2017 in review
For me it was a year of change. Although it wasn't the best year of gaming in recent memory it was by far the most diverse. I purchased my first console, a PS4 slim, after being PC exclusive for over four years. I thought this would be the perfect year to share the games I played and a give my thoughts on them as well which one I would recommend.
The first game I played this year was likely the best. A large reason I got the PS4 slim on a cyber Monday sale was to play some of its exclusive titles most notably Bloodborne. I came into Bloodborne with high expectations, having played all three of developer From Software's previous Dark Souls titles. The game starts out as a somewhat traditional feeling Victorian/horror game with Dark Souls baseline. The game slowly reveals itself to have a H.P. Lovecraftian setting with hints peppered before the larger reveals. The combat was fast and fluid and gave me the tools I needed to get through the challenges without feeling overly frustrated. I would highly recommend this game for the unique setting and tight gameplay. Although there the story is told in a minimalist fashion what is there is captivating and leave you with some burning questions. I completed Bloodborne twice this year, something that is rare for me as I often will wait over a year before replaying a game. PS4 no hour count.
The second game on my list is Cuphead. This game is more deceptive than any other I have ever played. A beautiful and colorful 1930s style carton art style hides and intense and brutally challenging experience. This game has some of the catchiest must and most appealing art design I have ever seen. The high difficulty, but quick levels and fast restarting reminded me of games like meatboy and hotline Miami. The overworld with the run and gun levels are a nice change of pace between the bosses, which are the meat of this game. The run time for this game on the first play through can easily be over ten hours, yet a perfect run can be done in around forty minutes. Each level is typically less than three minutes, but with only three hits and some seriously oppressive attack patterns you will be hitting the try again button many times. I would recommend this game on the art and music alone, the gameplay is also top notch in terms of responsive controls and innovative boss design, but I can see the challenge being prohibitive and frustrating. I completed all of the stages on normal and expert difficulty in around 15 hours. PC
Divinity Original Sin II is hard game to place. I had some great times with it and some unbelievably frustrating times. Its a top down party based role playing game strategy game. The coolest thing about the game is the variety of ways to play it and the way you can interact with the world. Every task can be completed in many many different ways. Even the most seemingly simple tasks can have more than one answer. Want to get through a door maybe pickpocket a guard or bribe him or kill him or get him drunk or do him a favor, but that's just the beginning- its a wood door you have a fire spell burn it down, knock it down with a hammer teleport through the window ect. This variety applies to questing and larger adventuring tasks. After getting through the first main task, escaping a prison fort and island the game opens up and some flaws start showing. You are given little direction and combat is very difficult. After a certain point I had no quests I could find around my level and the ones that I found that were one or two levels higher would crush me. I progressed a bit further, but then abandoned the game. Although I was enthralled by the game at times its complicated systems and obtuse/extremely open ended nature ended up being too much for me. To be clear this game accomplished exactly what it set out to do and made the perfect game for what it is, its just not my style of game. 42 hours PC.
Dishonored 2 is a game I enjoyed, but don't have all that much to say about it. The title stuck to the strong formula set by the first entry, while expanding to give even more depth to the combat. The story is a little bland, but the setting of Carnaca was interesting and felt alive. The level design was strong with a large amount of verticality and exploration. You can play either as the young Empress Emily or her Father/royal body guard and protagonist of the first game Corvo. I spent 14 hours on one playthrough with Emily and I plan on playing through again as Corvo at some point.
Hotline Miami 2 is another game that I enjoyed, but don't have too much to say about it. Hotline 2 plays essentially the same as the first title with a little more put into the story this time. The game plays fast and fun. With an 80s neon art style and heavy synth sound track this is a good title for someone who just wants a fast stylized (brutally violent) game to play. 7 hours played on PC
Transistor was one of the most moving pieces of art I have played in a long time. Super Giants' second title has a unique setting, style of story telling, and system of combat. The game takes places in a far future city being overrun by a biomechanical infestation. The protagonist Red has lost her voice and the game is narrated by her mysterious talking sword as they journey the dying city trying to piece together what fate has befallen both their city and themselves. The neon colors and isometric camera perspective along with the well crafted music and sound effects gives the feeling that you are playing through a interactive work of art. Music is of central importance to Transistor, before Red lost her voice she was an acclaimed musical start and the game features a dedicated humming button that dims the lights and shines a spot light on Red while she hums along with the music. This also highlights another strength of the game, which is contrast. The contrast between chaotic fights and chases and serene breaks under the night sky or of the utopian art filled city and the hell scape that is being created in front of you. The combat is done in both real time and in a temporary frozen strategic mode that allow players to carefully plan attacks. From the little things like voting for the color of the sunset to large things like the excellent final boss fight Transistor shined. And considering its low price and short run time I would recommend the title to anyone and everyone. 9 hours two times through PC.
