If there’s one thing that’s been consistent in my 22 years of breathing on this forsaken earth, it’s gaming.
They are a part of my identity. I love video games. I love analyzing stuff. And if you think that’s weird, that’s your problem.
Gaming has been there for me during tough times and given me some incredible memories. I’ve written collegiate papers analyzing the utilitarian and consequentialist ethical themes in The Last of Us.
I won’t bore you with analytical jargon and character themes because I want people to discover them for themselves. That’s what life is about: finding yourself.
Instead, I’ll just give you a list of 2016 games you really gotta play before the winter season comes:
Overwatch
Man. This game is amazing. Seriously. It might be my game of the year (waiting on The Last Guardian). But really, play this.
Here’s the concept: Blizzard Entertainment (same peeps who brought you World of Warcraft) neatly and carefully developed a first-person online competitive shooter where players can choose from 22-plus characters — all uniquely crafted and classified into different roles — to work together as a six-person team and win matches against other teams of six.
For example, some matches include taking a certain area and defending it from another team until the timer hits 100 percent or the other team takes the checkpoint over. This goes back and forth until a best-of-three winner is decided.
But it’s more advanced than that. Characters — separated into “offensive,” “defensive,” “tank” and “support” roles — all play a different role in how team composition works and how efficient a player’s team will be. So for instance, I enjoy the support character Zenyatta — a wise-ass robotic (coined Omnic in Overwatch lore) who shoots orbs at their opponent. Of course, one orb heals their teammate while the other one allows double the damage to their opponent. They also have a huge healing special that rapidly heals their nearby teammates. Now, one or two Zenyatta’s is dope. But six? No way, man.
So that’s where characters like Reaper (basically a walking grim reaper with shotguns) or Winston (a talking moon gorilla with a tesla cannon) come into play and cause teams to shift and change tactics on the fly.
It’s an addicting, fast-paced, easy-to-pick-up but hard-to-let-go shooter that even the mildest of fans will enjoy. Seriously, I hate online shooters. But this is an excellent, polished game.
Score: 5/5
Inside
Oh, boy. This game.
Inside is a relatively short (think two to three hours), eerie, side-scrolling puzzle-platformer brought to you by the same people who made 2013’s indie darling, Limbo.
And sheesh. This is a very, very, very, very, very, very, intense game. Think dark, unsettling horror anime with themes and theories that make any nerd like me get all squishy inside (hehe).
Players “control” (I’ll get to this shortly) a young boy who travels into a mysterious facility as he escapes the horrors inside it. That’s it. It’s style, story and art direction is about as minimalist as Kanye West’s Yeezus.
But this approach is so brilliantly done. Users of Reddit, Twitter and Steam have debated for months the meaning of the boy and his adventure. Here’s my take: Inside is trying to say we’re all monsters, somehow/someway, at our core. And our societal surroundings shape/control our inner monsters.
I won’t spoil anything more, but the last three-fourths of this game is mesmerizing, gripping and actually makes you feel a sense of joy.
And that’s because the game’s puzzles leading up to the final sequence are intuitive, challenging and simplistic, providing plenty of “d’oh” moments throughout.
It’s perfectly paced. Hauntingly beautiful. And more importantly, gives gamers a sense of introspection so rarely found in video games.
Score: 5/5
The Witness
I wrote about this earlier in the year, but that Post article got lost in the shuffle when we got a new website. Here’s what I said:
“The Witness is kinda like me on dates. It tries too hard. It doesn't make sense half the time. It can be infuriatingly difficult.
Yet, the puzzle game by Jonathan Blow (who made the masterful Braid back in 2008) has meaning."
Just trust me. It’s damn good. You just have to like puzzles and failing.
Score: 4/5
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Also a game I wrote about earlier this year. But it deserves to be mentioned again.
Seriously, I love this series. And this is a perfect farewell to one of gaming’s charismatic, charming characters, Nathan Drake.
I won’t get on a soap box, but Uncharted 4 reminds us why we play games: to connect, to love and to have fun. It’s a perfect escape for a rainy weekend, and seriously, a beautiful conclusion to a landmark Playstation franchise.
Score: 4.5/5
Kentucky Route Zero, Act IV
This game has taken way..
Too…
Long…
To…
Finish.
But with that aside, Kentucky Route Zero’s universe and character development is neatly, beautifully crafted. Over four (eventually five) chapters, it does what no other game does: Slyly put gamers in control of dialogue and character development.
The game follows Conway, the main character, and a band of followers — all representing different societal groups — as they discover the mysteries of “Route Zero” in Kentucky. With midwest folklore and mythology, Kentucky Route Zero tackles themes of identity, purpose and loneliness, as act four is one of the more in-depth chapters. It shows Conway and company riding “The Mammoth” — a steamboat heading down stream — as they see all walks of life including bartenders, poor and blue collar workers.
Even with the deep themes, gorgeous aesthetics and careful soundtrack placement, it took about a year for the fourth chapter to come out.
And it may be a while until we get chapter five.
Score: 4/5
Abzu
The final game I’ll ramble on about.
Abzu is created by the some of the same developers as the superb 2012 indie, Journey. And even though Abzu is cut from the same cloth, it brings a different approach to developer Giant Squid's linear, holistic storytelling style.
Players control a diver on their journey through underwater schools of fish, squid, manta rays, whales, sharks and more.
It’s a brief dive into the ocean (it took me about two hours) and one that brings some breathtaking scenery and fauna, but the controls are questionable. Or at least they certainly were for me, on Playstation 4.
Some developers can’t figure out a simple control scheme for freaking swimming … whatever, man.
Abzu is still a solid title that brings themes of the environment and its importance.
Score: 3.5/5
Other games I liked:
Firewatch: 3.5/5
Hyper Light Drifter: 4/5
Lr514812@ohio.edu
