It’s been a minute since I posted on this blog. That’s due to work this year being really hectic and consuming more of my time than ever before. That resulted in me playing fewer games and having less time to allow the experience to simmer in me and have something worthwhile to say about them. Hopefully, next year, that will change with the changes I plan to make to the blog. For now, I just wish to talk about the games I did play and break the mold a little bit; this year, instead of having a list consisting of 8 games tied for 3rd place and 2 ranked, I’ll do a regular ranked top-10. Before that, I just want to acknowledge something. At the time of writing this, I’m playing through Remnant 2 and El Paso Elsewhere, but I have not played Alan Wake 2, RoboCop, Baldur’s Gate 3, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, Dave the Diver, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Diablo IV, Super Mario Bros Wonder, Hogwarts Legacy, Chants of Sennaar, System Shock; you get the point, there were a lot of games this year I was very excited for and I didn’t have the time. Having said that, I played a lot of games and still had a great time with the games I did play/a horrible time trying to pick only 10.
Let’s start with my old game of the year ‘The Division 2’ and specifically The Warlords of New York expansion. A running theme from this year’s list is games that can be boiled down to ‘make numbers go high’ and ‘The Division 2’ is one of the most fun and addictive games of that kind. There is more to it than that; specifically, I think the tactical, third-person shooter combat is the best of any looter I’ve played and it makes even small skirmishes feel great to play. Having said that, I don’t feel this expansion is worthwhile. The story is interesting, but it heavily relies on the player to care about the story of the franchise, and the new gadgets are worse versions of the gadgets we already have in the base game. Furthermore, there are new signature weapons that require a laundry list of chores to complete to get them, which was something I did not find interesting enough to do. Having said all of that, I only need a reason to play more Division 2, even if it’s a bad one; I still love this game and have put in over 100 hours, not even getting that deep into end-game content. It’s a brilliant game that is criminally underrated, still going strong with a solid player base, and it still is unmatched for what it does since its release 4 years ago.
Before we get into the actual list, I want to write a few words about some of the games that did not make the list. Dust Neon is a cool, Gears of War meets Borderlands indie game that I really enjoyed; Exoprimal was more fun than I expected, and played it for a couple of weeks, which is pretty unusual for me as the last multiplayer game I invested any time in was Titanfall 2 and that game is the literal GOAT; Bramble: The Mountain King is a visually stunning indie platformer that’s reminiscent of Little Nightmares and INSIDE, but I never finished it although I really enjoyed what I had played of it; lastly, DREDGE was a huge success and a lot of people love it, but for me, it didn’t grab me as much as it needed to and I eventually moved on to something else, even though I loved the atmosphere and the dread that the game built throughout.
The Actual List:
10. Venba/Starfield:
Yes, I’m going to cheat and give the 10th spot to two games. Venba is a short and sweet game about an Indian family trying to make ends meet and settle in Canada. There is a basic cooking mini-game and reading text boxes; it is still one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had all year. It strikes a very fine balance of telling a story about an older generation trying to keep their culture and traditions alive in their descendants without leaning into easy cop-outs, like the new generation being inconsiderate; it also doesn’t try to make the older generation look like assholes. It’s filled with moments of relatable subjects like leaving for college and how the parents deal with that or the inherent loneliness of losing your life partner. It’s not an amazing game, but it’s pretty great for a cozy afternoon with some coffee and snacks. Starfield is the exact opposite of that; a massive RPG from Bethesda that took me 100 hours to complete a single playthrough. Discourse online for this game has devolved into every discourse online eventually does for Bethesda games: it’s either a masterpiece or the worst thing to come out this year. The truth is, as expected, somewhere in the middle. It is an evolution of Bethesda’s style of game on some levels, like the ship customization and a more engaging storyline, however, it is much worse than other similar games on many levels. It is filled with loading screens (I was playing on Series X, so I didn’t mind them all that much), procedurally generated quests, lukewarm loot, and an RPG experience that leaves very little Roleplaying to be done. Having said that, it is a unique game that I don’t see too much of these days. A game that does a bit of everything; open world, exploration, melee and ranged combat, ship combat and traversal, outpost creation and management, crafting, mining and trading, main quests, side quests, faction quests, abilities, and powers, a new game+ mode baked into the story. Sure, most of these features are average or outright bad, but they are there. If the game was balanced better and had a better sense of direction, I think it would have been great; had it been truly open world with better loot and exploration it would have been amazing. A lot of the sour taste in people’s mouths is more about the untapped potential of this title, rather than its poor execution, but for me, it was a cathartic experience. I would get home from work tired and would boot up the game and spend an hour or two just doing random quests and getting loot; never used it, and never really needed it either. I just liked the combat loop well enough that its mindlessness was more of a zen experience for me rather than boredom; it reminds me of Biomutant, a game most people disliked when it was first released, but I really enjoyed it for the same reasons. It was just a map with things to do and a combat loop done well enough that I would zone out and complete my checklist for a couple of hours and then stop. Starfield is not supposed to be Biomutant, but it is what it is and I enjoyed it for that; a good game, not a masterpiece or an abomination.
