5. Alan Wake 2

Due to editing and scheduling conflicts a massively long piece I wrote for the first two Alan Wakes still remains to be published, but when I wrote them I had not played this. I now have played through this twice and well? I can say I loved it. I can also say there’s a lot about it I can’t stand. It’s one of the few sequels I know that doubles down on the strengths of the original whilst introducing a brand-new set of weaknesses all its own.

I don’t want the next Remedy game to be like Alan Wake 2, but I want the best parts of this game to inform just about every other game out there, and that is a really cool feeling. I’m definitely not a kid anymore; one of my most-loved games (No More Heroes 2) is just as much if not more flawed than Alan Wake 2, for reasons that are so similar that I might one day write a piece about it. This game, though I love it to bits, has not reached such a warm place in my chest as that title. Perhaps with time it will, love comes much harder to the old, but I also have enough of a far sight to see all the things it does right and I like it a lot.

Seeing Alan Wake 2 learn so much from all the triumphs in Control has left me excitedly looking forward to seeing what a Control 2 could learn from this and even the Max Payne remake despite the heavy loss of James McCaffrey. Consider this a thumbs up and a stay-tuned-for-what-will-surely-be-a-10-plus-page-rant-about-this-game!

4. Honkai: Star Rail 

My relationship with this game has been so turbulent I feel tempted to write a new take on it every patch but for the sake of my sanity and some attempt at cool-headedness I am waiting until the end of Penacony to re-emit a judgement.

I think Belobog might easily be the second or third best story Mihyo has ever written, and beginning to end it does a better job of selling you on this adventure than I could have expected. Since then though, the pace has slowed down to unbearable levels. Though this game is cycling 2 versions faster than Genshin Impact to get to its next location, the reality of the situation is that it sees you waiting one or two patches for a single 90 minutes of story and that just gets tedious to deal with. Couple it with a disappointing development and wrap up to the confusing and unfocused story of the Xianzhou Luofu, and  the constant power creep in terms of enemies and superior units,  and come version 1.3 or 1.4 I was already dreading to log in to do my compulsory weekly SU runs.

The trailblaze continuance mission released in 1.4 that takes you back to Belobog has pretty much single-handedly kept me playing, because it reminded me that those early strengths were not imagined, and that the game could once again pull off the trick.

For the moment, Penacony is juggling some interesting ideas with some characteristically glacial pace and trailers that seem to reveal this game might be much more closely tied to Honkai 3^rd than it originally let on keep me playing, but if this game doesn’t shape up and live up to its early promises it might soon be time for me to drop it and only come back for story content every year.

3. Street Fighter 6

IT’S STREET FIGHTER. I love Street Fighter. I have also been playing Street Fighter since I was like 3. I’m so bored of it. But it’s not V. And that is worth its weight in gold, my friends. We have to congratulate our loved ones when they leave unhealthy stages of their lives. Because we will always need them by our side even if we don’t see them as often.

2. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising

IT’S STREET FIGHTER. I love Str—I mean IT’S STREET FIGHTER. I LOVE GRANBLUE VERSUS. No, but seriously, this is essentially a very light rework on the old game. It is still one of the most basic fighters released since SF2. It is a lot more aggressive, it is faster, it has more options, but it retains the dead-simplicity and accessibility that really made me love its predecessor. 

Other people, more competitively minded than me, are greatly upset at the balance in this game. Personally, I have never cared much; to me, the highest priority has always been that fighting games feel good to press buttons in, and this aces that with flying colours. The hits still retain that fast-flowing, smooth quality to them. There is hardly an “impact” to them, they have a sensation delicate that battles almost feel like choreographed dances. Everything about the flow of a match just invites a very dynamic back-and-forth that I love and find hard to get sick of.

I might not be too interested in pushing my limits in this, but I will always pop it open on a lazy Sunday and waste a couple of hours doing empty jumps into throws. Fighting games are, despite it all, still cool.

