10. Disco Elysium

I know what you’re thinking. “John, Disco is so good! Why is it so low?” I have a good reason: My computer can barely run it. I got a code for this game from the Subway Game Awards bot, which in itself is hilarious enough to get DE on this list, but my old computer can barely keep this game afloat. What I did play is indisputably a masterpiece in video game writing and art, with a rich world and an unapologetic affinity for leftism, but it hurt my eyes to see it play so slowly, which is not the game’s fault at all. I love you, Disco Elysium, but I’m not ready for you.

9. Astral Chain

Astral Chain is a culmination of everything PlatinumGames has learned over the years. There’s DNA of Bayonetta, Vanquish, Metal Gear Rising, and much more flowing in the veins of this title, and while it doesn’t rise above its origins, Astral Chain is still a solidly fun time. Hacking and slashing with your Legion feels fresh and unique to character action games, and combat flows well without feeling overwhelming. Yeah the story is dumb and the visuals can be grating after a bit, but there’s a spark of PlatinumGames excellence throughout Astral Chain.

8. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes

Suda51 has gone through some shit. Being controlled by corporate interests has to be one of the most demeaning things an artist has to live within this late capitalist society. Now that the punk game creator has been freed of his corporate shackles and has pretty much free reign to do what he wants again, Suda has a lot to say about why he thinks indie games are the way to go.

Travis Strikes Again sees Suda speaking both as Travis Touchdown and as a new self-insert named Doctor Juvenile, blasting AAA gaming as a place where creativity goes to die. He actively smack-talks EA’s former CEO for ruining Shadows of the Damned. Travis wears T-shirts applauding dozens of indie games because Suda wants to raise other’s voices alongside his own. Suda’s message can be very corny and obsessed with itself at times, and the gameplay is really not good, but Travis Strikes Again is a surprising political statement that doesn’t hold back in saying that yeah, we should eat the rich.

7. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I’ve tried multiple times to get into Fire Emblem, and Three Houses was when the franchise finally stuck. Who knew that all they needed to do was turn Fire Emblem even more into a Persona game? Three Houses stands tall in the strategy genre by hosting a variety of some of the best character moments this year, with an entire cast of characters that are impossible to hate. Couple that with a genuinely interesting story of political intrigue and a push to show your support for a house (Edelgard the best) and I couldn’t help but get engrossed in Three Houses.

6. Control

I have a strange fondness for the SCP Foundation Wiki. It sometimes creeps me out too much and gives me nightmares, but I still love how well that world was constructed, even though it’s built through collaboration and it can be inconsistent at times. Control is a more polished, less messy SCP. But comparing Control to SCP by itself would detract from the success the game has at telling a fun story. You can tell that the writers of Control loved coming up with every minute detail of the world, and that makes it all the more fun to explore and gather files around the Federal Bureau of Control.

It’s so easy to find yourself lost in Control’s world and completely loving every second of it, but the biggest reason why Control didn’t break the top five was its awful boss fights. Side missions usually end up being a slog thanks to them, and that’s the only major gripe I have with the game. Overall, I love Control, but that little nibbling distaste brings it down a peg. Hey, maybe that distaste is an Altered World Event itself?

5. Luigi’s Mansion 3

It’s that Nintendo polish! Luigi’s Mansion 3 is a diorama, a showcase of Nintendo’s gameplay excellence. A set of puzzle boxes surrounded by goofy Halloween delight. Every new room you encounter is another set of adorable toys and puzzles to mess around with, and your vacuum’s tools are precise and dynamic enough to wring fun out of each and every one. Yeah, the bosses are also pretty obnoxious at times in this one too, but they’re less bad than Control’s, and also Luigi is cuter than Jesse so it eeks out a win.

4. Devil May Cry V

I was so nervous picking up DMCV. I had tried previous titles, and the only one I got enjoyment out of was the heavily reviled and, even if I had some fun with it, very frustratingly written DmC. Playing the newest title in the franchise that wanted to remember the good old times made me understand why people were so upset with DmC and why people had been waiting for this for so long.

God does DMCV play well. I cannot believe the number of options you have at your disposal in this game. Dante is like three video games in one and he’s one of three characters you play as in DMCV. How the hell did they have the time to do this? It’s so good.

3. Pokemon Shield

This is my curse.

2. Resident Evil 2

Capcom is on fire lately, their games are so, so good. Okay, their non-Street Fighter games. Resident Evil 2’s Remake is the absolute pinnacle of their return to form. Take the near-flawless map design of the original and mold it into a modern game, especially one that plays like Resident Evil 4, and you have John Game written all over it. The RE2 Remake is solid proof that even if a game is timeless, revisiting it and understanding both its core concept and modern sensibilities will do nothing but create another masterpiece.

