Photo illustration: Vulture. Photo: SEGA, Ubisoft, Capcom, Ironwood Studio, Hadoque
How will the video game industry follow up on 2023, which has gone down in history as the best year ever for physical releases and the worst year ever for thousands of laid-off workers? By continuing both trends with equally strong energy into 2024? Beyond the good news, we've already enjoyed one of his bona fide Game of the Year contenders, a dragon-slaying epic with a truly sinister design, and several more titles that have brought us endless joy. I did. What stands out among this heterogeneous group is the transporting power of this medium. A stay in Hawaii with a motley crew of lovable weirdos. Gardening at the edge of the universe. An ancient Persian fortress.In a year when the world changed go through itthese games felt like the most sacred and necessary thing: a sanctuary.
(Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X)
Photo: Ubisoft
The idea is so perfect and obvious that it's a wonder no one had thought of it before. prince of persia But it's a Metroidvania. For a genre born in the 1980s, labyrinthine settings have long been a hallmark of Metroidvanias; Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown A mountaintop fortress where time has gone awry. You'll have to acrobatic your way through fake floors, guillotines, spiked pendulums, and secret doors, using swordsmanship that is truly worthy of the adjective. Adventurer. While mechanically appealing, lost crown It's a wonderfully unsettling sense of isolation, imparted through eerie and temporarily desolate locations. Getting out requires not only thumb-shredding dexterity, resourcefulness, and cunning, but also the patience befitting the premise.
(PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X)
Photo: Sega
among them like a dragon One of the many genius touches that Ryu ga Gotoku Studio has made in the Yakuza series is its protagonists. The protagonists are the perfect anchor to the gang mayhem, open world that unfolds around them. Ichiban Kasuga is perhaps the kindest, most well-meaning ex-yakuza to grace any fiction (video games or not), unquestioning and gleeful at each increasingly ridiculous plot twist and insane mini-game. Throw yourself into the action. Naive abandonment. Sunny Hawaii, a land of blue ocean, golden sand, and extreme income inequality, only exaggerates the series' longstanding eccentricities, but Ichiban is there as your most gaming guide, guiding you through each crazy moment. It brings it all together in the next moment of madness.
➽Read Nicholas Quar's book review of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
(PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5)
Photo: Hadokue
The second Metroidvania on this list elicits markedly different emotions than the first. yes, Ultros Abandoned spaceship (here sarcophagus), will evoke joy with its gut-wrenching and spectacular combat. But slowly, these feelings are replaced by something more nourishing. Ultros This is also a game about gardening. When you plant a seed in the ground, it bears fruit and, more interestingly, it begins to change the environment. The game's great trick is that it doesn't bother to explain how this alien implant works. So it is enough to experiment and cross-breed and sometimes allow time to allow the strange flora to blossom in its true form. By the end of the match sarcophagus A tangled web of bioluminescent roots, shoots, and leaves, it's so beautiful you might not actually want to hop into an escape pod.
(Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X)
Photo: Local Sank
Roguelike Deck Builder is a combination of run-based roguelikes and old-school physical deck builders ( Magic: The Gathering), has long had a strong claim to be video games' most obsessive genre. baratolo We take it to the next level with the introduction of a scary new element: poker. At first, the game looks a lot like real-world poker. Two pairs? Okay. Full house? Even better. flash? I'm talking now. However, between rounds you spend your winnings in the shop and win changing cards that spread the action in really weird directions. These can be holographic, steel, or gold versions of cards that give multipliers or extra chips. Tarot cards are also part of this unruly equation, changing the deck in strange and interesting ways. Within a few rounds, baratolo It becomes a kaleidoscopic blur of numbers and colors. It's poker, but not as much as you know. Poker is almost psychedelic.
(PC, PlayStation 5)
Photo: Ironwood Studio
pacific drive He's destined to be a very specific type of video game fetish all-timer. The busy work of manufacturing, combined with driving a car through a maelstrom of weather, evokes an exquisitely quiet and solitary atmosphere reminiscent of a great era. half life 2.it is strange The mix — in fact, perfect for a game that's also clearly influenced by weird fiction by writers like Jeff VanderMeer. But it blends beautifully. Creating things is satisfying and meditative. It's really exhilarating to drive. And the presentation is simply appealing (both the weather effects and the car's gorgeous, easy-to-touch dashboard). It always creates an engrossing and strangely fascinating nightmare. You can actually smell the car exhaust fumes.
(PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X)
Photo: Capcom
Different from From Software dark soul game, dragons dogma 2 It's not necessarily a challenging game, but effort. Sure, you'll be attacked by gigantic monsters, from griffins and ogres to felling cyclops, but this game is more about internalizing its airtight logic and acting accordingly than honing your combat skills. It is important. Take advantage of the day/night cycle, preparing while the sun sets and acting when it rises. Quests don't just fall into your lap, so talk to absolutely everyone. listen Because, in most cases, quest markers simply do not exist. Throw in ambient multiplayer for the pawn system, which lets you create secondary characters and download your friends' characters. And you have a clockwork mechanism that summons the best characters with bravery, ingenuity, and no shortage of flair. We crave interactive experiences, pure adventure.
➽ Read the full text by Lewis Gordon review of Dragon's Dogma 2.
