Hey, gaymers, what is happening! Remember last anno when I detto that things would improve, that the world can’t possibly get any worse and that things can only improve? Well… I dunno. The world is still toiling in this black plague hellscape. Apparently we had più variants that came out, but like no one seems to remotely care. Everyone’s gotten their shots, everyone who cares anyway, everyone is going outside now that restrictions and lockdowns have long since lifted, and despite hearing news of più to come, everyone’s just kinda gotten bored of the whole pandemic thing and just gone back to their lives. As for the games industry, it got so much fucking worse. 2020 was a shit anno all around, let’s not beat around the bush, but it fucking killed it with game releases last year. But this year? What the fuck happened? So many games this anno that came out were so bad. When fucking It Takes Two and Psychonauts 2 are contenders for game of the year. Now I’m not shitting on those games. One of them made this list. But if this was any other year, those games would be lucky to get one nomination, let alone six and certainly not game of the year. But damn, all the big games. Battlefield, Halo, Far Cry 6, Grand Theft Auto Definitive. So much fucking disappointment this year. This anno was filled with lackluster releases, buggy launches, companies trying to nickel and dime te for the smallest of additions and Bobby Kotick of Activision-Blizzard found out to be an alleged pedophile, a known scumbag and misogynist, and VIP on Epstein’s Island. What a fucking mediocre anno and easily one of the worst years for games in a fucking long time… But hey, It Takes Two did deserve it’s game of the anno award. Yeah, I did not get to play a lot of games this year. Not out of any personal issues o shit like that. I just had no interest in a lot and the games I did, I either didn’t get the time to play them o they weren’t available on the consoles I had. Yes, I am still a filthy console peasant, leave me alone. So because of that, I was only able to find ten games that stood out to me. Riveting compared to last years, I know. But I didn’t have banger after banger after banger like last year. So sadly, this is a much shorter list. But I do wanna give praise to some games that I did play but didn’t have enough to make a superiore, in alto 20, games I didn’t get far enough in, games that I didn’t get to play but look cool and so on. Button City, I don’t really care for the gameplay but I’m a sucker for low poly. Chivalry II was a fun game to play with friends. Pretty limited with it’s gameplay but it was fun wailing on groups of guys with an axe. Ender Lilies, a fun metroidvania Soulslike, can’t go wrong with those. Probably the closest we’ll get to Dark Souls with Stands. Lost in Random, I am both disgusted and amazed da the visuals of this game and the world of it. The closest I will ever get to playing a card game. Metroid Dread. I’ve never played a Metroid game in my life aside from the first ten minuti of Metroid Prime but this looks cool. I like when Metroid goes più horror. Mundaun, a horror game that legit had me stressed the fuck out and in a good way. Resident Evil 4 VR, a game I have pretty much memorized and now here in VR. I was a bit on the fence before, but after shooting enemies in this and getting used to it, it totally sold me on VR. Expect some VR games to make appearances successivo year, perhaps. Also I did not play Death Loop o the new Ratchet and Clank because PS5 scalpers. Okay, fuck you, let’s start the list. I’m Nik and I suck my own dik. Let’s roll.

