Welcome to the first annual Squiddies!
The highly prestigious game awards show created and curated by one individual, myself.
The only rules for making the list on the Squiddies are that A).
I needed to beat the game and that B).
The game needed to be released in some form on some official platform during the year
in question like Steam or PSN, even if it already had a prior release.
2017 was a great year for games.
We've seen some excellent indie titles launch this year like Cuphead and Hollow Knight,
while the bigger publishers released some incredible games like Breath of the Wild or
Super Mario Odyssey.
That said, 2017 was also a big year of disappointments from poor sequels (Destiny 2, Battlefront
2),to predatory loot boxes galore (shadow of war, battlefront 2...again).
Today, I'll be covering games on both ends of the spectrum, with my favorite and well,
not so favorite games that have come out this year, with explanations as for why that entry
made the list.
1).
The Whacky Smacky Slash and Hacky Award for Best Action Game
WINNER: Nioh → Nioh has a rap as being just Samurai Souls, but it's far more than a
mere clone.
The combat system is one of the best I've ever seen as it manages to be approachable
yet have a staggering amount of depth.
It's easily worth the price of admission on its own.
Through Nioh's stance and skill systems, every weapon becomes suitable to nearly all
combat encounters so long as the player has a good understand of how each movesets works.
This is especially important since each attack leaves varying periods of vulnerability and
consumes varying amounts of Ki (Nioh's version of stamina), so careful management of Ki and
precise ki pulsing is required to survive the rather lethal combat.
As a result, combat becomes this ebb and flow of going on the offense, dodging out of an
attack at the last second, and then finishing up with a flashy combo.
It really never gets old.
Learning the ins and outs of Nioh's combat and gravitating towards a specific playstyle
gave me a great sense of natural pride and accomplishment, as I can look back and see
how much better at the game I've gotten and how many tricks in combat I learned to
pull off.
That's something you can't buy in a loot box.
RUNNER UP: Vanquish → I remember playing Vanquish back when it came out on the 360
but not getting far due to not being able to aim with a thumbstick.
7 years later, it finally got a PC port, and a rather good one at that thanks to Little
Stone Software's efforts.
Vanquish probably had the best combat system in any third person cover shooter of the past
decade and brought some needed innovation to a very stagnant genre.
The Augmented Reaction Suit was a game-changer, as it completely altered the way I played
cover shooters.
No longer was I slave to cover, rather, I boost dodged around the levels and sniped
robots from afar using my bullet time.
The score-driven nature of Vanquish meant that replaying the game to master its combat
system was highly encouraged.
And once I got proficient enough, I managed to avoid cover for the majority of fights,
which awards bonus score( though this begs the question of why a cover system is in the
game in the first place)
Sure, Vanquish has flaws, the chief one being a lack of variety in the levels and enemies,
but those issues aside, Platinum put out a great shooter.
2).
The "Screen May Be Flat But The Characters Sure Aren't" Award for Best Narrative:
By best narrative, I don't necessarily mean just the best plot, but the characters, the
method by which the story was conveyed, and all of the other contributing factors as well.
It's about the experience really, and which games managed to immerse me in their worlds
through "exposition" and indirect storytelling.
WINNER: VA-11 HALL-A → Yeah, it came out in 2016 for the PC, I but played the Vita
version, which came out in 2017, so it still counts.
And yes, the Vita has games.
I'd recommend picking one up if you can find it for cheap.
Anyways, "cyberpunk waifu bartending".
That's all you really need to know to understand what VA-11 HALL-A is (spelled as "vallhalla"
from now on).
Without spoiling too much, Valhalla is a story about a bartender named Jill and her interactions
with her friends/ bar patrons.
There's an interesting contrast between the dystopian setting and the constrained
scope of the main story.
While the city is in a state of unrest, given the rampant crime, terrorism, and the authoritarian
government, not much eventful seems to happen at the bar outside of Jill humoring her customers
or vice versa.
