. Hopefully I haven't convinced you otherwise. Edited December 8, 2023 by Cassylvania 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 5, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 5, 2023 (edited) The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #45-43 Current Ranking D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island C Tier 51. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 50. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series 49. Haven 48. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry 47. Cotton Reboot! 46. Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Marie Remake Atelier Ryza 3 Axiom Verge 2 Bugsnax Carrion Catmaze Dandara Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human Doom Eternal Drawngeon Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Endling FAR: Lone Sails Forma.8 Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Hundred Days Inside Katamari Damacy Reroll Lake Life is Strange: True Colors Lost in Random Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Mighty Switch Force! Collection Minit Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Omno Rain World Rise of the Slime Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Subnautica: Below Zero The Artful Escape The DioField Chronicle Tropico 6 Tunche Two Point Campus Unpacking Virginia We've now reached the turning point; from here on out, there's more I like about every game than dislike. I'm still going to complain a lot, though, because that's what I do. Now, we still have six games left in the C tier. It's pretty easy for me to pick the next three on the list because they're all really weird games and not necessarily in a way that appealed to me. I'd rather be weirded out than grossed out, which is why they're above the three games we did yesterday, but this is as far as they're getting. #45 - The Artful Escape I don't get it. This game is trippy. So was Cotton. This game was visually impressive. So was Haven. This game had some "wow' moments and it had the man, the myth, the legend: Carl Weathers, but the actual amount of substance was...nothing? I just don't know about this one, guys. Did I already make a Jackson Pollock reference in my original review? If I didn't, that's what this game reminds me of. (Jackson Pollock was that painter who used the "drip" technique -- or, as I call it, standing on a ladder and splattering paint everywhere.) Some people can look at Pollock's works and see art. Other people see something a four-year-old can do. As someone who has dabbled in the arts and has friends within the art community, I can tell you that I'm...somewhere in the middle. I want to get it, but it's hard for me to look past something that just isn't visually that interesting. Here, I just don't know what the game was really trying to say. I felt like I could connect to the main character and I did enjoy the game and I'm glad I played it (which is the first time on this countdown that I can honestly say that), but this is just another example of a game that I think feels it was better than it actually was. And, if you couldn't tell already, I get kinda irked when a game tries to present itself as a masterpiece when it really doesn't have much to offer. Thankfully, this was a short game, so it never overstayed its welcome. I appreciate that. #44 - Katamari Damacy Reroll I hated this game. Honestly, if I made this list based on my favorite to least favorite game, this might just be rolling in at that last spot. The ONLY reason it's made it this high on the list is that I respect the hell out of this game for doing something original and making it fun. If the game wasn't so EXCRUCIATINGLY frustrating, I might've even liked it. But I swear, this game was maddening. Between the fidgety controls, the tight timer, the incessant gating in every level that forced me to replay the same areas over and over, and the RIDICULOUS amount of collectibles that that were required for the platinum, I wanted to pull what little hair I had left out. This brings up the question: how much does the journey to the platinum affect my rating? I don't think it helps or hurt this one. This was a cute game, but I think it was designed to be frustrating. The game wants you to be angry because then you get some sort of satisfaction as you're fuckin' destroying everything in your path. But unlike most games that let you vent, it doesn't want you to be mad because it keeps being silly and playing happy music. So, ultimately, I don't know where to put this game. Should it be higher on this list? Lower? No, I think it's pretty good right here. #43 - Drawngeon This was a weird one too. Not only is it a short game, but it feels like it was made by one person (I don't know if that's true) in a single afternoon (I don't know if that's true either, but I'd believe it if you told me). But as someone who is starving for more grid-based dungeon crawlers like this, I actually enjoyed what little time I had with it...? That doesn't mean its a good game. I mean, I sometimes go to McDonald's and get an order of fries and then I realize they're nowhere near as good as Wendy's fries these days, but I still eat them because it's nice to break things up every now and then. And sometimes it's fun to play some stupid game that you won't remember eleven months later like I'm feeling right now. I actually had to double check to make sure I even played this game in 2023, but my profile says I did, so here we are. Uh... yeah. I'm putting this above Carl Weathers because this game knew it had very little substance with its doodle-inspired art style, and I'm putting it above Katamari because I only had to replay the entire game a few times to get all the trophies. I lost track of how many times I had to replay Katamari. ... Yeah, I'm pretty happy with all those placements. The next three games were better in every way. These are the weakest links. See you tomorrow. Edited December 8, 2023 by Cassylvania 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadaik Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 5 hours ago, Cassylvania said: Not only is it a short game, but it feels like it was made by one person (I don't know if that's true) I got curious, so I took it upon me to find out, and...: It is. Developer DarkDes Labs is a Russian one-person company owned by a certain Stanislav Filippov, whose Twitter/X account is listed as that of the company and who in turn also claims to be the same in his bio there. https://twitter.com/Stan_Fill BTW, I pity any game that manages to rank behind a (modern) Leisure Suit Larry game in any list. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 6, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 6, 2023 (edited) On 12/5/2023 at 12:37 PM, shadaik said: I got curious, so I took it upon me to find out, and...: It is. Developer DarkDes Labs is a Russian one-person company owned by a certain Stanislav Filippov, whose Twitter/X account is listed as that of the company and who in turn also claims to be the same in his bio there. https://twitter.com/Stan_Fill Not surprised! I actually wish he had a bigger team because I think it was a conceptually interesting game. I like the idea of an arts and crafts dungeon crawler. There's another game on my wishlist called RPG Wright or something that does something similar. Maybe I'll check that out next time it goes on sale. Also, I was probably too nice to Larry. That game was kinda trash, huh? The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #42-40 Current Ranking D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island C Tier 51. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 50. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series 49. Haven 48. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry 47. Cotton Reboot! 46. Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle 45. The Artful Escape 44. Katamari Damacy Reroll 43. Drawngeon Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Marie Remake Atelier Ryza 3 Axiom Verge 2 Bugsnax Carrion Catmaze Dandara Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human Doom Eternal Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Endling FAR: Lone Sails Forma.8 Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Hundred Days Inside Lake Life is Strange: True Colors Lost in Random Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Mighty Switch Force! Collection Minit Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Omno Rain World Rise of the Slime Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Subnautica: Below Zero The DioField Chronicle Tropico 6 Tunche Two Point Campus Unpacking Virginia We're finishing up the C tier today, guys. If the theme yesterday was games that weirded me out, and theme the day before was games that made me sick, then today's theme are games that just felt a little flat. I think they either have been done better or could have been done better. That's part of the problem when you try to compare games. You're naturally going to be have an easier time comparing games that are similar, so the better representation a particular genre has, the harder it will be to stick out. Conversely, games in obscure genres or that typically produce subpar games will have an easier time making it higher on the list. If that's all too theoretical for you, let's just start with the first (of the last?) disappointments. #42 - Hundred Days Speaking of obscure games in obscure genres... how about a wine-making simulator? Hey, it caught my attention. I don't even know how to classify this game. It's a turn-based strategy game that uses cards to represent various tasks that are used in the wine-making process. I guess my closest comparison would be Frost, which is an even MORE obscure game, and that one was more about survival... This was intended to be a slow-paced -- and, dare I say, educational -- game. (Although I don't know how effective it was at that. The last season of Jeopardy had about twenty questions about making wine and I missed them all. Can't blame the game for that, though.) The reason this is the worst remaining game, even though it kinda appeals to me, is that it's a little too basic in the ways that could make a game fun and a little too complicated in the ways that could make a game a slog. We're talking RNG and sub-menu navigation. The actual length of the main campaign is pretty hilarious, though. I've played tutorials that are longer than the main game. And the rest of it is really just...learning the game and then applying that over multiple seasons and multiple maps. This is the kind of game that only a select group of people can enjoy. I'm one of them and I'd still put it here. #41 - Rise of the Slime Oh, look... Another card-based game. Slay the Spire, this ain't. In its defense, this was a cute game. I don't want to insult it by calling it SoS Lite because it is deeper than maybe