9. Birth:
We all get lonely sometimes. Some of us, actually enjoy a bit of alone time to reflect, to ponder, to rest; loneliness is a much different beast. It would be liking being sad to getting depressed. Birth is a wonderful game that captures loneliness in an abstract and hauntingly beautiful puzzle game that has the player complete puzzles to get body pieces to make a friend. Set in the big city, Birth is all about its mood; bittersweet and melancholic. The puzzles are gameplay concepts you’ve seen before; you’ve made stones or balls fall into a hole to fill something, but it was never because you needed to get an arm bone to make your friend. There isn’t much to say beyond it’s a shame that it released this year, as any other year it would have had a bit more spotlight on it. Also, it is a great way to spend a couple of hours feeling weirdly better about whatever bad situation you have going on at the moment.
8. OTXO:
Every year, I have a hard time voting for the “Best game you suck at” category at the Steam Awards; not because of my godly gaming skills, but mostly because I don’t really gravitate towards harder games. Some challenge or a difficulty spike here and there, I’m fine, but I don’t really care to spend countless hours on a difficult boss; to me, it feels like I’m wasting my time or I’m one death away from hours’ worth of progress being taken away when my time is fairly limited, to begin with. All that is to say that OTXO is a freaking difficult game that I suck at; barely made it past the second boss on my best playthrough. The reason it is on this list is that I haven’t had as much fun getting my ass handed to me since Titanfall 2 and playing the multiplayer 3 years after release where only veterans were still playing. OTXO has the best gaming soundtrack of the year, an art style that is striking and legible in gameplay terms and is simply too much fun to let my own lowly skills get in the way of a good time. I do wish that there were modifiers to help me see more of the game and listen to more of the soundtrack (even though the score is on my daily rotation of Spotify songs), and be as badass as I feel while playing it, but it isn’t that type of game; it requires commitment and the player to recognize their faults and correct them or identify and execute the best strategy within seconds (or at least be really good at reacting to changing circumstances). I suck at this game, but I still love it.
7. Underground Blossom:
Rusty Lake games are…unique. They are old-school point-and-click affairs, but with a unique art style, puzzles that are simultaneously obtuse and clear, horror elements to glue everything together, and a narrative that spans 7 games (at least). Underground Blossom is the latest one to add to that collection – in that sense, it is nothing special. Having said that, it is one of their best games to date and one that “fixes” a lot of the issues some players have had with this series. For one, the post-game section is much clearer now; let’s just say that it no longer requires a guide to even figure out where to begin. Furthermore, the narrative is much less obscure and it adds a lot more drama and melancholy to the mix. It’s clearer what is happening and the drama is much more enjoyable for it. The puzzles are also greatly varied; Rust Lake games have always had great puzzles, but variety was not their strong suit, whereas Underground Blossom has different types of puzzles and different ways you’re meant to figure them out. Suffice it to say, I’m a fan of this studio’s work and their new game is more of the same – thus I am happy – but it’s also a great jumping on point as it is one of their best games and one of their most welcoming ones as well.
