Ceave
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End Of Year Update
🕑 Added 2023-12-27 16:33:42 +0000 UTCHey everyone!
I hope all of you wonderfully wonderful people had a wonderful holiday!
As some of you may already know, the 23 behind the 20 is soon going to be replaced with a 24, meaning the year is coming to an end. I thought this celebrative numerical addition provides a great opportunity to look back at the previous year, to share a bit of what my plans are for the upcoming year and to evaluate the little poll we started earlier this month.
So first the Bloodborne video.
That one is currently baking in the oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit.
It already smells delicious.
There is a bit of Lovecraft in it, it contains some history of architecture, pregnancies, an exploration of the philosophical origins of Bloodborne’s setting and a discussion about the strange origin story behind a decade old french art-film - while still containing a discussion about Bloodborne's level design, it’s bosses and it’s lore.
While it looks to shake up to be quite a delicious video, it probably needs a bit longer in the oven than I first thought.
I hope to be done with it by the end of January - that’s in part because the video turned out to be a bit more ambitious than first intended, but also because I’m taking it a bit slower with that one, because I’m still a bit exhausted from the year behind us.
After the bloodborne vid the content generation engine will go broom-chugga-chugga-vid-vid again, big “the-algorithm-kills-me-otherwise” pinky swear!
So the results of the poll!
As I see it, we have two clear winners, a bunch of topics that you expressed overall interest in and a bunch of topics in which you wonderful people are statistically less interested in.
Celeste and Inscryption are the two videos that got by far the most votes with 81 for Celeste and 62 for Inscryption. I’ll prioritize those two topics and hope to discuss them in the first half of the upcoming year!
Then there are a bunch of topics that all ended up in a similar voting range. Donkey Kong, Fez, Subnautica and Bloodborne all got 40-somthingish votes, which I think is enough interest to justify doing a video on them!
Finally there are a bunch of topics in which you generally gentle people statistically showed less interest in. Namely WoW, Hogwarts Legacy, The Last of Us, Skyrim and Dark Souls.
What to do with those?
Well, I don’t want to scrap those entirely, because a bunch of you still signaled that you’d be interested in hearing me going on endless tangents about completely different topics starting there!
Since each and every single one of the topics got at least a bunch of votes I’ll probably end up doing one out of two things with them.
Some of those ideas and topics I’ll probably end up baking into other videos when it makes sense - there is already a bit of what we would have discussed in a Dark Souls vid in the Bloodborne script.
The other ideas will probably get smaller Patreon videos at some point. I’ll share more about what I have planned here once I actually get to work on them!
So the next year.
The current plan for the first half of 2024 is to do the following videos in that order.
Bloodborne - Wind Waker - Subnautica (that one thematically ties into the Bloodborne video, which is why I want to tackle it soon) - Twilight Princess (if I ever manage to find a used copy of the remaster for less than 90$) - Celeste - Skyward Sword - Inscryption.
That should keep me busy well into summer and probably a bit beyond.
There is no way this will play out as planned, because it never does. Maybe a game like Silksong or the TTYD remake happens in between, maybe a video just doesn’t want to come together and I decide to put it down for a while, maybe Nintendo shows the Switch successor and we chat about that.
Don’t think about that as a definitive roadmap but more like me sharing what I actually planned to do in the first half of 2024 so that we can have a collective laugh together once 2025 rolls around and we look back at it.
Finally the year is coming to an end.
As you all know this means that I am bound by an old demon pact, concluded hundreds of years ago by the very first let’s players - to share my game of the year with you.
Just like all the other gaming YouTubers. (The other ones just don’t like to talk about the demon stuff. But it’s true!)
So what is my game of the year?
Well, normally my answer would be Baldur’s Gate 3.
But.
Look, I love Baldur's Gate 3 just as much as the next kid but the problem with that game is that it just released with tons and tons of serious and game breaking bugs.
That kind of disqualifies it from getting honored as my game of the year for a very simple reason.
Showering games with praise that launch with big technical problems is how we got Cyberpunk or Fallout 76’s famous launches.
