Games of the Year 2023

 These are the 10 games that were the most memorable for me!

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid being on my GOTY list is odd, but not the most improbable game on the list. Konami did release the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 this year with the game included, but it is actually a pretty bad port with audio issues and other problems (though being able to play the original Japanese Metal Gear Solid is nice) and it isn’t a game that you will probably see on many other lists.

Metal Gear Solid made my list because it gave me resolve and gave me the perspective I needed to speak out.

The game has always been mired in politics, but the politics aren’t exactly complex. They pretty much boil down to “nuclear weapons are bad,” and the only complexity it really has is its love of how cool weapons and the military are, but how war is not cool. I remember as a youth trying to argue with an anti-video game violence spokesperson about how video games do try to have non-violent political opinions, but they shut me down because Metal Gear Solid requires you to kill people to proceed.

In my younger self’s defense, military violence always has this contradiction. If anything, Metal Gear Solid’s ability to show how committing violence to gain peace will always feel off, and trying to justify your violent actions will always come off as excuses. This is why when Hamas killed 1,332 people, and then Israel reacted by bombing Gaza for weeks and weeks, it felt off to me.

Well, it felt off because of what I went through on 9/11, and then the wars that came after. Seeing the parallels between how US intelligence knew this was coming and did nothing, and Israeli intelligence knowing this was coming and did nothing raised a few red flags. I’ve already gone through a leader pretending that killing innocent people will somehow make the world safer, and the idea that those who oppose it aren’t patriots.

I watched an NPR interview with Benjamin Netanyahu about the bombings in Gaza, and he avoided the 9/11 comparisons and focused on how his bombing of Gaza was more like when the US bombed Germany in WWII. It isn’t really a good metaphor, but it did remind me of how Liquid Snake, the antagonist of Metal Gear Solid, would rant about how he had been cheated his whole life and was owed revenge. Both Liquid Snake and Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t really care what you think, they just want to justify their violence. They want to make you feel bad enough so they can just roll over you, and do what they think is right.

In both cases, I just want them to stop, and for the violence to end. Replaying through the game helped me remember why we speak out about these things, and reminded me that yes, it can be corny, and maybe you don’t get everything right, but speaking out against injustice and pleading for a ceasefire whenever you can is the right thing to do. Metal Gear Solid didn’t tell me what I should do, but reminded me of the fire needed to keep fighting for what is right.

Ceasefire in Gaza now.

Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

(Link is forming an air bike with Auto-Build in a middle of a grain field, it is just one steering stick platform, and two fans, the fan on the front is a little misaligned to the left)

Tulin: How come you always use this bike?

Link: Well, it helps me get places I normally couldn’t.

Tulin: No, I mean, I get that. Why do you use that bike? Everytime you use it you go immediately to the left, and have to steer to correct it.

Link: Hmmmm, that is a good question, Yunobo, why do you think I use this particular bike?

Yunobo: Uhhhhh (thinks for a beat), because you’re used to it now?

Link: Yeah, I like that answer, why change something that isn’t broke.

Riju: But it IS broken. You can’t fly that thing straight to save your life.

Tulin: He eventually can, it just takes a while.

Mineru: I can assist you if you like.

Link: Look, everybody, I like this bike, it gets me where I want to go! Who cares if it leans to the left or not.

Yunobo: My dad always says that just because it is broken, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a use.

Link: Exactly! Well, this isn’t broken but…

Yunobo: He usually says that about my head though. You think my head is broken?

Riju: Your head is fine, but Link, you should really let Mineru help you here…

Link: Look, it’s fine! Here, watch me go!

(Link starts to go forward, then rears to the left, hitting a mountain, and falls)

Link: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (hits the bottom of a valley)

Mineru: I’ll go get him

Riju: We should probably go get Sidon since I think that is water down there.

Sidon: Already got him! I’ve been waiting here the entire time. Forethought always wins out!

