Games Completed 2021

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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

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Alex79uk wrote: January 1st, 2021, 1:25 pmJAN - 80 Days (Android)
JAN - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
JAN - Judgment (PS4)
JAN - Donut County (Android)
FEB - Gorogoa (Android)
FEB - Horace (Switch)
FEB - Castlevania (NES on Switch)
FEB - Akumajō Dracula (Famicom on Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: Back To The Future (Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: E.T. (Switch)
APR - Fantasy Zone (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
APR - Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4)
APR - There Is No Game: Game Jam Edition (Android)
MAY - Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (Switch)
JUN - Super Mario 64 (Switch)
JUL - Silent Bomber JP (PS1 on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 (PSP on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 SP (PSP on Vita)
AUG - Ashen (Switch)
AUG - Papers, Please (Vita)
AUG - Scramble (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
AUG - Bayonetta 2 (Switch)
AUG - Pinball FX3: Family Guy (Switch)
AUG - Shovel Knight: Shovel Of Hope (Switch)
SEP - FAR: Lone Sails (Android)
SEP - The Artful Escape (Xbox)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Portal (Switch)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Aliens vs Predator (Switch)
SEP - EA UFC 4 (Xbox)
OCT - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Aliens (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Alien Isolation (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Attack From Mars (Switch)
OCT - Superliminal (Xbox)
OCT - Haunted Castle (Arcade on Switch)
OCT - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES on Switch)
OCT - Gears Of War: Ultimate Edition (Xbox)
OCT - Castle Of Illusion (SMS on Vita)
OCT - Land Of Illusion (SMS on Vita)
OCT - Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom on Switch)
OCT - Castlevania: The Adventure (Gameboy on Switch)
OCT - Super Castlevania IV (SNES on Switch)
OCT - The Red Strings Club (Switch)
OCT - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Xbox)
NOV - Guacamelee: STC Edition (Switch)
NOV - Bastion (Switch)
NOV - The Walking Dead: Season One (Xbox)

Third time I've played this all the way through, and enjoyed it just as much as I have before. Everyone knows this game by now, but it's as depressing as it ever was, and really stands up well as one of the best interactive stories ever made.
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ReprobateGamer
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ReprobateGamer »

Spoiler: show
Jan - Donut County - Xbox One
Jan - Eastshade - Xbox One
Mar - Nier: Automata - Xbox One (All Endings, All Achievements)
Mar - Call Of The Sea - Xbox One (100%)
Apr - The Little Acre - Xbox One (Story complete/ 60% achievements)
Apr - Deliver Us The Moon - Xbox One (story complete / 94% achievements)
May - Ghost Recon Breakpoint - Xbox One (main campaign story / 82% achievements)
August - Raji: An Ancient Journey - Xbox One (story / 90% achievements)
Oct - Lost Words: Beyond the Page - Xbox (story /81% achievements)
12th November - Unpacking - Xbox - 100%

I've seen a bit of chatter on this game recently and as the hard drive continues to fill, I wanted to play something that I would actually be able to complete.

It certainly didn't outstay it's welcome. Think my total playtime was around 4 hours which was a lazy 2-3 hours just enjoying the simple premise (unload these boxes into these rooms) and then an hour last night polishing off the achievements and doing a little more hunting for easter eggs.

It is a simple premise but very well crafted and is a decent example of environmental story telling. You really get a feel for the character whose belongings you place, and for the people she shares her living space with. I like that the end level completion shot has a hand written note that changes depending on which room you click the finish button in and the retro graphic style means that they can pay homage to a bunch of stuff (particularly for nerd culture) with out having to go into too much detail - there are some of the video game cases that I can tell you exactly which gamecube game was the reference for the graphic team ...

It has it's quirks - the audio tracks can be a little distracting and possibly need to be crafted to be listened to for a longer period. And as mentioned elsewhere, the game can be a little particular about where it expects things to be placed. It could have been made clearer as well that the button that swops the orientation of items as you place them, can also be used to interact with some select items - found that out by accident on the very last level ...

