Another weak year for the racing genre. There were your usual suspects. F1, WRC, Forza, some sort of effort from Ubisoft, etc. The racing genre has stagnated for the last few years, but with a Forza game in the mix the winner had no competition.
Forza Motorsport
With Microsoft rebooting the Forza series there was a lot of excitement and buzz. This title shares the same as the original game released in 2005 on the original Xbox. Forza still remains the best racing series around and this title not only looks amazing, but has the usual fun gameplay that still separates it from its open world brother, the Horizon series.
This was a solid year for fighting games. Less anime only games and more overall variety. Of course we hit a year of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter releasing in the same year so there wasn’t much competition. Fighting games have scaled back quite a bit over the years and the genre doesn’t seem as popular as it used to be. I would like to see more original IPs pop up or old favorites make a come back. Only time will tell.
Well there’s no competition here. While Street Fighter 6 is the best the series has ever been it had a small roster, weak new characters, and an awful adventure mode. These are things Mortal Kombat was criticized for years ago and grew out of. There are no new characters in Mortal Kombat 1 but we get new favorites that haven’t been around in years. The adventure mode is also pretty lame in this one, but we get a solid core fighter and that’s something Mortal Kombat hasn’t focused on in years. Less extra content sucks, but let’s hope it means a bright future.
This wasn’t the best year for strategy games both turn-based and real-time. We had a lot of early access games in Steam with many turning out to be turds and the turn-based genre having a trickle of releases. While the genre is picking up steam again we are far from the days of mega strategy games duking it out on PC or even consoles.
Pikmin 4
Pikmin 4 isn’t revolutionary, but it does what people wanted with the series to do. I’m surprised this Nintendo series has reached the number four at all. The third game came out over a decade ago and everyone expected the series to finally be dead. What we got was another cute addictive and whimsical adventure with new features and surprises.
We are finally moving away from mostly HD remasters to full on remakes. These games are getting better and better every year and somehow being better than new games releasing the same year. This year was no exception to fantastic remakes and I hope this trend continues.
I didn’t think RE4 could be remade to be better than the original. RE2 and RE3 were both great remakes and redefined themselves once again, but RE4 was already a game that set out to redefine the series, so how can it keep improving? By being a better and tighter version of itself. Improved camera, gunplay, tighter levels, fixed bugs and issues, and new stuff thrown in made this the definitive RE4 package.
This may not be a super exciting year for hardware for gaming, but companies are starting to experiment and push boundaries. Apple is getting next-generation games to run on their phones, Microsoft is acquiring studios, Sony is experimenting with new hardware, Nintendo is still releasing solid exclusives, and Valve has created a beast.
Portable PC Competition
Valve release of the Steam Deck has unlocked and entirely new console war among the portable PC crowd. This year it was Valve Steam Deck vs. ROG Ally vs. Lenovo Legion Go which came out right at the tail end of the year. These three portable PCs will surely duke it out next year and with the updated Steam Deck, the Steam Deck OLED, ROG and Lenovo will surely respond in due time, but we may also see other PC manufacturers release something of their own. It’s a brand new and healthy market and I can’t wait to see what comes.
Well, this was a small year for the PS5. Not very many exclusives and a few of them weren’t all that great to begin with. The PS5 may have slowed down this year, but it seems to be picking up for an explosive 2024.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
More of the same isn’t really all that bad especially when it’s as good as Insomniacs pedigree. Spider-Man 2 took what made the first game a classic and expanded upon it some more. It looks even better and is more incredible fun. What more could you ask for?
With next-generation games being playable on the new iPhone 15, mobile gaming just took another leap, but we won’t really see where this goes until next year. Apple Arcade still dominates the mobile gaming space with quality titles.
Cypher 007
A mobile James Bond title isn’t something I thought I would see ever. I’m kind of surprised it hasn’t happened already, but also surprised the usually tight wadded license holders allowed. Cypher is a fantastic stealth action game with nice visuals and addictive gameplay. It was a surprise hit this year for sure.
Every year Microsoft moves further away from exclusive titles. While there were more this year, exclusives for Xbox alone seem to be long gone at this point. PC and Xbox pretty much share the same space so I feel these two platforms will forever and always be merged.
Starfield
Starfield may not have impressed everyone as much as we thought it would, but it’s also not disappointing. It’s a typical run-of-the-mill Bethesda RPG and that’s not always a bad thing. There are glaring issues with the title, but the foundation overall is a fantastic space sandbox to play in with interesting characters and environments.
Somehow, Nintendo keeps finding ways to bring great games to the Switch despite its age. We had a slew of remakes and sequels this year that made this one of the system’s best.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Tears of the Kingdom did more of what made Breath of the Wild great. More freedom, more choices, and just so much was added in on top of what’s already great. Where can the series go from here we all wonder. While the visuals are aging rapidly, and the game chokes the Switch beyond what is can handle, it looks great and can still feel like a magical experience.
P.T. started the trend of subtle horror games. No scary music, looping hallways and rooms, or needing to notice any changes to move on. Exit 8 is exactly this. A single white hallway in a subway tunnel has a couple of turns, and it loops endlessly unless you notice changes. There is no story, no background, and no character development. Just this single white hallway, and you need to get to exit 8.
Your only sign of progress is the yellow exit sign, which increases in number as you make your fourth turn. If that sign goes back to zero, you missed an anomaly. When you see it, you are supposed to turn around and go back the other way. Anomalies can be really obvious, like lights being turned off, open doors, or a single man walking towards you doing something different. Other subtle ones can be the floor tiles, a security camera light, or a poster changing. You might get really frustrated at first, but keep going. Memorization is the key to getting the job done. Once you know exactly where everything is supposed to be—how many doors, posters, etc.—you will finish in under an hour.
The horror elements are subtle and not forced. A moving object, no music, and just the hum of the lights and footstops. Maybe a creaking door might make you jump. You can stop, take your time, and check the main hallway for changes. Running full force all the way through will make you miss things. You have to turn around to see a few anomalies anyway. If there aren’t any changes, you keep moving on, and sometimes this can really make you feel like quitting. You will think time after time that the hallway is fine, but then you will notice something new and just keep moving on. Don’t let that sign resetting to zero keep discouraging you.
The graphics use Unreal Engine 5 and are nothing special, but the atmosphere of the sterile white hallway makes it creepy. A lack of music and most sound effects makes you feel on edge all the time. The single-footed man makes you very uneasy every time you pass him. All you want to do is get to exit 8, and the intensity might make you miss things as you become more and more anxious to get out. This single-looping hallway might drive some people nuts.
Overall, The Exit 8 is a fun game that lasts a couple of hours at the most. There are only two achievements, and once you see all the anomalies, there is nothing left to do except maybe do self-timed speed runs. Some may find this a simple tech demo, but I think more horror games need to go this route. It’s only a few dollars, and possibly getting some friends around to help spot things can make this a fun party game as well.
thebinarymessiah.com 
Try multiplayer. A lot of fun !