My Most Important Video Game Generation

My "gamer journey" was an odd one. Video games have existed in my life since I was a tot. My first console was the PlayStation One, probably bought by my mother. There were many games I loved - that Tarzan game was one of my favourites! - but I wasn't very serious about the thing. When I got my PS2, I accepted the console and continued in this cycle until one of my friends recommended God of War. I bought the second game and wow... what a discovery!

Kratos and his bloody actions were responsible for making me pay more attention to this thing called "videogames". But I still didn't know much. Wanna a proof? I heard about GoW 3 and I knew I needed to play it. And then I considered buying an Xbox 360. "Why", you wonder? Well, I didn't even know exclusive games were a thing!

Needless to say, I asked a PS3 for my birthday. And with PS3 came Uncharted 3, opening yet a whole new world to me. That game not only showed a facet of videogames that was unknown to me but also convinced me to study game development. Then a new phase started: I became super hyped about videogames! I wanted to play everything, wanted to know about every new release; it was intense and fantastical!

This behaviour continued at the beginning of the current-gen. But then things changed. I started paying real attention to games - and arts, in general. As some would say, I became critical. It's safe to say that many things changed in my life in a short time, and my view on gaming was one of them.

I still enjoy playing games, of course, otherwise I wouldn't be here, boring you all to death with this speech! What I want to say is: this 8th generation of video games, to me, was the most important of all, because it was the first generation when I truly understood my relationship with videogames, how they impact my life and what I really like and dislike about them. I no longer play everything. I no longer want to play everything or know all about every new release. In all fairness, it's not easy to find a game that truly captivates me.

Before the next-gen arrives in a few days, I wanted to look back at this very important generation, to the games I've played and rank my TOP 10... both for my favourite games and those games that didn't please me.

I've only played PS4 games, so don't be shocked when you don't see any Nintendo or Xbox game. One day I'll be able to afford more than one console =P

TOP 10 WORST GAMES

10 - DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN

I cannot say I've fully enjoyed any of David Cage's games. Detroit was the best of the bunch, which doesn't really say much. If the game had been only Connor and Hank storyline, it would've been beautiful! The other characters didn't convince and ended up dragging the plot into a series of mishandled allegories and symbologies.

9 - THE ORDER: 1886

It pains me to put this game here. It had great potential... unfortunately, this potential was never fully developed. The lore hinted at an ocean but delivered a lake. The shooting mechanic was quite satisfactory and the weapons were cool but the story? Not so engaging. The repetitive boss fights only added to the frustration. I do hope to see the universe of The Order coming back one day and achieving all it promised and more!

8 - DARKSIDERS 3

I wish I could've liked this game more. Fury is a great character who got entangled in a script that thought too highly of itself. The combat felt shallow as well; with all the different weapons and powers, I expected something akin to Devil May Cry, not a simple button-mashing. I've written a full review of the game that unfortunately got lost in our deactivated Select Starters website, but that summarises my critic x)

7 - WOLFENSTEIN II: THE NEW COLOSSUS

Adrenaline-driven FPS was never my cup of tea, but after reading some interviews with developers and having enjoyed my time with the first Wolfenstein, I decided The New Colossus deserved a chance. Oh, the bitter disappointment! This game felt extremely similar to The New Order, repeating story beats and having same-y locations. And then the story pretty much gets cut at the end of what should've been Act 2, giving us the end credits instead of going to Act 3! Wanna kill Hitler? Gonna have to wait until a third game, which will be The New Order all over again until you can finally meet the Big Baddie (and let's not forget about the filler game they did in-between). Thanks, MachineGames, but I'll stick with The Man in the High Castle.

6 - OUTLAST 2

I liked the first game when it eventually came to PS Plus. When the second game was also offered for free, I was ready to get very scared! But... It didn't happen. I rushed past the majority of encounters in this game because I simply wasn't compelled to attempt a stealthy strategy or to search for lore pieces. I wasn't scared of the monsters and didn't care for the story. Really, I just wanted this game to end so I could see if the narrative was at least a little worth my trouble. It wasn't.

