I’m sorry this blog has been so silent as of late. The months of January & February are pretty rough for my mental health and I retreat into myself. I find myself just going through the motions and playing games to not think about all the things that feel so heavy.
And now because of the Novel Coronavirus, we’re all trying to cope and distract ourselves from thinking too many doomsday despair-like thoughts.
The only good thing about this entire ordeal is that there has never been a better time to go through your backlog and play the games you’ve been wanting to play. We also live in a golden-era of gaming, there’s SOOO much available to us on so many different platforms. Whether you’re a mobile gamer, PC gamer, console warrior, or into table top boardgames, you have a world of games to choose from.
Here’s a list of games I’m currently dabbling with:
Nioh 2
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Hollow Knight
Red Dead Redemption 2
Borderlands 3
Sniper Elite 4
Code Vein
Binding of Isaac
Stay safe, practice good hygiene (social distancing and the cleaning of hands with soap & water). And remember to be kind, we’re all in this together, we’re all on the same rock, trying to figure this out and stay alive.
It’s been a quiet new year on the blog and for that I do apologize. I’ve been silent because I’ve been busy playing games, specifically JRPGs (Japanese Role Playing Games). I’ve been playing on the Nintendo Switch primarily and there’s no shortage of this genre: Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Tales of Vesperia, Collection of Mana, Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age, I Am Setsuna, Octopath Traveler, Valkyria Chronicles 4, Disgaea 5, and many more.
I’ve been spending most of my time going back and forth between Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. While they both fall into the JRPG genre, their gameplay is pretty different. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a tactical role-playing game, think of a kind of chess game combined with rock/paper/scissors set in a fantasy setting.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is a bit more of a straight-forward JRPG, navigation takes place both in the third-person perspective with 3D-rendered environments and a 2D overhead overworld map while battles take place from a first-person perspective. TMS#FE has story elements from two other long-standing JRPG franchises: Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei.
What can I say about these games except that they’re ANIME AS FUCK! There’s something lovely about how they both lean into the best parts of themselves.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is basically a tactical RPG set in Hogwarts. You have three ‘Great Houses’ (nations) to choose from, you have a class of students/soldiers that you teach/level up. These students will engage in combat & battle for you on a grid based map as you play through a convoluted story involving a maybe evil church and nation-states that are all vying for power and land ownership.
Fire Emblem, Three Houses
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is a game where by day you are a jpop (Japanese pop star) idol, and by night you battle demons who have mind-controlled humans for some evil and nefarious purpose. You have personas, I mean performas, spirits from another dimension (and franchise) who act as your fighters and enter arenas to battle these demons. These performas are in the guise of characters from the Fire Emblem universe. I have no idea why, nor does it really matter. What matters is that it is one of the most beautiful JRPGs I’ve ever played.
So the reason I’m not posting is because I’m too busy grinding up my levels so I can venture deeper into battle. 😀
Just a week and a half ago I shared my favorite games of 2019. You can scroll down a little bit to see the full list. For those who are too lazy to click/scroll, I’ll re-share here:
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Tetris 99
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
The Outer Worlds
Death Stranding
Super Mario Maker 2
Steamworld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Untitled Goose Game
River City Girls
Slay the Spire
Void Bastards
Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled
I loved every single one of these games. That being said, I didn’t really venture into the why or the what of it all. So I’m expanding a bit more on this list and breaking down these games into some more specific categories. I’m also touching on some more games that I left off of the list because I had to make a cut-off at some point. Anywho, here goes.
Games I Wish I had Played More of This Year
Outer Wilds, 2019
It’s not on my list but my first impressions of the game were quite strong (I left if off because it felt unfair to list this game without having played more than a few hours), and that game is Outer Wilds, not to be confused with The Outer Worlds. I need to give myself some time to venture back into this game, it deserves more of my time and attention.
Void Bastards, 2019
Another game I wish I had spent more time with this year is Void Bastards. That did make my list but I need to circle back because it’s a game that I was really enjoying and then set aside because I’m like a small child or puppy that is always distracted by the next thing in front of my nose. I also just want to note that Void Bastards has the most unique visual art style, done like an illustration/comic.
Games That Are Legitimately the Best Games of the Year for Me
Slay the Spire is one of the most amazing rogue-like card based games. It has a very seductive and dangerous game-play loop that will absolutely eat up hours of your life. I should admit, I have a problem (addiction?) to rogue-like/lite games. Don’t even get me started on how many hours The Binding of Isaac has taken from me.
But back to Slay the Spire. Just buy it and play it. If I could recommend a single game to a person that I know nothing about, it’s this game. It’s the type of game that pulls people into gaming even if they’re uninterested in gaming. It’s just that engaging. It’s also very approachable, the mechanics of the game are simple and easy to understand.
