I don't play a lot of games. I don't often have time, and it's difficult to find a game that I really click with. I'm the type to drop games out of sheer boredom a few hours in, so I drift towards games that touch me emotionally in order to keep me in until the bitter end. And it's been quite a year for bitter ends.
Gone Home is probably my favorite game of all time. Anybody who has ever played a game, I can recommend this. An incredibly heartbreaking, engaging story combined with a spooky atmosphere, revolving around problems that I could relate to all through my teenage years and beyond. In and among the dire straits of the story are so many bits of charming detail, mischief, and a narrator that can relate wonderful, confusing memories that the entire game almost felt like a conversation with an old friend.
This game made me cry for months afterward, introduced me to a few amazing bands, and garnered enough of my affection to inspire a new tattoo. It's easily up with Journey in terms of games that affected me deeply.
This is a maddening, infuriating game. Despite that, I'll probably be playing it years down the line. I love games containing complex systems that I can learn and implement-it's why I played World of Warcraft for so long, I'd wager. And why I seated myself into this game.
Full of ridiculous attire, far more characters than I have any desire to ever play, and a skill ceiling that means I can only ever get better, this is a game that lets me have fun in a multiplayer setting while cracking jokes with old friends I don't see often enough.
Despite the many frustrations to be had when learning the game and dealing with the player base, it's the game I sank the most time into this year.
I'll be honest: I played this game on easy because I couldn't stand the combat. It was fine! I was proficient in it. But knowing that I could easily handle any combat scenario made it more aggravating when I happened upon protracted stealth sequences over and over when the story was heating up (which was all the time). Ain't no shame in it, I'd proven myself, so down to easy and away we went.
While there are many nitpicks to make about the story, such as the controlled character being a massive asshole and making choices quite near the end that were directly opposed to things he spouted the entire game, the story still managed to grip me. Ellie, in particular, was a character I grew to identify with, even as the player. Somebody stuck with this jerk, all the way to the finish, just trying to survive the trek.
If you just wanna have fun and see the story, bump it to easy. The story is well told, even if it's predictable. The real treat is the detail in the characters, the delivery by the voice actresses. They help sell the experience.
I really appreciated this game allowing me to play the lady spirit, rather than the male luchador. That's a small allowance, and the dialogue did not reflect the choice, but it's so seldom granted that I was stoked for it. The game itself is rather short, with a world that doesn't feel very large to me; a problem in a metroidvania game. Despite that, the character of the world and the fun skills to be had meant I had a great time with it.
It's a good thing that the game is fairly short. It's not a difficult game, and the few skills you learn begin to wear out their stay near the end. Still, a great little game.
Antichamber is exclusively a puzzle game. A great deal of fun, it forces you to think far beyond finding a key to go into any particular slot. Regrettably, I found that returning to a puzzle I wished to sort out was far more of a chore than it ought to have been. A map that you have access to as a home base gives no detail at all as to what any given warp location is (you can warp to nodes on the map), making finding that last puzzle impeding your progress a massive headache if you've put the game down for any length of time.
Still, it is a wonder of a game, very creative in its designs and aesthetic. It'll make your brain hurt a bit, but the invigoration of solving all the puzzles without aid is worth it.
I love guitar, but do not practice nearly enough. This year's updates to Rocksmith were welcome, including more practice oriented games (that actually felt like games!) and a few new modes and options for sound and style. Again, I didn't care for the music selection a great deal, but it is what it is.
A wonderful tool to keep my fingers limber, with some decent arcade style practice games.
This came out for IOS late last year, but I have an android phone. This year was my first experience with it, and I was instantly addicted. I ride the metro often, and this game was almost exclusively the thing I interacted with on my trips. The amazing music, the twitchy, rapid gameplay, the robot voice placidly stating my progress-all of it is a kaleidoscope of information and reaction that had me engrossed. I never did beat any of the modes.
I still have a few weeks left, I suppose!
This is another game that made me cry a great deal. It comes with a severe warning, too: all of the content pertains to thoughts on depression, self harm and suicide. If you are affected negatively by such things, reconsider playing.
I played through it all at once, and cried the rest of the day. A wonderful piece on the effects of depression. Play at your own risk.
Hey, do you like Starcraft? It's Starcraft. This time with my favorite team, the Zerg, at the fore. It's extremely easy, and doesn't have a great deal of variation from the previous installment, Wings of Liberty. Some of the abilities you can upgrade your units with seem outright broken, too.
Still, the multiplayer will beat you back down again. Go for it if that's your thing.
I loved Myst, Riven, and puzzles as a child. This game seems like the distilled essence of those games. Its gameplay is nothing more than solving puzzle boxes, one after the other, each time revealing a bit of tacked on story. While a flimsy pretext, I find interactive 3d puzzles addicting, and swiftly finished it. Few things are more satisfying to me in a game than stopping to consider a problem, poking and prodding, before finally understanding.
It's actually free as of writing for IOS, in anticipation of the sequel, so by all means give it a whirl.
