Games lately, new year 2025 edition
Here's what I've been mashing my thumbs to for the past few months.
Astro Bot
It's fun. Lots of great little details and a wealth of new mechanics that come and go only once. I can't help but think all the editors of PlayStation-centric sites that called this "game of the year" do not own Nintendos and have never played Mario Odyssey. Still, it's nice to see something like this on PS5. They can't all be grit and despair.
Silent Hill 2 Remake
Speaking of. So much has been said about this game. Pick a dozen other famous titles of and the writing on them combined wouldn't equal the ink given to Silent Hill 2. I read a whole damn book about it. So there's not much that I can add. It's just a great synthesis of storytelling and gameplay throughout, and it's an achievement for so many reasons. It's stressful, it's depressing, the protagonist is not at all likable, combat is terrible — and all of these are intentional. David Lynch, Francis Bacon, *Crime and Punishment *are not the ingredients of a typical game, but that's why it's stood up for so long.
Layers of Fear
This is a short walking simulator in the vein of Gone Home or What Remains of Edith Finch, and it's a sad mystery like those, but it's creepy and loaded with jump scares. Was it Bloober Team's audition to be the Silent Hill 2 remake studio? I don't know, but there is a huge amount of influence from SH, just as Bloober went on to add their own stamp to the remake. Worth a few bucks and a few hours for sure.
Control
Man this game was a blast. It oozes style. The "mid-century modern but just a little off" aesthetic of the sets reminded me of the Legion TV show, and the story is surreal, scary, and funny. It's getting on in age but I am still hesitant to talk about my favorite moments for fear of spoiling anyone who hasn't played it. Control's creators describe it as "weird fiction" but in video game form, and I think that's apt. There are shades of Lovecraft, Cronenberg, Lynch, China Mieville, Jason Pargin, and the SCP Project — but none of those have cool psychic combat.
Alan Wake
I got the much-loved sequel super cheap and it's related to Control, so it seemed like a thing I needed to do. But it didn't do much for me. Unfortunately, as a protagonist Alan Wake isn't much more likable than James Sunderland, but at least in Silent Hill punishing James was the point.
Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate
We consume a lot of Ninja Turtle stuff around here. My daughter is obsessed. We've seen the full run of the 2012 series, Rise of the TMNT, plus Mutant Mayhem numerous times and a good chunk of the original series. Of course, she must never know that there was a live action movie in the early 90s.
Splintered Fate is basically Hades but with TMNT instead of Greek gods. If you understand that and it sounds good to you, play it.