by inklimb
To me, there are now two types of games in the world: media and experiences. Owning your favorite bands CDs vs. seeing them live. A massive collection of Disney films vs going to Disneyland. There are games that you can own, preserve, and play until the disc wears out, and there are games that are fleeting. They exist in a time, at a particular place, and much like videos of a concert and photos from Disneyland, you're left with little more than snippets of your experience to accompany the very personal memories.
These fleeting games, live service, multiplayer, the like, have always ended up being some of my favorites, which means that the quality of my memory is all that connects me to some of the most impactful parts of my favorite hobby. So here, then, is a small list of those experiences, memories that have lasted a variety of years and cannot likely be replicated or replaced, and I look forward to hearing those of others.
Showing 1-10 of 16 items
They say don't start with the show stopper, but it was the first one that came to mind. I am overjoyed that Reloaded is happening, but truly nothing will be the original Gears for me. In the early Xbox live days, before everyone was siloed off into their own party chats, Gears lobbies were constant smack-talkin' chaos. Any and every weapon was a signifier of a noob, sniper battles transformed in real time from racing to the bridge in Canal to pop off a shot to sliding around and quick-scoping with incrementally increasing success, and my old CRT, where ever it is, might still have some sticker residue on it perfectly in the center. And without an efficient way to form an actual party, there was an element of getting into a party chat, entering our preferred filters into the server browser, and trying to join the same match at the same time. I could, and probably will, someday, go on for hours about what the original Gears of War means to me, but it's safe to say that the qualities I truly loved will not possibly be included in Reloaded, let alone the ability to ninja-flip out of the map like a turd. It was also the first competitive shooter that I was halfway-decent at, and would go to local tournaments for, so of course the memories are fond, I guess.
Okay, a lot of my love for LawBreakers comes from being able to fire backwards. There's a tiny effort to keep a server running and it remains fun overall, but... arena shooters... yeah... Had it survived and had the chance to grow against other hero shooters, though, that's a big what-if for me.
Let's just get this one out of the way, too. RH shares something with another BR that won't be on this list (Ring of Elysium): BMX bikes. I also dug the gameshow aesthetic, the vending machines (that of course would make their way to Fortnite) and a few of the small touches in this admittedly way-too-underbaked battle royale. When Fortnite pivoted to BR, I spent way more time with RH, but it was easy to tell very early on that it wasn't going to make it. I think that puts an end to the "Cliff(y) B" representation on the list.
Games like S+G hurt because they never got the chance to even exist, and seem to take down studios with them. Whether correct or not, I'll always remember it as "multiplayer State of Emergency," and that was just about all I wanted it to be. The loop of looting stores, fighting alongside three other players, each with their own mini-mobs of AI trailing them, felt great, even in the moments where melee bruiser characters nabbed you with unstoppable grabs. We probably won't get another game like it.
I love me some asymmetrical (horror) games, and Friday felt like it could have gone up against DBD if it weren't tied to the most tumultuous property in the industry. The care the developers put into recognizing Jason's otherworldly powers and tendencies and translating them into gameplay mechanics was a joy, and went beyond simple fan service, though that was present, too. It was also the first asymm horror game I got super into, and still kinda the bar I want others to reach.
There was a time when players bemoaned the existence of "tacked on" multiplayer modes in single-player titles, but some of them were just the best, ya know? From minute one, loading into an RDR multiplayer match, doing the high-noon standoff before everyone's guns popped off and the winners scattered around the map while the losers waited to respawn... chef's kiss. I didn't want to play a cowboy, I wanted to play a friggen gunslinger, and that's what the multiplayer offered. I got pretty good at the lock-on-and-flick headshots, but it really didn't take long before I could see the player base shrink in real time.
Similar to RDR, TLoU's multiplayer mode, Factions, was a surprise addition to the single-player experience. Facebook integration aside, the meta game stole the show in what was yet another attempt at adding story to competitive multiplayer. The pieces didn't quite fit together, but it did accurately translate the tension and brutality of the single-player gameplay loop, and I've sorta been looking for that tension ever since.
Hyenas was the butt of so many jokes before Concord was even a glimmer in Sony's eye, but man, I loved it. Say what you will about their dystopian space pirate setting, but there was just something about a competitive heist game where you're lifting old VHS tapes and Sonic figurines that kept me coming back for every beta. I get why it was cancelled, because it would have taken a significant investment of time and money to refine the many, many rough edges, but it was trying something that hit with me, specifically, so I'll miss it. (and, yes, I might be patient zero for hoping Fairgames is at least decent.)
Firestorm exists on a long list of failed battle royale games, but there will always be something about its simplicity and destruction that I'll look back on fondly over Fortnite's constantly changing maps, modes, and weapon pools, ya know? That circle of fire burned through buildings, y'all, and it was cool to watch literally every time. Its biggest sin was that it didn't license Johnny Cash for the drop.
I don't need to say a ton about Rumbleverse. I still think a large scale, melee/fighting-focused competitive game can work, and I hope someone does it. It was such a breath of fresh air, and I liked not having to worry about getting sniped at the first sign of an enemy in the distance.
