Tis the season for reflection, and, so, we've decided to reflect upon five games that were a break from convention this year. That took the rule book and blotted it a bit, if not tearing it up completely. That decided to try something a little different. That diverged from the norm.
Here, then, are five games that either attempted something new by spinning off from their series, and offering a departure from what you might have otherwise expected. Again, they're in no particular order. Enjoy!
SteamWorld Build – Starting life in 2010 as a tower defence game for the Nintendo DS, the SteamWorld series is no stranger to adopting new directions, whether it’s the series best-known guise as an excavating side-scroller, in SteamWorld Dig, or as a turn-based strategy game, in SteamWorld Heist. But, to date, none of the series entries has represented quite as big a shift as SteamWorld Build – a full-fledged city-building sim with a subterranean mining twist.
SteamWorld custodians Image & Form deferred development duties to The Station, a support studio best known for its collaborative work alongside Media Molecule on LittleBigPlanet, and the result is a remarkably engaging and detailed city builder and management experience. It all starts simply enough, as you place housing for workers and then create a lumber enterprise to generate boards to keep building, but things quickly develop, and before long your workers become Engineers, who, in turn, become well-to-do Aristobots, then Scientists.
As your population evolves and your city grows, your bustling mining concern unearths further resources underground, enabling your burgeoning conurbation to reach greater heights, until you've dug up enough ancient parts to construct a rocket to outer space. SteamWorld Build is an excellent spin-off, and a rather special game.
Persona 5 Tactica – What would you get if you were to put Persona 5 and XCOM into a big pot, then stir it up, thought no one ever. No one except for Atlus and developer P Studio, who, having already turned its Persona series into dancing games (Persona Q), a versus fighter (Persona 4 Arena), and a Dynasty Warriors-style Musou experience (Persona 5 Strikers), saw even more mileage in sticking Persona 5 into an anime-style turn-based strategy, featuring The Phantom Thieves as endearing chibi characters.
Essentially a game of chess, wherein you're pitted against a band of opponents, Tactica puts you in control of a team of pawns with their own strengths and weaknesses to balance. A more welcoming tactical affair than its XCOM inspiration it might be, but that doesn't mean it's any less gratifying. And that pleasing, colourful anime art style also helps no end. Spinning a good old Persona yarn with all of the voice talent reprising their roles, this is about as good as spin-offs get.
Gorgeous to look at and a pleasure to play, Persona 5 Tactica is every bit as worthy as any of the mainline games, and a strategy-based treat to be relished.
The Crew Motorfest – Now for an altogether different kind of tangent – an entry in Ubisoft's The Crew series that bins the colossal expanse of the USA for a smaller exotic Hawaiian holiday. Eschewing the po-faced story for a far more palatable racing festival vibe, The Crew Motorfest also placed the emphasis squarely on fun, which is something The Crew and its sequel failed to do.
Developer Ivory Tower hit upon a neat vein of Forza Horizon-style competition and exploration, aping a similar brand of racing celebration – a setup far more appealing than the relatively bland first and second games. The Crew Motorfest is vibrant and energetic, its tropical sandbox a place you'll while away hours in, unlocking new cars, taking on playlists, and taking to the skies and waters by plane and boat.
Ubisoft could have slapped a ‘3’ on this and marketed it as a full-blown sequel, but instead we ended up with a glorious offshoot, and, as it happens, the best entry in The Crew series. In short, The Crew Motorfest is an absolute joy.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name – Right, now bear with us on this one. While strictly speaking, Like a Dragon Gaiden is neither spin-off nor tangent, per se, it was nonetheless somewhat unexpected. Firstly, with the arrival of Yakuza: Like a Dragon in 2020, all future entries in the series were set to be turn-based, with the brawler gameplay living on through Takayuki Yagami's exploits in the Judgment games. At least that was the plan according to developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. With us so far? Good.
Furthermore, at the end of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, we thought we'd seen the last of Kazuma Kiryu, and that Ichiban Kasuga was the series' central protagonist going forward. The Man Who Erased His Name picks up some time after that game's dramatic coda, with Kiryu now a not-so-undercover agent named Joryu, and, as the 'Gaiden' in the title indicates (its literal translation is 'side story'), this is a shorter tale, but one with no less punch. So, more of the same, but different.
If developer RGG Studio wants to keep making Like a Dragon side stories like these, keeping the classic brawler gameplay of the series alive, while forging ahead with turn-based RPG mainline titles, then we're here for it.
Sonic Superstars – Again, this might at first seem like a bit of a stretch, but really, it's not. Sonic Superstars is, for all intents and purposes, a retro-style Sonic the Hedgehog game dressed in shiny modern clothing. After so many 3D misfires, and a fairly lukewarm response to open world chapter Sonic Frontiers, Superstars represented a bright and breezy return to form, every bit as playable as any of Sonic's past glories on the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis.
What's more, you can play Sonic Superstars from start to finish with up to three friends in co-op – a first for a Sonic the Hedgehog game – and we'd heartily recommend doing so. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose together all at once, jumping all over the place – this is just about as fun as Sonic gets, and played on a couch with pals, you're in for guaranteed jollity. We'd like to see more of this kind of thing in the future, please, SEGA.
