This year, I did a lot of strange and unimaginable things. I rode a horse through meadows and set fire to the grass (Ghost of Yotei). I sat at an emergency response booth to send superheroes to put out similar fires and such (Dispatch). And I even cloned versions of myself to manage tasks on a planet far, far away (The Alters). For the average gamer, this is about as usual a year as it gets. “A couple of ok-ish games, but nothing truly spectacular” is what they’ll probably say. They’re not wrong. Videogame worlds are so dissimilar to our own that the unimaginable is what’s expected. At least for me, there’s one thing that felt a lot different this year. And that was, I actually wanted to pay a lot more attention to the story and the in-game text, more than ever before. It’s the only part of videogames that relates to the human experience. Narrative design has come so far, and this has been one of the best years yet, in terms of how immersive each of the games were. I didn’t have to think too much to come up with the games I loved this year. If you haven’t tried them yet, you might enjoy them too!
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (PlayStation 5, Xbox, Windows)
Starting with the obvious — the winner of almost all major Game of the Year award categories, and currently in the midst of a small controversy. Clair Obscur is an unmistakably French game with people wearing berets and yelling “merde” all the time. It has a turn-based mechanic and souls-like inspired graphics, and yet manages to feel and look so different from anything I’ve played before. I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to sit through long sets of dialogues and cut scenes. I loved the weird gothic aesthetic; very dark fantasy Alice in Wonderland coded. Staying true to this vision, it even has the entire range of weird enemies in battle, right from cute potato-sack puppets, to a cthulhu-esque many-headed monster holding a bajillion lamplights. Clair Obscur also made me a better gamer; I’m far more patient with games now that I have truly mastered the parry and dodge mechanic.
Megabonk (Android, Windows)
While Megabonk does not strictly fall under the domain of the official definition of the term “brainrot”, it left my brain’s reward receptors slightly fried. The game is basically a horde-fighting game. No narrative design or story in this one. As your character levels up, larger and larger swarms of enemies envelop the field till you die, basically. You can defend yourself through level-ups, and chosen power upgrades. But choice is an illusion, and there is absolutely no method to this madness. Just vibes and hopes to cut through every last swarm. There’s no excuse for you not to play Megabonk, because it’s now available on Android. But you’ve been warned — you might find yourself completely addicted to the game. Those fresh, exciting little crumbs of power-ups, were truly the death of me.
Blue Prince (PlayStation 5, Xbox, Windows)
Blue Prince reminds me of a childhood dream I had. In this dream, I was all alone in a house with too many doors. I spent a lot of time in this dream reading old journals and learning about the history of the place, the people who lived there, and their lives in those very rooms. It’s like a found story, and everyone who plays it learns different parts of it at different points in their play. It’s also not one that’s strictly fed to you through dialogues or cut scenes. Blue Prince feels every bit as surreal as the dream was, and every bit as complex. Just like in the dream, it begs me to hold on to fragmented bits of information that would reveal their importance later (this isn’t easy). Just like in the dream, the rooms are never always in the same place (because it’s a roguelite game). And, just like in the dream, it limits how much you travel every night (or in the game’s case, every day, because it allows only limited steps in traversal). It’s an excellent puzzle game, and I recommend this game to anyone — not just gamers.
Death Stranding 2 (PlayStation 5)
A boring pick, I know. A friend once asked me if I would ever play the Death Stranding games if it didn’t come associated with the name of the great Hideo Kojima. He’s right, I probably wouldn’t — with the thankless tedium of delivering objects between locations, Sam Bridges’ occupation isn’t one I envy. But this time around, the game really got to me. I’m definitely older and wiser than I was in 2019. Because living every tedious moment of walking up a mountain, adjusting items in the backpack, and watching Sam take a refreshing shower at the end of a trip — all felt kind of relaxing and meditative. I definitely sound like a cult member when I say this — but I finally understand the “strand-type” experience that Kojima was talking about as well. The idea that public infrastructure in this game’s world is built not just by you, but hundreds of other agents like Sam across the world, playing the game as you do, is incredibly cool. The asynchronous multi-player experience is cute and heartwarming a lot of the time. Honestly, getting the game is a no brainer if you already own the PlayStation 5.
Is this seat taken? (Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android)
This game perfectly exemplifies my theory that narrative design is getting better. Because when else have we ever empathised with the story of a rhombus? When else have we read about the life and dreams of a young geometric shape and felt genuine outrage when his wildest dreams are trashed? Yes, you read that right. The protagonist of this game is a geometric shape. A rhombus, to be precise. The gameplay revolves around sudoku-esque placement logic, but it’s the art style and the playful, absurd environmental context that elevate it beyond just another puzzle game. The game is available in every possible gaming platform, and there is absolutely nothing stopping a beginner from trying it out!