Certainly glad I've played it though and would certainly recommend it
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2021

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Spoiler: show
05/01 - Brutal Legend
07/01 - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
13/01 - Sludge Life
17/01 - AER: Memories of Old
19/01 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Human - Nero/Dante)
05/03 - CrossCode: A New Home
14/03 - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
17/03 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (100cc)
02/04 - Drakengard (Endings A-D)
14/04 - Drakengard 2 (Ending A)
28/04 - Drakengard 3 (Endings A-D)
02/05 - Rain
10/05 - God of War: Chains of Olympus HD
15/05 - God of War: Ghost of Sparta HD
24/05 - NieR Replicant ver. 1.22474487139... (Endings A-E)
08/06 - Final Fantasy XV (NG+)
02/07 - God of War II HD
15/07 - Scarlet Nexus (Yuito)
20/07 - TRON: Evolution
21/07 - Sky: Children of the Light
01/08 - Scarlet Nexus (Kasane, NG+)
12/08 - Forza Horizon
18/08 - A Plague Tale: Innocence
21/08 - Contrast
31/08 - Forza Motorsport 7
04/09 - No More Heroes III
13/09 - Metal Gear Solid
23/09 - Metal Gear Solid 2 HD
09/10 - Psychonauts 2
15/10 - Unsighted
17/10 - Sable
18/10 - Halo: Reach (Master Chief Collection)
23/10 - Split/Second
29/10 - Darq
11/11 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut
14/11 - Darksiders II (Apocalyptic)

After however many times I’ve played through this, it’s still a very fun solid experience. The combat still feels really good, it’s aesthetically impressive, and I actually think it has some good puzzle design that hasn’t really been replicated since. While overall dungeon design doesn’t do anything especially mind blowing, I think some of the mechanics they came up with to solve individual puzzles are still very cool, and make for some interesting problems to solve.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen another game that has something like the Soul Splitter. It’s almost a little like a test for the idea of making puzzles built around co-op, having you switch between two playable avatars. But making it so you have to turn your normal body in to a statue to use it makes for some cool moments. Putting a twist on the block pushing puzzle idea, by making the block in to your respawn point after solving the puzzle. So you have to think about how you place it and move it in ways that I haven’t seen any similar game do, despite it being a very natural iteration on ideas that many other games have done. And when they combine those mechanics with the portal gun in one of the DLC dungeons, that makes for some of the best puzzle moments of the game.

On this run I did also make a point to explore the combat mechanics in a more intentional way this time too. I’ve always really liked how they feel, and it has obvious inspirations from the likes of DMC. But since I last played this game I have gained a deeper appreciation for that series and other similar games, so I wanted to see how this stacked up. So I played around with the mechanics to see what combo potential there was, and how creative you can get. Turns out there actually is something to play around with here. It’s not a huge amount, but there are interesting quirks to the mechanics that let you pull off some cool stuff if you get your head around it and learn all the unspoken rules. I also tried to use the fist type secondary weapons this time, as I’ve always fallen back on the hammer type before. They are fun, and definitely provide more combo potential as they have longer attack strings and more mid-air attacks that juggle enemies too. Some types are better than others though, with the bucklers seeming the most viable given how their mid-air charge attack doesn’t drop you to the ground.

I also wanted to compare this game to the remaster. I do have this original version on 360 as well, but on PC I only ever played the remaster before now. I think by the end of it, this older version actually does look better. Maybe I need to go back to the remaster and compare them more directly, but the new lighting in that one was never quite right. Even though it had a softer and more realistic interaction with materials, it drained the colour out slightly, and introduced a bunch of lighting and shadow bugs. This version has a much richer and more vivid look, and it looks more consistent too. In the remaster there were certain parts where the lighting would react strangely to some material in a scene, and it was stand out unnaturally. Here that isn’t a problem, and everything looks like it fits in to the world better.

This old version is still extremely buggy though. At first it seemed like it was less so given the lack of graphical issues, but as time went on things kept showing up. First the awful performance. The game has terrible stuttering issues if you use vsync, and I had to spend a long time working out a way to solve that problem, eventually using a complicated workaround with two separate programs. But worse is what ended up happening today as I was getting towards the end of the game. I wasn’t actually planning on finishing it today. I still had the last DLC dungeon to do and a few sidequests to clean up, but as I was attempting them the game kept crashing. It turns out if your save file gets too large the game just crashes every time it tries to save, so that forced me to give up on a lot of things, and I just went to the final boss instead. Really disappointing. The remaster suffers from a lot of these issues too, but I managed to dodge or overcome them before, but this old version seems worse for them. I really wanted to play that last DLC too. The final boss of this game is a little underwhelming to be frank, while the boss of that expansion is a really fun tough challenge, so it helps make up for it. I also really wanted to see how it felt to play now that this version of the game doesn’t have the aiming acceleration bug of the remaster, which had a big impact on that boss as it has a phase that requires some really quick and precise aiming.

