MSD's GOTY Indecision Blowout: The Honorable Mentions
I don't think I can truly commit to a 'Game of the Year' so instead I'm just highlighting stuff I really enjoyed that I haven't really seen praised elsewhere.
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The Honorable Mentions
Dungeons of Hinterberg
My day job involves working closely with lawyers and so the appeal of 'take a vacation from your law firm to go explore magical ungeons in the alps' has some serious fucking appeal. I've done maybe 3 dungeons so far and I'm enjoying the game, but I haven't really had the time to dig in too much on the story. Plus this game has gotten a lot of press, it'd be unfair to say it's overlooked, but pre-release I was so excited about it based on art and vibe alone and it's definitely delivering there.
Kingsvein
Twinsen's Quest
Bloomtown: A Different Story
I really don't like when a game's worth is boiled down to 'it's X game crossed with Y game' but like god damn it's hard not to do that with Bloomtown. Visually it has the trappings of a modern Mother-like (I mistook screenshots for new Eastward content for example) but it has a very VERY heavily inspired by Persona battle system. Like. HEAVILY. It's basically a Persona game? There's kind of no dodging around that. But it's really compelling?? And shit - every battle I've been in so far (EVERY battle, not boss specific) has had a vocal track. It's a really ambitious game that mixes a bunch of things together (dice roll stats, monster catching, chores lmao). I'm only a few hours in but I think I'll soon reach either the 'yea this isn't for me' or 'god damn top 10 games of the decade' point soon.
Nine Sols
I've seen this described as a 'Lore heavy challenging metroidvania with souls-like combat' and I think that's accurate. The story is really fucking engaging and sad, the combat is tricky (but thankfully there are difficulty sliders) and the music just fucking owns. Had I rolled credits on this I'd have added it to my overall list but I'm only like 6 hours in and I feel there's a LOT more to come.
Metal Slug: Tactics
Who my age hadn't at some point played a metal slug game at an arcade? I don't have any affinity for the franchise or the setting but "hey we're doing a grid based tactics game with famously detailed pixel art" was something that hit my sensors like a precision strike.
In many ways, it honestly feels like this game was made 20 years ago and waited to publish until now. It has some seriously problematic "we're in a desert and there are Arabic-coded people as terrorists" but that's like...how the franchise has always been? It doesn't deserve a pass there but it was kinda jarring how outside of like, military shooters 'maybe we shouldn't treat all of the middle east as terrorism' hasn't been a thing I've seen a lot in games recently.
The gameplay IS good, and I like the things it's doing mechanically. It's scratching a beautiful pixel art itch and a tactics itch. I just don't know how the story is gonna pan out.
Trash of the Titans
GRID BASED TACTICS WITH TRASH MAMMALS LETS FUCKEN GO!!!!!
The more trash you rescue from the invading rats the more at the end of a level you get to play tetris with it to give upgrades to your mammals. It's a really novel system and it's so fun. Man. It's like, so fun. I'm only in the second world but I'm beyond excited about what this game is doing.