The other game that I would consider best game of the year is Super Mario Maker 2. This game is a delight to play whether you are someone who wants to create your own levels, or whether you want to just play an infinite number of levels created by strangers from around the world. If you’re into speedrunning or kaizo-mario (intentionally difficult masochistic levels), SMM2 has hours and hours of game-play to enjoy. There’s just so much variety and so much to consume, you’ll never be bored and there’s always something new being created.
Games I Should Have Added to My List from a Week Ago
Control, 2019
Control. Control should be on my list and if I’m being honest, it belongs in the Top 5. I’ll leave my list unedited but I really wish I had put this in my list because it’s such a weird and lovely game to be inside of. It’s like an episode of Fringe & X-Files with a dash of Twin Peaks, combine that with game-play that feels reminiscent of Prey & the Dishonored series, you have a recipe for one of the greatest games of 2019.
Blasphemous, 2019
How did I forget about Blasphemous. This is a gothic metroidvania side-scrolling “souls-like” platformer. It has this beautifully dark aesthetic and the combat feels good. It should also have been in my Top 5 but it somehow slipped my mind when I was making that list up a week ago. If you can find a way to play this game, do so, it’s time well spent and you will not regret the purchase.
It’s been a great year for gaming in 2019 and 2020 looks to be even better with Cyberpunk 2049, The Last of Us II, Final Fantasy VII, & Ghosts of Tsushima. Too many games, too little time, so much $$. Happy Gaming & Happy New Years!
Last week I shared my 2019 list of games that I feel are worthy of your attention and play-time. I wanted to look back a bit further and review the best games of the decade.
I’m reflecting on games that have fundamentally changed the gaming industry, culture, & community.
Also, this list may include games that I myself have not played or are fond of, yet still recognize are important and worthy of noting.
Dark Souls (2011)
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (2011)
The Last of Us (2013)
Grand Theft Auto V (2013)
The Witness (2016)
Pokemon Go (2016)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)
Fornite (2017)
God of War (2018)
Death Stranding (2019)
I’m sure I’ve missed some and this list is far from comprehensive, I could easily expand it, but looking back at the decade in gaming, I think this list is pretty reflective of the state of gaming/play as we move into the next decade.
It’s that time of year where everyone shares their favorite games. Here is a list of games released in 2019 that I’ve enjoyed playing and think are worth your time.
Note: I am avoiding using a numbered system because these games are all worthy of attention and also, ranking is bullshit. My preference in this moment will change in a few days because my moods are fickle and things change. Good gaming ya’ll.
I’m late to the party, but the good thing is that there’s plenty of food to devour. That’s how I feel having been gifted a console (PS4) so late into it’s life-cycle. We already know that the PS5 (PSV?) has been announced for December 2020. So why now?
There are a ton of advantages with jumping into a console so late in it’s life-cycle. Here are just a few of them:
Discounts on console/bundled deals.
Games are cheaper (used games easily acquired)
GOTY editions (bundled DLC game packages at low prices)
Bugs/updates have been worked out for major game releases
Those are just a few of the reasons to jump into a gaming console at the end of it’s life. You just save a ton of money and have a lot of media to consume.
There are certainly trade-offs, as the number of games that are being released for the older generation start to taper off as release of the latest approaches. But for me, this isn’t really a deal-breaker. I did this with the Xbox 360 and here I am at the tail end of Sony’s Playstation 4.
Also explains my absence from this blog. I’ve been busy playing Red Dead Redemption II, Death Stranding, & God of War. I’ll be posting some first impressions soon.
I doubt I’ll ever purchase another Blizzard game again, and the only one that might seriously tempt me is Diablo 4, but I’d have to think long and hard about that because, I’m not a fan of their political stance with regards to China & Hong Kong.
All that being said, I have Overwatch on the brain. It’s Halloween and I’m thinking of Overwatch’s Halloween Terror event and all the cool skins you can pick up for our motley crew of heroes/villains. It’s the one thing I will most most about this kind of ‘event gaming’. Those skins are dope.
Overwatch Halloween Terror Skins 2019
These skins look amazing. Even then, it’s double-edged. They may look amazing but there’s no guarantee you’ll unlock these skins unless you shell out a ton of money on lootboxes.
This kind of ‘event gaming’ is so seductive because of course you want the latest cool looking Halloween costume/skin. And it’s not just Overwatch, it’s a ton of other games: Destiny 2, Fortnite, World of Warcraft, Apex Legends, Pokemon Go, Rocket League, etc.
They may look cool, but looking cool has always come with a price tag.
Glass Cannon 