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[wozman23]

2023 Game of the Year List

1) Alan Wake II (10/10)

Thirteen years! That's how long some fans had to wait for the follow up to the original Alan Wake. Thirteen years of uncertainty about whether we'd ever see a sequel. Thirteen years full of glimmers of hope. Thirteen years full of periods of despair. Thirteen years of Alan Wake II prototypes being passed on. Thirteen years of those projects turning into other IPs. Thirteen years of clever little nods and Easter eggs in games like Quantum Break and Control. I was a bit more fortunate. Having never owned a 360, and only finally getting to experience the original Alan Wake on PC in March of 2014, the wait was closer to a decade for me.

But from the moment I finally played the original Alan Wake, it quickly became one of my all-time favorite games. So the wait was still excruciating. Slowly, all the signs began to point toward a sequel actually existing. Remedy bought the right to the IP from Microsoft. The Control AWE expansion heavily featured Alan and hinted that we may soon be returning to Cauldron Lake. And then, it was official: Alan Wake II would finally be coming out! Even though I was far more certain by that point, it still felt surreal.

I tried to stay away from details pre-release. I wanted to go in knowing nothing. I pretty much did. Over thirteen years, so much has changed with gaming. Playing the remaster of the original shows that. Performance capture back then was in its infancy. Holding even the remaster up to today's light shows its rough edges. The atmosphere is still phenomenal. The Pacific Northwest is fully realized. But other areas have lost their luster. Animations, particularly when it comes to the characters and their facial animations feel dated in 2023. The audio is often a bit jarring. But the charm and intriguing nature of the game is still there in full effect. There were a few things I knew about the sequel. There would be two protagonists, with Saga serving as a bridge for new players. And the game would shift to more of a survival horror genre compared to the more action-focused original. That detail created a bit of fear.

Then I got to play Alan Wake II, and any fears were quelled. I can say that every, single, little decision that was made for Alan Wake II was perfect. Switching protagonists was great. Creating more tension by making enemies and encounters fewer and far between was great. Rewarding characters for exploring by hiding weapons and various upgrades off the beaten path was great. Abandoning collecting 100 damn thermoses was great! Taking the cinematic ideas from Quantum Break multiple steps forward was great. Linking all the breadcrumbs from the Remedy Connected Universe, which really seemed to come into its own in Control, was great. The visuals, great. The effects, particularly in overlaps and with jump scares, were great. The story, which answers a few key questions while creating many, many more, was great. The subtle inclusion of humor was great, especially within such a dark and serious game. On an artistic level as a whole, it was great. The interstitial songs between chapters were great in the first game. Here they were phenomenal! They command your attention. They provide their own details about the narrative. And they all absolutely slap! It would be impossible for me to pick a favorite because they're all so varied and amazing for different reasons. The graffiti in The Dark Place was great. Coffee World was great. That one moment, that was almost cut, that feels unlike anything that has ever been in a game was simply magical!

No one does music like Remedy. Their partnership with Poets of the Fall at this point is historied. All the artists they worked with on Alan Wake II were really impressive. The chapter songs from RAKEL, Poe, and ROOS + BERG feel like they occupy a eerie space somewhere between Billie Eilish and Nine Inch Nails. Mougleta and Jaimes threw down some catchier, poppy tracks. And the Paleface song packs a punch on its own just as much as it did in game. Even more impressive, Poe really hadn't really done anything in ten years, but re-collaborated with Remedy once more. Then there's Ahti, portrayed by Finnish actor and singer Martti Suosalo, who sings the beautiful Yötön Yö in Finnish.

The game really is a love letter to Finland. There's so much Finnish charm in the characters, locations, and humor, particularly with the Koskela brothers. I've always been fascinated with the Nordic region. The beauty of the area. They're unique cultures. The music coming out of that Sweden from We Are The Catalyst and Katatonia. Comedian Ismo. Or maybe it originally stemmed from watching Conan take his show there in 2006. Regardless, Alan Wake II definitely makes me want to visit Finland. It makes me want to live there. And it makes me want to learn the language just so Ahti can't sneak any secrets by me. Perkele!

I could break down nearly any of the other qualities that make the game great, and write plenty about the finer details that make them great. I could talk about practically every single character, their actions and motives, and the theories I have about them. Since release I've been absorbed with just that. I've been reading other people's interpretations and theories. I've watch many a youtube video dissecting the entire Alan Wake universe as well as the Remedy Connected Universe. I want to go back and replay Quantum Break, and Control, and the original, and even Max Payne – having never played the originals. I'd almost rather just further explore the Alan Wake rabbit hole than play other games. That has never happened before with a game. I've played a ton of amazing games over my approximately 35 years of gaming. Both entries of The Last of Us gave me slightly similar feelings, but that was more about just exploring the themes about the somewhat concrete narratives. Here, there is so much nebulousness to the narrative. We have no clue who Thomas Zane really is. We have no clue who Ahti really is. We have no clue who Alex Casey really is. Mr Door... Tim Breaker... The Bookers... Odin and Tor... the list goes on and on. We have no clue what Alice has actually been up to. We have no clue about the resolution to Saga's story, or what she's actually capable of. We really don't comprehend the mysteries of Cauldron Lake, The Clicker, parautilitarians, and so much more. And I love the game for that. For every thing I learn, or think I know, there's an ocean of things I don't know. And they mystery has its hooks in me deep.

Every little thing feels like it has a purpose. Every detail meticulously crafted. It almost doesn't feel like a game. As the game industry has evolved, and budgets reached stratospheric level, games have become safe, predictable. In the average AAA game, you can expect missions, a bunch of side missions that may be important or may just be there to pad out the game play time. You'll hunt for collectibles that often have little-to-no purpose.

Alan Wake boldly goes in a different direction. Sure, there's still a common thread that urges you to continue, and plenty of things to seek out and collect. But none of it ever feels forced or fake. It all feels like it adds to the narrative. I could even talk about the lunchboxes or nursery rhymes for quite a bit, and the way they transcend simply being collectible and puzzles to expand on the lore as well.

I feel like I could play the game a thousand times, and find new details that lead me to new theories.

Director, Sam Lake, has gone on record saying that he was happy that the game did take thirteen years to release. And as painful as the wait was, I have to agree with him. I don't think we would have got this version of Alan Wake ten years ago, or even five years ago. It feels as if it was created at the perfect point in time as a culmination of everything that Remedy has learned since the original.

Very few games have brought me to tears. The Last of Us is really the only other AAA game to do so. But after finishing Alan Wake II, and listening to the beautiful chapter songs, I found myself tearing up. Not because of the story itself, but because I'm just so damn grateful that it exists. And so damn happy that Remedy did such an excellent job and following up and exceeding my nearly insurmountable expectations.

I could talk about this game until I ran out of air. I've tried not to delve into the story to much, or mention any spoilers. But I could easily go on about all of that stuff for days. But I wouldn't want to spoil the experience for anyone. If you have any interest in the game, or just enjoy the spectacle of gaming in general, you really should play Alan Wake II. It's a once-in-a-generation game. Perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime game. I'm so happy it was recognized and rewarded at this year's Game Awards, taking home awards for Best Narrative, Art Direction and Game Direction. I thought it should have easily won for Best Music and Score considering how unique Remedy's approach is to incorporating music, and I figure it had an outside shot a GOTY, but it's hard to know feel so happy and proud of the team for all they accomplished.

When Geoff was asking on Twitter what the musical act should be, I, and many others, emphatically chimed in with “The Old Gods of Asgard!” Not allowing Poets of the Fall to let it rip live was a travesty, but I know that's often the case for live performances. It was still a wonderful moment. My worry was that they wouldn't be able to coordinate everything to give the performance the love it deserved. So it was great to see everyone show up: David Harewood, Ilkka Villi, Matthew Porretta, and Sam joining in at the end, living his best life in pure elation. The smile on his face as he danced along will live rent free in my head until the day I die. I love that man, his enthusiasm, and his reckless ambition so damn much! I also enjoyed seeing people who didn't play the game react to it, utterly confused by its weirdness. Best moment in the shows history! On Monday, the Final Draft patch comes out for Alan Wake II, which promises new content, new videos, new manuscript pages, and a different ending. It's the perfect excuse to play through the game again, which I'll plan to do after the holidays.

Please, let's not wait another thirteen years for a continuation. I don't want to be 53 when Alan Wake III comes out, which thankfully no longer feels like an if, but a when. I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more Alan Wake, and more of the Remedy Connected Universe! So until that day, I'll consume myself with fan theories, and replaying their games, and maybe finally getting around to watching a large part of the inspiration for the franchise, Twin Peaks.

2) Viewfinder (10/10)

Viewfinder quickly climbed to the Number 2 spot on my most anticipated list, behind only Alan Wake II, and much like Alan Wake II it not only lived up to the hype, but blew me away. It's a once-in-a-generation puzzle game, going toe to toe with greats like The Unfinished Swan, Portal, or The Witness. There is no other way to explain the mechanic than it feeling like magic. I cannot comprehend how you would make a game with that much freedom to reshape the world. If there was one game that it reminded me of, it would be The Unfinished Swan. Both did such an excellent job of introducing you to a lovely world, evolving their mechanics, and varying up their art styles throughout the experience. The game got some bad publicity upon release due to some of the voice over work, which I found to be an absurd criticism. Not once was I distracted by it. What did distract me was my childlike desire to toy around with the main mechanic. Not once could I break the game. Playing it was like watching a grandiose magic act. Every time I placed a picture, I understood what I was doing, but I could never believe it actually worked.

3) Cocoon (10/10)

I think Jeppe Carlsen is one of the best developers in the industry, period. His work on Inside and Limo during his time at Playdead is well respected. But for me he really made a name for himself with his smaller project, 140. So anything that he makes will be on my radar. I really hoped Cocoon could finish in my top spot this year as well, but placing it at Number 3 isn't a slight by any means. I consider all three of the games mentioned so far to be perfect or near-perfect games (as well as the next one). The main reason that Cocoon finds its place behind the other two is because if felt somewhat safe when it came to the gameplay. The atmosphere was perhaps Jeppe's best work to date. The world was as mysterious and strange as it was beautiful. However I found the gameplay, bosses, and overall puzzle design to be a bit too simple and predictable. I really applaud the one button approach, and really appreciate Jeppe's dedication to minimalism and simplicity, but I think it may have undermined much of the Cocoon experience. As expected the puzzle mechanics did evolve nicely, and never overstayed their welcome, but I was kind of left wanting a bit more complexity. The later levels did some really cool things, but I never really found myself stumped. Again, it's hard to discredit the game because of that, because part of Jeppe's design philosophy seems to favor creating puzzle games that are extremely intuitive. While I might sound a bit more critical here, its really only because I hoped for more depth. There's another game you'll find on many peoples' Game of the Year List that is absent from mine: Super Mario Bros. Wonder – a game I actually bought after Jeppe tweeted that a mechanic from it looks oddly similar to something from 140. The reason you won’t find it on my list is similar. It just didn't have enough depth for me to find it anything other than average. Wonder just plays everything so safe, never really fully explores the clever mechanics in it, and just feels so sterile in every detail. It's the biggest, major criticism I have about practically every Nintendo title these day. Every game feels like it's weighed down by Nintendo's stubbornness to evolve. They make simple games, with simple gameplay, with simple art styles, with simple stories. Despite my desire to enjoy their output, they've become predictable and boring to me. I feel as if I've outgrown them. Thankfully I don't get that feeling from Cocoon. The only less-than-stellar thing I can say about it is that the gameplay just didn't wow me. The artistry of everything else is top-of-the-class. It feels fresh and new and unique. It's really what I'd like from Nintendo these days.

4) Worldless (10/10)

Worldless was on my radar mainly due to its look, but it wasn't until the summer when I played the Xbox demo that I decided it would be a Day 1 purchase. Due to it's somewhat turn-based combat, it's not the typical game I would play. But the presentation, platforming nature, and Metroidvania structure of it coaxed me into it. And I'm glad it did, as I had a lot of fun with it. Much like Cocoon, the world was very mysterious. The biomes looked great, and the sound design complemented the world well. The animations of the characters and enemies also really impressed. It's one of those games that is somehow tranquil in its presentation, but challenging with its gameplay. Figuring out each battle felt like a puzzle, especially when trying to efficiently battle entities so that instead of simply defeating them you could absorb them to gain upgrade abilities. There were a large variety of enemies, and every one of them felt unique. There were also a lot of mechanics. Perhaps too many for me. The controls between the two characters did take some getting used to, especially considering you had double the abilities to play with, and they felt as if they didn't always align within the control scheme, especially when it came to having specific buttons to block specific attacks, whether they were physical, magical, or star attacks. So I'm sure a lot of my struggles came from not fully understanding each ability and the benefits of all of them. Between basic attacks, heavy attacks, ranged attacks, elemental attacks, combos, blocks, parries, and buffs, there was a lot to try to comprehend. And you had to also be cognizant of the use of attacks that resulted in physical damage as opposed to filling the absorption meter. Still, I took down every foe except for the two most difficult. Even a few of the last challenging ones I took down took a lot of perseverance. I'm sure I was stuck on one or two for a few hours alone. There were a few mechanics I probably never explored enough. Sometimes a single boss would help me understand one I wasn't using. Clearly the two I faltered on just represent the blind spots I still have when it comes to the mechanics, but I didn't want to resort to help via the internet. So after hours of struggling with one – but I think getting close - and making it to the other ultimate boss who I instantly noped out on, I'll just accept that failure. As opposed to Cocoon, this game's biggest issue, at least for me, was it overcomplexity. So I'm probably sounding pretty wishy-washy right now. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Still its hard to fault the game for my own shortcomings and unfamiliarity with the depth of a good turn-based game. It rounds out the list of the game's I thought were near-perfect this year.

5) Dredge (9/10)

Dredge snuck up on me. I don't remember how I found it. I probably saw it on Twitter. But it looked like a really cool blend of tranquil gameplay and a weird, eerie, occult story. So I put my faith in it and bought it on release day. And it turned out to be precisely what I hoped it would be. The boat upgrades provided a nice sense of progression that kept me exploring the seas to hunt down every species of fish, crab, and the aberrations. The only thing I wanted more of was cutscenes that looked like the initial Animated Trailer. The recently released DLC is the next thing on my list to play. I don't think it will be a lot of content, but any excuse to sail those seas again is fine by me.

6) Tchia (9/10)

Tchia interested me when it was announced. But so many games catch my eye that it may never have got any playtime. Thankfully it was included with PlayStation Plus, so there was no excuse to not try it. The main reason it finds itself at Number 6 is because it didn't feel as unique as the previously mentioned games. You could feel its influences, the D.N.A. of other games. You had the charming ukelele parts that felt like a more cheerful The Last of Us. There was the exploration of Assassin's Creed. The climbing of the newer Zelda entries and boat travel similar to Wind Waker. That's not to discredit Tchia, because it borrowed great things from all those games, and presented them cohesively, with a fresh coat of paint, in a beautiful world. The one thing that did feel wholly unique was the traversal. Taking over animals and objects felt very satisfying. Soaring through the skies as a bird felt just as good as tumbling across terrain as a rock. It also really nailed the sense of adventure when it came to treasure hunting by incorporating the map and photos, favoring clues instead of the blatant and obvious objective marker laden experiences that so many games choose to go with these days. I had an absolute joy completing every single thing in it, and I'm glad PlayStation Plus gave me the chance to do witness its charm.

7) Humanity (9/10)

Here's another PlayStation Plus game that I played because it was a right place, right time game. I really didn't know much about it prior to release, but upon release I was reading a lot of good things online. I love a good puzzle game. It took the Lemmings concept a wrapped it up in a tranquil yet fun experience. Some of the puzzles were pretty tough, especially the one's required to reach 100% completion. In some cases, solutions took hours. One trophy in particular, due to its vague description took me way longer than it should have, stating that you had to beat a particular level “without using one of the branching commands.” I bashed my head against the wall trying to figure out how I could move platforms and everyone around to do a seemingly impossible task without using any branching commands. At one point, I finally got lucky, with so many humans walking around that they bled over into other tiles where I could manipulate their paths to the exits. Once I'd beat it, I went online to see if others struggled with it. Turns out, in that level you had TWO branching commands available. So you just needed to beat it with only using ONE, which was super simple by comparison. Thankfully I wasnt the only idiot who interpreted it wrong and brute forced the harder solution. Aside from the standard levels and challenges, the boss battles were really high points as well.

8) Hi-Fi RUSH (9/10)

Much like PlayStation Plus provided me with the last two great games, Xbox Game Pass drew plenty of my attention this year. In many cases, like with Atomic Heart, The Last Case of Benedict Fox, Ravenlok, Planet of Lana, Dordogne, Figment 2: Creed Valley, and Starfield, the experiences were middling or downright disappointing. Hi-Fi Rush was one of the exceptions. I think the best compliment I can give it is that it felt like a game from a previous generation, maybe around the PS2/XBOX or PS3/XB360 eras. It reminds me a lot of the colorful action platformers like Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, and Jak. It looked great, oozed creativity, and was a ton of fun to play. Most notable though: the music. The in-house music was great, but whoever picked the licensed stuff knew my wheelhouse. From the moment early on when “1,000,000” by Nine Inch Nails came on in a boss fight, I was invested. Then there was “The Perfect Drug” in another battle. And “Honestly” by Zwan to bookend the game. But perhaps the greatest sequence came during the final stage, with “Whirring” by The Formidable Joy. For a brief moment in time, in 2011, I was enamored with that song. But I really never got into The Formidable Joy, so I forgot about it completely. So when that invisible friend reappeared to say hello again here, I fell in love with the song all over again. The entire time it played I was in a state of bliss. And one of the first things I did then night, after I beat the game, as I laid down for bed, was listen to “Whirring” again. That rediscovery was the colorful bow atop an already brilliant package.

9) Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (9/10)

Insomniac is my favorite developer of all time, largely in part thanks to Ratchet & Clank. I've been playing games for around 35 years now, nearly my entire life, but I wasn't always as invested in the hobby. The Ratchet & Clank franchise revitalized my enthusiasm for much of gaming. And for that reason, I will play any game they release if I own the console. The reason I can play games on Game Pass is because I bought the Sunset Overdrive Xbox One Bundle. However, Spider-Man isn't a property I care all that much about. What you see here is what you get. Spider-Man 2 is the typical AAA game, a graphically impressive game full of action and blockbuster moments. It is a spectacle. But it's also weighed down by the design ideas of what a typical AAA game should be. It is a step forward compared to the original. Peter and Miles gain a lot of fun powers. The less agile, more hulking Venom was really fun to play as briefly. The combat system has a depth to it that is engaging and fun. The portal mission early on dials the Ratchet & Clank rift mechanic up to 11, making the power of the PS5 feel like a true step forward, but sadly the idea is only seen in that one sequence. Overall, much of the game feels like a chore, merely serving up obstacles that get in the way of the main story. Do this side mission. Collect these things. Decide how to use your upgrade points. Get Gold in the Mysterium challenges. A lot of things just feel like they get in the way of me seeing the myriad of cool villains. It's not the most tedious AAA game, but when compared to the likes of something like Alan Wake II – which I played prior to Spider-Man 2 despite it coming out a week later because I was more hyped for it – it just feels so gamesy, and less artsy. The one really praiseworthy improvement is the traversal. Swinging around is always fun in a Spider-Man game. Here, new ideas like the wing suit make zipping around the city effortless. That part never gets old. Its overall excellence does make me wish I knew more about the franchise. Perhaps I'd be more impressed in that case. But because I don't, and because the AAA development cycle has ballooned to somewhat unsustainable levels, not only was I in the dark about the character teased in the ending, but I'd completely forgotten the plot and characters from the first game. Also, the Cube Suit Spider-Man glitch hit at possibly the worst point possible, when a disembodied head of Peter was seen crying over his Aunt May on her deathbed. Followed by an intense action sequence where I should have looked like a total badass in the Negative Suit, but instead I whooped ass as a small white cube until the gameplay slowed down and I found a working skin amongst a sea of white cubes. Fortunately, Miles' top tier Bodega Cat suit was unaffected, so I still got to watch that kitty whoop ass. Yeah, Spider-Man 2 is still a good game. But it's just that: a game. I'll still play Spider-Man 3. But I'm glad it's out of the way because as an X-Men fan, I'm far more excited for their Wolverine game, and hopefully another Ratchet & Clank. And if it were up to me, I'd scrap Spider-Man completely in favor of more Ratchet & Clank.

10) Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores (9/10)

Spoiler Alert: Since Zero Dawn, I've wanted to see a Horus in action. Here we finally got that moment, and it was great. Nothing much more needs to be said. That alone is worth the price of admission. Sure, there are cool new machines and weapons, and I could visit my local buddy, the Hollywood Sign, but let me just fight more Horuses?.. Horusi?... or is it one of those things where the plural is the singular?... One thing is for certain. I'm certainly going to miss Lance Reddick as Sylens. He was well known in the world of TV, but also a bastion in gaming. There was still so much mystery surrounding his character. I'll be curious to see how Guerrilla approaches that. Maybe they should just got the same route as Remedy and hire David Harewood who filled a role that was clearly originally going to be Lance's so well.

Honorable Mentions:

Jusant (8.5/10) – A charming yet simple little game about climbing a large tower, with nice art and a fun climbing mechanic, that's include in Game Pass

Bramble: The Mountain King (8.5/10) – A weird, eerie, macabre little game based on Nordic fables, that uses photorealism well, and feels like the lovechild of Little Nightmares and Hellblade. Also on Game Pass.

Solar Ash (8.5/10) – Cool, fluid traversal, drenched in a lovely style, only marred by a few gripes about the controls and framerate

Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy (8.5/10) – More Trine. A beautiful fantasy world. Fun puzzle gameplay and mechanics led by Amadeus Amadeusing it up by making boxes and planks. In some cases so many abilities were added, I forgot what all I could do. As a fifth entry, its getting a bit long in the tooth, so I imagine its hard to come up with as memorable set pieces and bosses.

UVSU (9/10) – A short game jam project from Dietzribi, who made one of my favorite games of 2021, Toodee & Topdee. It's you (U) versus you (U) as you play as both the protagonist and antagonist, switching off to get to the goal, then preventing your past self from getting to the goal, then avoiding that past self then next time, and so on for multiple rounds. There's a lot that could be iterated on here, and a full game may materialize at some point in the future!

Mechstermination Force (2019) (9/10) – I found this one on Twitter. It's got some rough edges. But underneath a bit of jank is a fun little game with some really cool boss design, where you take down mechs by focusing on their weak points as they evolve through multiple phases. Creatively it reminded me a lot of one of my favorite platformers, Puppeteer. Retroactively it takes the Number 5 spot in my 2019 list, which seemed like a mediocre year overall.

The Quarry (2022) (9/10) – A campy horror choose-your-adventure game that's light on gameplay but a thrilling romp. The use of light and dark looked great and really heightened the atmosphere. It approaches uncanny valley in some instances, but overall the performances were great. My favorite game from Supermassive to date. Retroactively, it takes the Number 8 spot in my 2022 list.

Dead Space (Remake) (9/10) – If not for Alan Wake, Dead Space would be my favorite horror game. I'm not really a fan of the trend of remaking games that aren't really all that old, so I don't consider remakes for my GOTY lists. The original does rank among my Top 10 from the entire PS3 generation, and was probably a somewhere between my Number 1 and 3 game in 2008. It would probably still hold up. If I did want to check, I could simply plug the PS3 back in. If it ain’t broke, don't fix it. The original isn't fresh in my mind, so I didn't notice most of the changes. But quite a bit was changed. Weapons got new tweaks and fire modes, probably for the better. But a lot of other unneeded changes were made, like giving Isaac a voice, and padding the game out by adding side quests and a security clearance system that locked upgrades and resources away until a points in the story where you gained a level of clearance. Some people may have appreciated this stuff as it fleshed out the story, but I realized I never really cared much about the story with this one. I just wanted to slice limbs off Necromorphs, which is still so unique, and just as satisfying fifteen years later. Props again to Game Pass for letting me revisit this without spending $70 for it.

Most Anticipated:

1) Pepper Grinder Game 2) SCHiM 3) The Plucky Squire 4) THRASHER 5) Sword of the Sea 6) Hades II 7) Senua's Saga: Hellblade II 8) Gori: Cuddly Carnage 9) The Spirit of the Samurai 10) GREENFIELD 11) Rootown 12) Little Nightmares III 13) UVSU 14) Bionic Bay 15) Go Mecha Ball 16) Öooo (the next game from Nama Takahashi about a bomb-laying catapillar) 17) Symphonia 18) IKARO: Will Not Die 19) Skate Story 20) PaperKlay 21) Judas 22) Clockwork Revolution 23) Phonopolis 24) Été 25) 30 Birds 26) Marvel's Wolverine 27) Control II 28) Black Myth: Wukong 29) South of Midnight 30) Summerhill

[wozman23]

Alan Wake II - My Spiral into Its Madness

[THERE WILL BE SPOILERS HERE. AND THEORIES SURROUNDING THE ENDING. IF YOU PLAN ON PLAYING ALAN WAKE II, DON'T READ THIS. GO PLAY IT!!!]

After trudging through every square inch of The Dark Place, credits have rolled on Alan Wake II, and the platinum trophy is mine! It's such a phenomenal game! It's got so many qualities and small details that make it such.

First off, after a decade of hoping for a sequel, I'm just so happy that it has finally come to fruition! And I'm so pleased that its... RETURN... was in such a superb manner. Director Sam Lake himself said that he's “happy” that this is the Alan Wake II we got. It wasn't Remedy's first draft. Both Quantum Break and Control spun off of Alan Wake failed sequel concepts. Over the last 13 years Remedy has honed their skills, and introduced and iterated on many concepts since the original Alan Wake. And the result here is a culmination of all those years of hard work.

Connected universes and multiverses are hip right now. This has been a concept in video games for quite some time, with people suggesting that merely an Easter egg like a newspaper mentioning a “deadly virus” in Uncharted 3 means that The Last of Us and Uncharted coexist. Some people even go as far as to say that because there's also a Precursor Orb collectible in Uncharted, Jak & Daxter also reside in that universe. At a certain point, it becomes a bit absurd. But Remedy has really found unique and interesting ways to tackle the concept of a shared universe that always feels organic and never forced.

Remedy doesn't own all of its IP, particularly Max Payne or Quantum Break. Yet they've found creative ways to incorporate characters and ideas from both of those franchises. And it feels as if these plans have been in place since their Alan Wake's inception, if not earlier. I never played their Max Payne games (only Max Payne 3) but I'm hoping the talks of them remaking them changes that. Because I'm really excited to see not only what they were about, but how they'll almost uncertainly tie even more things to their connected universe.

Alex Casey is certainly a nod to Max Payne. They share many similarities, even down to the Sam Lake likeness. Yet within Alan Wake, he's also just the lead character of Alan's past novels. Does he even really exist? Was he simply birthed into the world by Alan's writing? Multiple times, events contradict themselves so that were never really sure what the truth is. And I think that's one of the most fascinating things about the Alan Wake franchise, and their other works by extension. Every single character in the world is a walking contradiction, an enigma. Alan Wake, Thomas Zane, Alex Casey, Saga Anderson, The Anderson brothers, Tim Breaker... every character intertwines like a chaotic ball of yarn.

I think this is never more clear than with Thomas Zane. At face value, he's an auteur, a muti-hyphenate, who became trapped in the Dark Place after his own events at Cauldron Lake. In the original game, he acts as Alan's guiding force, often a deus ex machina. Who or what exactly he is or was was one of my biggest questions entering the sequel. I'm still not sure. Oddly, he looks just like Alan. Ahti, an eccentric character we'll talk about later, even refers to Alan as Tom. And much of Tom's work is credited to Alan Wake, either through their Americanized names, or Finnish names. It wouldn't be crazy to say that Tom doesn’t even exist, and is merely a plot device, a character created by Alan himself to deal with his own situation. Yet somehow the inverse could also be completely true. Maybe Tom created Alan to deal with his own trials of being trapped in the Dark Place. Maybe he wants Alan to replace him in The Dark Place...? Then there's the Clicker, a switch that apparently was cut off of a lamp that Tom had, that Alan also had a kid to help him combat his own fears of the dark. It's also known as an OOP – an object of power – thanks to Control's Federal Bureau of Control, postulated to somehow act as the key to making written art come true. The ambiguity and overlapping with everything is both intriguing and maddening. And that nebulousness is exactly why I love Alan Wake and Remedy so much.

The same questioning could be applied to every other character. Has everything just been created by Alan to deal with his situation? Is that situation even real, or all in Alan's head? How do you tell the truth from the lies? At the end of the original game, The Dark Presence, manifested as Barbara Jagger, tries to convince Alan that his entire world is a delusion, a ruse created by him so that he doesn't have to deal with the fact that he was actually the one responsible for the death of his wife. It's a short interaction, and it's brushed off by Alan as an attempt by her to stop him from defeating her, but who's to say that it's not the truth? Maybe everything we're playing is merely a dream. Maybe Alan's bad temper or addictions either drove her away or got her killed...

Alan Wake II really doesn't answer a lot of questions. It more-so just doubles down on this approach of contradictions and confusion. I'm really no more certain who Alan, Tom, and Alice are, or whether or not they even all exist. And now we've just added more characters and more questions.

I tried to go in blind. I really only knew that Alan was in The Dark Place and there was a second playable character, Saga Anderson. I feel like I put a few details together early in the game as to who we were interacting with. I knew we'd be running into Tom. Yet despite knowing Saga's name, her lineage reveal took me by complete surprise! I think the differences in race from the Anderson brothers made me never even consider that. However, because of it, I do have a theory on one of the game's biggest unanswered questions: Who is Saga's father?

Mr. Door, Warlin, is a wild card. We really don't know anything about how he operates or what his motives are. But I have some theories! Some of which I came to. Others which I agree with after falling down the rabbit hole of internet debates. Warlin is Saga's father. There's really not much to go on. Tor and Door himself say a few things that seem to suggest it. Then there's the man researching Door, Tim Breaker, played by Shawn Ashmore – who also gave his likeness to the lead in Quantum Break, Jack Joyce. I don't remember a lot about Quantum Break, but his use of white boards can't be coincidence. Nor can his name which is one character shy of “time breaker.” This has to be another situation of skirting IP. Tim does have family in the world of Alan Wake via the Breaker family in the Bright Falls Sheriff Office. Are these two characters one in the same, mirror images in opposing universes? I'm curious to finding out more about this as well, and what role Tim plays in everything.

The internet also helped with with a few theories as well. Early on, Tim mentions a “redhead.” I assumed it was a reference to Jesse Faden, the protagonist from Control. But it would also reference Beth Wilder from Quantum Break. In these situations, both characters share character models, which isn't unheard of for multiple project from video game studios. But here it just feels like it has to mean more. Could they also be multidimensional counterparts? Clearly as is the case with Casey and Breaker, names don't have to be the same. Yet the person essentially is.

Then on the flip side of things, you have characters who don't look alike, but feel like they're counterparts as well. Mr. Door and Quantum Break's Mr. Hatch share some interesting similarities. Door... Hatch...synonymous...? The unfortunate thing here is that I'd assume Mr. Door was originally intended for Lance Reddick, the actor who played Mr. Martin Hatch, before his untimely death. (Lance is mentioned in the credits.) But a recast was required. Again Martin... Warlin... all to similar as well...?

One thing is for sure: I need to play Quantum Break again.

Details like that also make me consider some other absurd theories. Are Alan and Tom counterparts from differing dimensions? Perhaps either Alan or Tom doesn't truly belong in the dimension we're witnessing. Maybe that crossing of universes is responsible for so much of the chaos, similar to the show Fringe... which also featured multiple dimensions and Lance Reddick. Let's make it canon!

Ahti probably knows, and he's perhaps the most interesting character at this point. Appearing first in Control, as a janitor, he seems to be omnipresent and all knowing. He reminds me a lot of Tom from the original game. The janitor trope has come up many times before: Neil Flynn in Scrubs, Mop Girl in Disenchantment, Ahti... what's that about? Now, finding his way into the world of Alan Wake, he just creates more questions, straddling the line between eccentric old Finnish man and god. Him singing was great. Actor Martti Suosalo who portrays him won a BAFTA for his role in Control, and deserves so much praise here as well. I just watched a podcast with Sam Lake talking about how talented he is as an actor and singer in Finland.

Maybe I need to replay Control as well... There's also so much lore here about Altered World Events, Objects of Power, and parautilitarians to further explore. As well as plenty of direct references to Alan Wake that may now be a bit more enlightening. But back to the the all knowing and the omnipresent.

The Old Gods of Asgard occupied that role in the original game, and still do somewhat. Here we learn that they're immune to the effects of Alan's writing, and by extension so is Saga. While her mother, Freya, is dead in this time line, she would certainly be as well, should she or one of her doubles appear.

I love The Old Gods of Asgard so much, as characters. I'm curious to see what's in store for them considering the conclusion of the game. But I mainly like them for the musical contributions that come from the real life band Poets of the Fall! Remedy has done a terrific job commissioning music throughout the franchise. The songs that served as transitions between chapters in the first game were great. Here, they're even better! Not only is the Old Gods stuff amazing, but the other collection of artists really impressed even though they're outside of my typical genre of choice: rock. I'm not even sure what genre to put a lot of the stuff in. Many of the tracks feel kind of industrially, like a female version of Nine Inch Nails, or maybe Billie Eilish. And their excellence makes me want to explore more artist in that vein.

I talked about this last time when I wrote about Alan Wake. More games need to commission musicians to create unique songs for them. Everything here feels custom crafted for Alan Wake. Similarly, one of my other favorite games, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy - which I'm still hoping somehow gets a sequel after nearly 20 years - also commissioned a band, Cold, to write the song "In My Mind," and it was also perfectly executed.

I think Remedy's dedication to partnering the project with excellent music is also indicative of another of the strengths of Alan Wake II. It's a story about an artist, that values artist. The overall art direction is beautiful despite it dire and macabre tone. It's intermingled with beauty. I just read today on twitter about how all of the graffiti scattered throughout The Dark Place was created in collaboration with graffiti artist, Irwin Suimuri. So many times, the art and artists in games do not get the credit they deserve, so it's lovely to see people appreciating some of the finer details in this large project.

This reliance on art and sound really comes to a head at the point that many are calling the game's best moment: it's musical section. Apparently it was almost cut because it was hard to execute, but Sam stubbornly stuck to his guns and made sure it shined. I had a grin on my face the entire time, especially watching both Alan and Sam dance. (Was it Casey or Sam himself since he's also appeared in the world?)

The first game had glimpses of humor, mainly through the comic relief that Alan's agent, Barry, provided. Because of that, he's one of my favorite comic characters in all of gaming. One of my only disappointments with Alan Wake II is that he never appears. Yet somehow the game is even funnier. It's also far darker and more gruesome. So that dichotomy is even more impressive.

There were also the Koskela Brothers, who made some genuinely gut bustingly funny videos. Jaakko's fumbling of the pronunciation of quinceañera was probably the most hilarious moment in the game. Their inclusion was much appreciated. And there's the whole other rabbit hole to go down about their parallel to the Huotari Well incident which makes one wonder who or what is exactly real in the world. Plus, the town of Watery and Coffee World were great additions as well. There's nothing better than a decrepit theme park. Pat Maine had some fun, odd radio shows as well, obsessing over Wendy Davis and her Family Beef Jerky. Hickory teriyaki! It could be that he's losing it, or maybe like the Anderson family, he's immune to the changes in the story and remembering the past.

Another common praise that I see coming up time and time again is how the game seems to project a love for Finland, and feel Finnish. The platinum trophy itself is labeled "Sisu," which is defined by Wikipedia as "a Finnish concept described as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness... to express their national character. It is generally considered not to have a literal equivalent in English. In contemporary psychology, sisu is shown to have both beneficial and harmful sides which can be measured using a designated scale."

The Koskela Brothers, Ahti often slipping into Finnish and singing "Yötön Yö," Wake and Zane sometimes being referred to as Seine and Viekko. It all makes me want to move to Finland, or at the very least, learn the language just to see if they've tried or try to slip anything past us English speakers.

Another thing I did know was that the game was going to stray from its original design quite a bit, which was a concern for me going in. There was a lot more emphasis on exploration (and thankfully less collectibles). Combat wasn't as center stage as the original either, with encounters feeling fewer and farther between, in favor of new, unique investigating and writing mechanics. Overall it didn't feel anywhere near as action driven, and because of that combat seemed a bit more one dimensional. While there were probably just as many weapons, and more choices for explosives, it didn't feel as if the game was encouraging you to experiment with the combat mechanics as much. So I mainly relied of my favorite guns, and the occasional flare. Wolves, which were a scrapped enemy type from the first game were present, but with their middling execution, I think I'd have preferred keeping the uniqueness of the various possessed objects the original had, whether they were beams or barrels, or a menacing tractor or train. One feature that I'm glad got axed though was the driving mechanics, which were very unrefined in the original. I did really enjoy the inclusion of audiovisual “jump scares.” On more than one occasion I got spooked. And the atmosphere, particularly in the Overlaps, where worlds felt as if they were blending together was a really cool touch. I do think I'd have still been okay with a form more similar to the original, but I do know some criticized it. The changes did really encourage me to really take my time with everything. I tried to explore every nook and cranny over my leisurely 31 hour play though. Letting the game breathe more gave it a nice ebb and flow. I often didn't want to put it down, staying up way past my bedtime, exchanging my enjoyment within it for the tiredness I'd face the next day at work. I managed to find nearly every collectible, solve every rhyme, and close out most of Saga's cases. There were a few things I used the internet to track down, I missed petting one deer, and a few cases weren't closed. But I enjoyed every second of it! I also really enjoyed Alan's portrayal in this installment. In the first game, he was unwavering and pretty clear headed. But 13 years in The Dark Place and with The Dark Presence - regardless of how long it has felt to him - really started driving him mad. We started to see cracks. I assume even the smallest details are crafted by Sam Lake. I felt like the Alan Wake is and has always been Scratch twist was brilliant. There's this back and forth about who is who, and who is writing Return, and even Initiation. And early on to me it felt like Alan's flowery prose was swapped for clunkier lines of thought and sentence fragments. I thought, "Boy, Scratch is such a shit writer." Turns out, it's probably just Alan going crazy, or his mind being invaded by The Dark Presence. At some point it's also mentioned that no one has ever returned from Cauldron Lake unaffected, which should have been some foreshadowing that the real Alan was never going to return completely as himself. Yet up until seconds before Scratch escaped from his jail cell, I assumed an unaffected Alan. Then later, there's the ultimate payoff that the two are one-in-the-same when it's revealed that the thing tormenting Alice is actually not Alan's doppelganger who made it to her reality, but just Alan bleeding into that dimension.

It's not very often that I finish a game and question what the hell I'm going to do next. I've got Super Mario Bros. Wonder ready to go. Jusant is ready on Game Pass. And Spider-Man 2 - which despite being from my all-time favorite developer - which got put on the back burner because I wanted to prioritize Alan Wake II, should be on the way since I picked it up a few days ago thanks to Wario64 mentioning a sale online. But I really don't want to play anything right now. Its a odd phenomenon that happens every so often after a truly great game. I saw someone else online say this as well. The only other time I can think of this happening in recent memory is with The Last of Us, a series I regard as the best ever. I'm kind of sad Alan Wake has now come and gone. In listening to the soundtrack afterwards, I began to weep seconds into RAKEL's "Follow You into the Dark." It's nearly an alien feeling for me. But the finality of finishing up the game and being so grateful for it existence really got to me. And I think those companion music pieces probably exemplify best what makes the game so damn great. Whereas most games feel like games comprised of various works of art, broken down into chunks like art design, sound design, visual effects, etc., Alan Wake II feels like the inverse. It's a collection of beautiful works of art, like custom songs, and custom graffiti, and all of those other more mundane components that go into making a game, that somehow work together to form this amazing game with a riveting story.