5 - ASSASSIN'S CREED UNITY

I enjoyed Unity slightly more than the title in the 5th position. The virtual Paris was truly gorgeous but well, Ubisoft always had excellent artists. More comments below...

4 - ASSASSIN'S CREED SYNDICATE

Once upon a time, Assassin's Creed was one of my favourite franchises. My passion weakened after the incredible Ezio Trilogy, then it saw a reignition with Black Flag. But everything came down with Unity and, more precisely, Syndicate, which I consider the epitome of lack of creativity. Parts of the plot recycled from Gangs of New York (including an obscenely shallow copy of Daniel Day-Lewis as the megalomaniac villain), and the original parts just as bad. Evie was merely a shadow to Jacob (which, considering current allegations against Ubisoft, I can understand why and I appreciate that the writers were even able to include her at all), and despite the Victorian London being beautiful, I couldn't take joy in that virtual world. Syndicate was the game that made me abandon Ubisoft.

3 - KNACK

Being a fan of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, I was expecting Knack to be as fun and smart as those two. Unfortunately, it lacks a lot in terms of game design and general sympathy. It became a good meme, though.

2 - UNTIL DAWN

There are not many stories that manage the incredible feat of making me hate the whole world, plot and characters. Okay, in the game's defence (not that it deserves it), I kinda liked Emily. I got really angry at how self-important the game and its directors are. Then, when I was done, that anger diminished and I was left with a vacuum of emotion. Until Dawn doesn't deserve my bad temper. From this point on, Supermassive earned a spot on my blacklist.

1 - MAD MAX

One might say I should not include this game on my list since I never gathered enough courage to complete it. Actually, I didn't even go past the obscenely long tutorial - some would say I had already completed the tutorial but the game is so poorly designed that I found myself battling through a wave of dull quests which only purpose was to teach me buttons and the basics of that monotonous world. So yeah, I believe Mad Max is a good candidate for the first spot in my list!

Honourable Mention - DESTINY 2

I laughed out loud when I realised the "sequel" was basically the first game all over again... a similar problem I had with Wolfenstein 2. It has excellent shooting mechanics and it can be fun if you play with your friends but... do they really needed to charge $60 for this (a price I'm glad I didn't pay!)? I read good things about the expansions (and some other not-so-good things), and maybe they're worth the money. But if the base game didn't convince me, I surely won't give my money to DLCs.

TOP 10 BEST GAMES

10 - MORTAL KOMBAT 11

Is it perfect? Hell no! Far from it. The story's a mess, the original roster is disappointing, the insistence in online connectivity is frustrating, the gameplay is not as good as the brilliant trailers suggested... and still, I had a lot of fun with MK 11! The game launched on March, and to this day, I still play it at least once every week - more when there's Kombat League and I'm in the mood to get mad at the ranked matches. And my Queen Mileena is not only coming back, but she looks amazing (and with Kombat Pack 3, we will have all the Edenian Divas!) so it would be unfair to not add MK 11 to my TOP 10!

9 - UNCHARTED: THE LOST LEGACY

Can Uncharted survive without Nathan Drake? It surely can! Nate's last adventure was also incredible, but I had some issues with it, which allowed The Lost Legacy to take its place in my list! Chloe Frazer has been one of my favourite supporting characters since her debut in U2, and she's always been one of my favourite avatars in multiplayer. Being able to play a whole game with her was a dream coming true!