6. Jusant
DONTNOD and I have a weird relationship. They are known as the studio that brought us Life Is Strange and – although I simply don’t like “decision-heavy” games for various reasons, even though a narrative is one of the most important attributes in games for me – that game being the sole exception to my dislike of that genre (at least my memory of it is, as I haven’t played it since release), it’s their “other” games that hold more appeal to me; VAMPYR was a lot of janky and weird fun, Banishers looks like a lot of fun and look forward to checking it out, and Jusant which was a surprisingly great experience. Jusant is Uncharted-like climbing turned into an entire video game; that sounds reductive and, as I am typing this, quite unappealing, but they make it work. It’s got a great feel and there is flair and flow in ascending and descending this enormous rock structure that is the whole point of Jusant. Fans of the studio will also rejoice in that the narrative is pretty good, despite having the “speechless narrative” trend that died out a few years back. A lot of that narrative heavy lifting is done by the incredible score and the solid animation for the few cutscenes that exist, as well as the audio design for the many world-building moments that are created by sounds alone. It’s got a great sense of pace as well; each area provides new visuals, sounds, music, and new gameplay elements to contend with, but, as soon as they run their course, the game moves you on to a new area with all new things to experience. In the avalanche of new releases in 2023, this may end up becoming a forgotten game, but that would be a real shame as it is extremely good; it also shows that DONTNOD can do more than their usual adventure stuff in the narrative genre (which is a good thing as their last efforts haven’t really set the world on fire, although I’ve not played Twin Mirror or Harmony yet and would like to) and it gives me great hope for Banishers and the new Life is Strange – sorry Lost Records! I do hope they return to this idea as there are many more mechanics and narratives to be explored with a similar game and would be excited to spend a few more hours with a Jusant spiritual successor.
5. Dead Island 2
One of my personal picks for a “cult game that no one played” would be Homefront: The Revolution. At the time it came out, it had a tumultuous development cycle and that is putting it kindly; Dambuster Studios came in to finish the product and did a wonderful job, despite the myriad of technical issues it had on release. Now it is a perfectly solid – with real highs and real lows – open-world FPS that does urban combat better than even Far Cry’s attempts (partially in 5 and 6). Their reward? Assisting in Chorus (great game btw, check it out) and taking the reigns of one of the most cursed development projects in existence: Dead Island 2. The fact that it is a finished product is a miracle; the fact that it is good is beyond impressive. Dead Island 2 will not win any originality awards, nor will it amaze you with its ambitions. Having said that, there is a lot of room in the entertainment industry for projects that don’t want to reinvent the wheel, blow your socks off with ambitious goals, or wow you with impressive detail. Like Starfield, it feels like a game from a different era and one that I miss just as much; a solid, AA project that tries to cover all the trends that are popular at the time (in DI2’s case, popular trends of mid-2010s, because that’s how long this game has been in development), and delivers some great gameplay experiences. The plot is stupid, the writing is over-the-top nonsense that borders on annoying (or for some are annoying), and the graphics are impressive yet clearly try to distract you from the fact that the world is bland in its art design; however, none of that matters to the point that they sink the experience. The procedural-generation dismemberment system is impressive and never gets old; the weapons are really fun to use, despite guns making the game too easy; the deck-building skills system is a nice twist that doesn’t really change anything, but is a nice coat of paint; the slayers are, at best, different personalities with unimpactful stat differences; you get the point. Every feature is a solid success that executes on that mechanic fairly well and either adds a wrinkle to it or executes it particularly well without messing up the fundamentals. I miss these types of games and I’m glad that there seem to be some promising AA games on the horizon with the success of this game, I hope there are more on the way; I particularly hope that Dambuster Studios gets to use this success to make a game of their own, as they are clearly a talented studio and deserve a shot at their own IP or, at the very least, to choose their next project. If that happens to be Dead Island 3, carrying the mechanics and ideas forward, I would be more than happy to play that, but I just want to see this studio get the chance they have earned.
4. Cocoon
PLAYDEAD was one of my favorite studios and their creative leads breaking up to lead two different studios was kind of like Christmas for kids of recently divorced parents; you get two eager parents trying to shower you with gifts to hide their guilt. Somerville was not what I wanted; it was slow, clunky, and pretty basic as a platformer, even one in the “cinematic” genre. Cocoon is not what I expected from one of the creatives of PLAYDEAD, but it is of the same high quality, even if it’s not what that studio was known for. It’s actually a brilliant merge of the perfectly balanced pace of INSIDE and the “I’m a genius” feeling that great puzzle games give you after you solve a puzzle. In Cocoon, you play as a creature that carries orbs that hold whole worlds in them and you place those orbs on special pedestals to jump inside of them; those worlds can have holders for other orbs or even generate their own orbs, but they are unique worlds with puzzles and obstacles to face. Furthermore, each orb has a special traversal mechanic that the player can utilize in the actual world or within orbs to progress or discover hidden paths. It sounds complicated, but the beauty of this game is that regardless of how many orbs you have, it never gets overwhelming; I never looked up a guide, just to be reminded that the green orb had a special ability that I forgot about. This tight balance allows the game to keep that quick pace that defines a lot of the cinematic platformer genre but also has some exceptional puzzles that require the player to think and utilize problem-solving to arrive at that euphoric moment of solving a difficult puzzle. How they explore the mechanics, while never overstaying their welcome, while also introducing new worlds, bosses, ideas, challenges, and narrative elements, is nothing short of impressive. I’m excited to see what this studio does next, while also anxious for people to get through their backlogs and reach Cocoon because it is a game worth gushing about.
