My game 2023

Well, here is 2023 the year is coming to an end. A strange year was, of course-it seems not much less wild than 2022, but unlike, this one was somehow easier. Maybe I have already adapted, maybe I still don’t know. Be that as it may, the game industry in 2023 almost broke through – large and cool releases on the players poured from a bucket. Moreover, releases are different in format, genre and quality. And at this time I was sitting and passing a different junk. Basically – new releases also came to my arm.

So, for another time, I bring personal game results of the year. Moreover, in this list I am not limited only to what happened this year. It is more important here that these games in one way or another were remembered and gave me pleasure. (The year of release and the platform of exactly the version of the game that I played this year is indicated in brackets).

Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole (SMD, 1992)

I love to hit Oldskul sometimes. I do not think that old games are better than new ones, for example, but sometimes they are able to give such an experience that will not work from modern projects. Not so much unique experience, of course, but to a certain extent different from the existing norm. Because the developers at that time fought much more with restrictions on the platforms, which poured into fairly original games.

Landstalker just from the same. The inspired by The Legend of Zelda, the old isometric adventures and the Shining series, Landstalker is an incredibly enchanting Action-Dventure, which from the first minutes I want to explore and study. I would like to reveal secrets, chat with citizens, explore the dungeons and get treasures. How otherwise it is that the local picture instantly clings to the eye with both the perspective and the general visual style, and the music fascinates from the first notes.

And you go and explore, wiped through both the difficulties of the game itself, and through the inconvenience arose due to the chosen format. Here the jump will pass incorrectly, there the direction is not in the way, and in third place, the object, which be needed for advance, will be hidden in the forefront. The main visual advantage of Landstalker, namely its angle of the camera, turns into its main gameplay deficiency. The game manages only to frustrate this before the impossibility. But the complexity is purely within the framework of internal logic in the course of the game also grows, and in the end you are already fighting with the desire to quit everything and return to modern, convenient and friendly games.

But you should not do so. As I said above, in such emotions, in such a perception and charm. Now the games are different. No better and no worse, but just not like that. The more valuable opportunity to look at Landstalker with a modern, unlimited look. Believe me, even so there will be something to be surprised.

Vampire Survivors (XSX, 2022)

For a lot, you can criticize the Xbox Game Pass, but one cannot fail to note, for a bored player with a desire to discover something new, this is just a joy. The service has a huge number of games of different genres and formats, so finding something that hooks your eyes is easy. After that, however, you still have to sit down and play, and now at this step, many have a logging. I am no exception, I will be honest. But this year this year, Game Pass paved the way for me.

Here is Vampire Survivors, for example. I missed the initial hype in the game, like Haip in many other games, what is it already there. But one boring evening I decided to download and start. Two hundred megabytes, this is not long, right. Right. And I disappeared in the game for five hours. And this is only the first evening.

The concept is simple. There is your character, there are hordes of monsters that rod from all sides. There is an endless map on which you can move, and there is an endless automatic attack that your hero owns. There are experience and levels for which you can unlock new weapons and improve characteristics. The task is to survive. The first sounds, of course, doubtful. But you don’t start playing it yet.

At first, you really try to survive – how the weapon works you do not know what characters and mobs can do it too. And when a huge crowd of enemies enters the battlefield, which is not visible to the end, in horror, you think, but how can you survive then. And with a huge chance you are not surviving. But then you begin to understand how the weapon works, what improvements to your style of the game are suitable, and which are not, you open a couple of permanent improvements, and you seem to even go through the level of another. You think, but not bad. And then you open the combo. And you turn your hero into a natural murder car, which destroys absolutely everyone on the battlefield. Except, perhaps, death, but he will someday give up, right?

And at this particular moment, the game begins to take a lot. When you begin to understand which builds specifically need you to win, the game loses the fuse. Of course, taking the crowds of enemies fun, but for the twentieth time it is already bored. Of course, there are other secrets in the game, and they kept my attention for five hours. But after them, returning to Vampire Survivors simply had no desire. Because – why? Once again to smash tens of thousands of monsters completely without straining? Well, I don’t know.