I first got Total War Warhammer in 2016 and I loved it. I replayed through an Empire and a Dwarf campaign last year. The game is part of the Creative Assembly Total War line of strategy games. The games feature an overworld where you manage your civilization research new technology, upgrading cities, and most importantly building your arm this portion of the game is turn based. When your army clashes with another it becomes a real time strategy game where you command thousands of troops. The series has traditionally been rooted in reality taking place in Roman times or during the Rise of various empires in the 1700s. This title takes place in the fictional Warhammer universe. I really enjoyed the more fantastical elements in this title. Standard combat and troop formations mixed in with some magic spells or fantastic beasts made for a fun time. The four races (human, dwarf, Orc and Undead with more in the expansions and sequel) all felt very unique with different elements that changed the way you play. For example, orc armies have to constantly be fighting or the begin to fight amongst themselves. The undead armies do not flee, but can literately start to fall apart as the battle is lost. Among the troops themselves there is also a large amount of variety, the dwarves are strong but slow the undead have large armies with weak infantry ect. Overall as someone who enjoys strategy games, but isn't a hardcore fan I would highly recommend this title
Darkest Dungeon is another game that I did not complete, however I felt satisfied with the way I conceded my time with the title. The meat of the game is turn based strategy, where you venture into dungeons moving along a somewhat linear 2D path. You don't play any one character, but rather the owner of an estate blighted by an accursed dungeon. You recruit heroes and manage your town to give them a better chance of success. The actual combat is challenging with several meters to measure beyond standard health there is also a stress meter that must be managed lest your hero flying into a rage and kill a fellow team member or begin stealing good that should be returned to your treasury. Light and dark also plays into the combat you have torch the lighter it is the easier the enemies the darker the more difficult, but there are better riches to be found in the dark. I had been playing DD for a few weeks when I reached a scripted event where my town was attacked and I had to gather my heroes to save the town and take down a bandit boss. In the end I defeated the boss, but my best heroes were killed. I didn't feel like rerunning through early dungeons to level up my second string team and stopped playing. That being said I enjoyed the game and after my 14 hours with it I killed many bosses had many failures and ventured into the darkest dungeon a handful of times and felt I had seen more or less what the game had to offer.
There's not much for me to say about Rocket League. It's the game that I spent the most time playing this year and I love it. Its fun fast paced arcade completion, where you drive a rocket car and play soccer (or hockey or basketball or the floor is lava). I had a blast playing this with a friend and would recommend it. RL is the classic easy to learn hard to master and I have to say after putting in around 200 hours, including my time playing it in 2016, I have still not mastered it.
Seven Days to Die is a buggy, but mostly immersive survival game. The game puts you down on a large map with various biomes with little to fend off hordes of zombies. The game strives for some level of realism in its crafting, which can be tedious and also quite rewarding. For example, to make concrete you need to get crushed stones and sand, and put them in a concert mixer (which requires an engine and several other items to make). Once you have the concrete it is next to useless, until you make some steel rebar frames, pour the concrete in and wait for it to set. One of the draws and a driving force in the gameplay loop is the 7 day mechanic. At night zombies are more aggressive and harder to kill, on the seventh night the sky turns a deep red and every zombie knows your location and will attack you relentlessly. Preparing for these nights and making it through is very satisfying. Once you have a good base and enough ammo though there quickly becomes little reason to keep playing. That's not a deal breaker though because it took me and my friend around 40 hours to reach that point.
