Ghostrunner is hardly unique when it comes to (what is now) the oversaturated genre that is c yberpunk. Spiritfarer leaves the melancholy right on the table. It’s a wonderful emotional experience, that many games fail to pull off.
Spiritfarer is about people grappling with what they want to do and to leave behind. Doing so helps your progression and is doing right by your charges, but it also means saying goodbye. This is, after all, a game about helping people move on. The finitude really plays into this balance. Without hardship, any kind of achievement feels arbitrary. Some wholesome games are happy without any kind of hardship. It’s a problem I have games that try too hard to be cute. I can’t play forever cute stuff forever death and entropy still exist. One of the big things that set Spiritfarer apart from other farming sims is the fact that it is finite. This is a game that, despite a long run time is not without end. Even when the loop slows a bit, you’re invested enough that you don’t feel it. Spiritfarer has the static routine of a farming sim, with the dynamic world full of characters and resources to collect. Also, praise the simple and cute stylization and animation.
You start off with a kitchen and basic plants, and soon you’re making flat-screen TV from smelted, smithed ore. Throughout the campaign, is the constant hum of improvement, a continual upgrade of the ship and its amenities. Keep them fed, give them a place to stay, and help fulfil some final wishes. As Stella, a Spiritfarer, you sail your ship through an oceanic purgatory, collecting spirits, and help them move on. Spiritfarer is the first one that I sunk a proper amount of time because it feels meaningful. So many indie titles these days follow the farming sim model. If you’re looking for a fresh take on the customisable class systems of Final Fantasies 5, 10-2, and Tactics, then Yakuza: Like a Dragon has you covered. It’s also an homage to JRPGs of old, breathing new life into mechanics that games of this scale haven’t touched in years. Plus, it’s the first game in the series to be a turn-based JRPG! It smartly takes cues from modern games like Persona 5 to stylishly convert the series’ action combat to something more strategic, but just as flashy and quick. But it also has dozens of hours of wacky side-quests and minigames that run the gamut from helping a scientist build a giant Roomba, going on a date with a woman who may or may not be a ghost, to mashing buttons to avoid falling asleep at a vintage cinema. The game has a genuinely emotional story full of joy, heartbreak, and shocking twists of fate. Protagonist Ichiban is an adult man who isn’t afraid to talk about his feelings, tell his friends he loves them, or bawl his eyes out at a moment’s notice. The new Yakuza is a serious contender for my personal game of the year because it seems to have been designed for my specific tastes.
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