Interesting as always. I'm mildly surprised Remnant 2 isn't a little higher (my #2 of the year), I guess it ended up being a little more niche than I thought (it also only showed up twice on guest lists). Also glad that Hitman garnered a respectable number of votes on the strength of the Freelancer mode released in January.
I literally started playing Lunacid on Friday (it was released on Halloween 2023), and would have added it to my list, but I missed the cutoff by mere hours. Oh well, it still wouldn't have made the top 50, though I see a few other people voted for it.
@cikame: Yeah, I very much agree that I didn't love the OG RE4 because it was hard. Even though the game itself recommended "Hardcore" mode for those who had beaten the OG, I stuck to Standard because I was pretty sure the higher difficulty would just lead to more aggravation. But Assisted might just be a little too easy to be all that fun for me. You can turn off the aim assist they give you, but you also have health that regenerates when you're critical, and bosses go down like punkers. But you'll just have to judge for yourself whenever this thing is on deep enough sale for you.
I am sort of interested to try at least a bit of a fresh run on Hardcore to see how that actually feels--probably better now than it would have for my first play, now that I've gotten used to the game and know what to expect--and also to try doing some of a Pro run from NG+ with upgraded guns... I haven't really done that yet because I've been doing the weird challenge runs with bonus weapons like the Infinite Launcher and the Chicago Sweeper, so I still don't have a great sense of it. But I imagine I might leave it be for a while before I try that. E.g., I'm still interested in playing through the new the God of War Ragnarök NG+.
@icemael: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! Sorry about all the little grammar errors, I read it again just now and found a bunch of them that are now corrected.
I agree that I wish there was more of this type of analysis in professional game criticism, but I suppose the reality is that the industry is so huge and broad now that professional critics largely don't have time to maintain such a tight focus on just one product, they're constantly needing to bounce to the new thing. In that sense such analysis will probably continue to be found mostly on message boards and on YouTube channels that devote themselves more fully to specific titles.
I'm not surprised this game is getting critical praise, and I'll probably enjoy it myself to an extent. As a stand-alone game, I'm sure the remake is perfectly fine... but you can't improve upon perfection, and the original was the rare perfectly tuned game in which all the pieces fit together to create an experience that was greater than the sum of its parts. Based on what I've already played and seen, the remake misunderstands some of the specific gameplay elements that made the original great, and I just don't see it ever living up to the original for me... and anyone who thinks its existence means that the original can be relegated to the dustbins of history is crazy.
The original is timeless. It's 18 years old and I've probably played it at least 18 times. I played it again last year when the fan-made graphical remaster was released, and I'm playing it again now (I'm currently mid-castle) after the Chainsaw demo made me sad. It's still as great as it ever was.
Is this new remake a good game, maybe even a great game? Based on aggregate reviews, it sure looks like it. But will I still be playing this new one on roughly a yearly basis for 18 years the same way I have the original? I really doubt it.
@rorie: You know, I meant to go back and try that new mode they added to Returnal, but never did. Is that the bit that's been doing it for you? Or have you just been returning to the standard mode?
EDIT: Also, you should have been in the staff deliberations to champion RL2! ;-D
I am not surprised that those top three games (weighted) are what they are. They seemed like consensus picks for the year, and they made up three of my own top four of the year.
Nor am I surprised that I didn't play anything from 4 to 19 at all. These days if I'm not absolutely sure I'm going to love something, I usually wait for a deep sale, which often means not playing it the year of release. Some day! Add them to the eternal backlog!
Meanwhile, I'll continue to beat the drum for Rogue Legacy 2, my own personal #2 game of the year behind only Elden Ring, which ended up tied at #20 for weighted and #22 for total votes. If you haven't yet tried it, boy, it's a hell of a thing.
I feel like I've been plugging Rogue Legacy 2 more than just about anyone on here (it was my #2 game of the year behind only Elden Ring), and was disappointed that it didn't even make the staff top 20, but glad that at least one staff member has good taste. :-)
I was also happy to see the movie recommendations because I just so do not keep up with movies at all, so some of these I had not even heard of. Stuff to check out when I have the time!
Speaking to books, just wondering, have you ever read Robin Hobb's Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies? They're my favorite high fantasy books, and I've got them on the brain since Hobb earlier this year posted on her blog about a way to get signed, personalized copies of her stuff, and I bought a couple sets for my mother and brother for Christmas. But I also re-read those two trilogies again early this year and damn, they're great.
Wow, I'm sort of surprised it was just kept as a single 14-hour video rather than split into chunks. But hey, whatever. Either way it's glorious. I did manage to watch some of it live and had a really great time. I really appreciated the return of Mount Your Friends, what a blast from the past (it's even better with the custom faces).
Nextlander's "Never Been a Better Podcast" is at their $10 tier, not the $5 tier. Wanted to call it out because it would be a bummer if someone signed up specifically to access that for $5 and found they actually couldn't.
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