January

Mortal Kombat 11

I’ve been a Mortal Kombat fan since the very first instalment. It’s been great to see this series evolve from a stiff, simplistic fighter best known for courting controversy into a mature, respectable fighting series with competitive depth. The complex lore and Hollywood-tier cinematics are second to none, and a big reason why the campaign is so enjoyable.

Actual footage from my schoolyard days.

In most respects, Mortal Kombat 11 is a simple refinement of 2015’s Mortal Kombat X. Other than a roster shake-up (where you at, Reptile!?), greater graphical fidelity and some contentious tweaks to the meta, it’s a fundamentally similar experience to its predecessor. One noteworthy difference is that fighters’ appearances and movesets are now fully customisable. There’s also an (outstanding!) additional DLC campaign, a series first.

Story wise, Mortal Kombat 11 concludes the narrative arc that began with 2011’s spiritual reboot Mortal Kombat. By meddling with time to prevent Armageddon, Earthrealm’s warriors have created dangerous paradoxes and invoked the wrath of Kronika, the Keeper of Time. It’s a bunch of nonsense, really, but it facilitates some amazing fan service. It’s a lot of fun seeing interactions between past and present versions of characters. Story modes in fighting games rarely get this much care and attention. With Mortal Kombat 11, Netherealm Studio have proven they’re a cut above the competition.

Resident Evil 2 Remake

The 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 is easily one of the best games I’ve ever played. It’s certainly the best Resident Evil game. Every facet of it impresses: the graphics, atmosphere, puzzles, controls, voice acting, sound design, story and pacing.

Being relentlessly pursued by the foreboding giant Mr X is a gaming experience that will stick with me for a long time. Resident Evil 2 is a masterpiece that I recommend to everyone.

Donut County

Short, colourful and delightfully strange, Donut County is perfect Game Pass fodder. It grabbed my attention early on with its chill gameplay and acerbic tone. The presentation and humour are strong, and it has the good sense to end before it wears out its own welcome.

February

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order

As a huge fan of Star Wars and Respawn’s signature IP Titanfall, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order should have been right up my alley. Unfortunately, I found it to be a frustrating mish-mash of ideas from other better games. The combat system cribs heavily from popular ‘Soulslike’ titles like Sekiro and Dark Souls. But those titles’ claim to fame – their punishing difficulty – is predicated on a methodical, razor-sharp combat system that rewards precise play. Jedi Fallen Order’s combat, by comparison, feels sloppy and buggy.

The combat is at its worst when you’re made to deal with the intergalactic wildlife. To be honest, I’m not sure how the concept of fighting giant frogs and insects in a Star Wars game even left the drawing board. The creature designs are horribly dull and their attacks are poorly telegraphed and difficult to read. Fighting Stormtroopers is comparatively more enjoyable.

Like Disney’s The Mandalorian, the story was serviceable. It’s a patchwork of (at this point well-worn) Star Wars tropes. I wasn’t particularly invested and the few narrative twists that occurred telegraphed themselves from a mile away. However, the presentation was great and I enjoyed the banter between the crew members. Their personalities felt fully realised.

The visuals were solid, with nice lighting and mocap performances. However, some areas of the game betrayed the lack of overall polish. Clipping occurred frequently during combat and there were janky animations abound. Cal’s facial animations were a bit uncanny. He had that quintessential Ubisoft thousand-yard-stare. The planets and environments, of which there were disappointingly few, ranged from hideous to beautiful. Oh, and #JusticeForWookies! They look like swamp monsters in this game. Total abominations.

Another issue I wanted to address was the RPG-lite ‘skill tree’, which felt extremely tacked on. None of the abilities I unlocked shook up the gameplay in any meaningful way, so I never felt the rewarding sense of development that such a system implies. I also disliked the way the game used memory loss as its narrative justification for gating classic Jedi abilities. This felt very contrived and video gamey.

The final thing I wanted to rant about was the abysmal level design and map system. Too much of this game is spent tediously backtracking between locations. Puzzlingly, there’s no option to warp back to the ship following completion of a dungeon. Instead, you must slog your way back through already-completed areas, repeating platforming sections and contending with respawned enemies while the unintuitive map does its darndest to confuse and disorient you.

I know I kind of went all-in on this game, but I genuinely found it a frustrating and disappointing experience. I’m not sure how it reviewed as well it did, or why fans rate it as highly as they do. I suspect it’s because the Star Wars brand has been held hostage for so long now and so new games are being graded on a different, ‘EA’ curve. Still, Respawn remains a talented developer and there are flickers of greatness here. I’m confident the sequel will improve upon these issues.

Slayaway Camp

This Games with Gold giveaway was an inventive puzzler and love letter to the horror film genre. Each chapter pays loving homage to an era of cinematic horror history.

While the presentation appealed to my inner cinephile, the puzzles became impenetrably complex. Each world introduces new gimmicks that affect how you can proceed. It starts off enjoyably enough but, with only a single linear route to victory, quickly devolved into a tedious grind of trial and error. The later levels are just straight-up ridiculous, with the player expected to anticipate the sprawling consequences of all 25 required moves. Maybe Grand Chess Masters will enjoy this, but it was all a bit much for this feeble chimp.

