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In a year when Duke Nukem Forever made us all wonder if we'd outgrown dick jokes, Shadows of the Damned was a blessing. As charming as it is puerile, Shadows of the Damned is juvenile idiocy for discerning adults. Suda 51's mind is as firmly entrenched in the gutter as ever, but this time around he gets help from a sophisticated Akira Yamaoka score and Shinji Mikami play mechanics. As Japanese dream-team projects go it won't make anyone forget about Chrono Trigger, but it's still a hell of a good time.
Dark Souls is not quite as brutal as its predecessor, Demon's Souls, but that doesn't mean From Software has gone soft. This game still hates you and your life, and lets you know it in some delightfully nasty ways. Crucially, though, its difficulty always comes from meticulous design rather than cheap tricks. In the tradition of sadistic-but-fair games like I Wanna Be the Guy, Dark Souls never kills you without teaching you how not to die next time.
As a connoisseur of Japanese oddities, I've always wished that more visual novels would make their way to North America. Canadian developer Christine Love seems to agree. Don't Take It Personally, Babe is made for those of us who couldn't get enough of S-linking in Persona 3 and 4. And while it does deal in some anime tropes, it also delves into more a more serious examination of changing attitudes about privacy in the 21st century.
If you ever wondered what would happen if Ikaruga were a platformer, Outland has your answer. Of course personally, I'd be happy if every game worked in bullet-hell segments somewhere, but combine that with Metroidvania-lite exploration and I'm pleased as punch. Mechanically, Outland is easily one of the most satisfying games of the year.
