Komma

This is a list of the video games I finished in 2023, regardless of when they came out.

• Dec 2022
  • Observation
• January
  • Final Fantasy XIII
• February
  • Final Fantasy XIII-2
  • Adios
• March
  • F.I.S.T: Forget in Shadow Torch
• April
  • Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
  • Tomb Raider (2013)
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider
  • Fortnite - Mega City
• May
• June
  • Vermintide 2
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider
  • Gunfire Reborn - Artisan and Magician DLC
• July
  • My House.WAD
  • Street Fighter VI - World Tour mode
• August
  • Quake 2
  • Mass Effect
  • Ghostwire: Tokyo
• September
• October
  • Path of Exile
  • Resident Evil 3 (ps1)
• November
  • Go-vember! Racing Games - clears of Cruis'n USA, Mario Kart 64, Snowboard Kids 2, and Diddy Kong Racing
  • Super Mario Wonder
  • Risk of Rain Returns
• Honorable Mentions
  • Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
  • Against the Storm
  • Guilty Gear Strive
  • Baldur's Gate 3

I take a little bit of time to talk about each of them after the break! Long post ahead.

Image: a recent Steam user's review for 2006's Sword of the Stars. This is one of the interesting problems with retro gaming. Just our hearts need to pump blood for us to stay alive, strategy gamers need to circulate useful knowledge without losing it. Otherwise, the game (the experience of playing the game) gets lost.

Thinking about stories in fantasy adventure games. I feel like a standard “grow in power, fight somebody who wants to rule the world, and determine the fate of some magical force” is functional enough as long as there are smaller, more specific, interesting side stories along the way. That is to say I don’t think you can judge the plot for being uninventive in the grand scale if it’s more of a container for all the little gems.

Things can start feeling the same when everything gets “epic.” There’s a push towards this outcome when you want a nobody-to-champion power curve and constant escalation (that gets resolved with combat). What god are we fighting this time? Which hell, sky fortress, or astral plane are they in? But maybe you can slow down, zoom in, notice more distinctions.

Having said this, obviously there is room for different story structures, and I do encourage authors and game designers to consider them too.

The Crash Bandicoot franchise has a new non-binary character and I must say that I find them highly relatable.