The next contenders would be the RE4 remake, Super Mario Wonder and Tears of the Kingdom.
But.
While all three games are great in their own ways - I just can’t shake off the feeling that I played all those years ago already. They just don’t do enough to separate themselves from the games in the series that came before. (Shame on you RE4 Remake for remaking RE4!)
I really enjoyed Dave the Diver, but I don’t think it’s the best thing I played this year.
I was really looking forward to “The Talos Principle 2” yet for whatever reason I bounced off of it pretty early - I probably should give it a second chance though!
Starfield is a train wreck in my humble onion.
I haven't played Alan Wake 2 and Spider Man 2 yet - though I have a feeling I’ll probably end up liking Alan Wake once I finally get to it.
So what’s left?
Well, funnily enough …
the game that ends up being my game of the year …
in one gaming's strongest years ever …
if I’m being totally honest …
is a simple five hour long indie puzzle game.
My game of the year ended up being: “Cocoon”.
It’s the only game this year that I just ended up enjoying for its entire runtime without any asterisks and a game I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone who likes puzzle games.
It’s currently on Game Pass.
Honorable mention to Chants of Sennaar though.
A game that might have ended up being my game of the year … if only I had played it yet.
If any of you feel like sharing what your personal game of the year is and why - I’d honestly love to read your thoughts!
Thank you again for your generous support - you lovely people are incredible!
I wish all of you a happy new year and I am looking forward to sharing lots of videos with all of you in 2024!
Lots of hugs!
Comments
Jonas
Thanks for the reply!
Stefan Maier
I thought the difficulty was about right, but it certainly wasn't a hardcore puzzler!
Jonas
I enjoyed Chants of Sennaar, it was a fun puzzle time. I heared Cocoon is too easy, so that's why i didnt play it. Did i make a mistake here, should i still grab it? D: Otherwise my game of 2023 has probably been Slay the Spire (which hasnt been released in that year), oh well
Bob McBob
I played... let me see... three games that released in 2023. Out of those my favourite would probably be A Space for the Unbound, mostly because it made me cry a lot. The story is very strong (although there isn't a whole lot else going on).
KingKrusha
Personally, my game of the year is Pizza Tower, am I still a bit bitter about it losing the best debut indie game to Cocoon? Yes (but mostly because It didn't fit the category as its not the studio's first game, not because I don't think it's a good game). Excited to hear that the bloodborne video is on its way! Can't wait to listen to a 2 hour long video on a game I've never played and know hardly anything about! Your insight is entertaining enough you could make me listen to a 3-hour long video on big rigs over the road racing.
Intuition
I'm ashamed to say that I barely buy any games that released the same year. So either BG3 & Sea of Stars would win by default because these are the only games I purchased which released this year. But they both kind of fell flat. Rather, Octopath Traveler 1 was an unexpected gem to me. ...And yes, it's sequal released earlier this Year, but haven't played it yet. Moving on to a slightly different topic. Ceave? Thank you for getting me into Levelhead! It Became one of my all-time Favorites!
RPG Hacker
I'd say my personal game of the year is probably Super Mario Bros Wonder. I can't help it, I'm just a giant Mario fanboy, and that game got a few nostalgic tears out of me. While I recognize and agree with much of the criticism, I'll have to say most of it didn't affect me that much. This definitely felt like a successor to Super Mario World in many ways, which was exactly what I wanted from a new 2D Mario game. Honorary Mention goes out to Tunic, which wasn't really a 2023 game, but I played it this year (and what's being off by one year, anyways). If it hadn't been for Super Mario Bros Wonder, this would've easily been my favorite gaming experience all year. I don't want to give any concrete reason, because discovery is such a huge part of this game's appeal, but man, it has made me feel things that I was certain were impossible from games today. I guess I'd describe it as a nostalgia trip of the most brilliant kind. Absolutely give it a try if you haven't already, I'm pretty sure the game's right up your alley! Looking forward to the Bloodborne video - although I might have to watch it late, since Bloodborne is the only FromSoft Souls-like I have yet to play. I don't think I'll get to it quite soon - but hey, that just means I'll have something to look forward to for later in the year! ☺️ Anyways, a guten Rutsch to you, kind sir!