I'm sure I'll pick up one of those other games soon. With Mario I expect a series of levels of varing degrees of difficulty. It's a tried and true formula that we've seen in gaming for 30+ years, with a fresh coat of paint. With Spider-Man 2 I expect the modern AAA game: fancy graphics and effects, a large open world, and plenty of side missions to keep me busy and extend play time. It will be Spider-Man 1 with a few more bells and whistles. In both cases, those experiences will probably be fairly "game-y." By contrast, Alan Wake II was created with such a bold vision, reckless ambition, and an overall love that made it feel completely unique, transcendental of video games, and more like an experience than a cliche video game.

Right now all I want to do is talk about Alan Wake II, and go down the rabbit hole of reading about others' experiences with it and their own theories.

It's such a treasure. It definitely wouldn't exist in its current state had it come out around 2013. The wait was horrendous. But like Sam, I'm so happy it exists in 2023. The thirteen years it took felt like an eternity. But during that eternity Remedy continued to toil away at quietly adding more to the Alan Wake lore even when they were busy with other projects, not working directly on the franchise. Alan Wake II feels like a great sequel that builds upon the strengths of a great game. But it also feels like it contains great elements from the projects that they've held us over with since the original. The seamless blend of live action videos feels like the evolution of ideas in Quantum Break. And the connected universe idea pulls heavily from Control. Without those games, Alan Wake II may just not have been quite as special as it turned out to be.

That being said, I hope it performs well commercially, enough to justify a sequel within a much shorter time period. Because I'm so obsessed with the world, and Remedy's grand schemes. I'd like to know who Mr. Door, Tim Breaker, and Ahti actually are. I'd like to get a better idea of what their motives are, as well as those of Tom. I'd like to see what the crazy old Old Gods are up to. I'd like to know if Logan is okay. I'd like to see if Alan and Alice can triumph and return to a normal life. I'd like to know if the Bookers, the latest artists to visit Bright Falls, will play a larger role. I'd like to learn more about all the cool little details and ways that Alan Wake, Control, Quantum Break, and Max Payne intersect. I don't expect much of that to actually be answered, because a lot of the fun of the franchise is pondering the unknowns and unknowables. So maybe I'm really just looking forward to another riveting story, more great music and art, and even more questions that make me wonder what the hell is really going on.

BRING ON ALAN WAK3!!! Hopefully before I'm 53.

[wozman23]

Our Tastes In Music Related to Time, Part III: Third Eye Blind and Vertical Horizon

I took a break from my 90s album discovery tour for a bit, but hoped back on the horse.

A few days back, I listened to Third Eye Blind's self titled album from 97, and Blue from 99. They've got some iconic tracks, but I didn't find much more here that really took me by suprise. A lot of their stuff feels too similar. Or maybe it just wasn't the right day to appreciate more of thier stuff. Then today I went with Vertical Horizon's Everything You Want from 99. It's got a few other great upbeat tracks I didn't know about, but their best deeper cuts came years later, on 2009's Burning the Days and 2013's Echoes from the Underground.

As the story goes, year's prior to those albums, Neil Peart - the drummer for Rush, the best drummer period, and one of my biggest idols - found himself adrift on his motorcycle after the death of this wife and daughter, a ghost rider on a cross-country quest to heal.

According to Vertical Horizon's frontman, Matt Scannell, who like me also proclaims Rush to be his favorite band, during that time Neil listened to a lot of pop radio and found a love for Vertical Horizon's hit “Everything You Want.” At a certain point the two of them met, and Neil told him how much he loved the song. It may have very well inspired Neil to return to Rush. The two became friends, and when it came time for Vertical Horizon's Burning the Days in 2009, the two collaborated, with Neil playing on both “Save Me From Myself,” and “Welcome to the Bottom,” along with writing and playing on “Even Now.” A few years later, Neil returned to play again on “Instamatic,” and “South for the Winter.” Now it's near impossible for me to have an unbiased opinion on works of Neil's, but I think some of this work goes toe-to-toe with Vertical Horizon's earlier commercial hits. “Instamatic” and “Save Me From Myself” almost feel like they could be Rush tracks. There's just a certain power on those tracks that elevates them. These inclusions of Neil result in one of those occasions where a band is worth revisiting. Sometimes we write bands off after a lackluster album or two. Sometimes we feel as if a band's direction and our own don't align anymore. But sometimes, just sometimes, a band can come back around to paint themselves in a new light.

...And that idea basically just burdens me with having to listen to everything from Third Eye Blind, as well as all these other band, even if the initial listens weren't as impressive as I'd hoped. On to the next!...

[wozman23]

Our Tastes In Music Related to Time, Part II: Goo Goo Dolls

Today's albums were 1998's Dizzy Up the Girl and 1995's A Boy Named Goo by Goo Goo Dolls.

I mentioned how much I love "Iris," so they were my prime band to start with. Today, it perhaps ranks amongst one of my favorite songs of all time, particularly for the chorus, the overall cathartic feel of the tune, and the way it flows between time signatures. It's a song that I enjoyed in its time, but didn't really fully appreciate until many years later. When one of my favorite (and underappreciated) vocalists of all time, Jeff Gutt, reappeared on X Factor around a decade ago, he finally found some success. On one of his final shows, he got to sing "Iris" with John Rzeznik, and that's when it really hit me. It's one of only a few songs that will make me tear up nearly every time I hear it. I could write a whole post about its beauty, and the psychology about why I identify with it and how I interpret it. (There are various interpretations, the most common mirroring the plot of the movie it was written for, about an angel who gives up his immortality to be with the love of his life, and in doing so, becomes vulnerable to both the joyous and undesirable qualities of being human, like love and joy versus pain and loss. But I also think the great thing about music is how fluid the definition of a song can be based on people's own experiences. I don't seek out romantic relationships very often. And even if I'm interested in someone, I may not even approach them unless I feel compelled to by a detail about them that I find out. But when I do find someone I like, I'm all in. I know I'm an enigmatic, stoic, weirdo, so I just “want that person to know who I am.” I'm really honest, and never shy away from being vulnerable, and try to paint the perfect picture of who I am – a person who I'm very proud of these days. Sadly, and painfully, things haven't worked out, but I'm always peering through my spyglass, observing my world to find my next “Iris.” But enough about why “Iris” is so damn good.) With Dizzy Up the Girl, I knew the big hits well: “Iris,” “Slide,” and “Broadway,” but found some other great songs as well. There are a few slow spots, but overall it's pretty good. I feel like Rzeznik's voice has dimensions I never knew about, and they're a little more punk influenced then I originally thought. Then I went right into A Boy Named Goo. There I really was only familiar with the big hit, “Name.” But the rest of the album feels even more upbeat and punk-ish. There's even an F bomb at one point. Punk, and grunge, aren't necessarily genres I liked as much, so I'm not sure how I feel about the more punk-ish stuff. But there's still a lot of great, anthemic pop rock there as well, like “Long Way Down,” Flat Top”, “Ain't That Unusual,” and “Eyes Wide Open.” Ultimately, I'm not sure how much I'd crave listening to the deeper cuts of Goo Goo Dolls, and I didn't find a gem like yesterday's 3 Doors Down track that dumbfounded me, but the hits definitely stand up well today. Also for reading this far, I'd like to remind you of one of my favorite stupid jokes. It came from Andy Richter as part of one of Conan's In The Year 2000 bits. I don't remember it verbatim, only the basic punchline, but let's say it went something like this: Baby's everywhere will fill stadiums when Lady Gaga and the Goo Goo Dolls decide to unite, forming the supergroup Gaga Goo Goo.

[wozman23]

Our Tastes in Music Related to Time

My gym, thankfully, has started switching up its playlist periodically. It used to be like 95% pop/rap/hip hop that was repeated everyday, like clockwork, ad nauseam... But they've started including some rock. They seem to favor quite a bit of 90s to early 2000s stuff. It reminds me of how I feel like I have a pretty good grip on artists and albums post-2000 rock (Linkin Park and nu-metal onward) when I started listening to the genre, and classic rock all the way up to the 80s (CCR, The Who, Rush, The Police, Cheap Trick...) but when it comes to the 90s-2000 stuff, I feel like I only know songs that got major radio airplay. In those days of my youth, music didn't play as big of a role in my life. It wasn't as important to me as it is today. So I mainly just listened to whatever was on the radio in the car, or whatever my dad was listening to. But at a certain age, I began to explore the world of music for more than just what was being piped into my ears via FM radio. And I became a rabid fan of rock. Yet I never explored those years much more.

A similar thought occurred to me a few month back when I went to a concert with someone and saw Cold's anniversary show for the album Year of the Spider. She stuck up a convo with this hardcore Cold fan who was about our age. He was so passionate about the band and that album, which I know but a few tracks from. So why do we gravitate towards particular bands or albums? What made him a massive Cold fan and me a massive Linkin Park fan during those years? There's so much music in this world, and practically every single artist means something special to someone. Do we miss great things merely based on the time of or our upbringing, or even just the changing of ourselves over the years? Do we even just overlook things while they're around? That feeling happened again when one of my clients gushed about seeing Breaking Benjamin, another band who has some singles I really love ("So Cold," "Diary of Jane," "I Will Not Bow"...), but I never really gave a deep dive until recently and found the beautiful "Evil Angel."

I know I've certainly missed or underappreciated bands over the years. If you asked me my two favorite bands, they're Rush and Fair to Midland. The first of which, I actually disliked until I really began to understand their music thank to the Rock Band video game. And the latter of which I knew of while they were active, but then kind of stopped paying attention, only to become infatuated with them years after they disbanded.

So I wonder what else I'm missing...

Tonight, my Spotify Discover Weekly playlist started off strong with Chevelle, a band I've always liked conceptually, but never really given enough time to to fully appreciate them. Then later, it introduced me to a 3 Doors Down's deeper cut, "Duck and Run," and boy does it slap! The aggression in it made me double take who it was by, and the message resonates possibly even more today. So then I listened to The Better Life in its entirety. What a strong album!

Now I probably do know most band's singles from that time period. I've always appreciated the singles from bands like 3 Doors Down, Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, and the non-number bands like Goo Goo Dolls, Our Lady Peace, Smashing Pumpkins, Cranberries, and Vertical Horizon (especially when they worked with Neil Peart). But as for listening to entire albums by any of them, I'm not sure I ever have in any of those cases. Yet two of my favorite songs ever are probably "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls and "Innocent" by Our Lady Piece. But I also feel like they exemplify why I've never taken the time to fully appreciate that phase of rock. When I think of that time, I think of slower tempo songs, and emotional songs. So it was nice to see “Duck and Run�� poke holes in that logic.

Now if you've got some albums you recommend, send them my way, because I plan to spend a bit of time in the 90s and early 2000s for a while. I'll try to tell you what I think of that band today, then what I think of the album once I give it a proper listen. And if I can repay the favor with a recommendation from something from my world: current bands that I really do appreciate right now include: STARSET, Voyager (from Australia), Lions at the Gate, VOLA, Maraton, 10 Years, Mass Sky Raid, Pure Reason Revolution, Cage9, We Are The Catalyst, Nothing More, and Greywind.

[wozman23]

The Illuminating Brilliance of Alan Wake

These last two day, with a tropical storm derailing my plans and work, I decided to jump back into the world of Alan Wake for the third time in anticipation of Alan Wake II releasing October 27th, this time via the remaster on PS5 thanks to it being included in the PlayStation Plus lineup a few months back.

To say that Alan Wake II is my most hyped game would be an understatement. Never having purchased a 360, I didn't play the original upon release in 2010. But it was on my radar. And sometime later, when a Humble Bundle released that included it and American Nightmare for something like $2, I jumped at the opportunity… Cruelly, my PC couldn't run it. But then, at the tail end of 2013, I bought a new PC… and a few months later I discovered it could run it!

I was astounded! I still vividly remember playing through it that first time, experiencing everything about it that impressed so much back then, and still does to this day. It quickly became one of my favorite games of all time, and I joined the cult of people hoping for a sequel.

Now as for the remasters, I'm not one for them. They often seem like quick cash grabs. So I never intended to buy the remaster when I still had access to the PC version, as well as the Xbox version via backwards compatibility. And in playing the remaster, it does show its age. Animation and dialog are really rigid. The vehicles control like they have ice for tires. And the visuals don't hold a candle to modern games. But it's just such a fascinating romp that I really don't care. What it did well then, it still does well today, even if its no longer in the prettiest of packages.

First off, the combat mechanics are simply sublime. I've also never been a big fan of survival horror games with a few exceptions (pretty much just Alan Wake and the Dead Space franchise - which I think has many parallels in terms of strengths). But the whole "Remove the darkness from enemies with light to make them vulnerable to damage" is so cool. It never gets old, especially thanks to the variety of weapons and tactical advantages that each has. The flashlight, revolver combo is a staple, but firing off the flare gun or tossing a flashbang provides a completely different level of satisfaction.

Second, the narrative despite favoring many cliches, is just so damn good. Even after my third time playing it, I'm picking up on little details. Yet, somehow, I feel as if they only lead me to more questions. I think I understand less now than I did almost a decade ago.

What exactly is real in the world of Alan Wake? Is Bright Falls actually a cursed city where written works become non-fiction? Did Thomas Zane actually exist, or was he just the deus ex machina created by Alan? Does Alan actually exist, or is he just the product of Thomas Zane's poetry? How much of Alex Casey is Alan, or vice versa? Is Alice dead? Is Alan dead? Is he actually in some sort of psychosis or perhaps a coma? Is everything a dream, or work of fiction crafted by the hands of someone else?

Its ambiguity is its strength. It often takes you in one direction, just to contradict itself at a later point. I really have no idea what the actual truth is, yet I love the ride and speculation all along the way.

Another strength: Barry. He's such a great character. Comic relief characters, and comedy in general, are tough to pull off in games. But Barry is just such a likeable character. One of my favorite points from the game is when he shows up draped in Christmas lights as an aid to ward of The Taken. It's such a silly, yet practical, application of the use of light in the world. And it's totally Barry. He's a buffoon, who doesn't seem to have much know-how in terms of survival instincts, yet you root for him. I'm trying not to pay too much attention to Alan Wake II pre-release, but I hope he plays a prominent role again. Another strength of the narrative: collecting the manuscript. They offer all kinds of insight into the world and how everything is interconnected. Sometimes they build backstory. Sometimes they further explain things that have happened. Sometimes, like in the instance of Barry getting separated from Alan, they create tension with other characters as you get to witness events second hand. And sometimes they just foreshadow things to come, even becoming tongue-in-cheek in some situations. They're a really fun way to incorporate collectibles, and they fit the narrative well.

That tongue in cheek nature isn't just limited to documents. There are The Old Gods of Asgard too, two more quirky characters who are either completely insane, or perhaps the only ones who actually know what is going on in Bright Falls. Their stage set piece is another high point in the game. By that point, it feels as if you've got combat mastered, and you can just have fun taking down swarms of The Taken. It's so satisfying. And that leads perfectly into my next point.

Remedy has also had a long history of working with the band Poets of the Fall. I never played their Max Payne games, so the moment when "War" comes on the in-game radio served as my introduction to the band. And that too was one of the standout moments I vividly remember from my first play through. I think collaborations like that are not made enough in the video game industry. One of my other all-time favorites, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (still waiting for that sequel that I sadly know will never come) did this well too, commissioning the band Cold to write a song, "In My Mind" specifically for the game. It's not a well known song of theirs. I saw them a few months back, and knew there was zero chance that they'd play it. But it's the main reason I'm a fan of theirs. Just as Remedy's collaboration with Poets of the Fall is the reason I'm a fan of theirs.

I've got to work my way through the two expansions again, but then I might go back and try to platinum the game. I've never played on Nightmare mode, so there might be a bit more for me to come across that could help provide some clarity within the world… Or just confuse me more… There are so many little details to love about the world. I love the quaint charm of Bright Falls. I love the Twilight Zone parody of Night Springs. I love that Sam Lake makes a small appearance. I love just how weird, and quirky, and mysterious it is!

I'm also enjoying revisiting Poets of the Fall tonight, since I really never gave their more recent albums an abundance of attention. The instrumental "Rogue" just took me by surprise.

If you haven't played Alan Wake, do yourself a favor and give it a look. It made me a rabid fan of Remedy. Control was a great distraction, with its own interesting tie-ins to Alan Wake, and I'd like more of it too, but I'm really just ready for the proper continuation of Alan Wake. C'mon, October 27th!

[wozman23]

An Ode to Paul Reubens - A Loner, A Rebel

Paul Reubens was such a singular force in comedy. There's always been a debate as to how much of Pee-wee's Playhouse was original. Many believe it was actually influenced by a similar project from Andy Kaufman and that Andy gave Paul his blessing to further develop the idea. Others say the two projects were developed near simultaneously, citing that Paul was in fact working on it with The Groundlings before Andy. As much as I love Andy Kaufman, I think the latter is true.

Paul did an amazing job at creating a wonderfully whimsical world, filled with absurdity, and a dash of the risque. And I think those descriptors sum up the multifaceted essence of Paul well. He somehow always brought joy through childlike qualities, akin to someone like Mr. Rogers, yet had a playful recklessness to him that could dip into chaotic absurdity or even the inappropriate, much like Andy Kaufman. When I think back about Pee-wee's Playhouse, I'm reminded of a few things: Its overall flair for the silly. The beauty in the way the characters and set were designed. And the inclusiveness in the cast. Yet, also, the slightly off-putting nature of characters, like the large headed door to door salesman, and the bit where he put mirrors on his shoes so he could peek up Ms. Yvonne's dress.

Paul undoubtedly shaped who I am today. And I'll always desire to continue to major in that blend of innocently childlike enthusiasm, while minoring in a bit of devilish depravity. Whether that's a good or a bad thing, who knows?… "There's a lotta things about me you don't know anything about, Dottie. Things you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand. You don't wanna get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel."

Thank you for the inspiration, Paul. Today, in your honor, I'm gonna go rub one out to the Barbie movie.

[wozman23]

Tonight, On A Very Special Clone High Tribute

I don’t quite remember how I found Clone High in 2002. I’d assume being a fan of Will Forte put it on my radar. Or possibly that it was a Bill Lawrence project that relied heavily on the Scrubs cast. Whatever the case, it quickly rivalled Futurama to be quite possibly my favorite cartoon. But, just as it was getting started, the flame died out, mostly due to backlash with the portrayal of Ghandi. I’d always held onto hope that with the massive success of the creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller, maybe, just maybe we’d see the project again. When I moved out to LA in 2017, one of the first Hollywood-like things I had the pleasure of doing was attending the Clone High Reunion at the Vulture Festival. I was in awe of the talent in that room. The creators and voice cast are legendary. I got to interact with Forte and take a selfie. Then I met Tommy Walter, the man behind the infectious theme song, credited to his band, Abandoned Pools. By that point, not only was I a massive fan of Clone High, but of Tommy’s as well. He wasn’t putting out new Abandoned Pools music, instead focusing on his budding family and more traditional soundtrack and scoring work. But I remember telling him, dressed to the nines in my Sublime Currency shirt, that if he ever got back around to putting out more Abandoned Pools music, I’d be there to support it. But there wasn’t any real momentum for a second season, or more music from Tommy. Years passed. A silly Easter egg appeared in Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse, but even that just felt like Phil and Chris just paying their respects to their former franchise.

