Modern Games Beaten in 2023

[+wongojack]

I'll get us going in 2023 - moderator, please pin and unpin last year's version of this thread

 

 

Undertale - I first heard about Undertale years ago when it showed up on some reviewers "best of" lists. I stashed it in the backlog and finally got around to playing it last month.  I had read a little about the game but discovered all the characters and the story on my own in my first playthrough. Given how highly it was reviewed, I kind of expected there to be a bit more real-world weight to the story. Like, I thought that it might be revealed that the kid was abused and was inventing stories about monsters as a way to deal with trauma or something. However, that extra twist never came, and I'm kinda scratching my head at how this game has been reviewed by critics so well. I mean, it is cute, and it definitely is a love letter to JRPGs, but game of the year? really? Because it knows what is in your save file?  I wasn't inspired enough to do a second "pacifist" playthrough, so I could be judging this game unfairly, but playing a game 2x is a HUGE ask for me.  If you can't give me your best experience the first time through, I can't really be bothered any more.  Undertale is a good game for people already enamored with Earthbound, Pokemon, and JRPGs in general, but I can't recommend it.  It is a dumbed down version of any JRPG you can think of, and if the characters and story don't happen to click with you (they didn't with me) then it will feel like a waste of time.  I give it a 2 out of 5.

 

 

 

The Last of us Part II - Well, this was interesting.  First, I'll say that I didn't really enjoy the original game as much as others.  It seemed that story-wise (and story is very important in this series) they were treading over well-trodden ground.  Even for video games, there are so many zombie and post-apocalyptic games that came before The Last of Us that you wonder how the pitch went.  It is NOT an original story or setting at all, so I was surprised at how many people went nuts for the original.  Anyway, the first game grew on me as I was able to get into the gameplay, and I ended up liking it enough.  The sequel however was immediately more fun.  However, I've never played a game that overstayed its welcome more than TLOU pii.  The game was simply too long, and I mean that in a way that I've never ever experienced before.  This is the first game I've ever played where I was involuntarily prompted to view it like a film and think "they really needed an editor."  If this was a movie, it would have been a 3-hour snore-fest that should be 90 minutes.  My principal complaint is that the actual gameplay just doesn't really change that much as you are playing.  Sure, it is nice to be able to swim or to drive a boat, but those things don't necessitate another 3 hours (or more) of game time.  I would have appreciated the Batman Arkham approach where they gave me a lot of choices about what to pursue and then given me even more gameplay through challenge rooms.  Challenge rooms would have been perfect for this for another reason, and that is because they put you in many interesting situations, but you only ever get one shot at them.  One shot with your various weapons and abilities.  It would have been incredible to have been challenged in different ways in a more "arcade" setting, but I sense that someone was really in love with their story, and it hurt the pace of gameplay a bit.  With all of that said, this is still an excellent game, and I give a 4 out of 5.  I'm not really looking forward to the upcoming show based on this game because of how derivative this series is, but I'm going to watch it anyway, hoping to be surprised.  I hope they borrow the composer from the game, because the music was incredible IMO.

 

Something else specifically related to that picture I chose.  This game is violent in a way that I've never really experienced before (and I've played a lot of games).  Ellie and Abby must both murder in silent, up-close, and personal ways over and over again.  There are a handful of times that you as the player happen accidentally on a screen like above where you are "routinely" stealth killing an enemy only to pivot the camera in such a way to see both Ellie's murderous face and her victim's as they expire.  It is one thing to shoot an alien and watch it go splat, but entirely different to commit knife stabbing murder more than 50 times in a game.  All performed by a teenage girl in the name of simple revenge.  It disturbed me.

 

[Razzie.P]

Funny thing about Undertale – I was in the same frame of mind, at first.  I’d heard all the hype about it, and when I played it, I was like “this is it?”  Nothing special, and I never finished it.  Fast forward a few months and I had promised someone I’d give it another go, so I did.   I played the pacifist run first.  Then the neutral.  I never played a genocide run, though.

I don’t remember the details much, but I do remember it did some pretty special stuff (to me) that I’d never seen before in a game. Especially near/at the end.   And over the course of it, it went from being a “wtf is this nonsense” to one of the greatest gaming experiences I’ve ever had, and became one of my all time favorites.
 