(Yunobo, Riju, and Tulin shrug their shoulders and go after Link, who looks to be okay, if not a little beat up)

Melon’s Journey Pocket

Melon’s Journey Pocket is an original Gameboy game released in 2023. It is cute and charming, but the real reason it is on this list is because of the Analogue Pocket. The Analogue Pocket is a portable device that supports both physical Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance physical carts as it does digital only games you can load onto a micro SD card and load them to your Pocket. This makes the device both the height of portable video game nostalgia, and also the bleeding edge of hipster, weird independent games that have decided to wrestle with 34 year-old technology to make something new. It is sort of beautiful to have new Gameboy graphics, music, and experiences.

The act of formatting the micro SD card, finding the game on the internet, loading it on the Analogue Pocket, and playing through a 30-50 minute game feels magical. It feels like how games should be. You should be able to pay somebody 5 bucks to play a game that just feels special. I can’t say that the novelty will last forever, but there is a magical feeling in legally buying a small game from a creator or team and being able to boot it up in your Gameboy-like device.

This is what has led me to the conundrum that I have been facing for years: Why do physical games, and digital games I paid for feel more real and playable then games you can download for free? Is it just my capitalism poisoned brain that won’t allow me to fully enjoy games I didn’t pay for? Or is it something about the physical carts, and digital files from the source that are more authentic? In any case, I am happy to support people making Gameboy games until the end of time.

Rogue Legacy 2

Making addicting games, games that you will play over and over again, is probably more science than art at this point. I am sure there are textbooks locked away in game studios and universities that analyze all the pain points, and all you can do to keep the player going. Rogue Legacy 2 certainly has that knowledge in spades, knowing how much you can upgrade yourself as you throw yourself into the ever shifting castle. The thing that makes it better than its predecessor, and the many 2D action rogue-likes that exist in this genre, is how it is able to balance both humor and a genuinely interesting story into the grind of going into the castle, dying, upgrading, and then going back.

As you level up, gain new abilities, and find your groove, Rogue Legacy 2 becomes a very dangerous, comfy experience. Sure, you will die a lot, there will be runs that don’t go anywhere, but the more you put time into it, the more stuff you can get out of it, even further than many other games in the same genre. It is a game I will go back to, and perfect my wooden spoon cook and exploding boxing gloves pugilist, but in the meantime, I will leave it here as the most played Steam Deck games this year.

Resident Evil 8 VR

I have already written about this game here: https://ddrog.blogspot.com/2023/06/resident-evil-8-vr-review.html, but it still remains one of my favorite games of 2023, and probably my favorite action VR experience. One thing I didn’t really go into is how much I enjoyed Ethan Winters as a protagonist. Resident Evil isn’t really known for its pathos, but playing through Resident Evil 7 and 8 this year, it was hard not to feel sorry for this guy who only seems to want to do the right thing. He wasn’t incredibly deep, but there is something about how he grows in these games, and how he survives that makes him memorable. Every time he gives a single word expletive, pleads for his life, or tries, and fails, to do some sort of action movie one liner, it is hard to not root for him, and at the end, feel incredibly sad for him.

Before Your Eyes VR

Before Your Eyes was originally a game only for Windows that needed a camera to function the way the game design intended. This is because it is a story of someone’s life that utilizes when you blink in order to move forward in the narrative. It is a story about looking back at this character’s life, and reflecting upon it. It is a story that is relatable, but can be profoundly sad. It is something that should be played by anyone looking for the power that interactive media can bring to story-telling, and the VR for me makes it just that more effective.

Before Your Eyes uses both intimate and vast environments to convey that story, and being able to experience that in VR is amazing. There are things that this game really wants you to feel on a physical level that just feels better seeing it right at your face. Though, when the game showed its cards and made me burst into tears, the VR headset isn’t really the ideal place to deal with that sort of moisture coming out of my face. In any case, there were images and choices I made that I don’t think I’ll be forgetting for a long time.

