Sentient Pixels

 Possibly a better game than even Zelda.

 I usually post game reviews on this website, but I'll make an exception today. Jonathan Hickman has made quite a name for himself by rebooting the X Men successfully, and I agree with everyone who claims that it really was something brilliant - somehow, he managed to bring in the entire history of the X Men and still make the reboot feel accessible for readers like me who has not kept up. But Issue 4 of the main series is something else entirely. It's one of the greatest X Men comics of all time.

 Game of the decade? 

Someday, I'll compile a list of the absolute best platformers ever made. When I do, Tropical Freeze would be up there with the best of them.

I should not have enjoyed this game as much as I did. The whole gameplay is as follows: run, explore, jump, take cover, shoot, repeat. But there was something really accessible and entertaining about it that kept me engaged. Really looking forward to the sequel, which I have heard good things about. 

Arkham City is the gaming equivalent of potato chips. It's really nice while it lasts, but if it's all you have, you'll be hungry before long.

Outer Wilds was my biggest disappointment in gaming in 2020. Not because it was a bad game, but just the opposite. If I had finished it by myself, I would possibly have said that it was one of the greatest games ever made. Unfortunately, I got so frustrated with not being able to progress at one point that I gave in and spoiled the whole thing for myself. Now it's too late: I don't feel the need to go back and play what's left, now that I know what's in store. Nevertheless, it was so brilliant when I was trying to solve everything by myself. A sublime experience.

When you read reviews of Witcher 3, you come across at least two tendencies among reviewers: there will be those who will claim that they're very old gamers, and rarely have they come across a game that is so lavish and so generous. The other kind of reviewer will grudgingly accept the wonders of Witcher 3, but also admit to boredom before long. I fall somewhat in both categories: for someone who has tried to play various kinds of games in many genres, it's astounding how the Witcher 3 seems to do so much right all at once. There is exploration, conversations, crafting, combat. Then there is the story, which has perhaps some of the best writing in a video game I've ever seen. But I have been bored with this game as well, and this largely when I have rushed through it and approached it like I would a game like Arkham City. That is playing it all wrong. While the difficulty in the game can be adjusted to suit your needs, this is a game that demands that you experience it ...

I've been playing Supergiant Games ever since Bastion came out. I didn't have a very high opinion about Bastion, largely because the combat didn't feel terribly satisfying. But then they kept making more games, and each and every one of them was in a different genre. Transistor had a brilliant turn based system, and Pyre was so original and so critically acclaimed that no one discussed it much. And how we have Hades, and I think they've finally perfected their style with this one. Not since Spelunky have I felt this satisfied in a roguelike.

Celeste is such an obvious labor of love. It does so much with so little, yet every aspect of its gameplay is fine tuned to perfection in a way that only the most sophisticated of games can be. Celeste lets you jump, slash forward and stick to walls. But there are many possibilities latent in these three mechanics, and each stage brings them out delightfully while telling a gripping story.

Shout it from the rooftops, proclaim it on the streets. Huntdown is the greatest thing since the original Contra. So much love has gone into the making of the game, it literally drips with attention and care. Every pixel breathes, every neon tinged city scape delights. This is quite honestly the best side scrolling love letter to 80s cyberpunk and run and gun platformers ever made. The only thing that probably might give it a run for its money is Cuphead. 

To me, Hyper Light Drifter is what Zelda should always have been. I know this is a provocative thing to say, but Zelda, while having laid the template for so much, and so well, fails spectacularly on two things: currency, and combat. Combat in Zelda is more a matter of what equipment you have and less of skill. As for currency, the less said about those green emeralds the better. Platformers have you collect things for the sake of collecting things, it's true. But it's different for an action adventure game: there's so much you can do with the mechanics of money in a video game. Hyper Light Drifter has Zelda's exploration, puzzle solving (albeit very slight) but where it truly excels is the feeling it gives you after landing a rightly timed slash of the sword followed by two quick shots with your laser pistol. There's nothing quite like it in video gaming history. The pixel art is also beautiful.

Strangely, I think I wouldn't have hated The End is Nigh when I was growing up with less demanding platformers. I don't hate it now, obviously - in fact, I think it might just be better than its predecessor. It's hard, and sometimes a little unfair when it comes to the single minded intensity with which you need to time your jumps, but the ultimate feeling is one of deep satisfaction. Growing up, I found much more harmless platformers more difficult, in a sense, because difficulty was kind of the benchmark. So otherwise colorful looking games showed a darkly vicious side to them when you least expected it. The End is Nigh is like the dark mirror image of a dark impulse most old school games still share, to this day. It's also a joy to play.

In a sense, Ori's second game is the perfect metroidvania for those who can't stand the genre. It's possibly an open secret that metroidvanias sacrifice skill for exploration and ability upgrades. The perfect metroidvania is one which could do everything well - offer you a variety of abilities to suit different situations, let you explore to your heart's content without feeling bored, and challenge your platforming chops. Would you believe it then if I told you this game does them all?

This scene from The Last of Us shall stay with me for a very long time to come. I think, more so than any trite message concerning how "the Earth abides" even without us (I really need to read that book), the sight of giraffes roaming a city brings home the fact that they very well could, if we had everything organized a little differently. Imagine a world where we respect boundaries enough to allow animals to cohabit with us in urban spaces. We do that with stray dogs back in India, but it's not very difficult to imagine how the same could not be extended to more "exotic" species as well. Obviously it's impractical right now: we just haven't attained the kind of species maturity to think of human animal relationships in that respectful sense yet. But perhaps some day; one can only hope. What stood out for me about this scene aside from its quiet spectacle, was how the giraffes weren't affronted in the slightest.