I “100-percented” Psychonauts multiple times - something I’ve done with very few games in my life. I normally think of myself as someone who doesn’t like platformers, either 2D or 3D, but I enjoyed Psychonauts enough to push through that, even when I was originally playing with mouse and keyboard controls. Regardless, the mouse and keyboard controls are still fairly straightforward, and I’d encourage anyone who likes puzzle games to try it out, especially since you already own it if you got the racial justice bundle last year.Įli: I first played Psychonauts about a decade ago, and something about it really clicked with me. Sadly that’s not an option anymore for someone wanting to try it out. My one complaint is that it doesn’t feel as good on the computer as it does on my phone. There’s never any guessing needed, and the puzzles are the sort where, unless you have a truly amazing visual memory, you can replay it at any point and get a similar experience to the first time. RYB is an almost wordless color-based puzzle game, with a variety of mechanics introduced one by one. It even had a few extra levels that were never on the iOS version! However, earlier this year I realized it was among the games in last year’s itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and playing through it again was just as delightful as the first time five years ago. I believe that at the time I actually played it all the way through multiple times on my phone, though it has since vanished from the app store. Eli’s Top 3Įli: I first played RYB when it came out in 2016 on iOS. And I really need those rare tags to boost my StarTube page. I’m charmed enough by the execution to keep going. The story seems, well, incidental, but the ideas it brings up are interesting. Neither part is cosmetic: Your StarTube successes unlock new challenges and rocket parts, and a successful launch will give you rare tags to apply to your StarTube uploads.Įven more remarkably, Next Space Rebels does a great job of recreating online videos, from slickly produced mega channels to amateur shaky-cam in all its fuzzy, jittery glory.
It’s part freeform rocket builder and part YouT StarTube management sim. Taylor: I didn’t think I would spend two hours daintily rearranging a virtual paper towel roll, but that’s Next Space Rebels for you. I would do almost anything for a current-gen revival. The single player mode is uncompromising in difficulty, and the multiplayer is unmatched in pure chaos.
Don’t let the cute graphics and interface fool you.
Taylor: Devil Dice asks, “What if dice vanished when you matched them?” Bombastic, its PS2 sequel, poses a better question: “What if dice exploded when they matched? And then more dice exploded?” It’s more complicated than that, but at its core, Bombastic is a game about little guys running around, blowing shit up, and possibly overthrowing Heaven in the process. Zombies still ranks high in its category on the Microsoft store- it’s almost like people want another one. Despite the 2000’s-era UI and gameplay quirks, this is still one of the best traditional tower defense games out there. I’m so sad that PopCap only got the mobile sequel before they pivoted to other, shootier directions under EA.
This year I got an Xbox Series X and Game Pass Ultimate, so I was able to play the entire co-op campaign of Plants Vs. The Fanbyte community moderators decided to share some of their favorite games (and their favorite stories about them) from the year! Take a look below for their choices.