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04/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Normal)
05/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Jetstream Sam DLC (Normal)
06/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Blade Wolf DLC (Normal)
10/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Hard)
14/01 - Killer Is Dead (Hard)
18/01 - Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut
20/02 - Okamiden
23/02 - Bayonetta 2 (Normal)
27/02 - Shadow of the Colossus
02/03 - Monster Hunter World
06/03 - Snake Pass
08/03 - Deus Ex: The Fall
10/03 - Bayonetta 2 (Hard)
22/03 - Ty the Tasmanian Tiger
28/04 - Warden: Melody of the Undergrowth
03/05 - Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
05/05 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Nero/Dante - Devil Hunter)
08/05 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Vergil - Devil Hunter)
12/05 - Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
13/05 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Lady/Trish - Devil Hunter)
21/05 - Omensight
26/05 - Mafia II
27/05 - God of War
31/05 - God of War: Ascension
12/06 - Unravel Two
15/06 - Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion
23/06 - Vampyr
05/07 - Cat Quest
14/07 - The Legend of Korra (Extreme)
20/07 - The Vagrant
28/07 - A Hat in Time
31/07 - Way of the Samurai 4
25/08 - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Knight)
25/08 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution
10/09 - Zone of the Enders The 2nd Runner : MVRS
18/09 - Yakuza Kiwami 2
19/09 - Figment
20/09 - Darksiders: Warmastered Edition
20/09 - AER: Memories of Old
22/09 - Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
11/10 - Forza Horizon 4
06/11 - CrossCode
14/11 - Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition (Deathinitive)
23/11 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Nero/Dante - Son of Sparda)
04/12 - Dust: An Elysian Tail
10/12 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Vergil - Son of Sparda)
15/12 - Forza Horizon 4: Fortune Island
25/12 - Killer7
27/12 - Darksiders III
This ended up being another one that I have mixed feelings on, but in the end I came out positive on it. I also enjoyed the game more as it went on. But there's a lot to dig in to here about exactly what this game is, and what it "should" be.
The big issue here is how it takes a huge departure from the rest of the series. It eschews the 3D Zelda-like style for something more inspired by Dark Souls, or Metroidvanias in general. So somewhat in keeping with series tradition, it's a melting pot of ideas from other places. It's just it has mostly new ingredients. The DNA of the previous games feels like just another one thrown in, rather than the core focus of this one. But in general instead of exploring an open overworld and delving in to dungeons to solve puzzles and fight bosses therein, here you're exploring a narrow, twisty, and interconnected world that doesn't really provide anything in the way of puzzles. Instead you're focused mainly on fighting enemies and navigation.
Fighting itself has been changed to be slower, and more deliberate and punishing, but it still gives you a moderate level of different attacks and combos to choose from, which expands over the game as you collect more weapons. So it ends up feeling like something of a halfway house between Dark Souls and the old Darksiders games. It doesn't fully realise the potential of either, but it does have flashes of brilliance, and it doesn't feel like it's trying to be either of those two things. It's trying to find its own path. Sometimes it succeeds very well. Other times it feels like it's aiming for something that isn't there. The mechanics themselves feel good, albeit not exceptional, and most of the boss fights are very enjoyable. They're definitely the highlight of the combat, with them being well designed and impressive encounters that push your skills without feeling cheap. Fights against normal enemies are generally good too, but there are a few occasions where it feels like they can ambush you unfairly, and towards the start of the game when you don't have many weapons, it can make combat feel a bit shallow and repetitive.
In the latter parts of my time playing the game they released a patch that added in a new optional "Classic" combat mode that was supposed to make the game feel more like the older games. It makes it so you can cancel out of attacks with a dodge, and use healing items instantly with no animation. It doesn't completely change the combat, and definitely won't make the game suddenly play exactly like 1 or 2, but I think it was a good change that I would advise people use. It allows you to be more aggressive and speeds up the pace of combat a lot. It feels like it unlocks some hidden potential to the combat, by simply letting you do more. It being so lax with items might be a step too far, but in terms of the moment-to-moment combat, it is a definite improvement, and helps to fix the problem of getting overwhelmed in an ambush too.
World design is pretty impressive though. Exploring around those tight, convoluted paths was pretty enjoyable, and every area was memorable and unique. It frequently did that thing where you go through an area and loop around to open up a shortcut, giving you that satisfactory surprise of seeing a place you recognise but didn't expect to see. Coming back to older areas with new abilities that let you explore more is pretty satisfying too, although it doesn't quite hit the heights of something like Metroid Prime in that regard. Aesthetically, it's not the most amazing looking world, but it does have some high points. Certain places are very impressive to look at, but I don't think this setting stands up as being among the best in the genre. In terms of how this series has portrayed a post-apocalyptic Earth though, it's probably the best. It does it in the most diverse and intricate way.
