It's a small matter, but I spend too much time thinking about Steam's rating system. I dislike the thumbs up/thumbs down system. Rating systems are tricky. Aside from the first year of Awkward Mixture, I've used a five point system on Awkward Mixture. Steam's two point system has two advantages. It's intuitive; every game is either bad or good. They can decide quickly, press the button and be done. Except there are a host of average, “meh,” games that players have to decide whether they enjoyed them or not. Steam could use any sort of system. The more points, the more time the player has to spend time thinking about their choice. They might give up and not rate anything. More points also increases the chance for confusion about what each value means. Ten point systems performed terribly. Everyone reflects on their school years, where only A's and B's (and maybe C's)are acceptable. If a reviewer awards a game anything less than 70 players assume it is trash. In a five point system like mine, a three (also called: Recommended with Reservations – Games I Won't Play Again – Play Once) is average. Steam's two point scale limits the opportunity to misuse the system. On a five point scale people might not agree what each value means. Goodreads has a five point scale that I have some trouble with (their 1 is bad, their 2 is average, 3 is good, 4 is excellent, and 5 is phenomenal). The scale needs to be more balanced, but they do explain what every rating means with a simple description.
The point is, initially I awarded “Recommended with Reservations” a thumbs up on Steam, reserving the thumbs down for the “Wouldn't Recommend,” and “Didn't Finish” categories. Recently I've switched, rating most “Recommended with Reservations” games as thumbs down. My single change won't matter to the system. But over fifty percent of games have a Very Positive rating. There are other contributing factors (players playing genres they enjoy, players only reviewing games they enjoy). But one reason is that players are rating “Meh” games as a thumbs up. That does a disservice to customers, because there are too many games with good ratings that don't deserve them, clogging up the marketplace.
Now, onto Awkward Mixture Games of 2022.
Games I Couldn't Bring
Myself to Finish:
These may be the worst, but I
couldn't bring myself to finish them to find out. On the other hand,
some of them are acceptable, but I abandoned them for the next best
thing.
Unfinished Games of 2022: Part I considered the various reasons I failed to finish Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, Mindustry, Troy: A Total War Saga, and Paradox's Rome Imperator. In quick order; no good, needed to play with friends/I don't enjoy tower defenses, I keep trying Total War games and leaving disappointed, and the developers abandoned an unfinished game.
Unfinished Games of 2022: Part II includes Fit For A King, Fields of Glory, Sunless Skies, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, and the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy. Unlike the games in the first section, I could see myself returning to Skies, Shogun, and even Ace Attorney. I didn't strongly dislike any of them. I just found myself playing something else.
I
wouldn't play these again even if Robespierre
threatened me with the guillotine (ok, of course I would, but you get
the idea).
Despite any
acclaim I would not recommend these games at all.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, for instance, received acceptable reviews (83% on Metacritic), and a 2nd best of the year (2019) from Zero Punctuation. It was also designed by Koji Igarashi, who made his name as producer for the most famous Castlevania games. Yet, I could not find an ounce of redeeming features in this hellscape. That's why Bloodstained is The Most Boring Demon Infested Castle.
Another well regarded game, Dead Cells didn't animate me. It won best Indie Game at the 2018 Golden Joystick Awards and Best Action Game at The Game Awards 2018. I suppose it is similar to Bloodstained, fusing Castlevania mechanics with Dark Souls elements, and adding rogue-like permadeath. But I think of it as The Game that Shouldn't Have Beat Gorogoa for Best Indie (See also Celeste, Into the Breach, and Minit).
Noita was built on a cool idea. Revive the falling sand games of the early 2000s. Every pixel is physically simulated, but the developer doesn't develop the idea into a game. Instead the player wastes their time walking around unreactive caves. Noita needs the magic of combining elements, instead of the deadly dull dungeons to delve it has to offer. The player has to even switch wands to cast different spells, making Noita a Bottom Budget Harry Potter Knock Off: Cave Explorer.