Toca Race Driver 3 (PC, 2006)

I’m not a lover of racing simulators. They have never been to them, in principle. All the more interesting are the situations when the games of such a seemingly not suitable genre are clinging to me so much that for the sake of them it is not difficult to get the steering wheel out of the box and screw up to the table.

With Toca Race Driver 3, especially, the situation is a little different than with other serious racing simulators. As it is usually in some Gran Turismo-there are championships, you buy a car for them. A certain group of cars united in terms of characteristics or their form factor participates in the championship. Toca Race Driver is different. She offers the player to participate in real automobile championships, and the choice of cars for them is either tightly limited or completely absent. Came to DTM – be good to drive Opel or Mercedes. Came in the rally – you will ride on one specific car. And this is within the framework of free modes – in a local career called “World Tour”, the choice will take the game for you. You will have to go through dozens of different championships on specific machines of specific classes. And in every championship it is desirable to win, of course.

Moreover, each championship will have to adapt. Cars in the game are completely different from each other, plus the game often offers the player to participate in incredibly very different disciplines. Rent from a truck to the Formula Ford car – yes easily. And far from every class of machines it will be easy to get used to, especially given the fact that there is no familiar braking line, for example, the game. Management assistants, of course, are present, but they are not a panacea. It will bring in some Formula 3000 one wheel on the grass, and there is a great chance that this wheel you have after contact with a nearby wall and fall off.

I usually do not like a similar complex grinding to games. So it’s also a race why I like it? And the secret is just in variety, and in a well -built complexity curve. At first, discipline in the game comes across quite slow, which is easy to adopt. But the further you move around the game, the more difficult the tracks become, the more moody cars. And all the more pleasant to overcome the obstacles set by the game. Until the end, I have not yet passed the Toca Race Driver 3. And the path to the finish line is obviously not there. But then it is worth it.

Tomb Raider: Legend (X360, 2006)

I, as a self -proclaimed fan of the Prince of Persia series, always wondered how true the judgments were that The Sands of Time was inspired by the adventures of Lara Croft. But to meddle in games of the time PS1 there was no desire. Run Angel of Darkness – all the more. There was one choice – to proceed to the first restart of the series, which followed the transfer of the franchise from the hands of Core Design to Crystal Dynamics. And let’s say, I still like Prince of Persia more. But in Tomb Raider: Legend there was something to see.

At least – on the overall variety of local locations. In Legend, Lara will eat half the world in search. And each location clings to the eye, whether at least the initial jungle, or caves in the Himalayas, everything still looks if not impressive, then at least pleasant enough. And, of course, Lara for the general picture is only beneficial.

Let’s first say so – I have not seen special attractiveness in Lara Croft. Well, the chest is large, the shorts are tight, and some character lies behind this? And as it turned out, yes, quite. Lara Croft, like a real British aristocrat, can at the same time be a sophisticated lady, especially if she puts on an evening dress, and at the same time brightly anneal with dry puns towards both friends and rivals, shooting living creatures or other people in the process. And what are her animations, wow. I wanted to look again and again at how Lara pulls up on beams. Because, well, yes.

Good and playing is nice. Of course, the action is not at all impressive here. Auto -framework trivializes battles to literal jamming of running enemies. Sometimes you have to think, but only if on the bosses. And then not for everyone. No, the main fun of Tomb Raider lies in the platforming. Overcoming obstacles to Legend is simply pleasant. It’s nice to run along the corridors, jump on beams and columns, and climb into boxes and ledges. For the sake of local platforming, you can easily close your eyes to a light crooked control and on an uninteresting action.

And on an empty plot too. Honestly, ask me, and I will never be able to say what Tomb Raider: Legend was about. But honestly, I somehow do not care. I was happy to spent several hours in the company of the adventurers, leading it through ancient temples and caves through a series of complex and not particularly obstacles. Sometimes this is enough. Especially taking into account the fact that Anniversary could not give me such sensations. Who knows what will happen to Underworld.

We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie (NSW, 2023)

About the games of the Katamari series to say something very little, to be honest. There is a ball to which any things that are less than him are sticking. There are levels filled with these very things. There are tasks that need to be completed. And there is a completely crazy aesthetics that cannot be described in words at all, and which is easier to see. And listen – because the soundtrack in the games of the series is absolutely magnificent.

