A very Gamemaniac3434 Christmas: Stuff of the year-Part 3

And now, the gripping conclusion of this three part blog that was originally meant to be one blog but that’s how things shook out! Yay!

Apotheon

Apotheon is a game set during the time of the Greeks, after Zeus abandons them to die and Hera helps your character go to Olympus to save humanity by taking the gifts of the gods and allowing humanity access to them. Unlike GOW however, not all of these gifts are reclaimed through murder and the main character whose name’s spelling eludes me has no voice. It’s not a bad set up honestly, and so far I’m enjoying the story-unfortunately its fallen into the bottomless backlog that all Steam users develop at some point, but I do plan on finishing it at some point so it’s on top of the pile. It’s a gorgeous game-in fact one of the most noticeable aspects of the game is its art style, reminiscent of Greek art on the sides of pots. The soundtrack is gorgeous as well, and it’s a very well made game that goes on sale often-I would highly recommend it.

Wasteland 2: Directors Cut

Kind of cheating here, but this did release this year so its fair game in my book. Wasteland 2 is a game going back to the type of game that Fallout used to be before the two other games in the series that were of a different style and then Fallout 3 came out. It’s squad using open world CRPG game that hearkens back to that style of game and modernizes it for a new audience-pretty well in my opinion. The DC version adds in better graphics, some new combat systems, and lots of new voice acting and makes what was already a pretty damn good game even better. The world is interesting, and full of references as well as a constant sense of humor that makes me chuckle every once in a while. The story is solid, and the gameplay generally is as well-even if the difficulty spike upon reaching the second major area of the game is a bit ridiculous especially given the resource limitations it imposes on you. Still it looks good, plays good and it’s a fun game that shows that saying a genre is dead is ignoring the potential that genre has to make more good games. Glad I kickstarted it, and glad they returned the favor by giving this version away at no cost to people who bought the original version.

Biggest Disappointment of the year-Bloodborne Exclusivity

Console exclusivity is shitty to me, and honestly it should be shitty to everyone. As someone who owns a PC, I don’t participate in the so called console wars even if understand the concept behind exclusives. I think everyone should get to play whatever games they want, barring technical limitations or cash limitations that make deals happen. So when Bloodborne was announced as an exclusive I got angry, and have slowly moved from anger to bitterness as time goes on and the game gets praised. Yes not everyone liked it, but overall it was well received and it had fricking lovecraftian horror mixed with the Dark Souls traditional messed up vibes-a game that fits my personality as much as Blood Dragon did. A game I would probably love and enjoy the hell out of.

Not getting it because Sony gave From Software oodles of money-I really doubt this game would have sold poorly if it was on all three systems or even just PC and PS4-pisses me off. It’s another reason to not like Sony on a growing list of them for me, and I won’t spend my money on a console for a single game-rewarding them for holding the game to ransom. I’m glad the game turned out so well, and I will give it to sony that it was a smart business move to draw people to their console, but I hate that I will probably never get to play it because two companies made the decision for me.

Console of the year: Vita

Obviously.

And there it is-my top game type things of the year. It’s been a real good year for video games, and I hope next year manages to keep that going in a positive direction. Micro transactions may be creeping into lots of games, but from my point of view the best games of the year didn’t force those shitty little things into themselves and provided more than enough content for their price. The usual suspects may keep shitting into the pool and it can be depressing to see their continual new lows-but by this point we know who’s going to screw us over and we know who to avoid from now on. Why focus on the bad when we can call them out and instead support companies that respect us and our money? It’s been a great year, and here’s hoping we all get another good one. Have a Happy New Year!

- “If you don't like bacteria, you're on the wrong planet.” ― Stewart Brand

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