#8: Prey
Worth it for one of the best and most intriguing openings in video games, bar-none. Seriously, if you haven’t spoiled yourself on how this game starts, you should stop reading this, go download the demo or even watch the sequence play out on youtube if you have no alternative. We’re talking Black Mirror levels of staging and set-up here.
What follows is an underrated immersive sim in the vein of the Shock or Dishonored series: navigate a hostile environment, gather up resources, unlock play styles for progression, wrote ground for this genre of game. But it’s done with a more than comparable flair, making it feel like a novel take as well as a love letter to its predecessors. Characters are well-realized and perform better than most in the medium. Environmental storytelling fills in the gap for what many would consider to be a bog-standard plot otherwise. There’s a decent degree of side-questing and ending choice also present, with the possibility of ending the game halfway through if you feel like it.
Also, you can transform into a cup and roll around. Neat.
#7: Tacoma
On the other side of sci-fi scenarios, we have Fullbright Company’s spiritual follow-up to Gone Home. Ostensibly another story heavy walking simulator, Tacoma manages to inject some original tricks into the audio log format games lean so heavily upon to divulge backstory and plot. Being able to follow a scene or conversation in 3D and replay it from different angles lets you literally consider multiple points of view and pick up on some neat repercussions of certain scenarios.
And this doesn’t end up feeling like a chore thanks in part to some very well realized characters on the station. While the recorded reconstructions will play out with non-descript one color avatars, you’ll get to know these people due to their strong voice acting and minute mannerisms. Fullbright’s masterful use of environmental storytelling is also on display with a plethora of interactable memos, messages and trinkets that help to elucidate each person’s goals. This can even creep into the verge of voyeurism as you gain access to private messages and journals through a smartly realized digital interface.
Another nice refreshing note, for myself anyway, is that Tacoma is a rather brisk experience compared to a lot of games on this list. I was able to finish it a single evening, and felt like I got a complete and satisfying story arc, similar to it’s predecessor.
No comments:
Post a Comment