I think the same folks also did Super Bobble Pop. I don’t know why they went so hard, but their work has sat firmly in my head for decades, so they did something right
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When I thought of how shooters evolved after Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, my first thought was Red Faction.
Loved it back when it came out, not sure how it’s aged.
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I put up a poll of Wii games I wanted to check out and the people over there voted for The Last Story. Does anyone have any experience with this game? I have a physical copy, but I was wondering how it runs emulated. I was considering getting it running on my Steam Deck. Would you guys consider it more of a couch game or a bed/bus/coffee shop game?
Also, I’m going through the Remedy stuff slowly because I’m listening to Resonant Arc’s analysis of Alan Wake. I was thinking of playing Quantum Break? I know it got roasted when it came out, but now that we are on the other side of Control and Alan Wake 2, is there anything there to go back to?
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@defcon I’ll second all of yeso’s recommendations with the exceptions of World of Horror and Rootrees simply because they are still on my to-do list rather than safely in my have-done list.
20 Small Mazes was fun, and was exactly what it says on the tin.
As yeso alluded to, the genre of point and click adventures has a lot to offer on these lines. The old classics are “classics” for a reason, although one must be careful that sometimes some puzzle solutions are creeping up on (but probably not crossing over in to) “unfair”. I still feel safe strongly recommending any of the early(ish) Lucasfilm/Lucasarts games: Monkey Island 1 & 2, Loom, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max Hit the Road. Recently, I rather enjoyed The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow.
Her Story and IMMORTALITY are modern games with some interesting and unconventional puzzling in them.
I really liked Snakebird, Viewfinder, and Baba Is You for the pure puzzle challenge.
Much more similar to 999 and VLR are the Danganronpa games. They don’t quite have the same direct puzzle (eg escape room type things) but do have big sequences of deductive reasoning.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention The Fool’s Errand in a conversation like this.
That’s probably more than plenty for now, I don’t intend to overwhelm you with options.
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Thanks for the big ol’ list! Love to see a mix of games I never made time for, and others I’d never heard of. The tempo of clicking through 2D portraits in 999 was really appealing for me, so I might grab Danganronpa and find a way to play Hotel Dusk in due time.
Big fan of Obra Dinn and Her Story (and Barlow’s other efforts)— this reminds me that I should peep Lorelai and the Laser Eyes sometime too.
Cant say for sure re:big or small screen, but ive been emulating it on an odin 2 recently and its been a great before bed game. Its definitely light on story and strong on walking around town and finding weird stuff (from the first few hours that ive played at least), so to my mind thats good for a small screen. Also its playable without motion controls which is a plus for emulation.
Also i think quantum break kinda rules, even though the “tv show” parts are a miss (sorry lance reddick, no disrespect). Its very much the predecessor to Control mechanically speaking, but its outside of the whole “control universe” thing which ive personally found to be a serious turn off. Never did finish it, but hope to some day.
Rad game. I”ll sometimes redownload it is just to hear the killer level-up sting. Those strings create a space unheard in any other game.
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I know you said you weren’t a fan of the connected universe stuff, but while Quantum Break is legally separate, Shawn Ashmore’s character in AW2 (Tim Breaker) is basically a play on Quantum Break, which is pushed even further by the third Night Springs DLC episode. There’s also a few other reference (Hatch/Door, Dylan Faden’s dialogue alluding to the universe and how certain characters exist).
It’s mostly nods and name-swapped references, but there are definitely some fun things to chew on for those that are interested
The game itself is very okay, Control is such an improvement in almost every way (I enjoyed the linearity of QB, which I think AW2 took notes from), but the combat and general progression gets stale. It’s only worth finishing for the sci-fi cheese of it all.
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Haha i shouldve known it was connected somehow. I never finished aw2 either, so maybe i missed those references.
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There’s a few groups of games that I’m hoping to dip my toes into this year. Wondering if there are any other examples I may be missing.
Hong Kong Action Movies: The Games
- Jackie Chan Stuntmaster - PSX
- Jet Li: Rise to Honor - PS2
- Stranglehold - PS3 (played, love it)
- Sleeping Dogs - PS4
- Sifu - PS4
- 10,000 Bullets - PS2 (slow mo shooting fits the vibe)
- Matrix: Path of Neo - PS2
- Shenmue I+II - PS4
- Headhunter 1+2 - PS2
- Dead to Rights (1+2 are PS2)
Character Action Games (where the character is a Car)
- GTA1/2 - PSX (not sure if essential/worth checking out)
- Driver - PSX
- Driver 2 - PSX
- Racing Lagoon - PSX (yes rpg but car centric non-racing so counting it)
- Spyhunter - PS2
- Wheelman - PS3
Old FPS’s I’ve Missed (polled these earlier this week, just listing for completeness)
- Marathon - Mac
- Half-Life 1+2- Mac
- Quake 1+2 - Switch
- Black - PS2
- TimeSplitters 1+2 - PS2
- Killzone - PS2
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Debating if I should pick Ys IX back up or not. It’s been long enough since I put it down that I would want to start over. I’m not sure why I put it down in the first place though, so here’s hoping the reason wasn’t ‘the first XX hours of this game are terrible’ or something like that.
I’m also kinda desperate to find a hori STG to play that I haven’t played a gazillion times! I found a bunch of ones on Steam that were new to me but so far they’ve been nothing but stinkers.
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Thinking about playing a lot of stuff. That’s how I know I’ve not succumbed to some sort of Pokemon disease. I think this would be a cool transition to finally beating Shin Megami Tensei-- would start a new playthrough of the Playstation 1 remake fan translation cause that’s dope and I’ve played the SFC and GBA versions many times without finishing. I enjoy drawing my own maps on A6 grid paper notebooks, but not this time.
I should probably just bust through suikoden as well. But I want to get to the Sega Saturn SMT offerings. I’m thinking about Saturn. Princess Crown fan translation is coming.
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Quake 1 and Black are great. Heavy action on both. Favorites of mine.
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Feels like Sleeping Dogs is a big omission from the Hong Kong list!
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It’s a newer game so kind of doesn’t fit the overall vibe of the list, but Sifu is really good
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added those and 10000 Bullets, slow mo gun-fu. Looks like a sweet 7/10 PS2 game.
Shenmue II has the setting and the martial arts although it may not have the right pace to fit the list
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I like Ys IX a lot!
Can’t say I like it more than 8, but superpowers in an action-rpg are pretty cool.
I’m also a huge sucker for any game that Let’s me climb up to the tallest thing in game so i can then float down.
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That was definitely the part that stood out to me in the demo! I’m just hoping I enjoy it enough while they’re gradually doling out the superpowers. But I loved Ys VIII too, and I’ve played it enough times that I can’t see picking it up again anytime soon.
Anyway, TOO LATE, I can’t talk about this here anymore because I started playing Ys IX!
Played the first mission of Black before bed. That’s the good stuff.