At the beginning of 2022, I made it a goal to complete 36 video games in a year. Around February, I decided that this quota was too forgiving, and I bumped it up to 48 games in a year. This meant that I needed to beat an average of four games per month. In the end, I finished 49 games. Forty-nine is a pretty ugly number, but at least I completed the challenge. This may seem impressive (or, more likely, concerning), but there are a few mitigating factors to be considered. Not all games are created equal. The Great Ace Attorney 2 took me half a year to beat. Journey lasted one afternoon. Also, I don't watch much television. Other than that, I don't really have any excuses. I should mention that a vast majority of these games did not actually release during 2022, it's just that I got around to playing them this year.

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Would I recommend this challenge for anyone else? Not really. While I did make sure to stick it out until the end of these games, the rapid pace forced me to move on from some of them quicker than I would have liked. When there’s a yearly quota looming over your head, you don’t really view video games as a relaxing way to entertain your free time. I will say that I’m glad to have been able to experience such a variety of games, and this challenge helped facilitate that. Rarely did I play two similar games in a row; I consistently switched things up in terms of time period, genre, and level of intensity. Still, in 2023, I plan on taking it much slower with the games that I play, and maybe even going back to some games that I've already beaten to get more out of them.

 

What follows is all the games that I played in 2022, listed in the order in which I completed them. I figured it'd be a useful exercise to write out a few of my thoughts on each game for posterity's sake. These micro-reviews range from a few sentences to a paragraph, and they avoid any major spoilers. I also took this opportunity to give out a few special game awards of my own, as well as including a "Jason's Top 3” podium at the end. Please enjoy.

 

Haunt the House: Terrortown has a very unique artstyle that I would categorize as 'cute Halloween' or 'quaintly spooky.' The premise of possessing objects to scare people out of a house is also very creative, and the different locations in the levels are varied and interesting. While the aesthetics are superb, the gameplay is unfortunately a bit lacking. The AI is frustratingly random to the point where there's not a clear enough sense of cause and effect. On top of that, certain systems like the Atmosphere Meter don't seem to serve much purpose or to mesh well with anything else in the game. There's definitely potential for the Haunt the House series, but it's got a long way to go to reach it.

Super Smash Bros. Melee is a legendary fighting game. I don't think I have a lot to add to the conversation, but this is one of the handful of games that I definitely need to play more of to get the full experience.

Limbo is pretty good. There was one puzzle, though, where I felt like my success was based on my physical execution more so than my puzzle-solving, which is something I dislike in puzzle games.

Yoshi’s Woolly World is incredibly cute. It has better, more difficult level design than the subsequent Crafted World, but the artstyle isn't quite as interesting. It does a very great job of making the collectibles actually worth the effort of collecting them because you unlock new skins for Yoshi if you collect all the skeins of yarn in a given level.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is easily the worst game in the Danganronpa trilogy, although it does have a very specific claustrophobic atmosphere that the following games are never able to capture. The writing has a fanfiction-y quality to it that's hard to describe, but I think it's something to do with the awkward way that the game handles exposition. Good fiction will immerse you in a world and force you to accept it on its own terms. In my opinion, Danganronpa never manages to do this because the writing isn't solid enough to cover for the massive scope and ridiculous premise of the overarching story. On the positive side of things, Monokuma is a fantastic mascot character. Danganronpa will always be compared to Ace Attorney, and while I like the latter series more, the former makes trials way more exciting and fun with the non-diegetic action minigames. Class Trials never feel stagnant; there's an underlying energy constantly pushing the player towards the truth, and the Closing Argument comic book sections are a fun, innovative way to make sure the player has been paying attention.

Wrecking Crew wins the prestigious award for "Worst Game of the Year." I played it for two reasons. 1) It was one of the first ever Mario spin-offs, so it holds an important role in Nintendo history. 2) I had read an article where it was referred to as a "hidden gem of the NES library." After having played it, I can assure you that it is not a hidden gem of the NES library. It is bad. There is a reason it's hidden. Wrecking Crew is a puzzle game that punishes you for thinking too hard and also for not thinking hard enough. Periodic fireballs force the player to constantly keep moving, which would be fine if this was a DOOM game, but it's not, it's a physics-based(?) puzzler. The enemy AI is way too upredictable and the potential for softlocking is way too high. Not a fun time.

Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope has been praised to death, and it deserves every bit of it. The Shovel Knight series consistently meshes retro with modern in a perfect combination. The music, graphics, and overall structure are very reminiscent of classic Mega Man, but the developers aren't afraid to break the boundaries of old-school limitations. The treasure-reclaiming system is innovative and keeps it much more fair than most NES platformers without losing any difficulty. Although the gameplay is fantastic, the thing that sets this game apart from the rest is its charm. All of the enemies are instantly memorable. The writing of the NPCs is humorous and their designs are all creative. There are so many areas where the developers went above and beyond the task of just making a platformer. All the little things in-between levels are what elevate Shovel Knight from good to outstanding.

Sonic Adventure is not my cup of tea. I plan on playing some more of it just to make sure, but I don't think I really enjoy 3D Sonic games as a genre. I felt that the game lacked a consistent visual aesthetic between the relatively realistic environments and the cartoonish characters. Sonic's moveset is not very fun or balanced in my opinion, and the level design is pretty unremarkable. However, there are six campaigns of differing length and gameplay styles, which definitely adds a lot of value to the package.

Rivals of Aether wins the award for "Game I Wish I Was Better At." All of the character designs are really cool and unique, both visually and from a gameplay perspective. The game has such a high skill ceiling and even though I have a lot of fun with it, I know I could have even more fun if I took full advantage of its mechanics. I main Ranno the poisonous pacifist frog in case anyone is curious. 

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is the best Danganronpa game. The two things that set it apart are that the overarching story isn't annoying, and that each of the cases have something special to help them stand out. I would like to talk about the cases at length, but it's not really possible to do that without spoilers. Monomi is a terrible addition, but the remaining cast of characters is on-par with the other two games. None of this is important, though. What's important is that Danganronpa 2 wins the award for "Best Character in All of Fiction": GUNDHAM TANAKA. I love Gundham. He's a hamster breeder who talks like a cartoon supervillain and who thinks he's an actual spawn of the underworld. The writers are walking such a precarious tightrope with his character. He's completely over-the-top, but in a way that's somehow not cringy. He has so many contradictory character traits, but it comes off as funny instead of too busy. I am glad that Gundham Tanaka exists.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 wins the award for "Biggest Scope." The amount of content in this game is truly baffling. I basically only did the bare minimum to get through the story, and even then I think my playthrough was well over 60 hours. The combat is not explained well by the tutorials. In fact, nothing is explained very well by the tutorials. Once you figure out the combat, though, it's very deep and rewarding. The story and writing are significantly messier than the original Xenoblade's in my opinion. This will most likely be a matter of preference, however, as the two games are going for different styles. The main difference is that Xenoblade 2 has a lot more anime tropes. I found it funny how there could be over a dozen named characters on screen during any given cutscene. The overarching story is a lot to keep track of, and while it's definitely not as good as the original's story, I think it does a decent job at carrying over Xenoblade's existential themes.

WarioWare: Smooth Moves has all the makings of a really great party game: easy to learn, chaotic, and with a very fun aspect of real-world physicality. The creative uses of the Wiimote showcase the unique strengths of that console and of the video game medium in general. The sporadic, contradictory art design and monotone American announcer all combine to form a level of quirkiness that only Wario could produce.

Sonic Forces is not very good. The gameplay and level design range from meh to annoying, with the 2D Classic Sonic stages being especially infuriating in my opinion. Sometimes I bemoan the fact that mainline Mario games always have such a simple story and they barely use any of their periphery characters, but Sonic Forces serves as a strong counterpoint to my complaints. While I like the idea of an underground anti-Eggman resistance, there are so many random B-tier Sonic characters both new and old thrown in that I'm not even sure which previous games I would be required to play in order to fully understand the context of Forces' story. I can't say that I'd recommend this game.

Flower is neat. I like that each level has a very distinct aesthetic. This being Jenova Chen's sophomore effort, I think it captures the balance between art and game the best. Flow is more artsy and Journey is more gamey.

Ori and the Blind Forest might have the best level design of any Metroidvania game that I've played (side note: I really hate the term Metroidvania as a genre descriptor). The puzzles and action segments are all super tight, and the exploration is optional but very natural and enticing. Each new addition to Ori's moveset makes you feel tangibly more powerful; every mechanic is useful. The projectile-hopping Bash is an especially creative innovation, and one of the most fun movement options that a platformer has ever had. One negative of the extensive moveset, though, is that the controls are a bit too complicated and physically demanding, at least when playing on PC. The art design is incredible, of course. With its diegetic platforms and emphasis on natural biomes, I'd describe it as an enchanted version of Donkey Kong Country's style.

