Paradise Killer (2020)
Platforms: Windows/Playstation/Xbox/Switch
Developer: Kaizen Game Works
Publisher: Fellow Traveller
If there is an overarching theme in this list it is that I like games where you play detective. You consider and assemble clues outside the game in your very own brain and then take that knowledge back into the game.
So Paradise Killer is another one of those games, though the most extreme and anime until I think of another one. You are a prosecutor god brought back from Exile to find the murderer of another god before the end of the world.
The game is spent Super Mario jumping around a hell-paradise beach resort while listening to city pop. You talk to extreme characters designed for the internet to love. At any time you can choose to start the trial and end the game, regardless if you have the evidence or not. The trial is a sham anyways.
But traveling the world is fun. Considering all the intrigue and machinations of these gods as they give up millions of human lives to themselves and to nothing. What indeed is one more human life before the end of reality?
The game’s justice will in fact be unsatisfying. It’s up to yourself and your own convictions to be satisfied with the game you played and the justice you made the case for.
Sonic Frontiers (2022)
Platforms: Windows/Playstation/Xbox/Switch
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Can’t believe how much I liked this game. You are just Sonic The Hedgehog and running around a big open world. There are springs and loop-de-loops. Months after launch everything looks like a birthday present and you can curate a soundtrack of your favorite Sonic tunes.
Eventually Sonic turns into a golden version of himself with magic stones you collected so you can fight a digital dragon while a Flyleaf cover band yells about believing in yourself.
This is a Modern Video Game with a map full of things You Need To Do and a dozen collectables and currency. But you can beat most of the game just by fishing. It’s an open world game with the freedom to beat it as you please. Each night I looked forward to playing more. Then I was playing to see the end. Then I saw the end and decided that was pretty great.
The Forgotten City (2021)
Platforms: Windows/Playstation/Xbox/Switch
Developer: Modern Storyteller
Publisher: Dear Villagers
I clearly like games about time loops and detective work, so here is another one. In this you’ve been trapped in an ancient forgotten Roman city. If any unknown rules are broken the whole population is punished and turned to gold. You need to solve the mystery of how to leave the city, what the rules are, and what it exactly is happening.
As you are from the modern day one of the starting perks is A Real Gun. You got six bullets and you can shoot those six bullets whenever you feel like. But that’s all you’ll get for the whole game. Finally a gun with consequences in video games.
But the game is about learning the different cultures of the ancient world. Why they have all been gathered/trapped here. Maybe a nefarious third party is making things more difficult by skirting the rules. There’s lots of great philosophic questions to dig over in your brain.
Timespinner (2018)
Platforms: Windows/Playstation/Xbox
Developer: Lunar Ray Games
Publisher: Chucklefish
There are many many modern video games inspired by Super Metroid and Castlevania:Symphony of the Night. I’m recommending this one because most people haven’t played it. It is a pleasant small adventure. Your powers are just flavors, more than new keys for the world’s locks. I hate when I see a too high platform in a game and think “gotta get the double jump.” Timespinner had minimal that. It isn’t very long, maybe 3 evenings of playing. It is just right the way it is.
Wheel of Fortune (2017)
Platforms: Playstation/Xbox/Switch
Developer: Frima Studios, Ubisoft Chengdu
Publisher: Ubisoft
Do you have someone in your house that doesn’t like video games and has a good grasp of the English language? Might I recommend Wheel of Fortune? It is to be fair overpriced. Getting multiple evenings with your living partners around a single controller playing the game where you just guess letters is fantastic. They’ll probably ask if they can play more Wheel! Now that’s having a good time together.
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