My 5th Favorite Game That I Played In 2023 Is...

my 5th favorite game that i played in 2023 is...

Sonic Triple Trouble 16-Bit

in times of Sonic "drought" between major games, i often find myself turning to fangames to keep the flame alive. nobody understands Sonic better than the fans, after all, and Sonic especially has a wealth of incredible talent in its fanbase. Before and After The Sequel were two of my biggest hyperfixations in high school! and following the development of Time Twisted is ultimately how i met my partner – a story i should really immortalize on here one day…

but Sonic isn't going through a drought at all! Frontiers and Superstars both released rather recently… and both are aggressive 7/10s. arguably, Sonic's aggressive 7/10s are some of its most interesting experiences! but Frontiers isn't really my style, and Superstars didn't really do as much for me as i hoped it would.

that brings us to Triple Trouble, which is exactly my style of Sonic game – and one of the most outstanding fangames i've ever played.

the original Triple Trouble on Game Gear is secretly one of my favorite Sonic games… sure it's crusty, but i love how unapologetically weird and charming it is! bringing its unique ideas to life in 16-bit is an incredible idea on paper, but not everyone has the chops to execute on it – making it all the more special that this fangame DELIVERS on its premise.

the level layouts are open and explorable! the second act of each zone mixes in unique new gimmicks, just like mania! the music is perfectly redone! swapping between sonic and tails at will is a fantastic idea! and all the new content, references, and cute little details feel right at home among the familiar beats of the original. this is about as close to a perfect remake as it gets.

one such little detail that i won't spoil is a slightly obscure Sonic 3 reference right at the beginning of the game that made me laugh my ass off before even getting out of the starting gate – and that momentum continued the whole way through. the way it follows up Sonic 3's story beats in general is a great homage to the whole series, cementing Triple Trouble's place in the classic Sonic "storyline" (if such a thing exists).

it doesn't just carry itself on references, either – filing off the crust from the original game's mechanics turn them into a fresh new experience, and the remake even brings new ideas to the table! so many little details that made me squee, so many big new moments that made it feel fresh, without any of it feeling heavy handed or underbaked.

so if you've never played the original Triple Trouble, this remake is the perfect way to get into it! and if you've never (or barely) touched classic Sonic, this is a best-in-class example of how much fun it is. it's well worth your time.

…did i mention it's free? it's a fangame, of course it's free! go play it!!

my 3rd favorite game that i played in 2023 is...

Freedom Planet 2

i was originally planning to wait on this one until the console version came out in "summer 2023." after it was delayed to the end of the year, i decided to grab the game on pc so i didn't have to wait… and i'm glad i did, because the console versions have been delayed a second time??

(i do not envy their situation and i hope the console versions are better for taking their time. honestly, i'll probably double dip anyway!)

the original Freedom Planet was a formative game experience for me during college. there was something inspiring about the way it shot for the moon – full voice acting, a fun cast of characters, a lived-in world with political intrigue, a focus on adding fast-paced combat – all trying to prove that it's more than just a Sonic fangame in new clothes.

and it worked. it gripped me and never let go! i must've replayed the story half a dozen times, speedran the levels dozens of times each. that's the reason i decided not to wait on the sequel any longer after the first console delay; i grabbed the game on pc and hit the ground running.

one aspect of what makes Freedom Planet special is its level design, and the sequel delivers – every single level is massive, open-ended, and absolutely GORGEOUS. the unique gimmicks, secret collectibles, and speedrun strats are what encouraged me to endlessly replay the first game, and each of those categories has been expanded here into some of the beefiest and most explorable levels i've ever seen in a 2D platformer, hands down. i'm so glad the sequel took its time in the oven, the levels alone were worth the wait!

to me, though, what really makes Freedom Planet stand out from other Sonic-inspired games is its fast and fluid brawling. enemies in each stage take a few hits to defeat, and every stage ends with a grand, bombastic boss fight – you get a handful of moves to tackle these fights with, and each character has very different fighting playstyles! crucially, though, there is no contact damage, meaning you can run circles around enemies while whacking away at their health bars with momentum-based attacks.

it's an incredibly fun and well-thought-out combat system, and its complexity is right at that sweet spot where it feels deep but not overwhelming. honestly it reminds me a lot of kirby's combat, which is one of my favorite combat systems in any video game! (that RtDL remake very nearly made my Top 5 this year…)