1. Hi-Fi Rush

Hey, did you know I like music? I don’t know, I feel like I don’t talk about it enough. But I really really do love music. I knew I would like this game from the moment I heard about its central conceit and it did not disappoint me once I got my hands on it.

I don’t have the best rhythm in the best of circumstances; trying to juggle attacks from opponents and staying on top of a combo meter in addition to keeping the pulse is an extremely challenging task for me. But it’s also incredibly fun! I had a lot of trouble getting used to the idea of the heavy attack as a half note and the parry being able to work in sixteenth notes. And whilst I think some of the UI could be better designed to aid in its main concept, this is the kind of challenge I am always happy to fail and keep retrying again and again.

We’ve had conversations on this site about its presentation, its story, its use of music, its compositional conceits and its cultural influences and I think it’s all there. While I can’t claim to be totally won over by Chai and friends, I also would never claim to dislike them. They are one of the best casts for the kind of light-hearted, cartoon-style adventure that this game is going for, which is in my opinion a tone that games don’t attempt enough these days.I love games that apply rhythm mechanics to other arenas. I loved Crypt of the Necrodancer as soon as I saw its trailers. And I loved this as soon as I heard about it. The path to my heart is as simple as a 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.

The post Walker’s Top 5 Games of 2023 appeared first on Gamesline.

Layoffs continue, and the Washington Post has cut about 20 jobs and has shut down their gaming coverage, Launcher. Jeff Bezos is the current owner of the publication through his private investment firm, Nash Holdings LLC.

Following charges of abuse and domestic abuse, studio Squanch Games has officially received and announced co-founder Justin Roiland’s resignation. Roiland has also been released from Adult Swim and Hulu. His various projects such as Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites, and potential future Squanch Games releases currently intend to continue without his involvement.

Blizzard games have officially gone offline in mainland China. Blizzard was unable to settle on an agreement with NetEase Games, a company responsible for the distribution of their services in the region for over a decade. Blizzard was meanwhile already shopping for other publishers in the midst of these negotiations, of which NetEase representatives have accused of simply being unfair with differing conditions and offers.

On top of other shady negotiations that Blizzard has been upholding, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) has dropped its request to Activison Blizzard for a Proletariat studio union vote after accusations that CEO Seth Sivak has made the process difficult. The CWA has found that Sivak made “totally false” claims and manipulative statements that Proletariat workers were pressured into a union campaign.

Internal strife continues to occur at Blizzard’s own main offices, in which a manager from the company claims he was ousted due to his refusal in meeting a quota by giving an employee a low evaluation.

NVIDIA is testing a an AI-based tool that adjusts eyes to look towards the camera in an effort to “maintain eye contact”. Tests released of the tool have justifiably earned divide opinions, viewed as possibly useful in some circumstances to outright unnecessary and ghoulish.

Neopets is facing a class-action lawsuit over a huge data breach that occurred in July 2022. Neopets users who feel as though they were impacted by the incident should check out more information about the pending lawsuit here.

The Pokémon Kadabra officially returns to the official Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG). Kadabra’s absence from the TCG stems from a suit back in November 2000 in which illusionist Uri Geller claimed the Pokémon bore likeness to his image. In Japan, Kadabra is in fact called “Yungerer”. He has since penned a letter reliquishing control and grudges over the Pokémon that has been reciprocated.

Illustrator Deb JJ, who drew attention for outing Fortnite’s undercutting of their services, has managed to ironically acquire a gig from McDonalds to design for a Lunar New Year campaign in the midst of troll comments they received from their newly acquired attention.

A report, as investigated by People Make Games, alleges that leadership at Valve blocked diversity efforts and fostered a hostile work environment. According to several interviews in People Make Games’ investigation, the company has a huge diversity problem, continuing to have a lack of women in developer roles. Senior employees also refused to make a comment on Black Lives Matter during the outbreaks of protests in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.

