The AA Report: April 7th, 2020
Coming soon: The AA Report in video format 🙂 Pending: When I have the time to do this. I will make the time – I like doing these! Between that and The Succinct Review, I think it’s a worthwhile investment. But, I digress.
I’m fresh out of another Try it Tuesday stream on my Twitch channel, where I select games that are new – either to me, or in general, and I showcase them for a couple of hours for the community. Tonight’s selections were all very good – solid 4/5 ratings from the chatters. Without further hold-up, here are some first-take impressions for Mosaic, HyperParasite, and West of Dead.
Mosaic
I love all kinds of games, to be clear. Games with story are the ones that I cling to the most, because I’m able to indulge in escapism through an interactive medium. It doesn’t matter if the game has challenge, or if the game is more of an art piece with a statement to be made – if there is story involved, you have my full attention. Mosaic is the perfect example of a game that goes for style and art and uses the medium of video games to tell a unique story about… well, not being all that unique. The game uses minimal design and walking sim mechanics to paint the picture of one man who is, for lack of better words, a cog in a large corporate machine. Every day starts the same: you wake up, straighten your tie, brush your teeth, fix your hair, and you either sit on the couch to watch tv and play the game’s version of Cookie Clicker named BlipBlop (it’s a real mobile game too – you can download it here), or just head straight to work. The narrative weaves a tale of mundane life, begging for the same kind of escapism I spoke of a bit ago, the central character managing to find it within his own imagination. The minigame you partake in when you reach the office is another interesting take on the working class world – a seemingly gamified system where you’re clicking squares, moving data, and trying to get to the end point that consistently tells you “More! More! Faster! Better!” For what purpose, you really don’t know, other then to wake up and repeat the process. Mosaic is not a long game – it reveals itself in the Steam description that it’s only around 2 to 3 hours long – yet I did not finish it on my Stream so that others who may want to experience it for themselves could see the end with a surprise. I would love to return to Mosaic to finish it off, though. While I can imagine that I already understand the point of the game and the statement it’s trying to make, I felt that the artistry put behind the game’s story and mechanics are worth giving the rest of my time and attention to. What Mosaic has to say may not be anything new, but perhaps at this moment in time, it’s a message worth hearing.
Purchase Mosaic on The Humble Store
HyperParasite
I had a few people reach out to me about this game, and was asked to do a sponsored stream to promote the Nintendo Switch release of it, which is something I feel I need to get out of the way before I give my unbiased, unfettered opinion. HyperParasite is a twin-stick shooter and a rogue-lite that combines elements of familiar games from these genres, as well as some that aren’t quite from those genres – most notable titles it invoked for me included Enter The Gungeon, Nuclear Throne, Wizard of Legend, and even Broforce. The main idea of the game centralizes around you being a parasitic alien that is trying to infect, or snatch the bodies, of whoever you can, to do your bidding. Yes, you’re kind of playing as the enemy here. Your end goal? To snatch the body of the President and overthrow the human race. The frenetic pace and dialogue of the game bare the influence of Hotline Miami, which is a good thing – the pulse-pounding soundtrack that adapts to your situation, the procedurally generated rooms, the myriad of enemies and artillery that flies in your face… the game pulls no punches, and you will die again and again trying to find your groove. I certainly did, but I had a blast the entire time doing so. HyperParasite had me chasing after the unlocks for all of the different characters presented in every room, as they will, at random, drop their brains upon death, and you use that as a means to unlock the character for future possession. I was unable to get very far in the couple of hours I had with this game, but when I realized there are upwards of 5 acts and 60-some-odd characters to unlock in totality, I knew that for me the hook was in seeing not only how far I could get each run, but to get to those next acts to that I could see these new characters, their personalities, and their abilities. I also loved HyperParasite‘s system of progression, because while you certainly could just try to possess the same character each time you were on a map, the need to adapt to different characters is very high with the game, which forces you to alter your playstyle and stay on your toes in order to stay alive and continue through the story. There are a lot of rogue-style games out on the market, but I really feel as though HyperParasite offers a cool and unique take on the rogue-lite genre.
Purchase HyperParasite on the Nintendo Switch eShop
West of Dead
West of Dead is another twin-stick shooter and another rogue-style game, this one falling more to a roguelike. A stylistic trip through the world of Purgatory, West of Dead follows the story of William Mason as he navigates his way through dark and dusty caverns, battling enemies between cover and the pitch black of nothingness. Your purpose? Who knows. You’re like a bad-ass western Ghost Rider though, so who cares? Speaking from a purely graphical standpoint, West of Dead is absolutely stunning to look at. Bold, gritty colors befitting a western setting, combined with both an outstanding display of sound design (both soundtrack and effects), and a voiceover by Ron Perlman? Great game. I’m so happy there is another game with a western setting like this. I recently played Curse of the Dead Gods on my stream, and felt that it had a bold and uncompromising style – West of Dead has a very similar feel to it, and even some similar gameplay mechanics. Thematically they’re much different, and I love both of them equally for existing. A lot of people in chat also noted that it felt like Bastion or Wet, two games I never really played. I’ll take their word for it, and quietly make mental note to finally check those out someday. I felt as though the game was really easy to pick up, and I also didn’t feel like it was so cripplingly difficult that I couldn’t find success in playing it. That isn’t to say the game is easy though – West of Dead was actually quite difficult at first, and if you pick up a curse from a random ghost in a cavern? Good luck – they’re usually “one hit and your dead” types, and dodging in the game can be an art form that will take some practice to master. The game was designed for use with a joycon, which is obvious – I think coming off of HyperParasite, I was a little thrown at first in the change of perspective, but after trying out KB+M for this game, the joycon definitely felt superior. As of this writing, West of Dead is in an open beta state (playable until April 13th), and is slated for release across consoles and PC later this year. I’m excited to get my hands on this title in the future – as an aforementioned story nut, I feel like this one is going to have a real cool one, especially for a roguelike.