- We all know that AAA
games have immense budgets and therefore able to
pay tons of attention to detail smaller studios
can't. Or can they? Hi folks, it's Falcon
and today on game ranks, 20 AA games that blew us away. Starting off at number
20, it's Greed Fault. This is an interesting take on,
sort of new world old world. Are you with the native people?
Are you with the colonizers? I mean, in this case, you're
kind of fantasy pirates, colonizing some Elvin island. This game does a lot to
explore every side of this coin and gives you the opportunity to make the choices as to what happens. You can side with them. You can side with the pirate friends. And it's a really interesting, actually deep dive into
this type of a dynamic in a totally different environment. In some ways it comes off like
a Dragon Age or Mass Effect. And in others, it doesn't come
off as either of these things because the world it creates
is pretty unique actually. There's really only one
flaw and that's the combat, which is not amazing. It's good, serviceable, and
doesn't detract from the fact that you should play this game if it sounds interesting to you. But it's basically the only real flaw. Other than that Greed
Fall is a phenomenal game. Probably the best one from
developer Spiders yet, who's always willing to take risks, but this time more of
them paid off than usual. At number 19, it is
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice. A kinda short game that
really takes the time that it has with you and maximizes it. It's a little linear as
most AA games tend to be. But the story it tells is
incredibly interesting. Not only does the main character
have various conflictions, you pretty much never see in video games, and therefore has some mechanics
based around mental health that you rarely see taken
seriously in an action game. And while it's not totally an action game, it's a game where I particularly
enjoy the combat sequences. But on top of that the story it tells and the puzzles it throws at you coupled with this amazing world they crafted, Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice
is really above and beyond a ton of AA titles. And number 18 is Vampire. Now this is a totally different
entry for developer Dontnod. Who you probably know
from Life is Strange. Now, while that is a good adventure series that tells complicated stories in a sort of supernatural world. Vampire is a much more detailed
game that lets you delve into a sort of plague riddled world, where you're a doctor who's
afflicted with vampirism. You have to make decisions as
to who to save that affects the world around you,
affects people's fear, affects how they react to stuff. Minor characters give you
less XP than major characters, but feeding on major characters
has a much bigger effect. It's just a really interesting game where the story can wind around and
your actions actually feel like they have an effect. It's also an indie game that manages to have some pretty smooth combat. It has its quirks, but
Vampire is a good one. At number 17 is Mortal Shell. Which is kind of a shorter, very pretty, but very strange and
interesting take on Dark Souls. Now there is a number of things it does completely different. First off, you're not stuck to a class in terms of your character at all. Second off, there's some
notable differences in combat, particularly in pairing and
these things overall affect not just the feel of the game, but character progression itself. In terms of world, obviously it's a shorter
game than Dark Souls, but they really do give you
your bang for your buck, as it is a beautifully rendered, incredible looking game that
I do hope becomes a series. And we're able to see
continual ongoing growth between entries because frankly,
this is a really good game. The only thing I could
perceive as a flaw in it is that it is fairly short. That being said for the
price and the quality, the length is not really a bad trade off. Mortal Shell is phenomenal. At number 16, it's Firewatch. A narrative game set in
the Wyoming wilderness, where you play as a guy named Henry, who is supposed to make sure that there aren't any fires starting. Your supervisor is somewhat
mysterious named Delilah. And honestly some of the
most interesting stuff about this game is how much
it was kind of able to conjure a Bioshock feel while being
nothing like Bioshock. There's no combat. The story feels like a mystery
and it's a big mislead. I won't give any spoilers
because the story is also the biggest part of the game. If you want to play it, I
would definitely suggest going in not knowing what's going to happen. But it's a game that uses
your own kind of paranoia against you by giving you
a character who is dealing with his own paranoia and
coming up with theories. And, you know, there are
a number of real events that nudge you down certain roads, that are just really gripping. It's a really gripping story, and it always feels like you're in control of it despite it being fairly linear. Firewatch is one that I still
go back to from time to time. It's a really good game. At number 15 is the Wolf Among Us. And this is a game from Telltale Games. Actually a prequel to a comic book series by bill Wellingham called Fables. If you know what Telltale Games does, you know, what kind of games these are, they're most certainly that. Although they're presented
in an extremely different way on account, there is a mystical element, fantastical story being told. Most stuff Telltale does
deals more along the lines of, zombie apocalypses, Batman, superheroes. They really got known for something very different than this. And that's kind of,
what's special about it. You live in a world where
animals live humans, but have to have
enchantments to appear human because the human zone over
there, it's an episodic game. It gives you a lot of content
and there is a sequel coming, which will continue the story and continue to serve as a prequel to the
Fables comic book series. At number 14 is Stardew Valley. Now here's a game that takes something that we all kinda knew. The Harvest Moon formula and applied a lot of interesting mechanics from
Minecraft, from Terraria, from Zelda, and didn't overdo it, but really expanded what Harvest Moon, this farming simulator game could be. And then of course it brought in a lot of modern game mechanics
some multiplayer stuff, and really Stardew Valley is just kind of the king time waster. You can really immerse
yourself in the world, despite it's very pixelated,
very rudimentary appearance. I love Startdew Valley. I can spend tons of time playing this and do accidentally, still, fairly often. At number 13 is Undertale. Now this was a game that
was a huge, huge thing. In a lot of ways it brought
a lot of the ideas we saw from 1990s JRPGs, Chrono Trigger,
Final Fantasy games, etc., into a really interesting paradigm in which you don't actually
have to attack anyone. You don't have to fight anyone. You can befriend them and some could argue that's the correct way to
play the game. Now, it's not. You can really play it however you want. You could be violent.
