Awkward Mixture's Video Games of 2019: At Least I Played A Game Made Last Year

To conclude 2019, even though we're already in 2020, Awkward Mixture follows up its general reflection with a list of the twenty-four games reviewed on the website this year. Like the past years, I've separated the games into a few recognizable categories for a final judgment. Onto the games!

Games I Couldn't Bother Finishing:
I never finished these seven games, though that doesn't imply they were unplayable. Unlike last year, I did briefly review them across two articles.

In Unfinished Games of 2019: Part 1, I reviewed Niche, Distrust, Dota Underlords, and Road Redemption. Controlling a fox like species in Niche was repetitive from island to island. Distrust wasn't much different. I only tried Dota Underlords because I enjoy Dota. I stopped playing they share nothing in common except a visual similarity. And though Road Redemption may be as good as (or better than) the older Road Rash, the reality didn't meet my nostalgic memories.

I reviewed one fewer game in Unfinished Games of 2019: Part 2, which included NEO Scavenger, Battlerite, and Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I saw the appeal of NEO Scavenger, with its deep crafting, grounded survival mechanics, and mysterious setting, but I died too often to make any progress. The reason for playing Battlerite was similar to that of Underlords: I like Dota. It was also the reason for stopping. Battlerite and Dota are the same genre and I don't have the time to commit to another game. With all the best of 2017 accolades, my expectations for Zelda: Breath of the Wild were astronomical, and it didn't approach them. The experience wasn't bad, but I wasted too much time pointlessly exploring mountain peaks, and eventually realized they were all the same. I would have finished it, and who knows what rating it would have received, but I had to return the game, and wasn't heartbroken about my loss.

If I Lived Forever, I Still Wouldn't Recommend These Games:
I commit to completing every game, and succeed most of the time (see above for my failures). The few games in this category I finished (sorta), but wouldn't recommend in any situation.

Technically I didn't finish Bomber Crew, nor did I defeat the DLC, but I played at least fifteen hours, seeing everything there was to see. For a game with a simple, kiddish visual vibe, it was surprisingly difficult. Not difficult, like a system to learn from and overcome, but a frustrating, punishing system with a significant penalty for each failure. Bomber Crew is the Most Likely to Recreate the Death Toll of the British RAF.

A bad, difficult game is the worst. At least I will finish a bad, easy game like Moonlighter. Unlike Bomber Crew it was effortless, so I beat it. One might have thought plundering dungeons and selling the loot at one's family shop would be fun. Not only was it as dull as working retail, I wish it hadn't forced me to pass through a series of manufactured hoops, instead of letting me make my own way. That's why Moonlighter is the Worst 2D Zelda Clone.

Games I Enjoyed, But Wouldn't Play Again:
There's a significant step between not recommending a game, and saying its worth one's consideration. Even though I wouldn't play the follow games again, I enjoyed them at the time.

Dark Souls 3 was my favorite game of 2018. The series became so popular it inspired a genre: souls-like. Like any genre, its possible to enjoy some games and dislike others, because of a wide variation in implementation. Hollow Knight is considered a souls-like because of its difficulty, its dark, gloomy atmosphere, and its limited use of exposition words to paint a big picture. Unfortunately it doesn't include the precision medieval combat of its inspiration, and is Most Like A Metroidvania Dark Souls.

Ever since We and Brave New World inspired 1984 humanity has been preoccupied with dystopian society maintained by totalitarian control. Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You allowed the player to experience what these societies would be like from the perspective of power. The game-play was sparse, and the developer didn't add much to the conversation about surveillance, but playing Orwell was Most Like Being O'Brien.

In Ohklos Omega the player controlled an unnamed Philosopher in the middle of the swirling maelstrom of a mob. Their goal: to tear the gods of Olympus from their pedestals and replace them with humanity. Whether the developer knows it or not, playing Ohklos is Most Like Reading The Clouds.

In last year's reflection I said about The Banner Saga 2 that it's, “position as a great game is Most Dependent Upon The Series' Conclusion.” In retrospect The Banner Saga 2 could never have been called great, a mistake rendered immaterial by The Banner Saga 3, which was worse than its predecessor. While I criticized TBS2 for raising too many questions, TBS3 makes the mistake to answer them with soul-crushingly terrible answers. That's why The Banner Saga 3 earns Most Disappointing Series Conclusion.

I played The Stanley Parable in 2014 or 2015, and found it mildly entertaining for its 3 hour run time. The experience reminded me of watching a trailer for a really funny comedy, only to go and see that they had used the best parts for the ads, with everything else not quite as humorous. The Beginner's Guide suffered from the same issue, except that instead of a comedy, it's a drama. It's awarded the Most Serious Walking Simulator

The Walking Dead started as a comic in 2003, became a TV show in 2010, and spun off a video game (among its many other properties). In 2012 Clementine was born, fully formed at the age of eight. The Walking Dead: Season One revitalized the adventure genre, leading to other gems like The Wolf Among Us. The first Walking Dead game inspired players with its heartfelt relationship between Lee Everett and Clementine. The the follow up was fine, but The Walking Dead: A New Frontier barely wants to talk about Clementine. It throws a new cast of characters at the player, and says play with them instead. A New Frontier is like The Banner Saga 2: it was acceptable, but its final rating depends on the series conclusion. If the final game is good then The Walking Dead: A New Frontier will be a fine placeholder, but if the final isn't satisfactory then this game won't be worth another thought. In an odd twist, I've already finished sequel, so A New Frontier is Most Dependent Upon the Series Conclusion Where I Already Know the Answer.