Neil Druckmann claims that Naughty Dog has “moved on” from Uncharted

Meanwhile, co-creator of the first Last of Us Bruce Straley has come out of the woodwork to speak in support of unions, following notice of his lack of credit on the HBO series adaptation. Since his departure from Naughty Dog and founding of his own studio, Wildflower Interactive, Straley has commented on dealing with difficult and crunch conditions working at Naughty Dog.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is confirmed to be the next game update for Granblue Fantasy Versus. The update is expected to add new moves, characters, and the implementation of rollback netcode. The game will also have a new lobby system, in which players can lightly explore and interact with other players with chibi avatars on an island, and will feature and some mini-games that have been compared to the likes of Fall Guys.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit in attempts to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The lawsuit is speculated to be a move on the FTC’s part to get ahead of European regulators.

War Thunder was once again being used as a vessel to leak military secrets, in which a user on the game’s forums open shared scans of an operations manual of a US fighter jet. This is already about the third time this has happened around the game’s community, the first time back in October 2021 in which a user leaked classified documents just to debate about the game’s accuracy depicting a tank.

The post The Bulletin: Crappy Deals and Closed Doors appeared first on Gamesline.

The Game of the Year: Genshin Impact

After years of making fun of the addictive construction of the gacha genre, I have finally found myself with a game that has me looking forward to completing daily tasks and acquiring the currency to get more characters. Far from being a treadmill of addiction, however, Genshin Impact seduced me with a fun and creative combat system and a colossal open world with a plethora of flavourful, beautiful locales that allow the elemental combat to play off the environment.

The world of Genshin Impact is already one of my favourite depictions of the traditional Chinese vistas I have been enamoured with since I was young, and seeing aspects of the mythology and culture inform the storytelling makes it all the more unique. The characters, while a little archetypical, all have strong personalities and charming dialogue. Most of them currently sit at Act 1 of their respective stories, yet they have already begun to take on some nuance and develop dynamics to set them apart from the casts of other gacha titles. Not to mention the guys are very good looking.

It’s been over a decade since I found myself so pulled into a game. One that struck a great combination between a huge list of activities to do, fun ways to tackle them, and charismatic characters to do them with. Right as I was about to begin feeling some burnout, I hit the point where it was viable to raise a whole new party and I was essentially playing a completely new game again.

In some ways, I even feel the gacha conventions of endless gauges and everflowing pipelines of upgrade materials plays very well with an open world game. While I can see how those systems would be monotonous for some, it forced me to get acquainted with the geography and patterns of every major location in the game in a way I hadn’t been since the original Red Dead Redemption. I believe the kids these days call it “immersion,” but it is quite the remarkable feeling to know virtual landmarks and streets as well as you do real ones. Perhaps more so nowadays, considering how cooped up I’ve been all year.

I have never been one for ongoing games, and whilst it remains to be seen whether Genshin Impact will be capable of developing its story into something more than an excuse to travel a colourful world and make good use of its ever-expanding ensemble of characters, for the moment I am excited to see it through to the end.

The Most Interesting Game: Granblue Fantasy Versus

I used to be good at fighting games.

Welcome back, I appreciate you coming back to read after your laughing fit. It is as unbelievable to me these days as it is to anyone who has jumped into one with me in the last decade. The last time I had the time and the friends to actually improve at them was at the tail end of BlazBlue Continuum Shift’s lifespan, leading into Chronophantasma. By the time that dropped I was too busy with a job and creative projects and the friend I used to train with was too busy as well. I continued liking fighting games well after, but it would never go much further than having two or three sessions of play, before dropping it to a dead online ecosystem filled with people so much better than me that improvement seemed impossible.

Granblue Fantasy Versus changed that, in the brief period where it was a living and populated game: alas, the Arcsys Online Curse has claimed another. But it served as a perfect reintroduction for someone like me, who had forgotten practically everything but the bare essentials. It retaught me how to learn a new character, what things to look out for when familiarising yourself with a roster, and that the barriers of execution are rarely the thing that actually make these games difficult to get into. After all, only in fighting games is the basic act of taking 2 steps back to make your opponent miss an attack, a crucial strategic decision involving layers upon layers of mutually learnt psychology and habits.