1. Touhou Luna Nights

Touhou is a gap in both my gaming and anime knowledge, but it’s something I respect from afar. Its creator, Zun, seems like a rad guy, and I’m gonna drum “Reimu for Smash” as long as I can (boy, will this age well). Touhou Luna Nights came to me at a wonderful time. I’ve become a Metroidvania obsessive, clamoring for the next hit of dopamine I get every time I unlock a new door or find a new weapon. I played a lot of the classics, your Symphonies, your Super Metroids, but then Luna Nights left early access, and some folks told me it was worth my time. They were damn right.

Every second of gameplay in Luna Nights feels like a dream. Often-bullied maid Sakuya slides around each room like butter on a hot pan, complemented by every upgrade she receives. And those upgrades? All knives! She can learn to stand on knives, summon extra knives, or just get bigger knives! It’s knives all the way down! There’s also a grazing mechanic, borrowed from the Touhou games, where if you get close to a foe or projectile without touching them, you regain some energy or health.

While it’s not exactly the most original mechanic, Luna Nights’ time stop allows for even better flow. If you want to completely decimate an enemy that you particularly hate, stop time, throw way too many knives, and leave nothing but a smear where that foe was. Need to cross a watery area but can’t make the jump? Stop time and walk on water! This is coupled with the grazing mechanic to reward both skillful and dangerous play. You can stop time and get close to enemies and bullets, and get health and ammo back as a reward! It’s not particularly demanding or deep, but Touhou Luna Nights feels good from the moment you hit play, and finally standing up to your vampire master as a Dio-reference maid is a reward we could all use these days.

The post John’s Top Ten Games of 2019 appeared first on Gamesline.

Travis Touchdown had to get away from the constant barrage of assassins trying to take his title of number one. Hiding away in a trailer in the woods, Travis is attacked by Badman, the father of No More Heroes 1’s Bad Girl. During their ensuing tussle, an evil game console Travis owns, the Death Drive Mk. II, activates, sucking the duo into the game world. The delinquent duo team up to gather the six “Death Ball” game cartridges, and after finishing the games, earn a Dragon Ball-esque wish. Entering each Death Ball title transports you into a different game world, but the general conceit is the same: the main gameplay of TSA is industry standard hack-and-slash combat with power-ups sprinkled in.

Initially, the pulled back camera and simplistic enemy design makes it seem like this will have less-polished gameplay than the original series, but that isn’t the case. NMH always had mashy gameplay, but TSA actually surpasses those games by introducing enemy variety. Instead of three or four mook-models you fight throughout the entire game, TSA has around ten different enemies, not counting bosses. These enemies also coordinate well with each other, making combat more challenging and fun than the previous entries. Larger, most heavy enemies will often be paired with quicker, weaker foes that forces you to split your attention. Enemy encounters often take place in designated battle rooms, and often the size (or lack thereof) of the arena plays into the fighters you’ll face. Some of the hardest fights I had were in tiny rooms with big enemies, or large rooms with quick, darting baddies that could hide behind objects. Travis (or Badman, depending on who you play as) can perform quick weak attacks and slow powerful ones, as well as jump and do a spot dodge. Additionally, you can equip the aforementioned power-ups to your character, giving you special abilities such as projectiles, healing, and barriers. All of these additions make TSA feel refreshing compared to the Wii titles, and on par with the indie games the title so often makes reference to.

This comparison is what makes Travis Strikes Again so intriguing. Suda51 has been making games with far grander scopes over the years, only occasionally dipping his toes in smaller releases (Y’all remember Black Knight Sword? Diabolical Pitch? No? Yeah me neither.) This time around it feels like Suda wanted to limit himself on purpose. There is an immense love of (mostly) Western indie games flowing throughout TSA. Travis and Badman can wear logos from Undertale and Hotline Miami on their shirts. Travis explicitly name-drops Devolver Digital multiple times. The Unreal logo is an item drop. It might feel a little manipulative, but after a while, you start to realize that Suda isn’t celebrating these things to kiss ass. It’s a sign of respect, a nod from one artist to another. Suda obviously loves these games, and he’s glad that the Unreal engine and publishers like Devolver can assist smaller devs in their quest to create great games. There’s a genuine joy throughout Travis Strikes Again, as Suda proclaims that these developers have wonderful ideas, and he hopes they get the same chances he gets when he’s able to experiment and get a sizable budget on something like killer7 or Shadows of the Damned.