#10: The Good Life



Okay this is the part where te all run away. o rather walk away wondering why I am even allowed out of my house to talk to normal functioning people. But yeah, I know I put Deadly Premonition 2, a super buggy game at the number five spot in my original list. And… yeah, in hindsight, I was going through a lot of emotions with that game. That game was più like deserving of the #7 spot. Still superiore, in alto ten though, just like we’re doing here. Fuck-a you! So The Good Life, another weird culo game in the weird repertoire of that glorious bastard SWERY. Shockingly, though, not a creepy horror game o a strange thriller. Instead, what we got here is a cozy culo little life simulator not that much unlike a Harvest Moon o an Animal Crossing.. There’s no horrible alternate worlds with monsters with scissors o evil zombies, but it’s close. The small rural town in the British countryside, Rainy Woods. So instead of taking “inspiration” from Metal Gear o Twin Peaks o Criminal Minds, this is like… I dunno, Coronation Street? te play as Naomi, this American journalist who is neck deep in debt, like three million worth of debt and has to get a big scoop in the hopes of paying it off to her company which leads her on a spree of… a bunch of shit. Like this game is insane. Like even da SWERY’s standards, this shit is nuts. There’s a man in a suit of armor making home renovations, a guy with a robot arm, a punk rock girl running the bar, the townspeople turn to Gatti and Cani on the full moon and there is a murder in the woods. And this is just the shit te see at the start of the game. I don’t want to spoil the other stuff because I don’t think I can. It wouldn’t make any più sense with context. But how’s the game? Oh, it’s a mess. No frame rate issues and long loading screens, thank the gods. But it has a lot of empty spazio as is accustomed in these SWERY games. A lot of items collecting and spending DAYS to get it. Features that te are told once and proceed to never use ever again like bacheca climbing, some fashion, the pissing… yes, really. But what this game lacks in playing like a regular culo game, what it gets right is the fucking FEEL! I detto this in the other Deadly Premonition reviews and the last games of the anno list, but SWERY nails that weird small town feeling. And living in an area of America where te got small towns separated da vast countrysides, this game just fucking nails that. Everyone knows everyone, family owned businesses supported da local residents, those houses just outside that no one really knows all too well, running around at night to see a few faces out and about. Like fuck man, these characters are the most cartooney SWERY’s character have ever looked o felt, but this shit is super relatable to me. It makes me feel all cozy, honestly. And I do find a small satisfaction continuing the plot to try and make sense of it all and te get nothing and everyone in the town is just giving te smiles and kind words while Naomi is having none of this. Going from York to Naomi is like whiplash. York was a guy who took everything on the chin, welcomed weirder ideologies and customs and even went along with it with this child-like optimism. He was such a goofball and kind of a weirdo, but ya loved to see him. Meanwhile, Naomi is just pissed and annoyed all the time and this town just drags her down with it’s bullshit. She just wants good internet service and to get drunk on a night off while worrying about money issues. Naomi is a fucking trashy cagna and I Amore it. And even when SWERY games are pretty frustrating, they always manage to have one moment that explodes in emotion. And that climax near the end, when the Musica kicked in and the vocals were there as te ran around the town looking for anyone to help, it was something. te want to get it, but fuck, te know it ain’t happening. te did this to yourself. And god, this moment made me so thankful that this game's Kickstarter from years fa worked out and this is what we got. This game is what I wanted to see. Huge issues and all. I would take it all again just for that authentic SWERY feeling. I have no idea what this crazy bastard is planning next, but I wait anxiously. The Good Life. It ain’t that good, but it’s totally SWERY, and that’s alright too, man.

#9: Chicory: A Colorful Tale



So I’ve never really painted in my life… Okay, so Chicory is a game set in a world where animali gotta live with the color they have, and one person wields the magical brush that allows them to paint the world as they see fit. One day, you, a dog named any Cibo te like (I named mine Sushi), finds this brush and decides to do a bad and then uh-oh spaghetti-os, the whole world goes to shit and now all the colori are gone. Well, time to go on a fun adventure to paint the world again that I am sure will not go into anything legit depressing and way too fucking real, am I right gamers? First off, the world of these cartoon characters in it all black and white is a fun one. I Amore seeing all the kinds of characters that populate this city, what their place in the world was. I Amore that Chicory has a dog mother and then we see her fucking raccoon father. This is a trash cat household and I will not accept hatred for them, do te understand me? But how is the game itself? Well, a simple adventure game that has a sort of early Legend of Zelda style to it, exploring different parts of the world, even complete with dungeons. The game is mostly exploration and puzzle solving, some of these puzzles even having me stumped. That could be due to the fact that I’m a moron, but I digress. They are super clever and really make use of these different brush techniques. Using it to paint certain spots in the floor to match a pattern, swimming through lakes with them, using them to activate plants to get around. I thought it was fun enough that I could draw dicks and memes onto any place I wanted, but they really thought this stuff out. Now I detto that the game is mostly exploration and puzzle solving. Nope, there are boss fights in this game. And they don’t fuck around either. They aren’t just here to add some variety and call it a day. These guys are tough. My preferito was the mirror fight where te have to make them get hit da an attack because they follow your moves. I Amore boss fights that are mirror bosses o doppelgangers. They work so well in gameplay. And the più the game goes on, the più te see Chicory, the actual brush wielder, suffering from depression, resentment from her old master, and just thinking she’s not worth it. Like this game hits hard. I came here to draw dicks on everything. I wasn’t expecting to feel sad. This was a collaboration of many indie creators, including Lena Raine, who worked on Celeste and others. I hope she was compensated for this game as well. Chicory was a game I came into expecting it to be pretty good and have a fun time with. But I walked away really feeling good from the game and kinda sad in all honesty. I really wanted più from this game and I do look inoltrare, avanti to what the creator, Greg Lobanov, makes next. I think if anyone has ever had struggles with stress and doubt towards whatever they create, it’s indie creators. This game will hit hard if te ever experience that too. So yeah, Chicory is a fun culo feel-good time, I swear.

