Delightful Dashes: Moving Fast Never Felt Better

Perspectives

Video games are about motion. Across genres, across aesthetics, and across gameplay not many things are shared. Movement is something that’s been at the core of video games since their onset. Video games are about manipulating motion and using it to your advantage.

Just take a look back at some early games. Pong is ostensibly only about motion, as two players manipulate the way a square bounces back and forth across a screen. Galaga and Space Invaders were all about anticipating enemy movement while understanding your own. Tetris is a beautiful series of precise motions, a balance between time management and finesse. Motion is the vehicle by which games bring interactivity to the player.

Each genre engineers motion to suit gameplay demands. For some, it’s simple ups and downs along a straight path. Others it is 360-degree rotation on a 2D plane. As games moved into 3D movement evolved. Motion now wasn’t constrained by up-down-left-right, it could span the gamut of x-y-z axis coordinates. In building towards the level of sophistication required to master 3D movement, a concomitant rethinking of 2D motion occurred. Game developers sought to reimagine what movement along a 2D plane could mean for the player. New titles didn’t just focus on new worlds or narratives; they also focused on revolutionizing the way games handled.

From an early age I have been drawn to action games. I’ve enjoyed a variety of them for a variety of reasons, but one thing that has stayed consistent is how much I enjoy their movement. Quick, skillful combat requires mobility to match. For older action games like Ninja Gaiden or Castlevania, your options were often limited to jumps and good character placement. Over time a wealth of new options were added: like sprinting, blocking, dodging and warping. The mechanic that’s stuck with me the most, however, is dashing.

Dashes are a great solution to a common action game problem—how do you keep motion fluid during (and outside of) combat? A dash can get you from one place to another in a fraction of the time it would take to walk. A dash can also act as a split second, and skill intensive, system to avoid enemy attacks. There is something fundamentally game-y about dashes, too, which endears them to me. Like the double jump before them, dashes are something that comfortably exist outside of reality. Sure, someone could sprint a short distance in the real world but that wouldn’t truly recapitulate an action game dash. Some of my favorite dashes are inhumanly fast. Often, dash systems are titrated to a perfect level in which they both empower the player and add a skill ceiling for those looking to conquer the game’s hardest challenges. To put it succinctly: I love dashes.

This summer I played a trio of action games that got me thinking about dashes. Stories: The Path of Destinies, Furi, and Hyper Light Drifter are totally different games that share one common element—fantastic dash moves. In each game the player is given the tools to zip around the map, making each experience fast and fluid. In wanting to spotlight those dashes here I began to think back to other satisfying dashes in games I’ve played recently. So if you will pardon me the indulgence, let’s look at five awesome feats of speed.

Stories: The Path of Destinies

Though you don’t start the game with it unlocked, Stories: The Path of Destinies does a great job at pushing the player towards unlocking dashes quickly. Dashes are predominantly for facilitating combat. One press of a button quickly closes the gap between player and monster, which is essential for maintaining your combo meter. Dashes can be powered up to travel further, faster, and deal damage to enemies as you collide with them. Outside of combat, dashing towards the next encounter is nice but the three dash in a row limit lessens their impact. Still, what’s not to love about a fox zipping around at lightning speed?

Furi

Furi is a game that took me by complete surprise. Not only does its ‘boss rush only’ design work, it is a game that packs in a lot of complex mechanics. The mechanic I adored, as I am sure you have already guessed, was its dash. Furi’s dashes are fast. Really fast. They teleport the player in a blink of an eye. Dashes are integral to your success in Furi. They are used to dodge enemy attacks, quickly move to exposed boss flanks, and in the game’s bullet hell-like sequences. What I enjoyed the most about the dashes was just how much control Furi gave the player over them. Quickly tapping the dash button moved the player in the desired direction. The button could be held down too, holding your character in place until the button was released. This would increase the distance covered. As I wrote in my review, this added a whole new layer of skill and precision that made Furi great.

Hyper Light Drifter

Hyper Light Drifter is one hell of a game. I promise to review it here soon. The game features yet another great dash. Your scarf-donning silent hero faces a decaying world, sword in hand and ready to move. Similar to the two above games, your dash is so satisfyingly fast. Point in a direction and boom, you’re at your destination. Dashing is unsurprisingly essential, serving the dual purpose of dodging enemy attacks and navigating its open and secret-filled world. Hyper Light Drifter also features a fantastic modification to the dash by allowing players to chain an unlimited number of them together, given you perfectly time your button presses. I still need to complete the 800 chain dash challenge, but man did I love Hyper Light Drifter’s movement.

Transistor

Cut from the same cloth as the above games, my third favorite game of 2014 featured some fantastic dashes. Transistor’s mix of real-time and turn-based combat gave dashing a new layer, making it critical for positioning above all else. What I remember loving was incorporating dashes into combos and then watching them play out in real time.