Inside is a quasi-sequel to Limbo. It’s gross and creepy and ominous: great horror. Part of me wishes there was another game set in the same world so that I could learn more about its many terrors, but the reason that the setting is so unsettling is that the player only has vague hints about the true nature of the dystopia. Any given screenshot of this game most likely looks deeply disturbing, which further proves how effective the environmental storytelling is.

Metal Gear is one of those games that I played more for the history than to have a good time. Ambitious for the time period, but it predictably has a lot of that old-school crypticism. The radio is really cool, though, and does a lot for the immersion of the game.

Journey is a game that pops up a lot in textbooks when you go to game design school. Often cited as a premiere example of video games as an art form, it has a beautiful desert setting that hints at something greater than itself. I would like to play it again, as I sort of rushed my first playthrough. 

Placeholder: see Jason’s Podium #3

Untitled Goose Game, outside of a title that's trying too hard to be quirky, is a delightful little game. The controls are perfectly intuitive; I really feel like I have just as many options as a real goose while playing. The sandbox style of mischief-making gameplay can be annoyingly cryptic at times, but it encourages experimentation and leads to some great 'a-ha' moments. This is a great game to play with a friend or sibling; the multiplayer is charming in its chaos.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is an amazing step forward for the Kirby series. I saw one reviewer call it 'the smoothest transition from 2D to 3D that a legacy series has ever had' and I'm inclined to agree. All of the levels feel exactly like 2D Kirby stages with an added dimension, and while that does mean they're largely linear, they also maintain the tried-and-true level design philosophy that the series is known for. On the negative side, I found the gameplay to be a bit slow, but I suppose that's par for the course for a Kirby game. That being said, the boss battles and Arena mode are surprisingly difficult. Waddle Dee Town is lovely. I love peaceful hub areas in video games and this one really just enhances the already cute, cozy Kirby aesthetic. Speaking of aesthetics, the art design in this game is superb. Nintendo struck gold with the idea to set a Kirby game in a post-apocalyptic, nature-reclaimed Earth. Every single environment hints at a tragic backstory while also being gorgeous in its own right. I would gladly buy a Forgotten Land art book to further explore this world and its secrets.

EarthBound Beginnings is very similar to Earthbound but made in a time before the technology to pull off many of Earthbound's most interesting concepts existed. Although there is a ton of old-school crypticism, mandatory grinding, and unbalanced difficulty, there's also some good to be found. The idea of a JRPG set in modern times (as opposed to a medieval fantasy or futuristic sci-fi dystopia) was a subversive concept first explored in this title. Magicant is much more memorable in this game than in its sequel, as it serves as a sort of hub world for the party. The overworld graphics are unfortunately pretty ugly, even by NES standards, but the characters look straight out of a Peanuts comic strip, which is cute. Overall, the only reason to play this game is to more fully appreciate the history of the series, but that's not a bad reason in my opinion.

Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment is another really good platformer. It demonstrates how gameplay innovation can still exist in such a classic, sometimes-tired genre. You can tell that the developers really care about the lore of this series because each new game builds on the continuity and gives more backstory to even the most minor characters.

The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve has the same stage, structure, animation, art design, and gameplay as its predecessor, so I won't discuss those at length (except to say that having the twin locations of turn-of-the-century Victorian London and Meiji Japan act as the setting is still such a cool idea). The real draw for this game is that it concludes the sprawling, epic story that The Great Ace Attorney: Adventure began. In this regard, it triumphantly succeeds. Few game directors nowadays would have the patience and deftness to tell a complete narrative over multiple entries in a series, but Shu Takumi pulls it off. The sheer scale of the story is impressive for a visual novel, but in a tasteful, believable way. The writing can sometimes drag on; the game often uses twenty text boxes to get across what could have been said in two. This is a drawback, but at least it has the effect of contributing to the grandeur and complexity of the fictionalized judicial system. (Almost) all of the characters get satisfying arcs and endings, and the dialogue manages to be as humorous, heartfelt, or solemn as required for any particular scene. Herlock Sholmes is a highlight. The Great Ace Attorney 2 is a worthy entry in one of my favorite series.

