Key

^that's a funny coincidence because...


Return of the Obra Dinn

Return of Obra Dinn from my understanding is a first person adventure game focusing on exploration and otherwise. While I have seen virtually nothing about this game other than some images, I have to say that the artwork alone looks impressive. I don't think i've seen any other games go this style with their game, but evidently based on people's experiences with the game, it's definitely worth picking up.

This is sort of what I was talking about with developers putting everything they can to make a rich and original experience, and god damn does this game look as if it just oozes with originality. The developers behind this known as Lucas Pope are also known for creating the rich and original experience of Papers, Please, so to see them go in a different direction is really nice. With this and Papers, Please, these guys definitely know what route they wanna take when making their games. It's really neat to see.

Not entirely surprising, this game also won the award for Best Art Direction at the 2018 Game Awards as well as being nominated for Best Independent Game. Though unsurprisingly again, Celeste took the crown for that award.

I will most likely be picking this game up in the near future as it's been getting on a lot of people's game of the year list, and I really want to see what this game holds. I absolutely fell in love with Papers, Please because of the aesthetic and fun gameplay, and I imagine and hope that Return of the Obra Dinn will have much of the same impact.

Key

Frostpunk

Much in the same vein of Jurassic Park World, Frostpunk is a city building strategy game with the aesthetic of futuristic technology, from what I can tell. I have yet to play it and while I was actually legitimately excited for it, I still didn't think I was ready to sink a lot of time into a city builder. However, while it may seem like I'm being a bit silly, Frostpunk may end up being the next game purchase on my list. I've seen streams of it, videos, trailers, etc. I've been looking forward to playing it for a while, and I still really want to play it. Plus, it'll give me a chance to get back into playing on my PC. I've been abandoning it sort of since I got my PS4.

This is one of those situations where just by the general aesthetic alone, the game can sell you on it. Frostpunk brings together what looks like a futuristic world mixed with cyberpunk, and I gotta say, I'm looking forward to dipping my toes into it. I mean, just take a look at this screenshot of someone's base:



That to me just looks exciting.

I definitely have an on again off again relationship with city building style games, but it always reminds me of the days that I played Warcraft III and to this day, still remains as one of my top favorite games of all time. The motivation to expand your city and allies is something that I find particularly exciting in video games. The art of progression etc etc. Most times with these types of games, they either do really well, or they lack a few minor things. But overall, I've never really been disappointed with the genre. And while I know I'm talking about Frostpunk in this months theme, I will also be doing a separate entry once I have some time with the game. As I said, it's probably going to be my next game purchase so this will be one of the games I finally get around to. It's got pretty much everything I'd look for in a game like this, and I hear it does hold up to its hype for those that like this style of game. Luckily I do, so I hope this will be a good experience.

windsock

Would you ever attempt speedrunning a game? If you haven't already, that is.

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RYM
Last.fm

Key

What it really boils down to is this: 2018 was an amazing year for video games. Hell, it was an amazing year for a lot of forms of entertainment, but specifically we're talking about video games...obviously. Great release after great release after great release all boiling down to a final Game Awards ceremony where God of War respectfully takes the crown for Game of the Year. Many games had the opportunity and hell, I'd take all of them. But once the year ends, we have to look forward to the next year, and the potential for something truly amazing to happen.

2018 yes was a big year for gaming, but it was also a big year for something else - battle royale. Don't get me wrong, I do like the genre for the boundaries it broke, but I'm starting to feel like the genre needs to come to a hault or maybe just a pause. There's a lot to do with that. One being that Call of Duty's version of battle royale called Blackout is possibly the best version of battle royale out there, or so I've been told. I've not played the game yet but that's for another entry. Games like PUBG, H1Z1, Arma III were all at the forefront of this genre and really allowed it to grow into what it is today. And all the while, Fortnite is taking the crown for the top battle royale game right now. Respectfully so, the game is updated regularly and is a lot of fun. But at some point, it starts to feel monotonous. I've not played many many hours of battle royale games but I've experienced enough to where I feel like it's just not for me anymore. I enjoyed PUBG, H1Z1, and all those. And yes, they're still great games. But for me, I just don't have the necessary attention span. So hopefully, in 2019, we sort of see this genre be pushed aside for another genre to take the mantle for a while. Something fun too.