Lil Gator Game

It feels like there is a new subgenre out there that involves low-impact gameplay with 3D platforming emerging lately. I started noticing it with A Short Hike (also a fantastic game), and continued with games Here Comes Niko!, Tinykin, and more. These feel like games that take the platforming and collecting of things in games like Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie, but removes a lot of the difficulty and stakes in order to provide a more laid back experience. This year was tough, so having these types of games is a boon. Lil Gator Game shined for me this year because it manages to be fun, chill, and still feel like it is meaningful.

While I love these games, by the end, often the “comfort 3D platformer” feels a little empty. You collect all the things, and then the game ends, and you are left to just find another game like it if you weren’t satisfied. With Lil Gator Game, going through the dynamics of the Lil Gator and their older sister, and gathering up all the friends, just struck a chord in me that made it feel much more meaningful. Going through the arc of Lil Gator navigating these relationships, while jumping and collecting things on the island felt great both mechanically, and narratively.

Yakuza 0

Yakuza 0 was a game I started playing in 2018, and finally finished this year. It feels like I finally turned a new leaf when I finally got to the end. Having now played 7 Yakuza games, and finishing 3, Yakuza 0 still seems to have the best of the series. It has the best story, best mechanics, and the 80’s atmosphere just helps fill in the cracks that this series tends to have. Now the series is called Like A Dragon, and I do want to play the new entries, but I have a bunch to play before I ever get there.

It just feels nice to play a game, and go back to it year after year. I get in my head about buying and playing too many games, but Yakuza 0 proved to me that I still can go back to games in my backlog, have a great time, and have them be a part of my life. The struggles of Kiryu and Majima became something that I enjoyed over the years. Sometimes the power of video games isn’t just showing or doing something exciting, but being something that is there for you whenever you want to go back.

Shovel Knight Treasure Trove (King of Cards)

Talking about games I have come back to over the years, Shovel Knight continues to be the pinnacle of the 2D action platformer. With so much content added over the years, it hasn’t been until this year that I actually played through all the stories. King of Cards was a fun one that I never expected to fall in love with. This is because a big (albeit optional) part of the game was a card game. I have bad memories of wasting time on card games in video games, especially when I ended up losing good cards, but King of Cards allows you to recover from these loses pretty easily. The real joy in the card game is realizing how and when to cheat. The cheats are so ingenious as they both allow you to win, and get better at the game at the same time. By the end, I didn’t need them because I finally understood how the card mechanics worked together.

In a way, I think Shovel Knight's real trick is covering everything in retro video game paint in order to experience new things. It may look like Megaman, Duck Tales, or some other classic 80’s video game, but it really is a revolutionary design that learns from those old games to do something completely new. By the end, I loved all the knights, perhaps even more than I loved any character from those old games.

There Swings a Skull: Grim Tidings

There Swings a Skull: Grim Tidings is a game I have thought a lot about. It is a short indie game about two perspectives of a couple experiencing what could very well be the end of the world. As people are randomly combusting, and their ashes are all that remains, both characters go on their journey to figure out what to do as everyone around them falls to an awful fate. As the world goes the way it has this year, watching dead children cry with blood on their faces, watching people argue while people die, and people preventing anything being done to stop the violence, There Swings a Skull was always in the back of my mind. It was one of the few games that fit the vibes the world was giving.

I don’t think the game necessarily has any direct message about how to avoid this crisis, but a lot of it is about being there for the one you love, and maybe by working together, you can make the world better, even if it is just for yourselves. It can be a tough game to play through, but it also does have a wacky story you can play through once you get through both stories. At the time, it felt oddly non sequitur, but as time went on, I gained an appreciation for just being silly sometimes as respite.

Jury Duty

I have been requested to do jury jury 3 times before, and 2 of them I just waited for 4 hours and got to go home, and 1 I had to go into a whole thing because I didn't live in the state anymore. I felt like my number was coming up for a to actually sit on a jury for a case this time. 

I had already delayed it for a year, so it was finally time to take my chance, and fulfill my civic duty. I got on the train at 7:30 AM, and got to the courthouse around 8:30 AM. We then proceeded to wait for 3 hours (got some book reading in), and then the jury selection began. It was a civil trial for a car accident that happened in 2018, so they only needed 7 people (I think actually only 6 were needed and 1 alternate), and there was 18 people, so my chances of being picked were low. They had actually picked 7 people, and I was ready to go home, but then they dismissed 2 people, and called me up. I told them I was in a car accident before, so I may be biased, but they didn't give a shit apparently, so I was now in the jury box.