So anyway, apart from the headaches this caused, and the somewhat anticlimactic ending, this was still fun to revisit, and I achieved the things I really wanted to get out of this run too. Still an old favourite that I hold in high regard, and now with a deeper appreciation for its combat mechanics too. It would be cool if one day we could get a version of this game on PC that wasn’t riddled with crippling technical issues though...
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Indiana747
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Indiana747 »

(Jan) Call of the Sea - Series X.
(Jan) Remember Me - PS3.
(Jan) Ghostbusters Remastered - Series X
(Feb) Disney Infinity 2.0 - PS4 Pro.
(Feb) Batman: Arkham Knight - PS4 Pro.
(Feb) Sacred 3 - PS3.
(Feb) The Darkness II - PS3.
(Feb) The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - PS3.
(Mar) Gears 5: Hivebusters - Series X.
(Mar) Silent Hill: Downpour - PS3.
(Mar) The Medium - Series X.
(Mar) Donut County - Series X.
(Mar) Astro's Playroom - PS5.
(Apr) Outriders - Series X.
(May) Lego City Undercover - Wii U.
(May) Ghost of Tsushima - PS5.
(May) Resident Evil Village - PS5.
(May) Dantes Inferno - Series X(BC).
(May) Streets of Rage 4 - Series X.
(May) Dead Space - Series X(BC).
(June) Matterfall - PS5.
(June) Battlefield 4 - Series X.
(Aug) Metro Exodus + DLCs - Series X.
(Aug) Mass Effect 1 Legendary Edition - Series X.
(Aug) Maneater(1000GS) - Series X.
(Sept) Dead Rising 4 - Series X.
(Sept) Limbo - Series X.
(Sept) Raji: An Ancient Epic - Series X.
(Sept) The Ascent - Series X.
(Sept) The Artful Escape - Series X.
(Oct) Mighty Goose - Series X.
(Oct) Alan Wake Remastered - Series X.
(Nov) The Evil Within 2 - Series X.
(Nov) Minecraft Dungeons - Series X.
(Nov) Forza Horizon 5 - Series X.
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2021

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Indiana747 wrote: November 15th, 2021, 3:51 am (Nov) Forza Horizon 5 - Series X.
What did you decide counted as completing FH5?
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Re: Games Completed 2021

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Completed all the Expeditions, unlocked & completed all events in the Festival Outposts, done story events, got into the Hall of Fame, spent over 30 hrs in the game & pretty much done all the side races/events/activities. Done plenty of online events too. Whats left is trivial stuff really.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

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I'm avoiding a lot of the main mission stories as I know I'll lose interest once they're done. I've spent the last few days just doing online and the Horizon Festival seasons missions. They're really cool to do, and you get awarded cars and stuff.
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2021

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Indiana747 wrote: November 15th, 2021, 12:37 pm Completed all the Expeditions, unlocked & completed all events in the Festival Outposts, done story events, got into the Hall of Fame, spent over 30 hrs in the game & pretty much done all the side races/events/activities. Done plenty of online events too. Whats left is trivial stuff really.
I was thinking along the same lines for what would count, but it's hard to come to a real conclusion with how loose the structure is. Like should PR stunts count? They seem to fall in that trivial category, yet the game gives them their own entire outpost like it's a whole racing discipline to itself.

I also found stuff unlocks at way too rapid a pace. I already reached the hall of fame, but because I've been trying to pace things out more evenly, I already had 10+ of those festival adventure tokens unused, and had only completed around a quarter of the game total. I still don't really feel like I've made a major dent in everything.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

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Yeah, i found that too. Since i posted the completion ive done another 10hrs, have 37 of the cheevos & just waiting for the last barn find to be restored, its taken days btw. Nearly all roads cheevo unlocked too, just a bit time consuming is all. Another mode id call trivial is the Eliminator, i played a handful of games, last 10 was my best place but had my fair share of it not
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by seansthomas »

January 15th - Spiderman (PS4)
January 17th - Labo VR goggles and camera (Switch)
March 19th - Labo VR blaster (Switch)
March 19th - Bowser's Fury (Switch)
April 12th - Bloodborne + Old Hunters DLC (PS4)
April 18th - Star Wars: Battlefront 2 campaign (PS4)
April 19th - Journey (PS4)
May 24th - Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20th anniversary edition
June 23rd - Vanquish (PS4)
July 15th - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4)
July 24th - Alba: a wildlife adventure (Switch)
October 9th - Hitman 2 (PS4)
October 31st - Metroid Dread (Switch)

November 16th - Outer Wilds (PS4)

My full (spoiler free) thoughts are in the thread for the upcoming podcast. I was determined to play along with this one for the show and I am SO grateful I did.

