Saturday 23 December 2017

25 Fantastic Games You Probably Missed In 2017


As the Steam Winter Sale has just kicked off, now seemed like the best time to go over a few major successes of 2017 which slipped under the radar. While we will be covering another massed listing of bargains, for the moment this is just a chance to highlight a few exceptionally fun outings which didn't get the attention they deserved. That or I didn't have the chance to review them in full. 

Some you might have heard of before but either quickly faded from memory or were just overshadowed by bigger releases. Others are indie gems which simply lacked the media hype they deserved. Keep in mind that these will not get the usual full review treatment, merely a paragraph or two outlining their strengths and essential qualities.



25. Hearthlands



One of the much better stabs at an accessible Dwarf Fortress (besides Rimworld), Hearthlands puts you in control of a few settlers in a procedurally generated world. You control a city, building it up from nothing and slowly establish a civilisation. While you cannot directly control the individual actions of your civilians, you can manipulate their roles, daily tasks and occasionally nudge them down the path you want.

Along with building allies and establishing trade routes, you need to ensure that you have a stable source of magic and a solid defensive force. It's entertaining in its own relentlessly unforgiving way, as there is a thousand and one ways to fail, and for everything to fall to bits.



24. Tank Warfare: Tunisia 1943



Rather than being your standard RTS, Tank Warfare: Tunisia 1943 opts to embrace simulation aspects for troop control and directions. Management and tactical cohesion is more important than simply spamming units and trying to rush the enemy, and it needs more than being able to perform a dozen clicks every second.

To give you some idea of what to expect: The game is divided up into a turn-based tactical movement phase, a deployment phase and finally an engagement phase. You only fully engage the enemy in the final point, and you cannot micro-manage your tanks, only convey orders through your commanders.



23. Fall of Light



Set in a world consumed by darkness, Fall of Light is a dungeon crawler with far more of a story than you usually get. Dark, atmospheric and with extremely unrelenting combat, it sees you dying a lot and requires little in the way of number crunching.

Combat requires you to predict enemy attack patterns, carefully select how to best approach your foes, and avoid early traps. The deeper you go into the nightmarish world, the more surreal and twisted the reality about you becomes, until you're not entirely sure just what else is lurking alongside you in the dark.



22. Old Man's Journey




In contrast to the last example, The Old Man's Journey emphasises storytelling over mechanics. Simple, direct and leaning towards the casual side of things, it pushes to make the player enjoy a story of loss, recovery, and exploration over killing the next boss. Almost all story elements are conveyed non-verbally and through the environment over line upon line of dialogue.

The main engagement stems through various puzzles, from fetch quests to logical conundrums. The artistic presentation and soundtrack help to add depth to the world, and through it the game manages to be more than simply the sum of its parts.



21. Distrust



The developers of this game advertised it as John Carpenter's The Thing: The Game, and it embraces that quality wholeheartedly. The game sets you up as one of several researchers trapped inside a winter locked base as things start to turn strange, and then take a turn for the homicidal. 

The game requires you to carefully conserve resources, keep the base running, contend with outside threats, and deduce just who is the threat among you. The risk of failure is high and it's easy to die very early on without approaching the world with extreme caution. Best yet, it even has a co-op mode. That said, to warn those looking into it, the game is still being patched for bugs. Keep that in mind when you're looking into it.



20. Pyre



A strange and yet very engaging creation from the developers of Bastion and Transistor, this sees you waging war through magical high-speed dodgeball. Part sports game, part visual novel and part RPG, Pyre has every victory and loss impact upon your path to enlightenment.

The game's various challenges and world building are worked about the ongoing games, and in typical Supergiant fashion, it does enough to hook you in without overexposing the setting. The various rules and tactics of the games can radically change over the time, with various player types and vastly different strengths among team members.



19. Omegaland




In what looks to be little else than a Super Mario knockoff at first glance, Omegaland instead opts to completely twist expectations. While it starts off with the usual tropes, gameplay types and even enemies you might expect, the sheer variety of hidden qualities, secrets and areas will keep you hooked.

Even without the surprising changes, the game is extremely fast paced and mechanically tight. The sheer variety of enemies, shifting challenges, level types and jumping challenges will keep you hooked until things get really interesting.



18. Battle Chasers: Nightwar



The Battle Chasers is classical in the best of senses while sticking to inventive RPG concepts. Utilising turn-based combat, it sees you traveling through a steampunk magitek world and trying to grab all the loot you can. Also, for those wondering, yes this is something of a sequel to the comic of the same name.

The game takes concepts from JRPGs along the lines of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy, while utilising western-influenced mechanics, such as randomly generated levels. Battle Chasers has learned from the mistakes of the past, however, with various anti-grinding features to keep things moving.



17. Tyranny - Bastard's Wound



The first of the two DLC expansions on this list, the Bastard's Wound works as a chance to extend that much more of the world and offer material for character interactions. You are tasked with judging and then exploring a settlement which has been founded beneath a magical ruin, with all the problems involved. The story, while brief, adds a number of major game changers to the larger world and it hints at something much greater to come.