So what distinguishes the second nonukcasinosites.co.uk/review/jackbit/ part of the series, We Love Katamari from the first Katamari Damacy? In fact, not too much. Here is a completely different scenario, ironically ridicuating the very idea of ​​creating sequels. There are much more options for tasks – then collect the snowman, then roll more food on the curtains, then light a large bonfire. And in principle everything. The principle of operation of the series has not changed much and, as I understand it, will not change in the future. But perhaps the series is not particularly necessary. True, sequels are not particularly needed then, but this is already a separate topic for conversation.

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (XSX, 2021)

“Cooperative with Tolyan” returns! This time, alas, not as solemnly as last year. If in 2022, with all its turbulence, we went to the end of two full -fledged plot games, then in this main place of stay became quiet streets of abandoned Washington. Not so to play there was nothing more, but neither the service to the emperor in Warhammer 40 000: Darktide, nor adventures on multi -senior from Remnant II attracted just as much.

Moreover, not to say that The Division 2 was somehow powerfully surprised or impressive. In it, everything is done at least at a decent level – a picture, sensations from shooting, a set of missions and pumping. This is a game in which it was simply nice to spend time. In many ways, of course, thanks to the abundance of content. There has always been something to do in The Division 2. Whether to clean the avant -navvpost, find another cache with improvements, destroy a particularly dangerous goal or go to the mysterious “dark zone”, in which it is so easy to die from a bullet of a crazy player a hundred levels higher than your.

So yes, The Division 2 may not surprise, but holds by the screen for a long time. A few more it is enough – the question. But I can be sure if we have nothing to play on the next day off, that an abandoned Washington will always be ready to meet. While the servers are open, of course.

Starfield (XSX, 2023)

Imagine yes. With Starfield I have lined up a very difficult relationship. I do not turn a blind eye to the shortcomings that the game is teeming. But at the same time, I managed to let them through their fingers and just play, enjoying.

To understand – I never loved the huge worlds of The Elder Scrolls. It was easier for me to be in compact locations Fallout from Bethesda than in the endless forests and fields of the Syrodil. The scale of me, in principle, is most often annoying in games, I am lost in huge worlds, I don’t know what is better to start. Accordingly, the huge space of Starfield and its procedural-generated planets should have been bolded from the game, right?

Not really. Somehow, the notorious absence of seamlessness in the world of Starfield allowed me to enjoy the gameplay much more than if all this space and all these planets would be some kind of whole card. I could concentrate not on the meaningless, but especially within the framework of this particular game, the study of empty spaces, but on cities, characters and missions.

And with these aspects, of course, not all glory to God. The cities are diverse, there is no dispute, but in some, like the same akila, it is weak to believe. Yes, and real megacities, except for the starting New Atlantis, I have not met in the game yet. With characters, too, everything is not without problems. It is very nice to be in the party with the same sarah, it is perfectly voiced, and she has a pleasant her own storyline. But is she a deep character? Yes, not really.

But with quests here everything is fine. Of course, there are also boring tasks, and in the gameplay, it often comes across “fly to another planet, talk to a person, fly back”. But most of the tasks in the game lied in earnest. The assignment about hide and seek terrormor, for example, was powerfully imprinted in memory. But I didn’t even reach the corporate branch, which many praise.

Of course, it can be seen that Todd with the team could not die their own ambitions in the process of working on Starfield. They did not know what the game should be, the next No Man’s Sky, which would surprise the players with its space landscapes and the huge scale, or a full-fledged role-playing game a la Bethesda Game Studios. So neither one nor the other came out. And at the same time, I will still be ready to return to Starfield. The entourage, tasks, and even style and design hooked me. Guilty pleasure? Well, probably it is it.

Escape Academy (XSX, 2022)

Continuing the theme of Game Pass and games, aside which I would not look without it. Escape Academy I have passed a little and for a long time. Until the moment, until I settled in it so powerful as to go through the remaining levels in some two evenings.