Bloodborne

If you haven’t, you can read me rave about Bloodborne's dashes in my review. If not, just watch this gif. Perhaps it was its juxtaposition against its much slower Souls forbearers, but moving around in Bloodborne felt supremely satisfying. Bloodborne proved you can add hyper fast mobility to deeply thoughtful Souls combat system and still get a fantastic end result.

Games like the ones I’ve featured above just go to show that dashes are an integral, and fun, part of gaming. Moving fast has never felt better.

Supreme Architect

Review

Salt and Sanctuary, Ska Studios (PS4)

Abstract: Salt and Sanctuary is a 2D action-platformer with heavy role-playing game and metroidvania influences. Sold to players as “2D Dark Souls,” Salt and Sanctuary had a lot to live up to. Thankfully, the game met and even exceeded expectations. Salt and Sanctuary skillfully reimagines Dark Souls as a 2D adventure, including hallmarks of the prestigious franchise as well as bringing something new to players. Great combat, punishing difficulty, organic world building and masterfully designed platforming can be found throughout. A few gameplay missteps detract from the final experience, but taken as a whole, Salt and Sanctuary is a remarkable experience that’s well worth playing.

You awaken in a dimly lit room. You’re at sea, aboard a wooden ship buffeted by a turbulent storm. A quick walk down the hallway and you find yourself greeted by a worried looking sailor. Out of nowhere, an assassin comes out of the dark and ends his life in one fell swoop. A bloody display. You were among a group of individuals tasked with protecting a princess in her diplomatic journey across the ocean—your country’s last best hope at peace. Slicing your way through the swashbuckling assassins brings you to the deck of the ship, soaked by the rain’s heavy downpour and enveloped by the all-encompassing blackness of night. In front of you stands something unbelievable. In front of you stands a towering eldritch horror, with hulking arms and flowing tentacles. It’s The Unspeakable Deep. You’re taken out in one hit, only to awaken shipwrecked on a gray, fog-enveloped island. Your journey has truly begun. Prepare to die.

Welcome to Salt & Sanctuary.

That is how the player is introduced to the world of Salt and Sanctuary, a 2D action-platformer from Ska Studios. Salt and Sanctuary comes from an incredibly small independent studio—a husband and wife. The first game in PlayStation’s annual Spring Fever promotion, now titled “Launch Party,” Salt and Sanctuary amassed an eager fanbase as the game was gradually revealed to the public. A lot of that initial excitement at least, stemmed from the game’s clear inspiration: Dark Souls. The developers themselves sold Salt and Sanctuary as a “Soulslike,” a game that draws thematic, world-building and gameplay inspirations from the hugely influential Souls series. I’ve written quite a bit about my love for the Souls series here on The Impact Factor. The term “Soulslike” is new, and one I expect we’ll see with increasing frequency as the industry moves forward. But what are the tenants of a “Soulslike”? If Salt and Sanctuary and the Souls games are any indication it’s (1) a simple but mechanically complex combat system, (2) punishing difficulty based upon pattern recognition and self-improvement, (3) organic world-building through sparse characters interactions, environmental hints, and/or item- and boss-based cues. Ska Studios, through Salt and Sanctuary, intended to make a 2D version of Dark Souls. Did they succeed? Unequivocally yes. And it’s truly remarkable.

Derived from a now fairly long lineage of Souls games, the story of Salt and Sanctuary only gradually makes itself clear as you progress throughout the game. After washing up on The Shivering Shore your objective isn’t clear. You need to move forward. Your quest is part finding a way to get off this foreboding island and part figure out what exactly is happening in this increasingly mysterious place. A short stroll finds you surrounded by undead ghouls as they participate in their festering banquet. It’s clear that there is evil on this island. An evil you’ll have to fight. Perhaps the same evil behind the attack on your boat? As you get further into the game, the true vastness of the island is revealed. There’s a gargantuan ziggurat, a dark woods, a floating castle, a laboratory. The geography is diverse and confusing, but it all fits together. It’s the work of an evil architect, one that’s supremely powerful. I won’t get much more into Salt and Sanctuary’s story in part because it’s worth discovering for yourself and in part because I’m still trying to piece together what all transpired. Suffice to say the narrative is enough to keep the player moving and the world is fascinating enough to keep you hooked.

Explore the world and meet new people. Well, death and monsters mainly.

The core facet of your experience in Salt and Sanctuary, or any Souls game for that matter, is the gameplay. Souls games have been widely praised for how expertly crafted their gameplay systems are. As I have written before, the Souls games “exude complete confidence in every single design decision.” Dark Souls and Bloodborne are masterclasses in excellent game design. So I felt it only fitting to spend the bulk of my review writing about the gameplay in Salt and Sanctuary.  I want to preface my discussion by saying that I am writing from the perspective of someone who is deeply passionate about the Souls games. As someone who scrutinizes the minute details of how I interact with the games. Ska Studios willingly brings comparisons of their title to Dark Souls by selling Salt and Sanctuary as a 2D Souls game. Therefore, even more so than in my other gameplay-focused reviews, I will be more specific and severe in my analysis of Salt and Sanctuary’s gameplay mechanics. I owe that much to a “Soulslike.”

