Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra
 
You want blurbs? We got blurbs. by Mischief Maker 01/02/2020, 7:18am PST
Feel free to edit, I dashed these off in a hurry:

X-morph Defense

Tower Defense may be a dead genre, but it went out with a bang in X-Morph Defense. Better maze-building than Defense Grid, every tower serves a unique purpose, the action portion is actually challenging. But couple this all with THE BEST CITY DESTRUCTION ENGINE EVER in which crumbling buildings can bury creeps and block paths, yet runs buttery-smooth on my aging rig.

Bleed 2

Abuse meets Gunstar Heroes with a dash of Strider and Ikaruga. Playing this game is an absolute delight and the only complaint I have is that it's too short (but that's somewhat mitigated now that they've added a random mission generator with a VR missions aesthetic).

Victor Vran

Criminally underrated game because everyone misidentifies it as a Diablo clone when it is in fact "Bastion 2." Complete with a voice that follows you around, a selection of weapons that each have a unique technique to squeeze maximum damage out, and a self-adjustable difficulty system like the "tonics." It's Bastion, just with some Diablo-style loot thrown in.

Starcrawlers

A love letter to Sega's classic RPGs from Phantasy Star to Shadowrun, but with a touch of Etrian Odyssey's more modern cross-class proc-heavy combat fireworks. Featuring both hand-crafted main story missions and randomly generated maps for grinding. And unlike Harebrained Schemes' bumbling attempts, Starcrawlers recreated the "matrix hacking" from Shadowrun on the Sega Genesis as a free post-release DLC afterthought.

Shadow Warrior 2

The best yet implementation of the Painkiller-school of FPS design with randomly generated maps chock full of explosive items to blow up in your enemies' faces. I prefer it to DOOM 2016, the mobility is superior and instead of canned fatality animations, enemy dismemberment is dynamic. It's also jaw-droppingly gorgeous but surprisingly easy on the hardware requirements. The one ding against the game is the menu for navigating weapon upgrades is a little awkward, but you can beat the game on normal without slotting any upgrades.

Dragon's Dogma

Shadow of the Colossus meets Dark Souls meets Devil May Cry meets Magic Tower. It's one of those games that shot for the moon and came close enough to be amazingly unique. With a team of up to 3 AI-controlled "pawns" by your side, fight gigantic mythological monsters ranging from Chimeras to Cyclopses to the titular dragon by climbing all over them and stabbing them in the weak spot. People complain that the AI pawns are dumb, but there's actually a game system where you "teach" the pawns how to fight enemy types by building up their knowledge bar, and can give it a boost by actually demonstrating the technique (like throwing an explosive barrel into a Hydra's mouth). Once the bar gets high, they get pretty crafty in a fight. Protip: play as a hybrid class.

Nex Machina

Dunno what Eugene Jarvis' exact input was on this game, but whatever he did it worked because out of the hundreds, if not thousands of Robotron 2084 clones that came out over the years, Nex Machina is the only one that recaptures the "feel" of classic robotron. Also after years of Minecraft teaching people that voxels are ugly, this game comes along and shows how uniquely gorgeous voxel engines can be in the hands of a talented artist.

Battlestar Galactica Deadlock

A mediocre game at release that was redeemed by several heroic DLCs, BSG is the single best 3D space fleet combat game in years. A prequel story to the reboot TV series, you command fleets of battlestars and other colonial capital ships in a turn-based environment that simulates every shell as an object in 3 dimensional space that even lumbering starships can dodge with enough foresight. Then when it's all over the game shows replays of your entire turn-based battle in real-time with a dynamic shakeycam zooming in on all the highlights to look like a scene from the actual show. All the DLCs are recommended, but the only two that are "necessary" are Reinforcement Pack and Broken Alliance.
PREVIOUS REPLY QUOTE
 