To me, as a person who grew up with Point’n’Click with adventure in the zero, Escape Academy was completely in the subject. The plot is as simple as possible – your name is to the academy in the headline, in which you will have to show your skills to teachers, students and other employees of the academy. And the skills at the Academy are most appreciated by those that will allow a novice agent to solve problems that, subsequently, will allow him to get out of the most confused traps and ambushes.

There are no more than fifteen levels in the game, but you will have to break your head in any case. Is it a joke, new tasks appear at each of the levels, some can be familiar, but some are not, some will be given to you at once, and some will have to think about it so good. But the time to think just and is just limited-the timer always ticks over your head, and in some cases it seems that you just have enough seconds to completely pass the level. And this is at best.

The benefit of riddles is all solved using basic logic, no special knowledge, consider, is not required. Yes, and it is convenient to solve them – the management works perfectly within the framework of the gamepad, the external design is read perfectly, and if the situation becomes very complicated, then you can combine and clues. And partly even a pity that the passage did not take so much and long. Although, the game has DLC. Maybe you should pay attention?

Persona 5 Tactica (XSX, 2023)

How many times have I already said on this site that I love Persona 5? Well, no matter how much it may, this will not be enough in any case. This year I already recalcated Persona 5 Royal to Series X, and the release of the new spin-off to the adventures of my beloved team of phantom thieves, my love for this team of motionless discharge of society only fixed.

I just released a review the other day, and I don’t want to repeat myself. Therefore, briefly-Tactica only slightly lower than the Strikers level in the framework of the Persona 5 spin-offs series. Gameplaino, it does not drag out as much as a trash, but not as tightly relied on the ideas and ideas of the original Persona 5. New characters easily and quickly fall into the list of favorites, and the soundtrack from Tosika Konisi, which has changed relatively original game and Strikers, will clearly settle in the player next to his brothers. The visual style is perfect for the game, and Tactica is very shorter than the original Persona 5, due to which even some local monotony does not have time to get bored. Yes, some people complain that Atlus is too fascinated by issuing the last drops of Persona 5. But while they keep the quality bar at the level of Strikers and Tactica, I will not be against it. The main thing is not to fall to the level of Dancing in Starlight, of course.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Into Reverie (PC, 2023)

Last year, I did not have a single Falcom project in the top of the games. Sororyan, I am corrected – this year there will be two of them. And if with this game everything was absolutely clear, then with the second the situation came out a little more complicated. But we will go to her later.

And with Trails Into Reverie everything is quite prosaic. After the worthy, but extremely uneven Trails of Cold Steel IV Reverie, a sip of fresh air was felt. The plot, although it accelerates slowly, develops rapidly enough, so as not to let go to the very end. The gameplay is as maximum as possible, and the combat system, introduced into a series in the very first part, it was here that it reached its peak. And so, probably, even Falcom themselves think – after all, in the future Trails Through Daybreak, the combat system will be different.

New characters are terribly charismatic, and especially the mysterious “C” and the sweetest doll on the lapid. But the game also has a True Reverie Corridor, in which the content is enough for the whole game. A lot of stories about beloved characters, mini-games, both previously known to fans of the series and new. Huge dungeon, for which not an hour or two. And all this is in the company of a long time ago familiar heroes with whom we almost six games passed sideways. And with someone and all nine. For me it was almost a gift. Someone will not agree. But I don’t care.

Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (PC, 2006)

You know, Outrun 2006 was more likely for me. One of the points of interest in the process of studying a series for retrospective released in the spring. And I did not expect at all how much the sequel port of the classic race from the Sega is the worse to my soul. Especially taking into account the fact that I did not like the original Outrun too much, and the race is, in principle, not my genre. But now, look, arcade race in the top of your favorite games.

How it happened? Well, everything is quite simple – Outrun 2006 This is an ultimate version of the already magnificent Outrun 2. Which, in turn, was an incredibly beautiful game, with excellent management, completely excellent music and a sufficient level of diversity within the gameplay. And, most importantly, Outrun 2 is simply one of the most fun games in which I had the pleasure of playing. Even along the same routes to travel from once incredibly nice, but what can we say about Chellengi, which are part of the Outrun 2 and Outrun 2006 campaigns and Outrun.

