this was a bad year for me but the games were pretty good.

baby steps is my game of the year. the rest are tied for second. thanks for reading.

baby steps (gabe cuzzillo, maxi boch, and bennett foddy, ps5/pc)

i tried very hard to pitch a blog about baby steps with the working title “baby steps doesn’t want you to rage, it wants you to love yourself.” unfortunately, no one wanted it. here’s what that pitch looked like:

baby steps developer bennett foddy is known for kicking off the “rage game” craze with physics-based platformer getting over it, inspiring dozens of uber difficult imitators where a single mistake could wipe away an hour’s worth of progress or more.

but while baby steps is just as challenging and unforgiving as foddy‘s most well-known work (not to mention the the rest of the pseudo-genre it spawned), it instead imparts an important, if subtle, message of loving oneself enough to walk away from its most punishing challenges between all the heart-crushing falls.

baby steps bucks the traditional “rage game” formula in the way it gives players the freedom to make the game only as difficult as they want and at times even encourages them not to tackle some of its most heinous challenges.

“hard” and “fun” are amorphous words, their definitions different for everyone who picks up the controller, and baby steps tells players it’s okay to take the “easy” way out if they decide their time is too precious to waste.

death stranding 2: on the beach (kojima productions, ps5)

hideo kojima is known for his extensive history of trolling the video game industry, but death stranding 2: on the beach may just be his greatest prank yet.

while it reviewed fairly well, common sentiment towards the first death stranding was that it was too weird and/or repetitive to take seriously. the goodwill kojima and his team built as the developers of the metal gear solid series didn’t quite extend to their first project as an independent studio. so, what did they do? promise to make radical changes in the sequel while largely leaving the mechanics as is. and it worked. kojima productions used the media’s fear of missing out to successfully trick them into loving death stranding despite very little being changed from the previous game.

lucky for me, death stranding 2: on the beach is exactly what i wanted out of a death stranding follow-up: more death stranding. it’s the best “sad dad” story in gaming and, despite also interrogating the first game’s themes, a vital celebration of the strength of the human spirit.

silent hill f (neobards entertainment, ps5/xsx/pc)

i played through silent hill f three times back-to-back-to-back, mostly to see its multiple endings but also because i couldn’t get enough of the angsty story and torturous combat. much like its predecessors, silent hill f excels at balancing syrupy gameplay mechanics and rich, atmospheric flourishes to impart a tangible, cloying dread that sticks with you long after you’ve put the controller down. the franchise has never been in a better place, and all it took was for konami to give a shit and put the right people in place to tell meaningful stories again.

stray children (onion games, ns/pc)

there was no way i wasn’t going to like stray children and its decidedly love-de-lic vibes. fortunately, it ended up being an objectively wonderful little game from some of the same folks who made moon: remix rpg adventure. i just realized this paragraph has a lot of adverbs. wow, i’m a bad writer. don’t look at me.

stray children is frustrating and compelling in equal amounts. it’s a love letter to both the work of love-de-lic and its many offshoots as well as the games it inspired, chiefly indie darling undertale. you will not always have “fun” while playing stray children but it’s endearing in a way so few games are these days.

rogue light deck builder (gil lawson, pc)

an excerpt from my previous blog, the treachery of words:

rogue light deck builder, unlike the genre which its name parodies, is made to end. it threatens eons of digital servitude but only holds you for about an hour before releasing you to the rest of your life. if you somehow develop an obsession with its wonky hammer and wiggly pop-ups and venture into the “endless mode” teased on the main menu, you’ll find yourself unable to drive home even a single nail. the game simply returns a grade of “good” for every swing, and the nail will never move. rogue light deck builder wants you to leave. it is telling you to stand up and follow your husband out the door and into the sun.

hell is us (rogue factor, ps5/xsx/pc)

hell is us‘s protagonist looks and sounds like a fucking dork but not even that was enough to distract me from the cool things rogue factor does with information-gathering and exploration in this game. my only complaint is that the ending doesn’t quite live up to the journey. here’s hoping we get more.