#8: Knockout City



Man, all these online multiplayer games that are just war shooters. Call of Duty. Battlefield. Halo. Yeah, no thanks. I want something that’s cartoon styled, something that’s più than a shooter. Like Fortnite but not a battle royale, those just don’t do it for me. And not Overwatch, cause Overwatch sucks… Oh hey, Knockout City. I like dodgeball. And goddamn, this game is something, let me tell you. I got this game on the free trial for the first week, which, honestly, più online games should do. And me and my good friend Logan had the most fun with an online game that we’ve ever played. Yeah, even più than last year's Fall Guys: Ultimate Cock Out. Well now it’s time to whip your cock out in Cock Out City! Like I said, this is an online multiplayer game with a cartoon aesthetic that te use dodgeballs of all varieties in. How do te play the game? Well, te ever play Sekiro o any Platinum game? te know how to parry? Congratulations, te can play Knockout City. Grab those balls and send it right back to that motherfucker. This game was addictive when we first played it, let me tell you. I also Amore the 50s futuristic diesel punk style. This is like something from Dark City, The Rocketeer, o Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Ah yes, only Film I give a shit about. Everyone talks about how great steampunk is, but can we please bring back diesel punk. Something about that era was so stylish. I want più of that kind of stuff. The game has a ton of different modes, lots of different levels and balls to throw around, and tons of customizables. My character made some sleazy car salesman from the shittiest parts of Mafia II while I just went and made Johnny Bravo. I have rocked this design for seven months and I don’t care. When te get a lot of good players in, the game can become total chaos, running around these small maps having to look all around te to keep from death claiming you. And it’s only a matter of time before te get a full on combo between te and another player catching the ball and throwing it. And when te are cornered and te catch two o even three balls thrown at te from three enemy players and toss them back. Holy shit, it is exhilarating. I haven’t played Knockout City much since Season 1, and the H@CKED aesthetic doesn’t do much for me, but god does the thought of going back in and cracking più heads while quoting Johnny Bravo fill me with a sick glee. Maybe I will return to Knockout City again. I have been hankering for a good cartoon style online game that isn’t run da pedophiles, assuming EA doesn’t get a sex scandal. Fingers crossed.

