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!