Outside of the bar, we get to see Jill's internal struggles as she can't let go of
the past nor does she seem to know what her purpose in life is, both of which provide
some nice emotional variety to the story.
The the game engrossed me with its quirky clientele including a popular robot idol,
a "legal" loli robot prostitute, and a real-life catgirl.
I commend Sukeban games for not making these physical attributes the defining characteristics
of these characters, as each individual has depth and nuance that gradually unfold as
Jill talks to them throughout the campaign.
Conversations just flow naturally, despite the unusual setting.
Really, Valhalla is a great slice-of-life game to boot up, have a beer or two, and lose
yourself for a few hours to conversation while having an occasional cry.
Special mention to the absolutely phenomenal soundtrack by Garoad, which really amplifies
the intensity of the experience.
RUNNER UP: Nier: Automata → A deeply flawed, yet very engrossing experience.Sure, the combat
and exploration got repetitive after a while (especially on the second playthrough), but
the story and characters kept me hooked, even if there were some pacing issues towards the
mid-point of the game.
I think the greatest strength of Nier:Automata is how it experimented with unconventional
methods of video game storytelling such that it could not be told in any other medium without
compromising the narrative.
The rapidly changing game genres and camera angles alongside some really endearing characters
made it an unforgettable experience for me.
It also helps that the soundtrack just made all of the scenes that much more impactful.
3).
The "Shotgun Wedding Award" for Biggest Surprise
As the name implies, this award is for games that I had little expectations of that blew
me away when I tried them.
WINNER: Get To The Orange Door → I had previously reviewed GTTOD back in April and I was unimpressed.
The game's level design was terrible, the performance was awful, and the mechanics were
insanely buggy.
It had potential, but it was not a good game.
Fast forward to half a year later, I played GTTOD for my Outrun video and I was shocked
by how much better the game was.
The mechanics were tightened up and a lot of the jank associated with wall running had
been removed.
Performance was much better and the levels were markedly improved, removing the weird
desert and flying train levels in favor of Tron-inspired maps.
The game itself played completely differently, as there was now more room to experiment and
avoid enemy projectiles on every level.
Thus, it turned into a sort of bullet hell first person shooter, which worked surprisingly
well.
I wasn't expecting much from this game, but in a such a short span of time, it's
become so much better that I'm looking forward to its launch.
RUNNER UP: Dead Cells → I'm not a fan of Steam early access games as I've been
burned by many incomplete and abandoned games.
Dead Cells has restored some of my faith in the system.
Despite not being close to complete, it's a remarkably polished "roguevania" or
metroidvania and roguelite hybrid.
Every run is fun thanks to the high mobility of the player character and the skill-based
nature of combat.
While each weapon doesn't have much variety in its movesets, combining them together alongside
the activated skills and maneuvers is where the combat shines.
Getting some good elemental combos and synergies going often means that I end up feeling like
a demigod for that run.
Most of the weapons feel great thanks to the very flashy visuals and great amounts of hitstop.
I also have to give credit to the developers, as many of the complaints I had with the game
at the time (such as shields being underpowered, skill scrolls being the worst upgrade, etc.)
have since been addressed and changed in some fashion.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.
4).
The "Anime Fan at Prom Night" Award for Most disappointing game:
LOSER: → Sonny - Oh boy, while Sonny 2017 wasn't a broken game, it was easily the
most disappointing of the year for me.
Taking a classic series of Flash RPGs (arguably the best ever made), Sonny 2017 did away with
many of the features of the original games, despite being a decade newer.
The characters are flat and uninteresting, the story is thin and almost nonsensical,
the combat is a frustrating and poorly balanced mess, and the character skill trees are bland.
Compare that to Sonny 2, which had more interesting characters all around , actual animations
on attacks (instead of characters just shuffling around), full voice acting (which is not available
in the decade newer commercial version), and far more interesting classes (like a brawler
who needs to generate and conserve mana to deal maximum physical damage or a mage who
debuffs his friends and himself to deal maximum damage over time to enemies, etc).