Another thing that'll be interesting to see is how the evolution of distribution comes into play. It's been noticeable that a lot of companies are starting to use their own game launchers, to sell exclusive games only to that launcher. This is specifically for PC btw so if this doesn't make sense, just think Steam but multiple kinds of Steam from different companies that sell exclusive games. It's interesting because PC gaming is starting to turn into what console gaming has been for a while. For the past couple years, Steam didn't really have any competition as far as launchers were concerned. They were the main one, the one. And yeah, I still use it. It's actually the only launcher I use. But nowadays with Uplay, Origin, Bethesda.net etc, we're starting to see more developers take advantage of the fact that Steam has had no competition for some time, and now they're creating it. Perhaps collectively? I don't know. And will this evolve into something or is just sort of a little ploy for other companies to cash in on PC gaming? I don't know. But it's just interesting to see other companies do what Steam does, and some are actually doing it quite well. I've already seen a couple games that are exclusive to certain launchers that I would love to play. And getting another launcher wouldn't be too big of a deal. I don't think any company other than Valve can handle early access the right way though. I think Valve deserve all the credit for that as many games have been birthed due to that program. Seeing developers grow through Steam is a wonderful thing though I hear the compensation is not that great. So who knows really.

Now, one thing to note is that 2018 was a pretty big year for some indie developers because most of the better early access games were made into full releases and released to consoles. Dead Cells and Subnautica were two out of many that made it to a full release to that extent. Both well deserved as well of course. I'm curious to see how 2019 is going to shape up for indie developers and will there be more success stories like the previously mentioned? I sure hope so. Games like Celeste winning an award at the Game Awards is already very telling of the potential success of these smaller indie teams. There's something special there that bigger companies just can't see. Perhaps it's the fact that they don't have as much stake or as much to lose? Maybe. It could also just be a variety of smart minds coming together and being able to work collectively to a specific goal. I think that's more likely. I hope to see more indie games make it to full release, and I sincerely hope some of them are groundbreaking and award winning.

Along all that other boring stuff, there is one big out of this world thing I am also hoping for and I would honestly buy a next gen console for it if it were to be come out. It's probably not even possible due to Sega etc etc, but if we ever got to see a Jet Set Radio Future remake for a next gen console, I would probably call 2019 the best year in gaming. But that's just me being hopeful.



Along that, I really hope to see a lot of great releases through PC and console because now that I own both a console and a gaming PC, my opportunities for playing great games is now bigger than it was when last year started. Perhaps a lot of great experiences to come, and I'm hopeful for some big surprises. And maybe Bethesda will finally fix Fallout 76, or just ****ing remaster Fallout 3 for the love of god. All the fans want it. You can't possibly **** that one up more than 76. Well, we'd hope anyway.

But yeah, 2019, we'll see how things go.

Zhanteimi

Apparently because Papers, Please sold so well, Lucas Pope didn't feel any financial pressure to put out a safe game, so he assembled his own team and did the project he wanted to do: Return of Obra Dinn. And it paid off anyway. It has glowing reviews on steam.

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

Key

Yeah, I'm gonna check it out. It definitely looks like an experience worth going through at least once.

Key

Nah, I don't have the kind of time to dedicate perfecting a game to that level. I have a lot of respect for people that do it, but I wouldn't be able to. my attention span is also not right for it.

The Batlord

I'd watch his playthroughs.

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The Batlord

Do Alien Isolation with facecam. Or at least just the medical wing.

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Key

I can't play that game man. It's legit terrifying.