The story isn't much to write home about, but it does put some effort in to characterisation. The general plot is pretty thin, with it basically being not much more than defeating all the bad guys because you're told to. There is a sub-plot with a different character who gives you your powers, and some other character they want you to hunt down, and that is somewhat interesting, but doesn't have much to it either. But Fury is pretty well realised as a protagonist for this series. She's forceful and short tempered, with a sardonic sense of humour and a bit of a softer side that provides some inner conflict as she weighs up what she really wants. She talks quite a lot with her Watcher that brings up quite a few of these traits, as well as her interactions with the bosses themselves. Being based on the Seven Deadly Sins, they each embody the expected character trait, and ham it up in cutscenes before fights in amusing ways. They're easily the most fleshed out boss characters in the series. Lust in particular was really good, as they don't take the obvious path of making her some sexualised character, but instead delve in to how lust can mean different things to different people, and the implications of that. I was quite impressed with that. Not that it's amazing in comparison to the best writing of the medium, but it's far more than I expected from this low budget game based on the edgy 90s comic aesthetic.
So while overall I liked it a fair amount, I didn't love it. As much as I did enjoy it, it's very hard to get away from the nagging feeling that this isn't the Darksiders 3 I wanted. But at the same time, that is something I knew going in. This was always going to be a B-game, with a low budget, smaller dev team, and smaller scope than the previous games. Or 2 at least. I knew it wasn't going to be Zelda. I knew to temper my expectations and try to come at this game on its own level. But at the same time, I do miss a lot of what the old games were. I miss puzzles and dungeons. I miss that kind of 3D Zelda design in general. It seems like the whole medium has decided to just ditch that idea, despite it never really being a huge thing to begin with. We were never oversaturated with these games. I was already really aching for that itch to be scratched, and now one of the few series that was even attempting to had moved away from it. And I think you could argue that the Dark Souls formula is kind of inherently limited in comparison too. Zelda already did similar things, albeit in a different way, except with the addition of puzzles and different mechanics to interact with the world too. And the Dark Souls combat style is pretty limited as well when you get down to it. The previous Darksiders games with their DMC-like combat with a dash of God of War let you do much more, and do it at a way faster pace too. The quality of Dark Souls' combat comes from execution, not really the conceptual design. And even then, I find that Dark Souls 3 is by far superior to the first (which is what everyone seems to focus on for inspiration) for how it expands your abilities and lets you be more aggressive. And we're hardly starved for games inspired by Dark Souls right now either.
But, at the same time, I've always been a big believer in that devs should be allowed to make whatever game they want. Go wherever inspiration takes them, and not be held to any expectation of what players demand of them. Within reason, of course. But no one is entitled to demand anything of a creator's work, or any right to feel like they've been wronged because they didn't get the thing they thought they wanted. While things are somewhat different when it comes to sequels, generally the rules are the same. This is Darksiders 3 because the people who made it say it is. When an artist makes a work, that work is essentially a message to the audience. It's the expression of an idea; an experience they want to convey. So for players to say that a game should be something instead of what it is, that's like saying you don't want to listen to what the dev has spent so much time and effort trying to craft to give to you. You just want your own ideas echoed back at you, and to not go out of your comfort zone to expand your own experience. While this doesn't mean everything a designer might put in a game is perfect and beyond criticism, hating on a game because it's not trying to pander exactly to an idea you have in your head of what you think you want is a very bad mindset to slip in to.
But, I also can't help but wonder exactly what was the inspiration going in to this game. Was trying to go for this Dark Souls approach really a good idea? Was it something they did because they truly wanted to make a game like that, or simply because that is the trend everyone is chasing now. How it's become the recent "default" design for 3rd person melee action games. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt and say it wasn't, but that still doesn't change the fact that I personally prefer the older style, and don't think there was really any need to move away from it. And was this halfway house even really something worth chasing in the first place? Is there something to that idea, or is it just something destined to never reach the heights of either side? I can't tell. I did enjoy it. Sometimes it was great. Most of the time it was fine-to-good. Was it "fine" because it was not as refined as it could have been, or because it never had the potential to be more? Were those high points because it momentarily swayed more towards one end of the spectrum than the other, or because it was genuinely on to something itself? Was them adding the patch to the combat something they genuinely wanted to do, or because they were kowtowing to pressure from angry fans who weren't willing to meet them halfway? How much does it matter that it seemed to improve the experience regardless? I still can't tell.