When my current school semester is over, and I finally have the time and disposition to give fighting game proficiency another chance, I will be applying the lessons I learn specifically in this game. And if the great gods up above in Cygames ever deign us worthy of a rollback update I’ll be picking my Lancelot back up quick as you like.

The Real Game of the Year: Gothic

Gothic 1 is a game that takes the diametrically opposite philosophy of open world compared to Genshin Impact. Set in a small canyon, where the most valuable loot is a couple hundred units of currency, the only walls in your path are basic enemies who stay the same level for the entire game peppered throughout key routes, and the most fantastical power you’ll wield is tossing a fireball near the endgame.

While it more than shows its age, specifically in the writing department, Gothic is a completely magical title and one that I’m ashamed of having slept on for so long. It’s tough but fair: that old chestnut which I feel is often quite misapplied to another game series, is the most apposite descriptor of the experience. Master the combat, the main routes, and the many ways to attain experience, and you could very well wipe the entire map clean of enemies before even completing your first quest if you’re crafty enough. Of course, this won’t be the case for most people, who will instead find themselves dying against every new enemy they encounter at least once.

Gothic serves as living proof that with enough planning and care it is possible to retain strong directorial control over most players’ experience, even in a sprawling open world. And that a well-paced and significant progression system is often much more valuable than being showered with hundreds of experience points and perks that grant 12% more delicious potatoes when crafting a stew of the ancients.

Come the final boss of the game (an ancient demon who had seduced an entire encampment of people into awakening him and his evil priests), I could scarcely believe I was still playing the same game and as the same character who was scared of getting mugged by a single guy with a crossbow. Yet every single step of how I got there had been so clear and organic I could hardly object to any of it. It is one of the best, and most extreme, examples of the hero’s journey I have ever played.

The post Walker’s Top Games of the Year appeared first on Gamesline.

I did not think I would end up liking this game after the beta came out. I played the beta and utterly loathed it, probably because I was trying to play it like an anime fighter. Once I got my head around the fact that it has the pacing of a Street Fighter rather than a Guilty Gear, I actually found myself having a damn good time with the game. New characters came and went and I kept coming back for more grappler action with Ladiva, easily my favorite grappler in fighting games. At least until an update broke the way she worked, making her near unplayable and leaving me scrambling to find a new main before settling on Percival. The game is great, well balanced, and had some interesting ideas with it’s strange single player gatcha beat ‘em up and it’s one button press specials that kept bringing me and my less fighting game inclined friends back for more. If it hadn’t been for the Ladiva breaking balance change, it would have been much higher on my list.

9. Pixel Puzzle Makeout League

I thought for sure this spot would be Murder By Numbers, another great Picross puzzler, but once I played Pixel Puzzle Makeout League, it soared to my top games of 2020. It does a phenomenal job of building images and using the puzzles to tell a story through easily recognizable images as they built out. Its ending is also one of my favorite things this year and worth the time investment to get there. Seriously though, I implore you to ignore the game’s bad title and play through this absolute gem if only to experience some of the wild places it goes.

8. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing is a series I’ve always tried to connect with and until this one, I failed every time. I thought once again I’d drop it after a week of boredom and go back to Rune Factory or Stardew Valley. Maybe it was the pandemic, or maybe it was being in the right space to enjoy it but this time around I lasted for months. I’m less consistent checking in on my island these days, but for a solid half a year I put in the work and finally found the fun that people have with this series.

7. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

I was really skeptical of Valhalla as the PR campaign went on and on about what were my least favorite parts of Assassin’s Creed in the past. Odyssey was great, but going in hard on the combat system was not its strong point. For the first time in the new series style, the moment to moment combat all felt good. I actually enjoyed running into a place, two broadswords in my hands, swinging wildly and cutting everything in my path down. It was a fantastic time with some great writing and incredibly cool moments that I needed after the complete travesty that was Watch Dogs: Legion.