it first appears or would seem, but it's hard for me to rank this when I've already played the clear front-runner in this genre. It's an OK game that probably should have more than 101 owners on PSNP. It's not a trash platinum like you might be led to believe. I actually think I struggled with some areas, and it's rocking a 20% rarity for that most coveted trophy. I also really like the aesthetics, the colors, and the cute little sticks under every character that make it look like a finger puppet show. Wait. I'm supposed to say bad things about each game. Uh... it wasn't Slay the Spire...? #40 - Life is Strange: True Colors So... here's the thing... If Life is Strange is A tier for me, and Before the Storm is B tier, and I think this is not quite as good as Before the Storm... then how can I put it anywhere else than here? It's still at the top of C tier. That's as high as I can realistically put this while still maintaining my street cred. I liked the first couple chapters. Steph was a cool character. (Hey, I actually remembered a character's name! I think because she was in a previous game.) It reminded me of Night in the Woods, which is a game I've grown to respect more since I last played it... I guess that's good. Ultimately, where I feel this game falls apart is its conclusion, which just left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. (To be fair, I think NitW did too.) When the part of the game I enjoyed the most is the part that is least important to the plot...in a plot-driven game...well, that can't be a good thing, can it? I can understand liking this game. Really, all of them. It's just that I know of games like these that are better, or that I think could have been improved if more was done with them. Probably even moreso than the jump from D tier to C tier, I would say there's a pretty sizable gap between these three games and the rest of the games on the list -- to the point that I might consider these in the "C+" tier. The problem is, I'm looking at the plethora of games I put in the B tier, and I'm having a hard time saying any of these games can compete. The remaining games were either more fun or better representations of their respective genres. So, take solace in the fact that I don't have a lot of negative things to say about these games. They were the best of the worst. Edited December 8, 2023 by Cassylvania 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 7, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 7, 2023 (edited) The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #39-37 Current Ranking D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island C Tier 51. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 50. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series 49. Haven 48. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry 47. Cotton Reboot! 46. Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle 45. The Artful Escape 44. Katamari Damacy Reroll 43. Drawngeon C+ Tier 42. Hundred Days 41. Rise of the Slime 40. Life is Strange: True Colors Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Marie Remake Atelier Ryza 3 Axiom Verge 2 Bugsnax Carrion Catmaze Dandara Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human Doom Eternal Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Endling FAR: Lone Sails Forma.8 Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Inside Lake Lost in Random Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Mighty Switch Force! Collection Minit Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Omno Rain World Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Subnautica: Below Zero The DioField Chronicle Tropico 6 Tunche Two Point Campus Unpacking Virginia We made it to the B Tier! This is where I start to consider games to be "OK", or meh, or average. And strap yourself in because we'll be here for a while... We have a whopping 21 games to get through. In fact, the list is SO big that I took the time to separate them into two tiers. I guess we'll do B and B+, just like we ended up doing for the last tier. Fittingly, I have nine games in the B tier and 12 games in the B+ tier, so we can continue doing three per day. That wasn't intentional, but I guess it works out. However, one thing I will say is that the gap between these games isn't that big. This isn't like the C tier, where some group of games was clearer better than others. But I've had a full 24 hours to think about it, so I'm pretty confident in saying the next worse game on the list is... #39 - Virginia I couldn't in good conscious put this game much higher than Life is Strange: True Colors because they're both story-driven games that fell a little flat for me because I don't feel they have a lot to say. Here, though, this game came across as something original (and ballsy), opting to tell a story without a single line of dialogue. As someone who is routinely railing against games with bad writing, I just couldn't do it here. I actually had to pay attention, which means these devs tricked me into following the plot. I couldn't even use my usual "I don't do subs because I don't like reading" excuse to get out of it. That's gotta earn some respect from me, right? And it's not like it's a bad story. It's interesting. Kinda hard to follow at times, but you should get the gist of it if you're at least paying attention and not just following a walkthrough on YouTube. One of the nicest things I can say about a game is that if it came out with a sequel, I'd buy it, and I feel that's the case here. Why so low then? Eh, it didn't hit me as emotionally as I think it should have. I laughed when that beam fell in the cave. I'm not sure I was supposed to. There's also a lot of time-jumping and repeated areas, which makes parts of the game muddled and confusing. And I didn't find it to be all that memorable outside of the initial premise of story-without-words. I can think of games that have done that better, and some of those games are on this list. So here it sits. #38 - Omno Oh, look. Here's one of them. I dunno about this one either, guys. It falls under that umbrella of indie games that give you a really pretty setting and no idea of what's going on. Is your character alive or dead, what kind of journey are you taking, what happened to all the people of this civilization, how the hell do you solve this puzzle because you've been wandering around in the same area for fifteen minutes? There are so many questions and the game just doesn't want to answer any of them. I'm cool with that. It's a basic game with a basic premise and, hey, it was made by one person. Unfortunately, it's also one of the weakest examples of that premise that I can think of. I've played Journey, even though it's not on my account, and there are several other games I played it like it that I simply enjoyed more. In fact, there are games I played last year or even before then that were memorable than Omno, which isn't a good look on a game that I played most recently. I don't remember if I recommended it, but I'd find it hard to put this game anywhere near its similarly-themed competition. #37 - Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising I'm going to get roasted for putting this one here, but outside of the story, I don't think there's much to get excited about. And I'm thinking to myself, "Was the story good enough, or emotionally-driven enough, to compete against the other six games that I think belong in the B tier?" Ignore that. I changed my mind. And I'm keeping that in there so I can make the joke, "More like Eiyuden Chronicle: Falling, am I right?" Yeah, we'll get to that other game later, but I just remembered how bland this game actually was. It appealed to me for about the first two hours and then went downhill after that. Sakuna was better. Odin Sphere Leifwhyisthiswordsodumb was better (and that was made by the same people). This was just a button-mashing mess. You're mashing buttons in combat and you're mashing buttons in dialogue because there's simply too much of both. I think there are something like 150 sub-quests in this game and they're all the same nonsense. Kill ten of these, find ten of these, run across the map and talk to this other person... Complete bollocks. This game is lucky the combat was at least semi-fun because I don't have very many nice things to say about it. But the environments were pretty, the characters were kinda cool, and I think I remember the music being pretty good...? But yeah, it's lucky it made it to the B tier at all. It's proof that I do prefer games that have decent gameplay, even if everything else is shallow. And that about does it for today, guys. Is your favorite game still on the list? Have any of these surprised you? Are you a DOOM fan waiting to crucify me? Stay tuned tomorrow and we'll tackle another three games. Edited December 9, 2023 by Cassylvania 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Together_Comic Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 Good read as always. I am amazed that you manage to go through 50+ games nearly every year. I can beatly get through a dozen 😅. Seriously impressive. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 8, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 8, 2023 (edited) On 12/7/2023 at 9:04 AM, Together_Comic said: Good read as always. I am amazed that you manage to go through 50+ games nearly every year. I can beatly get through a dozen 😅. Seriously impressive. It amazes me too. I noticed that a few years ago, that I always end up getting about 50 platinums per year. I would've thought I'd fall well short of that this year, given how much time I've played Genshin and how many outside projects I've had going on. I guess a plethora of short indie games helps. The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #36-34 Current Ranking (now with new colors that actually make sense!) D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island C Tier 51. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 50. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series 49. Haven 48. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry 47. Cotton Reboot! 46. Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle 45. The Artful Escape 44. Katamari Damacy Reroll 43. Drawngeon C+ Tier 42. Hundred Days 41. Rise of the Slime 40. Life is Strange: True Colors B Tier 39. Virginia 38. Omno 37. