It’s a weirdly odd feeling, to lose something you’ve always enjoyed.
Luckily for me, I’m not just fighting my mind, my body has jumped in and for the last two months I have developed a problem in my hands that makes even holding a controller painful…
So these 5 games aren't just my games of the year, they are games so good that they dragged my butt back into gaming.
Going in without any nostalgia was going to be interesting as I felt the Battlefront remasters were held up entirely by nostalgia, and so having had no previous experience with it, would Bounty Hunter hold up in 2024 or should it have been left in 2002?
You notice very quickly the world is broken and has been for a very long time, you will find little sign of life, unluckily for the Beggar there is one being that follows him Morvin a product of his own imagination who isn't particularly friendly and will happily attack you on sight, luckily you have powers which are introduced as the game goes on, so you aren't completely helpless when old Morvin turns up, you have the power of telekinesis so not only can you move objects that are in your way, you can also hurl objects at your stalker, which after you have hurled enough objects at him you will get some respite and can continue traversing the fractured world.
I’ve enjoyed every game, and the last few releases have been some of their most diverse - with Lakeview Cabin Collection being a side scroller and The Glass Staircase being a PS2 zombie horror inspired by classic Italian films.
Rewind or Die gets back to what I imagine when I think of Puppet Combo - A grubby, dirty slasher-inspired romp with PS1 style graphics mixed with VHS. It’s not only what I think of… it’s what I love.
The game opens with a detective investigating his disappearance, he has come to question Loretta and have a look around the farm and it is here where we gain control of the titular character.
Early on you are presented with the choices that will shape her fate, I made the decision to try and poison the detective and… well… let’s just say it ‘didn’t go well’.
Throughout your time with this game you will get the chance to make important decisions such as should you higher your kill count or resist your murderous temptations and see if you can break free, and escape your current predicament.
Then, eleven years later Persona 5 was released and it became one of my favourite gaming experiences ever, it is a top 3 game for me and I will gush about it any time I can. So, when this remake was announced I was beyond excited, it was going to be Persona 3 with the Persona 5 coat of paint - how could it not be awesome?
Now, over the last few years I’ve played so many ‘We wish we were still in the late ‘90s, playing Resident Evil, when tank controls and fixed camera angles were all the rage and will never ever be replaced’ that it really at this point should be a category on Steam, so many games have tried to capture survival horrors past - with varying degrees of success - and I found that the more of them I played, the more the nostalgia wore off.
Nostalgia can only take you so far and underneath these games you needed to capture the past but also bring your own flavour, as well. With these thoughts in mind, I was understandably elated when that was exactly what Alisa did. Yes, it very much wears its Resident Evil one influence on its heart, but it adds enough interesting twists to feel fresh.
Well, it may not be a huge stride forward but I’m pleased to say the WWE2K series is moving forward. Now, if you looked at the gameplay it will feel very similar to last years’ game aside from a couple of small tweaks such as super finishers and the ever-popular ability to throw weapons being added, but largely it remains the same and as DDP would say, “it's not a bad thing, it's a good thing”. The base gameplay is good, the lighting and character models are great, some gimmicks are outdated - but that's going to happen with how much wrestlers change in a year. The matches and combat have been a highlight since 2K22, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
Luckily, I have been a huge fan of Persona and the Megami Tensei series as a whole since the PlayStation 2 era, so, just as everything seemed bleak - enter Persona 5, a game I had pre-ordered the special edition for, and it made me feel good. I spent 128 hours playing it with nothing but joy in my heart, it was the thing I needed - it wasn't just a distraction, it really felt like an old friend, and the story and the cast of characters really resonated with me, so every time this universe gets expanded, I’m always hopeful that special feeling will still be there.
Seeing that Christmas Massacre had been ported to the PS5 was a nice, early Christmas present, one filled with screams, horror and a very eager, bloodthirsty Christmas tree.
