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JTHomeslice

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Lord Help Me It's Game of the Year 2019

2019! It...uh, happened. I got nothing. But there were some good games! To the point where I went past 10 and there's still more I want to play but who cares, right? I also streamed on Twitch a lot and even hit affiliate! Come over some time.

Honorable mentions: Katana Zero, Indivisible (only because I need to play more it's great already!), Persona Q2, Baba is You, Kids, Shovel Knight King of Cards, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes (gameplay is ehhh but the story is REALLY cool), Wilmot's Warehouse, Blaster Master Zero 2, Pikuniku, Man of Medan (even though I've never touched it myself)

Old(ish) games: AM2R, Metroid Samus Returns, SNES Classic (Super Metroid, FFVI, Actraiser), 2064: Read Only Memories, Timespinner, Smash Ultimate

List items

  • (VA-11 HALL-A isn't a new game but it had a hell of a year, coming out on PS4 and Switch and having a big crossover event with the mobile game Girls Frontline.)

    I feel a little nervous when trying to write about something I love. I'm worried I won't be able to get across how it impacted me. VA-11 HALL-A has become one of my favorite games of all time, so NO SWEAT WRITING ABOUT THAT.

    VA-11 HALL-A is a game about talking to people. You're a bartender named Jill and you're here to mix drinks and change lives. Your clientele are the kind of people you'd see in the background of something like Blade Runner. A hacker, a sex worker, a private eye, a future cop, a rad as fuck dog wearing shades and a Hawaiian shirt. You make them drinks and talk about life, the universe, and everything. This is one of my favorite things about the game. You aren't a superhero saving the city, you don't even get a full picture of what's happening in the world. You're just a normal person living in a busted-ass cyberpunk city, trying to get by. You don't know everything that's going on, just what you find out reading the news, message boards, and what your clients and friends tell you. It makes for a really relaxed experience. The stakes are pretty low. All you have to do is go to work and pay your rent and VR porn subscription. Obviously all stressful things in real life, but a chill experience for a game.

    Of course, in a game about talking to people the characters better be interesting. The cast is one of the biggest strengths of VA-11 HALL-A. A lot of them are based on cyberpunk character archetypes but everyone is given motivations and other things going on in their lives that give them depth. It's rare to see a game, hell, or any kind of media, where the entire cast is extremely likable. Aside from the assholes, but they're 3 dimensional assholes at least! They also really nail the worldbuilding, doling it out in bits and pieces like I said. I want to shout out how great the writing on the internet is, between people being dickheads on a forum and clickbate news articles and live stream comments that fly across the screen. It's so good!

    VA-11 HALL-A is more than anything a very comfy game. Like I said, this isn't a game where you're saving the whole damn world, you're just living. Things get heavy, things get lighthearted, and life goes on. You keep moving and growing. And the whole experience feels like a warm blanket on you.

    One of the developers described VA-11 HALL-A as "not a story about saving the world from a tyrannical ruler, this is about the lives of people trying to make the best out of a terrible situation, smiling in the face of dread." The world is shitty, but we'll make it through. Everything will be okay. I love that.

    This is one of my favorite games of all time.

  • My turnaround on this game was wild. Nothing they showed prerelease did ANYTHING for me. I loved Awakening and Fates but I just couldn't be less interested in Three Houses. Then the game came out and I started seeing a ton of art and everyone raving about it. I decided to give it a shot. 90 hours with my Golden Deer dipshit squad later, I can say that Three Houses is maybe the best Fire Emblem game.

    Making the supports an even bigger thing adds a lot to the game. I ended up caring about a lot of the characters versus the last couple games where I had a handful of characters I really liked and everyone else was kinda there. I think the supports also helped the flesh out the characters and make them less stereotypical than the previous game. Shout out to all my dumbass deer children and my husband Claude.