Let’s start with talking about combat, the first hallmark of a Souls game. It’s what you’re engaging with for a majority of your roughly 15-20 hour first playthrough. Salt and Sanctuary’s combat is excellent. Attacking is fast and fluid, but always thoughtful. Every action, attacking or jumping, requires stamina. Stamina is represented by a green bar below your health. You need to wait between attacks to allow your stamina to regenerate which, to be fair, happens quite rapidly. The combat itself is remarkably simple and pulled straight from other Souls games. You need to balance attacks with dodging or blocking, brashness with hesitation while learning enemy attack patterns, and pushing your luck versus stepping away to heal. It’s a dynamic dance of risk and reward that you’ve seen before, but it still works so well. Salt and Sanctuary nails that Souls combat feeling—what you’re doing is simple, but executing your actions perfectly is immensely skill intensive. The combat makes great use of the game’s 2D world, allowing the player to visualize enemies in the 2D space and plan their attack strategy accordingly. See a big brute flanked by two smaller enemies? Try to jump around the map to draw the smaller monsters away to finish them one by one.

Combat in Salt and Sanctuary is deeply satisfying.

Salt and Sanctuary has an incredibly well thought healing item system, keeping it (for the most part) to one “Estus Flask” like restorative item that has a limited number of uses. The uses regenerate upon resting at a checkpoint (sanctuaries). Salt and Sanctuary also has a remarkably clever risk-reward system with wounding & focus. Each time you get hit by an enemy you are wounded, temporarily losing a small portion of your maximum health until you return to a sanctuary. Focus acts a similar way but for your max stamina and it is triggered by casting spells. Both wounding and focus keep you keenly attentive on every moment of gameplay. Get hit too many times before getting to a boss? You’re going to be working with a reduced total health pool that could make the difference between winning and losing. Cast too many spells? Now you not only have to watch when & how you cast spells at the boss, but your ability to roll out of danger is also reduced (it costs stamina!). Wounding and focus add to a solid Souls combat foundation in novel ways and round out an already exceptional combat experience. Hallmark one, check.

Salt and Sanctuary’s combat is not without its faults, however. The chief issue among them is the game’s dodge roll—it just doesn’t one to one translate from 3D to 2D. Rolling is an essential part of the Souls games, as blocking with your shield will often fail you. Overall the roll works well, with telegraphed invincible frames and distance traveled. What doesn’t work, however, is trying to roll around or past enemies. It’s wonky. Because Salt and Sanctuary is a 2D game, rolling past an enemy requires rolling through them. But enemies take up physical space and have their own hitboxes. You cannot be standing in the same place as an enemy, nor walk through them. But it also means that rolling through them (essential for many boss fights) can be hit or miss. Space your roll just slightly incorrectly and you’ll roll into a boss rather than through it. It can lead to frustrating and sometimes cheap-feeling deaths. Not good. Salt and Sanctuary’s combat also has some balance and strategy viability issues too. Fast-hitting low damage weapons are essentially useless with the damage scaling system in place. Heavy hitting weapons like greatswords and greathammers are overpowered, touting little risk with great rewards. Not every weapon has to be equal, but to gain no advantage whatsoever for using a dagger over a greataxe is an issue, albeit small (because I love using giant weapons, per my JRPG heritage).

Using magic won't stop your need to cleanly roll through enemies.
I died a lot by ending up on the wrong side of a monster.

How does Salt and Sanctuary fare when looking at a Souls game’s second hallmark: punishing difficulty based upon pattern recognition and self-improvement? Pretty darn well. Salt and Sanctuary feels like a Souls game. Each new area is nerve wracking and death by silly mistake hides behind every corner. Each new obstacle you overcome leaves you with a sense of elation. You overcame the odds and executed your plan to perfection. All enemies are lethal. One on one you have the advantage, but you’re often pitted against several deadly monsters at once. Monsters and bosses alike have clear patterns ripe for exploitation. Patterns that are essential to memorize if you hope to quickly and efficiently take out your foe. Boss fights are standout in the Souls series and are done well in Salt and Sanctuary too. Bosses range from the grotesque to the dark, from man to monster to everything in between. Visually, bosses are stunning, often placed against dramatic backdrops. Getting better at Salt and Sanctuary does rely on leveling up and improving your weapons and armor, certainly, but even more important is the player’s self-improvement. You are the experience points. I was able to beat 75% of the game on a fresh second playthrough in 3.5 hours because I had gotten better. It is an exceptional, and essential, feeling that I was so happy to see recapitulated in Salt and Sanctuary.

The place where the Souls difficulty begins to stumble, however, is a little over midway through Salt and Sanctuary. The game loses a lot of its challenge. This is due in large part by recycling of enemy and boss attack patterns. It got to the point where I could look at a boss I’ve never seen before and already know how it would attack and how I should dodge. This is where a little more boss diversity would have been nice. There are just too many “big humanlike dude that has 3 attacks.” I can think of no better example than the final boss itself. I beat it on my first try. I’m good at Souls games, but not that good. Neither had I overleveled nor worked too hard to upgrade my weapon. I just looked at the boss and figured (correctly) what its attack patterns would be. The final boss in particular should be the culmination of your experience with the game and a final test of the skills you’ve gained throughout. In Salt and Sanctuary, the final boss (and several others along the way) were a bit of a letdown.