Online players favor Eugen Systems' Wargame: Red Dragon as the best multiplayer game in their collection. Maybe that is true. I wouldn't know, I stuck to the single player campaigns. Unfortunately, that was a tremendous failure. No instructions, very difficult because the enemy outnumbers you, but boring because the enemy is bad at the game. And the player is forced to repeatedly re-fight battles with the same units on the same terrain. Red Dragon is A Wargame Most In Need Of A Scenario.
We. The Revolution might be the most generic game I've ever played. It feels cobbled together from a collection of inferior systems. It's heavily scripted, packed with dozens of simple joyless mini-games, and wretchedly unhistorical. The characters, including the protagonist, are as one dimensional as cardboard cutouts, and the aesthetics are disturbingly off-putting. It feels like The Game Packed With The Most Mini Games.
Games
That Have A Serious Flaw, But Might Be Worth A Playthrough
Regardless:
These games
were pretty fun, until they weren't. Or they weren't fun, until they
were. Either way, it's a mixed bag, but you might find some of them
worth playing.
This Is The Police is the only game in this category that doesn't start with a W. It also has the best story, or collection of vignettes featuring an angry old conceited white guy, saying, “I alone can fix it,” while managing the police department in an absurdly corrupt city. Police Chief Jack Boyd is unsympathetic, but the animation and voice acting renders his vices, virtues, and final 180 days compelling. He's the only reason to play this mess of a game. This Is The Police has The Most Unlikable, Yet Sympathetic, Protagonist.
I didn't really play Wargames: European Escalation this year, sort of like how I didn't play Ultimate General: Gettysburg in 2018. In both cases they were games I had played before the blog, but used them to contrast with their sequels. In both cases I found the original a more compelling game. It's The Game I Played Before 2016 That Made This List.
I loved the first few levels of Wildfire. They were simple, and taught the player how to use their powers. They had variety; allowing the player to make creative decisions, choosing from multiple paths to victory. It had a limited number of mechanics to solve a reasonable number of problems. Then the levels exploded into massive sprawling arenas with too many ways to move around and win the game. It devolved from a tight experience into a complete mess, like making dinner on a pan and then throwing all the ingredients on the floor. Still, it's The Best Elemental Game of 2022.
I was also happy with Wildermyth initially. It lets the player develop their characters, composing their own story in an earthy fantasy setting. The problem is that the player starts to see the same events. When the player is supposed to be designing unique stories, repetition ruins the magic. Also the legacy system for reusing characters was not at all what I thought it should be. Your characters developed in one story as epic heroes, only to return in a different plot just a notch above novice. Wildermyth Best Highlights The Failures Of Procedurally Generated Storytelling.
Honorable
Mentions:
If you're
looking for a really good game, I recommend the following four
titles. There's a chance you don't like them, but that's on you.
Deadbolt was one of those games hanging out on my Steam Wishlist forever. I kept it because of the Overwhelmingly Positive review on Steam. Then finally, it was on sale for $2.50 and I bought it. I would pay the current $10 price to play it again. Gunning down the undead in their houses, nightclubs, and high-rises is fun in itself. But unlike Wildfire, Deadbolt continues to place obstacles in the player's path that require innovative thinking. It also has a story akin to Dark Souls; ambiguous, uttered to the player in whispers and hints, and it is so dark and deep. Deadbolt is The Most Overlooked Gem Of 2022.
Some people hate art games. I haven't played many, but maybe Gorogoa will encourage me to alter my interests. It's not only the most beautiful game I've played, but the puzzles are well developed, almost like metaphors expressed through symbols and pictures. Yet they avoid the worst errors of puzzle games. The solutions are intuitive and not frustrating. Not once did I use an online resource to beat this game. It's also short enough that it won't exhaust the player. Rather, I wanted it to last twice as long. Gorogoa is The Most Beautiful Game of 2022.
Inscryption isn't the holy grail of games that reviewers implied. For one, it's a deck builder, and I, along with (presumably) somebody else, don't enjoy genre. Secondly, only the first act is phenomenal. A steady descent in quality follows. The second act is good, the third is ok, and the finale isn't much better than the worst game you can think of. Still, Inscryption deserves an honorable mention because the concept is unique enough to want to play, not discard. The atmosphere, the threat, and the mystery of the first act is more than enough to strongly recommend this game, as long as you're forewarned of the intolerable ending. That's why Inscryption is The Clearest Disconnect Between Beginning And Conclusion.
