Rank these (now) 5 highly praised modern 2D games...

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DrLitch
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Re: Rank these 4 highly praised modern 2D games...

Postby DrLitch » March 26th, 2020, 12:10 pm

  1. Axiom Verge
  2. Hollow Knight
  3. Shovel Knight
  4. Ori and the Blind Forest
  5. Celeste

Ori is a good game but not great. I am debating switching the position of Shovel Knight and Hollow Knight. Hollow Knight does have a lot of substance for one willing to go the whole hog with it. Stylistically one of those you love or hate. Ori and the Blind Forest is another like Hollow Knight although I think it is less fun. On a pick up and play, for 30mins, Shovel Knight might be the best game of the bunch.

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velcrozombie
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Re: Rank these (now) 5 highly praised modern 2D games...

Postby velcrozombie » March 26th, 2020, 12:24 pm

I just picked up Celeste on sale on Steam recently, so I'm probably going to give that a go in the next few days. I actually just picked up a few other well-regarded recent 2D games during the Spring Sale on GOG.com with some birthday money - Gris, Katana Zero, The Messenger and Ape Out, along with the slightly older Rogue Legacy. The Messenger in particular looks cool, like a mix of the Ninja Gaiden games with Shovel Knight (although I hear that the game changes as you play it and it's best to go in as blind as possible), while Katana Zero and Ape Out look like they might scratch the twitchy, fast-action arcade itch in the way Hotline: Miami does. I still don't have Ori and the Blind Forest - if I see it on sale I'll try to pick it up for the sake of comparing experiences with the rest of you.

Voor
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Re: Rank these (now) 5 highly praised modern 2D games...

Postby Voor » May 13th, 2020, 11:33 am

Update: I finished Celeste a while back and genuinely enjoyed it. Didn’t get enough secrets to open up the last level, but I’ll go back to it sometime and will invest more time. I think the story was interesting, but would have been done better with a “less is more approach”—way too much dialogue for what it is. But you’re right—the level design is exceptionally well done and the soundtrack is an all-time great.

Hollow Knight is at the bottom of my list. It just like too much of an investment right now. Aside from actual super Metroid, I’m not a huge metroidvania fan. I’m playing Undertale at the moment, and when that’s done, will try axiom or Shovel. Maybe Messenger one day.

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Retro STrife
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Re: Rank these (now) 5 highly praised modern 2D games...

Postby Retro STrife » May 13th, 2020, 1:05 pm

Undertale gave me a similar feeling to Celeste -- I enjoyed it, but was disappointed with it, because I thought it was overrated compared to the huge praise it gets. But I had more fun with it than Celeste and was glad I played through it.

Have you played Journey? If you're trying to play some great indie games, that one ranks up near the very top. You can beat it in about 3 hours. I recommend setting aside one night to play it in one sitting when you won't have any distractions around.

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LoganRuckman
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Re: Rank these (now) 5 highly praised modern 2D games...

Postby LoganRuckman » May 13th, 2020, 4:01 pm

Voor wrote:Update: I finished Celeste a while back and genuinely enjoyed it. Didn’t get enough secrets to open up the last level, but I’ll go back to it sometime and will invest more time. I think the story was interesting, but would have been done better with a “less is more approach”—way too much dialogue for what it is. But you’re right—the level design is exceptionally well done and the soundtrack is an all-time great.

Hollow Knight is at the bottom of my list. It just like too much of an investment right now. Aside from actual super Metroid, I’m not a huge metroidvania fan. I’m playing Undertale at the moment, and when that’s done, will try axiom or Shovel. Maybe Messenger one day.


This is odd to me. I mean, the game that got voted the worst of these games is the one you decided to play first, while the overwhelming favorite response to your question is the one you're least interested in.

Voor
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Re: Rank these (now) 5 highly praised modern 2D games...

Postby Voor » May 13th, 2020, 7:06 pm

Lol. I’m a bit odd, so that fits. I’m certain HK is great, but I need to work up to it. Celeste was $6, which kind of helped make my decision.

My brother wants me to play Cuphead, which I have NO desire to play at the moment.

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DrLitch
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Re: Rank these (now) 5 highly praised modern 2D games...

Postby DrLitch » May 16th, 2020, 10:29 am

Voor wrote:My brother wants me to play Cuphead, which I have NO desire to play at the moment.