The case started fine, the two lawyers said this was a he said/she said issue, and that an older couple was suing this this 30 something guy. The thing is that the older couple didn't speak English. This normally doesn't matter, but in a place where they have to be interviewed and cross examined through an interpreter, it unraveled pretty quickly. The lawyer for the older couple looked nice, and had an accent that I could only really parse 50% of the time. I only really understood the interpreter, and the questions for the first 2 hours of the trial were mainly just about who the old couple were, and how this crash effected them. I still had no idea what the crash even was, or what happened, which is really what this whole thing is balanced upon.

The defendant's layer was quite possibly the most hipster person I have seen since 2010. He had a bow tie, and a jacket that just needed a steam punk hat, and he would be at home at the experimental music section in any record store. He was clearly trying to "gotcha" the old couple, but he was foiled every time. For example, he would show the old lady a picture of this crashed car, and ask them if they recognize it, and they would say they don't remember. He then would still move on to the next question ("in your opinion, does this look like a car was going slow when it was in that accident?") as if the prior question had the answer they wanted, rather than the one they gave. 

My favorite exchange was where they said they were in an accident in 2017, and they told their chiropractor that they had lots of back pain, but why they didn't go back in 2018? The old lady just said they weren't in business anymore, and the lawyer just said "fair enough." There was even a moment where the older couple's lawyer was trying to establish that the weather was nice and sunny on the day of the accident, and when the defendant's lawyer tried to pull a gotcha implying that the sun being out meant that they were liable for the accident, they then went unto a whole thing where they said only the weather was nice. When the defendant's lawyer tried to ask if it was sunny outside during the accident, the translator just didn't get through, and we never actually found out.

Now, maybe I have just watched too many detective shows, but since they knew the date, and the time of the accident, whether or not the sun was out during the accident isn't a mystery. This is something you can look up. I actually did look it up, and it looks like sundown was at 4:31 PM on the day of the accident, so it was probably pretty dark. This could not be said in court though, and it did make me wonder about how this happened in 2018, and yet both lawyers seemed to not be prepared for this case at all.

By the end of day 1, I was more confused about this whole incident than I was at the beginning, and we still had no idea how the crash even happened. The next day (Friday, which is my day off by the way) at 9 AM, they brought us back in the waiting room, made us wait another hour, then brought us back into the court. We sat for another 10 minutes, and then the judge said to take a break. I took this chance to get some donuts. After the break, the judge steps into the jury waiting room, tells us they are making a legal ruling that they don't need us anymore. Luckily I had donuts, but the whole thing left me so confused, that I don't even have an opinion about who was liable. I never even heard the defendant speak. It was just a bunch of hours waddling through translations, without having to actually rule on it.

It was a confounding experience. Any sense that I had done my civic duty had dissolved, but at least I now have this story to tell.

Resident Evil 8 VR Review

Playing through Resident Evil 8 VR made me realize that I only a fraction of a fraction of people will be in the same situation as me. That is to say that as a person who could afford a Playstation VR2, never played any VR other than PSVR1, and never played Resident Evil 8 before, it is hard to imagine many people being in my position. That being said, I wanted to write a review because I think RE8VR figured out something about survival horror that I had not even considered. 

Survival Horror as a concept has been codified to mean something that makes getting through the game tougher and more resource focused. Whether that is through challenging game play and forcing you to use healing items, movement systems that force you to be more deliberate, and limited inventory space, Survival Horror hinges on the player making (hopefully) interesting choices to get through the game. As time went on however, Survival Horror as a concept will cling onto some of these concepts, and leave others behind to make getting through the game more akin to an action game than something you have to "survive" through. Resident Evil turned from a Survival Horror series into more Horror Themed action series. RE8VR keeps this tradition, and it is very much an action game, but the VR adds two important things: the VR enables visuals with added depth, and motion controls that, by default, require you to manually reload your weapons. 