Not as hard as he looks.

The final hallmark, organic world building, Salt and Sanctuary knocks out of the park. Salt and Sanctuary’s lore and island are fantastically rich. Item descriptions are a blast to read, adding to the world at large piece by piece. You meet a few other adventurers throughout your journey, each of whom is interesting and enlightening of the game’s hidden lore. The island itself is standout because it not only facilitates a diverse gaming experience, taking you to varied locations for your adventure, but all of it fits within the larger narrative of the game. The hodgepodge is explained. Even more impressive is the island’s interconnectivity. I got jaw-dropping moments like those I had in Dark Souls or Bloodborne when a shortcut would open, linking two seemingly disparate areas together. Salt and Sanctuary’s map is one huge open world. Discovering every nook and cranny is a joy and you never go unrewarded, be it lore-wise or loot-wise. The world’s design just feels so clever, so well thought out. With no in-game map and a gigantic world you’re tasked with exploring, you’re forced to make a mental map. In the process you deepen your immersion. I got lost in Salt and Sanctuary’s world.

Salt and Sanctuary's world is huge and interesting. And interconnected.
And now I want to go explore some more.

Where Salt and Sanctuary dramatically differs from other Souls titles is in its 2D platforming. Longtime followers of TIF know how much I love my 2D platforming. I’m happy to write that Salt and Sanctuary does it well. The first area teaches you everything you need to know without beating you over the head with it. You very quickly learn your jump arc, height and distance. You can eyeball a jump and just know if you can make it or not. Salt and Sanctuary also teases the player very early on with areas they cannot reach (yet), fueling the excitement in discovering how you’re supposed to get there. I learned as I was playing that Salt and Sanctuary also derives substantial inspiration from metroidvania games. As you play you unlock new movement options that, while not new for the genre, work perfectly in Salt and Sanctuary. Your first unlock is gravity inversion, allow you to interact with strategically placed obelisks throughout the map. Next is the wall jump, which allows nimble back and forths between nearby walls. Movement through the world is consistently satisfying. There are a few challenging platforming sections throughout the game, but never do they hinder exploration. Ska Studio’s 2D pedigree is evident, and it makes Salt and Sanctuary all the stronger.

The platforming feels great, especially when you start getting movement power-ups
(brands). Oh, also the game has local co-op multiplayer. Very cool.

Salt and Sanctuary is also an extraordinarily deep game. There are a huge variety of items, weapons, and ways to approach playing. You can collect boss armor, items that damage your opponent when thrown, dozens of spells, dozens of miracles, and the list goes on. You manage familiar stats like strength and endurance and magic. RPG elements are clear in the micromanaging of player equip burden, attack damage, armor reinforcment, and leveling up your affiliation with a chosen deity (essential for your healing poultice count). Playing using magic is totally different than using heavy weapons. Playing a shield-reliant build is totally different from a fast-roll build. Salt and Sanctuary is designed to appeal to all kinds of players, as you can make it by with as little or a much investment into the game’s depth as you want. My only major issue is the unnecessary Tree of Skill used to increase your character’s stats. Inspired by the sphere grid from Final Fantasy X, the Tree of Skill feels out of place in a Soulslike and is incredibly intimidating at first glance. It could have been reduced to a much simpler system, at least on a visual level.

I love the game's complexity, but come on. Looking at the Tree of Skill is horrifying.

Finally, a few quick nitpicks. As beautiful as the world and monsters are, I never came around to liking how characters look in Salt and Sanctuary. I was elated when I got my first face-covering helmet. The music is pretty weak and recycled a bit too often for boss fights. And just a bit too much in Salt and Sanctuary felt directly lifted from Dark Souls. From aesthetics to UI to stats to everything in between, I wish Salt and Sanctuary had established more of its own identity. All of these complaints are minor, though.

I was blown away by Salt and Sanctuary. How two people made a game so rich, so expertly crafted is beyond me. There’s a depth and sophistication I never expected. The best complement I can don upon Salt and Sanctuary is that the game is exactly what it sold itself to be: 2D Dark Souls. Its scope was ambitious, its goals lofty. A few missteps aside, Salt and Sanctuary achieved an extraordinary level of success. I got to play 2D Dark Souls and I could not be happier. For Souls fans and newcomers alike, Salt and Sanctuary is deserving of your attention. It’s really good.

EDIT: In the days following this review, I couldn't get out of my head that the final score was too low for just how impressed I was with the game (previously 4/5). It's a stellar 2D take on Dark Souls, it continues the legacy of amazing 2D Iga-vania games, it's huge, it's deep, it's smart. So I've revised my final score. My nitpicks were just that, nitpicks, and I would hate for them to impact the legacy of my review here. Salt and Sanctuary is one of the best games this year and my final score should reflect that. Thank you for your understanding.