    I really liked the story too. Hell, I like it enough that I'm going to play through all the other routes to get the whole picture. I was really interested in what was going on with the other houses when they showed up in the back half of the game. I especially loved Claude and the Deers perspective on ruling the land. We have to break down all the walls and make everyone realize that we're not that different no matter where we come from. It may be some hippie-ass garbage but I love it.

    And the strategizing feels as good as ever! Getting rid of the weapon triangle made it feel more open, less having to micromanage your squad to make sure you have enough of each weapon type to counter. Just let me send Hilda out front to cleave dudes in twain while Claude takes off some heads and Lysithia wipes people on a molecular level. It is a little easy even on hard but I'm an idiot so that's cool with me!

    2019's biggest surprise: me loving this game. I'm really glad I gave it a shot!

  • Bloodstained is just a fucking blast. The way they keep the feel of SotN while expanding out SO MUCH is amazing. It's a little more obtuse than it should be at times but just farting around with the powers is so fun. Especially the mobility powers. When flipping the world upside down or basically flying with the high jump, it just feels like you shouldn't be able to do it. It's kind of hard to say what this game has over the many of similar games that have come out in the last decade, quite a few of those I've also really loved, but I just devoured this game and really just wanted to keep playing. Awesome to see this one come together and turn out super well.

    Also they get props for tracking down the actor that played Alucard in SotN PS1 and putting him in that game. And for having David Hayter just do the Snake voice.

  • Honestly, Hitman 2 could've topped my list again. IO added so much content over the year that Hitman may have been my most played game this year. (Usually on Twitch, come hang out some time!) Both new maps are a lot of fun and the new items they've added, mainly the sedative and emetic dart guns, have opened up so many new possibilities for murderin' fun. I do have some gripes, namely that they aren't fixing the thing where targets will more likely go to throw up in trashcans when you need to drown them in a toilet, but Hitman 2 is just an incredible game that I can't see myself getting tired of anytime soon.

  • The new high watermark for remakes. It's just so impressive how they were able to retain the elements of old school survival horror while making it play like a modern game. Just so much fun! It warms my rotten heart that Resident Evil is back in full effect.

  • honk

  • This game is something special, man. Seeing people getting real and just being nice to each other is amazing. It can be too much at times, largely because I feel like I don't have the expertise to respond to some letters and I want to take the time to write a thoughtful response every time. But you know, sometimes you just need to be heard and I'm a great listener. It may not be much, but I'm always to help how I can. And Kind Words shows that there are a lot of people out there who may not know you, but truly care about you.

  • A very creative and very funny game. It got quite a few good laughs out of me, including from how clever a new mechanic was. There were a few frustrating levels, but I think a lot of that had to do with me being bad. One of my favorite short time games.

    (also for a while the game would keep crashing on the last level and you had to go through a bunch of areas to get back to the level. That was annoying but they did fix it.)

  • Nintendo made friggin Tetris into a battle royale. Genius.

  • This game is just an absolute delight in every way. The characters are all really fun, the sprite work and character art is fantastic, the soundtrack is bangin', and the fightin' feels good! My biggest problem with it is that it seems like it was very much tuned for co-op play, making single player frustrating at times. There's no online and none of my friends live that close to me, so it's a bummer but I still got by.

    YOU GET A WEAPONIZED DAB TO END COMBOS AND THAT NEGATES ANYTHING NEGATIVE (<3 Kyoko)

  • Nintendo also let an indie team commandeer their biggest franchise this year! I love Necrodancer and mixing in elements of Zelda is really smart. And Danny B doing incredible renditions of Zelda music! It's just a little short and a little too easy after a point.

  • I'm throwing this on the end because I just started it but holy shit I'm so into it already. I loved the Zero Escape series so I'm already down for whatever Uchikoshi makes. It's pretty obvious the team had a bigger budget and the overall presentation is so much higher quality. It's pretty damn funny and it's already using modern elements of the internet and technology in cool ways. I'm literally going to play after I finish writing this. BYE.
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