Outrun 2006 This is perhaps one of my most interesting video game discoveries in recent years. This is a game that I will return with pleasure for sure for sure for a few more years in a row. And such a discovery opens up to me many new roads in terms of the studied platforms and game formats. What other diamonds hide arcade machines from the time of two thousandths? And whether Outrun gets into the SEGA plans for the revival of classical franchises? Let’s see what else to say.

Resident Evil 4 (XSX, 2023)

Hehe, no, not the resident, I’m sorry)

Resident Evil 4 (Xone, 2016)

For a long time I stared with interest at the original Resident Evil 4, but somehow I could not force myself to get close. But the Resident Evil 5 passed last year showed me that he was afraid in the gameplay plan, in principle, and nothing. In gameplay, yes. Because scares Resident Evil 4 knew how and other methods.

Let’s call the Resident Evil 4 terrible, but this game holds the tension incredibly skillfully. Holds, moreover, with absolutely all his aspects. Gray spaces of the Spanish village, local caves and castle;pressing silence, interspersed with the ringing of chains and sounds of steps;A whisper of enemies at a Spanish player incomprehensible for a Russian -speaking player is already enough to understand that Leon Kennedy, and with him, is directly a player, is in a place full of mortal secrets and many puzzles. But over time, more terrible creatures will begin to appear in a strange village. And get out of this place alive will be that task.

Because within the framework of the gameplay, the voltage is built as much. If not even better. There are few cartridges, just enough to destroy emerging opponents. There is little health, and you can not always be sure that the treasured green grass can be spent on pumping this very health. Money is most often enough, but then no, no, and you will take an expensive improvement for the suitcase. It is for the money that then will not be enough for a precious healing spray.

Well, the most important voltage factor, of course, is a gameplay. Honestly, I used to think that not allowing the main character to move in battle this decision is stupid and illogical, created only so that the player would be worse to join the battle. And in the latter, I seemed to be right. But the rest of the combat system in the Resident Evil 4 is completely beautiful. The game requires a clear balancing between the control of the crowd – clear shots into the heads of enemies from the pistol, firing on the legs, or sharp shots from the shotgun to clean the path forward, and the need to destroy these very enemies directly. With what, as we know perfectly, they cope with the knife and legs of Leon himself. I got up unsuccessfully, shot the fallen enemy in the wrong way – and the whole situation changes sharply and you have to invent a new plan. And there are almost always resources for this, but, as I said above, they are very limited. Therefore, you begin to think much more in the process of passing. And much more to be afraid. Especially when Ashley begins to run near Leon. Because it can be dragged and you will hear this cry over the next few seconds.

And what I think then about the remake of the fourth part, you ask. And honestly, nothing. The passage of the original Resident Evil 4 this year showed me that the 2005 game is still perfectly played, and may well be surprised. And I am immensely love resident evil 4. Maybe that’s why I don’t want to meddle in a remake. Because the feeling is still fresh. And I do not want to ask askance at the game just because it is not the same as what I liked before.

Brandish: The Dark Revenant (PSP, 2011)

Returning to Falcom, Trails Into Reverie and Trails To Azure, I definitely had plans to pass for this year. The Legend of Nayuta was in question, this is why you will not see this game in the list. But somehow scroll through the games installed on the PS vita, I came across the image of Brandish: The Dark Revenant, a remake of an old dungeon-cruler from Falcom. There was the beginning of January in the yard, and I, without thinking twice, launched it. And, honestly, his position in this list is a surprise even for me.

It would seem that this can be in Danzhen-Kroner? Not even party, and – the main character Ares is thrown into a strange dungeon, from which he needs to find a way out. All. Woke up in a strange room, and went on a trip to all kinds of caves for the next fifteen hours. How can you skip so much to such a game?

Well, for starters, the game needs to be made convenient. The process of study of the dungeons in Brandish is simple and perfectly falls on the PSP buttons. Straupyat, we walk and turn the camera with a cross, other buttons are responsible for actions, everything is quite easy. And due to the local perspective of the camera – the game is made in 3D, but the camera hangs a little above the head of the protagonist, even what is a little space in front of him and behind him, the world reveals to the player quite quickly.