Then all that changed, on both fronts. Tommy announced he was Kickstarting a new Abandoned Pools album. I threw money at it. And not much later, Clone High was renewed for another season. I was pumped!... And then, wildly, it was picked up for another season on top of that! Say What?!

Well we’re finally here in 2023, over 20 years after I fell in love with the original run. And it’s everything I could have hoped for! Initially I had my doubts about the show returning. Ghandi was a crucial character. How could you replace him? How would you reference his absence? Thankfully, it was done beautifully in a multitude of ways, through some jokes and sight gags, as well as by introducing a new cast of characters to make up for his absence. While I initially wasn't all that invested in the new cast, I warmed up to them rather quickly. And I love how their character design boldly contrasts the original clones. Candide is a terrific addition as well. I was also concerned about whether or not the show would mold itself to modern times. In 2002, it felt so ahead of its time. Many of the cartoons these days irk me. Shows like Bob’s Burgers, Rick & Morty, Family Guy (the list goes on...) feel like they rely far too much on over the top voice acting to deliver serviceable scripts. There were also concerns about whether or not the animation style would be overhauled. Thankfully all of these fears were quickly quelled. Stylistically the show picks up right where it left off. The off-beat, angular style of everything is still front and center. The backgrounds still juxtapose the action beautifully. Everything is just so wonderfully distinct. And it still has so much of that offbeat humor that made it great. 

While one could easily enjoy the show without prior knowledge of the series, it’s chocked full of fan service. I was grinning within the first minute thanks to the dolphin sound. Minor characters are a joy to see, especially when voiced by the Scrubs cast. The new intro slaps, just like the original, which is what originally made me seek out the other work by Abandoned Pools. Hearing it modified many more times to fit the episodes’ themes was a welcome revival. Will Forte’s voice over introductions were as quirky as ever. Tommy’s more involved hands created some wonderful and weird music. It’s just such a joy, and a joy that I really didn’t ever think I’d get to witness again. Besides all of those qualities, one other thing that really cemented the original run as a favorite was the show’s ability to feel unique with many episodes. My favorite was probably the episode about smoking raisins because it was such a departure with its overall style and visuals. This season hosted multiple episodes like that. It’s all still so fresh in my mind, but the For Your Consideration episode really knocked it out of the park when it came to experimenting further with styles. Plus we got Mr. B backstory... Wesley. I feel like in my more recent years I’ve become somewhat of a softie. I used to never tear up over shows, or video games, or other works of art. But when Abandoned Pools’ “Remember to Remember Memories” unfurled, I got emotional. I’m not crying, it’s my contacts. There must be something in my eye. I’m sad to see it so quickly wrap up, but there’s still so much left for me to re-explore and digest. I’ll really need more time to go back through this season. Five weeks flew by like nothing. But as it ramped up, I found myself more and more enamored with the show again. The last four episodes really stood out. And the ending should take it in an interesting direction for next season. So I absolutely can’t wait to see what all those involved cook up in the not-too-distant-future, whether that be next season’s episodes, or that album Tommy is working on. It’s also absurd that Futurama is FINALLY back from the dead soon too!!! Here’s to hoping it picks up where it left of just as well as Clone High did...

[wozman23]

2022 Game of the Year List

I didn’t quite play as many games this year. Last year I completed 58. This year, a paltry 39. With more and more AAA games like Horizon Forbidden West and God of War: Ragnarok requiring 60+ hours of my time, its hard to squeeze in smaller experiences. I feel like it was also a bit of an off year in terms of games that really wowed me. As a person who is always fascinated with new IP, nothing in AAA satisfied there. There were some good indies, but even there nothing really blew me away. Plus, I gave up most of my prime gaming time on Sundays, my only day off, in favor of meeting people for a run/walk most weeks. Still I had a ton of fun along the way. Here are my ten favorite games, some honorable mentions, a dozen or so advertisements for Game Pass, and the ten games I look forward to most (some of which are coming to Game Pass). 1. Onde

Much like weird indie games in past years, I found this little game thanks to browsing Steam. It’s super weird and abstract. I really doesn’t even fit in any mold and I can’t really even begin to explain it. It’s kind of a platforming game, but kind of just an interactive art experience. You really just have to see it in action. My two and a half hour playthrough was wonderfully weird and beautiful, as well as tranquil and peaceful. It’s exactly the type of thing I crave: a game unlike any other I’ve ever played. 

2. Tinykin

I played the Tinykin demo on Steam early in the year and it quickly found a spot in my most anticipated list. It’s indie Pikmin. That’s it! That’s really all you need to know. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but I had a blast exploring every nook and cranny of the world. And it was basically free thanks to Game Pass! 

3. Tunic

I’m a huge fan of the original Legend of Zelda. I still think it is the best entry in the series. Tunic isn’t shy about showing how Zelda-like it tried to be. The cute looking but cruel world was a joy to explore and understand. But the standout part of it for me was the manual feature. Collecting pages to assemble the game’s manual, that felt like the type you’d get in the days of the NES, and slowly discovering where to go and what to do was brilliant. The way it revealed secrets was perfect. (Full disclosure: I did look up a few of the solutions to some of the more obtuse optional puzzles at then end of the game.) This one really stand out as something special, akin to games like The Witness and Fez. Plus, again, Game Pass!

4. Stray

I’d been following Stray for a long time. It perked my ears up back in May of 2018, when it was just a few gifs and known simply as “HK Project.” As a cat lover, it was one of my most anticipated games. The world was breathtaking. Some of the animations could have been better, but perfectly creating the subtleties of a cat’s locomotion and mannerisms isn’t easy, especially considering the project was tackled by a first time, small indie developer. Still, they captured the spirit of a cat very well and created an empathic character. And how can I complain when it was another virtually free game thanks to the new PlayStation Plus structure - even if the main reason I upgrade was just for the kitty. At the end, I kind of wanted more, but was also pleased with what we got.

5. God of War: Ragnarok

Despite the widespread praise of God of War (2018), it was a mixed bag for me at the time, mainly because it strayed from the series’ roots. It was good, but it didn’t really do anything overly special for me. In a lot of ways, Ragnarok was a step forward. The story was amazing! The characters were amazing, especially Odin! There were so many cool moments and reveals. But I still have mixed opinions about the state of Sony’s AAA games. I put 60 hours into Ragnarok. So I definitely got my money’s worth in terms of time spent with it. The optional missions and bosses were challenging, mostly enjoyable, and usually worth the extra time. But a lot of the game felt like a quest to simply unlock chests instead of progressing the story. At certain points, it felt like a slog where, I was just checking off boxes to hit 100% completion and get my platinum trophy. It’s insane that the 8-10 hour experience of the original typical gamer fantasy God of War on PS2 has turned into such a massive, well written experience. But it also sucks that it takes five years to realize that vision. There were things that happened in the game, and references to the first game that perplexed me, because I have only faint recognition of the moments from five years ago. When I look back at it I remember killing trolls, opening a bunch of chests, and Kratos saying “Boy” a lot. But the finer details like who we killed, and how the characters are related escaped me. So again, I see the game for its triumphs, but also for its issues as a product of modern game development. But I seem to be in the minority on this opinion. I’m not sure where the franchise goes from here. I’m hoping for Egyptian mythology as I’ve always preferred it to Norse mythology.

6. Moss: Book II

The original Moss was one second only to AstroBot Rescue Mission when it came to PS VR games. I loved how it succeeded at making a VR game that actually felt like a traditional game, and also how it made Quill feel so lifelike. I hadn’t witnessed that sense of empathy with a character ever before. I was so invested in her journey, and super excited when the sequel was announced. Sure it was more of the same, but it gave me a great reason to dust of my PS VR. The boss battles were the high points for me. I’m not sure what the future holds for the franchise. I don’t really know if I’ll want to buy PS VR2. But a Moss: Book III could coax me into it. 

7. Nobody Saves the World

I love Drinkbox. The Guacamelee! series made me a massive fan of the studio. Nobody Saves the World is just what I would expect from them: a stylist game with a lot of quirky fun. The variety of characters was impressive. The macabre look was silly. And the constant sense of progression via objectives and upgrades had me hooked from the start to my finish, over 30 hours later. I don’t go for 1000/1000 of the achievements in games all too often. Here I did, I loved every little thing I had to do to get there. And, yeppers, Game Pass once again saved me money that I’d already expected to spend.

8. Horizon Forbidden West Horizon was my favorite new IP of the last generation. Guerrilla really built something impressive with the franchise. Yet the same cons from God of War: Ragnarok are present here: a lengthy development time, padding, and so much content that it kind of got in its own way. The new beasts were impressive, as were the new weapons. But overall the world and story didn’t fascinate me as much. I’d have liked much more about Ted Faro, and the story about the red blight, which seemed important pre-release, never really went anywhere. Still, I spent 97 hours exploring the Forbidden West - my most out of any game this year - and look forward to the DLC. 9. FAR: Changing Tides

I played FAR: Lone Sails a few years back. I went in not knowing much, and left with my jaw on the floor. It was such a beautiful, enjoyable experience. Much like many sequels, Changing Tides couldn’t quite match the magic of the original. The water sections were an interesting addition, but the game also had some rough edges. Still the ending of it was well worth the brief ride. Also, Game Pass!

10. Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course

Cuphead was my GOTY back in 2017. It’s probably one of my favorite games ever! So more Cuphead is fine by me. And that’s exactly what this was. More lovingly, painstakingly handcrafted quintessential Cuphead. There wasn’t a lot to it, but it’s quality over quantity. I really can’t wait to see what’s next for Studio MDHR! Honorable Mentions: High on Life - I’m not really a fan of the Rick and Morty style of comedy these days, so the juvenile comedy and it’s weird verbose cadence was hit or miss with me, often finding itself on the “miss” side. Just the volume and way the character often talk, which seems to be prevalent in many modern cartoons, annoys me. The game also has quite a few technical issues at release and horrendous load times on Xbox One. The gameplay and shooting mechanics aren’t super polished either, and don’t feel all that satisfying. But the talking weapons themselves were really cool! And the thing that made them even cooler was the voice cast, particularly the former SNLers JB Smoove and Tim Robinson. Their silly performances, in addition to Laura Silverman’s, kept me playing. And clocking in at just 12 hours for me, it didn’t overstay its welcome. Also, ugg, its Game Pass, its a game on Xbox Game Pass, on the Xbox game console, where you have a pass where you can play g-games, and you d-d-don’t even gotta, uhhh, you don’t have to pay for them, the games on the pass, cuz they’re on the Game Pass! (End annoying Rick and Morty impression) Shadow Warrior 3 - This series is just good fun, with a freedom of gameplay reminiscent of the modern Doom games. The art style is great, and the level design really just encourages you to play around. A lot of times these days, games are trying to be like movies, or be serious and realistic. But there’s something to be said about a cheesy game that knows its place and just prioritizes fun. And this one came to PlayStation Plus fairly quickly so it was another freebie. A Plague Tale: Requiem - Thanks to info from someone, I learned that I can play Xbox Series X games on my Xbox One via the cloud, which makes me feel like I’m living in the future. It’s absurd that Microsoft would allow me to mooch off new games with my old technology. I really don’t see any reason to upgrade my console. This series is really unique. Without spoiling things, it does some really cool things with the rat plague, and is another game that just has some (mostly) fun gameplay. There were a few frustrating stealth sections for me, as well as a few combat sections. And the pacing was a bit inconsistent. It started out slow, and got a bit long in the tooth towards the end. But it occupies that sweet spot between AAA and indie that we just don’t see that often anymore. And with Game Pass, it’s well worth a look on PC, Series X, or through the wizardry of Xbox One. Disc Room (2020) - It was always on my enormous list of games to play, but with so many good looking games, I just never got around to it since there were so many games that were higher on my list of things to try. But Game Pass to the rescue! I love a good arcade style game. And this was just that: a cool concept, with a decent challenge, and a nice sense of progression. Over the course of a few hours, it presented ideas, iterated on them a bit, and wish me a lovely farewell, requiring 49 less days to experience than Horizon did. I’m glad I finally got around to it, because it really surprised me. Deathloop (2021) - This game never really interested me. I really haven’t been a fan of any of the games coming out of Arkane. But when it came to PlayStation Plus, I had nothing to play at the time, so I gave it a try. I ended up spending 23 hours with it. I really enjoyed how they incorporated the time travel ideas. And the gameplay and abilities stayed fresh nearly the whole time, although the nebulous nature of figuring out how to assassinate a target or two, and the repetitive nature that came along with it, did bring about a bit of monotony. Somerville - Somerville was one of the oldest game I was following that was still in active development, probably since around 2015. It looked like it could be the next great atmospheric platformer, the next Inside. Sadly, it is not a good game. So why is it on this list? Because despite its plethora of problems and odd design choices - unrefined mechanics, clunky animations, poor environmental readability that led to confusion on where to go, envionmental geometry to get stuck on, ladders that you had to be perfectly aligned with to climb, freezes and technical issues, an overall jankiness, a poor execution of multiple endings as well as the “good “ ending, and just an overall nebulousness that undermines practically everything it tries to do - there’s a really intriguing, mysterious world there. I would have been disappointed had I spent money on it. But giving it a look on Game Pass could be worth your time if you can see past its flaws.

That’s it for this year. I’ve still got plenty of games that came out that I want to play, and I’ll start up Rainbow Billy and the Curse of the Leviathan (now on Game Pass) soon, but most of my anticipated ones were completed. Who knows what remaining 2022 games may turn up on future GOTY lists? Lost in Play looks cool, but has eluded me so far, OlliOlli World got good reviews, I totally missed the release of The Quarry. I’ll probably eventually get around to the Nintendo games like Splatoon 3 and Kirby, and maybe try the Tiny Tina game after getting a bit burned out with Borderlands. Most Anticipated Games:

1. Alan Wake 2 - The original is one of my favorite games. I’m so glad we’re finally getting this! 2. Pepper Grinder - I been following this one on twitter for a while. The developer went silent for a while, but has been back showing things off again. It looks so friggin cool! 3. SCHiM - definitely a Joey-style indie that looks unlike anything else 4. Hades II - Hades really surprised me and consumed a lot of my time. This probably will too. I just hope it does enough to warrant a sequel and doesn’t bring on the sophomore slump that I often feel with sequels. 5. Horizon Forbidden West - Burning Shores DLC - Its more Horizon so I’m going to play it. Do I expect anything revolutionary? No. Just more fun Horizon. 6. Cocoon - When this was announced, my fascination mainly relied on one simple fact: It’s Jeppe Carlsen’s next game - the brilliant mind who brought us 140 and worked on the Playdead games, Limbo and Inside. What Cocoon exactly is is still a bit of a mystery to me. But I can’t wait to see it unfurl its wings. 7. Judas - Who wouldn’t be excited about Ken Levine’s new game, which looks to be the spiritual successor to Bioshock. I can’t wait to see more on this one! 8. Viewfinder - This was a pleasant surprise during The Game Awards. A stylized first person puzzle game! That’s so in my wheelhouse!  9. The Plucky Squire - Here’s another game that blew me away with its trailer: some 2D, some 3D, a bunch of different gameplay concepts, all with a wonderful coat of paint. I think this could easily find its way near the top of next year’s GOTY list, much like Tinykin did this year. 10. Atomic Heart - I’ve been interested in this one for a while too, since even before Stray. It’s also got some cool Bioshock-y vibes, with a really interesting looking world. The only concern is the recent news that the development has been troubled and that trailers were basically just vertical slices. But it’s on Game Pass, so the risk of paying for it is eliminated.

[wozman23]

The Ratchet & Clank Franchise Turns 20!

Today marks the 20 year anniversary of the Ratchet & Clank franchise, and as my favorite franchise of all time, I feel like a china anniversary warrants me dusting off my tumblr blog. I’ve been playing video games for roughly 35 years now. I’ve watched trends come and go, and my tastes change as I’ve grown with the industry. What started off as a love for simple little arcade games and 2D platformers on the Atari 2600 blossomed into my current obsession with weird indie games and the AAA games of today that would have blown my four-year-old mind and made me shit my Ninja Turtles underwear.

Through the years, my interest levels have ebbed and flowed. Not long before Ratchet & Clank, I’d say I was in a lull. I don’t look back all that fondly on the early days of 3D games. The industry was in a state of flux. Nintendo continued their excellence with the Nintendo 64, which featured some great first party platformers, but little else that interested me. Then, a new up-and-comer, Sony, entered the market with a counter to Nintendo’s offerings, becoming my main platform of play. They had some great platformers of their own, but I found myself, much like many teenagers, turning towards other genres with games like Tony Hawk Pro Skater, racing games, car combat games like Twisted Metal, and the early top-down Grand Theft Auto games. I shifted toward more mature experiences. I still had fun those years, but overall, the rough polygon look of early 3D games left very little that actually stands out to me. And outside of those few games, like Tony Hawk, that consumed me, I spent less time gaming overall.

Spyro, Insomniac’s first big franchise, is a great example of these growing pains for both the industry and myself. I played through most of the franchise with a friend. And they were enjoyable. (The fact that they’re scored by Stewart Copeland still blows my mind.) But in retrospect they feel like they were just laying the groundwork for what would be much bigger and better things that the PlayStation 2 would soon offer. I had similar feelings about the Crash Bandicoot franchise as well.  In 2002, I was a freshman in college. I had the time to enjoy my gaming hobby, and newfound freedom from my parents, but I didn’t have a job, or much money. I got a PS2 not long after it released, maybe after a Christmas/Birthday or two. Most years, I just picked up GTA and Tony Hawk. I spent countless hours mastering those games. And I didn’t really focus on much else. But, during that time, I also subscribed to the Official PlayStation Magazine. With that subscription came the occasional demo disc. One such disc featured a game I knew little about: Ratchet & Clank. I still remember sitting in my dorm, with that same friend I’d played Spyro with, and trying out the original Ratchet & Clank. There were two levels: Metropolis and Blackwater City. I played them both... then I played them again, and again!  From that mere demo, I was hooked. I finally got the full release, again probably as a gift for a birthday or Christmas, and the full product was just as amazing as I could have hoped it would be! I loved everything about the franchise: its cartoony nature, the humor, the wacky weapons, the motley crew of charming, silly, and dastardly characters, the scope and scale of the level design, the unique mechanics, the freedom to play however you wanted and with whatever weapons you wanted to use... Everything astounded me! Even the commercials were great! From then on, Ratchet & Clank games were the games I saved my money for. And from then on, I bought every single entry on release day. The franchise single handedly reinvigorated my interest in video games. I found Jak and Daxter, and - another all-time favorite - Sly Cooper. I began to learn about the industry and its developers. I found Psychonauts, Beyond Good & Evil, and Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. (Still waiting on my sequel...) Sony’s first party output, like God of War, Dark Cloud, Shadow of the Colossus, became more of my focus. Those years, thanks largely in part due to Ratchet & Clank, really lit a fire under me. From then on, video games were one of my biggest passions. I was getting older, and finally employed, so when time came time to upgrade to the PS3, I was there on Day 1, largely in part for Resistance: Fall of Man, another Insomniac franchise that while far more grim and mature in tone, still carried a lot of the Ratchet & Clank DNA along with it. That franchise became my favorite FPS franchise of all time. While I’d say that the PS2 years were a rebirth, the PS3 years are where both Sony and Insomniac were really banging on all cylinders. We got a Resistance or Ratchet & Clank game pretty much yearly. Development times were miniscule compared to what they've ballooned to today, so a steady stream of new releases kept me on cloud nine. But the tail end of the PS3 years also were some of the most pressing for Ratchet & Clank fans. After 2009′s brilliant “Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time” the franchise’s future - no pun intended - seemed a bit hazy. With a franchise that already had a handful of games, put out on an near-yearly basis, Ratchet & Clank didn’t feel as fresh to me anymore. The development landscape was changing. Games were becoming incredibly expensive to make. Downloadable games were a new idea. And the franchise began to branch out in experimental ways, with smaller games, four player co-op - more on that later - and even a tower defense strategy game. I began to wonder if my favorite franchise had run its course, much like many of the other franchises I’d grown to love and then sour on. But alas, a PS4 reboot to go along with a movie adaptation brought new hope to the franchise - revisiting past ideas while also adding a smidge of new. Maybe, just maybe, the franchise could still remain in the limelight... Then “Rift Apart” was announced! After so many years wondering and waiting, I shed a tear at its reveal. That’s never happened before. Then it released. It was a critical and commercial darling. And it finally felt as if the franchise was back! Years of worrying about whether or not I’d ever see another traditional adventure were quelled. New characters and stories showed a promising future. A future in which I’m now certain includes more adventures from Ratchet, Clank, and Rivet.