You could be non-violent. But either way you get a very
interesting set of commands and options to do that with
in the games battle system. On top of that, it has a
really interesting story that bends time, dimensional travel, etc. And there's a good reason why
this is such a popular game. At number 12 is Outer Wilds. Not to be confused with Outer Worlds. It's this interesting
solar system wide mystery, where you're hopping
through various planets with different environments,
different elements, solving puzzles, and
trying to get to the bottom of a mystery about who was there before. It's a very handcrafted adventure, like it sells itself that
way and it delivers on that. It's very dense with
design, if that makes sense. This is a game it's easy to get lost in, and that's exactly what you
want with an adventure game that takes place in a very
developing solar system. At number 11 is What
Remains of Edith Finch. Which is this really
different horror game. It's one where you're really
going through a various number of stories that all take
place in the Finch house. The player character brings
the journal of Edith Finch back and sort of witnesses
from Edith's perspective, how every single member
of the Finch family, other than a single child eventually dies. It's obviously a little bit morbid, but it's also really interesting regarding how the story plays out. There's a semi twist ending to it, but not this ending where
you're supposed to be like, oh my God, of course. By the time you get there, you really take a journey
with Edith and sort of learn about trying to avoid this
curse and it's a tough one to explain in a short
period of time actually, but it's good. There's a ton of depth,
tons of layers tragedy, but at the same time it's also like kind of a beautiful game as well. I definitely would recommend
it. It's a good adventure game. At number 10 is Soma. This really interesting game
comes from the developers of Amnesia and they don't really
aim to make a scarier game than amnesia here, but
rather tell a story. And there is a lot of story to go through. It has to do with consciousness
and whether you live or die, transferring consciousness to machines, to hard drives to other bio mass. I mean, it's a really interesting game. It's post-apocalyptic
and it takes a little bit of its inspiration from Bioshock
in terms of its setting, but it goes way beyond what
Bioshock has attempted to do in terms of telling its story. It also sort of builds
on the monster mechanics from amnesia. They aren't as scary. Encounters are definitely not terrifying in the way they are in Amnesia. And you can survive dealing
with one in a different way, but this is a game that
definitely solidifies them as not just like a one series wonder. So at number nine is Pacify. Now this is a game, where you can tell that
it is a budget title. It's not like graphically
astounding or anything. But it is a really interesting game. Now there's not a lot of
multiplayer horror games, and this is exactly that. Essentially, you and your friends are paranormal investigators. There's a weird ghost girl in
the house you're investigating basically there's a bunch
of evil dolls in the house. You have to burn them all to
contain the evil girl ghost. There are also pacified dolls
where if you're holding one and she attacks, Instead, she just turns
into a regular girl and kind of wanders
around for a little while. The name of the game is Coordination because any one player can
only carry one doll at a time. So you're gathering the evil
dolls while trying to hold on to the pacified dolls when
the ghost girls around. It's interesting. There are a few new modes
that have been added to the game as well. But this is an interesting
multiplayer horror game that while it is a little bit cheap in terms of presentation,
does keep you on your toes and manage some good scares. On top of that, it's fun. At number eight is
Kingdom Come Deliverance. Which is kind of a take on the
type of game The Witcher is, from a totally non mystical viewpoint. Kingdom Come Deliverance
gives you that same kind of world-building story,
somewhat dynamic storytelling, while still maintaining a linear story, while grounding it entirely in history and historical accuracy.