Street Fighter III has a cool hip-hop aesthetic, an interesting roster, and gorgeous sprite animations. I don't really feel qualified to judge fighting games, though, because I'm not very good at them.

Final Fantasy is the ironically titled first entry in the long-running JRPG series. I would consider it a cozy, simple comfort game if you like classic RPGs or fantasy aesthetics, but it's overall pretty generic in my opinion. The magic and class systems are somewhat interesting, but other than that it doesn't bring much new to the table. Really, it's just a less innovative version of Dragon Quest III, which was released two months later and which had the benefit of Akira Toriyama's incredibly creative enemy designs, in contrast to Final Fantasy's generic high fantasy monsters. I played the Pixel Remaster, and would recommend this version to a modern player who wants to experience the historic roots of the series.

Nintendo Switch Sports wins the awards for "Best Multiplayer Game" and "Biggest Waste of Potential." The seven sports (currently) on offer have varying levels of quality. Tennis and bowling are practically untouched from Wii Sports. Badminton is just single-player tennis with slightly more depth. Soccer is terribly slow-paced with only two players, but it's actually pretty fun playing a full 4-vs-4 match. Chambara, although cool in theory, was close to unplayable for me because the motion controls just did not want to cooperate. Volleyball is the clear standout of this set. It has lots of depth, varied gameplay, and super fun cooperative multiplayer. Overall, I think the online functionality is great. The developers did an admirable job translating some of the longer sports (bowling and golf) into a relatively quick-paced matchmaking system. The rewards system is mostly good, but it's pretty awful how most of the hairstyles, eye colors, and even things like glasses are locked behind playing online. This is especially egregious because the Sportsmates avatars start off with a pathetically small amount of customization. Speaking of the avatars, while I wish the game had gone with Miis instead (considering the history of the series), the Sportsmates are fine for what they are. They match the environment in this particular game more than the Miis do. The bottom line is that Switch Sports is a fun multiplayer game, but it could have been so much better. Not only is it an objective downgrade from Wii Sports Resort, it might even have less content than the original Wii Sports. The game launched with six sports, which is insultingly low, especially when you consider the fact that 2-3 of them are basically straight ports. It took 7 months for a new sport to be added. Why? Golf is also basically a port job. Where is that development time going? All I can do is hope that new sports continue to get added through free DLC, but I'm not optimistic. Even if Nintendo does keep supporting the game, it will get less and less exciting to return to this game just to try out the one new thing. There are so many ideas that could have elevated this game to be something magical. Spocco Square has such a cool artstyle; it could have been a phenomenal hubworld. It feels like a lived-in world, so why can't we live in it? The Island Flyover mode in Resort was my favorite part of that game as a kid. It gave Wuhu Island lore, logic, and personality. Now, we're back to a sterile, static world that merely serves as a vessel for a small handful of (admittedly fun) minigames. I'm sorry to say that Nintendo Switch Sports does close to the bare minimum.

Super Mario 3D World (+ Bowser’s Fury) is a neat little package. The original 3D World is a fun platformer with a metric ton of levels. Unfortunately, it's held back by a lack of memorability and a lack of consistent visual identity. The items, power-ups, and biomes are all so different as to feel directionless, while the level design itself is so formulaic as to feel meaningless. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but the fact remains that the game has problems. 3D World doesn't really stick in a player's mind. It feels like the odd man out in the legendary pantheon of 3D Mario titles. The Bowser's Fury expansion that was added in the Switch port attempts to fix some of these issues. It ramps up the cat theming to eleven, and the overarching setting of Lake Lapcat does wonders for establishing a unique aesthetic. Fury Bowser is kind of annoying. He always seems to appear way too often or to never show up when you actually need him. Overall, though, Bowser's Fury is a wonderfully concise 3D Mario game that nails the smaller scale it's operating on. 

Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse is essentially just a much better version of the original Castlevania. The companion characters really spice up the gameplay. They're an impressive innovation for the NES era.