It’s really hard to sum up the 20 year history of the franchise. For me, while there were those few years of darkness, there were so many bright spots. One of the brightest for me is a game in the series that often gets ostracized: the multiplayer designed “All 4 One” that was built around co-op. Is it a traditional Ratchet & Clank adventure? No, and it’s far from it! But that is one of a few reasons that make it noteworthy, and great. As I said, “A Crack in Time” was often viewed as the pinnacle of the franchise. But for me, it represented my point of burnout. It was great, but I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as others. So when “All 4 One” followed, with something completely different, it was a breath of fresh air. It didn’t play like Ratchet & Clanks of the past. But it didn’t need to. Much like the original game introduced so many cool ideas, so too did it. There were cool cooperative moments, beautiful level designs, terrific bosses, and some great story moments like Dr. Nefarious’ inclusion in the team and his internal battle about whether he now liked the duo he’d fought so hard to erradicate. With a new style of game, the game’s actual style could also be modified. The artists known as CreatureBox, Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin, long responsible for the franchise’s look, could go in different directions. And boy did they! The concept art from those days is by far the greatest in the franchises history. The pieces detailing the Octonok Cay Cannery, Deadgrove Village, and the Wigwump enemy are absolutely astounding! For good reason, Dave’s work was often recognized by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ yearly Into The Pixel collections. I would have loved a game that could have perfectly replicated that hand-drawn style, but sadly CreatureBox and Insomniac have parted ways. What I did get though is one of my most prized possessions, Boss Fight!, the wonderful glow-in-the-dark print that Dave created for the franchise’s ten year anniversary. It feels like the culmination of that art style and reminds me so much of why I love the franchise.

Another prized possession: The Ratchet & Clank graphic novel signed by writer TJ Fixman that I won thanks to a contest in which I created this humorous gif, which gave me some recognition from the developers. I’d picked up the individual comic prior, but hopped at the chance for a signed copy. (I’m also pretty sure with the same gif, I missed out on the awesome, custom colored PS3 Dualshocks given away as part of a contest not long after All 4 One’s release merely because I didn’t respond to a twitter DM from PlayStation within 24 hours... but that’s another story that I’m NOT at all still bitter about... and I’m still followed by the official PlayStation account on twitter, which I guess is cool... but not as cool as the orange, blue, green, and purple hues on those DS3s that I don’t have and instead have a few codes for some really shitty games... NOT BITTER AT ALL!!!...) Then, in November of 2018, right after I moved out to Los Angeles, there was a celebration of the 15th anniversary of the franchise, at Gallery Nucleus, a meet and greet and art display, where I finally got to meet and thank many of the people who were instrumental in the franchise’s and studio’s success, Ted Price, Brian Allgeier,  Brian Hastings, and James Stevenson to name a few. I also had them sign my graphic novel. (Not sure if Ted was just being super nice, but I’m pretty sure he recognized me from my gif, or just one of the many other times I’ve interacted with the studio online.) So what seems like a little “kiddie” game to some really means the world to me. It reignited my love of gaming. Not only in the games, but in life too, I have so many great memories that are tied to the franchise and the wonderful people who dreamt it up. I’m forever indebted to the fine folks at Insomniac. They’re the main reason I buy PlayStations, and they were the reason that the Xbox One became my first Xbox console when the Sunset Overdrive bundle released. The fact that they are now finally an official studio underneath Sony feels perfect. Though they were independent for many years, they’ve always felt like a Sony studio, and much of my love of PlayStation is rooted in their works. I’ll play the Spider-Man sequel despite not being the biggest Spidey fan. And I’m excited to see what they do with Wolverine, being a bigger X-Men fan. But I’m really just waiting for the next Ratchet & Clank, or the eventual next spiritual successor to it that takes them to even greater heights. Thank you for everything, Insomniac!

[wozman23]

Thoughts on Ghostbusters: Afterlife

The Ghostbusters franchise has had its ups and downs, but it's always been very near and dear to my heart. I loved the original, felt indifferent about the sequel, thought the female reboot was solid despite a tonal identity crisis, and remained cautiously optimistic towards Afterlife. In the midst of a pandemic, I chose to forgo seeing Afterlife in theaters, so I only just got around to watching it tonight. Overall, its a terrific entry to the franchise, though its not without its problems. I've said it before: the original film is simply iconic. Every piece of it feels fully invested into the world. Aykroyd and Ramis crafted even the littlest of details with the utmost care, and everyone was fully invested in that vision. The ghosthunting and ghostbusting tech, Ecto-1, the costumes, the score, the lore, the ghosts – everything just meshed to create the perfect film that remains a timeless classic. Ghostbusters II strayed a bit. It felt like a cash in, with a plot that just couldn't hold a candle to the original. Nothing more really needs to be said about it. After that, the franchise entered a theatrical dormancy for nearly thirty years, probably for the better. Ghostbusters (2016) got a lot of flack pre-release and upon release. Some was warranted. Some wasn't. I was originally on the critical side. While the original sprung from SNL players, and made great use of Aykroyd, Ramis, Murray, and Hudson, its strength wasn't its comedy. I've always seen it as more of a horror film, with light comedic elements. My biggest gripe about the 2016 release was that it felt like it never understood that. I love Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon, and they both played great parts, but far too often it felt as if the film was trying to be too funny.  What it did well was lean into the occult, modernize effects to create some beautiful eye candy, and rely on just the proper amount of nostalgia. In viewing it a second time last year, around Halloween I actually had a more favorable opinion on it for many of those reasons. Still, over-the-top moments like Leslie Jones slapping a ghost out of Melissa McCarthy really miss the mark, metaphorically slapping the franchise's roots in the face. Thankfully, Afterlife finds a nice balance once more. It manages to introduce a new generation to the franchise and satisfy lifelong fans simultaneously. From its opening it feels dark and ominous. Familiar music provides comfort. A new world and characters are explored, ushering in quirky new personalities and the hooks of a great story. Paul Rudd, much like Murray, is the vehicle for subtle comedy. As are the new kids on many occasions. Once again the scenes aren't set up to present jokes. The jokes just exist organically in a weird world full of ghosts, ghouls, and specters.

So much of the original film is present in Afterlife. Much of that has to be due to director Jason Reitman, son of the original director, Ivan Reitman. The passage of time enhances nostagia. All of the iconic paraphernalia is presented under a layer of dust and dinge. Witnessing a new cast discover and connect Egon's past was a delight. Mini Stay-Pufts and the terror dogs were welcome returns. The attention to detail there was great as well. In particular, I was amazed when the first Mini Stay-Puft fell over on the store shelf, only to get back up with the imprint of the shelving in his squishy little body that slowly faded away. Particle beam effects, which looked amazing even back in the 80s, remained polished and familiar. The eerie, occult nature of the story was taken in a new direction in a new town. Speaking of the occult, the cameo from Aykroyd felt so true to his character. (And if you know anything about me you know that while Egon was perhaps my favorite character, Dan Aykroyd was always my favorite actor, and I believe easily the best, and most underrated, SNL cast member of his era.) The back story he revealed was emotional. Thirty years of history were summed up in a phone call. And with the franchise having been the brainchild of Aykroyd himself, it felt fitting that he was running a store concerned with antiques and the occult. Also worth mentioning: the joy of the Aztec death whistle scene. The film, which felt like it was blazing its own trail, could have stood on its own without his cameo, but it was appreciated. As the action ramped up, I was fully invested in Phoebe and her quest. And it wasn't really until the very end that I took a bit of umbrage with the execution. Up until the final act, the film was near flawless. But that's when it started to trip over its nostalgia. The deus ex machina moment when the still living trio of Ghostbusters showed up fell a bit shark jumpy to me. While pre-release I definitely hoped for cameos, the product stood on its own so well that I really didn't need it. In fact by the time they appeared on screen, I'd forgot that I even wanted them to appear. I'm conflicted on Ghost Egon too. That moment was slightly spoiled for me. Thanks, “smart”phone! I understand the sentiment, and he was a huge reason for the franchises success, but CGI-ing him in feels a bit odd. I understand that his real-life family approved of it, and since the story centered on his fictional family uncovering his work he was important. But despite the catharsis of seeing his character on the screen again, it felt weird, regardless of the message it was trying to convey. Especially considering he was just a mute character who could only emote through expressions. The only other shark jump for me was with the mirrored execution of Gozer and the terror beasts. Nostalgia is a fine line to walk. I did enjoy the lore of the mine, but the similarity of the whole Gatekeeper and Keymaster dichotomy felt rushed and hamfisted. It stranded the plot in a strange zone between being not quite a reimagine and not quite new.

Still, these minor blemishes are easily overlooked when considering the whole. Muncher, basically Slimer 2.0, was cool. Egon's crazy contraptions were awesome. It was nice to see Annie Potts revisit Janine again. I was hoping that Rick Moranis would reappear since he's recently come out of retirement. But again, that's a minor niggle. Overall it feels like the original movie, and that's all I really wanted. Plus, if it attracts the generation of today to the original, they're in for a real treat.

[wozman23]

Top 12 Games of the Year 2021

1. Toodee and Topdee

Sometimes, in my lulls between games, as a huge fan of indie games who is always looking to discover his next favorite, I'll tirelessly sift through the massive list of upcoming games on Steam. It's a fickle process. Usually I'm just looking for key art to catch my eye, or maybe just a game's name. There's a lot of mud to trudge through, but every so often I'll discover a diamond in the rough - a game that immediately shoots to the top of my most anticipated games list. Toodee and Topdee just did that thanks to a brilliant concept and an equally as impressive demo. From the second I finished the demo, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the full product. I absorbed everything I could via social media before release, and eagerly awaited the release date once it was concrete. When that day finally arrive, I couldn't have been more happy with what I was playing. What looks like a simple little 2D game has quite a bit of nuance to it. The casual fan may just enjoy making their way through each level, and taking down the amazing bosses. The rabid fan will find much more. And I quickly became a rabid fan. Simply beating the game wasn't enough. I wanted to master it. I began by collecting the extra ladybugs,  earned by challenges within each level. Red ones required completion in a minimal amount of time. Blue ones were rewarded for minimal dimension swapping. And the sporadic pink ones were for pacifism, by not killing any animals. Some came easy; others took many, many attempts or even days. But alas, I nabbed all the lady bugs... or so I thought.  After that I unlocked the white lady bugs, which require playing through a full chapter without a single death. If memory serves correct, I bounced off the game after collecting the first two, mainly because a steady stream of new games came out, but maybe one day I'll get back to achieving 100% mastery.

The game itself is a treasure at every level. The base mechanic of swapping between the two characters, a 2D player, and a top-down player, is fun right out of the gate. Becoming efficient at it only amplifies the fun. Levels dole out challenge after challenge, starting with simple levels that help lay out the world's rules, but evolve into madness with new ideas and mechanics all the way up until the very end. Some are what you expect from a platformer. Others, like the last few chapter and end world alter the game and gameplay at its very core. The presentation is great, the music is great, everything is great.

I've played hundred upon hundreds of 2D platformers and puzzle games. They're probablybmy favorite genres. When they cross paths, its even better. But after over 30 years of gaming, I crave wholly unique experiences. So finding a platformer these days that does something that feels completely new is tough. But Toodee and Topdee manages just that. It's that feeling of playing Super Mario Bros. for the very first time, or finally figuring out that one hard puzzle in a game that has you stumped, or felling the colossus that you had no clue how to attack when you approached.

You won't see it in many GOTY lists. It's a small game by a small developer that came out with little fanfare. But that isn't at all indicative of the product. It easily takes my top spot of the year, and would go toe-to-toe with many of the Number 1s from years past.

2. Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is the opposite of my Number 1. At heart it's still an indie game, but thanks to the exposure from Sony, it received far more attention. The initial trailer looked amazing! But some time not long before release, after a few delays, a video released online that looked less than stellar. For the first time, I had my reservations. I began to wonder if a studio more well versed in animation was in over their heads with building their first video game. Snap to release day. I couldn't put it down!

After I experience a game that I love wholeheartedly, I often turn to reviews to see what others are saying. To my surprise, many people were not near as impressed with Kena, and many found it fair-to-middling. One common criticism many people had was that it felt like it took concept from a bunch of other games, but didn't bring anything new to the table. In retrospect, that may be true. It's built like the traditional 3D action/adventure game. There's a bit of Zelda, the Pixar-like approach of Ratchet & Clank, some Uncharted-esque climbing, and a fair share of collectibles and upgrades akin to the ones you'd expect in any such game. But as I was playing, I was so entranced by the presentation, characters, and world, that I didn't even care. The thought never even crossed my mind. I just kept wanting to see what was around the next corner. What beautiful cinema would present itself next? What endearing character would I meet? Where would my travels take me in the lush, vibrant world? What weird, new enemy would I encounter? Where would I find my next Rot creature? Then my next? And the one after that?

I'm going to contradict myself now. With my Number 1 game, the thing that put it at Number 1 was the fact that it felt unlike anything I had every played. Kena, on the other hand, felt like putting on a comfy new hoodie. Sure, it has two sleeves for my arms, and a drawstring for the hood – just like my old hoodie, and every other hoodie. But maybe I just really like the new color, the softness of new fabric, or the way it feels like it fits me perfectly. Sometimes you don't need to reinvent the wheel. You just need to put all your heart into making the best wheel you can make. And the development team responsible for Kena did just that, creating a beautiful, emotional, engaging fantasy world that I never wanted to leave.

3. Narita Boy

I was a Kickstarter backer for Narita Boy. I don't remember how I found it, but it looked radical - like a side-scrolling, neon-drenched, 80s-inspired fever dream. So I threw money at it faster than the world record time for solving a Rubic's Cube! Much like the previous two games, it was coming from an unproven developer. But conceptually it had so much going for it. So I put my faith in their vision. Were they 100% successful? Not quite, but it's very rare that a project is. But it was damn close. There were a few things absent from the original pitch, and the jumping mechanics needed a bit of warming up to. But the style was executed flawlessly. And in my eyes it was always about style over substance. It knew exactly what it wanted to be. The “Trichroma” concept, with the world favoring the three colors, red, blue, and yellow, gave the entire project a cohesiveness. Enemies and bosses were fun and varied. Upgrades and abilities like the Servohorse, floppy disk surfing, and Mecha sections were immediate high points. The soundtrack was tubular too. If you can listen to “Saving the World” from the soundtrack without bobbing your head to its Europop synth bliss, then there's something wrong with you. Oh, fuck, I just remembered the game's ending!!!

4. Chicory: A Colorful Tale

Greg Lobanov's previous game, Wandersong, put him on the map for me, but ultimately left me a bit underwhelmed. But when he began tweeting about his next project, tentatively titled “Drawdog” in its early day, I was intrigued. Eventually those ideas became Chicory: A Colorful Tale – a game that feels part adventure game, part therapeutic coloring book. The game is what you make it. One could easily just play through the main story in around 10 hours. Or you could take a leisurely 20-30 hour stroll through the complete game, exploring every nook and cranny, spending an absurd amount of time perfecting the art you create, and coloring in the entire world in the process. I went with the later, clocking in 27 hours, and loved every minute of it. While the core game is great, particularly the exploration, hunting down collectibles, light puzzle-based gameplay, and the contrastingly-brilliant boss battles, most of that time was spent with the aspects that encouraged creativity. I've always loved a game that allows me to add my own slice of oft-weird creativity to it, creating a world that only exists in my version of the game. In this case, it's all about coloring in every individual screen to my liking, or wasting away hour after hour reproducing my own interpretations of the suggested art pieces, or filling blank canvases based on nothing more than a simple abstract idea. This is one of those games that is just so wholesome and relaxing. After a long day, nothing feels better than just wandering and coloring in a handful of screens. The inclusivity presented in the game was stellar as well. Naming all of the animals after foods and allowing for a wide variety of clothing customizations kept gender and other characteristics nebulous. I spent a lot of time with my boy, Macaroni, and look back on our relaxing, therapeutic time fondly.

5. It Takes Two

I'm Sasquatch – a recluse, a loner, an introvert who almost would always prefer to be alone than with company. And I have no interest in playing with people online, be they friends or strangers. I love when a co-op game comes out that lets me play alone, especially if it requires me to multitask. So when It Takes Two was revealed, I thought it looked great... then I learned that you couldn't play it alone. Luckily, a best friend came to visit not long after its release, so we did all the typical LA tourist-y stuff by day, and made our way through It Takes Two at night. It's biggest gift is the variety of gameplay. Every level brings a new mechanic to play around with. Through each level, that mechanic is iterated on nicely. Then, the next level comes, that mechanic is abandoned, and a cool new mechanic is introduced. From a development standpoint, that's insanely impressive, even more-so from a small indie developer. The AAA industry operates pretty much exactly the opposite way. The easiest way to build a game is to  have a small set of mechanics and features and just vary the situations in which they are used. It takes a reckless amount of ambition to flip traditional game development on its head, and favor variety of quantity. Many times quality will suffer, but It Takes Two rarely falters. Stylistically, it was beautiful throughout. Level themes and mechanics partnered beautifully, often adding an extra layer metaphorically. The characters were well crafted and full of personality. And the story was an odd, sometime darker than expected, romp. Hazelight Studios seems to be all-in on the concept of co-op, so depending on what their next game looks like, I may have to suck it up and find a local friend.

6. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Ratchet & Clank is my all-time favorite franchise. I've played and mastered every game: the PS2 entries, the PS3 entries, the various spin-offs, all the downloadable games, the reimagine, and I've enjoyed them all. But it had been quite some time since we've had a proper, full length game that pushed the narrative forward. I loved All 4 One, and was glad the reimagined original for PS4 renewed interest in the franchises, but not long after 2009's A Crack in Time I really began to wonder if we'd ever see another large scale, completely new traditional entry. In my case, Rift Apart came with the heavy weight of years of waiting, and all sorts of hopes, dreams, and expectations. Quite frankly, because of that, in some areas it felt as if was missing just a little something special. It's in no way a bad game, or even mediocre. I hoped it would have been my #1 this year. But it just wasn't. On the positive side of things, the addition of Rivet and Kit were wonderful. I probably liked Kit's arc even more than Rivet's. But having another Lombax around is always great when pushing Ratchet himself towards the end goal of possibly finding the Lombaxes. As expected from Insomniac and the franchise, the visuals were insane. They really know how to bring characters and environments to life. Particle effects were bonkers. Humor and fan service were pervasive. Old and new ideas merged effortlessly, with great weapons from the franchise's past, as well as clever new ones like the Topiary Sprinkler, Ricochet, and perhaps the coolest iteration of the RYNO yet. And with the DualSense's adaptive triggers, firing weapons became even more satisfying. Plus with it – as well as Kena – the dream of a Pixar quality game has never been more achievable. So why is it #6? Scope and scale. As the credits rolled I felt as if it just didn't have as much substance as past games. In the past games I usually couldn't unlock everything until around a third play through, but almost all of Rift Apart's content can be obtained in a single play through, or not long after starting Challenge Mode. I couldn't help but think that maybe this was because development occurred in the midst of a pandemic, or maybe just because it was a launch window PS5 title, or because budgets since 2009 have ballooned to absurd levels. In the end, I just wanted more. That's never a terrible thing, but it did lead to a little disappointment despite the rest of the package being top notch. Regardless, the second a new entry is announced, which I feel far more certain is coming, that game will jump to the top of my most anticipated list.