Don't bother with this one, just replay the originals instead.
They're free and they're much better.
RUNNER UP: → Overgrowth - I have to ask, what did they spend 9 years working on?
Overgrowth had a lot of potential, but it feels like a very rushed game.
Combat is poorly balanced since the leg cannon is OP as all Hell and Turner can't deal
with mobs of enemies despite most of the encounters being designed for group combat.
Had his dodge roll not been terrible and he had some AoE, that'd be one thing, but most
enemy encounters are a frustrating mess of kiting and leg cannon spam.
The platforming also has a lot of issues, as wall running is needlessly finnicky (leading
to many unfortunate deaths) and the levels are bland and excessively large.
Online multiplayer could have helped with a lot of these issues, but that's not in
the game, and splitscreen co-op is horribly unintuitive and reminds me of setting up shareware
games from the 90s.
There is fun to be had in Overgrowth, but there are so many hurdles to that fun that
it's just not worth the hassle, especially at its retail price of 30 dollars.
5).
The "Dirty Deeds Done Damn Expensively Award" for Scummiest Developer Actions
Let's face it, many of the developers and publishers aren't working in your best interest.
But these actions go above and beyond the call and are particularly egregious.
LOSER: Warframe - Warframe isn't on this list for being a bad game, far from it.
However, it earns its dishonorable mention due to more ideological reasons.
Back in Summer, the github profile of VoiD_Glitch, the resident data miner that published drop
tables of everything in the game, was deleted.
Wanna see the drop rates of a rare mod?
Alternate fire damage statistics?
Well, you can't anymore.
The community manager explained that due to unauthorized access to hidden content, the
developers could no longer turn a blind eye to VoiD's activities and took action.
However, several issues pop up with their explanation.
1).
Void was not directly involved nor facilitated the leak.
He merely data-mined, which is legal where Void lives.
2).
Digital Extremes had sent an actual cease and desist threat letter to him.
3).
The company made it extremely difficult for Void to contact them about the vulnerabilities
he found as they cut off contact with him, even when he tried to reach out to the community
manager on social media.
4).
DE blew smoke up the community's ass by trying to suggest that they'd negotiate
with Void while commenting in public, but sneakily deferring Void to lawyers in private
messaging, where nobody could see their deception.
As a result of this situation, I've lost a greaAwart deal of respect for the company,
as none of this shitstorm should have happened in the first place if DE had not been so bullish
or had just marginally better communicated.
Thankfully, VoiD_Glitch is doing well, so I'm glad that things didn't escalate further
into a legal battle.
RUNNER UP: Call of Duty: WWII → You know, it's bad enough that loot boxes are as predatory
as they are.
It's also bad enough that they are arguably pay to win in Call of Duty.
But COD WWII goes a step further by turning the sacrifice of the veterans who died serving
their countries during the second world war into a backdrop for a glorified pachinko machine.
Perhaps I'm being romantic, but the cynicism of it all and the blatant disrespect to our
veterans all to eke out a few extra bucks from players rubs me the wrong way.
6).
The Ouroboros Award for shameless self-aggrandizement
So, as the name implies, I can only give this award to games I've personally developed,
because there would be no conflicts of interest whatsoever.
WINNER: The Joseph Anderson Dating Simulator → Revolutionary, cinematic, a masterpiece
that transcends space and time.
JADS is the perfect game with no flaws to speak of and its consistent update cycle by
a dedicated game artisan means it constantly evolves over time.
The sheer mastery and craft of this game makes David Cage look like a competent game developer.
RUNNER UP: The Warframe Dating Simulator → While not as groundbreaking as JADS, nor as rich
in content, the Warframe Dating Simulator provides an intense romantic experience for
all players of all ages.
Featuring an even more reliable development cycle than JADS, it's a titan to look out
for.