The first added thing is obvious: what makes VR virtual is how the environment now has full depth, but it is surprising how much RE8 feels like it was made for VR. Perhaps this is just how the developers use a first person perspective, or remnants of how Resident Evil 7 in VR was made, but there are moments and environments that seemed tailor made for virtual reality. Whether it is something going right into your face, or the ability to look around and look right at the monster approaching you, never has Resident Evil felt like a horror movie (perhaps not since RE7VR).

The second thing isn't as obvious, which is how the game by default requires you to use motion controls to take out and reload your weapons. Some VR games are compatible with a normal controller, RE8VR utilizes the PSVR2 motion controllers to aim, choose your weapons, and reload. Reloading via motion controls is on by default, and it is something you can turn off, but new functionality redefined what Survival Horror meant for me. Before, it would be about what handicaps the player has in order to facilitate interesting choices, but now with manual reloading, the ability you have to precisely reload a gun while something is trying to harm you adds a new dimension to Resident Evil. In games like Resident Evil 4, being able to shoot with a laser sight and reload like a button made you feel like a special ops badass, but fumbling to put in a clip, trying the trigger, and then having to remember to cock the gun, only for you to run away from whatever harm is quickly approaching you, reintroduces the horror and interesting choices. As the game progresses, you get better and better, but then as you get more powerful guns, figuring out how to reload them in the middle of a fight is something you have to relearn as the game progresses. 

These two things work in harmony to bring what could be a new direction for the Resident Evil series (well, at least in VR). Having things that pop out at you, and then fumbling to make sure you can continue to defend yourself, makes for an experience that I really enjoyed. Survival Horror becomes more about that moment when you realize that reloading your new pistol isn't how it used to be, and scrambling to pick yourself up and put yourself back into a place of power. It just feels right to be in the shoes of RE8VR protagonist Ethan Winter's shoes, and not knowing how to reload a sniper rifle while fighting a dragon. It feels like the ideal way to play the game for me.

While is was ideal for me, it should be said that it isn't a perfect experience. With some cut scenes still being in 2D (including the ending), some loss of motion tracking (only happened to me once in a fight, but it wasn't great), some graphics clearly not being made to be looked up close (it was also a bummer to try and read any book titles as they were always blurry), and special modes like Mercenaries not making the cut (no trophy support was also disappointing, but I'd rather had more modes than trophies), it feels like all the polish and time went into the full game, and they didn't have the time or money to work on anything else. Overall though, Resident Evil 8 VR redefined what it means to be a scary game, and the potential they can have to make some fun, scary times.

5 Games that mean a lot to me

I read a writing prompt inspired by the My Perfect Console to write about 5 games that meant a lot to you and your life, and decided to write them out. These aren't necessarily my favorite games, or the best games, but the games that were significant in my life.

1. Persona 3P

I met my then girlfriend, now wife, when she was living in Kyushu near where I lived, but we didn't actually start going out until she moved much farther away from me. This meant in order to see each other, we had to take 2 hour plus train and bus rides. There was a lot of time to kill, and that is where this game came and ate those hours with exploring Tartarus, making social links, and uncovering the mystery of the Dark Hour. The game took 100 hours to complete, which were colored by looking forward to seeing the one I loved, and then the melancholy of having to go back home. Persona 3 Portable is so intertwined with the beginning of the relationship of my wife, that it is hard not to remember one and not the other. It is what filled the spaces of my life while I was falling even further in love. In that way, it is a way for me to remember the things I was into all the way back then.

