LogFAQs > #977566616

25. The Sexy Brutale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P5eEImRQv4

2017 was a packed year for indies, so much so that The Sexy Brutale, which I feel like would've shown off any other year, kinda went a little under the radar. As has been established by now, or I fuckin hope it has, I like murder mysteries. Especially supernatural murder mysteries. The Sexy Brutale follows a man stuck in a time loop at a masquerade party during which all of his friends die violently. By going through the typical time loop style of learning more and more during each cycle, you slowly figure out how to stop their deaths. Only, you don't, and that's part of what makes Sexy Brutale so good. You save them, and they give you their mask, providing you a new power to help the others, Mega Man style. But on the next loop, they're just going to die again, and you have to accept that and keep trying to save the others (who all act on set schedules at the same time). Fascinating and darkly funny (and then darkly sad) story.

24. Hades
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91t0ha9x0AE

I know Hades is probably pretty easily the #1 for a lot of people on this board, and I fully get it. Given how much I don't really care for roguelikes in general, the fact that Hades places this high for me should be evidence of just how great it is. I would legitimately be impressed by Hades even if it all took place in the House of Hades and this just just an Animal Crossing type where you meet the characters and make everything look nice, the voice acting and writing and visual design alone are that good. But then the real gameplay happens, and I think this is one of the few roguelikes I've played where every run really does feel different. NPCs will have different things to say to you, perhaps the most fascinating development being the relationships with Zagreus, Meg and her sisters, one (or more) of which always serves as the first bos of each run. Hades will have new comments seemingly with every single death, new gods will appear to you during your run to grant you boons, which drastically change the way the game is played.

23. Bugsnax
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-v1BxSETvI

Bugsnax has the best theme song of any video game made to date. I still remember watching the initial E3 reveal, and I think Bugsnax was really the big draw of the night. Watching the chats see the cutesy stawberry with googly eyes, then seeing some muppet-looking woman acting like Crocodile Dundee come and eat it alive, and then Kero Kero Bonito with what would be the catchiest song of the summer. Bugsnax is Pokemon Go if you could actually catch all the Pokemon, and also feed them to your friends. Bugsnax is an extremely silly, wholesome game, except when it's not and it's actually a deeply unsettling body horror game with terrifying implications and one of the most gruesome and traumatizing "bad endings" of any game I've played. Memorable characters, lovable creatures, deep lore, existential terror, talking hamburgers. It's the whole package.