[+wongojack]

31 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

Funny thing about Undertale – I was in the same frame of mind, at first.  I’d heard all the hype about it, and when I played it, I was like “this is it?”  Nothing special, and I never finished it.  Fast forward a few months and I had promised someone I’d give it another go, so I did.   I played the pacifist run first.  Then the neutral.  I never played a genocide run, though.

I don’t remember the details much, but I do remember it did some pretty special stuff (to me) that I’d never seen before in a game. Especially near/at the end.   And over the course of it, it went from being a “wtf is this nonsense” to one of the greatest gaming experiences I’ve ever had, and became one of my all time favorites.
 

Well, I finished it and got the "neutral" ending.  From what I've read that is the only possible ending on your first run (unless you go genocide).  I can't be bothered with another.  I'd rather play one of the JRPGs in the backlog that I've never played before.

[Razzie.P]

Ah, yeah, looks like it gives the neutral ending even if you don't kill anyone, but maybe don't have to play it twice, at least.  I dunno (copied from the internet) --

 

Spoiler

You don’t have to completely start the game over from scratch. After you receive this phone call, Flowey will talk to you again.

 

You will be brought back to the place you last SAVEd, which will probably be at The End before you fight Asgore. Congratulations! You are now on the True Pacifist Run! Walk away from the SAVE point. Assuming it’s at The End, then, when you get to the bridge between the CORE and the MTT resort, you should get a phone call from Undyne. Go to Snowdin to talk to her and Papyrus, and go from there.

 

To conclude, the “True Pacifist Run” refers only to the section of the game that unlocks if the player has spared every monster and made friends during the Neutral Run. So, it’s not technically possible to complete the Pacifist Run without completing the Neutral Run first, since the Neutral Run is most of the game, but you can continue on the same playthrough without resetting. You do not need to play the game over twice to reach the True Final Boss.
 

 

 

Funny thing about he "playing 2X" thing is, I'm currently playing Curse of the Moon 1 and 2 on Switch, and they both pull that trick, asking for multiple plays with different criteria.  🤣  Luckily, they're short playthroughs, so not too shabby.,  

[+wongojack]

All right, here is the 5th and final game I targeted for the end of the year - Rebel Galaxy

 

 

This was a nice little game that knows exactly what it is.  It came out in 2015 and only takes up about 2gb of hard drive space, meaning it fits easily on a DVD and could have been a game for the 360 or even original XBox (or Sony equivalent).  I think this game was probably small in scope even when it came out which means that today, it feels a bit "cute," but there's no problem with that really.  The gameplay consists of piloting a ship between trade hubs and space stations and completing combat missions that let you advance the story (or not).  The combat is not complicated and is sort of similar to open naval combat as you have broadsides as your most devastating attacks.  I got attracted to this game first because of comparisons to Sid Meier's Pirates, and those comparisons are certainly warranted, but Rebel Galaxy doesn't quite live up to that legendary classic in the end.  Instead, it gets everything it is trying to do right and gives you a nice experience while doing it.  My criticism is that it doesn't take long to "see the strings" of the puppeteer in this one, and I wasn't really interested in playing beyond the main story.  I give it a solid 3 out of 5.

[+wongojack]

Life is Strange

 

 

Finished Life is Strange (original).  It was ok.  It got a lot better after about the first 1.5 episodes as the stakes increase quite a bit.  Still thought it felt a bit like the "Hello Fellow Kids" meme at times, and I probably would have enjoyed it more in 2015 when it came out, but it was a good story, and it used that familiar Telltale engine to do something different than The Walking Dead.  Interesting note on this one is I went to college (and did theatre) with the actor who voices Mr Jefferson (and Zachary and the Janitor). I give it 3 out of 5. "Don't let the squirrels die . . ." 

 

 

Pong Quest

 

 

Well, this game started out with promise, but it just kinda stunk it up in the end.  The first hour is cute and fun, but then the idea gets REALLY old.  The pong gameplay is played with the keyboard and is totally uninteresting.  It never poses a real challenge or offers the thrill of "real" pong, and the so-called dungeons offer nothing except the most basic process of elimination exploring.  I even hit a bug where one of the dungeons couldn't be solved.  I was tricked into thinking that maybe the game had given me a new challenging puzzle to solve, but it was just a disconnected maze.  I had to die and restart with a solvable map.  Thankfully, the fun little tunes that play stop you from quitting and forgetting the game exists all together, and the references to classic Atari games (other than pong) manage to make you smile occasionally.  But really, the only way I would be happy paying actual money for this would be if it was included as cereal box prize or maybe rebranded as a "Slim Jim" game to be won after redeeming proof of purchases from the packaging.  I give Pong Quest a 2 out of 5 and could probably be convinced it deserved a 1.

