With the second half of the year likely to be dominated by big AAA releases, I wanted to write about some games I haven’t talked much about but have enjoyed.
Dredge - this Lovecraftian boating and fishing game has intriguing fishing mechanics and a story that keeps revelations coming at a solid clip. Have not finished but enjoyed my time with it, solid recommendation despite some obtuse puzzles.
Dave the Diver - 10 or so hours in and I’m still having new systems or mechanics exposed to me. The basic loop of “swim and catch fish, use those fish to supply your plate spinner sushi restaurant” has remained fun while the game layers on rogue environmentalists, an anime-loving weaponsmith, light farming, and an entire underwater ancient civilization. I already know this is going to be shockingly high on my final game of the year list.
Diablo IV - It’s more Diablo and Diablo has ruled since I was playing on the Hoover House LAN. No, it’s not a “smaller game” but it’s still good and a game I’ve enjoyed in the early part of 2023.
AEW Fight Forever - Yes, it could use a bigger roster and better creation tools. The career mode is fun but a little shallow. But it has the “pick up and play” fun that you think you remember from those old N64 wrestling games and that goes a hell of a long way.
Xenonauts 2 (Early Access) - I’ve played about a hour of this but I needed 20 seconds to realize that this was an original X-Com-ass X-Com game. It has time units. I repeat: IT HAS TIME UNITS. I lost two soldiers on the first mission. I realized on mission 3 I had badly misunderstood how to put my soldiers into Overwatch. I can’t wait to play more.
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Early Access) - this is leaving Early Access in like a week and a half but the prerelease hype convinced me to give this version another look and holy hell am I excited for version 1.0. It seems to be a loyal implementation of D&D 5e rules with an apocalyptic story that isn’t afraid to also get personal and goofy. Maybe in the full release I’ll stop running my cleric into literal flames with almost no remaining HP.
Showgunners - A game where I like what I’ve played, but need to spend more time with it. It’s a decent tactics game with an action component between tactical battles, in the story wrapper of a post-apocalyptic televised game show about murder. I haven’t seen enough progression or tactical depth yet to fully recommend it.