3. Everspace 2
I love a game where I get to make numbers go high. From looter-shooters to ARPGs, I like getting loot that makes me able to tackle harder missions to get better loot. My biggest gripe with this type of game is that, usually, the campaign is a prolonged tutorial and practice range to figure out what type of build to go for, when you finally reach the end-game. Everspace 2 is not that; I’ve put in 20+ hours and have yet to reach midway through the campaign, because of how cool that campaign is. Progression is top-notch with a truckload of loot to sort through; meaningful upgrades to your ship and capabilities; a whole trading system to take advantage of; side content and optional challenges for more looting opportunities; a galaxy with 6 regions and a lot of planets and locations to explore. In a year when BGS released their version of a space game, it is insane to me that an indie ARPG beats that version easily. It’s also a fairly challenging game in which, even normal difficulty requires proper use of your abilities and forethought when it comes to builds and enemy management. Everything I could ever want in an ARPG is present in Everspace 2 and done to sublime standards; I wish this game gets the attention it deserves, as it is an unfortunate casualty of this packed year. In any other year, I think, it would have been the surprise sleeper hit that no one saw coming.
2. Brotato
Simply put, Brotato is this year’s Vampire Survivors. I was obsessed with this game for months; I beat the game with almost every character and I’m currently trying to finish the character roster and start attempting harder difficulties. I love almost everything about it. I love that characters are more like a puzzle you have to solve, with specific buffs and debuffs that require the player to have a plan for what type of items they are going to pick up. It’s an autobattler sure, but in the same way that Vampire Survivors blew up because it seems so simple yet it can be so addictively satisfying, Brotato can seem like a flash game ported to Steam, but there is so much thought and precision put into every decision made. Simply put, like Vampire Survivors, it will never be uninstalled because of how much I enjoy spending an hour or two on a few runs and getting that satisfying feeling from completing a run. Brotato consumed my life for a few months and I cannot believe it’s not number 1 this year.
- Roboquest
When I first tried Roboquest, after its Early Access launch a few years back, it was on a whim through Game Pass, and I didn’t vibe with it. There was something off; maybe the difficulty was tuned too high or the movement speed was weird or there weren’t enough weapons or areas to explore just yet. Whatever it was, I played for a couple of runs and stopped. Fast forward to last year and I somehow got a copy of it on Steam (I think it was through a Humble Bundle) and I reinstalled it out of curiosity. Within two weeks, I spent close to 25 hours with it and could easily get to the last area of that current build; so, I stopped again and waited for the 1.0 release. When that finally drops in 2023, I reinstall it and lose even more hours on it and have yet to actually beat the last area. This game is special; out of the casualties of this year, Roboquest has to be the most significant one. It is as near to perfect as any fast-paced FPS I have tried. That is before I factor in any of the wrappings; the art style, music, rogue-lite elements. Just like any great fast-paced FPS, the feeling of nailing your movement and shots is second to none. But, add a crazy variety of weapons that each are viable for a winning run in their own way, run-changing items and perks, enemy variety that AAA shooters would kill for, and different classes that incentivize usage of the game’s core strengths in unique ways; all of it leaves you with one of the most fun and replayable FPS rogue-lites ever (in either genre). The permanent upgrades are a bit underwhelming – even if they are useful – and progression will grind to a halt after you are done upgrading the workbench (one of the permanent upgrade shops in your base), but the core gameplay and wrappings are so good on their own that progression was like a cherry on top, rather than a carrot on the stick. I’ve never been as excited to get my ass handed to me as I have been with Roboquest; I could have lowered the difficulty and beat the game easily, but I refuse to. I love the challenge it provides, the bosses it throws at you, and the tools it gives you to face them. I love trying each class and uncovering some of their unique perks; I love switching tactics and going from close quarters with high mobility or damage reduction, to long range with high mobility or crit builds to maximize damage output. I even love looking at the progression screen and figuring out which area I’ve yet to discover every resource or alternate route, or planning a route just to complete my enemy bestiary. Once I had done all of that, I just started doing runs for the fun of it or making my own challenges, like only using explosive weapons. I seriously hope that this game was a success for its developers and more content is on the way, because I can’t get enough of it and it is justly my GOTY.
Ruler of Owls 