2. Final Fantasy 7

Middle school was awful. Honestly, top 3 worst time in my life. Even compared to later in life when I would have an anal fissure, broken bones, a concussion, they just don't compare to middle school. The only times that are worse are times when I had to deal with the sickness and death of loved ones. They are awful for the same reasons: loss of control of being able to feel anything other than the relief that nothing could get worse at that moment. This is why Final Fantasy 7 stood out to me because it was one of the things I remember that went right during this time. It felt like me being a fan of Final Fantasy was finally paying off, and now everyone was enjoying the video games I liked to play. I could finally talk to people about Cloud, Tifa, Barrett and the rest and have some sort of chance that they would know, or at least be curious. The rest of my life may have been filled with awfulness and angst, but at least I could talk to somebody about how hard it was to get Knights of the Round.

3. Nier

When I played Chrono Trigger, I remember thinking that this was the best game ever made. The graphics, the music, and the story. Oh the story! Never did I think a game would ever make me feel the pure feeling of this gesamtkunstwerk than Chrono Trigger did. It became this feeling of nostalgia, something I would never truly feel again. Then I remember sitting on my floor couch, loading this into my PS3, and playing it for a few hours. I can't remember when exactly in the game it was, but at some point it hit be like a brick. I was experiencing the same sort of joy, the feeling of everything coming to together to create that gesamtkunstwerk feeling all over again. Something I felt like I would never was going to feel quite the same again. It made me realize that perhaps this feeling was more personal, and less universal than I thought, but it was great to feel that way about a video game again after to long. I now have music CDs, books, and other materials from Nier that I have consumed, all so I can live in that moment again. It just goes to show that video games can still wow me every so often.

4. Kentucky Route 0

Kentucky Route 0 is a game that even when I didn't get it, even when the broader commentary of what this game was trying to say were obscured to me, I loved the vibe of it. It spoke to a sadness, and a feeling of loss that I didn't know how to label yet. Even when I completed it, the ending sort of confused me because I didn't realize that Kentucky Route 0 isn't about a delivery to 5 Dogwood Drive and the characters trying to get there, or at least, it wasn't just about that, but about the mythology of America, and how it has died. Perhaps it never existed. Just like a recording of a priest playing to an empty building, it somehow keeps resonating. This is the first game that has hit me like a good book, and it is something that I still think about every so often. 

 5. Dance Dance Revolution

Dance Dance Revolution changed how I play video games, and how I appreciate them. DDR is why I bought a $500+ VR headset in 2023, and am having fun with it. Video games aren't just about sitting in a chair and pressing buttons on a controller, it is about getting up and breaking out into a sweat. I still remember the elation and the rush of endorphins when I was able to get through Maxx Unlimited on the Heavy difficulty. I remember getting shin splints playing this game on a concrete floor and having to sit out of football practice. It saddens me that this game has faded into relative obscurity, and the only glimpse of these dancing games are hidden in particular arcades that are themselves dying out. If I had unlimited money, I would make a non-profit organization that would make sure Dance Dance Revolution was made available on every platform, and that good dance pads were made to support those platforms. We'll just have to settle for emulation, and googling websites for pads that hopefully won't be too expensive and will actually stand the abuse of being stomped on.

Horizon Call of the Mountain Review

Horizon Call of the Mountain's premise is that you are always chasing somebody. First it is your brother, and then the big baddie, and that premise leads to the assumption that no matter where you go, someone else has already been there. This leads to narrative justification for why all the climbing paths have white or yellow paint, and why supplies are all over the place, but this also leads to a feeling that this has been done all before. It is hard not to then expand this from the literal story to how the game was made for it is trying to stand on the shoulders of giants of other VR games. Games like Half Life Alyx surely influenced development, but the game this is the spiritual successor of is the PSVR1 AAA VR experiment Blood and Truth. Though it is a successor, it feels a little behind that game in some ways.

Perhaps saying the game is "behind" isn't fair, because from a graphical standpoint, other than the occasional flat flower or flat fire texture, it is a beautiful game. It fully takes advantage of the premise of climbing a mountain by constantly barraging you with beautiful vistas. Whether it is majestic waterfalls, or a cool robot frozen on top of a mountain, Horizon has the "cool thing in the distance" on lock. What you are actually doing in these environments is mostly climbing and finding items. Climbing is done in the typical VR way of waving your hands around and alternate triggers, and it can actually give a sweat if you do it fast enough. In between climbs, you investigate various villages, abandoned factories, etc. for items to improve your armor or make arrows. This is where the feeling of "this has been done before" really starts to sink in. You will never run into anyone while climbing for (with the exception one or two scripted moments), or run into anything that is anything other than climbing or use a tool that assists in climbing. You will run into settlements, which are interesting at first, but the cut and paste of assets make these rather rote by the end of the game.

