Now there’s a list of games I have not played and do not plan to play. It’s a helpful reminder to be grateful for the sheer breadth and diversity of this hobby, though.
The list is hilarious. It’s the typical ‘people vote the known property’.
H3 has a famously bad VR implementation, but still, winner of the VR category.
There are games out there with dozens upon dozens of updates, but still, Cyberpunk won because… a pair of decent updates finally fixing the bugs, with a pair of new weapons and a few cosmetic items from the anime tie-in.
Most innovate gameplay for… Stray? I mean, it’s a novelty to play like a cat, but the gameplay itself isn’t that innovative.
Death Stranding on the go? Is there some portable tie-in I’m missing?
The Steam awards always have been a crock of shit.
I REALLY assume this is a joke, based on the game and its gameplay.
It actually plays really well on the Steam Deck.
Oh damn it, you’re right. Early morning responding and I forgot about the Steam Deck. Almost every game is portable now. Carry on!
I’m not sure if this YouTube channel qualifies as a publication, but its chosen genre is obscure enough that I consider this list really interesting:
I picked up Hazelnut Hex on the Switch off of this recommendation for less than $3 today and it is the most fun I’ve had with a SHMUP all year. And it places a premium on bullet readability, which is great for my eyes :)
Yeah, on a list of absurdities that’s got to be the most absurd. In the past it’s always been NMS that won that category and while that’s always been galling too in the face of developers like Trese Brothers and Arcen, it’s less absurd than Cyberpunk of all things.
Yeah, the Steam awards have contrived categories and always produce head-scratching results.
Interesting choice going with DW2. I thought it was a complete mess and haven’t returned to it since launch.
Perhaps I’ll take a 2nd run when or if aggregate steam reviews ever move to something better than mixed (reading some of them today I see even really recent ones are still talking about a lot of issues even w/ core game loops).
Thanks for posting that! Subscribed to his channel. I like his manner and the variety in his list.
I doubt DW2 will ever have an aggregate mostly or very positive rating, it’s too polarizing even after all the improvement since its deeply flawed launch. Even DWU had pretty middling reviews. It’s definitely in that grognard corner of gaming - shower it with money if you love, otherwise bash it. Not much middle ground.
Yeah, you’re probably right it does tend to polarize. I’ll probably give it another go at some point. I just need to find my way out of the uncanny valley where I’m constantly conflicted over automated vs manual.
Further intrigued by Wavetale because of this post from the writer.
Thinky Games posted their favourite games of 2022:
And Joel did a stream covering his as well:
I’m confident they are one big patch away from making DW2 manual play a lot more intuitive. It’s a few UI changes, they’ve acknowledged it is in their list. Now, it might not be the next update… But eventually. My guess is within the first half of this year.
Take away: if you aren’t enamored enough to put up with DW2 as is, but very curious - my bet is by summer/fall it’s going to be in excellent shape to give it a chance to convert you.
Thanks for that additional input on it. I’m making a mental note to circle back for a 2nd look early summer and see what’s what.
Here are the nominees for the DICE awards (awards from the game developer community):
They do an admirable job blending indie games in with AAAs in pretty much every category. We’ll see when the winners are announced if that’s just them being polite (or just the relative paucity of AAA games this year). Citizen Sleeper is up against Elden Ring and Xenoblade Chronicles; TUNIC with God of War and Horizon… There’s also an indie category.
I keep getting surprised by the place of Stray on some of these lists. I know it was highly anticipated, and it sounds like was good fun to run around as a cat, but that a lot of the game was pretty underwhelming. Is it basically being judged on its first hour, or was it better than I realized?