[Parker77]

Bloodstained. Loved it. Got the full ending and also beat IGA which was a nasty fight, 99.40% of the map completed.

[+wongojack]

 

Catacombs of the Undercity is a storybook adventure.  It plays like reading a choose your own adventure book where you do dice rolls to decide the outcomes of events.  It is fun for a bit, and my wife and I like to play these occasionally (this is the 3rd one we've played) where I read them out loud while she's doing something else.  It's kind of a fun thing to do together, but they really boil down to getting dice rolls, so even in my most patient and "follow the rules" mood, I eventually want to just retry a fight or a roll to see a better outcome.  Good for what it is, and we did finish the story this weekend.   I give it a 3/5

 

[newtmonkey]

Planescape: Torment (PC)

Note: The original version, not the Enhanced Edition.

 

I finally finished this!  This is another one I remember buying back when it was first released, but it was too weird for me back then, and I never made any progress.  I've given the game multiple tries since then, but it finally clicked last year and I ended up really enjoying it.  It ended up taking just over 30 hours to complete.

 

This is a heavily story-focused RPG.  It's got a weird yet fascinating world to explore, a great story, excellent writing (in most places), and some of the best pre-rendered graphics you'll find in a game.  It runs on the same engine used for Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, and it plays very similarly.  Exploration and combat are both in real-time, though you can pause combat at any time to use items, cast spells, or give orders.  It is here where Planescape: Torment suffers a bit.  Unlike with BG and ID, there is little in the way of tactics, and most battles end up with a bunch of people massed in the middle of the screen; total chaos.

 

But you do not play this for the combat, but for its weird world, great story, and excellent writing (in most cases).  It's a truly alien world, but the game is excellent at giving you just enough exposition to fill you in, without it really feeling like an exposition dump.  I found myself really becoming attached to the characters and their quirks as the adventure went on.

 

The main quest is generally linear, but has a lot of reactivity.  Many quests have multiple solutions, and the choices available to you often depend on your character build, or even on other quests you have and have not done.  It would definitely be worth replaying the game with a different character build or with different companions.  There are also a lot of optional quests to seek out, and it's very rewarding to do; in addition to earning experience points and unique items, the optional quests really provide a lot of information on the world and characters of Planescape.

 

I usually don't care much for such dialog-heavy games, but the world and characters really sucked me in.  Highly recommended!

[newtmonkey]

Diablo II (PC)

I finished this last night, and it was my first time completing the game, though I did play it a lot back when it was first released.

I played through the base game without expansion, and chose the Paladin for my character.

 

I have mixed feelings on this one, but enjoyed it. I think Diablo 1 is overall the better game; more challenging, better paced, and has a better soundtrack. Having said that, there's a lot to like about Diablo II.

 

First off, it looks Great! Some of the environments just look amazing considering they are constructed from tiles and decorations (like Fallout 1/2) instead of being prerendered "drawings" (like the Infinity Engine games). If you turn the "Perspective" option on in the settings, the game really does give the impression of being 3D/polygonal. It's a seriously impressive effect.

 

I do not like "skill tree" character building, but it's not bad here. There really aren't that many skills per class, so it's pretty easy to figure out which skills you want to focus on. I think the game's clones really went overboard with skill trees (look at the GIGANTIC skill tree for Path of Exile, for instance). The game gives you one free respec opportunity pretty early on, if you screw things up.

 

The biggest issue I had with this game is the wide-open field maps. They do make it feel a bit like you are exploring an actual place, but many of them are just boring, flat, drab fields, where you are just running back and forth in strips ("mowing the lawn") to make sure you don't miss anything, while fighting the same group of enemies over and over.  Less open fields and more dungeons would have been welcome.

 

This is just a minor complaint, though. After completing the game I immediately installed the LoD expansion, and was tempted to keep playing. Instead, I'll play something else for now, and come back to D2 later this year.

[Trinity32]

IDKA modern but I just finished Timeshift today. They had an awesome premise (time manipulation, a bad future akin to 1984) but a combination of factors bring it down:

1. The story makes no sense. No characterization is given to anyone, not even Krone. They are all faceless people with no personality.