For those of you who haven’t played it yet, here is a suggestion: when you are asked what gender you want to be, let the Animus choose for you. It’s a choice that actively improves the story they are telling and makes the game better as a whole. Do it, I know you want to play as a female Eivor because she’s a hell of a lot more interesting, but that’s the thing, you will. So let the Animus choose for you. I know you have your preference, I know I did, but trust me when I say that it’s an option worth taking

6. Final Fantasy VII: Remake

Final Fantasy VII: Remake did the impossible for me: it made me interested in what’s coming next after the crew leaves Midgar. It’s weird how the changes they made are straight out of the Father’s Day episode of Doctor Who and yet they have me chomping at the bit for more. Everything about FFVII:R worked for me, from the way they adapted the ATB system to the fantastic characterizations and overall writing. Having just started coming into my own in my queerness, the part that scared me the most, because of its poor handling in the original FFVII, ended up feeling empowering. I love this game through and through, and I really need to sit down again soon to finish off that platinum with my good friend Chadley.

5. Sakura Wars

First, Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan is the greatest theme song in video games, don’t argue with me I will fight you. Second, they didn’t fuck up their child character and make it the most uncomfortable thing in the world. That’s a first for the franchise and it’s the first time that I can go “hey, you should play this game” without the MASSIVE caveat that it’s kinda super creepy with children. They combined my two of my favorite things in the world, Sakura Wars and Dynasty Warriors, and I would much rather play a mediocre Dynasty Warriors than a mediocre strategy game. And, uh… let’s maybe not talk about how much time I spent playing the Koi-Koi Wars Hanafuda mini-game.

4. Hades

I didn’t think I’d care for Hades but enough people I care about loved it, so I jumped in and sucked at it. It took me 74 times to get my first clear, and yet I still kept coming back. I wanted more; more juicy writing, more tight gameplay, and more time for my girlfriend to watch the screen and talk about how much she loves Dusa. This is a game we shared: we spent weeks taking turns, succeeding, failing, doing it together. Hades was a real boon this year, something everyone around me could love and enjoy together as we strove for more and more clears, finally seeing credits and jumping right back in. Hades will always hold a special place in my heart and a permanent place on my Switch.

3. Yakuza: Like a Dragon

I’m shocked at how good this game was, as I was so worried by the changes they were making. Would I like this goofy looking new character? Would I be able to get past not having Kiryu and company as my main crew? Would the RPG systems actually work in a game like this? Well, the answer to those questions is it’s probably my favorite RPG since Lost Odyssey and might actually be my favorite Yakuza game. The way the characters interact and naturally grow as friends; the way the minigames and substories fit with Ichiban’s character rather than being a complete contrast to it; . It’s a goofy game with some of my favorite moments this year.

2. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Patches 5.2 – 5.4

No game this year took up my time like Final Fantasy XIV. It was a game I’ve jumped in and out of a lot over the years, but this is the first time I’ve fully bought in and once I did, it’s been one of the most important experiences of my life. I created my character Oulan in December, deciding that this would be the year I would finally finish A Realm Reborn and experience Heavensward, which everyone told me was great. 2 weeks later, I found myself through the entire story, hooked with a whole new group of friends and community that’s been incredible. That’s a big part of why this game, while it’s not my Game of the Year, is the most important game I played this year. It’s given me community, from the old longtime internet friends I’ve joined up with, to streaming alongside Solon. It’s been something that’s kept me going through quarantine, and made it feel like I still had something I could do to interact with friends.

It’s that interaction that has made me who I am today. I’d sit in voice chat, and it didn’t matter what my voice sounded like, people called me she. They referred to me by the gender of my character and it felt so right. It’s why I’m Christine and not Chris and I’ve been so much happier with that realization of myself and I don’t know if it would have happened if not for the family I’ve built around myself in the world of Eorzea. Joining up with friends, realizing myself, and seeing them constantly willing to join up and help me out when I’m dealing with colorblindness issues in bosses. ALL HAIL NOVA RIKO AND THE DORITO OF SAFETY! Please Square Enix, I beg you to make properly implemented colorblind filters because what you have is not enough.

