Another wonderful year of gaming has come and gone. While some delays prevented 2022 from vaulting into legendary status, there were plenty of gems both AAA and indie alike. Here are the games that I felt like stood out this year.
Review: This way Madness Lies
Do you know what's cool? JRPGs, also Sailor Moon, also Shakspeare. Do you know who else is having these thoughts? The team at Zeboyd games. This Way Madness Lies is a mashup that I’m pretty sure no one asked for that fires on all cylinders to make an old-school RPG that is truly unique, entertaining, and incredibly engaging.
Review: Marvel Snap
Free-to-play games have never appealed much to me. Too often they are saddled with mechanics that are reminiscent of old-school arcades; they are designed to suck money from you at a very specific cadence. Sure, there have been examples in my life, and often, the ones I like I have put money into, especially if they eschew “Pay to win” mechanics. For instance, I think I put about 400 dollars into the now-shutdown Marvel Heroes because it was a fun Diablo-style game, with lots of very nice-looking costumes. I am willing to pay for cosmetics generally, not an in-game advantage. I guess Marvel has some sort of rent-free space in my head, because the newest free-to-play game that has been taking up a lot of my time is once again owned by that infernal mouse, and that game is Marvel Snap.
Review: The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero
I don’t know when it happened, but Falcom became at some point one of my favorite RPG studios. I can’t tell exactly when I put their output in the same thoughts as studios like Atlus, and Square-Enix, but it happened, and now here I am, just wanting to dive into the lore of Zemuria and the events that take place therein. Finally, another piece of the Trails puzzle comes to America, the first piece of the Crossbell Arc, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero. This game originally came out in Japan for the PSP in 2010, making it downright ancient, given how many titles we see coming out every week now in America. Remember the PSP? Depending on your age, you may not. In any case, was it worth it for Falcom to have this older title localized and sold in America?
First Impressions: The Darkest Tales
A lot of people still have toys from their childhood. I have a bunch of Transformers in a bin, some of which I have had since I was 3. I gave my niece a stuffed bear I had as a child, it was the bear from the Snuggle ads. Point is, carrying trinkets from your early years into your adult life is nothing new, and is a pretty universal experience to use for the start of a story. Releasing October 13, on Steam, Xbox, and Switch, The Darkest Tales is a story of the stuffed toy of Alicia’s childhood entering her dreams to save her from these sort of nightmare demons. You’re accompanied by a sparkling blue fairy, Navi-ish in nature to try and save your now grown-up owner.