F-Zero 99 is really interesting (and fun) to me in how it remixes the original and comes out as a brand new game, so I'm glad to see you talking about it. Reminds me of the NES Remix games from Wii U but focused on a specific game.
Yes! Those were like an extension of the WarioWare Microgames that have you experiencing old games through next contexts, and this is a full-blown game version of that concept, with a popular genre people latch onto these days.
A) mentioning Sprawl without mentioning that its soundtrack is ear-bleedingly fantastic industrial is criminal. Like, there should be laws. You should be in jail for not telling your readers about it.
B) Sprawl The Album comes with a whole game for free, too! Great deal! Game's pretty good, though the level design gets kinda early 00s locked-doors-arena towards the end. The first chapter and the soundtrack do far more than redeem the minor missteps. though.
I think it gets lost in the huge numbers of actually damn good retro / boomer / whatever shooters out there. I mean, it's not radically better than Severed Steel (which if you haven't tried you should) or Ultrakill, it's just that a lot of them are really good and it's easy to miss one. Sprawl's soundtrack really is special, though.
I did play Severed Steel a bit last year, but I've been meaning to get back to it. It was good, but not what I was looking for at that moment (shortly after Neon White) so I moved on. Ultrakill I have but I set it aside for now since it's still in early access and Turbo Overkill's controls finally were fixed for the Steam Deck
Have you done a piece on Neon White? It keeps floating alluringly across my field of vision on Steam, asking me to try it. The whole gnostic pastiche thing is a huge weakness for me.
Dec 18, 2023·edited Dec 18, 2023Liked by Marc Normandin
Read that piece of yours on Paste and I wanted to add to the 'indie shooters doing new things' (and also filed under 'soundtracks'), Metal: Hellsinger is fucking fantastic.
I think you're right that right now at the end of 2023, there's getting to be a bit of sameness in the genre, but I think that's largely a function of a ton of different worthy indie devs getting their hooks into the space at roughly the same time. I think going forward, we'll see a corresponding degree of increasing diversity and experimentation, now that the proof-of-concept phase has been so resoundingly successful.
Also, Warstride Challenges was new to me and while the gameplay isn't quite me, the launch trailer is one of the best, most honest, most compelling pitches for What This Game Is And Why You Want It ever. The only one that comes to mind as being in the same S-tier is Boltgun's.
I agree, I think that's where things will go. You can already see the different ways similar concepts are being used — none of Turbo Overkill, Sprawl, Trepang2, etc. actually feel the same even if they all have some time slowing bits, and the emphasis for each is on different things. Sprawl has more parkour, Turbo more long distance platforming, etc. So the next wave of them should be even more distinct.
I somehow missed the launch trailer but played the demo (which I never do, but I also wondered if it'd be for me). I think Neon White did a better job of wrapping up these kind of quick-fire missions in additional gameplay, but if all you wanted was some challenges to beat with no other frills, Warstride Challenges does what it says on the box.
I feel similarly about Pikmin 4. It's a fantastic game and I'm happy it's getting more people into the series, but I prefer the style of Pikmin 1 and 3. Hopefully the next Pikmin game takes elements of 4 but is structured more like the third game.
Purchased? Yes. But late in the year, so it ended up in the same calculus bin as Baldur's Gate 3, where I'll get to it later. Unlike the first, though, I'm actually looking forward to that.
I hear you. I put 25 hours into BG3 but then got distracted; I'll probably start again from the beginning. But I hit up OP2 when I was sick recently and am completely taken by it. Racing up my GOTY list!
F-Zero 99 is really interesting (and fun) to me in how it remixes the original and comes out as a brand new game, so I'm glad to see you talking about it. Reminds me of the NES Remix games from Wii U but focused on a specific game.
Yes! Those were like an extension of the WarioWare Microgames that have you experiencing old games through next contexts, and this is a full-blown game version of that concept, with a popular genre people latch onto these days.
A) mentioning Sprawl without mentioning that its soundtrack is ear-bleedingly fantastic industrial is criminal. Like, there should be laws. You should be in jail for not telling your readers about it.
B) Sprawl The Album comes with a whole game for free, too! Great deal! Game's pretty good, though the level design gets kinda early 00s locked-doors-arena towards the end. The first chapter and the soundtrack do far more than redeem the minor missteps. though.
[makes note for future The Music of Sprawl feature]
Honestly I'm just glad someone out there in my orbit has even played it. All I got this year was silence on social whenever I'd mention it!
I think it gets lost in the huge numbers of actually damn good retro / boomer / whatever shooters out there. I mean, it's not radically better than Severed Steel (which if you haven't tried you should) or Ultrakill, it's just that a lot of them are really good and it's easy to miss one. Sprawl's soundtrack really is special, though.
I ended up writing a whole thing earlier this year for Paste about how indie devs had picked up the slack of the genre since AAA has abandoned it: https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/first-person-shooters/first-person-shooters-are-thriving-under-independent-developers
I did play Severed Steel a bit last year, but I've been meaning to get back to it. It was good, but not what I was looking for at that moment (shortly after Neon White) so I moved on. Ultrakill I have but I set it aside for now since it's still in early access and Turbo Overkill's controls finally were fixed for the Steam Deck
Have you done a piece on Neon White? It keeps floating alluringly across my field of vision on Steam, asking me to try it. The whole gnostic pastiche thing is a huge weakness for me.
Not a full piece, but it did end up in last year's GOTY series with a write-up https://retroxp.substack.com/i/92497138/neon-white
Oh, nice. Have to think about Neon White still, but you may have talked me into Astlibra and Elden Ring.
Read that piece of yours on Paste and I wanted to add to the 'indie shooters doing new things' (and also filed under 'soundtracks'), Metal: Hellsinger is fucking fantastic.
I think you're right that right now at the end of 2023, there's getting to be a bit of sameness in the genre, but I think that's largely a function of a ton of different worthy indie devs getting their hooks into the space at roughly the same time. I think going forward, we'll see a corresponding degree of increasing diversity and experimentation, now that the proof-of-concept phase has been so resoundingly successful.
Also, Warstride Challenges was new to me and while the gameplay isn't quite me, the launch trailer is one of the best, most honest, most compelling pitches for What This Game Is And Why You Want It ever. The only one that comes to mind as being in the same S-tier is Boltgun's.
Metal: Hellsinger, got it.
I agree, I think that's where things will go. You can already see the different ways similar concepts are being used — none of Turbo Overkill, Sprawl, Trepang2, etc. actually feel the same even if they all have some time slowing bits, and the emphasis for each is on different things. Sprawl has more parkour, Turbo more long distance platforming, etc. So the next wave of them should be even more distinct.
I somehow missed the launch trailer but played the demo (which I never do, but I also wondered if it'd be for me). I think Neon White did a better job of wrapping up these kind of quick-fire missions in additional gameplay, but if all you wanted was some challenges to beat with no other frills, Warstride Challenges does what it says on the box.
I feel similarly about Pikmin 4. It's a fantastic game and I'm happy it's getting more people into the series, but I prefer the style of Pikmin 1 and 3. Hopefully the next Pikmin game takes elements of 4 but is structured more like the third game.
You do Octopath Traveler 2?
Purchased? Yes. But late in the year, so it ended up in the same calculus bin as Baldur's Gate 3, where I'll get to it later. Unlike the first, though, I'm actually looking forward to that.
I hear you. I put 25 hours into BG3 but then got distracted; I'll probably start again from the beginning. But I hit up OP2 when I was sick recently and am completely taken by it. Racing up my GOTY list!