Salt and Sanctuary

5/5

Binge Player Syndrome and How It’s Hard to Go Back (Or Stop)

Perspective

Abstract: I suffer from the self-coined “Binge Player Syndrome” (BPS). I feel the urge to ‘complete’ new games, learn their language, and do so as swiftly as possible. BPS affords some benefits, like the uncanny ability to see games to their end point and the psychological reassurance of getting tasks accomplished. The downside, however, is that BPS makes it exceedingly hard to return to games left unfinished while simultaneously making it difficult to stop playing until I’ve attained ‘mastery.’ What kind of gamer are you?

Hello everyone. I have a confession to make. I suffer from “Binge Player Syndrome” (BPS). I’m not quite sure how long I’ve been affected by BPS, but it’s certainly taken a stronger hold of me since entering graduate school. But what is BPS? Am I sure I didn’t just invent the term? (I totally did.) How does it affect me on a day-to-day basis and as a gamer? Fear not, you won’t be in the dark much longer. Let me explain.

I’ve been affected by BPS for as long as I can remember playing games, but it’s certainly intensified over the past six years or so. Let me describe a few of the symptoms. It starts with an initial hesitation to begin playing a new game. This stems from a fear, or maybe not fear exactly, but a dread for what looms in my immediate future. I know that once I start a game, I’ve invested a part of myself into it. I am there to fully consume the game. I have made a commitment. The commitment can be a bit fluid, but what it ultimately comes down to is this: I will not stop playing the game until I feel like I have ‘completed’ it. Completion can mean different things for different games, but when I dedifferentiate the specifics into a general list, I get these:

·       Finish the single player mode, if the game has one.

·       Gain a near mastery* of the gameplay systems

·       Understand what the game does well and where it fails

·       At minimum, spend adequate** time in all features / modes offered

·       [For recent games] Complete an acceptable*** level of in-game achievements (trophies, Steam achievements, etc)

·       Above all, play enough to form an educated opinion

*Able to perform all tasks asked of me by the game with decent-to-excellent execution

**This can range dramatically, usually dependent on how essential I feel the mode is to the game’s sum experience.

***This point is moot for games without in-game achievements, like those on Nintendo platforms or mobile. I’ll generally look at a list, see which seem fun and/or easy to accomplish, and plan to get those ones done.

The other critical element of my BPS is, as you might have guessed, achieving this ‘completion’ in as fast a time as possible. The ‘why’ to my rapid timetable is multifaceted. Without going into too much detail, it exists as a combination of my desire to have the time to experience as many interesting games as possible, to stay on top of the constant deluge of new releases, and to not remain stagnant in how I spend my limited free time. When I start up a new game I go all in and all at once. I tend to binge a new game start to finish, uninterrupted by other games if at all possible (though I have been known to juggle as many as three titles at the same time). It’s like a good burger or plate of sushi. As much as I may try to draw out my excellent experience as long as possible, it’s usually a quite short affair. I consume. Fast.

One month into 2016 and I already have a meaty list of played games.

Further, by looking so far into the future of my time with new games, often before I even truly start, I can get caught up in the work I have ahead of me. I’ll therefore approach it like all other work I do: by buckling down and doing research. First and foremost, I need to learn the language of the game. I need to understand what the game is trying to communicate to me and the way in which it is doing so. The process is often fast as I try to approach the problem from multiple angles: experimenting with the game’s systems, scouring the in-game resources, and seeking online write-ups or guides to serve as a foundation for my endeavors. I’m gathering evidence, making observations, and (as I play) synthesizing them to not only gain mastery but also form various theses on my experience. For every new game I attempt to transform myself into the player the game wants me to be. In my experience, this gives the game its best chance to show off its strengths. By the end of my time with a game, I want to be able to speak its language.

I just started PAD. There's so much language to learn.

So what does BPS do for me? What is it good for? Above all, it makes me pretty adept at finishing games. One of the most shocking gaming statistics I’ve come across in the past few years is how few people finish the games they start. It is remarkable and, if I’m being honest, a bit sad. Prior to this last generation of consoles, it was hard to quantitate completion percentages. You could survey people, but those can easily be impacted by confounders (who wants to admit they haven’t beaten The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, for example). Here is where the power of trophies / achievements come in. Most games grant an achievement for completing the single player content. For PlayStation at least, you can then look at the total percent of players that have earned the trophy for completion (measured out of the total number of individuals who have booted up the game). They are all so low. Here are just a few examples from PlayStation trophies. Only 17% of people have beaten Titan Souls. Only 22% of people have beaten Ni No Kuni. Only 10% of people have beaten Transistor. Even an easy, linear, 6.5 hour game like The Order: 1886 has only 43% of players reach the end. And the list goes on. By finishing a game, I place myself in a minority of individuals who have actually seen the experience to its conclusion.  

Transistor is amazing people! I know more
than 10% of you can beat it.

