by frontman12
The only game I think could be a 2024 contender for me that I've yet to play is Last Epoch. It usually takes me a bit longer to get to the co-op titles than the single-player ones.
Showing 1-10 of 15 items
30th anniversary playthrough Unfortunately, my father very much bought into the negative way that games were portrayed in the 1990s media. If you weren’t around then, there were actually congressional hearings about violence present in games (Doom, Mortal Kombat, etc.), and the families of the Columbine victims actually sued entertainment companies following the 1999 shooting. Suffice it to say, my Dad was much more open to me playing educational titles like Math Blaster (or Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing) than anything else. Unfortunately, I was only able to locate an in-browser version of this game, that crashed repeatedly after only five minutes of playtime. However, what I played was certainly familiar based on what I can remember. You’ll answer some simple arithmetic questions, and then blast with a laser the garbage (aluminum cans, etc.) that is inexplicably floating out in front of your Math spaceship.
20th anniversary playthrough Although I wouldn’t say that Half-Life 2 is an “all-timer” for me as it is for some of my friends (my favorite FPS experiences are probably Bioshock & FEAR), it’s still quite good and holds up quite well. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the signature soundscape of a Half-Life game, with distinctive noises associated with acquiring health and charging your HEV suit, now coupled with the flatlining of Combine soldiers upon their demise. The game creates a great sensation of “being on the run,” with Freeman chased by a gunship outdoors and manhacks in the tighter indoor spaces. I loved the excellent voice acting, basically everything involving the canine mech “Dog,” the spooky Ravenholm level, and the scrappy resistance and their repurposed Combine tech. There were a few issues that stuck out a bit more prominently this playthrough, like the absence of a good long-range weapon and the absolute stupidity of the resistance soldiers you’re guiding around towards the conclusion of the game, but otherwise Half-Life 2 remains solid 20 years after its initial release.
20th anniversary playthrough I played this on Microsoft PC Game Pass, so I had access to the “BFG Edition” (which certainly wasn’t the one I originally experienced). Gone was the inability to have a flashlight and gun equipped simultaneously, which I must admit is a wonderful improvement - this setup was always more frustrating than frightening. The game was faster-paced than I remember, though still much slower than the 2016 entry. I had forgotten how many audio logs were in the game, and I definitely have a sweet spot for this feature. I appreciate the voice acting, and the ability to listen to these logs as I continued exploring the Martian base. The logs provide a sense of realism and vitality to a base that would otherwise just be abandoned and demon-haunted. With close attention to the early audio logs, you’ll also have the code you need to procure the BFG9000 later in the game - a Doom classic! I actually loved playing this one again, and continued on to complete the Lost Mission that was newly added in the BFG Edition package. My favorite weapon to use was the Machine Gun, although other weapons are much better against certain enemies (use Grenades on those Hell Knights - they’re slow enough to be an easy target, and will otherwise eat your ammo!) The Soul Cube mechanic could justifiably be seen as a precursor to 2016’s gameplay loop, where the player can only be healed by killing demons. Doom 3’s biggest issue, in my view, is having an absolutely trash shotgun, which is a cardinal sin in an FPS game.
10th anniversary playthrough Although the words “procedural generation” are almost an instant turn off for me, it turns out that if you put this feature in a stealth game, with stylish 60s-inspired art design, and then give it to me for “free” (through PS+), I might just give it a try. Counterspy is just as compelling as it was ten years ago, and I especially appreciated Playstation’s ecosystem for allowing me to recover my PS4 save where I had everything unlocked (weapons, formulas). Though the game’s rooms were sometimes a bit too large, meaning you’ll alarm enemies that you didn’t even know were there, I still enjoyed traipsing through these top secret bases with my Diplomatic (silenced) pistol and Dart Persuader. You can also activate collected “formulas” at the beginning of each level (for a monetary cost) to give your spy further advantages, such as slowing the escalation of the alarms or giving your pistol the ability to penetrate helmets, etc. It’s a short, breezy game, but quite a bit of fun.
10th anniversary playthrough (one year removed) I had intended to replay Blacklist in 2023, but just didn’t get around to it. Although it’s blasphemy to say in the stealth-enthusiast community, I prefer Sam Fisher’s 2010 and 2013 excursions to those of the previous console era. Conviction and Blacklist just ooze style, with cutscenes featuring jump cuts reminiscent of the CIA command centers in the Jason Bourne films (I’m a huge Bourne fan) and the mission objectives projected up against the game’s dark environs. I much prefer third-person to first-person stealth, since I then feel like I have enough information to make good combat decisions. While Conviction is probably still my favorite third-person stealth title (come on, Michael Ironside IS Sam Fisher), I appreciate that Blacklist kept so much of what made that first game special. I loved crawling up pipes and ledges to initiate my takedowns from above and below, while marking and executing enemy trios that are more stubbornly vigilant. While the game isn’t perfect (it feels pretty terrible for Sam to be put on defense, which the game does from time to time), I was excited for each play session until completing the game’s roughly 11 hour campaign.