7. Returnal

Housemarque was one of my favorite indie developers, and their arcade games were a high point in the last generation. Resogun and Nex Machina are practically perfect. So when word came that they were abandoning the arcade genre because it wasn't financially feasible, I was heartbroken. When they said they were working on a AAA game, I wasn't sure what to think. Would it lose the Housemarque identity? Would it bankrupt the company? Pre-release, Returnal looked okay. It looked as if it retained some of that Housemarque DNA, with plenty of bullet hell and particle effects. But would it play like their frenetic arcade games? Could their design philosophy translate to a larger project? Would sacrifices be made? Thankfully, Returnal feels exactly like a Housemarque game. It is brutally challenging, and feels great to play. Many people criticize its difficulty. Battle hardened by their past games, I found it to be fairly easy. It took me around 17 hours to roll credits, with around 20 deaths if I recall correctly – and many of those early runs were me experimenting with different weapon types and upgrades. Speaking of which, the variety of weapons, and level of customization was impressive, especially when it came to the risk/reward components. In typical fashion, boss fights and the soundtrack were ace. It's perhaps the most adrenaline inducing game I've played this year, which has always been a hallmark – dare I say hallmarque - of their games. One new facet of Returnal, was Housemarque's foray into story telling. I'm still not exactly sure what I experienced. I have no clue what events were real and what were symbolism. But I really enjoyed their approach to story telling and seeing how many others interpreted the events of the game. After nearly 70 hours to achieve platinum, which was a bit grind-y-er than it needed to be due to the randomness of room generation, I walked away having faith that Housemarque could deliver a larger AAA experience, and could ensure their success. I still think Resogun and Nex Machina are superior, but that's comparing apples to oranges. Regardless, I can't wait to see what they do next, especially now that they're officially part of Sony's first party studios.

8. Psychonauts 2

I still can't believe Psychonauts 2 exists. The original was a cult classic, but the franchise wasn't one that guaranteed commercial success. If you're familiar with the franchise, nothing more really needs to be said. The writing is great. The art direction is great. The environments and level design are great. Double Fine's trademark wild creativity is on full display once more. If you liked the original, you'll like the sequel. Even if you've never played the original, the sequel is great on its own. Nothing more really needs to be said for fear of stealing some of its thunder and spoiling some of its magic. It's wild to think we just lived through a year where multiple 3D action platformers found new life. And equally as wild that Microsoft is willing to simply let me download a brand new game on launch day merely because I subscribe to Game Pass.

9. ElecHead

I forget how exactly I found the demo for ElecHead. I think it was through a retweet on Twitter. But the demo was *shockingly* good. So when the full release arrived, I was there on Day 1. It's a simple game. You're a little bot with an electric head. And you can toss your head to activate platforms and switches, or avoid hazards. The game is short and sweet. It doesn't over-complicate things. It just takes that concept and provides an ample amount of increasingly difficult puzzles and challenges to overcome. In some ways I wish it would have added more mechanics and abilities, but if it had, it might not have resulted in such a tight, refined experience. That's really the only reason it's this low on the list. Playing the demo earlier in the year somewhat spoiled me on its simplicity. But with each and every room feeling so well crafted, its hard to fault it for having a demo that sold me in milliseconds.

10 MO: Astray

MO: Astray is a 2019 game, but despite it being pretty high up on my Steam wish list, I only finally got around to playing it. The pixel art and animation always attracted me, but I had no clue it would be as creepy and macabre as it was. I'm also always a sucker for unique platforming gameplay in which characters move via unconventional methods, and from start to finish, the evolving mechanics provided ample opportunities for unorthodox traversal. It was full of solid puzzle sections, had an awesome mech section, and the bosses were as cool as they were tough. I'm really glad I finally got around to playing it. I'm fairly good about playing great games the year they come out, but this one slipped through the cracks. It would have easily made my Top 10 in 2019, so this inclusion is just righting a wrong.

11. F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch

F.I.S.T. found it's way to me thanks to the PlayStation Blog. As a lover of Metroidvanias, it looked to take a unique path, especially considering it was developed in Shanghai, China. I was immediately attracted to the protagonist, Rayton, a rabbit with a massive mechanical fist strapped to him like a backpack. The Metroidvania aspects are in accordance with the genre. Weapons and abilities were fun to unlock. The combo system had an insane amount of depth – maybe even a bit too much for a button-masher like me. Enemies and boss battles were cool. It did have a few rough edges in the form of minor glitches, but the overall amount of content was impressive. I ended up putting around 23 hours into my completionist play through, wanting to make sure I experienced everything it had to offer.

12. The Wild at Heart

As a huge fan of indie games, Xbox Game Pass has been a godsend for me experiencing games I might never otherwise buy. Sometime around 2014, I started an Excel document that I use to keep track of all the games that I'm interested in, and 99 percent of them are indies. As of today, I've listed 654 games. According to my document, The Wild at Heart was one I found through Twitter on January 31st, 2018. At the time, it was only a beautiful screenshot. No gameplay was known. But the screenshot was lovely enough for me to keep my eye on the project. Over then next few years it unfurled itself as a Pikmin-like project. With so many games on my list, many fall through the cracks. I can't buy everything, nor do I have enough time. But The Wild at Heart coming to Game Pass solved the financial side of that issue. And, luckily at the time of release, I didn't have anything to play. It's a charming little game, with some great art, solid humor, and enjoyable puzzle-based gameplay that can easily serve as a great palate cleanser between more demanding games. Games like it - and last year's experiences with CARRION, Carto, Dead Cells, Moonlighter, and The Messenger - are why I continue to subscribe to Game Pass.

Most Anticipated:

1 Alan Wake II - Having not owned a 360 or a decent gaming PC, I was late to the party with Alan Wake. But when I finally got around to playing it on PC years later, I couldn’t believe how amazing it was. I’ve been a huge fan of Remedy ever since. Control and Quantum Break were wonderful distractions, but they just couldn’t replicate the eerie atmosphere and mysteriousness of Alan Wake. For quite some time it seemed like a sequel would never happen, but little by little the stars started to align: Remedy obtained the rights to the IP, hints were scattered throughout Control, and the AWE Expansion leaned heavily into the Alan Wake universe. No longer was it an “if” situation; it was a “when.” We now have the answer, but the wait is going to be excruciating.

2 Horizon Forbidden West - I think Horizon was the best new IP of the last generation. The world and characters were amazing, and the variety of machines was impressive. Plus, by the end the story became one of my favorite sci-fi stories in any form of media. I can’t wait to encounter the new machines, figure out more about Ted Faro.

3 Pepper Grinder - Developer, Riv Hester, went silent on Twitter for quite a while, and I was concerned. But returned in July, citing burnout, the pandemic, and the death of his dad for the silence. I love a platformer with unique traversal mechanics, and the drill present here looks to deliver some excellent, fluid traversal through a beautiful pixel world. Every posted gif just looks better and better. 4 Stray - I’ve been following Stray long before it had a name. When I found it, it was just a few gifs and known as “HK project.” As a cat person, I was instantly interested, especially thanks to the cute furball’s juxtaposition to the mechanical, robot-filled world. 5 Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course. Cuphead held the top spot in my Most Anticipated 2017 list, and ended up being my 2017 GOTY, so I’ve anxiously awaited the DLC since it was announced. Feels like it’s been in the oven for forever though. Can’t wait to finally get a taste next year. 6 Schim - Like many of the indies I follow, this was another one in which Twitter gifs sold me. The minimalist art style is amazing, and jumping between shadows just seems so cool. It’s really the wild card in my list, because its so weird and unlike anything I’ve played, but that’s precisely why it is on this list.

7 God of War: Ragnarok - My opinion on the recent God of War is still pretty middling. I did enjoy it, but also felt like it was weighed down by my history with the more hack-and-slash entries. Still, if Sony is putting out a quality game, they almost always have my attention.

8 FAR: Changing Tides - Far: Lone Sails was a beautiful little game that occupied a middle spot in my 2018 GOTY list. It oozed style and atmosphere, and was just a charming, relaxing journey. I never really expected a sequel, but I’m excited to see where the franchise goes next.

9 Moss: Book II - Moss came with my PSVR bundle, and it really showed that a VR game could feel like a traditional game and have substance. The added level of immersion really made me empathize with Quill far more than had the game been on a 2D screen. But with PSVR not exactly gaining commercial successor, or even critical acclaim, I wasn’t sure we’d get another Moss game. I’m glad it’s getting another chance. 10 Nobody Saves the World - I love DrinkBox. Their style and humor are much appreicated. And Nobody Saves the World looks to continue in their tradition in a new genre. Having played the lengthy demo on Xbox, enjoying the core gameplay and the constant sense of progression via quests and upgrades, I’m very much looking forward to unlocking the various forms in my foray through that quirky world. 11 [FuturLab's Velocity Spiritual Successor] - We know absolutely nothing about this game other than that it is in development and will be published by Thunderful. Having abandoned all hope for another Velocity entry after no one wanted to greenlight the third concept, Supernova, just the fact that this is supposed to continue the design mantra of Velocity is enough for me to be hyped. If it can be even just a fraction as good, it will be great. 12 Loot River - Upon its announcement, Loot River immediately had me interested. Then I played the demo... and I got my ass handed to me on my first try. I immediately thought it might be a bit too punishing for my liking. But then I spent a bit more time with it, began to grasp more of the mechanics, found some great weapons, and had a little less difficulty. It still seems like it could be tough as nails, but I’m up for the challenge.

[wozman23]

An Ode To Conan (AKA Conan Ode’Brien)

The year was 1995... or maybe '94... or at least sometime around then, give or take a year. I had just entered, or would be entering middle school, at age eleven... or twelve. With a new school came a later bedtime. So around that time I discovered two things: Saturday Night Live, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. That was when my world changed.

For as long as I can remember, I've been a silly kid. My parents even used to throw an extra letter in my name and call me “Jokey.” Occasionally, they still do. But now, looking back, nearly 25 years later, I don't know if I'd have ever predicted just how much of my joking nature I'd be able to maintain at this point in my life. Today, at 37, if you ask me to sum up my personality in two words, they'd be “weird” and “funny.” As most age, they lose those traits. They'd instead define themselves as a “Personal Trainer” or a “Civil Engineer.” But I'm still just “weird” and “funny” - a goofball rebelling against the notion of “growing up.” I stubbornly keep the letter 'y' on the end of my name when most Josephs my age pick a more mature alternative. I have little interest in being anything else, and aspire for nothing more.

Much of that is thanks to a tall, freckled, red-headed idol I found on the late night airwaves of NBC, who danced as if he had strings on his hips and let people touch his nipple. I grew up watching cartoons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Disney movies with comedic voice actors, and blockbuster movies like Ghostbusters and Mrs. Doubtfire, but I'd never seen anything as wildly experimental as Late Night. The (arguably) grown man at the helm still retained such a whimsical, silly, absurd outlook on life. He was a big kid, just having fun. It blew my mind. I was hooked. And it showed me that even if I was weird, I wasn't alone.

The absurdity of Conan and Late Night continues to be unrivaled, even to this day. There was a Masturbating Bear, who just went to town on this oddly nondescript jock strappy looking thing, Preparation H Raymond, an overly goofy looking character, with buck teeth and massive ears, who sang songs about applying a cream to irritated buttholes, and Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, who eviscerated Star Wars nerds and crashed the Westminster Dog Show. Clutch Cargo bits, where moving mouths were inserted into pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Jackson, and Bill Clinton, always brought the laughs in the early days, with both Robert Smigel's impressions and the disregard for making things look authentic. The In The Year 2000/3000 bits provided the rapid fire jokes of randomness that I aspire to write today, one of my favorites being: “Babies will start listening to dance music when Lady Gaga teams up with The Goo Goo Dolls to form the super group, Gaga Goo Goo.” Other recurring bits like Celebrity Survey, SAT Analogies, and Made-For-TV Movie Castings provided similar repeatable formats that brought laughs night after night, as did Actual Items, a swipe at Leno's Headline's bit. If They Mated provided us with the horrors of what the love child of two celebrities would look like, in worst case scenarios. Desk driving bits and car chase spoofs with model towns and cars always delivered. There were the silly Satellite TV Channel bits, with the standout, the Men Without Hats Conversation Channel, as well as the truly pointless – yet my all-time favorite character – Cactus Chef Playing ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ on the Flute, created solely to poke fun at the criticism that the show was absurd. Conan Sings A Lullaby was always some macabre fun. At one point, The Walker Texas Ranger lever swept the nation, ultimately resulting in one of the oddest clips ever to grace television. “...Walker told me I have AIDS.” Constant cameos delighted, with frequent appearances from Larry King and Abe Vigoda, who were both always willing to go the extra mile for a laugh. And occasionally, my beloved comedy worlds would combine with someone from SNL like Will Ferrell showing up, dressed as a sexy leprechaun, or engaging in some other antics. Jim Gaffigan birthed the Pale Force cartoon. Hornymanatee.com became a thing. Remote bits, like Conan playing old timey baseball, were always instant classics. Plus, the show birthed the idea of travel shows, with trips to places like Finland and Toronto - the second of which has one of my other favorite remote bits, Conan training with the Toronto Maple Leafs. So much memorable, silly, recklessly avant-garde stuff happened in those years of Late Night. And all the best moments happened when Conan acknowledged the astronomical stupidity of it all. It was always a pleasure to watch, and it all felt expertly crafted just for me.

In the end, a program that got off to a rocky start, fighting off cancellation time and time again, blossomed over the course of fifteen years into a comedy juggernaut and bastion of brilliant buffoonery for my generation. It was practically perfection.

Then the first transition happened...

Like many, I was apprehensive about the switch to The Tonight Show. It was great to see Conan inherit what was formerly known as the pinnacle of late night talk shows, but I wondered if America was ready to watch a bear play with his dick at 11:30pm, especially the demographic that had enjoyed Leno's far more traditional approach. I think we now have that answer. NBC managed to repeat their past mistakes, and fumbled another smooth transition of hosts. Things got kind of ugly, but Conan managed to land on his feet at TBS, where his show continued to run for another eleven years, giving him and his employees - who had relocated to Los Angeles at the start of The Tonight Show - steady work.

The one issue with the migration was that Conan no longer retained the rights to any of his intellectual property. Exceptions were made, but most of this bits and characters were absent from the now titled show, Conan. There was also one less show a week. However, new bits were concocted regularly, like Coffee Table Books That Didn't Sell, Basic Cable Name That Tune, and NBA Mascots That Should Never Dunk. New characters were spawned, like Minty, the Candy Cane That Briefly Fell on the Ground, Punxsutawney Dr. Phil - The best Dr. Phil bit since Letterman’s Words of Wisdom - and Wikibear. Will Forte showed up atop a stuffed buffalo as network owner, Ted Turner. Experimental stand-up sets, like Tig Notaro pushing a stool around or Jon Dore & Rory Scovel being double booked provided some of the best stand-up sets ever. Embracing a digital, web-based format, they introduced new segments like Clueless Gamer, catering to my love of video games. There was Puppy Conan, and Mini Conan. Plus, they doubled down on travel shows, creating the Conan Without Borders series, which I believe to be Conan's best work to date, and a shining example of who he is as a person. There were Fan Corrections, which allowed me to influence his show for five minutes, and throw my own zaniness into the world, and back at the man who stoked the funny fire in me. At some point in life, I may achieve greater things, or have children, but I may still always say that the greatest day of my life was the day I was on Conan.  

So Conan did have bright spots, but to me things were never quite the same. They were still good, but not amazing. Slowly it felt like things were beginning to decline. Longtime writer/performer Brian McCann left to return to New York. A while later, so did Brian Stack, finding a job with Colbert. The show was eventually cut to a thirty minute format. They spun it like it was a good change for the show. I however had my reservations. While I'd hoped for more experimental comedy, it seemed like the first half of the show was cut in favor of still getting in sizeable celebrity interviews. The band was gone, as were the options for nightly music acts. That meant no more fantastic moments like me discovering Lukas Graham with his subdued “7 Years” performance. Stand-up was pretty much gone too, which meant no more killer sets like Gary Gulman's bit on state abbreviations or Ismo's foreign take on the use of the word “ass” in English linguistics. Occasional product placement reared its ugly head. They had to keep the lights on, and they found a way to. So I continued to watch practically every show over the course of the eleven years.

When the pandemic hit, I found myself with more free time. So I decided to check out the Team Coco podcasts, cherry picking from the best guests of Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend, The Three Questions with Andy Richter, and Inside CONAN: An Important Hollywood Podcast. Never having paid attention to any podcasts, I found a love for them. And sometime amidst the pandemic, watching Conan interview some random celebrity, from some show I probably didn't care about, through Zoom, I kind of became at peace with the idea of a nightly Conan program ending.

From middle school, to high school, and then to college, I tuned in when I could. Without the luxury of the internet in its currently glory, or DVRs, I'd tape episodes on a VCR. Barring two or three episode of Conan that I missed while working two jobs, I've seen every episode of Conan, every Tonight Show, and a good streak leading into the end of Late Night. But I will admit that towards the end, it has sometimes felt like a chore.

One thing I didn't drag my feet on was attending tapings. It was one of the first things I did when I came to LA. Over the past few years I was fortunate to get to attend three tapings of Conan. In hindsight, I probably would have went more often. I brought family and friends along with me when they visited, but the treat was primarily for me. When he announced that the final few weeks of shows might have an audience, I knew I must go. I put in for two tapings, and fortunately the stars aligned for the third to last show with Seth Rogen. I was hoping for Ferrell, or Sandler, but it was great! It was the first show where masks were optional and it went recklessly off the rails. Like Conan, I've never been into pot. It's another of the things I enjoy about him. Like him, I don't really have a problem with it, but I've never tried it because I don't think it's for me. I’m the same way with alcohol. With a friend in town this week, I tried one of the beers he bought. I hated it, but I struggled through it. I’ll occasionally drink some fruity wine cooler but that’s about it. So seeing him reluctantly try the joint Seth handed him because he didn't care since the show was wrapping was great. Unseen in the TV edit was that after that segment, Conan and his producer, Jeff Ross, had a lengthy discussion as the band played. As the band wrapped up, Conan came back up and said to expect a rough edit on the show since they wouldn't be able to air them smoking. Turns out they could, which made for good TV. It was a symbolic moment where a man who's spend his entire career blazing his own trail – no pun intended - did so once more, knowing he had nothing to lose. I also put in a ticket request for the last show on the morning of because registration reopened for some reason, but I never got a confirmation. I'm excited to watch it tonight, but also sad to see things come to and end. But at least I can say I was there in the end.

For 28 years Conan and cast have delivered the show they wanted to make. Contrastingly, compared to the other late night shows, its always been far more apolitical, which I appreciate. Comedy to me is about dissociation. It's why I favor and write left-brained jokes about random subjects. No one really needs to hear another hackneyed Trump or Biden joke. Regardless of the state of the world, I could tune in to Conan for a mostly unbiased, silly outlook on the world. Conan always seemed to bring out the best in the guests too, making his show the premier show to tune into when someone was out in the circuit promoting something. Even the stereotypical animal segments or cooking segments provided ample laughs.

Most of the talk will be about Conan himself. But a very large part of what has always made Conan's shows great wasn't even him. A large cast of stellar writers and performers brought countless characters to life. Brian McCann and Brian Stack were longtime favorites. There was the No-Reason-To-Live Guy with his kayak, Hannigan the Traveling Salesman, Artie Kendall the Singing Ghost, and The Interrupter, to name just a few. Even people who had no business performing were utilized brilliantly, like original announcer Joel Godard or Max Weinberg both acting like creeps and perverts, trombone player Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg being a dolt, and graphic designer Pierre Bernard in his deadpan Recliner of Rage segments. Jordan Schlansky was a comedy well. Andy Richter also deserves more praise. His quick wit makes him the perfect sidekick. I can't even begin to enumerate the amount of instance in which he was lightning fast with a witty response to someone or something. His more recent Sports Blast segments were absurdly stupid, and his Hillbilly Handfishing remote stands out as one of the best.

