My 2018 in Gaming
Well, kept you waiting, huh? Not going to lie, I have been absent from the platform for what seems to be ages, and I blame that on me losing the will and excitement to write stuff.
Anyway, getting over my egotistical absence, exactly at the end of the year, I found it fitting that I should write about my gaming experience, starting in January, and ending today. This will not really be a timeline, but a stream of consciousness, and certainly it will not be an objective perspective, so buckle up for a little trek through my mind.
Most of the year I have spent in Yakuza 0, Assassin's Creed Origins and Horizon Zero Dawn. I have been searching for a way to get into the Yakuza series, ever since I played the Yakuza 4 demo on PS3 a few years back. It had tons of style and bombastic combat. I tried emulating the first game on PC, but it was a clucky mess compared to my expectations and forgot about the series...That was until Yakuza 0 came out, promising an origin story for the characters of Kiryu and Majima, and a string of remakes of the other games in the series after it! This was my chance, and I took it, although I didn't finish the game due to my completionist tendencies (damn you, gambling mini-games ).
Moving on, Yakuza kinda faded from my list of usual plays, making way for Horizon Zero Dawn, which I can say, played with my heartstrings during the ending, because side quests actually mean something: every character you help out during the game comes to give you a hand in the final battle, and they are not all fighters: some bring weapons, some resources, and some provide distractions. It was a treat to know that all these guys came to help me out of their gratitude. After finishing Horizon, I felt a bit empty, which indicates, at least to me, that the story and the world left some kind of imprint upon my person.
Then comes Assassin's Creed Origins: I have played it on and off during the year, but I guarantee the fact that I like it a lot. I often found myself wandering around instead of finishing quests, exploring ruins and experiencing hallucinations in the desert. The story didn't really grab me at first, because there was so much to do outside it, like helping a guy clear his name, motivating a Greek noble to grab his sword again and fight the corruption of the local militia and so many other things. There was no side-quest without a story to tell, and that was simply reminding me of The Witcher, which clearly inspired this game a lot.
I also went through most of Resident Evil VII, enjoying sneaking through the Baker Estate in all its morbid glory, avoiding traps and the Bakers themselves. It felt really oppressive and I actually felt the need to conserve my resources and using alternate routes. Then, all of it went down the shitter when I got to the ship chapter, having maze-like mazes if you will and I simply gave up on the game at that point. Still, I didn't cut ties with Capcom's games yet.
I dabbled into Monster Hunter World many ties during the game, as managing a hunter and tracking giant monster in order to capture or kill them really appealed to me. It was glourious when I played it, but I simply did not have time to spend a minimum of 1 hour each session in order to enjoy the game, so it has faded from my playlist too. Still, I wish I still had time for it, because I want to see what other giant monstrosities lurk in that world. Maybe in the Summer of 2019...
Ok, you get it, I like melee combat in video games...But I also like racing. drums please The clusterfuck that was Need for Speed Payback. I tried to like this game, I really did, but the intrusive upgrade system which uses microtransactions as a lifeline got me out of the game entirely. The game looks nice and I like the way cars handle in the game, but again, the upgrade system got in the way of my enjoyment and I simply gave up. Glad Burnout Paradise Remastered came along and gave me the arcade racing I have been wishing for.
Up next is the small title that was Infamous: First Light. The game did not leave any impression upon me. The story was predictable and I already got to play with the neon powers of the character in this game's older brother, Infamous: Second Son. The battle arenas included in the game were kinda cool though.
I just remembered, I also finished Assassin's Creed Unity and Rogue this year. I feel bad for Unity...It is quite a nice game, but the engine is clearly unfinished and bugs are abundant. I managed to get discovered through walls, have trouble climbing stuff, and that is just immersion breaking, but the game itself looks pretty, animations, when they work are convincing and the quests have nice little stories around them. Oh, and nobody play the co-op, which is a shame, because I didn't get to experience the co-op missions... On to Rogue: it is a short game and I started and finished in between study sessions for my finals in May. It feels like a condensed Black Flag and has a nice story.
Now, I have started playing Torment: Tides of Numenera, and the game made me laugh, because you can die during the intro narration, before creating your character. The writing is good and if you are familiar with old school CRPGs like Baldur's Gate or Planescape: Torment, you will feel right at home in this one. At least, I felt right at home until now. Have to keep on playing.
On the multiplayer side, I played lots of Rainbow Six: Siege, which I simply adore(but please, buy the full edition, not the Starter Edition). I also started playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive again, since it became free to play. I strongly believe it is not a good game, but it falls into the "best played with friends" spectrum, which is why I played it with some buddies from my uni. I also recently bought Call of Duty Black Ops 4 and the amount of polish in that game is pretty amazing. It is basically the same old Call of Duty multiplayer, the same Zombies, with an added battle royale mode...and it is the only battle royale I can tolerate. It is not buggy like PUBG, it is not filled by the weird community of Fortnite, and it is not simply phoned in like the Counter-Strike version (and I am pretty bad at playing it).
Can't think about anything else at this point, at least nothing which has actually affected me (whispers that means I played the slog which is The Division), so I guess Happy New Year everyone!
Sources: cover, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
to be fair. i too have lost some will to write as much, turning more to the streaming platforms. regardless dude. your content is still among the best. have a great new year dude.
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Thanks, man! Glad you keep on keeping on too! Have a good one :)
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