VOID BASTARDS
Moment-to-moment, Void Bastards is like an infinitely replayable System Shock, as you trawl through a series of abandoned spaceships for food, fuel, and ammo. Each ship incursion takes maybe five minutes, with randomized elements like “No Power” adding additional hurdles—and enemies that get more difficult as you go deeper into the Nebula.
But your goals are nonsense like “Find a Line Printer,” with which you’ll create an ID card that doesn’t work. Not without an HR Computer at least, for which you’ll need a Mouse Ball and other space garbage. Every time you die, you’re given a new space felon to try again—with randomized traits like “Smoker,” meaning you cough every few seconds and alert enemies. And did I mention S.T.E.V.? He’s your handy AI guide, who chimes in with advice like “Note to self: Issue more bullets to replacement client.”
It’s one of the most satisfying and rewarding run-based games I’ve played in years, and hilarious to boot.
HEAVEN’S VAULT
Heaven’s Vault has some rough edges. Its more action-oriented bits—sailing around the Nebula, walking around various planets—are the least interesting facets, and you do them a lot. Less, after the game’s post-release patches, but they still comprise a significant portion of the experience.
The writing makes up for it, though. Inkle already demonstrated its prowess with 80 Days and Sorcery!, but Heaven’s Vault is its most ambitious work of interactive fiction yet, a sprawling archaeological sim of sorts, comprised of dozens (maybe hundreds) of different story branches that still manage to coalesce into an engaging sci-fi story. And how well you understand that story also depends on how deep you delve into its translation side, with a “lost” language for the player to slowly decipher as they explore the Nebula—for the first, fifth, or tenth time.
A linguistics-based puzzle game won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it’s very much to my taste, and I’ve rarely felt smarter than when I finally deciphered the rules to Heaven’s Vault’s glyphs.
BEST OF 2019 (SO FAR): OUTER WILDS
The music swells and I stop. By now, I know exactly what those first musical cues mean: The universe is about to end again. My 22 minutes is up. I settle in to watch the sun explode, already planning where I’m going to explore the next time out.
Outer Wilds is incredible. It’s a clockwork, a solar system in miniature that’s trapped in a time loop. The same events play out every run, with 22 minutes to explore any planet you’d like and uncover its secrets. You could theoretically finish it in your first-ever playthrough—provided you looked up the answer, where to go and what to do. More likely: You’ll die, either by crashing into a planet at top speed (as I did), or in a blaze of glory as the clock expires.
But you could finish it, because nothing about Outer Wilds changes. Only your knowledge changes, as you uncover shortcuts that make it easier to get to hidden areas, or chart when and where certain events occur so you can be in the right spot next time, or learn in one area a heretofore-unknown mechanic that will get you past an obstacle in another area. The story is told in scraps of a lost language—reminiscent of Heaven’s Vault, albeit without the translation mechanic. By the end you’ll have an idea of how and why the time loop occurred, and what to do about it, assembling the story like a puzzle.
Outer Wilds is what an adventure game should be in the modern era, full of breathtaking vistas and packed with secrets that make it a delight to explore, and meticulously designed so even without any guidance the player can string its breadcrumbs together, figure out where to go next and what to do to bring the journey one step closer to its end.
BONUS: YAKUZA KIWAMI
In the interest of letting another proper 2019 release get on this list, I’m relegating Yakuza Kiwami to the “Honorable Mention” section. After all, it came out on consoles three years ago—and is a remake of a game from 2006, no less.
Don’t skip it though. Don’t think “Ah, it’s not on the actual list, so who cares?” Kiwami is one of the best games I’ve played this year, and the perfect entry-point to the series for someone who doesn’t want to spend 50 or 60 hours on Yakuza 0. I took that route, and I think it’s the better option because some of the story moments hit harder having played the prequel and spent more time with those characters. Kiwami gives you a bite-sized introduction to what makes the series special, condensing the typical Yakuza experience down into 20 or 25 straightforward hours, and putting longtime protagonist Kazuma Kiryu through some harrowing events before it’s all over.
It’s a soap opera, but it’s a great one, and I’m glad Sega’s porting these games over to the PC at last. ■
Thanks for reading if you like the content share it with your friends
[mashshare]
