List items
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Dragon Quest XI is an old-school JRPG with modern graphics. While some long-running series have tried to “modernize” but failed (Final Fantasy), Dragon Quest proves that there is still an audience for that classic gameplay without the need for copying modern trends or pandering with “retro” graphics (I’m aware that the Japanese-exclusive 3DS version has a 16-bit mode). It’s not revolutionary and just how much it adheres to tradition may turn some people off, but if you’re looking for an epic, charming, and emotional throwback to sink 100+ hours into, look no further.
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Tetris is one of the few games it's okay to get pretentious over. Once you get fairly decent at it, it becomes a meditative experience. What better way to take that to the next level than to hand the IP over to Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the mind behind Rez? There are some standout levels in Tetris Effect and enough modes to keep it from getting stale. I can't say I expected my most profound gaming experience this year to be a Tetris game. It’s something you have to experience.
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Do you like killing monsters to craft armor so you can kill bigger monsters to craft better armor? Do you want to play a game in which the entire point is to flex on random people because your polygons are more aesthetically pleasing than their polygons? Here you go.
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The third and final Yakuza game on this list. Before 0, Yakuza 2 had my favorite story of the series. Although the developers took some weird liberties, such as butchering one of the most kino scenes in a video game, Kiwami 2 now stands as one of the best Yakuza titles to date. The Dragon Engine is implemented better than it was in 6, reducing much of the (bad) jank. I kind of dreaded the new Majima chapter bringing back a certain character from 0, but it all ended up being tasteful and more like a nice bow on that already near-perfect plot thread rather than a true continuation of 0’s storyline. If you claim to enjoy video games but have never played a Yakuza game at this point, you’re on the pay no mind list.
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Nostalgia, muh childhood, etc. I think a lot of people had a feeling that the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy partially served to gauge interest in Spyro remakes. I love the Crash trilogy, but I’m sure remaking Spyro was more demanding as the levels are larger and more open than Crash’s hallways, each populated with unique enemies, and seldom reusing assets. Spyro is just as good as I remember and picking it up again felt natural. I completed each game 120, 100, and 117 percent respectively in a matter of days. Three timeless classics.
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Yakuza is like the pizza or chicken tendies of video games; it’s hard to mess up and even though the series often plays it safe and isn’t particularly refined, it’s always enjoyable. Sure, it’s not some balls out Metal Gear Solid 4 type of finale where every character Kiryu has interacted with gets the perfect send-off, but Yakuza 6 is still pretty good. After using the same engine for almost ten years, 6 introduces the Dragon Engine, breathing some new life into the series. Though I’m sad to see Kiryu go, I’m looking forward to the future of Yakuza.
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Calling Deltarune “more Undertale” would be reductive. It just has Toby Fox’s “style” if anything as it was the game he’d been working on before Undertale. Nevertheless, the return of his Earthbound/SMT/Touhou/Yume Nikki style is a welcome one. Who knows when/if the full game will ever come out but I can’t wait to see what Toby Fox can accomplish with a team behind him.
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This is a port of a Wii visual novel from 2008. 428 is a visual novel in the strictest sense at that; the entire game consists of text overlaid onto still photographs and the occasional video clip. Thanks to the precedent set by FMV games, I went in expecting camp of the highest caliber. While it’s certainly there, I was impressed by how well everything works. 428′s live-action format never feels jarring, and I couldn’t believe just how often all the characters’ storylines affected and intertwined with one another. It’s clear that a lot of care went into this game.
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The moment I heard the Yakuza team, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio, was making a Fist of the North Star game, I was sold. The over-the-top Fist of the North Star universe could only be complemented by Yakuza’s gameplay. Not much to say here. Yoked dudes exploding other yoked dudes just by touching them. If you have a passing familiarity with both of these properties, this is a no-brainer.
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It looks like the 3DS’s swan song will be a WarioWare game. Good.
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