Seriously though, I love the family I’ve made through this game; all of my friends are so important to me and I would not give up the time I’ve spent here for the world. It can be frustrating, maddening even, but it’s been the biggest boost for my mental health and it’s made me who I am today. So here is to all of you, my friends, my family, the people who have kept me going over this last year. This isn’t just a celebration of this game, it’s a celebration of all of you.

1. Nioh 2

I didn’t think any game would be capable of taking my attention away from Final Fantasy XIV once I was fully bought in, then along comes Team Ninja. I’ve been joking for a long time now in calling it “Game of the Generation Nioh 2” every single time I talk about it, and I’m not actually sure anymore if it’s a joke or not. Every little addition they make to the game brings me back in, new equipment, new stages, new weapons, and they all continue to keep my attention and give me the same thrill I got the first time I started as I create character after character for each of the weapons. Hundreds of hours in this game and it still continues to be a thrill, whether it’s the new DLC content or the added difficulties, I can’t stop myself from continuing to live in the incredible world Team Ninja has built.

Even after multiple playthroughs I still find the story incredibly compelling and fun: the boss fights still excite me even though I know most of them by the back of my hand, and every single loot drop gives me that serotonin drip of possible improvement to the look of my character. I love everything about this game, and it feels right to me that the game I see as probably my game of the generation came out in the final year of the console cycle. Now get ready for me to start talking about the game of the new generation of consoles when Nioh ½ Remastered comes out in February.

The post Christine’s Top Ten Games of 2020 appeared first on Gamesline.

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Fuser (Harmonix)

Fuser was just announced a week before PAX East by Harmonix and suddenly it is already on the show floor! Keep an eye on this because it still feels early in development so things should change! It has the Guitar Hero/Rock Band presentation style and it is strictly just the Dropmix mechanics: Pick records from a list, put them on the four turntables, and play either their Rhythm, Melody, Singing, or Bass/Counter-melody sections of any songs. Layer all these pop songs together to make your own beautiful Frankenstinian pop song chimera. Currently, they are driving the freeform play by introducing ‘requests’ from ‘fans’ who tell you to do things like play Old Town Road or mix two different melodies at once. I’m hoping they can find other forms of play though because for now it feels Fuser is a fantastically fun toy like Dropmix was, but not much more than that as a music game. Still perfect for any party though!

Alien Hominid Invasion & HD (Behemoth)

One of my favorite Gamecube games is back!! Newgrounds’ creator Tom Fulp is back with more Alien Hominid as well as an HD remaster of the original sidescroller. The newer game, Alien Hominid Invasion, now gives you a health bar to play with instead of always dying in one hit which signals to me that they will be diving deeper into the cartoony, conspiracy theory-driven world of AH that only got a little bit of play in the original. I just can’t believe it is back!

Granblue Fantasy Versus (Arc System Works)

Maybe I just picked the right character, or maybe I am starting to understand fighting games better. But Granblue Fantasy Versus is the fastest I ever picked up a fighting game and even managed to take a round off of another person. I usually shy away from Arc System Works games because I find them to be more obtuse than games like UNICLR that are effortless to pick up, but GBFV is bright and colorful in a way that I’m really responding to! Ferry is strong and is my tall magical leather whip friend, and that’s all there is to it!

Calico (CatBean Games)

Cats. Have you heard of these things? They are everywhere. In Calico, you run a cat cafe for cats and with cats! You can ride a cat, walk with cats, and stand on enormously fat cats and roll them like a Katamari. It’s a very playful and cute adventure-sim, and even more than that the presentation of the game is gorgeous with a simple, uncluttered UI that hearkens back to Gamecube-era presentation and some shaders that make the forest around the cafe feel endlessly magical. You can wear a cat on your head while riding a cat. Calico is a must-own for feline fans out there!