EarthBound is a loaded game. The recent trope of the 'quirky, EarthBound-inspired indie RPG' has made it so that you can't even bring up the title without calling to mind a certain sort of video game fan. At some point, I’d like to write more about the perceptions surrounding the game as I think that knowledge of EarthBound’s place in video game history will be an increasingly important piece of cultural literacy to possess. For now, though, suffice it to say that you hear a lot about this game when you exist in the spaces that I do. Putting aside all preconceived notions for a moment, EarthBound is a wonderfully unique RPG. The tone is simultaneously silly and solemn. The characters are simultaneously ridiculous and tragic. The stakes are simultaneously inconsequential and universal. The narrative structure is unconventional, with characters often leaving the party and having solo adventures of their own. The story is punctuated seemingly at random by several scrolling walls of text that wax philosophical about your journey thus far and about the trials that still await you. In the end, the game culminates in a metanarrative fourth wall break that similarly-minded subsequent RPGs have been trying to emulate for decades. For all the jokes that get made about it, it's not hard to see why EarthBound continues to be so influential. It’s one of a kind.

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows gets off to an awkward start. The mechanics aren't intuitive and the levels feel ill-suited and clunky for Plague Knight's moveset. As you get used to the unconventional movement, though, it becomes very enjoyable. It has one of the most tangible learning curves of any platformer I've played. The customization is robust and very consequential; lots of games promise that you can 'play your way,' but this is a platformer that actually delivers on it. Some people may say that Plague of Shadows doesn't count as its own game because it was marketed as an 'alternate quest' for the original Shovel Knight, but I'd disagree. The story and gameplay changes made from the original are fun and subversive, and plenty sufficient enough for the game to stand on its own merits. Overall, Plague of Shadows was much better than I expected. It also wins the award for "Best Unexpected Romance," as the love story between Mona and Plague Knight is legitimately adorable and very well-written.

Mario Bros. has absolutely terrible physics, similar to Ice Climber. You do get used to them after a while, though, and it becomes a serviceable highscore-based arcade-style game.

Placeholder: see Jason’s Podium #1

Placeholder: see Jason’s Podium #2

Rhythm Heaven Fever is a very accessible rhythm game that I legitimately think anyone could enjoy. Cute art, fun music, lots of content.

Bloons TD 6 has a ton of content and a developer that is exceptionally good at communicating with the community. I haven't even scratched the surface of all of the modes and levels that are available in BTD6 and yet it's still my most played game on Steam by a long shot. Especially given its cheap price tag, I think this game has something for everyone. For veteran players, the strategy can get insanely competitive and theoretical at top levels of play. For people like me who have no idea what they're doing, the battle between monkeys and balloons is still super fun because all of the towers are visually interesting and the simple gameplay loop of 'save money, buy upgrade, pop more bloons' will always be satisfying.

Half-Life is called Half-Life because it takes half your life to beat it. It's really, really long. The variety, specialty, and sheer number of weapons was quite impressive, and the outside environments were suitably grand. I know that this game was incredibly revolutionary, but PC first-person shooter games from the 90s are not my area of expertise, so I can't really grasp the scope of its influence. Although annoying at times, the mere size of the single-player campaign does feel like a triumph.

Rayman Origins was pretty unenjoyable for me. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a platformer when I played it, but we definitely got off on the wrong foot. It got a lot better after the second world, but I still don't really like the concept of a 2D collectathon. I'm gonna have to disagree with the critics on this one.

Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy wins the award for "Game That's Harder Than It Looks." And that's saying something because it looks pretty hard. I was planning on beating it twice but I gave up on that about halfway through my second playthrough and just rode the snake back down to the start.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake wins the award for "How the Heck Would Anyone Beat this Game Without a Guide". With a guide, though, it's a pretty fun game with an interesting narrative for the time period.

Firewatch has a great atmosphere, a wonderfully unique premise, and absolutely phenomenal voice acting & dialogue. That being said, I was pretty unimpressed by the ending of the story, which especially stings in a story-based game.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony isn't quite as good as Danganronpa 2, but it's still a very solid murder-mystery game. The ending will be controversial, and I do see some inconsistencies and issues with it, but overall I think it manages to keep the bonkers scale that Danganronpa stories operate on. Kaede & Shuichi and Kaito & Maki make very cute couples.

Flow is probably the least game-like game on this list. It's bordering on being an interactive art piece instead. This is definitely the kind of thing that I could see in a nouveau museum exhibit. Neat for what it is, though, with a very consistent and unique under-the-microscope aesthetic.

Castlevania: The Adventure is notoriously difficult, but I heavily abused save states so I didn't have too much trouble with it. The lack of subweapons is disappointing, and the bridge section is really annoying, but otherwise this is a simple, inoffensive entry. 

