I’m going to try something a bit different; an ongoing blog post with the games I’ve played and finished in 2020, with the objective being something I can personally look back on to help articulate my feelings about the artistry of the games I play. I’ll update with thoughts when I have them, and expand them when the momentary inspiration strikes.
2020 Games:
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Still working out thoughts on this, but the gist is “fantastic” and “all-time great soundtrack” so far, with a side of “whew, the ending.”
Also thrilling to have worked on a project tied into the game. FFVII World Preview includes a new short story from writer Kazushige Nojima, and getting to translate that and then see some settings from the story in-game was pretty out-of-this-world.
Kathy Rain
Started out strong, with characters that defied tropes.
Ended weak, with a tonally-inconsistent ending that jarred compared to the rest of the game, and truthfully didn’t resolve much of anything. Very much felt like a part one, and only barely resolved immediate concerns.
Introduced a character with an intellectual disability, did nothing with that character, and then used them for a largely-meaningless shock reveal that another character had lead them to commit a murder. Felt both insensitive AND pointless to the narrative.
Solid puzzle design—not especially difficult, but satisfying.
Technobabylon
Cast features plenty of people who are good but not “agreeable.”
As a piece of sci-fi, it feels authentic and consistent, and has “fun” ideas.
Those ideas go deep AND wide. There’s in-depth exploration of the concepts it introduces, and it also is interested in a LOT of things.
The notion of organic computing is taken to a fascinating place and is used to ask some hard questions.
IT’S WEIRD and that’s great.
The pacing and design of the puzzles is dynamite. Just enough struggle vs. Aha! moments.
The cast is diverse and feels like it has thought about what a future society would look like.
On that same note, it’s not wholly a dystopia. Ideas that seem like they’ll be dystopian tropes end up being more complicated, and some people live quite well. In other words, it’s true to our current reality, which flirts with dystopia on its own while having pockets of human joy.
Final Fantasy VII Classic
Localization (it’s not good, but it’s inspired in places)
How restrained it is compared to basically everything in the Compilation that came after
How it reflects a different era of storytelling and a different era when an AAA company could afford to introduce a full playable character and kill them, for realsies.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Probably outright the best combat system From Software has ever designed, though not the one with the most breadth.
Phenomenally high difficulty makes it the most difficult FromSoft game to recommend. Conversely, it also makes mastery extremely satisfying. Each boss and enemy overcome gives an unparalleled sense of player growth that is largely separate from “I leveled up so now I can win.”
Brilliant level design, though not quite to the level of a game like Bloodborne. More focused and specific.
Fun from a narrative standpoint, with the usual high-quality worldbuilding in modern FromSoft games—though again, I would probably stop shy of saying it outdoes Bloodborne in this area.
Awesome Japanese voice acting.
Unavowed
Paper Mario: The Origami King
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Luigi’s Mansion 3
Kentucky Route Zero
Resident Evil 3 (2020)
Streets of Rage 4
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
The Last of Us