Also it is really worth noting that like ... Maybe one or four games on this list came out this year. This blog is about playing games that have gotten cheap, or that someone gifted me, or come out of a bundle. So the titles in here could be from as far back as 2008 or who even knows. Don't worry, just game.
A rated games are games I think supersede their genre and everyone should give a try if they think they could possibly like the game. If you totally hate platformers, of course, an A rating doesn't mean I think the game will overcome that. If you dislike them or usually find them samey, though, the A rating means I think you'll like this one or at least should give it a try.
It's a discussion more of what I think - based on you, the reader - might find fun. That's the biggest issue with reviewing in general, I think, since there's a thousand subjective factors in play. A rated games are the ones I think somewhat overcome the subjective, at least to some degree. That doesn't mean if you're hostile to the genre it is going to get past it, though.
B rated games are games I think are just good examples of their genre. If you tend to like such a genre, then you'll probably like a B rated game. So if you like shooters, and it is a B rated shooter, you should go check out the review and see if you're into it.
C rated games are, inversely, games that I think you need to like the genre or really want to play an example of the genre to need to play. C is about the point where I tend to start giving up on games midway through playing them, and generally don't think too highly of them. Sometimes I really like a C rated game, but sometimes they're scrapping right along just being trashed.
D rated games are games I would generally avoid. Very few games are truly so bad that you can't squeeze an hour of fun out of them, but some are, and some do. I'd avoid D rated games.
Games are not ranked in any order beyond their category. Outside of A games, which are all great and I think you should try, games can be high or low in their category. Although with D games, it doesn't matter, avoid 'em.
A - RANK GAMESAxiom Verge; My review of this one basically spoiled this was my favorite game for the year, and it is. Somewhere between the great graphics, the constant transition in and out of Giger-style pixel artwork and the crisp Metroid-ing of this metroidvania, I really loved this game. It doesn't quite end on the same high note it carries to the third act, but that's fine. It's still a great game, and one that I think approaches the genre with enough care people might enjoy it even if they don't like other Metroidvanias.
Like fucking Strider. God, fuck you Strider.
Fallout: New Vegas; I think I reviewed FO3 pretty harshly. On the other hand I liked FO:NV a lot more for reasons that align with people's expectations, but also for my own little reasons. I didn't necessarily think the writing was that much better across the board, since it did have some pretty damn weak sections. Reviewers hinted that the factions were more morally balanced, but uh, no not so much. I guess maybe I didn't loathe the two relative antagonists, but the legion was irredeemable... Well whatever. Anyway the game has a much more enjoyable game world that feels far more realized, and on the most part I found myself enjoying the one DLC so much the game just comes back to me as standing out as great.
Shovel Knight; I really, really waffle between considering this game A class or B class. I've read so much gushing praise for the game, and when it's good, it is real good. But it is hyper-iterative and the difficulty honestly doesn't get away from retroclone smash the controller annoyance as far as it should. The problem here is I really don't know if I feel like it elevates itself above the genre norms, but either way, I do plan on re-playing it this year with the new free DLC, so I'm going to tip the scales since they actually did make that damn DLC.
B RANK GAMESShadow Warrior (2013); Again, kinda waffling here, but I don't think Shadow Warrior quite pulls itself right out of just being a great shooter. I really liked the visuals, and I was surprised to find I really liked the story, which is just weird for a shooter. The game had lots of good action and a cool if slightly not quite fully realized upgrade system, but it also had a lot of frustrating bullshit and it is way too hung up on the arena battle system it uses to get away from just being a shooter.
Super Panda Adventures; I really liked this little title, even though I'm not quite sure which genre it falls into. The visuals aren't ... Great, and the game can be a little preachy toward the end, but it was a pretty wacky trip that completely blew my expectations. It looks like indie bundle trash, harsh but honestly, but it ended up feeling like a good quality platformer I quite enjoyed.
Primordia; I don't have any real depth to my understanding of adventure games, so when I say this is a good game and I really liked it, that's from ... Well the perspective of someone who played crappy King's Quest as a kid and like one modern game in the relative space of the genre. Anyway this game is good and interesting, and all that. The story was a little too explicit and pointlessly grimdark in parts, but for a super depressing game it ended on an uplifting note.
Final Fantasy VIII; So if I go back in time something like two years, I honestly thought FF7 was worse than FF8, off the back of a worse realized world and the weird ass romance stuff in FF8 being better though just as weird as the weird ass romance stuff in FF7. And being sick of the hype - wow, someone died, that's new and inventive - now, having re-played both recently, I'd say they're both weird and I liked them honestly about the same. A lot of the memorable stuff about FF7 has been drained by later media or just doesn't feel quite nearly as cool when you're not 17 or whatever. A lot of the memorable stuff in FF8 is so weird you probably haven't seen it before. FF8 is good, if you like JRPGs, so that's a solid middle of the pack B.Shadowrun Returns (Deadman's Switch); Admitting that yes, this game is essentially Kickstarter Returns: a tutorial level that goes on for hours, it is still a pretty solid introduction and a pretty decent game in and of itself. I still liked it a fair bit, and although I'm told the next game in the proverbial series is a million-jillion times better, I really can't fault this game for setting out to do something then accomplishing it. You want a setting defined, not setting defining, story for your intentionally-an-introduction game.
