Harmful geese, bad cops and living dead.
About nomination
“Game of the Year” is not necessarily a huge budget, a team of several hundred people and a major publisher. To get into the top three, you do not need to be an expensive game – just “just” be a unique game. And for this, sometimes one good idea or an original look at the familiar genre is enough.
Third Place – Untitled Goose Game
Untitled Goose Game – a vivid example of a joke that got out of hand and unexpectedly for the jokers themselves
made them famous. Who would have thought that something worthwhile would grow out of a YouTube teaser for a fictional game?
In fact, the project of the Australian studio
House house – this is such a simplified version
Goat simulator, only in the main role here is not a goat-terrorist, but a quite ordinary village goose. And he is engaged in quite an ordinary goose business: he pranks and turns the life of those around him into hell. These poor fellows here are a cross between neighbors from
Neighbor from hell and victims from
Hitman. Waiting for them, of course, is not bloody reprisal, but stolen pipes, broken vases and missing balls. The main thing is that all this is played very vigorously, but it looks and sounds just hilarious. As you can see, to get into the top three of the best games of the year, just pure, concentrated fun, tightly packed into a small, but in its own way brilliant game, is enough.
Second Place – Disco Elysium
Role-playing games are extremely conservative. Even projects that claim to be innovative are usually created on a “step forward – two back” principle: with a lot of remnants of the past and crutches left over from desktop ancestors. It is all the more pleasant to watch
Disco elysium (itself, by the way, which grew out of a protracted party in
Dungeons & dragons) turns the stagnant genre upside down.
If you try to put the essence of Disco Elysium in one sentence, then it can be called a mixture
This is the Police,
Planescape: tormentmovie
“Mud” with James McAvoy and Piksarovskaya
Puzzles. And it is played even stranger than it sounds.
There is no combat system here at all – but there are deepest opportunities for research, analysis and communication. Moreover, the protagonist generally communicates with anyone, including inanimate objects and their own emotions. Among the skills there are also familiar ones, such as endurance and perception (although they work completely differently than, say, in Fallout with her S.P.E.C.I.A.L.) and those that you will not see anywhere else: conceptualization, corporate spirit, “internal empire” … Without a description, you usually don’t understand what they are for or when they can come in handy. But most importantly, all abilities are useful in their own way, albeit to varying degrees.
Add to this incredibly cool dialogs, unpretentious, but extremely stylish design, a small, but elaborate world – and get the real thing in yourself. An amazing piece of handmade work – these are born every 20 years. Seize the moment.
Worthy of Mention
In 2019, a lot of great games came out.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice very beautifully continued the line of ruthless action-RPG from
Fromsoftware. Moreover, for this story about the one-armed shinobi, neither multiplayer, nor a cunning story, nor intricate maze levels were needed.
The outer worlds once again showed that the “kings of the sequels”
Obsidian already fully formed as independent creators, and not just as developers of extensions of other people’s IP. Perhaps one of the best role-playing games of the year: diverse, multifaceted and just pretty.
Hideo Kojima promised that
Death stranding will be some incredible breakthrough in the game, but she will be remembered, most likely, as a victim of high expectations. Well, or as the most expensive energy drink advertisement. It’s a pity: the game is, in fact, curious – albeit far from the ideal that we ourselves have drawn.
Devil May Cry 5 became an almost perfect continuation of perhaps the most famous series of slashers. And in addition, it gave an excellent reason to forget about not the most successful
restart 2013: here all the innovations came very much to the court, and proven mechanics still work like clockwork.
First Place – Resident Evil 2 Remake
In my time Resident evil, on a par with Silent hill, Fatal frame and a couple of other titles, identified the Japanese horror as a special genre. In the late 90s, painted backs, a static camera and tank control looked very decent. But time passed, and the leisurely, thoughtful horror was replaced by peppy zombie post-shooters, more like Left 4 deadthan, in fact, on Resident Evil.
The fourth part of the series was excellent: it was she who kept the franchise afloat when the same Silent Hill drowned in self-repetitions and a lack of fresh ideas. But not all fans appreciated the new approach. Capcom has since taken several attempts to return to the origins of RE, but none of them have been as successful as
remake of resident evil 2 – modern rethinking of the second part of the cycle.
Anyone who tried to escape from a packed zombie Raccoon City 20 years ago will feel at home in his updated version. Here, by and large, the same plot, purpose and main characters; the same unkillable Tyrant and a leisurely pace. It’s only now that the world around us has finally become completely three-dimensional, the camera is no longer nailed to one point, the control allows us not to break our fingers, the voice acting does not cause laughter, and typewriters as preservation points are left only for hardcore artists.
The gameplay core remains unchanged. Before us is still one of the best (if not the best) horror in the history of video games: evil, complex, interesting and truly creepy. At the same time, Resident Evil 2 Remake looks just like a full-fledged new game based on old values, and not like a hastily animated dead man with a painted face. Only truly talented developers could achieve this result. It’s scary that
remake of the third part makes another team – the best game of 2019 raised the bar very high.
The outgoing year was not too generous for the high-profile AAA releases. The eighth-generation consoles have entered the last phase of their life cycle, so large publishers and top studios still hold potential hits with them. As you can see, independent developers were able to take advantage of this very well, so in the main nomination of 2019, the picture was at least interesting. Do you agree with such results of the year?
