Pixel Hunted

Dredge (PC, 2023)

There’s no better way to crank up the volume on eeriness than by serving it alongside a heaping help of mundanity. David Lynch has pretty much built his career on this philosophy, with Twin Peaks contrasting its otherworldly existential terror with warm-hearted small-town hijinks.

Dredge follows a similar philosophy, combining the nuts and bolts practicalities of running a fishing boat with Lovecraftian horror. The vast majority of Dredge is tinkering with your motors or reinforcing your hull, collecting crab pots, strengthening your reels, and then selling the catch to the local fishmonger.

Final Fantasy XVI (PlayStation 5, 2023)

I’ll say one thing for Final Fantasy XVI, by the time the credits rolled I was totally on board with “Clive” being a suitable name for a hero. When they first unveiled this game’s dour, tortured protagonist I snickered at a name more suitable for a printer repair tech than some spiky-haired dude impaling a Marlboro with a greatsword.

But now, perhaps from repeated exposure alone, “Clive” is now a name for a badass.

And as for the rest of the game. It’s good! Well, if you’re in the mood for a character action game with a couple of vestigial RPG limbs poking out the side.

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (PlayStation 2, 2005)

It takes a lot to shake my love of all things Castlevania, but this came real close. Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is the sequel to 2003’s Lament of Innocence, which tried to transplant Devil May Cry-style combat and exploration into the franchise.

Results were mixed. The combat itself was fine, though levels consisted of unimaginative corridors interspersed with square combat arenas. Even so, Lament had some vague promise and it was easy enough to imagine a sequel that could at least look the series’ 2D adventures in the eye.

So it’s deeply annoying that Curse of Darkness not only fails to improve on Lament of Innocence but is a notable step back.

Final Fantasy XIV: The Seventh Astral Era quests (PC, 2013-2015)

Nobody has a bad word to say about Final Fantasy XIV‘s expansions. Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker are all held up as the pinnacle of MMO design: compelling writing, complex characters and stories the equal of any mainline Final Fantasy game.

The only wrinkle is that getting there requires pain. I had an okay time grinding through A Realm Reborn last year, though persevered on the basis that it’d all be worth it. With the credits rolled on that, I began the arduous climb towards Heavensward.

Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night (iOS, 2010)

In 2017 the “appocalypse” arrived. The debut of iOS 11 instantly rendered hundreds of thousands of 32-bit iPhone and iPad apps obsolete. This naturally included a lot of games, with many older titles stranded on obsolete hardware and unable to be re-downloaded.

But where there’s a will there’s a way. Last year I really wanted to play Metal Gear Solid Touch. So, I bought an old iPhone 4 and proceeded to spend the next week tinkering with its innards and hunting down filez from half-broken late 2000s internet forums in order to resurrect these titles. I got Touch working, but along the way, I also saw Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night and figured I’d throw it on there too.

Now I’ve finally played it… and it’s criminal that this game has been relegated to the video game dustbin of history.

Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 27: Panzer Dragoon (PlayStation 2, 2006)

It’s been a Panzer Dragoon kind of month. This brief but dazzling franchise hits me in all my weak points: shooter gameplay with a high skill ceiling, pushing tech beyond what it ‘should’ do, featuring a killer aesthetic and sound, and… simply being downright cool.

I’ve played Panzer Dragoon II Zwei, Saga, and Mini, so why not revisit the game that started it all, 1995’s Panzer Dragoon. The only problem is that the Sega Saturn original game is incredibly hard and while I could save-scum my way through it, that screws up appreciating the iconic score and… well, it just doesn’t feel right.

Panzer Dragoon Mini (Game Gear, 1996)

After Panzer Dragoon II Zwei and Panzer Dragoon Saga (and with Orta sitting on my shelf) I figured I might as well complete the series. And so off to a rom site to scoop up a copy of the little-known and even lesser-loved Japan-only release Panzer Dragoon Mini.

Released in 1996 at the tail end of the Game Gear’s surprisingly long life, Mini arrived as part of the “Kid’s Gear” collection, comprising curios like Virtua Fighter Mini, an iffy version of Puzzle Bobble, and a smattering of virtual pet games.

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (PC, 2015)

Resident Evil was going through the roughest patch in its history in the mid-2010s. Resident Evil 6 had proven to be a stitched-together monstrosity as disgusting as anything a S.T.A.R.S. member had launched a rocket at, with spinoff titles Operation Raccoon City and Umbrella Chronicles cobbled together failures that cratered on launch and have been quickly forgotten.

Brighter times were on the horizon with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and the Remake projects, but it’s safe to say the franchise was in the doldrums. Then, like a ray of sun on an overcast day, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 burst through the clouds.

Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn, 1998)

There are just 1000 copies of Panzer Dragoon Saga in Europe and one of them was once mine.

In the early 2000s the Sega Saturn was the butt of everyone’s cruel jokes: a failed console stomped into the dirt by Sony’s PlayStation. Unwanted Saturns clogged up second-hand shops, with games being shifted for a couple of quid each. Over these years I picked up classics like Guardian Heroes, Burning Rangers, Fighters Megamix, Marvel Super Heroes and King of the Fighters ’95 for pocket change and my only regret was that I didn’t fully appreciate that I was living in a game collecting golden age.

But even then Panzer Dragoon Saga was elusive, quickly becoming my Saturn white whale. The entire first disc had been given away with Sega Saturn Magazine (thanks Richard Leadbetter!) so I knew it was something special and was hungry to see the rest of the game for myself.

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC, 2009)

Rocksteady Studios used to mean something to me. Their Kentish Town headquarters was on one of my regular running routes and every time I jogged past I’d imagine the magic they were cooking up behind those walls. Eight long years since the release of Arkham Knight and with their much-delayed Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League embodying everything I hate about modern gaming, it’s become difficult to care.

But that godawful Suicide Squad State of Play reveal (coupled with the heartbreaking death of Kevin Conroy) lit a fire within me: to return to Rocksteady’s breakout 2009 hit Arkham Asylum and see if after all this time it still provides the same Bat-thrills.