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Marie Remake Atelier Ryza 3 Axiom Verge 2 Bugsnax Carrion Catmaze Dandara Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human Doom Eternal Endling FAR: Lone Sails Forma.8 Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Inside Lake Lost in Random Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Mighty Switch Force! Collection Minit Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Rain World Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Subnautica: Below Zero The DioField Chronicle Tropico 6 Tunche Two Point Campus Unpacking I hope you all enjoyed the actual GOTY awards last night, for those who watched. I'm pretty sure the only game I saw mentioned the entire night that I've played is Sea of Stars, which didn't even make the cut for the awards for me, but I scribbled down some games on a piece of paper to maybe check out next year. We'll see if they're actually as good as the voters claim they are. Let's get back to our meager ceremony by looking at three more games that are average at best. #36 - Endling Turns out I don't have to wait for DOOM fans to crucify me because the Endling: Extinction is Forever (yeah, I don't know why the subtitle only sometimes appears) stans will get to me first. This is the game I was originally going to put below Eiyuden before I realized I'd rather have a lobotomy than do another fetch quest in that game. And...similar to Haven, I'm probably going to surprise or upset people by putting it here. I can't hide behind the fact that it has a lot of 1/5 star reviews to go along with those 5/5 stars. In fact, it looks like it's overwhelmingly positive on Steam, and I get that. I even recommended the game! Here's my thing, though, guys... All the things I like about this game -- and there are a lot, mind you -- have nothing to do with it actually being a video game. The simple graphics, for example. How cute the foxes are. The...message, I guess? I am an animal lover, after all. If this was a cartoon or a movie or a poster I could hang on my wall, I'd probably rank it much higher. The issue is I'm trying to rank these games according to their actual gameplay and how much enjoyment I got out of that. The gameplay here is all the words that you don't want to see in a review: monotonous, tedious, repetitive, and dull. The charm of the game comes entirely from the creatures and the environments. And as someone who loves survival games, of the quest to scavenge for food and supplies in an increasingly hostile world, I was left wondering why the gameplay was so shallow and uninteresting. It's not good when my mind begins to drift or wonder when the game will "open up" (which it does, but only in the sense that you unlock more areas to essentially do the same things). And when your campaign is as short as something like Hundred Days, which felt like a tutorial, I question if there's enough content to make it a worthwhile purchase. Even at the low, low price of free on PS+, the answer to that might be no. #35 - Forma.8 The first Metroidvania to appear on the list! And, clearly, the one I think is weakest. You play as a ball in this game and you move super slow. Like, painfully slow. I think the idea was to make you feel small, which is good for world-building, but not good if you're going to have a lot of backtracking and collectibles to find. I'm just not a fan of such limited gameplay. I'm putting this one above Endling because I feel it did a better job at execution, and it would be a much easier game to fix than Endling. And I realize that may not seem fair, to judge games based on how much better they could have been, but I really do think you'd have a solid title here with some minor quality of life improvements. More like Forma.6/10, am I right? I also just searched this topic for my review of this game to see if I already made that joke and I came across this gem from an old friend of ours. I'll let Rocky say it better than I ever could. On 6/16/2018 at 6:53 AM, RockyJokerPL said: I have also played Forma.8 and.... fu** this game. It's fu***** sh**. It was made by a fu***** monkey with a hairy fu***** di** for fu***** brains. It's so fu***** sh**** that if dog's sh** was a game it would be way better. Ugh... Brings a tear to my eye. #34 - Lost in Random I guess we do have a theme today! "Games that could've been so much better." I mean, I guess that's why they're all sitting here in the not-quite-B+-tier. This is unfortunately another fundamentally flawed game that took a lot of great concepts and then forgot to make the game fun. I could rattle off all the positives here. I liked the world, the characters, the voice acting, even the story, but it doesn't change the simple fact that the combat, which is such an integral part of the gameplay, is infuriating. It's literal RNG. I mean, it could've be any more RNG-based if they tried. You're literally throwing dice and hoping you get the heal or attack you need. Something needed to be done to ensure that you aren't just running around in battle and waiting to roll again so you can kill the last enemy. I think even giving the main character a weak melee attack, something that you'd only resort to when you're up against a single enemy at low HP, would make this system a lot more bearable. Of all three of these games, it's the one I most question the mindset of the developers. What were they thinking!? So, why is it above the other two? Because the actual product here is decent. Yes, combat could be improved, but the game technically allows you ways to customize it. You could fill your deck with all attack cards and never have to worry about the situation I listed above. And giving the player a way to avoid the game's biggest flaw...well, that's something the other games don't offer. That's it for today. The list I have to look at is much smaller than yours, because I already know roughly the placement of each game, but the other three games in the B tier are simply better than these. There's no one thing I can point to and say, "BAD!" In fact, I might even push one of them to B+ tier... We'll see. Edited December 8, 2023 by Cassylvania 6 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockyJokerPL Posted December 8, 2023 Share Posted December 8, 2023 6 hours ago, Cassylvania said: I also just searched this topic for my review of this game to see if I already made that joke and I came across this gem from an old friend of ours. I'll let Rocky say it better than I ever could. On 6/16/2018 at 12:53 PM, RockyJokerPL said: I have also played Forma.8 and.... fu** this game. It's fu***** sh**. It was made by a fu***** monkey with a hairy fu***** di** for fu***** brains. It's so fu***** sh**** that if dog's sh** was a game it would be way better. Ugh... Brings a tear to my eye. Oh God... The Internet never forgets, that's a lesson to teach one's kids. I did not realize back then how angry I used to get with games. Also, I never finished Forma.8 😂 And you can't imagine how confused I was to see a notification of you quoting me. So many years later... I hope you are doing well. I visit your profile on PSN from time to time to see what you are playing at the time. If I remember correctly when you started this thread I had more platinums than you - and now you surpassed me. And while also playing so many great games. All the best Cassy! Keep up the good work 😃 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Mep Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 @Cassylvania Dude I had to play Lost in Random not twice but THREE times because of a missable trophy at the end. First time was because I was playing blindly. Fine. Second time I was following a guide and I took a wrong turn and BAM I was locked in a cut scene. I frantically closed the game and tried to load my cloud save but it was from my original play through. 😭 But on my third playthrough I bum rushed the game and got to that point and step by step finally talked to the right NPC to get that trophy. Otherwise I really enjoyed it. But definitely not enough to play it three times hahaha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 9, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 9, 2023 42 minutes ago, RockyJokerPL said: And you can't imagine how confused I was to see a notification of you quoting me. So many years later... I hope you are doing well. I visit your profile on PSN from time to time to see what you are playing at the time. If I remember correctly when you started this thread I had more platinums than you - and now you surpassed me. And while also playing so many great games. All the best Cassy! Keep up the good work Good to see you again! It's been quite the journey. Looks like I should've taken your advice all those years ago. You'll have to forgive me for not heeding your warning. I fell for the trap of thinking it was a good Metroidvania. .... Speaking of mediocre Metroidvanias... Platinum #406 - Minoria "How do you even find these games, C-dawg?" - You, probably In my defense, this game does has over 1600 owners on PSNP, so it's nowhere near as obscure as some of the games I played this year. In Minoria, you get to live out your lifelong dream of being a sword-wielding nun. I'm pretty sure Momodora already did this, but this game does its own thing. (I'm kidding. They literally reference the game more than once and even give you a leaf blade that looks just like the one in Momodora 4. But don't worry -- it's made by the same developers, I think, so it's not copyright infringement.) Anyway, you play as Sister Semilla, who is a nun of the Inquisition, and your task is to dig through the ditches and burn through the witches. To do this, you're given a sword, a variety of passive and active incenses that you'll find along the way, and the stiffest jump you've ever seen in a modern platformer. How it got through playtesting is beyond me. Oh, and you can dodge roll, so this is basically Dark Souls. There's your obligatory reference. Also, if you spam the roll, which you will do to cover large distances quickly because it's faster than running, the part of the animation where Semilla completes the somersault is cut short, so it looks like she's pouncing across the floor like a wolf. Very funny. This isn't baby's first Metroidvania. It's not a bad one either. It's just simple. There are probably only about a dozen enemies in the game, maybe the same number of bosses, and you can complete the whole game in 6-8 hours (with technically only a couple missable trophies related to the final boss and beating a boss without taking damage, which you can do easily and quickly in NG+). Because it's simple, Salmonella is limited in what she can do. You can find other swords than her starting one, but they all seem to have the same damage multiplier. More annoyingly, they all cause her to advance forward a little with each swing. That can be bothersome because you're often fighting enemies in confined spaces and running into them damages you. (Made fighting the hidden boss really annoying.) You also get those incenses I mentioned. You can think of them as buffs or spells. The buffs are always active and can do things like heal you after each kill or increase your damage when you're low on health, but you can only have two equipped at a time. You can have three spell incenses equipped. The heal seems necessary, but the other two are up to you. I usually went with