Emily Is Away <3 (Kyle Seeley)

It’s 2008 and AIM is dead as a doornail, which means your only option for hanging out with friend Emily online is the wild west of this little site called “Facenook.” Kyle Seeley has now killed it for the third time in a row emulating the exact feeling of first loading up the original Facebook with a nostalgia-inducing emulation of the original user interface. It is uncanny how Emily Is Away <3 brings you back to those halcyon days while making you add Borat and 3OH!3 to your likes and interests. But are you going to go to the same college as Emily after Senior year? Don’t worry, Keyboard Cat is here to stave away the Senioritis.

Genshin Impact (miHoYo)

The nice booth man told me it was like Breath of the Wild crossed with Tales Of Symphonia but actually for mobile devices and I said they were crazy. Which is exactly what they said to the booth manager that morning. Which I assume is what the booth manager said to the publisher and the publisher said to the developer. Well, miHoYo? I’m crazy too then, cuz this is a full-on multi-party member, anime-ass, open-world, craftin’ & brawlin’ game for mobile (and for PS4). If you are really into the game loop for Zelda:BotW then this game is mostly more of that but with a cast of colorful characters that each have a wide kit full of magical and physical offensive options. It feels like a 1-player MMO in a lot of ways, and I didn’t think I’d get into it but eventually ended up demo’ing it for almost 30 minutes before looking next to me and realizing the person next to me was also still playing the exact same game but on a phone instead of a PS4. It was a powerful wakeup call for what modern gaming looks like.

Evolutis (Poke Life Studios & PM Studios)

Who needs Cyberpunk 2077 when this small team from Portugal is putting out some of the most gorgeous cyberpunk media this side of Akira? Evolutis is a side-scrolling adventure game with a lot of densely-packed, neon-filled animation that makes my jaw hit the floor when I look at it. Investigation feels really substantial as it takes cues from Night In The Woods’ style of lightly contextual but non-committal minigame interactions. The thing that is missing so far is from all of the trailers, demos, and videos they’ve released, I have yet to see any non-white characters which is a red flag considering how politically diverse the cyberpunk genre inherently is. I challenge Poke Life to take your writing and character design to that next level that your art is at, while also recommending to keep your eyes out for this!

The Pathless (Giant Squid & Annapurna Interactive)

Horizon Zero Dawn meets Journey. Do I need to say more? Yes, I will. As the name implies, The Pathless is an impressionist open-world like Breath Of The Wild or Shadow of the Colossus. It’s by the creators of Abzu, so it is obviously animal-friendly. Journey’s composer, Austin Wintory is on the soundtrack. And when this thing is in your hands, it feels buttery smooth especially when you transition between traveling and combat. The lock-on system keeps you trained on your targets even as they are running alongside you at high speeds. Annapurna really is out here batting way above the average and it rules so much.

Fall Guys (Mediatonic & Devolver Digital)

Please, not another Battle Royale. I can’t take anymore of this meaningless warfare! Wait, what is that? Off in the distance? Takeshi’s Castle* has been made into a video game and it is called Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout?? Watching this game is like watching those marble race YouTube videos but with actual people controlling the marbles. It’s just silly platformer-based fun and I’m glad someone is making a game that finally gives rebuttal to my dad’s common line: “Well, if I were on the ABC Family Hit Summer game show Wipeout, I would just choose to not fall off the big balls.” Yeah, you would, dad. You definitely would.
(*Or MXC, if you are in my hometown sushi restaurant that keeps that DVD on loop)

Gunvolt Striker Pack for PS4 (Inti Creates)

So Gunvolt is a game series that has been out for a while, but I haven’t been able to recommend it wholly until now. The new updated PS4 version of Gunvolt Striker Pack fixes all of the problems I’ve had with the series, and basically becomes the best version of Megaman Zero that I’ve ever gotten to play! It has also recently spun off into another series called Gunvolt Chronicles which has similarly fixed the structural problems of its predecessors and smoothed out the edges, turning Gunvolt into a fresh and fast-paced sidescroller for the modern era. Now is a really good time to jump into this franchise while they are presumably about to make many more.

