With the year 2023 over, lets have a thread about the best games of the last 5 years. This should allow for people to state their opinions on modern games, rather than virtue signal how much they heckin love Planescape Torment and Doom, and insult those who aren't doing the same.
My Top 5 of the last 5 years is:
>Return of the Obra Dinn, a unique detective game
>Disco Elysium, a dialogue heavy cRPG
>Hades, a fast roguelike dungeon crawler
>Pentiment, a medieval detective game
>Dredge, a Lovecraftian fishing game
Honorable mention to flawed gems Baldur's Gate 3 and Valheim, which I spent a lot of time on, but have much to critique about also.
>Pentiment, a medieval detective game
It is not a detective game and by claiming this you have outed your stupid bait post. Pentiment is a visual novel and there is barely any gameplay. Just reading. The fact you put in other classic FotM games like Dredge and Hades supports the idea that you are a baiting troll. At best this is a thinly veiled rec thread
Return of the Obra Dinn is fricking great though. Really liked Disco Elyisum too
>Pentiment
Huh, I thought I was the only one who played that.
You're trying to find a culprit throughout the game. Why are you so fricking mad?
I am not mad. You are trying to find a culprit, but unlike Return of the Obra Dinn you dont do any active investigation or putting the pieces together. The game has been exposed
If only I didnt get fricking filtered on Giant Deep. Still havent finished it purple, not wind
It is kind of weird how well liked Outer Wilds is considering it is very similiar to commercial clean slop like Firewatch when it comes to graphics and presentation
>you dont do any active investigation or putting the pieces together.
You do though. The catch is that in every three cases, you're doing it completely wrong and looking for the wrong person for wrong reasons.
I still don't understand how that schizo nun did her stuff. Did she phase through the walls?
Pentiment is trash
>Despite being a set protag, the game asks you your preferred pronouns
>you play as a virgin
>the first bosses are 100% aryans who wear variants of the same golden armor, they want to kill you on sight
>every time they kill you they say "such an inferior being, will do good soap"
>The final boss is a troony who is revealed to be the actual hero who is trying to protect the town from the actual villain which is a conservative white man who insist on calling you with female or male pronouns despite no one else doing this.
>The helpful npcs are all black peasants and lords who have white maidens by their side
>One of the gestures in the game is a strange mix between early euro salute and twerking
>All of the towns have female bosses, you often would beat a pack of enemies and then a stronger female boss will appear.
>There's a mention of gamergate (it's very subtle)
>One of the NPCs references Rosa Parks
>When you get the option to change your appearance (yes even gender) an NPC will tell you "I'm glad you are proud of who you really are"
>there's a BLM mural inside a cave that is all way to end of the world, the description says "a painting dedícated to those brave explores looking for freedom and escape from the oppressing pentiment" once you find this you can get an item called "mighty dagger of Mr. King" (reference to Rodney King, victim of Police brutality)
>The merchant NPCs often mention of how there's always "evil beings" stealing the lighting of more deserving people (probably a reference to how black people believe that Edison stole a black man's invention when he made the lightbulb despite this not being true)
>There's a Chadwick Bozeman reference, in an ancient scroll that tells the story of a pioneer that was "as fierce as a panther"
There's lots of other shit crammed in hete just to tell us that the dev are pro white genocide and hate his audience
You are working very, very hard to be offended by this game. "And this cloud is shaped like a bunny rabbit" tier arguments.
>just stop noticing bro
wait there are Black folk in a medieval game?
You're trying wayyy too hard.
There's an Ethiopian priest from Coptic Church on a mission but that's about it.
>There's an Ethiopian priest from Coptic Church on a mission but that's about it.
This literally happened, historically, at the time. Portuguese were looking for allies against the Mamluks, Ethiopia bordered them from the south, and they established connection and consulates.
Outer Wilds
Skyrim switch edition
Space station 13
Doom on a TI-86 calculator
Snoot game
Star Citi..oh
It really is kino of the highest order.
Pentiment was pretty mediocre. People that like it REALLY like it, but I played it a few weeks after Disco Elysium and it was like eating a McDonald's hamburger after having a steak from Joe's.
I STILL cant believe this game managed to tie every story and plot thread together by the end, perfectly. The gameplay for the city defense sequences was really fun, too. Definitely kino.