BPS is also quite good at making me feel accomplished (as superficial as it might be). I set out in the beginning of my time with a new game with a huge to-do list filled with unchecked boxes. Playing the game lets me check box after box. The credit roll lets me know that I’ve done something, that I’ve put in the work to see the game all the way through. There’s something psychologically reassuring about checking things off a list, about making gradual linear progress towards a fixed endpoint. This feeling isn’t why I play games, but it certainly enhances my time with them.

There isn’t all upside to my syndrome, of course. With good comes bad. And the worst is how BPS affects my ability to go back to old titles. Once a game has slipped out of the bubble of fervor, it is usually lost forever. Life can intervene, a new title I’ve eagerly awaited can be released before I finish, I can get bored, etc. There’s no end to the factors that can take me out of the experience. As I keep moving forward, distance rapidly grows between myself and the game I’ve been meaning to complete. And coming back is rough. It’s like being dropped in a foreign country, unclear of where to go, how to go, and how to communicate with the locals. I suspect this is a feeling shared by anyone trying to get back into a game they’ve put down for a while, but my exasperation feels so much more intense because I’m keenly aware of what I lost. I used to know the language. I used to know my way around. Further, my BPS mandates a certain level of mastery for my enjoyment. It feels awful hopping back into a game, deep into it’s content, totally unaware of what to do. So much so I’d rather just leave it be. It’s hard to go back.

Though I have left many games unfinished, a few stick out in my mind as particularly painful. One that still haunts me is Baten Kaitos on Gamecube. I loved that game. The immersive world, the card-based battle system, the cast of characters, the stunning visuals. I couldn’t tear myself away from the game. Until, for some reason , I just stopped playing. At the final dungeon. Yep. By the time my guilt for leaving Baten Kaitos incomplete finally reached its boiling point, I had totally forgotten what I was doing and how to play, stranded in story’s toughest area. I attempted on a several occasions to pick it back up to finish, but I never got my foothold. Baten Kaitos remains unfinished.

One day I'll finish you Baten Kaitos. Probably. Maybe. The chances are slim.

A more recent pair of examples are From Software’s Dark Souls II and Bloodborne. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve finished both games. I’ve also completed all in-game trophies, earning myself the platinum. What I refer to here is their respective DLCs. As much as I love both games, I consumed them like I consume all games: all at once and as completely as possible. I specced my ideal characters, beat all bosses optional or not, maxed out my upgrades, etc. But for both games, I was done within three weeks. Thus, when the DLC for each of the two games was released upwards of 6+ months later, I had lost my mastery of the Souls language. The DLC’s barrier to entry was extraordinarily high, because it meant relearning what I had binged so long ago. Again, while I’m sure I would pick it back up again, the feeling of having to do so is unpleasant (for me). Once I’ve crossed a game off my list, it generally stays crossed. Bloodborne’s The Old Hunters DLC was a huge inspiration for this piece. I own it and I’m so excited to play, but my BPS is putting up a huge wall blocking my re-entry.

Even though I am incredibly excited to play The Older Hunters DLC,
I haven't been able to get past my mental barrier to re-entry.

A final game I had originally slated to write about here was Ni No Kuni. I recently said on TIF podcast that Ni No Kuni is easily the best classic JRPG from the PS3/Xbox360 console generation. It’s a game I bought at launch in February 2013, and played for 54 hours in 2.5 weeks. It’s also a game that, until earlier this month, I had not beaten. For one reason or another, I stopped playing just before the final dungeon. Despite how much I loved the game, and desperately wanted to finish it, I couldn’t get back into it. I expected to write in this article how shameful I feel that it still sits incomplete in my gargantuan backlog. But no. Three years later I’ve beaten it. And it’s all thanks to my fiancée. Justine began playing the game in the New Year and in the process of doing so retaught me the language of the game. She helped reteach me the ins-and-outs of Familiar training and battles. She refamiliarized me with character motivations and the world’s story. Justine got me to the place where I felt comfortable jumping back in, which allowed me to get past the limitations of BPS and finally see the credits roll.

Stuck in Ding Dong Dell no longer! It felt sublime to finish Ni No Kuni.

Hand-in-hand with difficulty going back to an old game, it’s also incredibly hard to stop playing the titles I’m currently working on. I played Bloodborne non-stop for nearly three weeks. From early morning to the late hours of the night, I didn’t feel satisfied until I had ‘completed’ the game. In Bloodborne’s case, that meant beating the story, all dungeons, all bosses, and obtaining the platinum trophy. The list of things I wanted to accomplish in-game was stress inducing at times, and a clear unwanted symptom of BPS. Fallout 4 is another title I binged until I had finished. I played Fallout 4 and only Fallout 4 until I had done all named side quests and seen the game’s ending from all factions’ perspective. And I did just that. The downside, however, is now that I’ve officially ‘completed’ the game I feel no urge to go back. Fallout 4 is huge and diverse and interesting, with plenty more for me still to do, but because I’ve ‘completed’ it I imagine I will not be going back any time soon. BPS can also affect games without clear-cut endpoints, too. Take Spelunky and Nuclear Throne for example. It was hard for me to stop playing these games, even after 100+ and 60+ hours respectively. While the main reason was that I was still enjoying these titles, it also lingered in the back of my mind that I hadn’t mastered them yet. A small part of the reason I kept playing was because I wanted to gain a more nuanced understanding of their language; I wanted to be an expert. It is also the reason I figure I’ll never stop playing Spelunky or Nuclear Throne. There’s always more vocabulary to learn.