What a game. An all timer for me. Truly original and a staggering achievement. Can't believe it's an indie game...
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OneCreditBen
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by OneCreditBen »



Marvel Super Heroes - Arcade - 1CC - SHUMA GORATH!
Clear starts 45:45

By accident.
Loads of fun though.

Also got a nice Enduro Racer SMS Clear and won the Darts game on Parlour/Family Games.

Big old stream.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ratsoalbion »

I love Marvel Super Heroes, but it's almost surreal how much easier the CPU is than almost any other Capcom fighting game.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by seansthomas »

January 15th - Spiderman (PS4)
January 17th - Labo VR goggles and camera (Switch)
March 19th - Labo VR blaster (Switch)
March 19th - Bowser's Fury (Switch)
April 12th - Bloodborne + Old Hunters DLC (PS4)
April 18th - Star Wars: Battlefront 2 campaign (PS4)
April 19th - Journey (PS4)
May 24th - Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20th anniversary edition
June 23rd - Vanquish (PS4)
July 15th - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4)
July 24th - Alba: a wildlife adventure (Switch)
October 9th - Hitman 2 (PS4)
October 31st - Metroid Dread (Switch)
November 16th - Outer Wilds (PS4)

November 19th - Unpacking (Xbox Series S)

So I only actually played a bit of this myself, but sat with my daughter whilst she played it, occasionally helping her figure out what items were and where they'd be best off going.

The narrative woven into the objects, how they come and go as the lead character moves house and the poignant placement of key items was lost on my 7 year old daughter, but I found it some of the best contextual, environmental storytelling in a game I've played.

Very smart stuff, and oddly relaxing. I'll play it myself one day and recommend it wholeheartedly.
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OneCreditBen
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by OneCreditBen »

ratsoalbion wrote: November 19th, 2021, 4:15 pm I love Marvel Super Heroes, but it's almost surreal how much easier the CPU is than almost any other Capcom fighting game.
I lot of it is very ROM dependant if you're playing the arcade version, but you've got a good point. The gems change the mechanics of so many rounds, and Thanos can be tricky but he's probably the most approachable of any of the Superhero Beat em ups or Cross Overs isn't he.

A random Shuma Gorath clear is niche though I feel haha.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

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Oh yeah, not knocking it!
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
05/01 - Brutal Legend
07/01 - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
13/01 - Sludge Life
17/01 - AER: Memories of Old
19/01 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Human - Nero/Dante)
05/03 - CrossCode: A New Home
14/03 - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
17/03 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (100cc)
02/04 - Drakengard (Endings A-D)
14/04 - Drakengard 2 (Ending A)
28/04 - Drakengard 3 (Endings A-D)
02/05 - Rain
10/05 - God of War: Chains of Olympus HD
15/05 - God of War: Ghost of Sparta HD
24/05 - NieR Replicant ver. 1.22474487139... (Endings A-E)
08/06 - Final Fantasy XV (NG+)
02/07 - God of War II HD
15/07 - Scarlet Nexus (Yuito)
20/07 - TRON: Evolution
21/07 - Sky: Children of the Light
01/08 - Scarlet Nexus (Kasane, NG+)
12/08 - Forza Horizon
18/08 - A Plague Tale: Innocence
21/08 - Contrast
31/08 - Forza Motorsport 7
04/09 - No More Heroes III
13/09 - Metal Gear Solid
23/09 - Metal Gear Solid 2 HD
09/10 - Psychonauts 2
15/10 - Unsighted
17/10 - Sable
18/10 - Halo: Reach (Master Chief Collection)
23/10 - Split/Second
29/10 - Darq
11/11 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut
14/11 - Darksiders II (Apocalyptic)
21/11 - Kid A Mnesia Exhibition

I'm not a Radiohead fan and I'm not familiar with their work outside of the few things that have seeped in to the cultural consciousness, but since this was free and looked intriguing I thought I'd give it a go. I ended up quite enjoying it. It's kind of a virtual art exhibit and interactive music video in a way. Very cool experience with some striking imagery and great music that creates a melancholy and sometimes haunting tone, with a sense of chaotic surrealism to it as well. I'm sure someone who is actually a fan of Radiohead would get a lot out of it and recognise a lot of the imagery shown too. But even if you're not in to them, I'd say it's still worth a look if you're in to these more experimental virtual mood pieces. It's interesting to see one that has clearly had a lot of money put in to it as well.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Yeah I've been tempted by this, despite actively disliking Radiohead.

