I am in a rebellious mood. I toiled away at which games deserved my awards this year. I found the task of narrowing it down to five to be nearly impossible. Then it came to me. This is my list. Why am I shackling myself to an arbitrary number? Adhering to conventional rules hasn’t made me everyone’s favorite crazed lunatic screaming about the end of days. This year I am giving you my top six games. Listed as always in order of release date. I couldn’t get the list down to five; no way I can order them by favorites.
To add to the chaotic nature of this year’s awards, I want to give an honorable mention to both God of War Ragnarok and Elden Ring. Please hold off on your rotten fruit and pitchforks. I will not deny both are great games. They both certainly deserve to be showered in the awards they have received, but both of these games burned me out with their massive run times. I love Chipotle burritos, but I couldn’t eat them for a week straight. I do admire the effort it takes to make and play both games. So I have chosen to give them both honorable mentions and give my awards to a few smaller titles. I promise you this doesn’t diminish these two games’ accomplishments or make your love for these games forbidden. I merely want to shout out some underdogs who deserve the same recognition.
The fourth wall is dead. So much of our media is so willing to turn and wink at the camera. You can almost feel our entertainment turn to laugh and say “haha aren’t we so random and cool for knowing that we are a video game.” Looking at you High on Life. It just feels shallow. Partly due to the fact that The Stanley Parable had already played around with this concept in 2013. However the landscape of media has changed over the years, so the creators of The Stanley Parable did the only sensible thing: create The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. Equipped with new content, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe tackles reviews, sequels, remakes, and remasters while being both funny and thought-provoking.
When July rolled around, I was looking for a nice chill game. I was pretty tired from some online courses so I just wanted to relax, unwind and explore a world without much worry. Stray gave me this and allowed me to knock things over as a cat. Yes, I will admit Stray is a little lacking in the gameplay department having fetch quests and basic puzzles, but some games aren’t aiming to be Dark Souls. Some games just want to be relaxing experiences as a cat in an alien robot world.
Games have a bizarre way of meshing two genres together to get something strange but oddly satisfying. Don’t believe me; go check out The Typing of the Dead. A House of the Dead game mixed with a typing tutor. Another fascinating example is Rollerdrome: a third-person shooter mixed with Tony Hawk skating with Mad Max and Hunger Games sprinkled on top. In the year 2030, you compete in a bloodsport known as Rollerdrome. You must skate around a skate park-style arena trying to kill the waves of enemies looking to end your rise in the sport. The marriage of Doom and Tony Hawk comes together when you have to perform death-defying tricks to reload your guns. On paper, it all seems like the pieces wouldn’t fit together, but Rollerdrome is so slick and stylish that it makes it into my list.
In the year 2020, I played a game called BPM: Bullets Per Minute, a roguelite that required you to shoot to the rhythm of the music. The game was solid, but I compared it to a basic 4×4 time signature. It is functional, but there is so much more you can do with it. Metal Hellsinger is kinda what I had in mind when I say you could do more. A very competent Doom-styled shooter that requires you to shoot to the beat of the songs. A scoring system that has the guitar and vocals come in as you reach a high enough score making you feel like the master of death. The cherry on top being the developers got rock stars like Matt Heafy, Randy Blythe, and Serj Tankian to help create the music for this game. This has easily been one of my favorite soundtracks this year. A pure symphony of destruction.
Ok time to get controversial. I will not say Scorn is a good game. The art style, while incredibly striking, often hurts the game in terms of navigation. There isn’t really any context on how the world of Scorn became what it is. The puzzles can be a little obtuse, and the less said about the combat the better. However, my time with Scorn has been one I haven’t been able to shake. Almost like a nightmare that you remember days after experiencing it. Somedays I just sit there and reminisce on its grotesque world. It may be questionable to put a divisive game like this on my list, but I believe Scorn achieved its goal of being one of those haunting titles that cause you to stop in your tracks and just shudder.
Evil West is stupid. You may think I am insulting the game, but my statement is more of a compliment than a black mark. The game pits cowboy Jesse Rentier against a legion of vampires and their undead armies. Armed to the teeth with guns, Tesla-styled gadgets, and giant metal gauntlets, Jesse has all the tools to grind through the armies of hell. So yes, Evil West is incredibly stupid, but it is so much fun to roll up to a ghoul and pile drive him into a pile of TNT. Stupid yet incredibly fun.
This year was overflowing with good indie titles, even with Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarok soaking up all the exposure. Both are great games, but remember there are plenty of good indies out there. I look forward to seeing what great AAA and indie titles the new year brings.