My year in games – Part 2 (Apr-Jun)
And so it continues, with quite a mix of titles during lockdown.
Here’s links to the other parts: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
APRIL
HALF-LIFE 2
Well, yes.
Needs no introduction.
I played through this and Episodes 1 and 2, just because I could. As good as ever, and barely showing its age.
Score: Get Me out of The Sewers
THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM
Another one that most people will have heard about. A huge open-world fantasy title that Iâve already spend dozens of hours in. Yes, the first-person combat isnât the best, but oh, the stories I could tell youâŠ
Score: An Arrow to My Knee
HITMAN (2016)
Added the year in there, as there have been various reboots and sequels that can confuse things. I actually didnât get on with this one, which is strange considering how much I loved Hitman: Blood Money when it came out in⊠2006! For the love ofâŠ!
Anyway, even though I could appreciate how well made it is, I found I couldnât be bothered going through its motions. While there did appear to be many ways of killing your targets, and even 100%-ed both training missions, when I was eventually let loose in the seaside mansion I tired of the deliberate gating that forced me down certain paths.
Yes, thatâs part of how the game works: youâre an elite assassin who has to blend in, steal disguises to gain access to certain areas, etc., I just donât remember the series feeling this artificial, feeling like itâs a puzzle box âdesignedâ by an unseen hand, rather than acting as a living, breathing world.
Score: Plague Doctor Costume out of Drowning someone in a toilet bowl
MAY
A NORMAL LOST PHONE
After the three big AAA games I played last month, it was time for something much smaller. A Normal Lost Phone is an indie game where you just happen to have found the titular mobile device and immediately start scanning through all their texts, emails, and photos. Of course, youâre only doing it to try and find out who the owner is and return it to them, but as you do so, you begin to piece together their life over the last few months. As you do, there are twists and turns, there is figuring out passwords for dating websites, and secret apps that uncover a whole hidden life. I wonât go any further, as I wouldnât want to spoil things, but itâs incredible to find a non-linear narrative working so well delivered this way.
Score: You have 2 new messages out of Likes long walks and sunsets
TITAN QUEST
I tried to play this top-down fantasy title several years ago, but didnât “click” with it đ I had better luck this time round, but still tired of it eventually. Itâs very much a “lots of clicking on lots of enemies with lots of loot exploding out when they die” type of game, and is quite fun in a mindless sort of way. But, I reached a point where I began to feel the repetitive grind of it, and no amount of new enemy types could distract from the fact I was still just clicking on things.
Score: 48 gold, a spear and a magical bracelet out of A Small Rat
JUNE
A SHORT HIKE
You play Claire, a crow bird girl, who goes to a holiday island with her aunt while her mum is in hospital. She is waiting for a call to let her know everything is fine, but there is no phone signal by the beach, and the only place there may be one is right at the top of the island. And so begins a delightful exploration game where you meet lots of odd characters who all need help finding something. If you help them, you are rewarded with golden feathers that help you fly and climb for longer, which allow you to reach new places and discover new people to help. You can find these feathers hidden around the landscape too, but part of the charm of the game in interacting with the other visitors as you gradually make your way across the island. There are lots of little hidden secrets, but they are never forced on you. This is a very relaxed game, and best played at a slow pace, not because it isnât very long (it can be completed in a few hours) but because youâll never want to leave.
Score: Crampons out of Leg Cramps
ELIZA
And at the other end of the âgame moodâ scale is this title. You play Evelyn Ishino-Aubrey, a talented programmer who had retreated from the world, and her work, for three years. She is only now rejoining society, and finds a job at ELIZA, a mental health clinic where treatment sessions are run by an AI, and you as Evelyn are a human proxy that the patients talk to while you reel off the script provided for you by the AI.
This is a visual novel style game, which means you are shown your location, the characters talking, and you click through each line of text they speak (it is fully voice-acted) to continue the story. There are some dialogue choices to make at key points, which directs how the rest of the game progresses, but the plot mostly follows a set course.
This was nominated for narrative awards, and rightly so. It touches on so many issues surrounding mental health, the commercialisation of human health, data protection laws and the personal information we are willing to give away, excessive crunch and overwork in the tech sector, and many more. Itâs not a light read/play, but I was hooked from the start. If youâve ever wondered if computer games can tackle serious topics, then the answer is overwhelmingly yes.
Score: “5 out of 5, congratulations you have levelled up, counsellor!”