World of Warcraft. When I was high school I poured an ungodly amount of time into plain old WOW. No flying mounts no random dungeon finder. I leveled up a new character and played through the Wraith expansion one summer while I was in college. A few months ago I rebooted up wow made a new account and dove into the new content. Wow is better than ever. I think back to how long it took me to get my lvl 40 mount back in 2007. It took months and I actually couldn't afford the gold and had to borrow some from a friend. It took be one play session on my new blood elf paladin to hit level 25 I had a mount and was tearing through random dungeons as a tank. I am now at level 101 and although I have stalled a bit, I fully plan on making my way to the current lvl cap of 110 and going through the end came content of Legion, which I hear is the best in years. I would rather not give the total hour count.
I did not like Ratchet and Clank and were this a ranked list you would find this entry at the very bottom. I loved the original trilogy and was looking forward to playing this title when I got my PS4. The writing was terrible, the level design was bland, the plot was basic and uninspired. Even the only recommendable portion of the game the gun design didn't live up to what this series accomplished back on the PS2. Five hours didn't finish don't plan on it.
I wasn't crazy about Infamous Second Son when I first started it. I didn't love the main character whose punk personality felt forced, using terms like shepeople and spay painting a political ad for a local sheriff in the first hour of the game. However Delsin grew on me and so did the game. The open world location of Seattle under marshal law is a joy to explore. Near the end of the game you have three unique power sets that can be changed on the fly, and fly I did. I would be zipping around using the Neon dash hop up to a building change to smoke and lay down some serious firepower on the enemies down bellow. The main villain is hateable and gives all the motivation you need to feel compelled to take her down early in the campaign. The biggest criticisms I have are that the game lacks enemy variety and I didn't find any of the boss battles to be particularly interesting. The game looks great and shows off the PS4's tech without being overly obtrusive. Considering how early in the PS4's life cycle this game released I would consider its story, combat, and open world to be a great success. PS4 time not recorded 1 playthrough.
Speaking of early PS4 Killzone Shadowfall was pretty good. So the combat was good run of the mill shooting with some open ended levels. My biggest issue with this title was the story there are some huge plot holes that bothered me throughout. One big one from the beginning of the game was allowing the helghast(space Nazis) to have half their planet after defeating the them in Killzone 3. So that's not what bothered me, what bothered me is they did this without evacuating their own citizens first. Essentially the good colonists humans beat their evil foe then felt bad let them come to their planet and capture/murder torture a huge segment of the population. This felt like a cheap way to set up an emotional distaste for the helghast. Even though there is some good payoff in the late game there plot throughout detracted from my experience. PS4 time not recorded 1 playthrough.
Nier is one of the most bold titles I have ever played. It knows what it wanted to be and doesn't compromise from beginning to end. I love the way blended traditional fast paced third-person combat with bullet hell shooting. The way the camera shifts during combat to expand your perspective of a situation was artistically stunning with a handful of combat sequences being among the best I've played in my entire life. The story's philosophical themes hit a nice balance of provoking thought without being too obtuse. That being said, I didn't like having to play through the game a second time to get the final act. I understand why this was done, but repeating the same long combat sequences that were a joy the first time around felt more like a chore the second time. PS4 time not recorded, I guess two playthroughs.
Salt and Sanctuary stove to be a 2D Dark Souls game, and for the most part it succeeded. The game is challenging, is highly explorative with a minimalistic take to story telling. The setting is dark an oppressive with a solid variety of enemies and some good boss fights. The 2d melee focused perspective somewhat limited the complexity of combat. Overall I enjoyed the title. It did feel like a slog getting through some of the bosses and traversing the game world. 18 hour played on PC.
Dark Souls 3 is my favorite game of all time. In 2017 I played through it for the third time and completed the Ringed City DLC for the first time. The final DLC for DS3 and possibly the final piece of Dark Souls content was a fitting send of for the series. The new location is grand, dilapidated, and frightening. You spend about a quarter of the run time just trying to make it to the titular ringed city. The DLC features one of my favorites boss fights of all time with slave knight Gail. The boss is a humanoid enemy that fights in frantic patterns before regain his composure along with some serious firepower. The stage is huge sitting on the ash of the countless fallen kingdoms that provide the foundation of the fight at the end of the world. I love the From Software minimalist story telling and the lore implications of this "final" boss was satisfying. I say "final" in quotes because there is a hidden much more difficult boss hiding in the ringed city. The Ringed City DLC standing on its own was great, but as the final piece of Dark Souls 3 it helped to create an excellent title. Aprox. 100 hours total time in game played on PC with PS4 controller.
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