One of the things that breaks the climbing portions apart is the combat, which, due to how they made the combat mechanics, always takes place in either a circle or straight line arena. You primarily have to shoot dozens of arrows at a robot (with different damage depending on where you hit) and then dodge when the enemy attacks you. These combat encounters are pretty fun at first, but by the last boss, having to sling what felt like 300 arrows to a single target while dodging attacks become tiresome. Sure, you can use different types of arrows and status effects to make enemies weaker, but your strategic options are limited by ammo, and I never got a good read on if there was a strategy to make the fights less repetitive.

The other thing that breaks up the gameplay is the story. The protagonist Ryas is always talking to themselves, and they are on a trek to redeem themselves. I haven't played a lot of the other Horizon games, and all the proper nouns made my head spin at some point, but I couldn't help but feel for his quest and his Nick Offerman character-esque personality. It became clear that a lot of dialog was engineered to make you feel sorry for him, and want him to succeed. Despite how transparent it was, it worked on me for the most part.

Which is funny, because that is how I ended up feeling about the game as a whole. I could see the flaws, I can see what they are trying to do and roll my eyes at it, but there would always be one moment when I was standing on a robot tentacle, with rainbow particles in the air, and think, "well, I don't think any other game has done exactly this." It is a game that relies on execution to draw you in, and despite fumbling here and there, it still has some stuff that was great. It is something that if you have not played other FPS games in VR, I would imagine you would have an amazing time, but as it played to me, it was something that I'm glad I played, but probably won't end up on my top 5 games list this year.

The 2022 Game Concepts of the Year!

 Last year, I wanted to write quick reviews of all the games I completed and designate all the games that were my favorite, but I ended up giving up relatively quickly. It turns out writing one sentence for every game I complete is both too little to be interesting, and too long to bother. This year, I am going to try to go the opposite direction and instead of “Game of the Year” I will try a “Game Concepts of the Year” or GCOTY:

    Old games bring new perspectives

Old games can be fun for relaxing and just going with the flow, but this year had some exceptional old game re-releases that managed to elevate the old games from just comfort food. Klonoa Phantom Reverie collection was the big highlight for me, bringing two classic 2D platformers to modern consoles. It is a bit of a mishmash of old voices, mechanics, and new graphics (though there are times where the graphics don’t look so new) the resmaster made things feel fresh. It isn’t a perfect version of the 2 games, but they made interesting enough choices to warrant a playthrough. It is just fun to play these games from my youth again, and see, while the story and vibes weren’t as immaculate as I remembered, they still hold up as classics of the platforming genre. On the other hand, Capcom Fighting Collection is not nearly as interesting to talk about from a porting point of view (the games are clearly just emulated from their original arcade incarnations) what they lack in reinventing the wheel is made up for in content. Finally bringing the Darkstalkers franchise and games like Puzzle Fighter to be accessible again, and even with multiplayer. Darkstalkers especially feels fresher and better now to me than back in the day as its successors such as Marvel vs. Capcom taught me how to appreciate the quicker pace, and technique needed to make these games really shine. That is really why I love replaying old games: to see them with new eyes and appreciate them for what they are rather than what I remembered. Shout outs to Cowabunga Collection and Atari 50 for bringing even more old games to modern systems, but my favorite old game celebration is probably the Genesis Mini 2, if only because it is one of the few mini consoles that feels like someone’s good collection, with a few stinkers to liven the mix.