2. The game was originally going to be way different. It was (to my knowledge) a puzzle game but initial test plays were negative. Then Gears of war came out

3. Due to this the execs (not the developers) decided to retool it into a shooter that was ill suited for it. Three reasons:

A. Time powers take too long to charge and drain too quickly

B. The moment you kill someone (even if time is stopped) the entire map is alerted, even if they were a mile away.

C. The game tries to act like a tactical shooter in a run and gun envioronment. Imagine if rainbow six tried to do a run and gun level with the same restrictions in place.

Recipe for DISASTER! It can't be played stealthy either due to the reasons above. Also, for whatever reason, this game just loves to throw puzzles at you, especially with the half baked time power idea in place. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I died due to not having any hint as to how to progress. Fell to my death, got chopped in half, fell off another cliff etc. Really, it's a massive pain that I can't afford to go through a second time. I did an entire LP on it (still uploading as of this writing) and had to resort to CheatEngine to finish the game. You die WAY too quickly and the final boss spams missiles like mad. I was so pissed off near the end. Thank god this game never got a sequel.

 

But wait, i'm not done!

 

Can you believe that there is no level select nor is there no reward other than concept art? This game came out in 2006! You know what else was out in 2006? Resistance Fall of Man, A much better game than this one could ever hope to be. Story matters, characterization MATTERS! If i'm not invested, I'm not finishing it. I only did it out of an obligation to my subscribers, all 281 of them. I care about games being fun and challenging but Timeshift is neither fun nor is it challenging. It's a half baked retool that ruined what the developers had in mind. Let this be a lesson to all game developers: If the game is going along smoothly and the execs suddenly demand a change, ignore them and keep moving forward. Unless it has to do with a national tragedy or is offensive to the target audience, PAY THEM NO MIND!

 

Consider this my review of the game. My score?

 

Story: 0/10

Gameplay:6/10

Sound: 7/10

Voice acting:7/10

Difficulty:9/10

(I.E how hard it was, the Higher the score, the lower the final rating)  

Overall rating: 6/10

Judgment: 

[+wongojack]

47 minutes ago, Trinity32 said:

IDKA modern but I just finished Timeshift today. They had an awesome premise (time manipulation, a bad future akin to 1984) but a combination of factors bring it down:

1. The story makes no sense. No characterization is given to anyone, not even Krone. They are all faceless people with no personality.

2. The game was originally going to be way different. It was (to my knowledge) a puzzle game but initial test plays were negative. Then Gears of war came out

3. Due to this the execs (not the developers) decided to retool it into a shooter that was ill suited for it. Three reasons:

A. Time powers take too long to charge and drain too quickly

B. The moment you kill someone (even if time is stopped) the entire map is alerted, even if they were a mile away.

C. The game tries to act like a tactical shooter in a run and gun envioronment. Imagine if rainbow six tried to do a run and gun level with the same restrictions in place.

Recipe for DISASTER! It can't be played stealthy either due to the reasons above. Also, for whatever reason, this game just loves to throw puzzles at you, especially with the half baked time power idea in place. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I died due to not having any hint as to how to progress. Fell to my death, got chopped in half, fell off another cliff etc. Really, it's a massive pain that I can't afford to go through a second time. I did an entire LP on it (still uploading as of this writing) and had to resort to CheatEngine to finish the game. You die WAY too quickly and the final boss spams missiles like mad. I was so pissed off near the end. Thank god this game never got a sequel.

 

But wait, i'm not done!

 

Can you believe that there is no level select nor is there no reward other than concept art? This game came out in 2006! You know what else was out in 2006? Resistance Fall of Man, A much better game than this one could ever hope to be. Story matters, characterization MATTERS! If i'm not invested, I'm not finishing it. I only did it out of an obligation to my subscribers, all 281 of them. I care about games being fun and challenging but Timeshift is neither fun nor is it challenging. It's a half baked retool that ruined what the developers had in mind. Let this be a lesson to all game developers: If the game is going along smoothly and the execs suddenly demand a change, ignore them and keep moving forward. Unless it has to do with a national tragedy or is offensive to the target audience, PAY THEM NO MIND!

 

Consider this my review of the game. My score?