Retromania Wrestling (Retrosoft Studios)

“Do you wanna fight the Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis for the ten pounds of gold? Well, you can!… in Retromania Wrestling!” We are in desperate need of more wrestling games because the entire creative artform of wrestledom is only being held up by three or four different types of games and most of them are simulators. Retromania Wrestling not only fills a well-needed niche of arcade-style wrestling games but it also is teeming with love for the wrestling industry, with a great selection of modern wrestlers and good tunes (supplied by Rhythm Bastard and Mega Ran). Other games might have robust simulation systems, but here even non-wrestling fans can easily throw down with a friend on the couch and have a great time. There’s still more development to go, but with a really fun cast of characters and NWA’s sponsorship, it makes for a really fun game!

Skate Story (Sam Eng)

Pop shuvit -> hardflip pic.twitter.com/9cgwJzSkkT

— SKATE STORY (@skatestorygame) February 19, 2020

Chrome person skateboards into hell! SKATEBOARD INTO HELL!

This game is gorgeous and uses a controller in novel ways to simulate the finer techniques involved in trying to manipulate a wooden rolling platform only using your feet. Instead of pressing a button to do a trick, you are using the control-stick to position your body-weight on top of your board to accomplish different ollie and trick types. It’s really impressive but it’s also very difficult to start if you are used to Tony Hawk’s single-button inputs. Skate Story is a game I’ve seen on Twitter a lot but getting to actually play it in person was a real treat.

Trick Shot (Meddling Kids)

SKATEBOARD INTO HELL, BUT HELL IS OTHER GAMERS!

So anyways, back to Tony Hawk. I don’t know what the laws of game design are, but this breaks them. Those devs at Meddling Kids shoddily slapped Quake onto Tony Hawk Pro Skater and just shipped it. The monsters. The bastards. The freaks of ludic nature. And you know what? It works. And it has roller blades if that’s your speed. Trick Shot is about doing tricks and getting head shots all while your combo meter is running, it really doesn’t matter if you get the kill if you aren’t looking swag while you do it. Which… for a game that blasphemes as loud as this does, swag is the gamer’s honest truth.

I’m realizing I can’t find a video of this game or any proof that it exists. You might think I’m making this up? But I swear to god, I’m not. There really are people making Jet Set Radio and THPS crossed with Black Ops. I’m not lying, please believe me!

EDIT: I found a teaser trailer and I was not at all ready for it… Here it is

Spin Rhythm XD (Super Spin Digital)

THIS WAS MY FAVORITE GAME AT PAX. It’s just a regular normal rhythm game… Look at the notes coming down the lanes, ahh so nice… but with Hyper Potions, and 2 Mello, and you can plug in your own midi-controlled turntable and play with that, and great note tracking, and LOOK! It’s so good. I brought my friend to the booth and he whipped his phone out to buy it on the spot. I don’t want any more gimmicky environmental rhythm games (even if they are cool and were shown at East.) I just want that good classic stuff with fresh beats to jam to. Spin Rhythm is a real guilty pleasure music game right here and I love it so much.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Finji)

I hope you’ve seen Chicory already, but if you haven’t, this super cute coloring-book platformer is from the developer of 2018’s hit game Wandersong and has officially been announced as being officially published by Finji which is a great sign that we’ll get to see a lot more Chicory over the next few years. I wasn’t sure initially if Chicory was going to be a short-developed game to bridge a gap between Wandersong and some sort of future Greg Lobanov project, but now that I’m seeing it demoed at shows and that it is being published by Finji I can see that it is much larger scope for a game than I had initially expected.

The post The Best Of PAX East 2020 appeared first on Gamesline.

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