In between action levels, Travis must collect the next Death Ball, which leads to visual novel segments with Travis traveling the world in search of people associated with the Death Drive’s developer, Dr. Juvenile. The writing in these segments is snappy and often fun, with occasional eye-rolls, but it wouldn’t be a Suda game without that, right? Constant references are woven in, from nods to Suda’s past work to characters muttering “Tranquilo” like New Japan wrestler Tetsuya Naito. All of Suda’s heart and soul was poured into these segments, and you can tell he misses writing more text-heavy games like The Silver Case. There are also multiple scenes of Suda bemoaning the current games industry, condemning the viciousness of development and venting frustration on how good ideas are often lost in the shuffle just to make a deadline or meet a sales projection. It’s here that Suda instead chooses to celebrate the little guy. His love for indie games is especially reflected on Travis himself in TSA, as our favorite otaku barely mentions anime at all, instead focusing his obsession on Namco’s MAPPY or drooling over how cool Hotline Miami is. Travis does occasionally say “moe moe kyun kyun” in the most horrifying voice I’ve ever heard, so I guess you can take the anime away from a man, but you can’t take it out of his soul.

Presentation-wise, Travis Strikes Again falters a little. I don’t think I’ve seen texture pop-in this bad on a game Nintendo had their hands in publishing ever, and the enemy design, as said before, is quite dull for the most part. Some of the levels are downright bland to look at, including rooms of pure nothing or bland streets with no decoration. There are times where you forget what the theme of the game you entered is because of how boring the level design is. The first level, “Electric Thunder Tiger II”, shifts between craggy cliffs and city streets with almost no rhyme or reason, culminating in a colosseum fight, for some reason? Occasionally there is some solid artwork, but it’s less often than I’d hope. There’s only so long the suburbia of “Life is Destroy” can last before I roll my eyes out of my head. The bosses are the opposite, however, retaining the charm and punk rock attitude you’d expect from No More Heroes. The team actually brought in UK artist Boneface for the boss designs, and their work is a definite highlight of the game. I was quite disappointed to find out that neither Masafumi Takada nor Jun Fukuda, composers of the previous two No More Heroes games, were returning to produce the soundtrack for this game, but the tunes serve their purpose and it doesn’t distract or annoy.

Travis Strikes Again is Suda proclaiming to the world what he loves, what he wants to work on, and who he wants to support. I don’t think I’ve ever played a video game that was basically a friendly note from a developer letting you know what’s up, but I loved experiencing it. Suda51 set a whole level of his game in a suburban neighborhood and had the boss be a serial killer just so he could make him do Yoshikage Kira’s poses during the boss fight, and that’s the kind of dorky obsession I come to Suda’s games for. When someone is genuine about their love of something, if it’s music, movies, games, or anything, that passion can be catchy and heartwarming. Travis Strikes Again oozes with Suda’s enthusiasm, and that love is infectious. Nobody else in the industry would pour this much of their tastes into a full release game, so even with its faults, Travis Strikes Again feels nothing less than special.

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Final Fantasy 7 Remake

The original Final Fantasy 7 was three discs of PlayStation-era polygons, animations, and cutscenes. Now imagine you’re updating, recreating, and redoing all of them. Even with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake being cut into separate parts, there’s no way Square Enix has even the first part ready to go. Maybe we’ll see some more glimpses this year, but when you consider how long FF15 took, we won’t see this remake anytime soon.

I wouldn’t be too surprised if info about Final Fantasy 7 Remake skipped 2018 altogether. Maybe a screenshot gallery will arrive in inboxes as a press release, but Square already has something major on their plate. Speaking of that something major…

Kingdom Hearts 3

Maybe this is an either or. Either Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been getting worked on, or Kingdom Hearts 3 has. With the amount of screenshots and footage that’s leaked however, my money is on KH3 getting all the focus. Even with Square giving Sora, Mickey and his pals all that tender love and care, it may still miss 2018.

Kingdom Hearts isn’t just another RPG in Square’s arsenal, it’s a licensed game. Even with creative liberties, Disney doesn’t let anyone just do what they please and will want to approve a lot of what’s tossed in. Toss in the possibility of Marvel or Star Wars making an appearance, and now we’re dealing with a lot of lawyer-filled headaches. It isn’t too hard to imagine a world where KH3’s release date slips into the future.   

Shenmue 3

I can’t tell you if this is wishful thinking or a real prediction. Stiff Walking Man 2K18 may actually make it out this year, but I’d prefer it not. Perhaps Shenmue 3 will muster something worth looking at or playing, but I have little hopes for this quasi-Kickstarted look into Sega’s past. If there’s anything 2016 and 2017 taught us, it was plenty of harsh lessons in Kickstarters and expectations. It’s best if you keep your vision focused- and the Shenmue series isn’t exactly known for its focus.

There’s potential with Shenmue 3, and worryingly that’s the nicest thing I can say about it.