    Elden Ring for Social Clout

Elden Ring is the game that will be at the top of most people’s lists. It is the huge, epic, dark fantasy game that many people have been looking forward to for years. Knowing this ahead of time, I got it in 2022, mostly to finally be “in the know” for one of these big games. My tastes usually fall into the more obscure video games, so the chance to finally be in the zeitgeist was exciting for me. I spent 20 hours in it, confident in my progress, but as time went on, I sort of sat on that 20 hours as enough played. The problem is that Elden Ring is not a 20 hour game. In fact, 20 hours is, in some estimations, not even 20% of the experience. I rested on my laurels, and I went from being in the know, to not even knowing what people are talking about anymore. I still remember talking about Elden Ring at a party, and only getting a few sentences before the person I was talking to just went on for 30 minutes about their more advanced experiences. I would need to invest at least 50 hours to even have context for what they were talking about. The irony is that I spent about 15 hours playing Returnal, which had a big update in 2022 that allowed for more flexible ways to pause your game and come back, and I found myself being much more fulfilled with the challenge there, but alas, not many people I can actually talk to about it.

    Small Indie games are still my niche

Independant games in 2022 are probably a misnomer at this point, as they probably have some sort of publishing or help, but now a days, as long as you aren’t a part of a multi-billion dollar entity (and sometimes, even if you are), it is probably safe to call yourself indie. In that case, maybe on of my real GCOTYs is smaller, short form games. In either case, sitting down, and being able to beat a game in one sitting, or 5, feels like a blessing. Games like Frog Detective 3 and The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe made video games become less of a chore, and something I want to pounce on, and wrangle all the enjoyment I can out of them. Frog Detective 3 especially was pure narrative sugar, with it’s almost too charming dialog, and relentless pursuit in being as aloof and silly as possible. This year is also when I finally played through Even the Ocean, which plays like the platforming sections in Megaman X but what if the despair only used for window dressing in that series was front and center, and forced you to confront that this world on the precipice of destruction is becoming more and more like ours by the minute. I also want to shout out Poinpy, though it isn’t indie at all (published by Netflix of all companies), but it has that indie spirit, and is probably the best mobile phone game I have played in years.

    The Nintendo Switch still surviving somehow

I own both a Playstation 5, and a Xbox Series S, but yet the 6 year old Switch is still in my rotation despite everything. It may be old, and the joycons remain probably the worst official console manufacturer controller in the last 20 years, but it goes to show you how software really is everything. I enjoyed Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory, and fell in love with Kirby in the Forgotten Land. It helps that this is also the year that I finally got to the end of Zelda Breath of the Wild, also 6 years after the fact. 2023 looks like I will probably continue this trend with Famicom Detective Club, Theatrhythm, and even more Kirby games. I finally have a good controller for the system with the ultimate bluetooth controller 8-bitdo released, so hopefully we can just ride this Switch train until it finally putters out.

    The True GCOTY - The Steam Deck

Whenever I try to talk about the Steam Deck, I usually get either uninterest, or an explanation that they need a beefy PC, and have no need for a portable, less powerful, device. It is a shame, because the Steam Deck to me is probably my favorite video game device in recent memory. Granted, I have a Steam catalog that is in the hundreds from bundles and deals from the last decade or so, but it is a device that finally makes PC gaming accessible enough for me to put time into. It isn’t the most powerful PC in the world, but it makes up for it through sheer functionality of its controls, even allowing the pairing of most wireless controllers if you don’t like the ones on the Deck. On the Switch, I would always be touching the screen, and nothing would respond to my disappointment, but touching the Deck screen has always yielded being able to access that menu, move that character, or whatever else I expect touching the screen should do. With all this functionality, and the ability to load up your own games through a bit of customization, the Steam Deck brings in a new era of PC gaming for me. I aleady mentioned a lot of my favorite games to play on the Deck like Frog Detective, Even the Ocean, but I also want to shout out Sable and Butterfly Soup for being perfect portable games; Sable being a chill open world exploration game, and Butterfly Soup being a visual novel about young women finding out about themselves. I have also rebought a bunch of games like Ender Lilies and Death’s Door just to be able to play those great games on the go again someday.

I enjoyed writing these GCOTYs, and I hope you did too. Happy New Year!