#2064rom

UMURANGI GENERATION

I'd describe this game as "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater except Tony Hawk was a photographer". You are dropped into various levels and environments and, within a time limit, you have to achieve the objectives set out by the game. This usually consists of you taking pictures depicting specific things and taking a picture at a certain vantage point.

What I like about this game is its environmental storytelling. And well, really, that's the only way this game tells its story. It's all around the levels just waiting for you to see and take pictures of them. You find memorials, posters, people, all instrumental in telling the grim story that the game has.

I enjoyed experimenting with lenses that I unlock as I progress through the game, and experimenting with various filters! I feel like the game captured my imagination enough for me to enjoy it.

Door Rates Umurangi Generation: 4/5

PYRE

Supergiant never misses. From Bastion with its gripping story, and Transistor with its lovely aesthetic, to Hades with its frenetic roguelike gameplay, they always know their stuff. They know their style and they flourish in it, unafraid of experimentation.

With Pyre, I'd say that they experimented too much. The gameplay felt a bit clunky for me, though that may be because I stubbornly played on mouse and keyboard instead of controller. The gameplay loop revolves around you undergoing rituals, which are more accurately described as sports games. You play fantasy soccer, essentially!

Despite my gripes with the gameplay, I was so enamored by the story, the art, and the worldbuilding. I've grown to love and care for most, if not all of the characters, and I was really rooting for their success. I even found some antagonists charming and hoped that they find success as well.

In the end, I enjoyed it a lot. Supergiant are really good at making games, and with Hades 2 looming, I'm hoping they produce another knockout game.

Though despite my issue with them experimenting too hard here, I do hope they experiment more with their next games. But that's a subject for another post...

Door Rates Pyre: 4/5

THAT WHICH FAITH DEMANDS

This game is a sort of choose-your-adventure type game. At the start you get to describe your character's background, their competency, etc. Then when you're shipped out to do the job, you discover that there's more to the job than you expect.

I am always enamored by sci-fi, and am even more enamored by fiction that has something to say about the divine, so when this game mixes the two of them I completely and utterly fucked with it. This shit? Absolutely up my alley.

You can also interact with your workmates here and discover more about them, but I find that the divine part of the game is what really pleases me. I only wish that there was more story to see and read!

Door Rates That Which Faith Demands: 4.5/5

ENTER THE GUNGEON

I started this game very early in 2022, and let me tell you I did NOT expect it to shoot up to my most played game on Steam. There’s just something about this game that just drags you in easily with its wacky randomness and fun mixups and somewhat cute aesthetic.

You start out choosing one of four possible characters, then in typical roguelike fashion you do run after run as you unlock more guns, more accessories, more characters, and even more areas to explore! It is a very fun game where you can just go pew pew pew at everything.

Door Rates Enter the Gungeon: 4/5

SKATEBIRD

You are a bird. And you have an urge... to skate. It’s a cute little game with cute little birds! You can change up their feathers, their fashion, and do some neat skateboard tricks. My biggest issue with this game though is that the controls are very clunky. But from the short time I played it I found it very amusing.

Door Rates Skatebird: 3/5

HOLLOW KNIGHT

A friend of mine gifted this to me years ago, and it only took me like... half a decade or so to finally finish it! Heck yeah progress.

Anyway, this game is a nice Metroidvania. I found the aesthetic very nice, dark yet welcoming. I couldn’t have imagined making a world full of bugs work out to be cute! The music is also wonderful and the worldbuilding is great.There’s much to discover and a variety of areas. The story is also great (though I imagine my enjoyment was a bit diminished after I spoiled myself a bit lol). I enjoyed it a lot.

Door Rates Hollow Knight: 4/5

HEAVEN’S VAULT

Another friend recommended this to me, and I instantly fell in love with a concept. Sci-fi archaeology! Learning about dead languages! Good worldbuilding! All of these tick so many boxes for me it’s amazing really

I liked the artstyle too, a mix of 2d and 3d, 3d for the environments and 2d for the character sprites. I adore it, something similar was done too for Paradise Killer, another fave of mine.

I really enjoyed the story of this game and its vibes. I replayed it some more trying to unlock more of the language since language knowledge persists between playthroughs, but my save got deleted at one point and I didn’t continue. Nonetheless, I wholeheartedly recommend this game!

Door Rates Heaven’s Vault: 5/5

VAMPIRE SURVIVORS

A simple survival game/roguelike/bullet hell of sorts, and yet it’s so addicting. A friend gifted me this game and it got me in a vicegrip instantly. In this game you go and kill enemies, get experience, and level up to get various weapons and items so that you can kill more enemies. You accomplish achievements so you can unlock more characters. You get more gold so you can upgrade your stats. It’s basically a distillation of “number go up” and how much we enjoy it! Big damage big effects. It’s like rolling up a snowball and watching it get bigger and bigger and eventually it becomes an avalanche and massacres an entire village of ghosts. Sure you crash and burn sometimes but it’s still fun building it up!

The game is very cheap and has recently released an expansion, and is even free on iPhone/Android! Go try ittttt

Door Rates Vampire Survivors: 4/5

HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST

I played Zero Dawn years ago and enjoyed it very much, and I’m glad to report that now that I’ve played the sequel, I still enjoy it a lot! The gameplay feels the same for me, and the graphics are still very breathtaking, though I didn’t have as much opportunity to take pictures here as opposed to in Zero Dawn. I enjoyed the story a lot too. I have nothing much to say about it other than it being a solid sequel, and I look forward to more entries to this series!