The Caltrops Top 100 games of the decade by Ice Cream Jonsey 11/05/2019, 6:31am PST NEW
    Anything to disrupt terrible lists in the world. by Kenji Carter 11/05/2019, 7:04am PST NEW
    Baba is You, Rimworld, and your favorite between Frostpunk and Banished. NT by pinback 11/05/2019, 11:54am PST NEW
        For some reason I thought we were only putting games not on that list. by pinback 11/06/2019, 1:59pm PST NEW
        Re: Baba is You, Rimworld, and your favorite between Frostpunk and Banished. by Cum Giblet 11/08/2019, 5:57pm PST NEW
    It's no Kim K but Human Revolution was quite the comeback story. NT by Cyril Badman 11/05/2019, 2:04pm PST NEW
    X-Morph Defense and Victor Vran were the biggest hidden gems. NT by Mischief Maker 11/05/2019, 6:11pm PST NEW
        Oh, and Slay the Spire and Starcrawlers, too. NT by Mischief Maker 11/05/2019, 6:13pm PST NEW
    Slapped together my Most Enjoyed PC Games of the 2010s by Fullofkittens 11/06/2019, 8:31am PST NEW
        Re: Slapped together my Most Enjoyed PC Games of the 2010s by Mysterio Lollerson 11/06/2019, 8:46am PST NEW
            Awesomenauts is a multiplayer game with a vanishing player base. by Fullofkittens 11/06/2019, 9:06am PST NEW
            Can you suck dick in the merchant marine or is that frowned upon? by MM is an autogynephile 11/06/2019, 6:39pm PST NEW
                Shut up, cunt. NT by - 11/08/2019, 8:51am PST NEW
    Rocket League is my favorite game, so that one. NT by Mysterio Lollerson 11/06/2019, 8:45am PST NEW
        That one and Hollow Knight NT by Entropy Stew 11/21/2019, 9:04pm PST NEW
            Speaking as a guy who doesn't game a whole lot by Vested Id 11/21/2019, 9:11pm PST NEW
                This isn't the top 100 hipster fedora games by Entropy Stew 11/22/2019, 9:14am PST NEW
    Warband by Roop 11/06/2019, 11:59am PST NEW
        Is this Mount & Blade: Warband? NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/31/2019, 9:45am PST NEW
            Yeah I couldn't remember the name of the game NT by Roop 12/31/2019, 1:07pm PST NEW
    Adding Mark of the Ninja, Batman Arkham games, recent Yakuza, Tropico games NT by I enjoy fun 11/06/2019, 2:45pm PST NEW
    Jerry can you add a racing game to this list? NT by Binro's Discount Listorium 11/08/2019, 8:02am PST NEW
        I haven't played enough games from this decade to have an opinion. by Jerry Whorebach 11/20/2019, 4:32pm PST NEW
            Marvel Puzzle Quest it is, then NT by Binro's Discount Listorium 11/21/2019, 6:24am PST NEW
    PC Gamer made a list!! by You'll never believe what they 12/23/2019, 1:50pm PST NEW
        First 6 games of the decade are not from this decade. by Journalism is dead and deserves to 12/23/2019, 1:53pm PST NEW
    Oh fuck, this is for real? Add Shadow Warrior 2, Dragon's Dogma, and Nex Machina NT by Mischief Shai-hulud 12/31/2019, 1:18pm PST NEW
        OK, one sec. That definitely bumps up one of the games on the list NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/31/2019, 2:18pm PST NEW
            Do you want us to do little writeups for the list, or are you doing that yoursel NT by Mischief Shai-hulud 12/31/2019, 4:05pm PST NEW
                Re: Do you want us to do little writeups for the list, or are you doing that by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/31/2019, 8:25pm PST NEW
                    Posted later in the thread in a reply to the OP NT by Mischief Maker 01/02/2020, 7:19am PST NEW
    Am I too late? BSG: Deadlock. MM, back me up here. NT by pinback 12/31/2019, 3:37pm PST NEW
        Of course! Shit, I'm forgetting everything. by Mischief Shai-hulud 12/31/2019, 4:03pm PST NEW
            We could argue all day over who promised what to who. Sorry, to WHOM. NT by Better grammar in 2020 01/01/2020, 11:48am PST NEW
                My copy editor fixed my post to be more grammatically incorrect, and more gay by Roop 01/01/2020, 1:42pm PST NEW
                    Fixed, somewhat. by Ice Cream Jonsey 01/01/2020, 1:49pm PST NEW
                        Article is fantastic so far NT by Vested Id 01/01/2020, 2:43pm PST NEW
                            Agreed, and my style guide said to keep up with the gay NT by Roop 01/02/2020, 5:44am PST NEW
    You already started front paging a list, but w/e and in no particular order by Rafiki 01/01/2020, 9:20pm PST NEW
    You want blurbs? We got blurbs. by Mischief Maker 01/02/2020, 7:18am PST NEW
 
powered by pointy