#7: Dodgeball Academia



Hey, so Anime is a cartoon, right? Anyway, Dodgeball Academia, the most anime-cartoon video game I have ever seen. Man, this is weird, two dodgeball games that are super good. Who would have thought it? Anyway, Dodgeball Academia is no different than your Narutos, your My Heros, your Hunter x Hunters. All we need now is some weird magical loli for people to get too hot over and we’re in business. Dodgeball Academia follows Otto, a student who wants to become the best dodgeball player in the school. With the help of a cast of culturally diverse friends, he aims to be the best there ever was. Yeah, the story isn’t all that good. It's a typical Anime affair. But, hey, I ain’t gonna judge a story if the game is telling me it doesn’t care and just wants to have fun with it. It makes up for it with the characters in this game. Some of my preferiti were the grown man who is still a student of the school who runs an illegal underground dodgeball game, the crooked culo lunch lady who is cheating these kids out of their money, and god, anyone who has Kamina sunglasses is a-okay in my book. Now the gameplay is something I was not expecting to have this much fun with. te have the ability to sposta around the court like a regular dodgeball game, can catch a ball for max damage, te get your own abilities for each character, can change their stats with items that te put onto them as well as leveling up. And let me tell you, these tournaments are not the easiest thing in the world. It is not hard to get royally fucked up. te gotta really master the catching in this game. Dodging is good, but catching is a great way to get that ball in your hand for più speed. And if anyone on the opposing team is out, they can grab that ball and throw it at you, and te really don’t want that. Most of the enemies are generic school children who look like they were rejected from CalArts. But when te get to the unique students, that’s when it’s a real fight. These kids are brutal, all with their own unique abilities, like they can stick te to the ground and te gotta catch their ball, they can create a sort of spin cycle ball, the ball turns massive, and so on. Like these kids don’t fuck around. Sure, te could lower the difficulty…. Like a COWARD!!! But nah, it’s cool I was able to get the Platinum for this game. Like there is a benefit to doing everything in this game for items, level ups, cash, and so much more. Plus I actually came to enjoy exploring this game and seeing all that was in it. This shit is structured like an Anime but it feels like a cartoon and I am here for that. There’s nothing wrong with a grown man liking cartoons, okay? Sorry we all can’t spend $80 on Call of Duty for the adulthood privilege of calling a kid a faggot cause he camped you. Wow, what a great perk. No thanks, I’ll stick to spending $30 on good culo indie games like this, fuck te very much.

#6: Blue Fire



Like Paradise Killer was my sleeper hit of last year, here is my sleeper hit of this year. Blue Fire, a game that came out nearly at the start of this year. I was half expecting this game to get buried under everything else that came out this anno cause it was so early on, but lucky for Blue Fire, a majority of this anno was just pure mediocrity, so it was able to stand out from the pack with our little guy. First off, I just Amore the visuals. I am a sucker for this sixth-gen era Gamecube-ass Wind Waker cel shading. te can make a game look realistic all te want but eventually that shit is gonna age like we all are going to one giorno before leaving this mortal coil. But cel shading still looks good to this day. Jet Set Radio is like 20 years old and it still looks good. And Blue fuoco is pretty damn good looking. The game plays like Dark Souls with difficulty and combat, but it’s paced like a Zelda game. It even has dungeons themed around the weather in a way. An ice dungeon, a forest dungeon, a lava factory, like damn, I was really feeling some classic Zelda game vibes running through these places. The combat is alright. Nothing special, nothing terrible. Dodging in it is fun and using some moves is cool. No, where this game stands out is in the platforming. I was trying to think for so long why I Amore Super Mario 64 and fucking hate Conker’s Bad pelliccia Day, yeah, I detto it. And I soon found out it’s because Mario gives te so much control with your moves. te can jump, double jump, triple jump, bacheca jump, backflip, long jump. It gives te so much, then throws te into a level and tells te to go nuts with it and I am here for that. And then when I went through the challenge rooms of Blue Fire, seeing the dashes, the bacheca runs, the double jumps, and how the game told te to use whatever, I loved that. Sure I could dash through this room of spikes. Or, and here me out, I could go outside, and then bacheca jump, jump, bacheca jump again, double jump, bacheca jump, dash, bacheca jump, dash, bacheca jump and then get up that way. Yeah, I could do that. I don’t know if that was the intended way, but it was the way I took it and the game didn’t stop me from doing it. I want più of that. te got the world, te got the moves, and te got an obstacle. te have all te need to get through it. te just gotta figure out what works. And can I say that I Amore our little guy here. I was expecting him to be a little stoic, and he is, but he comes off as this confused little guy who is just making the best of this hellish world. And he can even emote. I Amore the Hollow Knight too, but can he emote? I don’t think so. Blue fuoco boy though, he can emote. And he can even do the dance from A Hat in Time, YES!!! The sidequests in this game are pretty fun too. I was expecting a few items te get, and te do get some upgrade items, but also special moves, items that change stats, even cosmetics like a new mantello for your character and even new weapons. There is no reason not to do the sidequests. Some can be a little fetch quest-ish, but damn do they have some charm with the little characters of this world, like the sisters that run the factory, the bar owner and his daughter, and the many different merchants. It's nice that there’s a Dark Souls-like game that isn’t too depressing. I Amore the terrible agonizing nihilism of those games, but sometimes te want less “The world is pointless and we’re all going to die. Nothing matters” nihilism and te want più of the “Nothing matters so let’s just have fun with it” nihilism. And that’s Blue Fire. It dances all cute like while telling te life is pointless. I Amore it.

