New Year’s Wish List: Bonnie Burgette

I often don’t pay attention to game releases until I see other people talking about them on social media (and, of course, here on IGM).

I often don’t pay attention to game releases until I see other people talking about them on social media (and, of course, here on IGM). It’s a habit from when I was younger, and wasn’t much into gaming as a whole. These days, with over 500 games in my Steam library, I’m clearly over that phase, but the “wait and see” attitude is still present. However, there are a few games I can’t ignore, and that I can’t wait to see released, either because I’ve already played demos, or because they just look so cool I want to try them.

Fran Bow is a little girl who had the misfortune of finding her parents dead, and is sent to an asylum after trying to run away with her cat. This is how the game opens, and it doesn’t get less morbid from there. The paper-doll-style animation belies a dark side that is fairly disturbing, but only if you pay close attention…but that’s necessary to advance, so we’ll just say this game is probably for those over 16. Killmonday released a demo last year, and the puzzling nature of this point-and-click adventure gained many loyal fans, and it even surpassed its goal on the fundraising site, IndieGoGo. The game has been a long time coming, and as soon as it’s finished, I will be among the first to buy it. (It’s also looking for votes on Greenlight, if you’d like to help.)

Braid was a huge hit for a lot of gamers. Once I got the hang of the mechanics, I quite enjoyed it, myself. Now, Jonathan Blow is following up his previous success with The Witness , which has been described as “ Myst with iPads.” Essentially, you explore an island, solving puzzles (I love puzzles, in case you haven’t already guessed) that involve making specific patterns on strange grids in order to progress, whether by changing your path, or opening doors. The art style, as in Braid , is very much like a watercolor painting, and is almost dream-like. The first-person perspective looks like it will create immersion, which is always a plus for me. I knew I had to buy the game the moment I saw the trailer for the first time.

I love horror games. It says so in my writer’s bio, and people who watch me stream know I love them. Having said that, I rarely finish them. I get into them, and then I get so stressed and freaked out that I just don’t see the end unless I watch someone else play it, either in an LP or on a stream. I sure have fun not-finishing them, though, and thus will have loads of fun playing the beginning of Soma over and over, attempting to get further before wussing out and giving up. By the makers of Amnesia , Soma features the same style of gameplay: You wander around, see horrible things, hide from horrible things, and try to figure out what the hell is going on (puzzles!). The first-person perspective and visual anomalies help add to the terror, as do the strange electronic world you find yourself in. While I’ll wait until it’s on sale to buy, I will be getting it, and my viewers will watch me squirm and wuss out live, because that’s how I roll.

And there you have it. I’m looking forward to horror games moreso than anything else, and a big part of that is how much graphics have changed in just a few years. I really do like the style of Fran Bow , where the animation makes the story all the more creepy, but the newer and more realistic gore with the Frictional Games development team always wins my approval. Also? Puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles.

What games are you looking forward to in 2015?