GOTY 2019

staying positive, this could be a good year. update: more busy than good.

prior year games:

muv-luv alternative - continuity v., v. powerful.

mhw - iceborne adds more gear. more gear is great.

cosmic star heroine - pretenses of an amazing game, but it's p. good.

didn't get to's:

judgment, yu-no, ai somnium, yooka layle platformer, indivisible, dusk diver, alliance alive hd, inti creates action game, risk of rain 2, more probably.

future year(s) hopes:

nioh2, utawarerumono 1 vita, ff7r, tsushima, next gen ps2 back compat., disaster report 4 plus, sd3r, r-type final 2

List items

• 

  1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III

  some games are continuity.

  [no credits as of eoy: would that it were so.]

  complaints are almost entirely "~fucking nisa".

  no clara, but healthy amounts of duvalie. no fortune teller girl but all kinds of mint. magic gets more broken than before (late), even completely removed from orders exploitation.

  mostly: continuity.

  nisa, but drakengard 3 never forget.

• 

  2. Death Stranding

  good tech, good design, good progression. the chapter 5 paradigm shift is definitely the best gameplay moment of the year.

  bad faith discourse extremely thick: this is nothing if not a straightforward, fun videogame.

• 

  3. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

  some games use a great genre well and also happen to be very good besides.

• 

  4. Slay the Spire

  some games are good enough that shitty deck rng doesn't matter

• 

  5. Dragon Quest Builders 2

  fun/compelling through the end. but then kinda not at all.

• 

  6. Control

  scp angle ends up feeling p. basic and structure meant ~no impossible geometry, but fun/interesting enough world.

• 

  7. Resident Evil 2

  some games are good enough that the genre doesn't matter

• 

  8. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

  lack of magic/customization matters a fair bit.

• 

  9. Path of Exile

  console releaseeeeeeeee

  magic is fun. there's enough simple stuff to optimize that it feels good without resorting to guides.

• 

  10. Utawarerumono Zan

  bad game and bad adaptation of the story. decent adaptation of how mechanics limited 2 was to 3, but it'd take a lot more to make a second zan worthwhile.

  still utawarerumono though.