Hoping they do a Nine Inch Nails one - but won't hold my breath :lol:
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Combine Hunter »

Spoiler: show
06/01 - Monster Hunter: Iceborne (PS4/PS5)
22/01 - Black Mesa (PC)
24/01 - HITMAN 3 (PC)
15/02 - The Pathless (PC)
06/03 - Homeworld: Remastered (PC)
07/03 - Demon's Souls [Remake] (PS5)
07/03 - Little Nightmares (PC)
05/04 - It Takes Two (PC)
11/05 - Resident Evil Village (PS5)
23/05 - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PS3)
17/06 - Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PS5)
13/07 - Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)
21/08 - Hypnospace Outlaw (PC)
27/08 - Death's Door (PC)
07/09 - Psychonauts 2 (PC)
11/09 - Metro: Exodus (PC)
20/09 - Quake (PC)
25/09 - Castlevania (Switch - Via the Collection)
12/10 - Metroid Dread (Switch)
24/10 - Outer Wilds: Echo of the Eye (PC)
07/11 - Inscryption (PC)
21/11 - Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (Switch)

Thoughts on the pod!
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Scrustle »

Alex79 wrote: November 21st, 2021, 12:53 pm Yeah I've been tempted by this, despite actively disliking Radiohead.

Hoping they do a Nine Inch Nails one - but won't hold my breath :lol:
I did a little looking in to things after finishing it. Turns out this exhibit was originally meant to be a physical installation, but those plans got cancelled because of covid. So they adapted the concept in to this. It's a cool idea I'd like to see more of though, so hopefully it could inspire some other artists to try the idea out.

I've always thought a lot of these so-called "walking simulators" are more like immersive art exhibits that you just happen to experience through a computer, so it's interesting to see one that literally was that.

It's also not totally unheard of for musicians to jump on this idea of a virtual musical conceptual art piece either. There was a little fad in the 90s when CDs started becoming popular and PCs began showing up in homes a lot more widely, of music artists putting together some weird project taking advantage of this new frontier of technology. Queen had one, Prince had one. This Radiohead thing reminds me of those things. Might be cool to see that trend come back with more up to date tech.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Magical_Isopod »

#19 - The Evil Within 2 (2017)

My opinion that 2017 was the single best year in gaming continues to hold strong.

Evil Within 2 is downright excellent. It's rare that I find a game for which I have no complaints... But this might be one. It was just a really good time. I 100%'d the collectables, and I would absolutely try a New Game + run of this game sometime in the future.

So what makes it good? Not really any one particular thing. I'd say there's nothing in particular it excels at - and for that reason, I don't find it quite as compelling as 2017 heavy hitters like Horizon, Nier Automata and Sonic Mania - but everything it does, it does good. The shooting and combat is a really good time. Having played the first one, I found playing this one on "normal" to be slightly too easy... I never found myself in the same situations where I was having to get smart with environmental objects and special ammo to be as efficient in dealing damage as possible. But that's not to say there was no challenge, or that there were no deaths... Absolutely, both things were there. And in some ways, the lack of pressure made it a smooth ride.

Something I really enjoy about the structure of this game is its embrace of open world game design elements without going whole-hog - and that can be a good thing. Comparing to 2017's Breath of the Wild, where the world felt like a desolate wasteland where you had to make your own fun, Evil Within 2 has a handful of smaller, open world levels, very similar to Metro Exodus. I really like this design. It allows the creators to railroad you along the parts of the game they want you to see, while also having completely missable goodies and side-stories hidden just off the beaten path, to reward intrepid explorers without overwhelming them.

The story overall is... Fine. It's a pretty classic, "Go into the bowels of Hell, rescue a loved one, get out" premise, and that's really all it needs to be; a classic framework from which to hang setpiece moments, great art direction, cool bosses, etc. I've resigned myself to accept that the contemplative restraint of REmake is something Shinji Mikami has no interest in revisiting... Everything eventually becomes absurdist action in a Mikami game. But at least with the setting of this story - a psychological VR world of sorts - you can do pretty much anything and not have it feel completely impossible. And I'd certainly take this mode of bombast over the sort of goofball cartoon stuff Kamiya is doing at Platinum.

As a sidenote, this is the first game I played with the PS4 "back button" attachment, and I gotta say, that thing is a freaking godsend. Mapping crouch and reload to those buttons eventually felt so natural that the default controls felt wrong. $13 well spent.

This is a really scattered review of sorts, but it's my Friday night. I'm tired from work. I loved this game though, and I strongly recommend it. It's easily found for under $20 physical, owing largely to poor sales in a really crowded release window. If you're looking for a somewhat lengthy horror-action title with some really tight game design and super imaginative art direction, definitely give this one a go.

&iso2021
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