mashina (talha and jack co, pc)

while not quite as engrossing as its predecessor, mashina is another delightful adventure from creators talha kaya and jack king-spooner. the care the duo takes to infuse their projects with whimsy and humor is only eclipsed by the monumental task of creating every asset out of real-world materials.

about fishing playtest (the water museum, pc)

the water museum is one of the most exciting indie studios making games at the moment, and its follow-up to arctic eggs is shaping up to be something truly special. i struggled with including about fishing on this list because it’s just a playtest but it’s my blog and i can do whatever i want. it works beautifully as both a showcase of the game’s mechanics as well as a prologue to its underlying mystery. also, curly fries are good.

babushka’s glitch dungeon (jakeonaut, pc)

babushka’s glitch dungeon feels like someone took animal well and deleted 99% of the empty space. but this claustrophobic atmosphere only makes clearing away glitchy graphics with the titular old lady’s broom that much more satisfying. a cute, confined little puzzle game wherein almost every screen shows you something new and charming.

donkey kong bananza (nintendo, ns2)

idk man it’s fucking donkey kong. you punch things and dig through dirt to find crystal bananas that the titular gorilla scarfs down like he’s never had a meal in his life. i will never forget the little “banana!” voice clip that plays every time you find one of these collectibles. the little girl is fine but she should have stayed a rock. the lady spider monkey is hot. every moment is brimming with personality and the reveal of the true antagonist is kino. it’s peak nintendo and the best switch 2 exclusive.

time flies (michael frei and raphaël munoz, ps5/ns/pc)

a short-and-sweet puzzle game about speed, memory, and the impermanence of life.

sol cesto (tambouille, géraud zucchini, and chariospirale, pc)

i’m struggling with how to adequately explain sol cesto‘s whole deal, so let me just relate one little part of the game i enjoyed.

while visiting the game’s shops, it’s possible to grab the shopkeeper’s nose, stretch it away from his body, and knock him out as it snaps back into place. this process lets you steal one item for free. rude, but effective.

picross s: capcom classics edition / picross s: snk classics & neogeo edition (jupiter, ns)

i like picross.

nubby’s number factory (mogdogblog productions, pc)

nubby’s number factory was my #3 most played game on steam this year behind final fantasy xiv and team fortress 2.

nitroglycerine! (avoidance, pc)

an excerpt from my previous blog, someone made a video game based on one of the greatest films of all time (and it’s actually pretty good):

nitroglycerine! is quite the undertaking. if you had told me just a week ago a developer was planning to adapt sorcerer into a video game, i would have laughed in your face. it’s the kind of arrogance one can only attribute to stupidity. avoidance, however, have proven that hypothetical past me wrong. rather than try to create a 1:1 remake of one of the greatest films of all time, the studio instead remixed sorcerer‘s most compelling aspects into an experience that plays to the strengths of the medium. rarely do you see a game in this genre take such care to built not only a challenge you want to try over and over again but a world that feels vibrant and alive. watch sorcerer, play nitroglycerine!, and pour one out for william friedkin.

keep driving (ycjy games, pc)

i like games with a lot of little things to fiddle around with and keep driving has them in spades.

the little tomb: the maholova club and the search for a dead body (cavyhouse, pc)

the little tomb: the maholova club and the search for a dead body has very little actual gameplay to speak of, but i liked spending time as a weird kid-thing and exploring a confusing world with a bunch of friend-things. bizarre and lovely in the way only a child’s imagination can be.

biophobia (charlotte madelon, pc)

an unsettling body horror masterpiece. it’s short and free to play so just go experience it for yourself instead of listening to what i have to say.

the children of clay (balazs ronyai, pc)

ditto.

splatterworld: rick to kyoufu no daiou (now production, nes)

once thought of as lost media, splatterworld: rick to kyoufo no daiou inexplicably appeared online this year courtesy of a random 4chan thread and was quickly translated by localization powerhouse aeon genesis for non-japanese speakers. it’s a traditional RPG sequel to horror-themed platformer splatterhouse: wanpaku graffiti, which itself was a kiddy spin-off from the gory splatterhouse series. if you like horror movies and old-school, turn-based roleplaying or just want to experience a piece of history that never got an official release, splatterworld is a great way to spend a few hours.