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Tis the season for reflection, and, so, we've decided to reflect upon five games that were a break from convention this year. That took the rule book and blotted it a bit, if not tearing it up completely. That decided to try something a little different. That diverged from the norm.
Here, then, are five games that either attempted something new by spinning off from their series, and offering a departure from what you might have otherwise expected. Again, they're in no particular order. Enjoy!
SteamWorld Build – Starting life in 2010 as a tower defence game for the Nintendo DS, the SteamWorld series is no stranger to adopting new directions, whether it’s the series best-known guise as an excavating side-scroller, in SteamWorld Dig, or as a turn-based strategy game, in SteamWorld Heist. But, to date, none of the series entries has represented quite as big a shift as SteamWorld Build – a full-fledged city-building sim with a subterranean mining twist.
SteamWorld custodians Image & Form deferred development duties to The Station, a support studio best known for its collaborative work alongside Media Molecule on LittleBigPlanet, and the result is a remarkably engaging and detailed city builder and management experience. It all starts simply enough, as you place housing for workers and then create a lumber enterprise to generate boards to keep building, but things quickly develop, and before long your workers become Engineers, who, in turn, become well-to-do Aristobots, then Scientists.
As your population evolves and your city grows, your bustling mining concern unearths further resources underground, enabling your burgeoning conurbation to reach greater heights, until you've dug up enough ancient parts to construct a rocket to outer space. SteamWorld Build is an excellent spin-off, and a rather special game.
Persona 5 Tactica – What would you get if you were to put Persona 5 and XCOM into a big pot, then stir it up, thought no one ever. No one except for Atlus and developer P Studio, who, having already turned its Persona series into dancing games (Persona Q), a versus fighter (Persona 4 Arena), and a Dynasty Warriors-style Musou experience (Persona 5 Strikers), saw even more mileage in sticking Persona 5 into an anime-style turn-based strategy, featuring The Phantom Thieves as endearing chibi characters.
Essentially a game of chess, wherein you're pitted against a band of opponents, Tactica puts you in control of a team of pawns with their own strengths and weaknesses to balance. A more welcoming tactical affair than its XCOM inspiration it might be, but that doesn't mean it's any less gratifying. And that pleasing, colourful anime art style also helps no end. Spinning a good old Persona yarn with all of the voice talent reprising their roles, this is about as good as spin-offs get.
Gorgeous to look at and a pleasure to play, Persona 5 Tactica is every bit as worthy as any of the mainline games, and a strategy-based treat to be relished.
The Crew Motorfest – Now for an altogether different kind of tangent – an entry in Ubisoft's The Crew series that bins the colossal expanse of the USA for a smaller exotic Hawaiian holiday. Eschewing the po-faced story for a far more palatable racing festival vibe, The Crew Motorfest also placed the emphasis squarely on fun, which is something The Crew and its sequel failed to do.
Developer Ivory Tower hit upon a neat vein of Forza Horizon-style competition and exploration, aping a similar brand of racing celebration – a setup far more appealing than the relatively bland first and second games. The Crew Motorfest is vibrant and energetic, its tropical sandbox a place you'll while away hours in, unlocking new cars, taking on playlists, and taking to the skies and waters by plane and boat.
Ubisoft could have slapped a ‘3’ on this and marketed it as a full-blown sequel, but instead we ended up with a glorious offshoot, and, as it happens, the best entry in The Crew series. In short, The Crew Motorfest is an absolute joy.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name – Right, now bear with us on this one. While strictly speaking, Like a Dragon Gaiden is neither spin-off nor tangent, per se, it was nonetheless somewhat unexpected. Firstly, with the arrival of Yakuza: Like a Dragon in 2020, all future entries in the series were set to be turn-based, with the brawler gameplay living on through Takayuki Yagami's exploits in the Judgment games. At least that was the plan according to developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. With us so far? Good.
Furthermore, at the end of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, we thought we'd seen the last of Kazuma Kiryu, and that Ichiban Kasuga was the series' central protagonist going forward. The Man Who Erased His Name picks up some time after that game's dramatic coda, with Kiryu now a not-so-undercover agent named Joryu, and, as the 'Gaiden' in the title indicates (its literal translation is 'side story'), this is a shorter tale, but one with no less punch. So, more of the same, but different.
If developer RGG Studio wants to keep making Like a Dragon side stories like these, keeping the classic brawler gameplay of the series alive, while forging ahead with turn-based RPG mainline titles, then we're here for it.
Sonic Superstars – Again, this might at first seem like a bit of a stretch, but really, it's not. Sonic Superstars is, for all intents and purposes, a retro-style Sonic the Hedgehog game dressed in shiny modern clothing. After so many 3D misfires, and a fairly lukewarm response to open world chapter Sonic Frontiers, Superstars represented a bright and breezy return to form, every bit as playable as any of Sonic's past glories on the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis.
What's more, you can play Sonic Superstars from start to finish with up to three friends in co-op – a first for a Sonic the Hedgehog game – and we'd heartily recommend doing so. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose together all at once, jumping all over the place – this is just about as fun as Sonic gets, and played on a couch with pals, you're in for guaranteed jollity. We'd like to see more of this kind of thing in the future, please, SEGA.