daavpuke

@chamurai: FWIW I also played the freemium Shin-chan endless runner this year. That's more of the licensed cash grab (though I enjoyed some of it).

Good question. I think it was briefly shown in a Nintendo Direct? I don't think it got that much marketing, as I remember it releasing with literally no fanfare at all.

I don't think I could really name 10, because I usually mention like 5-6, but I'll see what I can get off the top of my head.

1. Big Fan

2. Paper Man

3. My Neighbor Totoro

4. 50/50

5. Spirited Away

6. Sorry to Bother You

7. Nightcrawler

8. Thank You For Smoking

9. The Fifth Element

10. Observe and Report

Yeah, I feel good about this list. I would rewatch every single one of those right now. Maybe not Spirited Away, because I've seen it like six times, but I wouldn't be mad if it was on.

Reinvent the wheel, every time!

I'm fine with iteration, if it's a solid expansion, like I enjoyed God of War 1 to 2, but it has nothing to the classic Mario 1 to 2 or Zelda 1 to 2 arc.

The problem with the reinventing the wheel thing is that developers half-ass it a lot of the time, which leaves both parties frustrated. Those who wanted the same bag can't relate and those who wanted innovation are still playing the same game.

The biggest example I bring up of wasted reinvention is Dragon Age 2. DA2 is a dope game. It's like an arcade Dragon Age. But that's literally the whole gimmick, so it just feels like watered down Dragon Age, instead of something that stands on its own.

I keep hearing people praise Poinpy and it makes me feel sad. I don't know what I missed, but when I downloaded it, it felt very humdrum like any other ol' mobile game. It felt nowhere near Downwell.

I might go check out a Sephonie trailer though. I've also been hearing good things. Might not be a game I play this year, but you know.

Solid list! I'm surprised the Monkey Island ending wasn't your thing, since it made Danny O'dwyer cry just from thinking about it, ha.

Like I said in the previous thread: Overwatch 2 came close to clutching out the year, but then that Bayonetta thing was SO bad that people who never even touched that game had a lot of opinions, suddenly. A mess transcendent in its poopiness.

Also, I should point out that the web 3.0 stuff in Ni No Kuni Cross Worlds is highly overblown, as is "pay to win?" (People have GOT to stop throwing that around, I swear) Never encountered it once, because it's the monetization itself that is horrific. It's the worst monetization in ANY game, in fact. You couldn't pay to win if you 'wanted' to. I wrote about it here on GB, but no sense linking it, we ain't here for that.

Just want to say: the issues with mobile games are not the hot button topics people keep blurting out, to compartmentalize them and move on. "It's X!" is too cut and dry. For Cross Worlds, specifically, those issues are much much worse. That game stinks. ALSO, it has crypto garbage.

For the longest time, I was prepared to give Overwatch 2 its flowers, because holy shit what a mess. That Bayonetta 3 situation, however... That got so weirdly awkward. It's just a baffling situation that should never have happened.

Put me down for Bayonetta.

I mean...

I guess excluding the worst, then Last of Us. I feel better about the overall game now that I don't have my hands on the controller, but as a video game, that thing was a miserable abomination. People clown David Cage for being desperate about making movies, through the video game medium, but Last of Us is measures worse on that front. It comes from a developer who can make decent games, but refuses to do it, to shovel this self-serving garbage in your face. It reeks. Neil Druckmann is a hack.

I'm not a fan :)

I bought and completed Disco Elysium in one go. Does that count? I loved 90% of that game. I didn't play that many 2022 games.

Otherwise, it's probably Vampire Survivors with a bullet. Likely one of the most important games to come out in years, blew anything else out of the water, instantly spawned a saturated genre of lesser games.

Vampire Survivors: It's pretty good. Shoutouts Kirby and the Forgotten Land too. Goddamn that's one cheerful game. More games need to be like that.

I'll say what I've said on this comment that was left on YouTube: FWIW when I heard Giant Bomb and Fanatical was gonna be under the same roof, I was anticipating this to happen.

I've been using Fanatical since they were Bundle Stars way back and always liked their site. I can't attest to what they've been doing the last few years, but I've used them quite a bit and rarely was displeased with it. Just saying, this seems pretty symbiotic as a merger and it would only seem problematic if they'd lean into pushing the links, even for games that are obviously not worth it. For now, it just seems like they're *there* and that's totally fine by me.

Hey Mahjong gang, long time no yadda yadda.

If you've been looking for an excuse to get back to playing good ol' Mahjong, you can currently get a mail with 5 summon scrolls, just for logging in.

Ngli reinstalled just to grab em. Just thought I'd share the good news.