7).
The Polygon Review Award for The Best Games I Didn't Even Come Close To Finishing
So, this is more of a dedicated award for the honorable mentions of the list.
While I couldn't feature them in the other awards proper, I wanted to give them recognition
for their excellence.
WINNER: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild.
→ . Breath of the Wild is a slow burner and the Myahm Agana motion control shrine
nearly caused me to smash my Switch in frustration and put the game down for a while.
So as a result, I haven't even gotten close to beating it since I picked it back up.
Really, BOTW's biggest strength is that it manages to recapture the magic of open
worlds, getting rid of a lot of the fluff and tedium that modern open world games burden
players with (radio towers anyone?).
It's certainly not a perfect experience, as the starting stamina is painfully small,
and low weapon durability means combat can be a slog until Link gets some powers in his
arsenal.
But I think it's greater than the sum of its parts and Nintendo managed to reinvigorate
a rather stagnant franchise with this entry.
Runner Up: Super Mario Odyssey is an imaginative and fun platformer, with vibrant visuals and
some really interesting locales.
New Donk City is probably one of the best levels I've played this year, as there's
so much to discover just by exploring.
The main issue with Mario Odyssey is that the game showers the player with rewards,
even if they haven't done much to earn them, which cheapens the experience, as completing
a challenging puzzle or finding a tough secret isn't that rewarding when they give the
same rewards as a much easier puzzle.
Co-op is also a great way to ruin a friendship.
Thankfully, it's local only, so you can punch them whenever they screw you over.
Overall, I think they are very strong efforts by Nintendo, and they probably would have
been contenders for game of the year if I had more time to finish them, so I'd like
to give them the recognition they deserve.
8).
The Obligatory Arbitrary Gold Star Award for Game of The Year
WINNER: Nioh → When it comes down to it, I don't think there's a game that I enjoyed
more in 2017 than Nioh.
That insanely fleshed out combat system kept me hooked for dozens of hours, and I expect
to be engrossed for another few more dozen hours.
Yeah, the story becomes quite convoluted very quickly if you aren't well versed in your
historical Japanese figures, and the enemy and environment variety leave something to
be desired, but those niggles didn't really bring down my enjoyment by all that much.
A return to form for Team Ninja.
RUNNER UP: Nier: Automata → It's safe to say that I've never played anything like
Nier nor will I ever play something like it in the future.
Like Nioh, it's definitely a rough game, as its combat and world aren't that polished.
But looking past those issues, its deep tale of existentialism is not to be missed out
on.
Nier also holds a special place in my heart as it helped me through a particularly low
period of my life.
But more on that in another video.
9).
The Hideo Kojima Peyote Trip for Best Trailer/Most Anticipated Release
WINNER: Witchfire → Okay, this one came out of nowhere and was a massive bait and
switch in the most positive way.
The fact that the developers showed off the game as a walking simulator for the first
part of the trailer , only to say "fuck it" in the middle and reveal a fast-paced
FPS montage was genius and wholly unexpected.
The credentials of their past works were a nice touch that really solidified the false
impressions that they led the audience into at the beginning and end.
Bravo The Astronauts, you cheeky assholes.
RUNNER UP: Death Stranding → It's a Hideo Kojima trailer, you should know what to expect
from him by now.
The Death Stranding trailer was 8 minutes of...bizarre.
I can't say that I wasn't engrossed with it, as everything about it was so foreign.
Wait, why is this man rapidly aging?
Why are there invisible monsters?
Why are there baby batteries?
This trailer left far more questions than answers, but in the right way, as now I'm
very much intrigued as to what Kojima will put out.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Thus concludes the first annual Squiddies, containing my list of 2017's best and worst
games.
As a whole, I've played some really impressively varied titles, as every game mentioned, even
the awful ones, play very different.
I'm looking forward to what games 2018 brings us, though it's gonna have step up its games
given the bar of quality that was set this year.
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