So what am I left with? I own up to having Binge Player Syndrome, for starters. It’s important for me to admit, and important for my audience to know. It colors the way I play, think, and speak about games. It comes with strengths and it comes with limitations. But hey, it’s me. What kind of player are you?

The Impact Factor’s 2015 Game of the Year Awards!

Article, Part 2 of 2

Here's part two of The Impact Factor's game of the year discussion! If you missed it, you can find part one HERE. Onto more great games!

Honorable Mention: Shovel Knight, Heroes of the Storm, Rocket League, Cibele

These games were all great, but just missed the cut. These four stood out as ones that, at one point or another, were well within my top 10 games of 2015 before being shuffled out for the others I’ve listed here. Congrats to these games on a job well done!

6. Fallout 4

What can I say about Fallout 4 that hasn’t been said a million times in a million different places before? Let’s check some of the boxes off: Fallout 4 is amazing. Fallout 4 builds upon and refines the gameplay foundation laid out by Fallout 3. Fallout 4 has an immersive open world so filled with great details, side-quests and environmental storytelling you won’t ever want to leave. Fallout 4 is peerless in the type of game it tries to be. Fallout 4 gives the player agency in nearly every element of the game, creating one of the best truly role-playing games released this year. Fallout 4 finally made it fun to shoot things without the use of V.A.T.S. Phew, that’s a lot of boxes. All of that aside, Fallout 4 meant a lot to me personally. I had been craving a content dense open world for months leading up it its release. I was lukewarm on Fallout 3 but wanted to be part of the Fallout fervor. I wanted to play a game where reality would fade away, where I would be a survivor in post-nuclear war America. Fallout 4 met and exceeded all of my expectations. I essentially played the game without interruption until I had not only beaten the main story, but also accomplished nearly every in-game achievement (trophy). I loved exploring, finding the hidden richness of every nook and cranny. Voice acting added a new level of gravity to the game’s world, and for the first time I cared about the goings on of other survivors. The harshest critique I’ll levy here is that Fallout 4 is just Fallout 3, but better. Is that really so bad? I respect Fallout 4 as a game on so many different levels, not the least of which was (hopefully) setting a new precedent in which you don’t need a multi-year marketing and preview cycle to make a game a success. I can’t wait to jump back in once DLC is released.

5. Nuclear Throne

The team that made Ridiculous Fishing and Luftrausers is making a 2D twin-stick bullet hell roguelike? You had my attention, Nuclear Throne. Little did I know that attention would turn to adoration and my dabbling would turn into full on obsession. Nuclear Throne is fantastic. It’s my new Spelunky. Ponder for a second what I mean when I write that. Spelunky is in my top five favorite games of all time. Nuclear Throne is giving me the same kind of feeling that I had while I was learning Spelunky, during which every day was an adventure as I set new goals for myself. Nuclear Throne has me fully in its clutches. The team at Vlambeer know how to make a game with sublimely satisfying gameplay and a loop that hooks you, and Nuclear Throne is no different. Where it is different, though, is just how deep and nuanced a game Nuclear Throne can be. Each character you play as completely changes the way you approach the levels. The game is filled with secrets, some clear some obscure. Some that require an unfathomable level of skill. Nuclear Throne is a perfect roguelike. You never feel like stopping a run prematurely because you either took too much damage early or found bad weapons. At the end of each run, good or bad, I found myself thinking, “just one more run.” I played Nuclear Throne for over 35 hours after only two weeks of owning the game. Considering each run is usually between 5-15 minutes, that’s a whole lot of runs (& deaths). And still, I feel like I have such a long way to go because the skill ceiling is so high. I keep on coming back for more because it’s a perfect test of what I’ve learned. It’s fun, frantic, punishing, and addicting. Nuclear Throne sounds good, looks good, and is expertly designed. Of all the games on this list, Nuclear Throne is the one I’ll still be playing in 2016. And I can’t wait.

4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

If you were to go around the internet and see what game won the most ‘Game of the Year’ awards, it would be The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. By a landslide. For a lot of good reasons too. The Witcher 3 is one of the best open-world western RPGs ever made. The team at CD Projekt Red poured their heart and soul into the game, and it can be seen in every element of The Witcher 3. The world is expansive and brimming with things to see, people to meet, and quests to complete. The story, while simple, is easy to follow and unencumbered by usual RPG tedium. Combat is simple too, but its speed and fluidity give the player a great feeling of power. Most strikingly, every single thing in The Witcher 3 feels hand crafted. No location or path or monster is just there to fill space. Side quests are meaningful, more so than any other RPG I’ve ever played. They feel just as fleshed out as the main story quests, always having something to say or giving the player something new to do. Geralt, Yennifer, Tris and the rest of the cast are instantly familiar with distinct and charming personalities. The Witcher 3 is steeped in Slavic lore, making the monsters you fight all the more interesting (i.e. not always your standard western fantasy fare). Heck, The Witcher 3 even has a fully fleshed out card-based mini game that could have easily been a standalone release. It’s baffling to think how much work into creating The Witcher 3. But the payoff is worth it. The Witcher 3 has made me into both a Witcher and CD Projekt Red fan for life, even if I didn't like item degradation in the game. I’m so excited for what comes next.