I give the game an A+ for art and silliness. It is not really a very good game.

Play Axiom Verge before Hollow Knight. If you liked Super Metroid the game fits that template very well. The developer truly understood Metroid and the design decisions that make it so playable. It is reasonably short as well - 10 hours for a purist/completionist, approx 5 hours to complete it if you do not backtrack too much. The story is also awesome - one of those "quests to reveal your identity". Hollow Knight is nowhere near as well designed, the story is bunk, the levels are big, and the developers focused heavily on art. Much more so than well designed levels. In Super Metroid for instance, you enter a room. Water everywhere. But there is a missile block on top of a pillar. How to get it? You notice some weird ceiling blocks. Go back and after some minor exploration you find an item - a grappling hook. First thing you do, given it is etched in your memory, is go back to that room to acquire that missile block. Conveniently this leads to the next area of the game you must explore. This is an example of the design Axiom Verge follows. Hollow Knight on the other hand, it seems much more randomized. It is open world gimmicks on a 2D plane. That is one main reason why the game takes nearly 40 hours to 100%. The game it not that big, it feels big and it gets old retreading the same ground over and over... Still though Hollow Knight is a very good game with a solid challenge.

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velcrozombie
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Re: Rank these (now) 5 highly praised modern 2D games...

Postby velcrozombie » May 17th, 2020, 11:12 pm

DrLitch wrote:
Voor wrote:My brother wants me to play Cuphead, which I have NO desire to play at the moment.


I give the game an A+ for art and silliness. It is not really a very good game.


I don't know, I think I love Cuphead. If it were just great art direction and imaginative ideas I wouldn't have been willing to put 25 hours into it (including 8 hours on one boss fight) and still have the intention to return to it (I'm currently sitting at 89% completion). For me at least, there's something compelling about mastering 2-3 minute chunks of gameplay, getting my butt kicked but improving enough to reach each new phase until I can put it all together in one exhilarating run. It actually reminds me a bit of why I love Hotline Miami so much, although I'll admit that H:M does involve more improvisation and feels less scripted than Cuphead does. I like shooters in theory, but when levels go on and on I have a difficult time staying focused - here I only have to go the 100m instead of a full marathon (which is not to say that I haven't beaten longer games of this type - I've beaten the first two Contra games for the NES without using any codes, for instance). I'm willing to hear arguments on why it's not a good game but I can't deny that it's kept my attention in a way 90% of other games haven't.

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DrLitch
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Re: Rank these (now) 5 highly praised modern 2D games...

Postby DrLitch » May 18th, 2020, 10:15 am

velcrozombie wrote:I don't know, I think I love Cuphead. If it were just great art direction and imaginative ideas I wouldn't have been willing to put 25 hours into it (including 8 hours on one boss fight) and still have the intention to return to it (I'm currently sitting at 89% completion). For me at least, there's something compelling about mastering 2-3 minute chunks of gameplay, getting my butt kicked....


While I am not too prudish regarding difficult games I feel that Cuphead reaches Silver Surfer levels in spots. Maybe I need to dust off my gaming skills and give this title a proper go to reverse the concept it is more frustrating than fun.

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velcrozombie
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Re: Rank these (now) 5 highly praised modern 2D games...

Postby velcrozombie » May 18th, 2020, 10:59 am

DrLitch wrote:While I am not too prudish regarding difficult games I feel that Cuphead reaches Silver Surfer levels in spots. Maybe I need to dust off my gaming skills and give this title a proper go to reverse the concept it is more frustrating than fun.


The dragon boss was almost the breaking point for me - it caused me to quit the game for 6 months before coming back, and even when I returned and cruised through the first half of the game it took an additional 2-3 hours of attempts to emerge victorious. If you toned him down a bit along with one or two other stages (like the queen bee boss, which is where I left off on my second attempt) it would make for a more accessible experience.

I will say that playing the early Metal Slug titles has tempered my praise for Cuphead - the best Metal Slug games have the same epic boss battles and visual personality (albeit in a very different style) but the run-and-gun levels in Cuphead (which the developers admit to being last-minute additions) are inferior to anything in Metal Slug. Having said that, Metal Slug is even more masochistic than Cuphead to me - they might be the most difficult well-made games I've ever played.


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