Regardless of all my convoluted meanderings, I did end up liking it in the end. It was a bit of a shock going in, even though I knew what I was getting myself in to. But later on once I got in to the rhythm of this game I ended up having a good time with it. I don't know how much I would recommend it to others though. While I think some of the critical reception went a bit overboard, I can't really blame anyone for not being completely enthralled with this game either. It may have gotten a roasting that was somewhat undeserved, but I don't think this is some hidden gem that actually has a lot going for it that people just weren't open to experiencing, as I do think with some of my other unusual tastes in games. But I'm still glad it exists. That's a miracle just on its own. And on top of that it wasn't a total disaster either. It was rather fun. Although I suppose judging by what we've heard about sales, it looks like Darksiders 2 all over again. Except this time I put the chance of a fourth game even closer to zero.
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And with that, I expect that is the last of the games I’m completing this year. The only other big thing from this year I’ve got on the go is Smash, which I only just started, and suspect I might never finish. This year was pretty mediocre for games generally. 2017 was a hard act to follow, so it makes sense that this year was something of a lull. But that said, there were a few stand-outs.
Monster Hunter World was my favourite of the year, with it being pretty much exactly what I wanted out of that series. It refreshed the game with a new attractive coat of paint, added in a bunch of much appreciated quality-of-life features, but didn’t take away from the depth and density of the game at all. It really sucked me in nearer the start of the year. It’s just a shame that I ended up burning out on it in some of the late-game stuff.
God of War was another highlight too of course. A game that I initially had no interest in, but then eventually came around on and was surprised how good it ended up being. In terms of narrative direction, it was exactly what it needed to be, and succeeded much better than I ever thought it would at that. Mechanically it was fun, but it felt like it was enjoyable in spite of itself, with its awkward control scheme. But how well they managed to make that work was pretty impressive in itself.
Yakuza 6 was excellent as well, but also felt like it took some questionable design decisions. The new combat system was a mixed bag of pros and cons, but was still very fun overall and should hopefully be improved a lot going forward. The plot was also really good, and one of the best and most memorable in the series so far. I also really liked how they turned around Takeshi Kitano’s character from being a bit bland for most of the game, to becoming something really compelling in the closing chapters. That was a nice surprise. In contrast I wasn’t so hot on
Kiwami 2. Much like with Kiwami 1, it felt like kind of a mechanical rehash, with the new and old not fitting together that gracefully, and with a plot that has been surpassed by newer entries. But also like K1, being a bad Yakuza game still makes it a really good game in general. It also provided a few small improvements to 6’s combat as well.
CrossCode was another of my favourites. A game that I had very long been anticipating due to having backed the crowdfunding campaign many years ago. Unlike with Ghost of a Tale, this one turned out to be a big vindication. Turned out really well. It was a great game with lots of character, great combat, some interesting subversion of tropes, and a very impressive level of content for a game from such a small team. It’s a shame this game hasn’t caught more attention. It just hasn’t had the PR push it deserves, I suppose. Hopefully it will be able to do what Hollow Knight did and stir up some attention when it drops on PS4 at some point. In the meantime, go check it out! Don’t sleep on this one.
And lastly there’s
Vampyr. Much like Darksiders this is another B-game that was relatively small in scope and polish, and didn’t really light up reviews. This one I do think has something special going for it. The mechanics of being a vampire and weighing up your moral choices of how you treat NPCs is fantastic. It does a great job of making you think of them as the character would, while also fleshing them all out and giving them depth. The atmosphere of the game is great too, and the soundtrack in particular was brilliant.
There are even more but I’ll try to keep this as brief honourable mentions and wrap this up now. I fell in love with
A Hat in Time, so charming and cute, and with great mechanics.
Snake Pass was incredibly interesting and very unique with its approach to platforming.
Omensight was a pretty good follow-up to Stories: Path of Destinies that does interesting stuff with narrative.
The Vagrant was a surprisingly good homage to Vanillaware’s work, and great value for money.
Zone of the Enders 2 was great to revisit on the PS4 with a solid frame rate and helpful mechanical tweaks.
Figment was a touching and gorgeous little game that used dynamic music in very clever ways.
AER was a nice relaxing experience that worked well as a palette cleanser.
Forza Horizon 4 was another good entry in the series that moved things forward more than they have done in a while.
Killer7 was a wild ride that I’m glad I finally got to experience.
Deus Ex: The Fall is nowhere near as bad as it’s made out to be.
Way of the Samurai 4 is weird and bonkers and shoddy and intriguing. Platinum’s games are still fantastic. DMC4 is still fantastic. Darksiders 1 and 2 are still fantastic. Splatoon 2 is still fantastic.
(Holy shit that's more than 2800 words!!!)