Freedom Planet 2 augments the combat system of the original in two ways. one is the addition of a spot-dodge, which feels so perfectly at home that i'm shocked it wasn't in the first game to begin with?? every game with combat benefits from the addition of a dodge, of course, but in this game especially it allows you to keep your momentum while attacking in a way that just feels so natural. there's nothing else quite like learning a boss's attack pattern enough to spot-dodge directly into a powerful counterattack!

but there's also nothing quite so discouraging as getting the boss's health down to a sliver… and biting the dust. here, too, is a place where the sequel shines: if you lose a life, you can choose to restart from a checkpoint with all your health recovered, or you can get back up on the spot with just 1 HP. the push and pull on this system is incredible – you risk getting a game over and having to redo the whole stage… but you could clutch out a victory at the last second! it has the capacity to turn near misses into huge successes, and it saved my ass countless times over the course of the adventure.

tying this all together is a great story that isn't quite as Big and Grand as the first game, but instead serves to deepen the connection between this loveable cast of characters by exploring their history and personalities in more detail. i'm still floored by the fact that these games have full voice acting – it truly makes the characters feel more alive, their personalities shine! the style of VA isn't everyone's cup of tea, i'm well aware… but as someone with fond memories of saturday morning cartoons, i find that it's very genuine and full of heart in a way that most films and AAA games don't really hit me. it's obvious that everyone involved had a ton of fun!

my one regret is that i haven't returned to the game since my first playthrough – i'd really like to replay those levels and see how fast i can clear them! and try out the other characters, and see what the arcade mode is like, and go for the achievements, and…

my 2nd favorite game that i played in 2023 is...

In Stars and Time

i'm not much one for rpgs. i love their deep and complex stories! but i often find when playing them that the fights are either overwhelmingly complex, or too much of a grindy slog. it takes a very special kind of rpg to catch my attention, and In Stars and Time was one of them.

the core concept of the game is that you're stuck in a time loop at the final dungeon of a greater adventure. my first thought was that, surely, having to replay the same few sections of the dungeon, fight the same few enemies, would exacerbate my usual rpg exhaustion. paradoxically, this did not turn out to be the case; the time loop has checkpoints that allow you to rewind further back and then skip forward to where you were, using your number of defeated enemies as a resource. this alone was a godsend and allowed me to skip around as much as i needed to without any of the adventure getting stale.

the rpg system itself is dead simple. there's no mana or MP to keep track of; special attacks simply need to recharge over X amount of turns. the three elements are rock, paper, and scissors – that's not even an allegory, they are literally rock / paper / scissors. each character specializes in using certain types effectively, and if you can use the same type of attack 5 times in a row as a party, it activates a party super that both heals and deals tons of damage. it's an incredibly fun and deep system for how simple it is to keep track of, especially as your party members grow and learn new moves!

all of these smartly designed systems helped to ease my usual rpg hangups and get into the story… and Oh My God. The Story.

i will not spoil a goddamn thing. but i will tell you what i most loved: the characters, and the setting.

once in a while i'll see a writing-advice post going around tumblr that says to think of the little details when you're writing a larger story. what religions does your world have? what other countries are there, and how do they get along? how are the people in your world reacting to the major story beats? how does your main cast get along? how do they get on each others' nerves? what's the cringiest trait each one of them has? do they keep secrets? what are their memories of growing up? it's clear that the author took this direction to heart, creating a rich setting full of life and history!

and this is exactly where the timeloop concept SHINES. each loop you get to try something different, explore other options, to see how your party and the world around you react differently. if you check that bookcase you missed before, it has a whole conversation about life in one of the other countries. if you try the mean dialog option (perish the thought), you learn about a character's trauma in more detail. sometimes even the same actions have something new when you do them a second time… a third time… a fourth time. each loop enriches the characters and their history, deepens their humanity.

and then you begin to wonder. what else are you curious about… and how do you find the answers? how can you help your party members with their problems? what do the people outside of your party think of you? why DOES the main character hate croissants? it's a depth first dive into this wonderful world and its inhabitants; each new thread you dig up is rewarding in its own way.

long story short, i took a risk on this game, and i'm SO happy i did. if you play games for the story, In Stars and Time is your sleeper hit for 2023. jump on this!

broke: going to bed

woke: sending my ass to eepy deepy

PSA: i have moved mastodon accounts and am now available at https://wetdry.world/@skysometric ! if you were already following me on mastodon, no action needed – your follow has automatically transferred to the new account 💖

'tis the season for ogg nog jokes

*robotnik voice* I ATE THAT EGGNOG