The late night talk show concept is built around volume. With 4368 episodes among three iterations of shows, there's a lot of time to fill. Things didn't always work, but most of the time they did. That's what you get when you experiment and evolve the medium. I've been thinking a lot about my history with the show, and it's amazing just how many silly bits, characters, and moments still bounce around in my noggin. I've only covered a small sample of the many great moments over the years. It's always seemed really weird to me that Conan has kind of been the underdog. To me, no one holds a candle to his brilliance. I can only liken attending his tapings to a few other experiences: the time I finally got to see Michael Jordan play as a Wizard, or Rush's final R40 tour – three great entities who may not have been at the height of their careers, but were still massively impressive none the less. Conan concluding tonight is very bittersweet. The future is uncertain. The details for his HBO Max show are nebulous. It's going to be far more small scale. I've always admired how much Conan has taken care of his cast and crew. He paid his writers during the strike, and his entire crew during the pandemic. But they will certainly fracture now. Will any of the writing staff follow? Will longtime performer Dan Cronin be there? Will Andy be back? Time will tell, but until then, television, the internet, and the world of comedy, will be a little less funny. In many ways, I wish we lived in a world we he still hosted Late Night, or a successful Tonight Show. But the late night landscape has changed a lot in the last few decades, so who’s to say this wasn’t the better timeline. If there’s one thing I cling on to that keeps me hopeful about the future, it’s Conan’s closing monologue from Late Night. Especially its ending: "It's time for Conan to grow up... and I assure you that's just not going to happen. I can't. This is who I am, for better or worse. It's just, I don't know how."

That hits me just as hard as it did in ‘09, if not harder. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The guy that started hosting in ‘93 is the same guy we see today. He’s still just as childish, just as absurd, just as brilliant, and a man of integrity. And as long as he is, so too will I be.

[wozman23]

My 2020 in Gaming

I finished my 100th video game of the year yesterday. In a normal year that would be an embarrassing feat. By in 2020, pretty much stuck within these four walls for nearly nine months now, I'm really proud of it. The last few years, my gaming habits took a severe hit due to working too much. I was fortunate to have the finances to pick up the PlayStation VR and the Switch, but I couldn't dedicate a lot of time to them, and when I did, the joy wasn't there as much since I was often exhausted. In 2018, I still managed to get through almost 40 games, but last year that number fell to 25. There was so much I wanted to play, but I just didn't have the free time. And then 2020 dealt me a lifeline... When LA came to a halt, three and a half months into the year, I was only working on finishing Game #6. Since then, I've been on a tear. A large part of my efficiency came from two choices. In late April, I signed up for Xbox Game Pass for $1 for the first month. Then in June, the “Racial Injustice” Bundle with hundreds of PC games – about a dozen of which I really wanted to play - released on itch.io. Overall, it was a solid mix of AAA games and indie games, although I've skewed more toward indies for years now. There were big anticipated releases like The Last of Us, Part II and Doom Eternal. Splatoon 2 finally got the shrink wrap pulled off that it's been suffocating in for years. (It was fantastic, so I'm not sure why I waited so long.) There were massive games that I put dozens of hours into, like my 77 hours descending into the madness of Hades, or my 69 soaking in the world of Ghost of Tsushima, with a sizeable chunk of those hours being me just toying around with Photo Mode. (Props to the PS5 for finally telling you your playtimes via the OS.) There were dozens of small indie games that only took a few hours to complete – which is kind of my sweet spot these days. A few weighed in at just 30 minutes, like Swarm, a Steam game I found through Get Indie Gaming's Youtube channel, or Syphonia, a student project from ISART Digital that I was anticipating. There were games I replayed, like some of my favorites of all time, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy and Alan Wake, as well as the remastered versions of Ghostbusters: The Video Game and the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro trilogies. There was great stuff I paid for, and a few awesome games that I got for free through the Epic Games Store, or via subscriptions with PlayStation Plus, Game Pass Ultimate, or the times I took advantage of free trials of Amazon Prime. And I even got hooked on an online multiplayer only game, which has only happened on a handful of occasions in the history of online play.A lot of people are going to look back on 2020 as a terrible year, but for me it's been a godsend. It's allowed me to enjoy multiple passions, with gaming being one of the biggest. Like any hobby, my gaming habits over the years have ebbed and flowed. Overall, the last generation I've been fortunate to own every major console for the first time in a generation. Yet – outside of a few phenomenal games like Horizon Zero Dawn, ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission on VR, and the other aforementioned PlayStation first party titles – overall I wasn't really impressed as much with the AAA offerings. The indie scene is only gaining ground. But with the PS5, the proper return of my all-time favorite franchise, Ratchet & Clank, and my Game Pass renewed until 2022, I'm optimistic about where gaming is headed. As for my favorite games that released this year, here's my list: 1. The Last of Us, Part II 2. Battletoads 3. CARRION 4. Hades 5. ASTRO's Playroom 6. Filament 7. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout 8. Bugsnax 9. Ghost of Tsushima 10. Ori and the Will of the Wisps The Last of Us, Part II The original The Last of Us was my favorite game of the previous generation, as well as the most impressive game of all time. It was mind-numbingly good, so much so that I really did not want a sequel. I didn't even want to replay it. It was one of those things that just felt complete. Nothing more needed to be said, and in doing so, there would be a large risk at ruining what made it great. Slowly, Naughty Dog eroded away at me, and I began to anticipate the sequel. Right before it I even replayed the remaster of the original. Part II is one of those rare project that manages to one-up what you thought was already perfection. It's like a 30 hour blockbuster movie that just keeps ramping up in intensity. So much of what makes it special is within the design of its details: the way it presents itself, the pacing, its message. Like many, key details were spoiled by online trolls prior to launch, but it really didn't matter. This post could be just as long and be only about The Last of Us, Part II. (I still may write something up at some point.) There's just so much of it to dissect. But it's impossible to talk about without spoiling all of its magical moments. It simply offers a masterclass in game design and narrative flow. I really don't need a Part III, but should one exist, I know damn well I'll be there. Battletoads I loved the original Battletoads. I even replayed it, and beat it with the help of the Rare Replay rewind feature right after playing the new entry. It's practically impossible otherwise. When there was talk of a new game I was hyped. But when it was finally revealed, with a completely different art style, I was taken aback. Because of that, I went in to the new entry not expecting much. However, that stylistic choice is exactly what put it in the Number 2 spot in my list. The original Battletoads concept was created to ape the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the original game felt much like the early TMNT brawlers. The new Battletoads doubles down though, expanding their empire to combat TMNT's cartoons. The game itself is a fairly straight forward 2D brawler, that looks and plays great, but the real stars are the cutscenes and the humor. It has this great Saturday morning cartoon vibe that I've never seen a game nail near as well. I don't watch a lot of the modern cartoons, but many have compared it to Rick & Morty. It's really quick, and silly, and feels exactly what a company should be aiming for if they wanted to create the next TMNT craze in the world today. Sure, the game itself is nowhere near perfect in all dimensions, but the way it tackles humor is really impressive and admirable. That's the main reason it occupies my Number 2 spot. CARRION CARRION reminds me a lot of INSIDE, typeset aside. INSIDE for me was this solid atmospheric game that at it's end became this awesome fever dream, but was over just when it was getting interesting. CARRION feels like INSIDE's spiritual successor. You play as this creepy creature, with all these grotesque tentacles, and you just run amok. It's just plain fun. Plus it's an insanely unique lifeform to play as, and there's nothing more I love than playing a game where you take on the role of some strange creature. Like many of the indie games I love, CARRION doesn't overstay its welcome. Over the few hours of its journey, it iterates, provides you with some unique challenges, they grabs its hat and coat and bids you adieu. There's nothing more I love than a game with that approach. Show me something cool. Make me play something that feels like something I've yet to experience in my over 30 years of gaming. Then get out of the way so that I can find another game that makes me feel that way. Kudos to Game Pass as well for partnering with the CARRION developers and offering the game on release day. I was looking forward to the game, but with so many games on my radar, I often simply can't get around to all of them. Had I needed to purchase CARRION, it might have had to wait in the wings for a while. I've played so many games on Game Pass this year that I may have otherwise never actually purchased, and many of them have found the ranks among my favorites from the last few years. Hades Up until now, I'd like Supergiant Games as a creative studio. I've played all of their games, and loved the artistry present in them. However, I've always felt like the gameplay was a bit lackluster. Not previously being a fan of roguelike games – although Game Pass has provided some great experiences there as well – I initially had no plans to buy Hades. But praise was unanimous, the Epic Store gave people a $10 coupon just for downloading Rocket League for free, and it was on sale for $5 off, so I scooped it up for $10. At first, I thought I had made a mistake. I wasn't really into it. But then it slowly started to sink its hooks into me. After about 30 runs, I'd finally vanquished Hades himself. And what was your reward: a brief encounter with your mother, followed by your death and cyclical return to The Underworld. And that's really where the brilliance of Hades comes in. In beating the game, you realize you have only scratched the surface. I played around 70 more runs. I got the full story from my mother. I tried out the different weapons. I played around with the perks and heat gauge. I maxed out the relationships with almost everyone. (I never got Demeter's final few dialog options to pop.) All along the way, I kept thinking, I'll quit after I do X, but then Y and Z would egg me on even further. I spent 77 hours in that world. Sometimes, with nothing to do during the day, I'd practically play all day long. No other game this year took up that much of my time. Few ever do. Not bad for a game I initially had buyers remorse for. ASTRO's Playroom I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get a PS5 at launch. I got lucky on release day thanks to the PlayStation Direct website. (Every other retailer is a giant hunk of shit, who doesn't care if they sell to an actually gaming fan or some asshole reseller.) Had I not secured an early PS5, it wasn't a big deal. Most of the games I wanted to play were coming to PS4 as well. The baked-in ASTRO's Playroom was the only exception. And there's always that extra special feeling of playing something right when it comes out. It's funny to think that the best PS5 game is given away for free with every console, but that is just the case. Much like ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission, which did wonders for showing off what PlayStation VR could do – it was my 2018 GOTY - ASTRO's Playroom shows off what the PS5 can do, primarily via the advancements of the DualSense controller and the solid state hard drive. I've never been one to care for graphics, and the PS5 will surely evolve over time, but those two details are what makes the device feel truly “next gen” so far. The way the triggers adjust tension is so wild. I really don't know how much they'll be used, but it's a cool option to have. And loading times are practically non-existent. (I've since went back to the Xbox One for a few more Game Pass releases, and loading times feel jarring.) As far as ASTRO goes, he's a terrific mascot in an age where mascot platformers aren't really a thing anymore. The experience relies heavily on nostalgia, as you collect relics of PlayStation's past. Also scattered throughout are other bots dressed up to reference other franchises. Dozens of franchises are represented, from characters like Crash, to Ratchet, to Kutaro from Puppeteer. It's really a lovely homage to PlayStation that any longtime fan will enjoy. Plus, it's a really fun game to play, with beautiful tech themed worlds, some infectious earworms, and some cool mechanics. Japan Studio has been a bit of an enigma for a while now. But the ASOBI Team is knocking it out of the park with ASTRO. ASTRO reminds me a lot of Iota from Tearaway: they're both cute mascot characters, crafted with a lot of love, from terrifically artistic games that did an excellent job of showing off new tech. I can't wait to see what ASTRO is up to next. Filament This one sat  near the top my Steam wishlist for nearly the entire year before I finally grabbed it about a week ago when it went on sale. I love a good puzzle game. Basically, you control a bot that tethers out a string-like filament that you use to interact with pillars. Sometimes you just make sure you graze the line by one; other times you loop around one. Sometimes you're simply turning a pillar on. Other times they must be linked in pairs, by color, or a specific number of times, just to name a few of the options. That's really where Filament glows. What starts of simple grows insanely complex by the end. You'll be combining mechanics in some rather brain-busting puzzle. And the game does very little to explain things to you, or help you along the way, yet it feels very inuitive. Still, many times I simply hit walls, where I was almost convinced the puzzles were impossible. In a few instances, it took a while to understand new rule sets. Eventually I solved every single puzzle without resorting to help. And it took me about 48 hours. (Granted I think my stat tracking was probably counting some idle time where I had the game running but walked away to do stuff like make a meal.) It's a surprising amount of content for a puzzle game that can easily be reduced to: solve puzzles by drawing lines. One other thing I appreciated was that I found myself taking notes and drawing things out on paper. That's a tactic I don't pull out often, but love when a game pushes me in that direction. One instance in particular even had me cut up squares of paper to piece together one of the secret text logs. By the way, I missed a ton of those logs. After completing the few I found, I did look how to unlock the rest, and some of the stuff there was absurdly complex. There's really not a lot to compare Filament to outside of The Witness. But if you like a really challenging puzzle game with a ton of content, give this one a look. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout I don't like online multiplayer games. They rarely hold my interest. I put quite a bit of time into Rocket League, Uncharted 2, Resistance 2 Co-op, and Fat Princess, but that's been about it. And in some of those cases, the main reason I spent a good amount of time with them is because I was unemployed during their reign. Overall, I'm not one to interact with people online. And I don't like the idea of a game dictating when I play it. But when Fall Guys was included with PlayStation Plus, I liked the look of it enough to give it a try. Getting a win took a while, but after the first one, I started to become pretty consistent with my runs. Much like Hades, I thought, “I'll just play until I get the trophy for 7 wins.” Then I set my sights on 20. Then I got hooked on collecting the costumes. By the time I'd finished my first stint in Season 1, I'd reached the max Level 30 and had every trophy except for the one requiring five wins in a row. I've given up hope there. Sony says I logged 40 hours with it, which equates to a lot of rounds. One day I went back for Season 2, and enjoyed the new levels, even though I was getting eliminated since I was sight-reading them. I don't know how much time I'll be putting in with it in the future should I find gaps in my list of games. Usually with multiplayer games, the focus fades once I unlock all the trophies I can. And I'm not sure how much time I want to dedicate to becoming proficient at future season. But the fact that Fall Guys even got that much attention from me to begin with is a testament to how much fun it is. Bugsnax Bugsnax could have been a joke. The previous game from Young Horses, Octodad: Dadliest Catch was just that: a silly romp that equated to little more than just a goofy control scheme. Bugsnax was the butt of many jokes upon reveal, reaching meme status in which it became the Schrödinger's cat of games. When someone talked about it looking good, you weren't sure if they were being honest or a hipster. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was intrigued. It's another fine example of a list of stellar games that have been given away for free with PlayStation Plus. Would I have played it otherwise? Who knows? But I'm glad I got to. It is silly, but the silliness works in unison with what turned out to be a very fun game to play. The world and its characters are weird. Everybody has a laughable name, Filbo Fiddlepie, Chandlo Funkbun, and C. Clumby Clumbernut, just to name a few. ( I wonder what the C stands for?) The Bugsnax, which are part bug, part snacks, follow suit, with the burger inspired Bunger, the french fry spider, Fryder, or the popsickle, Bobsickle. The most delightful part is when you catch one of the bugsnax and you hear them say their name from the speaker in the controller. Hearing “Weenieworm” never got old. Any sound coming from Bunger put a smile on my face. Feeding the bugnsax to the other characters was a blast as well. Certain bugsnax resulted in sheer silliness, while combinations could provide interesting fashion statements. But past all that silliness was a fun game too. You're given a few different tools to capture bugsnax, and are sent to figure out how. By the time I was reaching the end, having done all there was to do, I was sad to see it end. It was simply a joy to platinum the game, and I'd definitely be down for more Bugsnax adventures. Ghost of Tsushima I love Sucker Punch to death. Sly Cooper is one of my favorite series. On the other hand, I've never been into the world of the samurai, or watched any samurai movies. But Sucker Punch is a studio I'm happy to support, and I figured I'd be getting a good quality game, so I was in. (Plus, I had the free time. At the time, I thought it might be my gaming binge swan song as I thought we'd be coming out of this pandemic in July. Boy was I wrong!) The world of Tsushima is breathtaking. The partnership of style and graphical fidelity creates beauty in every square inch of the world. As far as the game is concerned, it what I would expect from a AAA open world game. There are main missions, and side missions, and things to upgrade, and all kinds of places to explore. It's fairly predictable in that regard, although I did enjoy some of the ways it tackled many of those side missions. The haiku system was a relaxing alternative to combat missions. Foxes and birds always encouraged me to meander from the main missions. And shrines provides some nice platforming challenges. Combat was unique, and being about to cater it to your preferred combat style was appreciated. It did wear out its welcome a bit after dozen of hours, but I appreciate its simplicity. Still, most impressive was just that living, breathing world. I spent a lot of time in photo mode. A LOT! I could easily spend an hour or two just traveling around finding beautiful vistas to tinker around with lighting and effects. In the end, most of my complaints really just boil down to the fact that it's a large AAA game, and comes with the tropes and restrictions of the territory. Otherwise, it would be higher up the list. Ori and the Will of the Wisps Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a great game, but ultimately it's just more Ori. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It just doesn't really subvert expectations. Everything that made the first game great is here too. It looks gorgeous. It's fun to traverse and explore. But looking back, it doesn't stick out as fondly in my memory as many of the other games in this list. Some of that could be the fact that it released early in the year. It was the game I was playing when the world crapped the bed. But it could also just be that I prefer the intrigue of new IP over sequels. Even so, it's hard to discredit just how well it plays and how beautiful and rich that fantasy world is. Honorable Mentions (that released this year): Carto, Lightmatter, Swarm, Symphonia, Bartlow's Dread Machine, Doom Eternal, Control's AWE Expansion Honorable Mentions (I played that released years prior): Bomb Chicken, SUPERHYPERCUBE, Dead Cells, Moonlighter, Songbird Symphony, The Messenger, JUMPGRID, ETHEREAL, Spring Falls, Unruly Heroes, Celeste, Lonely Mountains: Downhill, Splatoon 2, My Friend Pedro, A Short Hike, Future Grind, SOMOS, A Plague Tale: Innocence, The King's Bird

[wozman23]

Ode to Elf

Today, Netflix released a new miniseries, The Holiday Movies That Made Us, which features 45 minutes of insight into the creation and making of Elf. It’s worth the watch for any Elf fan. I made plans today to watch it, and immediately chased it with the full length film. I’ve always been a ginormous Elf fan! I think it is debatably Will Ferrell’s best film - rivaled possibly by Step Brothers, and with a few others close on its heels. But I’ll even one up that statement by saying it is easily the greatest Christmas movie, as well as one of the greatest movies of all time. (My Top 3 are probably The Jerk, Billy Madison, and Elf.)

The mini-documentary is the perfect supplement, really putting a bow on what makes Elf so great. I encourage everyone to go watch it, but I'll be bringing up just a few of the things discussed in it, and elsewhere, for the sake of further proving that Elf is a classic.

As is seen in many Hollywood cases, there was some trepidation going in. The screenplay was written ten years prior in 1993, with Jim Carrey in mind. At one point, there were talks to feature Chris Farley, but writer, David Berenbaum, did not like that direction, citing it would have been a very different movie. And as much as I love Farley, and wish he were still around making movies, I agree. Both he and Jim would probably have been great playing their own version of the character in their own unique way, but, while I may be biased since Will Ferrell is my favorite comedic actor, I think the role ultimately found the perfect Buddy with Will. He just hits perfectly on playing the sweet, naive, innocent yet clueless fish-out-of-water. It’s also what makes Step Brothers so good. Even many of his other characters, like Ron Burgundy, have a little bit of that DNA dipped into contrastingly more vain, reckless, foolish personality traits. I think there’s no greater type of comedic hero than the innocently stupid comedic hero. It’s pretty apparent from my Top 3, as well as my love for similar archetypes like Will Forte’s MacGruber, Joe Dirt, or Conan himself.