3. SOMA

I’ll let a bit of my SOMA review serve as a quick intro, “SOMA sets a new high watermark for narrative in games. Frictional’s newest explorer slash survival horror title is a thought provoking, immersive masterpiece. Smart level and monster design keep the player actively engaged with the heady experience and maintain a great sense of momentum throughout. SOMA is deeply unnerving, content to keep you up at night rather than jump out of a dark corner to scare you.” SOMA is a game that asks the player questions about what it means to be human and what it means to die. Frictional Games matured in their storytelling, world building and gameplay in a way I never expected following Amnesia: The Dark Descent. You can tell each and every part of your trying experience in SOMA is handcrafted to immerse you in the world and the questions it asks. Long after I finished playing SOMA I wrestled with the ideas put forth by the game. How do I define my own humanity, for instance. But SOMA isn’t just some philosophy textbook. It’s a meticulously well thought out interactive experience. SOMA is a game that uses the tangibility and immersion to reinforce a narrative that could only be found in games. Frictional’s horror pedigree strengthens the game’s more terrifying moments, but also acknowledges that the scariest thing is your imagination. SOMA is easily one of the best horror games I’ve played in years and makes me so excited for the future of narrative in gaming.

2. Undertale

I was a bit late to the Undertale party, but man oh man I’m so happy I played it. This charming, old school-inspired RPG from toby fox met, exceeded, and subverted my expectations. Narrative, gameplay, fourth wall or otherwise. Undertale is a game that both stands alone as an exceptional experience as well as offers a commentary on games as a whole. The central message behind Undertale is one of non-violence or, at the very least, understanding the ramifications for your violent actions in video games. Undertale is supremely clever in doing so, with an innovative battle system and remembering your actions across play throughs or saves. The world Undertale establishes is so fully realized it comes as no surprise when you start discovering all the game’s hidden complexity. Undertale is also genuinely funny, filled with hilarious dialogue and some of the best gaming characters of 2015 (Sans and Papyrus are so great). And the music! Undertale has the best soundtrack of the year, too. I’ve seen Undertale described as a JRPG in which tedium and monotony is stripped away and replaced by humor. I can’t say I disagree (though I often like JRPG tedium). Undertale is a concise 5-8 hour experience that knows what it is and what its not. In these couple of hours Undertale establishes its own rules, tweaks them, breaks them, and keeps you on the edge of your seat as it constantly keeps the gameplay and story fresh. Undertale is probably one of the most replayable RPGs ever made, as each time you play you gain a new or fuller appreciation for the world. From my Undertale review, “Undertale is a peerless experience and serves as a perfect example of the power of auteurship in games. It’s one you shouldn’t miss.” I couldn’t agree more, me.

1. Bloodborne

“Bloodborne is a true evolution of the Souls series, taking an enormous leap forward in much the same way Dark Souls did for Demon’s Souls before it. Miyazaki and team distilled the truest essence of what makes a Souls game work and builds upon that foundation in a thoroughly unique and profoundly interesting way. The brutal and often unforgiving nature of Bloodborne works in perfect synergy with its lightning fast, hyper-aggressive precision combat. A dark and grotesque world serves as the perfect foundation of this blood-filled dark odyssey into madness and nightmares. Bloodborne has a nearly unparalleled sense of cohesion, and exudes complete confidence in every single design decision. I cannot recommend Bloodborne highly enough.” (You can read my full Bloodborne review for more)

Bloodborne is a masterpiece. Bloodborne has fought off a deluge of exceptional games over the course of 2015, staying at the top of my tentative game of the year list ever since it was release. The game is just…perfect. Combat is at a series best. The world is dark and fascinating. The gameplay loop is better than ever. The feeling of satisfaction you get when taking down one of the game’s many challenges is unrivaled in gaming. Perhaps the highest praise I can give Bloodborne is that it is just so damn confident in its design. Nothing has been compromised. Bloodborne is unashamed by its ambition, unfettered by the demands of modern gaming. It gives you a fun you can only ever find while playing Bloodborne. I’m confident Bloodborne will be looked back on as one of the best games this console generation. Bloodborne is not only my favorite game of the year, but it’s objectively 2015’s best too. So congratulations Bloodborne, you are The Impact Factor’s Game of the Year!

And of course you can hear my thoughts on the top five I listed here in The Impact Factor's game of the year podcast! You can find it below.