Munger
Happy holidays Mr. Ceave! My game of the year is gonna be a bit weird, mainly because I only played one game this year that released in 2023, which was Fnaf Vr Help Wanted 2 lol. Everything else I played this year released before 2023, like Cyberpunk, and Risk Of Rain 2.
Stefan Maier
Holidays are great! Just a lot of sitting in trains visiting my family that is spread out all over Austria!
Alexander Richards
Happy Holiday Ceave! Interestingly enough I've had a bit of a 'language-translation puzzle game' kick this year- trying both Chants of Sennaar and Heaven's Vault- and they've both felt... lacking in some ways. Chants of Sennaar is 3/5ths of a fantastic game that would be one of my favourites, and then the last two 'acts' of the game feel underbaked in comparison - especially the last bit. Heaven's Vault meanwhile is a game really lacking in polish which results in an exploration game that only allows you to go to most locations once, and a game that seems oddly ashamed of its only actual selling point mechanic. Would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on either, even briefly. Game of the Year for me... I think it might actually be Behind the Frame which is just absolutely charming, very short and sweet.
Andrew Medford
Sounds like a plan. I know next to nothing about the Bloodborne franchise, so it will be interesting to learn about it through you. Also, how have your holidays been so far? Happy Early New Year, by the way.
Illyon
I'm excited for everything you have in store for us, and I approve of the shoutout to the small, truly enjoyable gems amongst the games of the past year. My personal game of the year only launched into Early Access, and is therefore in such an unfinished state that it has virtually nothing but its core gameplay; but I adore every minute of gameplay, and I realise time and time again just how much love the developers pour into it on a daily basis. To me, personally, that's what's most important. Fraymakers, an indie crossover platform fighter with heavy Steam Workshop integration, is an amazing game, and it's only getting better and better.
Stefan Maier
Haven"t gotten around to play it yet! Really enjoyed the first one though, I'll certainly play 4 at some point!
Mihail Yakimov
I like your Patreon. It's nice having somewhat regular updates from time to time about your plans, your opinions and stuff and feels comfy and personal. Somehow you pull that off without offering any really valuable exclusive content. I'm just saying that if you're feeling bad (you probably aren't) about not posting anything that ground-breaking here, don't worry about it, because at least one person enjoys it enough to support you. I mean, you're just a cool guy
Oliver Twine
Happy new year and happy holidays Ceave!
KittLi
I am super excited for the certainly delicious Bloodborn video! My favourite game of the year is WOW SOD! I absolutley enjoy it with the new rune mechanics!
TripleFlipAndMeow
Have you played / do you plan on playing Pikmin 4? It's my pick for game of the year, they really went above and beyond to refine the Pikmin formula while making the game more adventurous and rewarding.
Regola
Happy holidays and thanks for sharing this tentative roadmap! Can't wait for the Bloodborne's video, it's a game I played for hundred of hours and read about the lore so I'm really curious about what you have been cooking. Since you asked about my game of the year (considering titles released in 2023) I have to cheat a bit and chose the fourth DLC of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Future Reedemed. I know it's a DLC but it can be considered a different game on its own, with same mechanics but several differences. It's also the game that ended up closing the Xenoblade trilogy, a serie of games surely flawed but that I'm glad I have played. Sea of Stars is a game I greatly enjoyed this year too but I don't think it's quite there for being my GOTY: while it has a great presentation and a fun gameplay, I didn't fully appreciate some aspects of the story and the narrative. Not going to spoil anything, I'll just say that I think they were a bit too ambitious with the plot and it hurts pacing and the narrative. P.S.: wait, are you still in the group of those that believe in Silksong's existence?
Jehan
Happy holidays and happy new year Ceave! Thank you for a great year of content and I'm already looking forward to what you will come out with next year