Now I’ve been on the Ferrell Train since the mid-90s, growing up on that generation of SNL and Night at the Roxbury. In college, not long before Elf, I went to a screener for Old School, which was one of Will’s early big screen breakout performances. Yet apparently, in the process of getting Elf greenlit in the early 2000s, prior to Old School, there weren’t many executives willing to take a shot on a movie where Will played the lead. What a bunch of cottonheaded ninnymuggins!

But those involved stuck to their guns, and they eventually convinced someone to hand them 30 million dollars to make the film. From there, an incredible string of smart decisions were made as talent was brought on board.

Writer, David Berenbaum, and his team of relative unknowns at the time had some key qualities that they wanted Elf to have. David took a lot of inspiration from the Rankin/Bass stop motion classic, Rudolph - which if you know much about me, you know how much I love it as well, being a misfit and all. (I wrote about it here six years ago.) Yet I never really realized just how much Rudolph inspired it, so it was a joy to see the documentary explain just how much of Rudolph permeates Elf’s story, themes, presentation, costumes, and set design.

When director Jon Favreau signed on, he shared some input that really cemented him as the perfect director. He too wanted to double down on the Rankin/Bass homage. He also wanted it to be a nice family Christmas movie, one that you could share with your kids, as well as a timeless Christmas classic. Check, check, and check! Mission accomplished!

There were some other interesting facts I didn’t know as well. The casting feels perfect. However, the original casting choice for Walter, Buddy’s dad, was for Garry Shandling. With great respect to Garry Shandling, I think their back up, James Caan was a much better fit. Caan really brings home the qualities of a cold, isolated businessman that a likeable Garry would have had to really sell. You need that non-comedic straight character for that role. Ed Asner plays a perfect Santa, as we’ve seen multiple times. And Bob Newheart is a terrific Papa Elf. Plus, this brilliant pairing of Will and Mary Steenburgen was just a hint of what was to come via Step Brothers and The Last Man on Earth. There are a lot of great supporting actors as well, like the writing duo of Andy Richter and Kyle Gass, and the secretary, Amy Sedaris. And last but not least, Zooey Deschanel. She’s been my muse for years now, but Elf was the moment I fell in love with her. Her character was pitched as everything under the sun, but finding a singer just complements everything so well. The one thing that’s always seemed weird to me is the shower scene. What kind of department store has a full locker room with a shower?! But when logistics is your only complaint about a movie, you know it must be good. One other interesting casting tidbit involves Jovie’s boss, played by comedian Faizon Love. He was a last minute add. They thought they had Wanda Sykes onboard, so much so that they already had the Wanda name tag for the costume. Faizon stuck with it, donning the name tag, so the character remains Wanda. I don’t know that I ever noticed that.

Early in production, the decision was made to avoid using CGI. Effects with actors were all achieved via some trickery with perspective. And the stop motion characters duties were handled by The Chiodo Brothers, who I oddly just learned about a few months back when I stumbled upon the 1988 cult classic, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, tucked deep in my Netflix recommendations. (If you enjoy campy horror films, I highly recommend it.) Growing up on the works of Jim Henson, I’ve always appreciated the use of analog means over digital options. Choosing that route for Elf paid off immediately, and will go a long way at allowing the film to maintain that timeless quality. As with any movie, there were conflicts. When the movie was originally screened, execs thought it would be smart to cut the final heartwarming singing scene and just end with Santa flying away - once again adding to a tremendous pile of dumb ideas that the suits have had over the years when it comes to controlling creative projects. The team was a bit taken aback by it, but apparently with Will Ferrell’s recent box office success with Old School, there were thoughts of cutting the film differently, favoring a style similar to Will’s Frank the Tank character instead of the lovably innocent Buddy. Cooler heads eventually prevailed when they realized that would be impossible given the footage, and we got the film as it stands today, as intended.

I vividly remember anticipating the movie. It’s probably one of my most anticipated films of all time. It felt like every week there was a new preview, a new cut chocked full of new jokes and gags. After what seemed like a dozen of them, I was growing a bit concerned that there would be nothing new left to see when the film found its way to theaters. Then release time came, I paraded myself off to the theater, and I was dumbfounded by just how much comedy was packed into that 90 minutes. The quantity and quality of the humor is impressive. Every scene feels important, and was iterated on for maximum humor. Will’s improvisation constantly enhances scenes. Like many of Ferrell’s movies, it’s an insanely quotable movie, but it’s not all just written jokes and physical comedy. There are some great silent parts, like just capturing Buddy’s reactions. And one of my favorite moments can easily be missed, when Buddy is caught on the evening news, traipsing through Central Park. It’s staged exactly like Patterson–Gimlin Bigfoot footage, with a similar gait, a peek over the shoulder, and somewhat blurry camera footage.

Little details like that are precisely the things that make Elf the classic is set out to be. It feels like it was written for a misfit like me, catering to my loves for Bigfoot, Rudolph, and a lovably naive comedic hero. It’s funny and silly, yet heartwarming and endearing. And its a film I’d happily sit down and watch with any kid from one to ninety-two, regardless of whether it’s the month of December, or some time in early April. P.S. There have been talks about a sequel. James Caan recently conjectured that it never happened because Ferrell and Favreau “didn’t get along very well.” Those two are both far more successful these days, and could easily back the project if they wanted to. But as much as I love Elf, sometimes things are just too good to risk repeating with lackluster results. Look no further than the last franchise I wrote about, Ghostbusters. An Elf 2 would probably easily make a profit, regardless of quality. It could even be a good movie. But there’s probably a greater chance that it wouldn’t hold a candle to the original. The story is perfect, and contains itself well. There’s no need for a continuation. It’s really hard to top something when the bar was set so stratospherically high the first time. And attempting to do so could easily diminish the efforts of the original, sabotaging everything Berenbaum, Favreau, and the team achieved. Elf is the Rudolph of this generation: a timeless classic with a tremendous amount of heart. Let’s just appreciate it for that, and leave it as it is, for everyone to enjoy with everyone they enjoy.

[wozman23]

Ode to Ghostbusters

In celebration of Halloween, I watched Ghostbusters for the first time in a while, and it just further backs up my theory that it is one of the greatest pieces of cinema in history. I can’t exactly recall when the first time I saw it was, probably sometime in my early childhood. At that point I was probably just beginning to understand what movies are, and what they could be. But from then, Ghostbusters has always stuck with me. First off, I think it’s important to pinpoint what exactly Ghostbusters is, or isn’t. Springing from the mind of Dan Aykroyd - who I’ve always thought was superior to Chevy, Belushi, and the other early SNL players - it’s easy for most people to label it a comedy. However, I think there’s far more complexity to it than that. First and foremost, it’s got ever-present horror element thanks to the paranormal, and the overall presentation of an action movie. Sure, a few members of the cast, namely Bill Murray and Rick Moranis, provide some comedy. The scene with Moranis fumbling around and uttering “Maybe I’ve got a milk bones” blew my still-forming mind. It’s probably one of my earliest memories of an actor being funny. Outside of John Lithgow slapping a Sasquatch, or Drop Dead Fred wiping dog poo on furniture, I can’t think of another scene that has stuck with me from those days. Bill plays his typical sarcastic, non-nonchalant role, and Moranis plays the nerd brilliantly. Yet Ghostbusters is never truly set up as a comedy movie. The heroes don’t really follow the path of traditional comedic heroes. They’re action heroes, who overcome external foes. Both writers, Aykroyd and Ramis, known for years and years of great comedy, pay relatively straight parts. Hudson follows suit later when he’s introduced. Really only one of the four Ghostbusters is cracking jokes and providing comic relief. So, as much of a nerd I am about comedy, I take umbrage with it being called a comedy.  Ninety-nine percent of the movies I enjoy are comedies, but I wouldn’t lump Ghostbusters in with The Jerk, Billy Madison, or Elf. Ghostbusters is far more hybridized than just a single genre, and deserves more credit for that approach. I chose to watch it on Halloween because to me its an action-horror movie, that just happens to have a good bit of comedy sprinkled in. In anticipation of rewatching it, last night I watched the mini-documentary about it on Netflix’s The Movies That Made Us, which provides some terrific insight from Aykroyd, and some cool tidbits surrounding the picture’s filming and release, like the outlandish idea of the original script Aykroyd concocted, involving a more sci-fi approach and space aliens, and the legal hurdles of securing the name “Ghostbusters.” If it were based in space and called Ghostbreakers, who’s to say how it would have turned out. But one thing is clear: the final product succeeded because it evolved into exactly what it wanted and needed to be. It was grounded in a very real New York, with elements of fantasy. A gelatinous green slob of a ghost, creepy dog gargoyles, and a giant marshmallow man in a sailor outfit - no one ever questions the authenticity of those elements. Everyone just threw caution to the wind and were all-in with every detail. It’s just understood that, even if people are skeptical about the existence of the supernatural itself, all of that is rational in the world of Ghostbusters. With a cast well versed in comedy, they could have easily poked fun at the entire premise, yet they never do. Ray and Egon are as serious as it gets, and even Peter straightens up when there are real problems at hand.

I don’t remember much about the sequel. I think I’ve only seen it once, and I know it’s not as universally praised. (I might watch it again tomorrow.) I’d always held on to hope that we’d get a proper third entry, but those hopes were pretty much dashed when Ramis passed away. Having watched the female reboot, which I was optimistic about considering I love Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon, its reliance as more of a traditional comedy, with punched up with silly jokes and physical gags, really shows you that the original’s success clearly wasn’t solely due to its comedy elements. (And while were on the subject of the other uses of the property, the 2009 video game was another instance where the IP was treated right, thanks largely in part due to direct involvement from Aykroyd and Ramis.) One of the other great things about the original is just how well many of the special effects hold up. Yeah, the stop motion dogs look a little rough, but the proton streams and ghosts still look pretty cool over 35 years later. There’s a lot of great insight in the Netflix episode about how this all (barely) came together as well. Lastly, the music is phenomenal. It’s as 80s as the 80s can be. Ray Parker Jr’s theme is infectious. About it’s only blemish is that weird “I hear it likes the girls” line. What is that about?... All the other music is great as well, whether it be unsettling ambient background noise, the orchestral accompaniment, or the licensed tracks like Mick Smiley’s “Magic” or Alessi Brothers’ “Savin’ the Day.” I remember rewatching The Real Ghostbusters, the cartoon, some years ago with friends (shout out to fellow Ghostbusters nerd, Muggz) probably around the time of middle or high school, and I’d always joke when the theme song kicked in. It was used gratuitously. The first dozen seconds are ominous, so I’d always kid around that it was the “bad music” kicking in. You knew something weird was afoot. But then the song would immediately transition into the classic Ghostbusters theme, the “good music,” and you knew they guys were going to be pull through. And that’s exactly what Ghostbusters is: this unsettling thing made by comedians that doesn’t make a lot of sense at first, but quickly blossoms into something great.  Everything about the film is simply iconic: the suits, the proton packs and traps, the firehouse they occupy, Slimer, Ecto-1, the music, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man (which for most of my childhood I assumed was just a real marshmallow brand). I remember Disney movies from my early years, as well as a few Robin Williams movies, but nothing really goes toe-to-toe with just how hard Ghostbusters committed to its fantastical idea. It’s sense of self is unrivaled. And I’ll cross streams with anyone who tries to write it off as a silly comedy. P.S. Why did Danny and Billy eventually start going by Dan and Bill? Seems stupid to me.

[wozman23]

The New Day: A Proposal for 32 Hour Long Days

After nearly three months of freedom from a work schedule, I've come to the conclusion that when left to my own devices, my mind and body simply don't want to exist in the 24 hour based world. Despite being a night owl, in the real world, as a personal trainer for a few years now, I've lived as an early bird. It means working a shift that begins at 5am. So after much calculation, accounting for getting ready for work, scrambling a few eggs for breakfast, commuting, and planning to get there 10-15 minutes early, that means I need to be up at 3:45am. To get 8 hours of sleep, I try to be in bed around 7:45pm. Yeah, grandpa time. I'm only moderately successful at sticking to grandpa time. But once the world devolved into this madness, I abandoned that schedule. I quickly found myself returning to the adolescent, responsibility-less me, staying up until 3am. 3am became 4am. 4am became 5. Eventually that turned into some 7s, 8s, 9s, and even a noon at one point. Just last night – or actually this morning - I laid down after 8am. At around 6am, I finished playing through The Last of Us Remastered in anticipation for the sequel. But I wasn't tired. So I played through A Short Hike as well. Even after finishing it, I still wasn't all that tired, but I laid down and got 8 great hours of sleep. Other nights I think of trying to force myself to resume a regular sleep schedule. Last week I agreed to meet for a 9am run with another trainer. I tried laying down around midnight and got about 3 hours of sleep. Earlier in the week on a few occasions I tried to lay down between midnight and 2am. Each of these times, I found myself wide awake after just 2 hours of sleep. Having battled this before, tossing and turning for hours, I simply got back up, watched some episode of Rocko's Modern Life or played some video games, and went back to bed for a second attempt when I was actually feeling tired, usually around noon. I'd then sleep for around 4 more hours. It's still not anywhere near as refreshing as my 8 hours of sleep without interruption. Every time that I've tried to force myself to go to sleep on a regular 24 hour interval, it hasn't worked, even after trying some drastic course correction. At one point, in the middle of last month, I got a crazy idea: what if I lived three days as if it were two? On May 14th, after going to bed in the early morning hours, and waking up around my all-too-typical 2-4pm, I decided to start my experiment. On my day of May 15th, I pushed my sleep time further, going to bed at noon, technically on the 16th, then I woke up around 8pm. Then, on what should have been my 16th, but was actually the 17th, after staying up for over 24 hours, I was back on track with my 8pm bedtime. As far as I'm concerned, May 15th never existed, and May 16th was this weird day where I ran the day prior, then slept, then ran again after being up for 20 hours, while still technically only running every other calendar day. But I felt good. I slept great for all of 2 days... Then I quickly fell off the wagon again. The 24 hour clock just isn't my friend these days. I'm not sure exactly why. I'm guessing the energy demands of working and being more active compared to pretty much relaxing may have something to do with it. I just don't get tired on a normal interval now. I can easily stay up 20-24 hours. Resisting it is futile. My best “nights” of sleep have all come after I've already seen the Sun, having been up for well over 16 hours. We're living in a new world, and one that needs widespread changes. Sure, disease and racism are important, but why is no one discussing the real issue? Our measurement of the “day” and how it defines our lives. It's archaic, and we need to do something about it. I'm proposing this: days should be 32 hours long. That gives you 8 hours to sleep, 8 hours to work, and 16 more hours on top of that. You can play video games, exercise, listen to music, watch Netflix, or dick around doing whatever it is you like to do. Because right now, in the conventional world, the 8/8/8 split sucks. Everything I do creeps into that 8 hours of “me” time. Commuting, shopping, meal prepping, bathing. If I could figure out how to not shower and still smell good, I'd abandon that monotony to do more of what I love. Many days, after errands and chores, that 8 hours is lucky if it feels like a couple hours. Other days it’s simply nonexistent, pulling a disappearing act that leaves me wondering where the hell it went as I stare at a clock that says 7:45 already. In my world, you've got 16 whole hours to do what you want! Think of all the stuff you could do. There's so much room for activities! New hobbies. I'd pick up a drum set. I wouldn't have a huge backlog of video games. I'd have more time to go to concerts or take some fun day trips. What would you do? What don’t you do now that you’d love to do? Now, I know what you're thinking: this can't work. Sure, there are some hurdles, but we can make it work. First off, the calendar. We've got to adjust it to 273 days. That’s unavoidable. We have a few options:

We can either add 3 days every 4 years. It could be the new Leap Days, February 29th, 30th, and 31st.

Or we can just take the remaining three-quarters of a day, and make one super day each year that is 40 hours long. My vote: Christmas!

Secondly, in terms of Christmas, months or weeks need an overhaul. We've got a few options there as well. We can either restructure months, or weeks. If we stick with the seven day week, September 30th is the 273rd day of the year. That's conveniently exactly 39 weeks. So three months have to go. We could either:

Say goodbye to October, November, and December. Christmas is September 25th.

Cut elsewhere. Throw some shade at Julius Caesar and get rid of July, August. We'll throw in February just because it drew the short straw and has that dumb, silent “r.” But then we'd have to add those leap days elsewhere. You get a 31st! You get a 31st! Everybody gets a 31st!

Or we keep months, but tweak weeks:

If we go with 6 days a week, we could have 45 and a half weeks in a year. Then we could eliminate Mondays, because who doesn't hate Mondays. Months would then alternate between 22 and 23 days, with 9 months having 23 days. Then in those leap years, every month gets an even 23 days. How nice! It's as if the universe meant for it to be that way. Plus, for once, at least every 4 years, we wouldn’t have to debate how many days each month has or do that silly thing to remember by counting on our knuckles.

If we go with 5 days, we eliminate the weekend, or Mondays and Wednesdays – again because the day sucks as much as its spelling. We stay close to our current format with a little over 54 weeks.

Or maybe we go the opposite. Every day is a weekend. Saturday and Sunday are all that exist and there are 136.5 weeks a year and over 11 weeks in a month!

Or 3 days: adding Friday into the mix, giving us exactly 91 weeks a year and around 7.5 weeks per month.

Or we abandon weeks, and months, and just count to 273, like that girl you know on facebook who thinks she’s gonna sort her life out at the beginning of every year. Even with that decided, still, there are two more problems. How much do we work? I'm already a huge believer that the 40 hour work week is utter bullshit. But if my days were longer, maybe it wouldn't be as bad. I may even be fine working every day of my life in a 5 day week world as long as I had those 16 hours to do as I pleased. I think we leave that up to individuals and employers. If someone wants to work 8 hour days, okay. If they want to work a single 32 hour shift then have the rest of whatever a week is off, fine. Ideally, I think having 12 months, with 6 days a week, and around 23 days each is our best bet. Garfields everywhere benefit from the lack of Monday, and we could still work around 40 hours with one entire 32 hour day off each week, and plenty of free time in between. Or, better yet, we drop working down to 32 hours, make similar pay or are supplemented through a universal basic income, and maintain the standard two days off - which isn't anywhere near enough on the 24 hour day format. Or, much like the state of the world today, maybe we all quit working completely and live a series of consecutive Friday’s Saturdays, and Sundays. I know I’m enjoying it! So now it's on to the last, and hardest, challenge: the damn Sun. The Earth rotates at that 24 hour interval. I figure we have two options there as well:

We accept the fact that the day/night cycle just won't sync up with our new definition of the “day.” It is going to be dark for a large chunk of the day. And every day the darkness will come 8 hours earlier until it makes its way back to a repeating frequency that occurs every 3 days.

Or... WE SLOW DOWN THE EARTH!!!! Maybe Elon can figure something out. It would have to be something we gradually do. If we tried to do it instantaneously buildings would probably collapse and we'd all just fly off the surface of the planet and into space. Maybe we all just blow in the direction opposite of rotation in unison every day for like a year? Or maybe we drill a big hole in the Earth, attach a giant lever arm, and let some astronauts pull on it little by little? What do you want from me?! I'm no rocket scientist.

Regardless, I think we can live in a 32 hour day, 12 month, 6 days a week, 23 days a month world with the weird darkness. People tolerate the Sun's insolence towards the poles for much of the year. And the moon, with its odd lunar cycle, often has no clue what it's supposed to be doing, hanging out in the sky in broad daylight. Why can't the sun just get in on the action? It's either that or we embrace a full-blown chaos where we change but stick to our current notions of time where the days, months, years, seasons, and light levels become meaningless. Join me. #Woznicki2020 #TheNewDay #GoOutsideAndBlowEast