Door Rates Horizon Forbidden West: 4.5/5

2064: READ ONLY MEMORIES

This game is by the same people who made VA-11 Hall-A, and is set in the same world and a few years before it. It’s a visual novel with a lot to say about technology, consciousness, and people. I loved the pixel art and I loved the writing! I grew to care for the characters, which was something I did not expect. I recommend this game!

Door Rates 2064: Read Only Memories: 4/5

PAPERS PLEASE

I played Return of the Obra Dinn and enjoyed it so much that I thought I should check this game out as well. Both were made by Lucas Pope. And both are pretty cool in their own way! Return of the Obra Dinn had a focused story and a straightforward objective, but Papers Please had you living life as a simple border control officer and it really shows. Day by day the difficulty ramps up as you have to look out for more potential mistakes in peoples’ requirements. And in the meantime you still have to provide for your family.

While all of this is going on, life continues, and there will be world events that surprise you. I love how this game weaves its simple gameplay into a good narrative. It is a very solid game.

Door Rates Papers Please: 4/5

FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE

I started this in 2021 but only finished it early 2022. I haven’t played the original so I’m glad to play this with updated graphics! In fact it’s a huge overhaul even.

It’s lovely to see these characters in high definition. Barrett is fuckin STACKED and it’s lovely to see Jessie and Aerith. Tifa looked lovely in a dress! And it’s nice to see Biggs and Wedge having actual personalities here.

Gameplay was snappy enough and I have no complaints about it. And I enjoyed enough how the story was told. I’m looking forward to part two!

Door Rates Final Fantasy VII Remake: 4/5

CITIZEN SLEEPER

I like this game.

It’s a sci-fi RPG. You arrive at the space station named Erlin’s Eye, where many people have made a home of. You learn of its history, its people, and most importantly, how to survive in this place. While it presents itself as sci-fi, it tells a familiar tale of trying to survive in a new frontier.

The way it plays is that every in-game day, you get a certain number of dice, already pre-rolled. You have to manage these dice in order that you get to use them succeed in the tasks you need to succeed in. In a sense, it’s a mix of RPG and resource management, which is very interesting to me.

I enjoyed the story and the characters. It is a surprisingly familiar story that resonates, and the gameplay is chill enough, along with the music. It has my Seal of Approval

Door Rates Citizen Sleeper: 4.5/5

PENTIMENT

The same friend who recommended me Heaven’s Vault told me of this game. I got it on the Xbox Game Pass and fell in love with the aesthetic. Each frame looks like an art piece you can hang in a museum!! It reminds me of like. The Bayeaux Tapestry. Idk why that specifically came to mind but. Yes.

In this game you play as journeyman artist Andreas Maler. You are contracted by the Kiersau Abbey in the village of Tassing to make art. Through Andreas’s eyes you get to know the village’s history, mingling with the village folk, breaking bread with them even!

This game... this game is not just about history, not just about choices, this game is also about you living with your choices. Andreas’s regrets, successes, and the butterfly effect of his presence on the people of Tassing are told with great import. If you play this game, I urge you not to savescum or make a new save when things don’t go your way.

It’s one of my top games of 2022. Go play it!

Door Rates Pentiment: 5/5

NO MAN’S SKY

I’ve been playing this game ever since it came out, and it continues to be a treat. It was only in 2022 though that I actually played the Expeditions. And it is very nice to see how fellow explorers just help people along through them by making bases, planting markers, and just putting up some messages! I’ve enjoyed this game for years because of its variety and beauty, but it’s only now that I felt how rich its community is. I look forward to exploring it more in the coming years!

Door Rates No Man’s Sky: 4.5/5

FINAL FANTASY XIV

2022 was the year I wrangled together a static, which is essentially an 8-person group dedicated to clearing certain content in FFXIV. We were out here trying to clear the new Savage Raids, Pandaemonium Tiers 1 to 4. It was my first time being a sort of raid leader, and it was honestly an interesting experience! It was rough at times, but I nonetheless formed lasting friendships and strengthened some current ones. And it was very enjoyable suffering playing together with friends :)

As time went on though, I had to drop my subscription because of IRL responsibilities. But this game will always be important to me because of the friendships I have made and continue to make.

Door Rates Final Fantasy XIV: 5/5

MTG ARENA

Okay.

I have a love/hate relationship with this game.

On one hand, the game itself. Magic: the Gathering. It’s honestly enjoyable! My favorite format is Historic Brawl and I enjoy brewing decks for different commanders and just playing out matches conveniently!

On the other hand the economy SUCKS and it does a lot of things to make you feel that FOMO feeling.

I’m honestly waffling between uninstalling it and not uninstalling it and I probably should uninstall it? But I have to admit I do still enjoy the game...

Either way: Magic the Gathering is a great game. MTG Arena? It’s a good way to play the game, but it’d take you a while to collect the cards you want, so jury’s out on that one.

Door Rates MTG Arena: 2.5/5

SUMMARY

That’s a lot of games!!! I played some others but I didn’t have the time to include them here, but I enjoyed most of them all the same.

I enjoy the unique experience of playing games because you are not just... reading the story, you aren’t just watching an event or anything. You are an active participant in these experiences! May it be a story-rich game, a game with fun mechanics, or even a game as simple as Wordle, you are more in charge of your experience. And I find that cool!