Scott Benson is an animator and game developer, best known for co-creating Night in the Woods. He's @bombsfall on Twitter.
God, this year. I feel like every time I do one of these I’m talking about how I’m tired and it’s been a long year and so forth. But I gotta say I’m tired and it’s been a long year and that is a part of this list, I guess. This is so far word for word the same intro I wrote to last year’s column and if I’m doing another one of these next year I am really hoping I’ll be able to say “remember when things were bad? Glad that’s over!”. But things are bad, and now it’s time to talk about video games!
I’m not gonna lie, I had a hard time focusing on games this year that required me to do a lot of reading or story stuff. So apologies to games like Signs of the Sojourner, which looks amazing, but I haven’t had the bandwidth to get all deep into a narrative. I have really enjoyed games where you can eat people, though.
Other games I played this year that I couldn’t fit into this:
I don’t know if this is the longest one of these I’ve done, but it feels like it is? Get comfortable and let’s talk about some games. The ordering in this is rough aside from number one. Check out all of them.
Carrion
I’ve seen Carrion described as body horror, but that’s only true if your body is primarily gristle, teeth, and tentacles. I guess anything could be body horror depending on your body. Like if you were made of water then watching a puddle freeze is body horror. We’re mostly water so, like, I’m just saying we need to expand our definitions. Carrion rules, I love how this guy moves. The tentacles gripping surfaces procedurally as I whiz through the complex, whipping dudes into the horror that is my entire body.
Best Demon’s Souls: Demon’s Souls
You know what’s a decent Demon’s Souls? Demon’s Souls 2020. It loses some of the weirdness and uniqueness of the original '09 version in some of the aesthetic choices and increased fidelity, but it’s still a great game. Fidelity is a fetish in the industry, and is often just driven by the need to demonstrate the power of hardware to drive sales and justify purchases. Like nobody ever asks why a game is going for realism like they do when a game has a lower-fi style. It’s just assumed you need the most realistic grass and horses and skin pores possible. But aesthetics don’t work like that, you can’t just up the -fi and have the same end product. And you don’t have the same end product with Demon’s Souls. But god, it’s still so good, and so strange, and I love the strangeness of this thing.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2
You already know about Tony Hawk, and his professional skateboarding, and the great and famous soundtracks to the games based on his abilities. When the remake came out people were like, "wow remember ska?" And yes, actually, I do remember ska. I was in ska bands for like 10 years once upon a time, and I listen to it a lot still. Did you know that there is a thriving ska scene these days? Because there is. If you like the ska-punk kind of stuff that’s in the Tony Hawk games, totally check out Kill Lincoln, Bad Operation, JER, and Catbite, to name a few. I did a t-shirt design for Devon Kay & The Solutions last year, and had their song 252 Brighton Ave in my head for months. Also among others Less Than Jake and Suicide Machines (both featured on the Tony Hawk soundtrack) put out new albums last year. This has been your ska-punk update.
I don’t have anything else to say about Tony Hawk other than it still rules and looks fantastic, and I like how when you wipe out you sorta glitch back into place instead. As someone in their late 30s I already appreciate the concept of immediately rewinding when you do a possibly lasting injury to your brittle bones. I hope Tony Hawk is well. Tony Hawk is one celebrity I think most people can agree on. He’s Tony Hawk. Nobody has much of a problem with Tony Hawk. We like him. It’s official.