I almost never play games the year they release. For every new game I play, I tend to play ten old ones. However, in a strange turn of events, this year I played (count ’em) eight.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Yes, I’m deep into Clair Obscur. Yes, it has its claws in me. Yes, it’s very moving and beautiful and well-acted and creative and features music which is just as amazing as folks say it is. Yes, I’m parrying now. No, this game doesn’t have any “no’s.”
Cyber Knights: Flashpoint
Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is perhaps the peak of turn-based strategy RPGs. I love to tactically execute tactics in a tactical fashion, and this game delivers. Aside from this, a dynamic set of interpersonal and faction dynamics means that you can strategically strategize in a strategic fashion as well. This must-play opus is my personal game of the year.
Suit for Hire
I can’t wait to get back to Suit for Hire. Finally, Max Payne, having given up on love later in life, met John Wick, and from their union bloomed this beautiful child. I only played a little bit of this cinematic third-person ballet, but it preys on my mind all the time, calling me to return. I will.
Selaco
Technically, Selaco is an early access title, but I almost never play early access games, so I’m counting it. If I described it to you, you might say “Oh, another one of those?” But this one is pretty special. Take the DOOM mod Brutal DOOM, add in System Shock-style atmosphere and exploration, and enemy soldiers with the intelligence of F.E.A.R. or Half-Life 1, and you get this game. So go get this game.
Megabonk
Vampire Survivor on PSX. Megabonk is the perfect execution of this specific ambition.
Ball x Pit
A Breakout-esque pinball-reverse Plinkohell masterpiece with a town-building component where municipal planning is based on one’s ability to launch guys through resources. Ball x Pit is awesome.
Haste
In 1999, the timeline split. We live in the timeline that gave us the current unfortunate interpretation of 3D Sonic games. The other timeline contains a full retail version of the Sonic Utopia fangame, which is what 3D Sonic games should have been. The cosmos attempted to correct this by pressing the timelines together so hard that, for one brief moment, they reconverged. From this maelstrom sprung Haste. The best 3D Sonic video game (in our timeline) to date, that is, nevertheless, not a Sonic game. This eye-searing dance of momentum is one of the most satisfying takes on the 3D platformer in the history of the genre. J’adore.
MechWarrior 5: Clans – Wolves of Tukayyid
This is an expansion DLC. Clans in general is strong as it returns to a linear narrative style for this Mech simulator. Wolves in particular is strong because of its emphasis on lighter, faster ‘Mechs that favor maneuverability and positioning over the 500 ton roflstomps these games inevitably devolve into. Great expansion.
This year, I also began what I’m calling Professor Halfpenny’s Abandonware Treasure Hunt, a way for me to be more intentional about the old computer games I play via streaming. It has been immensely satisfying, so please allow me to share a few stand-outs from that endeavor.
Terminal Velocity/Fury3/Hellbender (1995-1996)
Terminal Reality released these three games within 18 months. They are 3D free-roaming in-cockpit arcade shooters where you fly in some impressively fast 3D environments seeking out objectives to destroy. There are tunnels and boss fights too, and you can fly above the cloud layer, which is very pretty. These three games are nearly the exact same game. In a world where you’d have to buy them all at retail, that would be a problem. In a world where that’s not the case, that’s just a lot of content for one cool game.
Darker (1995)
Developer Psygnosis was known for strong artistry in computer graphics with the likes of Shadow of the Beast on Amiga blowing away audiences in the 80s, but Darker, a perpetually purple sci-fi flight game, is one of the more impressive displays of SVGA 3D graphics from the 90s. This unique glider-like flight sim takes place in an open city where it’s always nighttime. You have to learn the city layout to respond to and shoot down threats in different districts. An impressively atmospheric title that screeches to a halt with some terrible tunnel segments. Still worth a gander.
Air Power: Battle in the Skies (1995)
What a discovery Air Power was. You choose to play as one of four dukes in competition with each other to rule a fictional European nation torn apart by a succession crisis in an alternate 1930s. Its open-ended campaign sees you flying your fleet of airships and fighter aircraft from settlement to settlement to turn them to your side. If you can’t convince them diplomatically, then you must conduct strikes on the military or civilian targets in the village or city in question.
You must choose targets that your War Chief identifies, then fly missions to target them in a more-than-serviceable flight simulator with awesome fictional interwar period-style airplanes with appropriately kite-like flight models. There’s an impressive amount of persistence with these campaigns; for example, if you destroy the airfield, far fewer fighters will sortie against your squadron afterward, and so on.
On top of all that, every single village, town, and city has its own narrative and attendant challenges that make sense given the settlements’ geography, culture, history, and industry. For example, a town may be involved in manufacturing biological weapons, and the runoff will flow into the river and into the next city over. If you target the water treatment plant and water storage tanks, the large city will be far more likely to capitulate to your cause.
Of all the games I played this year, if I ever needed to be somewhere, or be doing something else, it was very likely that Air Power was keeping me from it. This is the best game I played this year. Criminally forgotten.
