I tend to be hot or cold on gaming in a given time. While this year, my interests drifted mostly to watching old movies no one cares about anymore on laserdisc, I got myself a Steam Deck in October, and since then, I've been playing a lot my Steam backlog. I wanted to put some of my thoughts down on games I played this year for the first time.
Platformer of the Year
TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight
This was one of those games I hadn't heard of that I just got on a whim, and I absolutely made the right choice. This is probably the most atmospheric platformer I've ever played, and it has the unusual goal of being calming. The music, the atmosphere, and the lack of enemies mean that what you have is a world designed to take your time in and absorb. This game legitimately helped me calm down from things and actively improved my mood, and it plays pretty damn well, too.
RPG of the Year
Live A Live
An anthology of min-RPGs that explored what you could use a JRPG base for thematically, tonally, and gameplay wise. Surprisingly experimental for a 1994 Squaresoft game, and while I feel that the quality of each of these stories varies a lot, when it works, it really, really works. If either of the two future segments were released as stand alone games, they'd easily make my top 5 RPGs ever by themselves. If you like JRPGs at all, you need to try this, ideally knowing as little as possible going in.
Biggest Surprise of the Year
Yooka-Laylee
I have an interest in janky and bad games, so when I saw this on sale for $5, I decided to give it a shot and see if it was as bad as I'd heard from people like James Stephanie Sterling. And much to my surprise, I really liked it for the most part. Yeah, the writing isn't as witty as it thinks it is, and the last boss is a giant pain in the ass, but for the most part, the gameplay worked pretty well, and I liked exploring these levels. Maybe it's because I'd never played Banjo Kazooie or the other Rare collecathon games back in the day, so I don't have something better to compare this to, but I can't deny that I had a good time.
Best Janky 7/10 Game
Giraffe and Annika
The gameplay at times feels half finished, and it runs like ass on the Switch, but this was one of the most charming and emotionally moving games I played this year. If you like the idea of exploring a cute little island of animal people and getting into magic rhythm game boss fights, and you're willing to ride a game out on it's Studio Ghibli like charm even if the gameplay isn't quite there, this is highly recommended.
Best Free Game
Khimera: Destroy All Monster Girls
A cute little retro action platformer that's charming and funny. You can get through it in a couple hours, and it stays entertaining throughout.
Best Shitpost Game
I’m going to die if I don’t eat sushi!
I'm dead!
Best Demo
Victory Heat Rally
I don't know who thought to themselves that the world needed a spiritual successor to Sega's forgotten racer Power Drift, but I'm sure glad they did. This looks great, sounds great, and plays great. Shame the full game has been delayed so much.
Game of the Year
Yakuza 0
Part of me wishes I had something more indie or experimental here, but I've never seen a game that follows a franchise formula execute it this well. This is peak Yakuza and proof that you can still tell a damn good story in a game from a big studio. One of the best games I've ever played.
Other games I rather liked this year:
A game that saves the muscles caught in the ceiling of the gymnasium
A Short Hike
Get in the Car, Loser!
Ikenfell
Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight
Pokemon Arceus
Sonic Frontiers
