It pains me to make a top 5 with some games I haven't completed this year, but this is currently where I am.
This might change by the end of the year
Showing 1-5 of 5 items
I've been a fan of this developer for years, back when they were on XBLIG. They love creating games reminiscent of JRPG's past while making sure not to inundate the player with a ton of grinding and leveling. Cosmic Star Heroine is no different. This game plays homage to a few jrpgs from the past, most notably Phantasy Star. It also pays tribute to the 32-bit era. So the look of the game is somewhere between sega cd and 2d games on the PSX.
Technically this is one of two nostalgia games in my list (as Kiwami is a remake), but this game is actually nostalgic for me while Kiwami was my first Yakuza game. Rarely do I look to a game in my past and think "yeah this is still good". Even rarer does a game remix something I'm nostalgic for and do I think that the new product is good. That has happened to me with A Link between Worlds and Pac Man Championship Edition. Sonic Mania joins that list. This game constantly blurs the lines between nostalgia and remix and it does so well. Never in my dreams would I think revisiting Lava Reef zone would be a good idea, yet here we are. The homages to Sonic's history in the early 90s is all here from Sonic 1 - Sonic and Knuckles. It even includes homages to CD, and the game gear games along the way. This game does something that a Sonic game hasn't done since Sonic Rush. It reminded me that I love Sonic.
Yakuza 0 isn't here simply because I haven't played it. Even still, I think this game is great. The biggest highlight of this game are the sidequests you run into. I like to think that Kazuma has the attention span of a dog, but also it is quite appealing all these quests are personally. That and Majima is my best friend, I'll beat him up gladly for the rest of our days.