The replay value of the DLC stems from a few key moments and the characters involved. Much like the larger Tyranny itself, it's a brief but highly detailed experience where you are encouraged to keep coming back and trying new things with new characters.



16. Operation Apex



As VR continues to evolve, some of the simplest ideas are those which are helping to push the boundaries the most. Operation Apex doesn't follow the usual horror route, but it instead opts to focus more upon the spectacle of exploration. You are in the middle of a deep sea dive, traveling just above the seabed with fish swarming about you. Your task? To find the largest Great White Shark ever seen.

Much of the game is spent hunting for clues and simply enjoying the beauty of the environment. You need to carefully pay attention to key details and certain fish in order to eventually find your quarry.



15. The Wild Eternal



Tackling some fairly heavy subject matter, The Wild Eternal sees you playing as someone trying to heal from past traumas and escape a constant cycle of resurrection. You wonder a mist filled valley as you try to pick out the correct items, points of interest and resolve a few puzzles.

This is one of the very few examples of walking simulators done right, as it hinges upon some ideas discussed in detail and are reflected in the world about you.



14. Rogue Trooper: Redux



A recent remake of an even more underrated classic, Rogue Trooper: Redux was a last generation game. A few ideas are certainly dated and you can tell the exact era it is from via the turret sequences. However, it's an extremely well made last generation game, with interesting mechanics and very challenging enemies.

Rogue himself is a talented soldier, a genetically enhanced artificial warrior trained to fight in a pollution-choked world. Each item of his arsenal has its own soul, retaining the memory chips of his fallen comrades, allowing them to be independently deployed for complex tactics.



13. Shadowhand



 A combination of CCG and RPG qualities sees you playing a highwayman in 18th Century England. The gimmick is that you can only take a few hits, so you need to use your cards to sneak about a foe, rob them of their worldly goods and hit them extremely hard when needed.

The use of cards in this game is less Magic: The Gathering than it is solitaire, with a more puzzle-like and directly combative structure than you might expect. The sheer variety of cards to allow you to rapidly reload or carry a wider assortment of weapons keeps things interesting for hours on end.



12. Styx: Shards Of Darkness



Another of the Orcs series of games, Styx: Shards Of Darkness is the game of a goblin assassin. Unlike the unending Ubisoft series of games set throughout history, this is an actual assassination game. You can take few hits, most direct fights will end badly and stealth is your greatest ally. Styx might be weak, but he's smart, fast on his feet and extremely agile, and the game can be seen as one gigantic puzzle over everything else.

The game balances humour with drama at every turn, and it often throws these moments in at unexpected points. This helps to balance the extreme tension of avoiding guards, with genuinely hilarious film references or bizarre gags.



11. Lost Technology



A game in the vein of the classic tactics games of the Gameboy Advance and SNES era, Lost Technology boasts an ensemble of over a hundred characters split among twelve factions. You govern an army, and try to lead them to global dominance over a massive world map, with Risk-esque routes and a surprisingly intuitive enemy AI.

The game offers massive replay value due to how differently each of the factions speak, react and interact to your presence depending upon who you are playing. This is extremely in line with Warriors games, but it offers a few more pointers those games will usually skim over. In addition to this, the battles are surprisingly tactical and benefit from a vast scale strategy engagement.



10. Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles



Another of the bright, colourful fantasy adventure series, the Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles are a Harvest Moon-lite experience paired with the Legend of Zelda. While it relies upon a sense of internal wonder and a desire to explore, then uncover the dark secrets of the islands.

The surprisingly relaxed atmosphere and lack of the usual hindering survival mechanics makes it a welcome change from the likes of Minecraft or grindy experiences. While the main story is relatively brief, the big appeal stems from the other areas of the island to explore, alter and slowly thrive in your new home.



9. Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King



If you are going to even consider getting any game on this list, make sure it is this one.

Blossom Tales is effectively a SNES era Legend of Zelda mashed together with the Princess Bride. You play two roles in it: One as a grandfather explaining the story to his children and the other as the hero. Things have gone bad, a wizard has pushed to claim power for himself, and the king is unconscious. What follows is a Macguffin hunt to get the pieces to stop the wizard and reverse his spell.

What makes it stand out from the crowd is how it uses the narration to change events. The grandfather might pause to correct himself or quickly cover a plot hole, radically changing a scene as it's in progress. In others, it can be used to choose which enemy you fight and when. The choice itself dramatically altering the environment and populating it with a specific series of foes. It's cute, colourful, humourous, mechanically challenging, and barely anyone bothered to buy it due to Steam's terrible store page hiding it away.



8. Hollow Knight



A rare example of a game which genuinely warrants a comparison with Dark Souls, Hollow Knight is one of the largest and most unforgiving metroidvanias created to date. Grim, unrelenting and with no end of unpleasant surprises which can be thrown your way, it keeps you guessing just how to progress and what enemies can be thrown your way next.

The sad desolation of the levels is enhanced as much by the strange artistic style as the soundtrack, which works perfectly with boss battles and major fights. 



7. Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth



Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth is a very rare resurrection of an otherwise abandoned genre. A point and click adventure game set in 12th century England, it follows several people struggling to survive in an increasingly hostile world. Along with avoiding the old point and click sin of leaving you trying to tackle moon logic, your choices carry serious weight here. A decision made by one character will seriously influence others, and can come back to bite you later on down the line.

The game also works its themes of sacrifice in the name of dreams into its core mechanics, while the sheer variety of characters and large scale personalities presses upon you the size of this saga.



6. Archaica: The Path of Light



Another puzzle experience, Archaica: The Path of Light requires you to channel beams of light and utilise ancient puzzles to progress further into a series of decaying ruins. The game's environment constantly shifts in order to provide further challenges, as you manipulate items across a grid-based system.

The number of coloured laser paths, the variety of tools and surprisingly varied locations is enough to keep things interesting. There's also a surprisingly thoughtful story added to the game, which helps to give you greater incentive to keep going and pick out tibbits of lore.



5. Rakuen



A curious example of an extremely story-driven experience, Rakuen is another example of a game where you play through an ongoing tale. Told by a child stuck in a hospital bed, you travel through his personal world along with his mother. An ambitious concept and one which could easily have been used as a gimmick, Rakuen's creators instead uses it to constantly comment upon the various quests and the child's perilous situation in a surprising way.

The game avoids direct combat in favour of puzzles, but it still manages to work in various dungeons, sprawling environments and the sheer variety of challenges put in your path. Many dialogue based mysteries and questions link closely into the game's main themes and central plot, many of which tie into the final few minutes.



4. Sunless Skies



The only Early Access listing on here, Sunless Skies is the exception to the usual rule. Having proven themselves with Sunless Sea, Failbetter games have sought to build further upon their world and expand it out into the heavens. The core objectives and the mechanics are the same as its predecessor, and yet many strengths have been built upon. Trading between ports lacks much of the finicky or obtuse qualities disliked by some, and there is much more of an effective instant start. Flight and traversing the sky follows the same overall mechanics as on the sea, yet it's easier to maneuver in the air.

The active updates and constant development means that the already large world is constantly being expanded upon. The lore once more delves into the creepiness and surreal nature of the universe, but even old hands will find new ideas to expand upon subjects. A big one stems from how the stars are seemingly being hunted down and killed en mass.



3. Last Dream: World Unknown



Last Dream has long served as a personal measuring rod for RPGMaker successes. The original game's world was vast, with surprising side-quests, a vast amount of choice and more than sixty hours of content throughout it. World Unknown doubles the value of the game, changing the setting and pitting the heroes against an entirely new threat. While it is very much a sequel story to the main game, it retains many similar ideas and qualities. The protagonist once more sees the world's history through mysterious visions while seeking to halt a growing crisis, and the same Guilds appear once more. However, it nevertheless manages to keep you guessing as to where things will progress to, thanks to the fate of a major city and several big moral conundrums.

The world is filled with various oddities and life inspiring moments, from the histories of side characters to moments which slowly evolve over time. Also, there are a number of hidden dungeons with some very interesting histories to them.



2. Use Your Words



Jackbox Party Packs have proven to be a smash hit with a broad audience, which has naturally led to the rise of countless clones. Some are good, more than a few are bad, but Use Your Words is a rare example of one which tries to build upon the concepts developed by the first game. Rather than simply trying to trick others, it's a caption contest-esque experience where people vote upon the funniest suggestions.

The game is broken up into a variety of different mini-games hinging upon this subject, which ranges from altering subtitles in a running video to a still image.



1. The Sexy Brutale



Like many, you might have initially been put off by this one thanks to the choice of name. If you did, you missed out on one of the most creative concepts of the year. There is a masked ball taking place, a murderer is on the loose and there might be occult events in play. It is your task to gradually piece together events and pick out how things are taking place, and when. As you run through events over and over again, you slowly start to figure out the timing of certain actions of characters, and where certain disasters will occur.

The game is part adventure outing and part puzzle game. As you can travel back to alter events and push things down a new path, there is a trial and error quality to events, but you can never wholly predict just how things might pan out. Just when you think you might have something align together perfectly, a butterfly effect of sorts might change the outcome entirely.



0. Homeworld: Emergence



Yes, this is technically cheating, but damn it, this is something to be celebrated! You might recall a couple of years ago Homeworld saw something of a resurgence with both Deserts of Kharak and the Remastered versions of the first two games. For many this was fantastic, but unfortunately, it was lacking the best game of the series: Cataclysm. The reason? The source code had been lost and no one could get hold of the right bits to remake it. Well, clearly something changed, as the game was re-released this year under the name Emergence and it's as great as ever.

Serving as a stand-alone expansion to the original game, Emergence follows a minor Kushan power on board a mining vessel. Unfortunately, an operation goes horribly wrong, at which point a story of warfare and survival turns into a cosmic horror tale. So, the miners need to rebuild their ships into vessels of war and find out how to stop a nightmarish entity from wiping the galaxy clean of all life.

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