Bad North has a really cool aesthetic. Unfortunately, it is fairly light on content. The cheaper price tag is appropriate, but it's still a bit disappointing for a roguelite to be so lacking in replayability.

Splatoon 3 is really fun! I probably won't get into it as much as I got into Splatoon 2, though. I've already made a 2.5-hour video about the series, so I don't need to get all long-winded and analytical for this entry. I'm looking forward to the paid DLC; it'll probably be phenomenal if Octo Expansion is anything to go by.

Shovel Knight: King of Cards has a robust card game side-mode that I’m frustratingly bad at. Despite this, it's quite good, handily matching the quality of the previous Shovel Knight games.

Balloon Fight has surprisingly good physics for a black box NES game. I played a few rounds of multiplayer with my father, not bad.

Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (not to be confused with Castlevania II: Simon's Quest) is much better than its prequel due to more interesting level design and the return of subweapons. Short and sweet.

 

JASON'S PODIUM

#3

Hades wins the award for "Game that's Probably the Best, But it's Not My Personal Favorite." Everything you've heard about this game is true. Yes, it's a roguelike that people who don't like roguelikes will still somehow love. Yes, the voice acting is iconic. Yes, the progressive dialogue system is incredible and manages to tell a complex story in a way that many thought was impossible for the genre. Yes, it handles difficulty really well by largely leaving it up to the player without holding their hand. And yes, there is so, so, so much replayability to the point where it boggles the mind. Every run, outside of having the normal roguelike variability, can be heavily customized by the player before it even starts. Between the Pact of Punishment, House Contractor, Mirror of Night, and Infernal Arms, the number of starting combinations is gargantuan, not to mention the randomness that occurs during the run itself. All of the game's different currencies, although difficult to keep track of at first, are very well balanced once the player realizes how they work. Hades is a triumph. At $25, it probably has the most bang for your buck of any game on this list.

 

#2

Portal wins the award for "Most Perfect Game." I was perpetually blown away by how amazing it is. I use the term 'perfect' for a few reasons. This is the tightest game I think I've ever played. The difficulty curve feels like it was constructed in a lab. Each level introduces a new concept that builds off the already-existing portal mechanics in a satisfying and intuitive way. The developers have stripped the game back to the bare essentials. Absolutely nothing is extraneous. If you were to take anything away, you would end up erasing a part of Portal's core identity. If you were to add anything, it would be an unnecessary, unbalancing force in the game's perfectly constructed ecosystem. Portal is a masterclass in every single category. 10/10.

 

#1

Live A Live wins the award for "Jason's Game of the Year." Originally released in 1994 as a Japan-exclusive Super Famicom game, 2022 saw the release of a fully localized, ground-up remake. The premise of Live A Live is that it’s a collection of 8 mini-RPGs, each set in a different era from throughout history. Settings include the Wild West, where you play as a cowboy, the Middle Ages, where you play as a troubled knight, the Distant Future, where you play as a robot, Prehistory, where you play as a caveboy, and everything in-between. In the last chapter of the game, all of the protagonists team up to form one party and take on the final boss. That elevator pitch alone is enough to sell anyone on the game, but Live A Live goes above and beyond. The combat is a mix between a strategy RPG and a traditional RPG. Although I feel that it doesn’t make full use of this concept, I’ll still give the game a lot of credit because this is a super interesting system that I’ve never encountered anywhere else. In addition to the core gameplay, most of the individual chapters are innovative in their own way. One segment has you choose between a pacifist or genocide route, one segment has you complete tasks under a real-life time limit, one segment is a stealth-based horror space opera with almost zero combat, and there are many more ideas that I don’t have the space to do justice to here. Most of all, though, I was impressed by the story. Just when you think the game is going to be filled with the most generic, retread tropes, it pulls the rug out from under your feet and delivers a staggering finale that takes up half the game’s entire playtime. Live A Live is my favorite game that I played this year. Hades might have more content and Portal might be more flawless, but Live A Live is a game that I like thinking about just as much as I liked playing it. It will definitely influence me as I continue to study Game Design.

 

Conclusion

So that’s my list! If you read through all of it, I’m quite impressed with your patience and your tolerance for the word ‘innovative.’ Outside of a few titles, I would of course recommend that you play through these games and form opinions of your own, and I would be happy to discuss further if anyone is curious as to my full, unabridged thoughts on any particular game.