#10 The Morrowind-esque visuals drew me to Dread Delusion, but once I got into it I found a tremendously imaginative game containing some of the most difficult role-playing choices I had to make in 2024. Just to give a taste of the game’s creativity - within the game’s lore, the language of the Gods (and therefore creation) is called Cipher. One of the game’s islands is ruled by an AI programmed in this language, and it can therefore create out of thin air the goods that are needed by the island’s people. But as a collection of code, such an entity is vulnerable to malware. What happens when such an entity is hacked? Is this liability worth tolerating with such potential on the line? The AI’s ability to create only compounds the damage that it can do. What if it was coded to manufacture hemorrhagic viruses, or demons? If I’d gotten lost fewer times or had a bit more fun with the combat, Dread Delusion would’ve ranked higher, but even as it stands the Oneiric Isles are a locale well worth visiting.
#9 This scrappy, spacefaring RPG very much seems like a labor of love (it was created by solo developer Sam Enright). The initial premise is certainly compelling - your protagonist, Doug, is abducted by aliens and told that a destructive cosmic force is soon to destroy Earth. Do you believe the aliens? Do you try and return home anyway? I loved flying around the game’s overworld, visiting planets and meeting new party members with interesting personalities. My favorite companion was easily Boom Boom, Doug’s guinea pig that was transformed by the aliens during the initial abduction to be larger, bipedal, and super-intelligent. The game’s core mechanic is the ability to capture almost any creature you fight, whose abilities you can then use in fights moving forward. With use, you can level up these summons to gain even more powerful abilities. There are some fairly difficult boss fights in the game, and Doug can capture these creatures as well (their abilities are some of the strongest in the game). Along with the ability to equip up to four summons, each character can equip four relics which further enhance combat abilities. The relics are quite diverse, and powerful synergies can be created. My main gripes with the game were getting lost on a few occasions, and the way that enemies respawn upon each screen transition.
#8 The first Steamworld Heist was definitely a top 10 game for me in the year of its release, so I had high hopes for the sequel. Heist 2 certainly ups the ante, adding a large seafaring overworld (with combat) and an ingenious job system. I liked sailing around, trying to acquire all of the stars in each zone (you’re rewarded with a special cog that provides a bonus to all of your crew members), decimating enemy ships with as many torpedoes as I could fit on my vessel. As for the job system, the “job” of a crewmate is determined by the weapon they have equipped, and each job has an associated skill tree. Upon switching weapons with that crewmate, you can spend “cogs” to equip abilities from the skill tree associated with the previous weapon types you’ve had equipped. Crewmates have personal abilities that are unique to them, which create powerful synergies with abilities in certain job skill trees. While you can of course find higher-powered weapons of each type, you can also purchase upgrades for personal abilities and job skills (that affect each crewmate that has that skill equipped). Utility items, such as armor, healing kits, and accessories, round out each character’s loadout. My main issue with the game was actually the incessant alarms, which often begin as soon as you deploy at an enemy base or on an enemy ship, creating incessant reinforcements. I know that developer Thunderful wants to ramp up the challenge, but sometimes I just want to take things slowly and at my own pace.
#7 Banishers was the other game this year, in addition to Dread Delusion, that presented me with quite difficult decisions. The titular banishers, Red and Antea, are essentially paranormal detectives - they encounter haunted individuals in 17th-century New England and must discover why these dead refuse to rest. Developer DontNod doesn’t shy away from referencing the horrors of the time either, such as the Native American genocide and colonization. There are many reasons a ghost could persist, including forceful hatred of one who survived, a misdeed from one of the living, or the inability of the living to truly let go of one they love. Once a ghost is located, Red and Antea have to decide whether to “ascend” or “banish” it. As the game heavily implies that these destinations correspond to sending a spirit to heaven or hell, you’ll want to carefully assess these situations. This was made more sticky for me as I had recently finished reading Robert Sapolsky’s book “Determined,” which weaves together neuroscience and philosophy to make a compelling argument against free will. Therefore, I was often thinking about whether an individual or ghost would cause continued harm, rather than simply whether they were “guilty” of the offense in question. I enjoyed the rhythm of the game’s combat, bouncing back and forth between Red and Antea, and attempting to use Antea’s “Outburst” skill as often as possible (and make it as damaging as possible). I also enjoyed exploring this New World, but felt that there should’ve been much less backtracking, and many more waypoints.
#6 In a time of Nazi salutes at Presidential podiums, develop Artificer is here to remind you that Nazis are indeed bad. Although these particular Nazis are more interested in a superpowered “Geiststoff” material than in dismantling the federal government, they’ll still need to be taught a lesson. Although many of the abilities on offer in this tactical stealth game are strongly reminiscent of those in Mimimi’s titles, there are a few new additions that are especially fun. My favorite was the “Human Bomb” of the exiled scientist Rosa - she can attach it to an enemy soldier and then remotely detonate it later, perhaps as that particular soldier wanders by others on its patrol or stops to deliver a report to a nearby officer. I also liked the way that the game encourages the player to comprehensively explore each level, by sprinkling around cases containing ability upgrades for your characters. However, what keeps Sumerian Six from truly reaching the heights of Mimimi’s titles is its insistence that you approach encounters in certain ways. There was often only one way to actually enter a given area - and completing encounters in the game often felt more like solving a puzzle with a single solution instead of devising your own creative approach.