Red Pages Podcast
Red Pages Podcast Games of the Year 2019
Justin's Picks
2019 was a relatively light year for me in terms of games that absolutely thrilled me, but there were several that stood far above the rest. Look upon these works, ye mighty, and despair.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
From Software's first work in a post-Dark Souls franchise world ignited a firestorm about game accessiblity and difficulty. By chance I happened to find myself exactly within the target demographic for both the game's content and the ability level it demands from its players. This is not a game for everybody, but it felt like a game for me. Much like The Witness, Sekiro feels like it it teaching you a skill, and the slow transition from being cut down by an enormous foe to defeating them without enduring a single scratch embodied the shinobi fantasy in a way I found compelling. It is a game that seems to live by the spirit of "fall down seven times, get up eight times." I was surprised by the story's social commentary on the state of Japanese culture, at once both lauditory and condemning; a love letter to the developer's nation that does not shy from critique. There's a lot in here that goes over the head of the average player in the West - the more familiar you are with the history, art and architecture of the period, the more you'll get out of the game's aesthetic choices and the more you'll pick up on its subtleties. I did not expect when, in late March, I declared that Sekiro would be the Game of the Year for 2019, that it actually would end up holding onto the crown, but against significant competition the Wolf has emerged victorious.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Intelligent Systems continually produces some of the best strategy games on the market, and Three Houses feels like a page turn for the Fire Emblem franchise. Fully embracing the narrative-mechanical aspects that had been a franchise staple since 2012's Awakening and drawing heavily upon the story and mechanics of the classic title Geneology of the Holy War, Intelligent Systems has created a game that appeals even to those outside of their normal audience. The strength of the character writing often transcends the traditional archetypes within which much of the cast finds themselves, and the choice of which house in Garreg Mach Monastery's Officer's Academy is the best immediately proved one of the most divisive debates in the franchise. The game deftly combines moments of high melodrama, quiet relaxation and human interaction against a backdrop of three nations who, against their wills, are dragged into conflict. It may not be high literature, but the story is gripping, and the structure of the game encourages multiple replays as each nation's perspective vastly differs. In war there may be no true winners, but this game sure is one.
Runner-Up
Slay the Spire
After years in early access, a deckbuilding roguelike-like RPG shows that despite my dislike of deckbuilding games AND roguelikes, a high enough quality product can circumvent my distaste. I have spent many hours hacking, zapping and poisoning my way up the cursed spire in search of answers, and I expect that in 2020 I will continue to do so as additional post-release content is added.
Retroactive Award
- The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories
The only reason this didn't win a GOTY last year is because I only played it in January of this year. It's a game that is very hard to write about without destroying the experience, but I easily place this platformer about a young woman's quest to find her girlfriend alongside prior year winners like Gone Home and Life is Strange as an Important Game. If you can make it past the initial content warnings and gore, you will be rewarded.