This year, my backlog has grown massively. I've still not played half of the games I own on steam and I've not even taken the cellophane wrapping off of Witcher 3, Bit-Tech's 2015 game of the year.
This creates a problem - because while I'm finishing the games I have to review there's a lot of great games I'm not playing. I want to remedy that, so for a day at a time I'll go into my game collection and pick something I've never played. Then I'll write words on whether it's good or bad and post it up for you guys to enjoy - who knows, perhaps it's something you've missed too.
Bear in mind that I haven't finished any of these games and I've only played through a few hours so this isn't a full review, just my initial feelings.
You'll get 4 of these now, 4 in a few days and 4 on NYE. Enjoy and let us know the games you've played over Christmas in the comments.
On The First Day of Christmas: This War Of Mine
Year: 2014
Cheery game, this.
Trapped in a warzone, your group has to try and survive long enough for a ceasefire. In the meantime, no supplies are being delivered and you need to beg borrow and steal what you need to survive.
There are two stages to this: During the daytime, you try to encourage people to sleep, eat and build rainwater collectors in your basement while keeping stock of your ever dwindling supplies. During the nighttime you send out a solo scavenger to increasingly dangerous areas to try and scavenge some supplies. This is done in real time and often features several guest stars that will fire guns at you or stab you.
Steal from innocents or kill anyone and your civilians will feel depressed, even if it's self defence. They just don't have what it takes to rob and kill people, which only makes it all the more affecting when you need to do it to survive.
It's all well and good trying to avoid theft and murder, but as food supplies get tighter and your group starts to fall apart you have to ask yourself a lot of questions.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's got a lot of good ideas, even if it won't hold your interest for long.
Buy this if: you like resource sims or sadness.
On The Second Day Of Christmas: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
Year: 2015
I loved Wolfenstein: The New Order and finished it just around the time The Old Blood came out so I have no idea how I didn't play this at launch. I even bought it for the PS4 and PC at launch to then promptly ignore it.
You already know what to expect - there's Nazis, slick gunplay and some speculative fiction tech. This is a substantial prequel so you won't be fighting on the moon or playing with laser guns like before, but the stellar world-building and pulpy vibe that I dug so much about TNO is still here and it's been cranked up to the max.
It's not quite as good as The New Order, but there's more than enough ideas here to sustain a playthrough - once you get past the garbage first 30 minutes of enforced stealth.
I quite admire Wolfenstein's "Learn by doing" perk system, offering health and weapon unlocks for performing certain feats. It's not unique but it feels like a great way to handle progression in what is essentially a very arcade shooter. Rarely has charging through a corridor with an assault rifle clenched in each fist ever been so satisfying.
Did I mention you get a pipe as a melee weapon? You do. You can also dual-wield pipes if that's your scene.
Buy This If: Solo arcadey blasters are your thing, or you have a hankering for the iD shooters of years gone by.
This creates a problem - because while I'm finishing the games I have to review there's a lot of great games I'm not playing. I want to remedy that, so for a day at a time I'll go into my game collection and pick something I've never played. Then I'll write words on whether it's good or bad and post it up for you guys to enjoy - who knows, perhaps it's something you've missed too.
Bear in mind that I haven't finished any of these games and I've only played through a few hours so this isn't a full review, just my initial feelings.
You'll get 4 of these now, 4 in a few days and 4 on NYE. Enjoy and let us know the games you've played over Christmas in the comments.
On The First Day of Christmas: This War Of Mine
Year: 2014
Cheery game, this.
Trapped in a warzone, your group has to try and survive long enough for a ceasefire. In the meantime, no supplies are being delivered and you need to beg borrow and steal what you need to survive.
There are two stages to this: During the daytime, you try to encourage people to sleep, eat and build rainwater collectors in your basement while keeping stock of your ever dwindling supplies. During the nighttime you send out a solo scavenger to increasingly dangerous areas to try and scavenge some supplies. This is done in real time and often features several guest stars that will fire guns at you or stab you.
Steal from innocents or kill anyone and your civilians will feel depressed, even if it's self defence. They just don't have what it takes to rob and kill people, which only makes it all the more affecting when you need to do it to survive.
It's all well and good trying to avoid theft and murder, but as food supplies get tighter and your group starts to fall apart you have to ask yourself a lot of questions.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's got a lot of good ideas, even if it won't hold your interest for long.
Buy this if: you like resource sims or sadness.
On The Second Day Of Christmas: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
Year: 2015
I loved Wolfenstein: The New Order and finished it just around the time The Old Blood came out so I have no idea how I didn't play this at launch. I even bought it for the PS4 and PC at launch to then promptly ignore it.
You already know what to expect - there's Nazis, slick gunplay and some speculative fiction tech. This is a substantial prequel so you won't be fighting on the moon or playing with laser guns like before, but the stellar world-building and pulpy vibe that I dug so much about TNO is still here and it's been cranked up to the max.
It's not quite as good as The New Order, but there's more than enough ideas here to sustain a playthrough - once you get past the garbage first 30 minutes of enforced stealth.
I quite admire Wolfenstein's "Learn by doing" perk system, offering health and weapon unlocks for performing certain feats. It's not unique but it feels like a great way to handle progression in what is essentially a very arcade shooter. Rarely has charging through a corridor with an assault rifle clenched in each fist ever been so satisfying.
Did I mention you get a pipe as a melee weapon? You do. You can also dual-wield pipes if that's your scene.
Buy This If: Solo arcadey blasters are your thing, or you have a hankering for the iD shooters of years gone by.
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