Dungeon of the Endless; Dungeon is on the south side of B, because while I quite liked it, I also ended up feeling a lot of ... I guess remorse at it being a rogue-like. Roguelikes thrive off this horrible design school of underexplaining, weird rng and 'damn the player's enjoyment' that defines the entire niche. It is very winnowing, but the game has a lot of personality and its weird board game structure makes for a unique experience. Granted, what genre even is this? I guess board game is ... About right? I don't even know. Good, but not great.
Double Dragon Neon; DDN is just very satisfying, and very nice to look at and very good sounding with a sort of unfortunate ARPG system crudely added onto it, like an additional and unnecessary cyber-tail or something. I mean leveling up and getting drops feels cool, but the game is balanced around it, which creates grind that just doesn't help the gameplay. I mean, great game, but I could do without the grind?
Space Marine; A very low B game, Space Marine is quite serviceable but it is both hampered and bolstered by its license. There's just this certain weirdness to how the mechanics clank together that makes it less satisfying, and it doesn't do anything as well as it should. But then again, THQ died and Relic isn't or wasn't or will never really be an action-stompy studio. I really like a lot of the visuals and the 40k style guide is cool to see in action either way.
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+; This game is inexpensive, super satisfying, a visual treat with more play than you'd think it would and great music. On the other hand, it is ultimately just very good Pac-Man, which while very good, is still JUST pac-man. Also it has that horrible cartoon in the one background and ugh god I didn't need to learn of that.
Rank C GamesCard City Nights; As a fully realized, enjoyable single player digital card game, there isn't a lot like CCN and there's lots to like in CCN... But to be honest the game still falls into a lot of the traps of other games. The UI isn't fantastic, the game is a little clunky and the AI cheats like whoa in the late game. The card game itself is good, if sort of tictactoe-ish and rather prone to what essentially feels like mana screw, but it is a charming budget title and I had a fair bit of grindy fun with it. Very Rank C.
Cat Goes Fishing; This game is ... A cat that goes fishing. I mean, do what you want. Meow.
Magicians and Looters; I honestly don't remember what I said about this game, but I remember feeling kinda let down by the weak theme and general weak grasp of the Metroidvania concept. It wasn't horrific, but I got to the last boss and I was just so tired. The music was really good though.
Blood Knights; I mean, this game certainly is not good,
but it is bad in a charming B-movie sort of way. They blow up the moon.
I don't know, it was ridiculous and campy and just enough challenging
to not be boring. I had fun with it, janky goofy fun. Also look at that ass. That's ... yeah...Super Star Path; Again, I lack strong memories of this game, but it was sort of an incoherent attempt at mixing two genres and the result was decent, but not quite where it needed to be. Sometimes an indie game needs to be more than it is, and frankly, this game direly needed to be more than it was. Good music though.
Spaceport Hope; This game is a high C for me, but it is a little clunky so it's not quite a B. I had fun with it and enjoyed the play-through, but it felt a little too janky and weirdly paced for its own good. The bosses were pretty satisfying though, and the visuals were generally better than you'd expect for this level of indie.
Death Ray Manta; While I would call this game cool and good, it is too short and too samey after the first twenty minutes to recommend. It is a really good twenty minutes, but then I'm sleepy. My sister liked it though.
Woah Dave; I feel kinda bad putting this game in this category, but like... There's just not enough actual game. It is charming and cute, and I had fun with it, but then there's just not anymore. There isn't even different music tracks for the different levels. Also, the game really does have the issue that being a retroclone does not mean you have to confirm and conform to limitations. You're going for nostalgia, and this game just doesn't quite get that.
Weird worlds: Return to Infinite Space; Has the same problem as Woah Dave! above does but somehow actually a lot worse if taking more time to notice. Basically you fly from place to place, and things happen, but there aren't really enough things. And combat is just stupidly difficult unless the rng favors you to the point of absurdity. I liked this game, but it kinda falls apart after some number of hours.
Hypership Out of Control; Pretty cool concept that doesn't quite live up to the potential you imagine for it. It kinda claims to be a shmup, but it kinda rather isn't. I actually played two games this year from these devs, but I don't think I even bothered to review Volchaos, which was just rather infuriating. HOOC was ... Fine? Bundlebait is the term I'd use.
Morningstar: Descent to Deadrock; This is the other adventure-ish / HOGish game or whatever I played this year. I actually enjoyed it a fair bit, but it is pretty barebones and not altogether impressive, so it's hard to recommend above the genre.
