Oddly, it wasn’t even close. Only The Outer Wilds and Control held a candle this year, with exploratory, calm melancholia in space and eerie phantasmic combat. For mastery of play, though, for physical comedy and non-violent power struggles, Untitled Goose Game conquered even the most overblown of budgets and highly-advertised mainstream efforts. Developers House House … Continue reading Untitled Goose Game — 2019’s Game of the Year
I remember playing games a decade or more ago, when the extent of online walkthroughs available for most titles were ascii artwork-ridden fan chronicles on GameFAQs. Being cut off from easy solutions, with even the most dedicated guides having to paint pictures with their words. That remote sensation feels freshly relevant, playing through Outer Wilds. … Continue reading Outer Wilds
There's a surprisingly persistent perception out there that there hasn't been a good Star Wars game in aeons, perhaps since Knights of the Old Republic II. Never mind that Battlefront II was actually a fun, and extraordinarily high-fidelity team shooter that still attracts thousands of players today, because Jedi: Fallen Order has been greeted with … Continue reading Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
There are remakes and there are remakes. And, increasingly, there are remakes. The form is becoming a new genre, or rather a new sort of videogame self-homage. It's becoming less and less eyebrow-raising to announce a new version of a beloved older game. The pressing questions are just whether it will be a graphical update, … Continue reading The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
It's a peculiar quirk that Call of Duty, that most persistent of franchises, sticking around for years on end, always offering brutally quick online firefights, longs so clearly to be politically relevant. Core developers Infinity Ward, in particular, seem to feel a draw towards commentary on the state of the world, paired with a knack … Continue reading Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
It's one of those curious coincidences that in the same month that Control featured strange invasions fuelled by beings from something labelled "the astral plane", Astral Chain should emerge with exactly the same basic concept and language. The similarities effectively end there, though both do feature a degree of mystery and otherworldliness. Where Control is … Continue reading Astral Chain
There's space for a lot more mystery in mainstream games - for fewer precise map-markers and arrow-straight narratives. Remedy's Control seems to be fighting that tide of conventions, for as much as it's also a conventionally impressive third-person shooter. You play Jesse Faden, a mysterious young woman arriving at the equally mysterious Federal Bureau of … Continue reading Control
I get it. I get the draw of it all. The challenge that feels insurmountable, before rearranging itself into beatable patterns over time, all funnelling into the dramatic catharsis of victory. Soulsborne games (is that moniker still current, given the latest entry?) demand precision, dedication and care, and reward players with drips of mythic story … Continue reading I’ve given up on Sekiro, and I’m not sorry
With a near-perfectly pitched level of difficulty, Celeste is an enjoyable, simply-told parable of self-belief and perseverance. Its emotional insight has been overstated, but it is nonetheless a compelling package. Players take control of Madeline, a young woman seeking to climb the mysterious Celeste Mountain. It doesn't take long to realise that she's seeking a … Continue reading Celeste
2018 was a good year for games. Red Dead Redemption II, oddly reluctantly and despite its overlong story, offered extended periods of exploratory calm that offered glimpses of gaming's true potential. Hollow Knight's Switch port paired a sublime game with the perfect platform, and offered a superlative sense of discovery and risk. Spider-Man wonderfully perfected its … Continue reading God of War – 2018’s Game of the Year
