Fiction of 2019

[nerdietalk]

Hell yeah, a new and improved obsessive list

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January

[nerdietalk]

Stories: Paths of Destinies

A fun little action game where you make choices to see how a fox dies. I really enjoyed getting the wacky endings and seeing all the horrible ways Reynardo can die but WOW does this game start to drag after you've gotten far enough. I'm glad for most of the endings I got but jesus I could not play another ten hours.

West of Loathing

I've never played Kingdom of Loathing but this sure made me want to. It's a delightful RPG with stick figures and nonsense screwball comedy. Time is pretty split between building the strongest team and then discovering a non-violent way around even using your team. And it wasn't that I felt a big need to spare people, it just made things easier for me and I got more dialogue out of it. I really just went in trying to wring as much dialogue from the characters as I could. I dropped about 13 hours into it and wasn't bored for a second.

Unavowed

Another WadjetEyes point and click. I love this dev team and this might be one of my favorites. Dave Gilbert has this talent for wild but compelling story ideas. A local suburb becoming obsessed with creating art until they self-destruct. A protestor spitting out generic anti-corporate stuff, not because he wants to, but because that's all he's allowed to say. Another district where everyone reacts to death with the same chipper tone. And for once, I really enjoyed the ending. Gilbert's getting better at endings!

The main story itself is super compelling and the characters are strong (good work from ProZD). That said, they do get a little predictable. Logan just won't STOP talking about the alcoholism and Vicki's every other sentence has a variation of "when you're in a cop family." Please have.... other traits... but overall, in time, this might be my favorite WadjetEye.

The Hex

What the fuck.

I think its missing a few components to really tighten it up, but its an absolutely thrilling experience that I couldn't look away from. I went in completely blind and was on the edge of my seat throughout.

Lamplight City

Francisco Gomez's second game after Shardlight and very different from what he produced while working with WadjetEye. Dave Gilbert/WadjetEye games are great at creating amazing, layered characters and pushing their art and puzzles to the test. Gomez is aiming for something quite different. He's going even further old school and expanding on that style and gameplay. What he lacks in layered characters, he makes up for in just fun mysteries. It's a blast putting together all the pieces to the puzzle.

Okami

A beautiful, artistic, stunning game with character and style out the whazzoo. An absolutely phenomenal achievement. Its just so long, gang. It took me six months, fellas. It took me three years, on three separate attempts. Its so long. I love it! I enjoyed it a lot! But its so long.

Detention

A haunting, sinister game about the history of Taiwan. It takes place during a specific point in history, during Taiwan's state of martial law. Its a piece of history I was unfamiliar with and one I'm all the better for knowing. The tension and creeping dread wash over you quickly as the story unfolds. The question of the game isn't "what's going on?" Its "what did I do?"

What did you do, Ray?