There Was a Cave Man; I admit I probably didn't give up on this game as early as I normally would off the back of the really nice pixel art. It is super retro, but it is well done and uses the medium well. The game is sort of pointlessly precise and a little unfun, but I guess that's just how it goes. At least it managed a sense of humor before I gave - the last section was just too grindy, the combat was bleh.Contrast; I really, really wanted to like Contrast but ultimately in spite of the fact the voice acting was good, the setting was good, the style was enticing and the core idea good the game just didn't come together. It felt too surreal to get attached to the story, too serious to find funny and too burdened by such a complex mechanic. I respect that they did something hard, but the game simply didn't come together cohesively.
Steamworld Dig; Steamworld Dig is good, and it looks good, but it feels like 80% of the game with an important chunk of Metroidvanias missing. It was fun for a run through, but it doesn't really elevate or dig into the genre, it just sort of ... Is? I think it's worth playing by all means if it looks interesting, but I wouldn't sing its praises.
Trials of Glork: Glorkian Warrior; I might have the title backwards. Glork is simple, sort of funny, sort of too simple, sort of not funny. I can't remember where I got the game, but I liked it enough to enjoy it but not enough to really say it does anything you won't expect from reading the review.
Super Cyborg; You'll get the impression if you read between the lines that between this and Strider it is a toss up for these two games as to which disappointed me more. I love Super Cyborg's pixel art, the menus are notably good and it has lots of polish. The soundtrack is excellent but ... it's just really repetitive and too hard for its own good. There isn't enough "game" in a Contra full cloning to carry the average person through smashing their face against pattern memorization.
Strider (2014); Strider really should be great, but instead it just wasn't fun. It's weird. You sit down at the keyboard, you do things that should be fun, you hop around as a ninja and explore a lavish world and ... It's just bland or outright awful. I really can't explain it. There's just too much waiting, too many hiccups and too much fighting with the controls for its own good. It builds up over the hours until I just didn't want to play anymore, and I think I had like, two bosses left when I just didn't feel like playing anymore.
Commander Cool 2; Simply put this is a cute, small game that if it had better controls would have easily been in the B section. But it ultimately doesn't, and while I had fun with the first pass, trying to do the challenges with the controls became rapidly too frustrating for its own good.
Enemy Mind; Cool looking and a decent premise that unfortunately was paced in such a way to make the game feel like a chore too often to keep me playing. As side-scrolling shmups go, though, the game just doesn't have power-ups or much feeling of variety. I almost put this game in D but it really isn't that bad.
Platformines; Procedurally generated and ... I actually don't remember much about this game, other than it being recent but too repetitive and more than willing to be stupidly unfair in a boring way. The game isn't really punishing, so it's just brutality because no one really cared during the production.
Block Legend DX; This is very, very close to a D rank game but it's juuuuust okay enough that I wouldn't say it is impossible to have fun with, but it is honestly not very good.
Evil Quest; Kinda just boring, but not really badly made or unable to be enjoyed. A Low C.
Riddled Corpses; Kinda pointlessly grindy and not really a great game but not quite a D either? I think someone COULD have fun with a twin stick shooter with ARPG elements. They could also, I guess, not?
D-rank GamessssSteel Storm Burning Retribution; Kinda just really boring, felt like I was playing Doom but with more keycards and boring. But it's a top down shooter you say! Yeah, the viewpoint is different, but it plays the same but worse. Also enemies teleport in and you can't shoot very far and you wander around while half falling asleep.
Legend of Dungeon; I feel kinda bad putting this game so low, since I found it charming and actually weirdly soothing but the game ... Honestly just feels rather unfinished and underdeveloped. Looking back on it, the sentiment I was feeling was less "this game is a bit limited" and more "part of this game is missing".
Final Dusk; This game definitely isn't for me, but even saying that, it just felt janky and less than it should have been. The controls just felt awful, and the fact you had to like pay for checkpoints or something...? Urgh. Lot of busy work just to do some not so great puzzles.
Dark; A stealth game about being a vampire who is neither powerful or stealthy in a game that seems to want you to be both, with weird 90s style vampire writing that reminds me of white wolf books. Honestly if this game wasn't horribly bad it could have been good fun like blood knights, but instead it was just awful.
Astro Emporia; Not so much "a bad game" as just not very much a game. I actually had fun with it, but I think I was drinking at the time.
Not without my Donuts; Like Woah Dave! but completely not good or fun. So not really like Woah Dave! at all.
Woolfe; A canceled, episodic wouldbe platformer that does an old stale spin on gothing up an old boring fairy tale. Actually maybe someone else bought it and did something, but I remember it being stale, derivative and nothing worth doing.Also she is platforming in heels THE WORST.
But really, I played a lot of games this year.
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