8 - MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN

As a long-time Spider-Man fan, I was super excited to play this game! I've played some of the old Web-Head games (Shattered Dimensions is still up there as one of my favourites!) and I must say Insomniac's version is the best up to date! The web-swinging mechanic is so spectacular that I caught myself roaming around the world doing nothing, just enjoying the freedom that comes with using my web-shooters! And the story, my word! Insomniac did what many comic book writers failed and, in my opinion, not even the MCU has accomplished: they captured Peter Parker's essence and delivered a new, impactful tale of the Friendly Neighbourhood. *That* last scene still manages to make me emotional :')

7 - HORIZON: ZERO DAWN

Aloy is one of the characters who most easily and quickly conquered my heart! As someone who doesn't care about dinosaurs, I was impressed at how captivating the world and lore were to me. Horizon has a simple story that makes excellent use of structure and information control. I cannot wait to brave the Forbidden West alongside Aloy! :D

6 - GOD OF WAR

If you read my declaration at the beginning of this blog, you know that God of War II was the game that made me realise how much I enjoyed this little videogame hobby! Having been following Kratos' journey ever since, I was one of the fans who didn't like the idea of the Ghost of Sparta travelling to another mythology to wreak havoc on yet another pantheon... Until Cory Barlog showed us the gameplay demo and proved that there was a lot more to this new facet of Kratos than just the angry, vengeful god we knew. The soft reboot was a wonderful surprise: the narrative not only raised the bar but the new gameplay felt years ahead from the old style. I also thank the new game for making me realise how great Norse mythology is. Now, Ragnarok is coming and I'm super ready!

5 - WHAT REMAINS OF EDITH FINCH

A three-hour "walking simulator" that is more rewarding and fulfilling than many 50+ hours games. For me, it's impossible to put down in words how powerful Edith Finch is; you gotta play by yourself to understand! With each short story telling about the death of one of the members of the family, it's a feat how developer Giant Sparrow created an experience ("experience" describes well this journey!) that's far more coloured than just grief-grey.

4 - HELLBLADE: SENUA'S SACRIFICE

Oh, Senua! This was a case of love at first sight. Ever since the reveal trailer, I was hyped. I followed every dev diary until the release - and heck, a lot changed since that reveal -, and when it finally came out, Hellblade was still able to astonish me! The motion capture technology still baffles me to this day - that final dialogue between Senua and "Hela" is forever branded in my memories; beautiful, magical!

3 - BLOODBORNE

I love From Software games ever since I played the first Dark Souls. They released more DS games but, to be honest, none of them impressed me as much. But the situation is different with Bloodborne! If you ask me whether I prefer DS 1 or Bloodborne, I won't be able to offer a definitive answer. Bloodborne's mechanics are fantastic, the lore is From Software's finest, and even the multiplayer is more stable than what we usually see in Dark Souls! How to not love this gem?!

2 - DEATH STRANDING

It's exotic, it's imperfect and it's spectacular! Hideo Kojima's latest game was one that blew my mind - and not because it's complicated to understand as the trailers suggested, but because of how complex and intrinsic this world is. Death Stranding put me in a contemplative state for a long while, and man, for me this is the true power of an artistic work!

1 - THE LAST OF US - PART II

In a day and age when so few games truly interest me, and even fewer sticks with me after I've played them, The Last of Us - Part II is the queen of exceptions! After my first playthrough, I was impressed, but not stunned. Then the story kept coming back to me, it kept boiling in my mind, and as I was writing my review and story analysis (the analysis can be found in this link if anyone is interested: https://www.destructoid.com/--597129.phtml#post), all the events started to better settle in and, bloody hell, this game is phenomenal!

Honourable Mention: RESOGUN

Even for me, it's an odd choice. But Resogun was one of the first games I've owned on my brand-new PS4, and my Goddess, this little indie game was so much fun! Even my father tried his hand at Resogun and, while his coordination is not the best, he enjoyed the game! Resogun is special, and it deserves to be mentioned!

Well, that's it! I'm aware there are plenty of Your Favourite Games of the Generation kind of posts out there, but if anyone feels like sharing their personal list here, be my guest! :D

LOOK WHO CAME:

Queen of Philosophy   

DeadMoon   151

Gajknight   96

NinjaSpeed   19

Zoey Handley   15

TheBlondeBass   8

Queen of Philosophy   6

Dango    5