Playlist (January 2022) (Patreon)

Hey! Welcome to your first playlist of 2022.

It’s January so there’s not much in the way of brand new games to play - so for the time being I’ll be talking about some of the stuff I finished last year. Starting with three games I completed in December. 

Let’s jump in. As always, there's a YouTube video above - or you can read it as an article below.

Solar Ash

Solar Ash is the second game from the people who made Hyper Light Drifter. And there are some strong similarities in terms of tone and vibe - but in play, it’s pretty different. Solar Ash is a 3D, third person, open world-ish game where you perform slick platforming tricks to topple massive beasties.

Basically, in each of the game’s worlds, you’ll need to skate around to find gross monster eyes. To kill them you’ll need to show a bit of platforming prowess, in tiny obstacle courses that mix up Mario, Prince of Persia, and Tony Hawk’s. Once you squish all the eyes, a gigantic boss monster will enter the scene and start stomping around the open world.

You kill this in much the same way - by beating a series of obstacle courses - only, this time, they’re on monster itself. So, like a sort of psychedelic Shadow of the Colossus, you fight these monsters by scrambling over their bodies and stabbing them in their wibbly bits.

When it works, Solar Ash feels really fun to play. The character, Rei, moves at lighting speeds - and combine that with a dash and a generous double jump and you can simply bound across the environment. It’s probably the best 3D Sonic game around - which is a bit embarrassing for Sonic himself. And some of the level design is really fun - in the latter half of the game, the levels become completely ungrounded from gravity and reality, and it’s a joy to bounce around these absurd vertical playgrounds.

But, lemme emphasise that again: “when it works, Solar Ash feels really fun to play.” Because when it doesn’t work, the game is frustrating and tedious.

Basically, the game demands precision movement - but isn’t actually designed around that. Whether you’re fighting with the camera, or wrangling the physics system, or wrestling with the sloppy, floaty, and slippery character controller… the biggest enemy in this game is not one of those titanic boss monsters, but the game itself. It simply doesn’t have the fine-tuned controls of a Mario or a Tony Hawk’s. And when you die… there’s a strong chance that it was really the game’s fault. And that is one of the most annoying things around.

Couple that with plenty of sequences that ask you repeat the exact same sequence of actions over and over again - and you get a game that should feel slick, and empowering, and down-right cool. But, more often than not, it just feels frustrating. What a shame. I still like the game and can recommend it, but not without some humongous caveats.

Psychonauts 2

Psychonauts was a bit of a hidden gem back in the day. A weird, funny, and inventive collect-a-thon platformer with a bonkers storyline and an excellent collection of imaginative levels. I never thought we’d get a sequel - but, hey, here we are. Psychonauts 2!

Once again, it’s a 3D platformer, where the levels take place inside people’s minds - meaning the stages can be weird, and untethered from reality. There’s a level where you ride a bowling ball in a city of germs, and a game show where you cook meals for hand puppets, and a casino that’s been mixed up with a hospital.

The game dabbles in a few genres - a bit of platforming, some combat, a few puzzles, and plenty of doodads to collect. But everything is kept pretty light.

I think the main focus, though, is the story - which, does and doesn’t work for me. Just like every Double Fine game, it’s funny and clever and full of sharp dialogue. But, for me, I felt like it sidelined most of the characters I loved from the first game, in favour of some new cast members. And I just wasn’t as interested in them, and didn’t really get engrossed in the narrative this time. Plus, it’s got a nasty habit of halting the gameplay every few seconds for a little cutscene, which can kill the pace.

I think the real downer, though, is that the game simply doesn’t have as many stand-out levels as the first game. At least in my opinion. When I think about Psychonauts 1 I think about the Milkman Conspiracy, and playing a giant table-top game, and a neon-lit bull run and so on. For Psychonauts 2, the only one that really, truly sticks out to me is the Psy-King stage - a psychedelic rock concert where you slowly turn on a character’s senses - sight, sound, taste, etc. And not just because of Jack Black’s always-excellent voice acting.

The other levels can be gorgeous to look at and full of clever little moments, but they just don’t hit as hard as Psychonauts 2. The concepts aren’t as clever. The designs aren’t as memorable.

There are some other things that held the game back from greatness. This can be a very fiddly game, as you constantly need to remap four of the controller’s buttons as you decide what psychic powers Raz should have now. It’s a game where you spend as much time in the menus as in the game. And the combat is improved from the first game, thanks to a wide range of uniquely distinct enemy types: but it’s still not super enjoyable to actually play. Lots of button mashing.

Overall, there’s a lot to like about Psychonauts 2. But as a die-hard fan of the first game, it never quite lived up to my - admittedly - lofty expectations. Still, I’m glad we live in a world where this game can even exist.

Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye

Oh man, Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye. This is one of those rare games where I went from being super hot - to ice cold, in basically, an instant. But first, an explanation.

Outer Wilds was a brilliant sci-fi game from 2019, where you hop between planets in a tiny solar system to find clues and information… which will help you solve puzzles elsewhere in space. This year it received a big chunk of DLC, called Echoes of the Eye.

And if you want to play it completely fresh, now’s your time to leave the video. Thanks for watching, see you next month!

Otherwise… so, this DLC essentially adds a new planet - of sorts - to the solar system. And it’s a doozy: a massive fast-flowing river in sort of Halo-like ring world. So you can jump on a raft, paddle in one direction… and find yourself coming back to your starting point. Along the way you can jump off to explore buildings, towers, mysterious ritual rooms, submerged bunkers, a gigantic dam, and more.

And that’s not all. At some point during the loop… the dam breaks, causing a flash flood that will submerge half of the buildings, radically change the layout of the level, and make rafting more perilous than ever. This is a staggering technical achievement, if you ask me. I’ve seen similar stuff as heavily scripted set-pieces in, say, Tomb Raider. But for it to be fully simulated and systemic? It’s a marvel.

Anyway. This DLC starts out as typical Outer Wilds gameplay: find information, use said information to open new areas. And it’s pretty cool to have it all contained to a single planet. And this part of the game is awesome! I loved taking notes, piecing things together, drawing out a map of the world, and figuring out what I should do before, and after, the dam bursts. Fab!

Unfortunately… the game then takes a turn. We enter a sort of mirror version of the world, and Echoes of the Eye shifts to something more akin to a horror game. The world is pitch black, and you have to light the way with a torch. There are patrolling enemies who will jump scare you, and set you back some progress.

And I just didn’t like this. Partly because of the spookiness - I’m not a big horror game fan. But more so because this section just felt tedious. I hate games where you can’t see very far ahead of you, it’s so hard to get your bearings. And enemies who can send you right back to the start of the area if they spot you - ugh, no thanks. There is an option to “reduce frights”, but it doesn’t do much to help with the annoying gameplay.

This really put a massive dampener on the game for me and I decided to leave it there, unfinished. Which is such a shame - I was having a really good time with it! But alas, a sudden shift in genre just put me right off. A good reminder, then, that radically altering the genre halfway through a game isn’t always a great idea.

That’s your lot! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next month.