two ranged attacks. These only have a set amount of uses, but you can refill them at save points, which are sprinkled throughout the map. You can also find additional heal incenses to increase your usages. My biggest issue with the incenses is that there's no visual indicator on or around your character of what you have equipped. You only get some text in the upper left corner of the screen. I normally wouldn't care about this, but it makes it tricky to quickly swap between them and actually use them in a fight because you're very likely to use an attack when you mean to heal or vice versa. This could've easily been alleviated by adding some sort of visual effect around Salmonella. Like maybe her crown glows white if she has a healing spell equipped or red if it's an attack. I dunno. You'll see what I mean if you decide to play this. Your best attack is actually your parry. It took me a while to realize this. If you successfully complete a parry (and the window is pretty generous), Salmonella will turn into the Tasmanian Devil and begin slashing at everything on screen. Does a lot more damage than basic attacks and gives you a lot of invincibility frames. Plus, you can do it to almost every enemy. Just takes some practice to get the timing down. Now, let's discuss the difficulty. The PSNP guide says 3/10. I would agree. You're going to die a lot, but it's rarely a long walk back from the checkpoint. Most boss fights are just an endurance test. If you have eight or nine healing incenses, you can usually face tank them, healing whenever you take damage. (And you kinda have to because you'll usually die in 2-3 hits, even at higher levels.) This is also where I have a bit of a confession to make. I got to...maybe the fourth major boss in the game? I was level 27 and she absolutely wiped the floor with me. Instead of trying to fight her again, I walked down the opposite corridor and ran into a hallway full of enemies. I have no idea what this hallway is for. It's literally a dead end with no collectibles or unlockable paths that I could see. But it was right before a checkpoint, so I started killing all the enemies, walked back to the checkpoint, and repeated. I found I could use two incenses in rapid succession and basically wipe every enemy on the screen in a matter of seconds. Within...oh, I dunno, twenty minutes, I was level 60. I steamrolled every enemy and boss in the game after that. You will never convince me that hallway was intended for anything other than for me to abuse the game. I do want to give some props to the art and music here. The character models are a little odd. Both the in-game sprites and the character portraits look like something you'd see on DeviantArt, which I don't mind, but looks a little less professional than what you might be used to. I actually really liked the soundtrack of some of the areas. This is good because I often had the incense equipped that would heal me a tiny bit every 10 seconds, so that gave me something to listen to while I looked at paint samples for my new gaming room. I think we're going to go with a creamy brown aesthetic. Anyway, um... If I were to rank this game on this year's awards, it'd probably fit in about where we are now. Somewhere in the B tier, along with the other games that could've been significantly better if some more time, effort, experience, or manpower was applied. It's a decent enough Metroidvania, and it doesn't come at the cost of 60+ hours, 6+ playthroughs, or a 6/10 difficulty. I think I got it on sale for like $7.99 and it took about that many hours, so I'm going to consider it a wash. 26 minutes ago, Super_Mep said: @Cassylvania Dude I had to play Lost in Random not twice but THREE times because of a missable trophy at the end. First time was because I was playing blindly. Fine. Second time I was following a guide and I took a wrong turn and BAM I was locked in a cut scene. I frantically closed the game and tried to load my cloud save but it was from my original play through. 😭 But on my third playthrough I bum rushed the game and got to that point and step by step finally talked to the right NPC to get that trophy. Otherwise I really enjoyed it. But definitely not enough to play it three times hahaha I am notoriously careful when it comes to missable trophies. I feel like, having to play through that game THREE TIMES, would greatly sour my experience. It's good that you were still able to enjoy it. I remember I played it because somebody called it, "The Cassiest game to ever Cass," and I can see why. It's a shame that they didn't put a little more thought into the combat system because everything else about the game is really creative and interesting. We might burn the midnight oil to get another entry in later tonight because it's very unlikely I'm getting up at 6 AM on a Saturday to write stuff. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 9, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) Well, why wake up at 6 AM when you can wake up at 4...? Ugh, this can't be normal. The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #33-31 Current Ranking D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island C Tier 51. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 50. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series 49. Haven 48. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry 47. Cotton Reboot! 46. Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle 45. The Artful Escape 44. Katamari Damacy Reroll 43. Drawngeon C+ Tier 42. Hundred Days 41. Rise of the Slime 40. Life is Strange: True Colors B Tier 39. Virginia 38. Omno 37. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising 36. Endling 35. Forma.8 34. Lost in Random Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Marie Remake Atelier Ryza 3 Axiom Verge 2 Bugsnax Carrion Catmaze Dandara Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human Doom Eternal FAR: Lone Sails Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Inside Lake Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Mighty Switch Force! Collection Minit Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Rain World Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Subnautica: Below Zero The DioField Chronicle Tropico 6 Tunche Two Point Campus Unpacking That list is getting smaller. We have three more games in the B tier. I'm actually looking at the B+ tier right now to see if I want to swap any of them... It's hard because the gap between some of these games is extremely tight. I guess we'll just see how things shake out. Eeny, meeny, miny... #33 - Minit It wasn't really that tight. This is the next game that doesn't belong. What I will say is Minit has a very simple gimmick and does it surprisingly well, given how limited that gimmick first appears. What is that gimmick? You die in 60 seconds. (Get it? Minit, minute...) If that's too gruesome for you, then simply picture a game in which you're teleported back to your last checkpoint every 60 seconds. What makes this possible is that you're able to keep all the items you find, as well as all the firsthand knowledge you picked up along the way. Thus, you can make use of so-called "suicide runs" to simply explore a new area, talk to an NPC, or bum-rush an item locked far away. If you haven't played this before, this might seem stressful or intense, but it actually comes across as a very relaxing and intentionally silly game. I actually liked it. That said, it IS gimmicky. It almost feels like the kind of game you'd get for free in your box of cereal back in the 90s, or something you and your friend would play on Flash when the teacher wasn't looking. It rides on the coattails of other indie games that are simple and creative, and I'm not sure it would stand out if it had released fifteen or twenty years ago. Heck, I'm not even sure it stands out now. Not with The Outer Wilds doing something very similar, to much more critical acclaim... #32 - Catmaze Cat-maze! Cat-maze! Alone in the world is a little Cat-maze! The second Metroidvania to crack the list (third if we had counted Minoria), Catmaze is also a simple game that tries to be as innocuous as it can. I said it before in my original review, but I really liked the opening pixel art to this game. The portrait models, not so much. It's actually a step below Minoria and it bothers me. To avoid just reiterating my review, though, I'll say there are a lot more mechanics to this game than the ones that came before. You get minions that attack for you, it's much easier to swap between them than it was in Minoria (because you can actually SEE the familiar near your character), and there are some very tricky platforming sections, along with a good variety of weapon and movement upgrades. This felt like a return-to-form Metroidvania. (Sorry that I'm comparing it more to the game I just finished than the one that actually appeared on this list. Forma.8 is, after all, dog shit.) Cute game with a cute concept (I guess that's our theme for today), but not good enough to stand with the towering giants there in the B+ tier (they're not nearly that intimidating). #31 - Lake I think we're going to leave it here. As funny as it would be to put my favorite game of the year to meme in a higher tier, I just can't do it. So, Lake... is a game. Barely. I'll be honest. If you played this game and thought it was the most boring thing ever, I'd understand. If you slapped it down there with the bees and the frogs at the bottom of my list, I'd get that too. This game probably has no business being anywhere near the top 50%. And yet, much like a terrible movie that you like watching over and over again, I can't help but feel some sort of admiration for this type of thing. I'm not trying to be insulting. This game attempts a slice-of-life story and I appreciate that. Not every game has to have you swinging from rooftops and fighting criminals in your pajamas. I could do that in real life if I wanted. You know what I can't do? Drive a mail truck. Unironically, one of my dream jobs. You know what else I can't do? Live in a small town where everybody knows everybody and nobody locks their door at night. And that's becoming increasingly harder as the human population grows and the reaches of cities expand. I want something simpler. It's nice to just have games that aren't afraid to bore their audience. It's like watching a TV commercial that has to be as loud and boisterous as possible because little Timmy's attention span can't go beyond five seconds. It makes stuff like this stand out, because it's so subdued, because it puts a simple concept in front of you and lets you make your own story. Now, let's not give Lake too much credit. It's not a free-roaming game. Your dialogue choices probably don't matter much. The radio station only plays three songs. Meredith is an ethically compromised human being. The graphics, much like the rest of the game, are