 

Story: 0/10

Gameplay:6/10

Sound: 7/10

Voice acting:7/10

Difficulty:9/10

(I.E how hard it was, the Higher the score, the lower the final rating)  

Overall rating: 6/10

Judgment: 

LOL - great contribution to this thread.  On what platform did you play this?

[Trinity32]

PC

It is still $19 or so, forcing me to use Steamunlocked.com. You think this game would be freeware by now.

[Ninjabba]

Finished BoxBoy on the 3DS!

Immediately started BoxBoxBoy, haven't been this addicted to a puzzle game in a while

[Punisher5.0]

Finished Dying Light 2 today for PS5. I got really into this one (99.5 hours). I thought about going for a Platinum trophy but this game has a lot of bugs, even a year after release. I still look forward to doing a ng+ in a year or two though.

[+neogeo1982]

PS5

Dead Space.

16 hours with a couple hours into New Game plus to snag a few more trophies. Played with Performance mode off so the whole experience looked really good and creeps you out in a few places. It never really chugged along or lagged so I kept it that way. It's been so many years since I played the original it felt new and fresh for me. 

[+neogeo1982]

PS5

Death Stranding

Put 39 hours into it. Got about half the trophies by the end. Could have spent much longer collecting resources and trying to rebuild the land but that was boring to me. Other players structures really speed tedious traversing up. Story is strange until late in the game when it all makes sense. Very different take on an end of the world scenario.

[+neogeo1982]

PS5

One Night Stand

Platinum in 4 hours. Point & click and branching dialogue game. After the first playthrough you can fast track through most of it to see the other outcomes. 2 college kids wake up after a night of drinking and a one night stand and it plays out from there. It's ok for what is. It was worth $5 for a few hours and Platinum trophy. 

 

[+neogeo1982]

PS4

Plague Inc: Evolved

Was off work sick and this seemed appropriate. Then I realized I bought this but had played it for free many times on my old phone. It is upgraded over the free phone one. My old eyes and sausage hands had a hard time on the phone playing so this was a huge upgrade for me. 12 hours of play I unlocked all the diseases and many of the genetic bonuses to play with. This also has a scenario with a vampire trying to convert the world that has added mechanics over just mutating the diseases. Pretty fun game.

[+neogeo1982]

PS5 

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order

Played after I had watched the Mandalorian, Obi Wan, and Rogue One. It would have been ok if I had not but it does add to the lore and back story if you are familiar. Good game overall that I put 33 hours into. Only managed half the trophies and was actually trying to track these ones too. 

[+neogeo1982]

PS4

Castlevania Advance Collection

Circle of the Moon on this collection was fun to play on a TV. Didn't finish the others on here though they are good games too. Had to change the button layout on these games right away so they felt right. Bells and whistles for this are the option of US or Japan versions of the games and the SNES DraculaX on here also. Plus an art gallery and music player.  Summons feel harder to do on the PS controller than the old Gameboy Advance. But that was also 20 years ago I'm remembering 😅. Put 20 hours into this one. I feel I got my money's worth out of it. Only 20% of the trophies but it was really enjoyable.

[Punisher5.0]

Finished Resident Evil Village today. Cool game and I should have played it a lot sooner ( recently decided to start whittling down my backlog). Also really cool that they reward you for getting trophies. It makes you want to play again but I got something else in mind already.

[+wongojack]

I finished the original Shovel Knight campaign not too long ago.  I believe this one is now known as "Shovel of Hope" since the treasure trove introduced at least 3 more campaigns to play.  It was absolutely brilliant.  Everyone should play this game at least a little.  I really appreciated that the default difficulty level wasn't punishing (at least not for me).  There were some trial and error segments, but they were limited and lasted just the right length to limit frustration.  This really might be a perfect modern "retro" game . . . And I still haven't played the other campaigns yet! Easy 5 out of 5.

[Punisher5.0]

Finished Jedi Fallen Order today (90%). Had a great time and was well worth the $5. Did run into an issue with missed inputs though. It made the final boss a lot harder than it needed to be.

[+wongojack]

I completed Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China and was pleasantly surprised.  As a spin-off game, I'd say it really delivered.  Nice new gameplay mechanics that all worked well and felt rewarding.  The typical half-assed story from all AC games was there, but it just doesn't matter much in a leaner version of the franchise.  I got this through Games with Gold along with the India and Russia versions and will probably give those a chance in the near future as well.  I'd give it a 4 out of 5.