This year I played three of Eugen's wargames. Steel Division: Normandy '44 blasted the others to pieces. In contrast with Wargames: Red Dragon, Normandy '44 provided three solid campaigns. Unlike Red Dragon these campaigns were merely tactical, but this allowed the game to string along a series of engaging battles, instead of repeating the same boring fight on the same terrain. The interface and visuals delivered a more compelling, enjoyable experience. Like Red Dragon, '44 was tough, but it felt tough for the right reasons; a complex battle (instead of the wrong ones: too many enemies). Steel Division: Normandy '44 is The Best Tactical Modern-ish Wargame of 2022.
Games I Am Still Playing (Even
Though I Reviewed Them In A Previous Year):
Is this a new
category? It's reminiscent of the original, 2016 video game year in
review. Why this silly category? I reinstalled (or never uninstalled)
these games and played them again.
I don't remember when I started playing Dota, but I still play between two to ten games a week. According to Valve, it occupied 45% of my time playing games on Steam.
Europa Universalis 4 is still a once a week game with friends.
My kids still enjoy playing Shovel Knight: Showdown (though we are playing other games to be reviewed in 2023).
I played Ultimate General: Gettysburg, because no game recreates the historic battle better.
I also played Stellaris, Phasmophobia, and Deep Rock Galactic with friends.
Awkward
Mixture's 3rd
Place
Award:
In 2018, Pillars of
Eternity lost the top award of Awkward Mixture to Dark
Souls III. Pillars
of
Eternity
II:
Deadfire
features a number of mechanical improvements over its predecessor,
but with a less original story. The sequel's strengths and
weaknesses, averaging out, but its sequelness makes it less
compelling than the original. In the rematch between Obsidian's
Pillars series, and FromSoftware's Souls-likes, Obsidian again falls
short (see Best Game of 2022). At least one Obsidian game will
compete with a FromSoftware title on Awkward Mixture in 2023. This
is becoming a thing, making Pillars of Eternity
II A Contentious Developer Rivalry On Awkward
Mixture.
Awkward Mixture's 2nd
Place Award:
If there is one game in 2022 that
changed radically from liftoff to landing it's Outer
Wilds.
The protagonist starts as an alien bumpkin learning the basics of
how to operate a spacecraft, and concludes as an intrepid explorer of
their mini solar system, wise with the mysteries of quantum
mechanics, and attune to the nature of life, the universe, and
everything. Mechanically, it seems flawed, but it utilizes every
tool to perfection. It exhibits the Most Childlike Joy In
Exploration.
Best
Game of 2022/2019:
With
Sekiro,
FromSoftware repeats its past performance, and earns a perfect record
of two for two on Awkward Mixture. Sekiro
doesn't supersede Dark
Souls
III
as the best game of Awkward
Mixture,
but this 2019 masterpiece ventures into different territory. The
developer explores new techniques and mechanics, while retaining the
core Souls-like elements of difficulty, mystery, exploration, tense
tight combat, and darkness. Sekiro
offers a variation on the classic souls-like combat, and expands
exploration with a grappling hook. It demonstrates FromSoftware's
ability to innovate. Even Souls fanatics need variation. It excited
me for the release of Armored Core VI in 2023. Meanwhile, let's see
if Elden Ring can three-peat for FromSoftware (as I'm currently
playing it), or if they will be dethroned in 2023. Regardless,
Sekiro
is The
Best Game Of
Awkward Mixture Of 2022.
Recent:
Unfinished Games of 2022: Part II
Relevant:
Awkward Mixture's Video Games of 2019: At Least I Played A Game Made Last Year
Awkward Mixture's Video Games of 2020: For the First Time in Five Years, I Reviewed A Game Released This Year
Awkward Mixture's Video Games of 2021: The Blog Returns to No Games From The Current Year
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