decent until you really start to look at them. The story is painfully uninteresting. Without even looking at other online reviews, I'm going to assume this has a lot of 5/5 stars and almost as many 1/5, much like Haven and (hopefully, for the sake of my credibility) Endling. It's not unearned. Most people, especially those who play video games, will turn up their noses at it. That's fine. This isn't a popularity contest, like this year's Game Awards. If every game appealed to the masses, then we'd have a world of little Timmies and an endless stream of annoying commercials with everybody trying to outscream each other. Sometimes you just need a game to drop trousers and show you that it's OK to be different. For that, I thank you, Meredith. Now put your pants back on. ... Well, that was quite the rant. See what happens when I wake up too early? They say nothing good ever happens after midnight, but nobody ever told you what happens before 6 AM either. At any rate, I feel comfortable with my game selections so far. Hopefully I made them make sense, even if you don't personally agree. Also, keep in mind that they're going up against some pretty stiff competition. I mean, just LOOK at the games left on the list. Can you honestly tell me that any of the games I've mentioned so far have a chance of going up against those behemoths? At any rate, we have the biggest tier of all to tackle next: the B+ tier, weighing in at a whopping twelve games. A dirty dozen of middling mediocrity. It may be time to pick your fighter, boys, because only eighteen games will be considered for greatness! Until tomorrow! ...or later today. Edited December 9, 2023 by Cassylvania 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 9, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) ...Yeah, I couldn't wait. Enjoy a double entry day. The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #30-28 Current Ranking D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island C Tier 51. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 50. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series 49. Haven 48. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry 47. Cotton Reboot! 46. Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle 45. The Artful Escape 44. Katamari Damacy Reroll 43. Drawngeon C+ Tier 42. Hundred Days 41. Rise of the Slime 40. Life is Strange: True Colors B Tier 39. Virginia 38. Omno 37. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising 36. Endling 35. Forma.8 34. Lost in Random 33. Minit 32. Catmaze 31. Lake Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Marie Remake Atelier Ryza 3 Axiom Verge 2 Bugsnax Carrion Dandara Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human Doom Eternal FAR: Lone Sails Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Inside Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Mighty Switch Force! Collection Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Rain World Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Subnautica: Below Zero The DioField Chronicle Tropico 6 Tunche Two Point Campus Unpacking We're now at the part of the Squid Game where we killed off all the characters who weren't given a name or backstory. It's going to start getting brutal from here. This is also where I finally have to do some thinking because it isn't immediately clear to me what order to put the next twelve games in. I know I said the gap between them isn't very big, but that doesn't mean I consider them all equal. To get through these, I think I'm going to rank them according to the amount of enjoyment I got out of them. Starting with the worst of the bunch... #30 - Doom Eternal I said in my initial review that this game was so mid that it hurts. Well, it turns out I was being overly generous because if this game was ACTUALLY mid, it would've cracked the top 50%. Yes. I know. Cass the hack. Cass the hater. Cass the "I don't actively hate any of these games; also Cass: I hate Katamari." But if there's one thing you guys will always get from me, it's the brutal truth, no matter how wrong it is. I despised just about every moment with this game. And I shouldn't. I get why people like this series. It lets you live out your sick fantasies. All that anger and all the rage you've built up over the years. Sometimes it's fun to just unleash it on your enemies. All that blood and gore and that killer soundtrack playing in the background as you rip demons apart with your bare hands. Oh, man, it should feel glorious. But you know what? It...just doesn't to me. i didn't find this game hard or challenging or fun. It was a slog. I probably felt the same way about this game that most people would feel about Lake. And, to explain that, I'd have to let you get into my mindset when I play stuff like this... Let's just slow it down. What do you actually do in DOOM? You run around in circles and spam your weapons. When you get low on health or ammo, you find a fodder zombie, you freeze, burn, and chop him to maximize the amount of confetti drops you get, and you repeat. Wave after wave... enemy after enemy... room after room... level after level... DLC after DLC... That's the gameplay loop. There are platforming sections and puzzle sections, but neither of these are particularly interesting or fun. For whatever reason, this game loves slowing down the action by making you tediously search for the next way forward. Even if I DID enjoy the action of this game, I would hate that part. Isn't the point of a game like this to be fast-paced? Are those sections there to give you a breather? Because I never felt like I needed one. I took a breather every time I finished a wave of enemies to look at my map and sigh in despair at how much level there was to go. Why do these levels just go on and on and on? If only they did SOMETHING to make the gameplay more fun or to break up the combat. But even when they do, it only serves as an annoyance. "Here's an enemy with a shield." "Here's an enemy who spawns more enemies." "Here's a totem you have to destroy." But the core gameplay is always the same. You're going to run around in circles and spam your weapons. I've never played any other DOOM game (and doubt I ever will), but I do watch speedrunning videos from time to time, and the older games are very well represented there. From what I can tell, those games are designed to allow you to beat levels quickly. Speed seems to be encouraged. Why, then, does this game play so goddamn slow? You're constantly being gated by enemy spawns. I tried to avoid as many of these combat sequences as I could, but something like 95% of them seem to be required to allow you to advance to the next area. That's so frustrating when you know that combat section is going to be exactly like the one before. The MOST fun the game was for me was when they introduced environmental obstacles. Suddenly, it was like, "Oh, OK. Instead of doing the exact same thing I spent the past 20 minutes doing, I can lure enemies onto this moving platform and watch them get crushed." That was kinda funny. I liked actually having something to do besides hold the joystick forward and slightly to the left and press jump occasionally. And I got to thinking -- I had a lot of time for thinking while playing this -- why is this combat so boring to me? Would it have been more fun at a higher difficulty? I don't think so. I died enough times to validate my decision. The last thing I'd want is to give enemies MORE health (assuming that's what higher difficulties do), because that would only prolong the fighting. But I came to the conclusion that everything I was doing and everything I was seeing was surficial. It was loud and colorful and made lots of funny little noises, like a slot machine at the casino or a toy commercial for little Timmy, but it wasn't engaging. There was no sense of exploration or strategy or experimentation. Other games will give you options. You'll get to choose how you want to tackle certain obstacles or sections. And, sure, I guess you do have the option to choose which gun you want to point in the face of your enemy and whether you'd rather run clockwise or counterclockwise (and some enemies DO have specific weaknesses, so it's not like you're wasting your time by trying out different weapons), but I'd be lying if I said it was interesting to me. Much like Torchlight II of yesteryear, I just don't get this genre. #29 - Atelier Marie Remake Now, HERE is a genre I like. You give me a team and party members I can customize, a fun gathering and crafting system, and a story that I can be as engaged with as I want. I'm sorry to all the DOOM fans, but I like when my running in circles has a purpose. That said, there are a lot of JRPGs out there and I didn't grow up with the Atelier series. This may come as a surprise to you guys, but I don't think I even played any games in this series until about ten years ago. Sure, I'm rocking a full series of platinums now, but there was a time that I didn't even know what an "atelier" was, let alone how to pronounce it. ...And it's probably good I didn't start with this game because it isn't very good. It's one of the most basic JRPGs I've ever played, with one of the simplest crafting systems for an Atelier game. I'm pretty sure you can beat the game in like six hours, which I think is heresy for anything that comes out of Japan. Obviously, as a remake of the first game in the series, I didn't expect it to be overly complicated -- and I'm not as bothered by the chibi graphics as some people -- but I'm worried that somebody might pick this up as their first Atelier game and they'll never get to experience the magic that is Rorona, Ayesha, Sophie, or Ryza. In fact, if somebody told me that they fell in love with the series after playing Marie, I'd have to call them out on it. This is a game you play because you love the series, not because you want to fall in love with it. Please, please, please start with any other game. I swear, guys, this series isn't as bad as you think. I'm not going to rattle off all the reasons I unabashedly love Atelier. I already do that enough. I'm also not going to write a dissertation like I did for DOOM. I'm just going to say this game was about what I expected it to be and it ended up exactly where I thought it would -- just below the 50% mark. Does it make it the worst Atelier game? I don't know, but it's the worst I played this year. #28 - Dandara This might be the biggest surprise for me personally. When I first sorted these games into tiers, I shoved almost everything into B/B+ and then kinda picked and pulled from there. This was one game I just let sit. I keep coming back to this one and thinking to myself, "You know, I didn't really care for this," but I've had so many things to complain about with other games that it just would've felt wrong to put this anywhere else. I think we're finally at the point where I can