My top 5 of the last 5 years is:
Sekiro
Disco Elysium
Elden Ring
Slay the Spire
Walkabout Minigolf (My Quest 3 is a $500 minigolf machine and it is the most fun I have had with friends since playing WoW in high school and college)
Outer Wilds, Disco Elysium, Baldur's Gate, Hi-Fi Rush
+1 to DE - its has the best writing I've ever played in gaming, given that i love story heavy games and movie games from Sony.
Palworld
>138m.jpg
Slay the Spire
>Spawned a whole roguelike subgenre, repeatedly copied but never truly matched
>Strong contender for "perfect" gameplay (at least as much as one can be) - very tight and fair balancing given how RNG heavy it could be and given the numerous systems and interactions in play.
>The Silent
>Slay the Spire and Disco Elysium are released after 2018
Huh, feels like they're supposed to be older
I liked filling up the pages in Obra Dinn but the actual story/mystery was kinda disappointing
>maybe the real monsters were the friends we made along the way
Pathologic 2 is still to me the best game of the last few years.
Sure, there were some really good titles out there: Outer Wilds is amazing, Obra Dinn was cool, Disco Elysium... did not sit well with me, but I can give it credit even though I personally don't like it, then there were some absolutely amazing gameplay-only focused games, like Factorio...
But nothing compares to Pathologic games. They are entirely in their own league. So yeah, P2 was my best experience with a game since... well, honestly, Pathologic 1 (which I played in like 2007).
this is the second time I've seen someone recommend this on Ganker and the first time made it seem really interesting on paper. without spoiling, what's the deal? sell me on it
>sell me on it
It's kinda hard to explain, because everything about these games is complicated and confusing. Even the naming, as Pathologic 2 is not actually a sequel to the first game, but only a remake of one part of the first game. Again: it's all confusing.
At core, both Pathologic games are survival games of sorts. Mechanically, not all that complicated: it's all about resource management.
You play in first person, and you are set into a strange eastern-russia-esque city, which functions as a small open world of sorts. In P1, you can chose from three possible main characters (each has his unique story line and some unique mechanics), in P2 only one of these three story-lines was recreated.
The premise is, it's not!early 1900's, you have been sent to a shithole literally at the end of the country, to a small ugly town at an edge of a steppe.
You have 12 days ahead of you. During those 12 days, shit will start to go really, really wrong in the town, an epidemy of sort. Your job is to figure out what is happening and what to do about it.
You do that by running around city, talking to people, doing quests and chores, all under a timer. 12 days. The time does not wait for you All story events and quests are tied to this timer. New tasks will appear each day, and will close off usually the same day at midnight - regardless of you solving them or not.
On top of that, you have your standard survival fair - eating, sleeping, staving off the infection etc... Mechanically, it all really is about resource management, with the most important resource to consider being time.
Aside from running around, there are also stealth and combat mechanics (both are pretty basic and janky), and barter system.
What really makes it stand apart everything else however, is the story, which is not only best I¨ve seen in a game, but it's also incredibly organically woven into the gameplay. It's absolutely janky, but also more immersive than any other game I've played.
Pathlogic 2 is a remake of Pathlogic 1.
Pathlogic 1 game is poetic and atmospheric, and full of themes. THE GAMEPLAY CAN BE SHIT if you just play it for what it is, and aren't into the themes. If you are the kind of person to fast forward through dialogue, or sprint through a level without looking at the buildings and NPCs, you won't like the game. Ironically, given its time limits, it has to be played slowly.
In the first game, you had 3 characters to play with, which are 3 points of view of the same story. A lot of meta stuff too, things you know having played already. And with the third character, the game nodding back at you.
You know how in film there's "arthouse", which critics rate highly, but average Joe's never see and if they see it by accident they hate it? This game is kinda arthouse.
Disco Elysium's writing is fricking cringe
Too many good games to count even 2023.
My top 5 games released between 2018-2023 are:
>Sekiro
>Lies Of P
>Baba Is You
>Return Of The Obra Dinn
>The Great Ace Attorney: Resolve
Honorable mentions for:
>NEO:TWEWY
>Ciconia When They Cry Phase 1
>13 Sentinels
>Pokemon Unbound romhack
>Gnosia
>Raging Loop
>Among Us
>Hollow Knight (Godmaster)
>Master Detective Archives: Rain Code
>Paranormasight
based
>>Lies Of P
based
>>Baba Is You
cringe
Of The Obra Dinn
can't get over the awful art "style"
>>The Great Ace Attorney: Resolve
weeb
>Honorable mentions for:
>>NEO:TWEWY
cringe
When They Cry Phase 1
huh
>>13 Sentinels
what
Unbound romhack
CRINGE
???