#5: Everhood



Man, it is not even fair sometimes. For a long time until I think some other stuff came out, Everhood was at the superiore, in alto of my list, and for very good reasons. This game is insane. I really thought that this and Blue fuoco were a sign of some great shit to come this year. Ha ha ha, no. But Everhood had a very good first impression for the year. Everhood follows our red doll character who is on a quest to get his arm back from a thief known as oro Pig. And that’s it. That is all the story is, I swear it. I came into this game with the expectations that this was an Undertale inspired game that would be about the same thing as that game. Only boy was I wrong. Sure, it definitely has a lot of elements to it. Some weird zany characters in a weird world of monsters. The only difference is that te are in that world and there are no characters that te can relate to as human. Also no meta commentary about the realization that they are a video game. Meta commentary, yeah, just not about that subject in particular. Now that’s all well and good, but te ain’t seen shit yet until te get into the fights. These are not fights in the first half. These are survival runs. te are at the mercy of the boss as they fucking style on te in their rhythm game boss fight. Now I don’t know about you, gaymers, but I fucking Amore rhythm games. Not dancing games, that is trash. Rhythm games full on. I wish they would just make a comeback big time but I’m pretty sure that was killed after the demise of chitarra Hero and Rock Band’s popularity. Thankfully, Everhood keeps that alive with this. These guys are laying down some hot jams and te gotta not get hit da that shit. And they can go to an insane degree with them. I’m talking some bullet hell shit. And when they introduce the bars that te can’t even jump over, te are really fighting to survive. And te better believe the Musica is slapping hard in this game. Can't have a rhythm game without that shit going hard. My preferito is the gnome theme cause this is noisecore shit that I am into. It’s only halfway through the game do te manage to get your hands on an ability to fight back. And uh… yeah, so I don’t want to spoil what happens after that, but the game takes a really, really, really dark and ominous turn. Like one that is way più fucked than even Undertale is. But damn if that stuff didn’t have me engaged from start to end. Like I had to see what I could do, the sick fuck in me had to know. It’s a little sad to know so many people slept on this game under the pretense it was an Undertale knock off. This game is so much più than that and I really want to see what più this crazy culo world has to offer. Also we need più games where te are fighting a boss with rhythm game elements. This and No Straight Roads are things I didn’t know I wanted and now I crave it.