let this one go and not feel guilty. It's OK. It's so OK that I almost wish it was one entry higher so I could say, "Hey, this is the halfway mark. This is the Thor (2011) of video games." (You know, the most average movie ever made.) It's a Metroidvania of sorts, making it #3 on the list, and it has a pretty unique gimmick in that Dandara loves to stick to walls. Walls, ceilings, and floors, I guess. In fact, that's the only way she can move. If that seems like it would be too limited of a gimmick to base a whole game around...well, it almost is, but the game is just short enough for it to feel welcome and just long enough for it to be engaging. I question how I would feel if I didn't play the game with Assist Mode on, but I don't think it took anything away from the experience. If anything, I think it helped solidified this game's placement as something that didn't overly frustrate or bore me, which is something I can't say for the two games above. Did I recommend this one? I can't remember. This isn't really intended to be a list of recommendations or warnings, I suppose. But I think we've reached the point on this list where everything from now on is something I can say is probably worth playing, even if it has some flaws or limitations. And, yes, I might even include Dandara on that list. So, in light of not saying much more about the gameplay, I will say that I'm probably going to be start being less harsh on the games going forward. Edited December 9, 2023 by Cassylvania 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 10, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 10, 2023 (edited) The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #27-25 Current Ranking D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island C Tier 51. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 50. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series 49. Haven 48. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry 47. Cotton Reboot! 46. Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle 45. The Artful Escape 44. Katamari Damacy Reroll 43. Drawngeon C+ Tier 42. Hundred Days 41. Rise of the Slime 40. Life is Strange: True Colors B Tier 39. Virginia 38. Omno 37. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising 36. Endling 35. Forma.8 34. Lost in Random 33. Minit 32. Catmaze 31. Lake B+ Tier 30. Doom Eternal 29. Atelier Marie Remake 28. Dandara Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Ryza 3 Axiom Verge 2 Bugsnax Carrion Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human FAR: Lone Sails Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Inside Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Mighty Switch Force! Collection Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Rain World Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Subnautica: Below Zero The DioField Chronicle Tropico 6 Tunche Two Point Campus Unpacking Ah, NOW we're burning the midnight oil. I guess this makes three entries since I last slept. One more and I'm officially an insomniac. I know I said I'd probably recommend every game that's still on the list, but I think that was a lie. We have two more entries to cover before I start vouching for these games. #27 - Mighty Switch Force! Collection This one is...certainly among unique company. I'd consider this the last of the "gimmicky" games I played this year. I don't know if there's a technical definition for that word, but I'd say any game that is entirely based around a singular idea is gimmicky. Katamari was gimmicky. Minit was gimmicky. Dandara was gimmicky. MSF was certainly gimmicky. I know there's usually a bad connotation associated with that word, but I think gimmicks are fine,. They're often some of the most creative games or parts of games. The problem is usually that they overstay their welcome or that they're too limited in scope to do much with them. Somehow, they got four games out of this gimmick, and you get to do all of them for the platinum. Go figure. So, what's the gimmick? You can move blocks from the foreground to the background and vice versa with the click of a button. That's honestly about the only thing that separates this from a traditional platformer (and it's a basic one at that). When a block is in the background, Patty can pass through it. When it's in the foreground, Patty can jump on it. The challenge of this game comes from making sure Patty doesn't get crushed by a block because you pulled it forward or fall to her death because you pushed it out of the way. It's actually a neat idea and it's absolutely infuriating to play. You hear people talk all the time about "fairness" in video games, that when your character dies in a well-balanced game, you'll feel like it's your fault. Yeah, how about when you're PHYSICALLY the one killing your character? This isn't you blaming Mario for not jumping when you told him to. This is you pressing the button that sends Patty to her death. YOU are the true villain in this game. And that's...I dunno, something new. I like games that present a challenge and give it to you in short bursts. MSF does that. It's also made by WayForward, who I obviously like. That doesn't mean I had fun playing it or consider it good for my blood pressure. This is just the extent to which I think I can try my skill, my patience, and my willingness to 100% every game I play. I think the only way this game gets a recommendation from me is if you like bite-sized challenges and can walk away when you've had enough. #26 - The DioField Chronicle Arguably, the most forgettable game of the year. I don't remember liking this game or hating it, which is why I feel comfortable putting it right here. I remember the story was (mostly) bad, but I feel like that with most games I play and not everybody agrees with me. I do try to give these games a chance. The gameplay was better, but there wasn't a lot of strategy in what was intended to be a tactical RPG. I really think gameplay suffers when developers are so insistent on incorporating real-time strategy into a console-based game. It just rarely works well. It's actually infuriating, for someone like me, to see this genre butchered over and over again. I imagine it's something like an LotR fan watching developers bastardize the franchise every chance they get. Like, it was done so well in Ogre Battle 64. Just make another game like that. Remaster it if you have to! I'll be the one person who played that game to buy it. Do it for me. Oh, I'm supposed to say good things about the game. Uh, Shionne was hot. Wait. That was the girl from Tales of Arise. I dunno. The girl who looked just like her. I'm not going to bother looking it up. Let's be real. The only reason this game made it this far on the list is because I like the genre and it's the only representation it has this year. I am unlikely to play a sequel. OK, we're at the halfway mark, more or less. Recommendations from here on out. #25 - Two Point Campus I feel this game would be higher if I hadn't played Two Point Hospital. You could probably take my original review from TPH and copy and paste it over to TPC. (True story: that's how they made this game.) I guess that's good if you liked TPH, but not so good if you like originality...? Eh. Probably another game that appeals to my softer side just because I like the genre. Unlike DioField, though, this was actually fun. Sort of? I mean, it was easier than TPH, which made it more fun, but I played it after TPH, so it wasn't as fun because it was too easy. You can think about it like playing through NG+ in any other video game. I'm always up for a victory lap, but I do think anybody interested in platinuming this series should start with this game and then play TPH. Still gets a recommendation, but it comes with that warning. Let me think before I press Submit... We still have six more games in the B+ tier... I don't want to accidentally allow some game to get a higher rank than it probably deserves. Like DIoField. ... ... Hm. Yeah. All six are better. Feeling good about the games going forward. I've been a little hesitant about some of these mid-level entries, but I'm trying to stick to which games gave me the most enjoyment overall. Edited December 10, 2023 by Cassylvania 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 10, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 10, 2023 (edited) The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #24-22 Current Ranking D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island C Tier 51. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 50. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series 49. Haven 48. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry 47. Cotton Reboot! 46. Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle 45. The Artful Escape 44. Katamari Damacy Reroll 43. Drawngeon C+ Tier 42. Hundred Days 41. Rise of the Slime 40. Life is Strange: True Colors B Tier 39. Virginia 38. Omno 37. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising 36. Endling 35. Forma.8 34. Lost in Random 33. Minit 32. Catmaze 31. Lake B+ Tier 30. Doom Eternal 29. Atelier Marie Remake 28. Dandara 27. Mighty Switch Force! Collection 26. The DioField Chronicle 25. Two Point Campus Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Ryza 3 Axiom Verge 2 Bugsnax Carrion Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human FAR: Lone Sails Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Inside Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Rain World Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Subnautica: Below Zero Tropico 6 Tunche Unpacking Let's continue pushing forward. I'm going to have to keep in mind these games aren't competing against the games we've already discussed; they're competing against each other. This needs to continue being a bloody battle, where only the best games will move on to the next tier. I see some more that won't make the cut. #24 - Tropico 6 I legitimately enjoyed this game and this series. It's not Cities: Skylines-level of good, but I think it has some fun campaigns, is easy to pick up without compromising complexity for those looking for a more strategic experience, and it has some really pleasant aesthetics from both a visual and audio perspective. This is the kind of game you can put 60+ hours in and then realize you haven't been to bed yet. So, this is nothing like the "bite-sized challenges" you get from something like MSF. This is a time sinker and I believe in my top 3 most played games of the year (we'll see when Sony releases the end-of-the-year statistics). In fact, if we remove Genshin, I think it would be #2. So, why here? I put the blame on the source of all the problems in my life: money. I was constantly broke in this game. I don't know if it's bad decisions on my part or bad game design, but I felt like even after I had mastered most of the game's mechanics, I was still