Loop
raging BONER hahaha never heard of it tho
>>Among Us
have a nice day
Knight (Godmaster)
based but shit expansion
Detective Archives: Rain Code
?
what
What godawful taste
I think you might enjoy Chants of Sennaar
>Chants of Sennaar
pirating is as we speak
Played the demo and thought it was great, then forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me.
you will love the translating minigame
I loved it. All of the languages are small and don't overstay their welcome. Except for the last one, it was pretty much handed to you, but at least it was done in an interesting manner.
whenever i see indie + overwhelming positive on steam i know i'm in for straight dogshit
why is this always true?
>whenever i see indie + overwhelming positive on steam i know i'm in for straight dogshit
Slay the Spire, Darkest Dungeon, Obra Dinn, Necrodancer, Gloomhaven, Blasphemous, Against the Storm, Rimworld, and so on are some of the most fun games in the modern era.
I'd take such a game over a new Battlefield or a new Assassin's Creed every day. Do you disagree? You might be moronic. Go consult with a doctor to find out.
how about i take none of those options and replay sekiro for the 20th time? whenever i try these indies they're just...boring as frick. unengaging.
sasuga
I'd take another actually good battlefield, which admittely will never happen, over yet another soulslike roguelike metroidvania earthbound clone about depression. Those kind of games just don't interest me.
Me neither, which is why I listed none of them.
Saying that's what good indies are like is the same as a girl saying her favorite game is Mario Zelda. You clearly are out of your depth. Its not mandatory to have an opinion on this, you can just skip posting about it, if you aren't familiar.
>which is why I listed none of them.
Blasphemous is a soulslike metroidvania so you're full of shit.
2018: Monster Hunter World
2019: Disco Elysium
2020: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2
2021:
2022: Neon White
2023: Pizza Tower
any neo twewy likers? any void stranger likers?
>any void stranger likers?
Right here b
is dredge scary?
Yes, but its scary through tension and stress, rather than through imagery.
As the game advances you find yourself getting greedy, going deeper, trying to run back with a big haul, and you hear the little glowing fishes calling the big blind fish and the screen shows you phantasms and the tentacles start erupting...
Its one of those games that's scary for the person playing, and seems very dull and mundane for the person watching over their shoulder. When I saw a gameplay video I thought it was dumb, and after only later I played it, I found out it feels very tense.
Definitely not a casual relaxing fishing game, unless you play ultra safe, and go out during the day, catch some, go back, zero greed, zero digging deeper.
Disco Elysium and Streets of Rage 4 , anything else I thought was older
Star Ocean 2R was really really fricking good. Helps the base game was good to begin with. SMRPG remake was pretty good too. SMTV was pretty fun but the story was a letdown. Disgaea 7 was thankfully not a trainwreck and rather enjoyable.
Sekiro
RE2 Remake
Hitman 2
Sakuna
NEO TWEWY
Honorable mentions: Metroid Dread, Gnosia, Outer Wilds, Pikmin 4, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Elden Ring, Neon White, Deep Rock Galactic
I'm also not going to include Metroid Prime Remaster because it would go against the spirit of the question but it is REALLY good.
Among the games others mentioned, ULTRAKILL. I know that it isn't technically out, but it's already a great fun game. If you don't want to support early access, then at least pirate it, it's worth it.
Off the top of my head:
>RE2 Remake
>Doom Eternal
>Elden Ring
>DMCV
>RE4 Remake
>Outer Wilds
>Elden Ring
>Disco Elysium
>Devil May Cry 5
>Alan Wake 2
As much as most would want to forget it, Vampire survivors.
Spawned a whole family of knockoffs.
Good game for a SteamDeck sesh. Views and controls nice, has a set time limit, has some meta progression in between runs, has a built-in warmup as it starts low and climaxes hard.
Palworld
Palworld
Palworld
Palworld
Palworld
Remake this thread without awful games in the OP if you want actual responses, Jesus lol I'm not contributing to this
>I'm not contributing to this
you just did
>bg3 is a "flawed" gem
>pentiment and dredge
kys dude, you like eating shit
games
For me it's
Voices of The Void
Stardew Valley
Slay The Princess
top 5 last year or 2:
>Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
>The Case of the Golden Idol
>Void Stranger
>Neon White
>WOW Season of Discovery