#4: Shin Megami Tensei V



As of the time I write this article, I am still not finished with this game. It’s a big culo game with a lot of shit to do in it and I got a lot of time working on stuff. But I think that I am content keeping it here even if I do beat the game. Anyway, Shin Megami Tensei V is a fucking banger. Shin Megami Tensei V, AKA that game journalists hate just like they do everything, AKA Persona’s più fresco, dispositivo di raffreddamento older brother. I’ve always loved the Persona franchise, but I super got into the SMT franchise last anno and played a fuck ton of the games. SMT III and IV, the Digital Devil Saga games, Strange Journey, Soul Hackers, The Raidou games, the first two Persona games, and my favorite? Jack Bros for Virtual Boy. Hell yeah. And needless to say I had a fuck load of fun with SMTV thanks to the quality of life improvements. Sprint, jumping, return to save points, heal button, no fucking random encounters! Thank god. Just so many improvements added from precedente games. Oh don’t worry. That doesn’t make the game easy. I got my shit rocked. The first boss Hydra sent me packing. And that doesn’t include the plethora of bosses te find out in the overworld. Oh te were scared of running into the super boss in FFVII? Guess what, fuggamuffin, every portion of every area has a super boss. And the rocking beat to each boss, each with their own unique battle theme and each as threatening but awe inspiring as the next. And god can I just say I Amore we got a full SMT world in glorious HD with full camera controls. It’s amazing looking over this wasteland and seeing the demons dick around with each other. Like Oberyon hanging from strada, via lamps, Bicorns running in a herd, all them just wandering the wasteland. This is something I can imagine some SMT fan crying with joy over, seeing this world and these demons come this far. It’s not a perfect RPG. I don’t care for the human characters, frames on character animations dip at times, the world has to load in graphics, and Amanozako is almost as annoying as Morgana. But these are small potatoes in a game this huge and this detailed. Plus te can swap Amanozako for Pyro Jack and that totally bumped this game from an 8 outta ten to a 9. But seriously, the game has so much più to offer. So many demons, so many open shit to do, side quest, and just oozing with personality with the many demons te can mee. It’s the most fun I’ve had in hell.

#3: Resident Evil: Village



So I need to be very clear here. This game and number two are easily 9 outta 10 games. Two maybe a 10 outta 10. They are both vastly better than Number one. BUT, this is my lista at the end of the day. Village and number two are the better games, but number one is più personal. If I don’t put it where my cuore lies, who will? I can’t just sit and wait for someone to tell me it’s worth number one. Otherwise, Village would be number two cause fuck it deserves it! Resident Evil: Village, AKA what Lords of Shadow 2 wishes it could be. We’re never getting a Bloodborne 2 but the successivo best thing is here! I’ve always been a big Resident Evil fan, as many of te would know, and man have I wanted a good culo Resident Evil experience for a long time. Closest we got to was Resident Evil 2 Remake, but that’s just because RE2 is a classic. REVII was okay, 6 was terrible, RE3 Nemesis remake was very average, and I don’t give a fuck about the Revelations games. But VII was the most fun I had with a Resident Evil game since 4, my fourth preferito game of all time. For starters, it’s the only game on this entire lista that I beat and immediately said, “Let’s do it again”. It’s the first game that made me do that in a long time. After I beat the game, I wanted to upgrade all my weapons, I wanted to try out the harder difficulties, I wanted to find all the items, treasures, secrets, even do a coltello only run. A coltello only run. I usually hate those, even in RE4. But at least they gave te a strong coltello to get through it. And I don’t mean to brag, but I got the trophies for beating the game on the Village of Shadows difficulty and for beating the game under three hours at the same time. Not for the coltello only run, cause fuck that. But I really challenged myself to see how good I could push it. With just two minuti to spare, I did it and it felt so fucking good. The characters are fun too. I Amore that all the villains are just dumb culo Saturday Morning villains bickering and arguing. They are all fucking dumbasses and I Amore it. Lady Dimitrescu is great as te all know. But I legit felt stressed in a good horror way with Donna’s level, I enjoyed the marshes and the pathetic humor I got from Marou. And Heisenberg… eh, yeah, his area was the weakest for me. At least Heisenberg was a charming man. No Jesse though, sadly. And goddamn, I Amore The Duke. I came for big lady, but I stayed for Big Man! And Ethan Winters, our protagonist. He gets a lot of shit from fan even in this game. People even say they prefer his original character, but holy hell no. Ethan was fucking nothing in REVII. But in Village, he is trying so hard to muster up the cool guy energy of Leon with the lame culo wonders and failing in the best way. I don’t care what anyone says, this man is exuding lame dad energy and I am here for it. I wasn’t expecting to Amore RE Village as much as I did, yet it is easily in my superiore, in alto five for the series. It’s got a spooky mansion to explore like RE1, a threatening foe that chases te like RE2 and RE3, great combat in a cursed village with a friendly merchant like RE4, the great character depth for fan of REVII, and even some action for people who like RE5 and people who like lobotomies, I mean RE6, I mean, no, lobotomies, I was right the first time. I Amore RE Village so much and I can’t wait to give it another speedrun again sometime.