Still, the wonderful sound effects, death animations and clever references did a great job mitigating some of this frustration.

Wilmot’s Warehouse

A charming and inventive indie puzzle game with a seemingly banal but actually novel premise: arranging stock in a warehouse. Super satisfying if, like me, you enjoy organisation or fall anywhere on the OCD spectrum. The simple presentation and relaxing score added to the charm.

Every player will develop their own organisational system. In the beginning, I intended to group stock by colour, but found this system fell apart as floor space became scarcer and colours started overlapping. By the end, my layout was a convoluted mess that could only have made sense to its creator. A bit like my local Woolworth’s.

I remember taking a break from the game for a few days midway through a playthrough. When I returned to it, I struggled to remember the specifics of my system. I was just flying by the seat of my pants with a very intricate mental map.

All up, Wilmot’s Warehouse was a great little experience, both relaxing and stressful in turns. Its timed challenges really tested me but, overall, I remember it fondly. At this point, the AAA space is hilariously stale and risk averse. I’m thankful we have indies, where fun and innovation still prevail.

March

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

I’ve never played a Castlevania game, though the shadow of the series’ influence looms large over the industry even today. I wasn’t all that interested in Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon initially; I only started it because it was one of the few games that interested me in the meagre XCloud Preview Program selection. I’m glad I did, though, as I ended up enjoying it from beginning to end.

Its retro visuals and sound design were charming as all hell. The platforming was decidedly old school (it reminded me of Game Boy-era platformers), though less punishing. The challenge was tough but fair. Completing this game felt extremely rewarding and I look forward to spending more time with this series and its progenitor, Castlevania.

April

The Medium

Bloober Team are a divisive studio, but I’ve always enjoyed their efforts. They’ve managed to carve out an interesting niche as a developer of cinematic horror walking sims. Their latest entry, The Medium, is a loving homage to the Silent Hill series. It also has the distinction of being the first true Xbox Series X exclusive.

This exclusivity is due to the game’s central gimmick: its dual worlds. The Medium renders its spirit and corporeal worlds simultaneously. Through the power of next-gen hardware (namely the lightning-fast SSD), players can swap between worlds instantaneously. This concept is technically ambitious and impressive to behold.

Beyond this, though, the game was fairly unremarkable. It’s very slow, the puzzles are rudimentary and the controls are cumbersome. While the story is engaging, I didn’t like the way the main character, Marianne, took every horrifying supernatural experience she faced in her stride. Why should I, the player, feel scared when my character is clearly comfortable in the face of the unknown?

Stranger Things Season 3: The Game

A retro-throwback tie-in video game to a retro-throwback Netflix series. For what it was, this was a decently enjoyable co-op romp. It was a touch too long and its difficulty a bit uneven, but it was more enjoyable than most licensed games (that recent Space Jam brawler was particularly heinous).

The character profiles were utterly bizarre, though. In many instances, they barely resembled the character they were supposed to.

Undertale

Continuing my trend of playing massively popular games way after the hype has subsided, I finally got around to playing the one-time indie cultural juggernaut, Undertale. I had my head in the sand when it came to this game and knew nothing about it. As such, my playthrough was pure and uninfluenced by the hype machine.

It’s hard to make up my mind about it. On one hand, its constant subversion of my expectations made for a wild, unpredictable (and often hilarious) ride. The writing and characters were genuinely hilarious.

Beyond that, though, I can’t help but feel a large part of the game’s appeal hinges on the novelty of upending long-standing gaming conventions. In one sense this is novel, but I bristle at the thought of being manipulated for the developer’s amusement.

The game sometimes feels like it’s jonesing to punish the player for taking actions that the medium, and even the game itself, has conditioned them to expect. You take an action that seems correct or appropriate, only to inadvertently offend an NPC and invite punishment. Consequently, the game feels over-reliant on trial and error gameplay. Following rote actions is bad. The player must unlearn decades of conditioning to enjoy and succeed at this game. Some will find this refreshing while others will find it unfair.

Beyond all that, the game has personality in spades and the OST is straight-up God Tier. While at first I felt punished for not immediately embarking on a pacifist journey, the charm of the experience soon won me over. The pacifist run was an interesting challenge.

May

Rain On Your Parade

Fun presentation marred by sluggish controls and occasionally unclear objectives. I enjoyed drawing my cloud’s face and decorating him to my liking. I think I would’ve been more impressed with this if Donut County hadn’t already raised the bar in terms of what these irreverent point-and-click meme games can offer.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider was a modest downgrade after the impeccable Tomb Raider (2013). While its story lacks the amazing supporting cast and emotional through-line of its predecessor, there is still a lot of fun and depth in this title.

The mechanics are extremely polished. The controls are intuitive, making movement a joy. The environments, particularly the snowy Siberia stages, are stunning and intricately detailed. Similarly, the voice acting is first rate, breathing life into an otherwise sterile story.

I didn’t particularly enjoy the transition to a larger open world format. The side content – save for the brilliant optional tombs – mostly entailed dull busywork. I wish they had stuck closer to the tighter format of the previous game. Overall, this is another solid entry in the reboot Tomb Raider series.