Obsidian Entertainment and Paradox Interactive's cooperation generated the second best game of Awkward Mixture last year: Pillars of Eternity. Hoping that their partnership would yield additional fruit, I played their 2016 follow up, Tyranny. The game implemented the rare, but growing sub-genre: the evil RPG. The player served an evil master, and undertook evil quests, but Tyranny avoided the popular style where the evil people are zany and hilarious. The developers tried to conduct a serious setting, but they didn't say anything new about evil and its effects. But tyranny did on the rare occasion try to discuss freedom and autonomy, and is the Most Subtle Reference to the The Histories.

Tooth and Tail may be the best game of this section, a fun little RTS, with the ability to generate unique levels. I found some of the levels in the later half frustratingly difficult, but the unique style and quick game play alleviated major issues. It is the Most Like A Redwall Russian Revolution.

Honorable Mentions:
These are the games I would recommend without reservation. I finished each one with enthusiasm, and hope to return again in the future.

I've never played a rhythm game on the PC, partly because there aren't many to choose from. But I'm glad I took a chance on Crypt of the Necrodancer. It wasn't too difficult to set one's own music into the game, but I found the prepackaged audio preferable. I didn't actually beat the game, because a single victory only unlocks more of the story with additional characters, but I put 15 hours into it, and if I had continued I would have burned out. Instead, I had a good time, Most Like Dancing At a Disco.

Some friends of mine who quit playing Dota convinced me to purchase Deep Rock Galactic, and I don't regret it one bit. It's still a Steam Early Access game, but the developers have worked relentlessly since the beginning of the year with continual improvements. If you've enter wanted to take a break from killing relentless hordes of zombies in dark dingy streets, and instead kill swarms of voracious insects while exploring glittering caves for treasure, this is the game for you. It's incredible with friends and is the Best Co-op Game of 2019.

Who would think that a two hour demo of a unfinished game with an undeclared release date would be worth playing? Deltarune, the maybe (?) sequel to Toby Fox's 2015 fan sensation Undertale, seems like to eclipse the original. Even though I didn't love Undertale as much as the super fans, a completed Deltarune is the Most Anticipated Game of Awkward Mixture.

I loved Supergiant's 2014 Transistor, and enjoyed their debut Bastion, so their third game, Pyre, was the game I Most Wanted to Love. Expectations impact how I rate games, and often when one fails to meet mine, its rating suffers. In Pyre's situation, I'm not sure if my expectations are still buoying it up, even though I know it wasn't as great as I wanted it to be. Oh well. Hopefully their next game, Hades, meets my unreasonable expectations.

I don't have a quota to fill for each category. This year five games earned honorable mentions, compared to three in 2018, and eight in 2017. The number is elastic. I say this because like the previous game, The Sexy Brutale was a game I really wanted to like, boosted as it was by my impressions and Jim Sterling's recommendation. While I enjoyed elements of the game-play, the ending was disappointing. It's the Best Version of A Tormented Groundhog's Day Murder Mystery.

The Best of the Year:
For the first two years Awkward Mixture awarded a single award for best of the year. Last year I introduced a second place award when I felt two games deserved particular recognition. This year, I found three games worthy of acknowledgment. You think you know where this is going. A new ranking system every year; fourth place, fifth place, etc... I don't think so, but I guess you might be right. Follow along for 2019's top three.

Awkward Mixture's First 3rd Place Award

I quit playing Darkest Dungeon for a month or two in frustration after it refused to offer up its secrets with ease. I returned because I couldn't be denied the truth of what resides at the deepest pits of the estate. Like the Ancestor I needed to know what was at the bottom, and eventually I found it. I sacrificed a host of souls to witness the emptiness at the core of existence, and the monstrosities which hover just beyond our vision. Only dare approach if you too are committed to digging into the heart of despair. The pain of temporarily thwarting the Cosmic Darkness makes this the Most Satisfyingly Frustrating Game.

Awkward Mixture's 2nd Place Award

I found it difficult to separate the second best from the best game of the year. They shared a number of similarities. An oppressive environment, a horror sensibility, mostly story oriented, with simple puzzles mixed in. They had their differences too. One, a solo piece, the recipient of numerous awards. The other, the final game in a well received series, created by a company which failed halfway through the last stretch. Did I prefer the conclusion to a series I've loved since the first game, or the stand alone game which won multiple awards in 2017? The latter earned second place in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. A phenomenal game which delivered an atmospheric experience, the player plays as Pict warrior Senua as she seeks to banish her demons and rescue her love. Senua's Sacrifice is the Most Visually Arresting Game for its use of motion capture to depict the protagonist's anxieties, as played by Melina Juergens.

Best Game of 2019/2018

When the Walking Dead series was removed from Steam I considered that I might never finish it. It didn't help that I rated Season Two as mediocre. It's been six years but I purchased Season Three and The Final Season on the Epic Games Store during their Halloween sale for five dollars each. As I mentioned above, the value of Season Three, which was mediocre at best on its own merits, was dependent on the success of Season Four. The Walking Dead: The Final Season wasn't perfect. It contained some contradictions to the Walking Dead Universe, and spun together an ending which relied on flimsy preconceptions because the creator of the series hadn't finished his comic. Yet, it contained the best characters of the series, short of Lee Everett, and created an ending which fans of Clementine's journey could be happy with. Now that the comic is completed, there is an opening for one more season for a better conclusion, but I don't anticipate it. So we bid farewell to one of the bravest heroines in video game history. Farewell Clementine. The Walking Dead: The Final Season is the Best Game of Awkward Mixture of 2019.

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