Anthem

No one wants Anthem to be released in 2018 more than EA. Last year was a PR struggle for the publisher, and pushing into this year they could really use a big tentpole money-making release. More importantly, EA could use a title that can compete with Activision’s Destiny franchise. Battlefront might be a dirty word nowadays but it’s still competing with Call of Duty. EA needs to add a RPG shooter to their sales tier, but just wishing for one will not make it so.

Being pushy is what gets EA in trouble. The first Battlefront reboot did great, but the second floundered thanks to loot boxes and microtransactions. That same initiative’s fingerprints has been seen in other EA titles like Madden and FIFA for years now, and it’s no doubt that microtransactions were/are planned for Anthem. Maybe EA is maddeningly ripping those systems out, maybe Bioware managed to stand tall against the publisher’s greedy ideas, or maybe Anthem is still in alpha on a computer server somewhere. Anthem ain’t coming this year, but I could definitely see it being a fun Q1 2019 title.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Somewhere deep inside Rockstar Studios there is a whisper. Past the rows of desks and dimly lit computer monitors you can hear it. It’s spoken by a worried programmer or a frantic QA manager or an agitated producer who keeps glancing at a calendar. That whisper is saying “we need the Benz.”

If you don’t remember Leslie Benzies departure from Rockstar, you should. Benzies was a developer and producer for Rockstar best known for being a problem solver. He was the person you call in when everything has gone sideways and you absolutely need to release your game on time. Benzies left Rockstar and made a splash with a lawsuit against them and publisher Take Two. Without the fixer to come in and solve whatever problems a title is having, can Rockstar really meet expectations and deadlines? This year should be when we start hearing more and more from Red Dead Redemption 2, but if the title goes quiet Benzies’ absence will be felt into 2019.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes

After its initial tease, it took most of 2017 to get a real trailer for Travis Strikes Again, and even after all this time I’m still not entirely sure what this game will be. Suda51 is a bit of a mad man and I wouldn’t be shocked if No More Heroes is either still very early on, or just about done. However, what we do know is that Travis will be visiting several other video game universes throughout this sequel. That means a lot of collaboration, legal agreements, and lots of scheduling. Grasshopper can usually manage a release per year, but it seems in Travis and John’s best interest if they took their time.

Fire Emblem/Pokemon on the Switch

It will probably be one or the other. Both games are still stitched together with rumors, speculation, and the lightest sprinkling of official news. 2018 is already looking pretty bright for the Nintendo Switch with Kirby, Yoshi, and Metroid Prime 4 possibly making their way out this year. It seems silly to add an additional two massive franchises to your schedule when you should be filling the calendar with ports and smaller releases. In an attempt to avoid sales cannibalism among major titles, Nintendo will probably have to choose between Fire Emblem or Pokemon.

Fire Emblem has the least amount of info swirling around for it, while Pokemon has a tornado of rumors pulsing through the air. That’s not much of an indication, but tossing a guaranteed sales bonanza to the end of 2018 that would sell even more Switches seems like the obvious choice. Nothing would push Nintendo into 2019 with a better outlook than a year much like 2017. A mainline Pokemon game developed specifically for the Switch would set the world ablaze in the best way. Fire Emblem doesn’t quite muster that same kind of fire. My bet is on Pokemon.

The post Games I Don’t Think Will Come Out In 2018 appeared first on Gamesline.

Clearly the biggest news coming out of the stream was from Suda 51. After announcing that Suda would be working on some sort of No More Heroes game for the Switch, we finally got a glimpse of what that will be. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is coming exclusively to the Switch in 2018 and will feature tie-ins from other indie games. Travis and a bat-wielding foe fight inside an RV when they are sucked inside a phantom video game system and must fight their way out again.

Kentucky Route Zero will be coming to the Switch, as Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition, in early 2018 and will feature all five acts. That means KRZ will finally be finished early next year as well, for everyone who has been eagerly awaiting its finale. We’ll also be getting a Super Meat Boy sequel entitled Super Meat Boy Forever. It looks more like a runner rather than a platformer, but I may be reading too much into the little bit of gameplay they showed off.

That’s enough about games we knew about, what about the new stuff? Let’s start off with Morphies’ Law, a multiplayer team shooter that’s all about stealing your enemies body size. As you shoot your opponent, you’ll steal size from their varying body parts. If you shoot the head, their head will shrink and your’s will enlarge. As you bulk up your body parts so will your overall team’s avatar body and whoever builds their avatar bigger will win.

There was also Mulaka which is based on the Tarahumara, a Native people from Mexico known for their ability to run insanely long distances. Mulaka is colorful and mesmerizing to watch in motion and is definitely worth a look.

There was plenty more, including neat looking games like Golf Story, Floor Kids, and Sausage Sports Club. We also got a date for Steamworld Dig 2 which will be in your hands on September 21st of this year. If you wanna check out all the other indie titles coming to the Switch later this year and into 2018, you can relive the entire stream below.

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