Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is absolutely my game of the year. It might be in my top five of all time (although that would take some time to say with any certainty).

I was late to this because I waited for physical, then was buys forever.

My favorite thing about this game was that it trusted you. You enter a dungeon. There's no map. No checklist or indication what's inside. It's up to you to find and discover. Fly around the overworld and explore. There's no tracker saying where you've been and haven't. The canvas is your oyster.

Also the soundtrack is so sick. Pop Nuevo Tango? YES PLEASE

Weee:

1. Crazy fun battle system
2. Stunning Art direction
3. Music
4. Resonant story
5. Doesn't hold your hand

Woooo:

1. Unreal engine bullshit like poor quality shadows and performance issues
2. Can't go inside the Gestral casino.

"Your mother paints life, while your father paints death; what will you paint?"
"Time for a swim swim!"
"Men trip not on moutains, but they stumble upon stones"

it totally gives you the tools to prevent what you are describing.

Only if you correctly predict what's coming. Multiply enemy health by 100x? Maybe makes sense, maybe you'll spend the next 3 hours parrying it.

Like me and Serpenphare

it totally gives you the tools to prevent what you are describing.

Only if you correctly predict what's coming. Multiply enemy health by 100x? Maybe makes sense, maybe you'll spend the next 3 hours parrying it.

It has some flaws, mainly in the Act 3 balancing--it's just hard to keep the battles at a good challenge level without accidentally overleveling and destroying everything.

At a flag, you can go to 'challenges' and turn on HP scaling for enemies and tune it to your liking if you're doing too much damage… it totally gives you the tools to prevent what you are describing.

…but I thought Prime 4 was a square-one reboot from the Namco Bandai version. A lot like Toy Story 3 was a square-one reboot from the Circle Seven version where Buzz was supposed to be recalled by his manufacturer or something. They trashed everything and started all over again.

Prime 4 is what it is because of Retro. For good and for bad. It’s been almost twenty years since they made one of these things and it’s very possible that a) they wanted to shake up the established Metroid formula for the sake of innovation, and b) they kinda forgor how to make a Metroid game.

With regard to the Bandai stuff, I don't think so in terms that it was a square-one type thing. I'm pretty sure some of the top level plot stuff was kept at the insistence of Nintendo. I could totally be wrong. There isn't exactly a lot of info out there about it but some of the post release interviews have been interesting. Also in that vein, I got the art book for the prime series retrospective and there are many footnotes where both Nintendo and Retro indicate they had to compromise on this and that just because Nintendo said so (not a complaint from me, just fascinating when you have have a studio like retro while Nintendo sometimes dictates creative control from on high).

I'm not sure they forgot, it seems like they both had a little of the 'Breath of the Wild' open-world fever and realized too late it doesn't translate to what Metroid games tend to be. I saw some interesting fan theories around a time-travel mechanic that seem plausible as well.

I actually preferred the Dragon's Lair nostalgia of the QTEs, though didn't;t like that it distracted me from the scenes as much as it connected me to them.

This is the definition of a game that should have just been an animated television show.

That's funny because I remember a reviewer that said it brought a game closer to the quality of great animated television shows.

Sure, because that's just what it is. It's a good animated show with some mediocre gameplay segments interspersed between that. I didn't verify, but some podcast I listened to said it started as a pitch for an animated show that no one picked up.

It's the same thing as saying The Last of Us is the game that brought us closer to the quality of a good movie--because that's what the cutscenes are, basically.

True, although sounds like The Last of Us is a better game. I acknowledge it had its detractors regarding the gaming elements.

Split Fiction was great.

I just started Silent Hill f, and it seems great so far. I've heard nothing but good things about it, so I'm eager to play more.

I ultimately put Silksong down after like 8 hours. It's excellent on almost every level, it just required more commitment than I was willing to give it at the time. I may pick it back up eventually. It took me a few tries to really get through the first Hollow Knight.

And Roger was a neat little game. Played through it in about an hour and it's pretty creative in how it tells a story without saying a word.

Mafia The Old Country was neat. I'd never played a Mafia game before, but I ended up picking this one up on a whim and really loved it. It's not really anything special, but it tells a neat story over ten or so hours. There's no surprises here, I don't think--it's just a classic mafia story. You know exactly where it's going, but it is well realized.

Death Stranding 2 was excellent, even if I ultimately came off being a little disappointed. It's got a bunch of neat moments, great music, it's absolutely gorgeous. I was hoping for a bit more than what it provided in gameplay, in that it was far too easy. I didn't do any of the post game stuff with the guy that gives you timed challenges or anything, but I was disappointed in even just the basic sort of route finding aspect--it never required any sort of clever thinking or problem solving. It's a game that's probably better than the first in just about every way, but somehow also doesn't really measure up to the first as a whole experience.

Baby Steps was the most surprising game this year for me. What I thought would just be a sort of silly, frustrating game ended up being way more fun, clever, and touching that I would have ever expected. The game is so much more than what it appears, but it's also just so cleverly and well designed on a fundamental level.

There's a bunch of stuff I didn't ultimately get around to but want to, like Keep Driving, The Alters, Citizen Sleeper 2, The Roottrees are Dead, Dead Letter Department, The Midnight Walk, Sektori, The Drifter.

Honestly, I don't understand the experience you guys had. Sorry it didn't connect, I guess.

I just don't think the dispatching is engaging. It's fine, and I even think it's a great idea, but there's just not enough meat there to keep me interested for its own sake. And while I like the story, I guess it ultimately wasn't enough to pull me through the gameplay segments that I'm not all that interested in.

This is the definition of a game that should have just been an animated television show.

That's funny because I remember a reviewer that said it brought a game closer to the quality of great animated television shows.

Sure, because that's just what it is. It's a good animated show with some mediocre gameplay segments interspersed between that. I didn't verify, but some podcast I listened to said it started as a pitch for an animated show that no one picked up.

It's the same thing as saying The Last of Us is the game that brought us closer to the quality of a good movie--because that's what the cutscenes are, basically.

This is the definition of a game that should have just been an animated television show.

That's funny because I remember a reviewer that said it brought a game closer to the quality of great animated television shows.

Plus you accidentally put Split Fiction on there even though it's terribly written and that's the primary thing you care about. What a weird happenstance!

False.

I liked Dispatch a lot, but I have trouble saying it's a great game because the game part didn't work for me at all. QTE cutscenes and a clunky and opaque interaction where you dispatch icons on a static map wouldn't work for me at all with worse actors. At that point, it feels like the game has a big weakness for me.

Yeah, that's why I haven't finished it. I got through Chapter 3, I think, and haven't gone back. I'd like to, because I do like the story and characters, but the gameplay is just nothing and boring. This is the definition of a game that should have just been an animated television show.

Clair Obscur
Hades II
Blue Prince
Split Fiction
Silksong
Death Stranding 2
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Dispatch
Old Skies
The Drifter
Rosewater
Kathy Rain 2
Baby Steps
Consume Me
Ghost of Yotei

Favs? Absolute disappointments? Let's reflect on another year gone by.

Sektori
The Roottrees are Dead
Wanderstop
Citizen Sleeper 2
DK Bananza

Plus you accidentally put Split Fiction on there even though it's terribly written and that's the primary thing you care about. What a weird happenstance!