On top of that, it's tough. I mean, you got pretty good sword play and you don't have all
of the magical powers that Geralt of Rivia had. So that's what you're dealing with. I love Kingdom Come Deliverance. It's a game that really
brings a lot to the table. At number seven is
Divinity Original Sin II. Which is a game that
basically is a tour de force from developer Larian. You can do this four
player drop in game style, or you can play it by yourself. The point is building a
party and bringing it through this fantastic strategy-based,
turn-based combat, is genuinely just completely
impossible to explore in depth what Divinity
Original Sin I and II, really both of them are. But the second one is
really something special. If you like strategy turn-based RPGs, where you can have multiple players, there's pretty much nowhere better to go. At number six is Cuphead. Which is a side scrolling
platforming shooter with probably the most cool looking
animation of any game, period. Now this was a game that was
completely indie developed for a while and then
had a little help along from Microsoft on the condition
of temporary exclusivity. That of course worked out
very well for Microsoft and gave them a little bit
of extra money to deal with. Not AAA money, but when you see this game, it's definitely good that they took it because they got to spend the time on it that it really deserved. This is a beautiful game
with an intense style and just massive numbers
of hand drawn frames, on top of being hard and
incredibly enjoyable. At number five is A Plague Tale Innocence. Now this is a pretty different game. It's mostly stealth based and has a story about a kid having a mystical affliction that gives him powers. But really the lure to this
game is the plague mechanics. There are tons of rats, hordes of rats, and that's what you're
dealing with pretty much all the time. You're of course doing stealth to avoid detection from humans. But a lot of the time what
you're doing is attempting to use light to avoid being more or less completely overtaken by rats. And it's very good, like it's
a really enjoyable mechanic that plays out really well over the course of the full narrative. This is a really cool game and
they're continuing the story with a second one at some point as well. Number four. The second one out of this
series is actually phenomenal. And I think probably
more worthy of this list than the first. just because
it ramps everything up to 11. Gravity Rush 2, it's this game
where it's kinda like you fly around and be a superhero, except for, it's not really just you flying. You're actually shifting the direction of gravity just for you. And so you're basically
falling everywhere you go. It's really an interesting concept and it plays out really well. The mechanic itself is enough
of a selling point to where the story isn't even that
necessary, it's a good story, but really I play this game because the falling
mechanic is incredibly cool. At number three is Hollow Knight. A side scrolling kind of
retro style action platformer. There will at times
remind you of Castlevania. And at other times, remind you of Mario. This is a game that I've
spent a lot of time playing and Hollow Knight really
just comes off very well at all given time. It fully embraces its retro aesthetic, never looks back, gives you
a very retro looking game. That of course, has a little bit of humor that wasn't there in
the more serious games that it draws its inspiration from. That said, all the
mechanics really work well. I enjoy the action, I enjoy
the platforming, the jumping, and I enjoy the retro aesthetic. Hollow Knight, I mean, you
can't go wrong with this game. And number two is Hades. This incredibly interesting
dungeon crawler, Roguelike. From the creators of Bastion. That kind of returns the
type of game the developer is most known for while
also being very different in terms of its structure. It's just a game that does
a lot of different things that you don't really expect
from an established formula of game and tells a
really intriguing story about reaching the surface. Having to beat Hades himself, to get there and also enlisting
various allies from Olympia. It's probably their best game, honestly. And that's saying a lot
because I really enjoy Bastion. But they've got the
mechanics about as tight as they could possibly be. The story is great. Really, if you haven't
played Hades, you should. Finally at number one,
we're doing kind of a joint. It Takes Two slash A Way Out. They're both from the same
developer Hazelight Studios. And they take a lot of the same concepts. However they diverge in genre. It Takes Two is a platformer
and very different in aesthetic from A Way Out, which is more a action adventure, exploration type narrative game. However, they both
really excel in the type of multi-player they have, which is a mandatory
multiplayer split screen that you use to solve puzzles together. These games are extremely
original. Extremely interesting. And if you got somebody else to play them with definitely worth your time. Couple of bonus games for you. First it's Tormented Souls. That kind of Resident Evil, Alone In The Dark styled
survival horror game. That'll also give you some
original Silent Hill vibes. Like honestly, it's a game
that will throw you back to that era, albeit with better graphics. And finally Tear Down,
that dynamic Voxel game, where you can pretty much
destroy absolutely everything. I mean, this game is beyond cool in terms of what is possible in it. And that's all for today.
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