Plus, Dange in the game is incredibly interesting. Everywhere there is one or another hymim – platforming with holes that are transferred to a level below, searching for keys and buttons for opening doors, many puzzles, without a solution of which you will not go ahead. There is simply no time to get bored in Brandish, but the monsters also roam labyrinths, and Lut is almost in every corner. But some types of swords are breaking here, health potions and other useful items here can only be worn by limited by the number of glasses, and there are not so many slots in the inventory. And here the bang, instead of the expected potion of health, comes in the chest of poison, which will destroy the precious potions in your inventory. You always need to be on the alert. Because you never know what is behind the next door. And will it be possible to open it at all.

And so, it would seem, I have not called anything special, most of these ideas in the genre is already present, which makes Brandish special? And, you know, I can’t even say. Maybe the fact is that the fighting here is not step -by -step, but rialtimovy, maybe it’s a pleasant picture or in music, which is arranged by the magnificent Yukiro Dzindo. Or maybe the point is that Brandish somehow managed to attach me to the screen of the portable console and did not let go until I saw the final credits. And the journey was rather complicated, I will not lie. But I would give a lot to get something else like that.

Falcom when Brandish 2 remake?

Hi-Fi Rush (XSX, 2023)

It seems to me to say that I did not expect to see at the top of Hi-Fi Rush, this is nothing to say. Moreover, summing up the year, about Hi-Fi Rush, in principle, you can’t say otherwise. The game was released on the day of the announcement, of course no one was waiting for it. So it is important not how unexpectedly to see her here, but what exactly the game was able to hook so much that almost a year later I remember it only in an extremely positive way.

And really simple-Hi-Fi Rush simply pleased, mixed and surprised in a particular vein along the course of all the passage. Mixed with an excellent written script in which every joke in its place and every remark in the subject. I was surprised by the production, which not only was simply sufficiently skillful and original, combining two-dimensional animation and rollers on the engine at the same time, it was also completely built under the soundtrack playing in the Hi-Fi Rush. I pleased with a bright visual, ideal performance and very good, perfectly lying on the ears of the soundtrack. And this is even without taking into account licensed songs that everything here is felt perfectly in their place.

But how hi-fi rush is played, you will not come off. The local combat system clearly used traditional Japanese slasher as the main sources of inspiration, like Devil May Cry, for example. Some little things are not enough, of course – a separate guidance button, for example. But even so, you go through every battle with great pleasure. Because there are many techniques, variations of enemies too, the progression of the development of the character and the appearance of new mechanics is felt as logical as possible – only you are injured in one mechanics, so another one appears. The battles between themselves are interconnected by platform segments, which may someone seem protracted to someone, but they remind me of their beloved DMC: Devil May Cry. Moreover, it is not very complicated here, and in the process you can explore the levels, and find pleasant, and sometimes funny secrets.

But what is most important, due to the fact that the game is completely subordinated to the rhythm, one specific in Hi-Fi Rush does not go out. This is felt incorrectly-because absolutely the whole game is like a long rock concert in which the player participates all and a half hours, along which the game goes. It is impossible to throw out a picture, production, gameplay from her overall picture – because all the components of the game serve as a single goal. And it’s not only about the rhythm. Because the main goal of Hi-Fi Rush, like any concert, is to give people pleasure. And with what with what, and with this Hi-Fi Rush copes with the full.

And in the end, as in a real concert, at first it is sad, especially taking into account the Set Set of the Steel, but then you understand that this is a memory that will remain with you for a long time. And unlike a real concert in Hi-Fi Rush, you can go to the second circle for additional plot scenes, and go to arcade regimes. So Johnna Johannesu and the Tango Gameworks team can only attach – they managed to create an incredibly exciting, fun and unique game that you can’t tear off, and which you really want to return. I hope the tango team will not lose the fuse, and their next project will be even better.

Although, it would seem, where is there?

And on this my game 2023 ends. Of course, I turned something, I ran some small games for the first time for texts and reviews, but they did not leave a trace in me. And all of the aforementioned – quite. And this is the most important thing, unless not?

And on this note I suggest everyone to remember what pleased from the games in the new year. And for my part, I wish everyone who read, and not only, happy and pleasant 2024. The future is foggy, so let’s look forward with his head raised and wide eyes. Then maybe he will succumb to us.