#2: Psychonauts 2



Words cannot perfectly describe how much I Amore the boundless creativity of this game. I played through the first game at some point and I liked it quite a bit. I wasn’t head over heels in Amore with Psychonauts 1 and mostly felt I needed to play it as an obligation due to the cult status it has, but it was a solid game. Meat Circus can go to hell. But Psychonauts 2 is an improvement in every way conceivable. First off, the humor of this game is superiore, in alto notch. I was legit laughing hard at the sheer oddity of all these characters. From the strange characters that lingered within the minds of characters, the sheer visual puns I was seeing in some of these places, Sam is the best. We staan Sam in this household. An Raz just giving reactions of confusion, disgust, o sheer terror is amazing to witness. And the gameplay is such an improvement. te can’t go too crazy with the platforming in this game, Levitation definitely got nerfed, but the new abilities are fun too. I Amore Mental Connection and how te can get unique dialogue for all the things te mix up, as well as being a grapple for enemies. I Amore Projection just for the sake of having a secondo hand drawn Ra to distract enemies for te and cause Projection Raz is just perfection. And the Time Bubble… Yeah I didn’t use it all that much on enemies. And speaking of enemies, holy shit, they got an upgrade. No longer are they just Censors. We got Judge, these giant judges that hit like a truck with their gavels. Enablers, these cheerleaders that make the enemies invincible. My preferito design is Panic Attack, these crazy color monsters that can teleport around the map. And god, these levels. There’s so much creativity in them. te got a giant neon lit city that te ride a bowling ball around and crush the amoeba citizens. te got a hospital that is changed into a casino with stuff like pill pachinko and betting on cuore races. te got to win through a sea of booze to get to different islands. te get to go on a psychedelic rock road trip to get the band back together for a guy experiencing sensory overload voiced da Jack Black. Oh my god, these creativity that is booming in this game. And best part, no Meat Circus. There is not a single level in this game that is bad. Well, the mail room went on longer than I would have liked, but still better than Meat Circus. I have no nostalgia for the original game, absolutely none, but I could gush about Psychonauts 2 for hours just because of all the great stuff it does and how clever and witty it is. I gave Tim Schaffer, this game's creator, some shit in the past, and I will say the man has made some mistakes. But I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I can safely say that I learned this thing called, maturing, and not looking at a guy who says something political as a fool. Take a look at yourself in the mirror and cry, Nik. But I digress. Psychonauts 2 is just a great game. Like fuck, man, it is amazing. If this was any other year, I don’t think the Game Awards would give a shit about this game. It won nothing at the Game Awards which is a crime, but at least it was acknowledged. And if this was any other year, Psychonauts 2 would be my game of the year, hands down. But it just fell short of my true number one.