struggling to keep my balance in the positives. I'd wait until I have enough money to build something, build it, and then have to wait until I got out of the red to build the next thing. Gave me a lot of time to think and reflect on my decisions, but it was horrible for achieving the results I wanted in a timely manner. You also have several tasks during the campaigns that are either nonsensical (like their only purpose is to needlessly hamper your progress, such as destroying all your churches or adding some industry that you are not equipped to deal with and is not profitable) or that would've been nice to know about beforehand because you could have been working towards them all along. I dunno. Imagine if you bought a LEGO set and you're following the directions and then you get to page 18 and it says, "OK, now tear down everything you're built and do this instead." Like...why? Why do you do this to me, game? I'm glad this series exists. I just wish it didn't blue ball me at every opportunity. #23 - Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town I guess I know what today's theme is: genres I like, and games that don't quite do them right. Much like that LotR fan watching every video game developer under the sun piss on their favorite franchise time after time, I've watched Natsume make a mockery out of the Harvest Moon series for most of my adult life. At the very least, Story of Seasons seems to be going back to the roots of what made farming games great. Is it perfect? No, but it's acceptable, and that's more than I've seen from any HM game since the Gamecube. I'd like to point out now, if I haven't already, that I'm trying to do these reviews purely from memory. I know I could go back and read my original review or pull up some video game footage from someone else to remind myself of what the game is like, but part of what I want to do with these rankings is ask myself, "What do you remember? What sticks out?" And you want to know what I remember about this game? Big, ugly, stupid machines. When I think of farming games, I want to think of nature, of crops, or tending to my fields and repairing my fence and watching my animals graze. Because, gee, I dunno, I play farming games because I enjoy the outdoors. What I don't want is to cover my whole fuckin' farm with machines to do the work for me. They're not even attractive! They're just giant, Fisher-Price-looking nonsense that take up too much room, get in your way, and turn this game into an automation simulator. Graveyard Keeper did it so much better with zombies. Hell, HM did it better with forest sprites. Love the genre. Hate the execution. Still find the "PoOT" acronym hilarious. #22 - Axiom Verge 2 Metroidvania #4 (I think?). If you had told me at the beginning of the year that this would've been one of the better Metroidvanias of 2023, I would've laughed -- because I honestly did not like the original. I know a lot of people did, I know that's why it got a sequel that is probably just as well-received, but I'm just not usually into the sci-fi scene. For whatever reason, I felt this game did it better. Maybe it's because it didn't cause me to break the shoulder button on the controller like the last game did. Solid game overall and a recommendation from me. That's as high praise as I can give. If I didn't have more to say about the three games ahead of it, I'd probably rank it higher, but you can rest easy knowing I'm not going to bitch about it like I did Tropico and PoOT. Maybe we'll wrap up the B+ tier this weekend. I'm feeling spicy today. Edited December 10, 2023 by Cassylvania 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSeajay7 Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 (edited) On 12/8/2023 at 7:19 PM, Cassylvania said: I was level 27 and she absolutely wiped the floor with me. Instead of trying to fight her again, I walked down the opposite corridor and ran into a hallway full of enemies. I have no idea what this hallway is for. It's literally a dead end with no collectibles or unlockable paths that I could see. But it was right before a checkpoint, so I started killing all the enemies, walked back to the checkpoint, and repeated. I found I could use two incenses in rapid succession and basically wipe every enemy on the screen in a matter of seconds. Within...oh, I dunno, twenty minutes, I was level 60. I steamrolled every enemy and boss in the game after that. Hmmm... I might put Minoria on my bucket list. Any game I can f**king exploit to become overpowered is a bonus to me. (I'm going to platinum Persona 5 Royal again and use the same strat -basically purchase the Uber God and spam Myriad Truths on every enemy in the game until I get Insta-Kill to get free EXP. ) Also hoping that my recommendation doesn't end up in B+ tier. FFXIV got nominated for two awards and lost them to Baldur's f**king Gate 3. I'll have a meltdown if a game I like doesn't win an award. Just kidding, Cass. Your reviews are pretty decent. Edited December 10, 2023 by ProfSeajay7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 11, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 11, 2023 (edited) On 12/10/2023 at 12:29 PM, ProfSeajay7 said: Also hoping that my recommendation doesn't end up in B+ tier. FFXIV got nominated for two awards and lost them to Baldur's f**king Gate 3. I'll have a meltdown if a game I like doesn't win an award. Well, Baldur's f**king Gate 3 looks pretty good and is certainly a contender for me to play next year. The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #21-19 Current Ranking D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island C Tier 51. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 50. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series 49. Haven 48. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry 47. Cotton Reboot! 46. Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle 45. The Artful Escape 44. Katamari Damacy Reroll 43. Drawngeon C+ Tier 42. Hundred Days 41. Rise of the Slime 40. Life is Strange: True Colors B Tier 39. Virginia 38. Omno 37. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising 36. Endling 35. Forma.8 34. Lost in Random 33. Minit 32. Catmaze 31. Lake B+ Tier 30. Doom Eternal 29. Atelier Marie Remake 28. Dandara 27. Mighty Switch Force! Collection 26. The DioField Chronicle 25. Two Point Campus 24. Tropico 6 23. Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town 22. Axiom Verge 2 Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Atelier Ryza 3 Bugsnax Carrion Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human FAR: Lone Sails Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Inside Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Rain World Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Subnautica: Below Zero Tunche Unpacking Yoku's Island Express (oops... forgot to include this game all along... maybe nobody will notice) Looking over the remaining 21 games... hm. I know I said there were less than 20 games this year that I'd consider to be "good" (meaning A tier or higher), but I think this is the perfect time to draw the line in the sand and say we've crossed the threshold. If there was such a thing as the B++ tier, that's where we'd be now. But there's not. And I still have some complaining to do! So, let's see who's not making it to the dance... #21 - Atelier Ryza 3 From first to worst to somewhere in between. I'm probably the only person in the world to like Ryza 1 and not like Ryza 2. I'm also probably the only person in the world to like Ryza 3 and not like Ryza 2. Maybe it was my mindset, maybe it was the excitement that comes from finally completing this series (a task I somehow accomplished twice this year, after already completing it last year), but I had a rather chill experience with this game. Again, you have to realize that Ryza 1 was the first game in this series where I actually, truly, unironically appreciated the story. I usually fall somewhere between rolling my eyes at the story or cringing. But unlike a lot of games where I feel like that, one of the reasons I love this series is because the characters are always likable, even if the story's not. Ryza 1 broke that trend. The whimsical nature of the first Ryza game, coupled with the memories it brought back from my own childhood, just touched me in a different way. I'm not going to say this one did the same, but it was a fine sendoff for what I assume is the last game in this trilogy. If I know Gust, good things always come in threes. So... I'm assuming Sophie 3 next? (I just Googled and it, wow, what a name.) (Wait, nevermind. It's a mobile game.) (What a terrible idea.) (Stop making mobile games.) Oh, uh... Right. Ryza 3 was simply a fine JRPG. Certainly above the Marie remake. While I didn't mind the chibi graphics in that game, I'm not going to deny or underplay how much prettier this game was to look at. I've always liked gathering and crafting in these games, the combat mechanics were par for the course when it comes to the series, and I will continue banging the drum on this series until everybody at least tries an Atelier game. But... it's not Ryza 1, so this is as far as it goes. Thicc saves may save lives, but that doesn't get them to the dance. #20 - Tunche Cute game. Want to say questionable execution, but it wouldn't slide into the top 20 without making up for it in other ways. The biggest problem with this game is likely just not having enough gameplay variety, even if there are five playable characters and they each handle differently. This can be OK if each of those characters feel fun to play. In fact, there are at least three other games on this list (that we haven't gotten to yet) that do just that. Unfortunately, whether it was a product of game design or the developers favoring some characters over the others, it feels like the game was centered around only one or two characters and the others were added later as (mandatory?) DLC. This results in a game that asks you to play through it a bit too many times from what is has to offer. I still like it because of the graphics, the characters, and the charm it exudes, but it simply cannot be put in A tier because of how repetitive the gameplay can be. I do not typically like button mashers, and this one had my fingers bleeding. Nayra still best girl. #19 - Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Oooh, so close, Cal. You almost had it. I'm going to rant right now. I've been holding this one in for a while. A while ago, I believe it was @DrBloodmoney (forgive me if I'm wrong), said that the first game in this series was "soooo laaaaaaame" (I'm paraphrasing). And I was all like, "Oh no you didn't!" Because I'm thinking to myself, "Wow, Star Wars combined with Dark Souls? It's like peanut butter and jelly!" I don't have to feel like that LotR fan anymore, watching my favorite series be put through bad game after bad game. And... to