Some original content to shake off terminal videogame pessimism
Hold on to your thumbsticks, folks, because we may be riding high on the videogame roller-coaster crest of 2019! The start of the year was a dismal drop into some horribly executed and half-assed grabs for digital wallets and microtransactions.
Yet out of the chaotic miasma of greed and shallow creativity some beautiful gems have surfaced to keep hope alive for gamers still interested in having their digital entertainment served up with healthy portions of weirdness and originality.
Here are three titles that may restore some faith in the video-game industry if not offer up some thrills while soaking up that delicious A/C before the sweet release of Fall.
Remnant: From the Ashes
Gunfire Games is an Austin-based developer with a pretty impressive portfolio of titles ranging from Darksiders III to super fun VR games. I’m not sure if Gunfire is a developer that has pinned down any specific type of games to create. They seem to be blind-firing at a cyclic rate in terms of builds and designs and from the looks of it they are hitting the marks.
Remnant is a third person online co-op/offline single-player venture into a post-apocalyptic hellscape with intriguing enemies and huge bosses. The art design is a tasty mashup of H.P. Lovecraft and Guillermo Del Toro liberally spread over thick Dark Souls toast. From the jump you will notice established influences, but this only make the endless rogue-lite smash and blast adventure more fun.
The controls are tight and responsive and the co-op, while a bit unwieldy, is actually some of the best I’ve experienced in a while. Though the story isn’t for everybody, the visuals and gameplay hooks keep you diving in just for the thrill of it. For the price, it’s a great foray into a fantastic upside-down world with angry alien kudzu and trippy weapons.
Control
Remedy Entertainment has been the flag bearer for games that have created industry standards for third person shooters since Max Payne back in the day. My man Sam Lake and company have returned with another unique world to explore—a world filled with mystery, intrigue, gunplay, and weirdness galore.
The visuals are eye-popping, with realistic physics and perceived weight to objects in the environment. The story is a strange adventure into a secret government paranormal research facility with the protagonist being gifted with awesome abilities. Telekinesis, levitation, and mind control paired up with a service weapon that can literally change at the will of the wielder all make for a great time smacking the otherworldly forces around with extreme prejudice.
While Control is not narratively as compelling as Max Payne or Alan Wake, it does establish a coherently bizarre world with a fine list of characters to interact with. However, it’s all about the righteousness of ripping up the scenery and smashing bad guys with maximum destruction.
It’s been a while since a game made me feel like a badass, but this one definitely will corrupt you with absolute paranormal power. Control is the Jedi-meets-Men-in-Black shooter we may not have wanted but never knew we needed.
GreedFall
Spiders is a French developer who has spun some digital gold over the decade with cult sleeper hits that mostly PC gamers are aware of. They’ve ranged from point-and-click mystery games to super frustrating Dark Souls clones that cause migraines. I’ve been no stranger to setting a few of their titles on blast; but what they miss in gameplay they always make up with originality.
Their latest game, GreedFall, is set in a seventeenth-century fantasy world and looks to be a complete RPG experience that could finally bring Spiders to prominence in the videogame industry. The game centers around a player-created protagonist charged with finding a cure for a mysterious plague on an island filled with monsters, warring factions, and magic.
At the time of writing this I’ve barely scratched the surface of all GreedFall can be and it’s with all the hope I can muster that this game will make single-player RPGs great again. A huge player campaign, player choice-driven narratives, unique party members, strange monsters, trifold hats and flintlock pistols? Just shut up and take my coin already!
Oh baby, what a time to be alive and a gamer! With the creative forces at work this year, I’m very excited to see what will be in store for us over the next couple of months, especially for the holiday releases. Until then, there is more than enough to keep your thumbs and mice busy until the New Year.
When not vaporizing zombies or leading space marines as a mousepad Mattis, Brandon Watson is making gourmet pancakes and promoting local artists.