#1: No più Heroes III



I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. Putting this above Psychonauts 2 and REVillage and SMTV. Metroid Dread didn’t even make the list. I don’t hate Metroid, I just never got around to it. But I still think even if I played that, even if I played It Takes Two o Deathloop o all those great games that came out this year, I guarantee that no matter what I would have still gone with No più Heroes III as my number one pick. As a game that te can play, No più Heroes III is like a 7 outta 10, bordering on an 8 outta 10. The game has a lot of the same fighting missions that te gotta do that don’t really mix up things and they are the part that is the most mandatory, there’s a lot of confusing stuff, and I never feel fond of the Unreal Engine’s graphical style with these kinds of games. I know it’s no one’s rael fault and it all stems down to budget, but god, it looks rough sometimes. Shinobi got it bad, and I ain’t just talking about in the story. But god, man, I just Amore so much about this game. Coming back to Santa Destroy, after ten years, and seeing the state it’s in. Aside from the giant alien structure in the center, seeing how dilapidated it is, how worn down. It’s like so much has changed, yet so little is actually different… again, minus the alien structure. It’s like this place has just existed with no real change to it and just wasted away. Until these alien freaks mostra up, these actual weirdly designed creatures, with strange body proportions, odd colors, some looking like they came from a different game entirely. They stand out so much and in a good way. They look like they don’t belong here, like… ya know, aliens. How aliens should look. Like shit, Mr. Blackhole, the first boss, doesn’t even have a face. Just a hole in his face. And while the gameplay outside of boss fights don’t change very often, the boss fights twist it around a lot. Other than a lot of them getting a big surprise that is not da you, there are times where the gameplay changes all together. te may get roped into a tutorial for new DeathGlove moves. te may unlock a new battle suit. te may have to play a game of musical chairs, a horror game, o a JRPG. Like the dialogue between Travis and these bosses and then processing into a fight is steller, with great build up akin to the first game. And the gameplay is the best it’s ever been. te no longer got high slash, low slash, stun and then suplex. te still got those, but now with the addition of a jump to do a ground pound as well as to avoid enemies. te can roll away from enemies and block. te got access to four Death Drive movies. te can slow down enemies, te can push them away, te can activate projectiles, and the best one, a dropkick that instantly teleports te to an enemy to kick them. te can even activate a power suit for più damage, and even a super power suit for major destruction. te can even save your slot bonuses in this game rather than use them like in the last game. And these enemies are tough. They can grapple you, swarm te and do combos. I never had so much difficulty but so much fun fighting basic enemies in a No più Heroes game like this before and I Amore it. And there’s something so special about this game. I promise I won’t get as emotional as I did with Yakuza 7. As emotional. We see Travis, this otaku, this dorky guy who has worked his way up from this point. He’s a 40 anno old man now, he’s gotten experience with life and death da this point, is married to Sylvia, has two kids, and now owns the No più Heroes Motel. He’s come a long, long way from the bloodthirsty, short tempered, horny nerd that the franchise started with. I was here back with the first game, seeing Travis as this fucking loser with little redeeming qualities. He was hungry for blood and violence, he wanted to fight and prove he was the best just so he could get laid, he was a fucking loser who blew all his money on a knock off lightsaber and every woman disrespects him, his twin brother can’t stand him, and the one woman he wants to get with was using him (Pretend that the stupid retcon in No più Heroes 2 never happened). But now, after all this pain, seeing people close die as well as making connections with others, he’s grown. He’s changed for the better. He’s still a killer and he’s still a dork, but he’s relaxed now. He’s not out to fight and kill for some titolo o pussy o revenge. He’s here to fight cause he wants to protect his town. Whatever te say about Travis, FU, the villain of this game, is a huge threat to the world. Whatever kind of prick Travis is, FU is vastly worse for this world. Travis has grown into a real good guy. As good as an assassin with an Anime collection can be, but he’s grown into a real hero. A true hero. A real no più hero. And seeing a franchise that te love, that inspired te heavily, seeing it finally come to an end, it’s a weird feeling. Cathartic? Maybe. No più Heroes inspired so much about what I Amore in… well, anything. The style of a good jacket, the rogues gallery of bosses you’ll have to beat, the symbolic telling of serious subjects like death and violence in media and society all told through these weird and wacky events while keeping it respectful and mature. Without No più Heroes, I don’t know if I would be wanting to create stuff now. This game really brought me to where I am now. Now I’m making my own stuff, working on the internet and even planning to make a movie of my own. Will it be good? Will it be a disaster? I don’t know. I’m just a guy who makes funny dick jokes on the internet talking about games I like. But I know that No più Heroes III is a game I Amore just for how personal the series is to me. Maybe we’ll see Travis Touchdown again one day. Maybe we won’t. But at the end of the day, thank you, No più Heroes. Thank you, Goichi Suda.

Well, that got really mushy at the end, but hey, that’s my ranking of games for the year. What a pretty lackluster anno for games, huh? But hey, 2022 is shaping up to be even better than this year. Maybe a superiore, in alto 20 will be in order this year? Maybe even a superiore, in alto 30. Maybe not. Elden Ring looks like it’ll be cool. That new Chocobo racing game looks neato. I like kart racers. Evil Dead: The Game should not look as good as it does, but here we are. Who knows. Maybe 2022 will make up for the anno of nothing. o every game will become NFTs… that can always happen… See te fuckers successivo year!