be fair, Star Wars has fared better in its video game adaptions over the years. I dunno what's up with all those Battlefront games, but I remember having fun on the SNES, N64, and even the first Star Wars Jedi game. And, as I played through Survivor, I felt more of the same. It was good. It was fun. I got to feel like a Jedi. I felt a little spoiled, like I was getting to eat my favorite meal every day for a week. Why then did it feel...bad? And I gave it a glowing review, I think... I even put it right here, just shy of A tier, because I still think it's a solid entry in a solid series, and one that I know is going to continue, if the real Game Awards is to be believed... but... I'm reminded of something. Something dark. Something sinister. Something with a ponytail and a bow. It took me until now to realize this, but I've been down this road before. I went to take you back. WAY back. I mean, back to the very first game I played on this account. On September 22, 2015, I popped my first trophy in Tomb Raider (2013). I had lost track of how many times I had played through the intro of that game. It was my third time platinuming it. I loved that representation of Lara Croft. I don't think I even played a Tomb Raider game before that! But it looked so pretty and she looked so good. I loved the survival mechanics, the archery, the guns, the way she went from being a timid little mouse to a bloodthirsty savage. It was arguably the most I've ever enjoyed a AAA game from a non-Nintendo company. And then Lara 2 came out. And it was fine. And I probably would've given it a glowing review if I was reviewing games at that time. I don't think I was. Maybe you can go back and see. But I remember liking the snow environments... and the archery... and the shooting... It was... more of the same... I should like it... ... ...and then Shadow of the Tomb Raider released. And I played it. And my blood began to boil. I saw Lara in a total different light. What was this shit? What did you do, Crystal Dynamics? How did you take something I love and turn it into THIS? Lara was selfish and unlikable. The plot was beyond stupid. Every area was a scripted cutscene. The AI had zero intelligence, Lara had to play dress-up to go anywhere, and backtracking felt like a slog because the game was an on-rails shooter in disguise. Was this series always this bad? Did it just become that bad in the third entry, or were the warning signs there all along? And I look at Rise of the Tomb Raider and I think to myself, "It was more of the same, but I wasn't enjoying it as much as I thought I did." And that... may have been the warning sign. Complacency. Breeds contempt. I should've known I'd have a falling out with Lara because I hadn't fallen more in love with her after the second game. I just accepted it and moved on. I wasn't out here banging the drums for Lara or mentioning Dark Souls in every review. There was something very, very wrong, and I just didn't see it in time. I know this isn't a Lara review. This is a Cal review. And, by all accounts, I should've liked this game. I did like this game. I'm going to say the exact same thing when we get to Miles Morales (don't worry -- he's not far behind), but I think series need to evolve over time. Take a page from Arkham. I want to be excited about another game with Cal Kestis, but I'm just...not. And if that's not a warning sign, then I don't know what is. So... I'm going to leave it on that. I had some performance issues, which I think were the main complaint with this game coming out of the gate, but not enough to bother me or hinder my progress. My concerns run much deeper. I see a dark side to this series. I see a storm brewing. I want to love this so much more than I do, but you're not going to the dance, Cal. You're not even going to the after party. You're going to sit and think about what you did and ask yourself, "Do I really want to be the next Lara Croft?" No. Be something greater. Edited December 12, 2023 by Cassylvania 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 6 minutes ago, Cassylvania said: A while ago, I believe it was @DrBloodmoney (forgive me if I'm wrong), said that the first game in this series was "soooo laaaaaaame" (I'm paraphrasing). I wouldn't have used the word lame... ...but yeah, probably me! What a fart-in-the-bathtub that game was 😂 I stand by it!! ✊ 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cassylvania Posted December 12, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 12, 2023 The 5th Annual Game of the Year Awards (2023) #18-16 Current Ranking D Tier 53. Bee Simulator 52. Time on Frog Island C Tier 51. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 50. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series 49. Haven 48. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry 47. Cotton Reboot! 46. Rooms: The Unsolvable Puzzle 45. The Artful Escape 44. Katamari Damacy Reroll 43. Drawngeon C+ Tier 42. Hundred Days 41. Rise of the Slime 40. Life is Strange: True Colors B Tier 39. Virginia 38. Omno 37. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising 36. Endling 35. Forma.8 34. Lost in Random 33. Minit 32. Catmaze 31. Lake B+ Tier 30. Doom Eternal 29. Atelier Marie Remake 28. Dandara 27. Mighty Switch Force! Collection 26. The DioField Chronicle 25. Two Point Campus 24. Tropico 6 23. Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town 22. Axiom Verge 2 21. Atelier Ryza 3 20. Tunche 19. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Remaining Games 13 Sentinels A Short Hike Bugsnax Carrion Deliver Us The Moon Detroit: Become Human FAR: Lone Sails Gal Guardians: Demon Purge Green Hell Inside Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Rain World Risk of Rain Risk of Rain 2 Subnautica: Below Zero Unpacking Yoku's Island Express We've made it to the playoffs! Just look at that sexy list of contenders. Eighteen games that make me think, "Wow, I still love this hobby." This is what I want to see more of in the future. Good games. Games that I can look back on at the end of the year and say they were worth playing. If you're a game on this list and you've made it this far, thank you. You all have a special place in my heart. Now, let's back to roasting the worst ones. This is, of course, the A tier now. When I first separated these games into tiers, I wasn't considering breaking them into C and C+ or B and B+, so I only have the A and S tiers remaining. I was originally going to tell you guys how many I have in the A tier...but that would spoil how many of them made it to S...and now I'm thinking it might be kinda fun to have an A+ tier. Where's the line going to be? I have no idea! Let's find out together. We'll just keep picking out the worst remaining games each day until I feel we're at another tipping point. #18 - Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales Told you that it wouldn't be long. You can basically copy pasta my rant from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Why one spot and one tier higher then? Well, for one thing, Miles Morales doesn't advertise itself as a sequel. It basically came across as a stand-alone DLC that just happened to be the cost of a standard edition game...a few years ago. The actual Spider-Man 2 just released a couple months ago and I'm assuming it's pretty good, based on the reviews. We'll see later. Meanwhile, Cal is out here asking $69.99 for a game that came out rather broken and didn't excite me to see a completed trilogy. The fact I'm actually willing to play Spider-Man 2 within a year's time is enough to put it here. But not much higher. #17 - Risk of Rain 2 Speaking of sequels that didn't impress me as much as the original... Yeah... So, let's take a moment to appreciate it got this far. Honestly, I wasn't impressed the first time @Briste and I played the game. I think we're on the same page with this one. This game, this concept -- it's simply better in 2D (the way the original was) than 3D (the way this was one). Basically, if you want the TL;DR version of this series, this is a rogue-like where you're fighting never-ending waves of enemies. Over time, these enemies get stronger and stronger, but so do you, as you're constantly searching for artifacts to make your character more powerful. You can think of it as sort of an arms race, where the purpose of the game is to break the game. I like that. I like when a game openly asks you to abuse its mechanics. It's basically how I play every strategy game. I'd even argue, in some ways, this is a strategy game. It's much more reaction-based, sure, but knowing what artifacts to grab, what synergies go well together, and when you should stay in a level versus when you should advance or loop is a major part of the game. The best thing I can say about this game is that it dropped a single DLC trophy a few weeks ago and -- outside of the cost -- I don't mind. It got to the point where it was mindless fun for me and I'm OK with that. And I'm OK with this placement. No major compliments, but not as good as the remaining games. #16 - Unpacking ...Hm. ...Hmmm. ...HMMMMMMMMMM. Yeah. #16 works. There are people out there who are going to like this game a lot more than me. There are also a lot of people who won't, but they're not the kind of people who would play or even consider a game like this. It's a cozy game. It's...relaxing, I think. It may or may not have been good for my OCD. And it's probably better played on PC or Switch, I imagine. But such is the price we pay as trophy hunters. There's also a timing aspect here, where I've spent all year renovating a house that really needed it (two, actually) and packing and unpacking. I think it hurt the game more than helped it, honestly, because a lot of games I've been playing lately have had to suffer me not in a good mood. That just comes from where I am and my state of mind right now. I think I could've appreciated this game a lot more if I had played it at any other time. So, consider this placement a way for me to show respect to the game, while acknowledging that it just caught me at a bad time. Similarly, every game after this was either a really big surprise to me or a lot of fun. This game was simply what I expected it to be. Not that there's anything wrong with that. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Mep Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 @Cassylvania Fun fact my wife and I purchased our first house and renovated it and did a huge purge and big move this past summer then about 2 months later we played and absolutely adored Unpacking. It's just so chill. I really can't explain why we enjoyed it so much. We just did. Hell we even went for the alternative playthrough where you put everything in the wrong spot even though there was no trophy for it. Highly recommend going for that when you're in a better mood though haha. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now