Awards by the DDNet Team
It’s that time of year again, where we look back at the year that was, and pick our top three games across a host of categories! As with years past we’ll reveal one award winner per day, and this year we’ve got a massive 17 different awards to share out. It was a difficult process to choose the winners this year! While 2019 might not have had quite as many spectacularly big blockbuster releases as years past, the quality of games that were released with far less fanfare than they deserves is truly incredible.
Virtual reality is still a challenge from a development perspective: The number of VR units out there are not great, so it’s hard to throw big budgets at game development. Meanwhile, VR also requires a different approach to development in order to really work, making it difficult to simply port existing games to those VR platforms.
Despite that our VR headsets still got a heavy workout this year, with plenty of truly unique experiences that just wouldn’t be the same using normal platforms. Those are the games that we celebrate with this award.
BRONZE
Ace Combat 7 (Read our review here)
One of the better applications of VR is any circumstances where you don’t need to simulate walking. Developers are struggling to create a “walking” experience that doesn’t disorientate players, if not cause motion sickness, so those experiences where you’re stationary are the better way to go. Ace Combat 7 is a brilliant example of this. Putting you in the cockpit of a powerful fighter jet gives you a far better sense of motion, speed, and the action of aerial combat, but physically, you’re stationary. Hopefully this is a sign of many more plane, train, boat, and other simulators to come.
Table of Tales is another brilliant execution of VR that does something that, as an experience, just would not be the same looking at a flat screen. Table of Tales isn’t just a board game, see, it’s a tabletop gaming simulator, giving you the same experience of sitting around a real table, moving pieces around, and drinking beer in extreme quantities. With a brilliant “dungeon master” relating the story unfolding as you play, Table of Tales also does what a good pen-and-paper RPG does – it excites and delights the imagination.
GOLD
Deemo -Reborn- (Read our review here)
Rhythm games are a good fit for VR. Placing players “within” the music makes it that much more immersive, and timing and responsiveness becomes that much more natural when you enjoy the benefits of the added perception of VR. Deemo was already a brilliant example of the genre, with its classy and classic focus on piano play, but Deemo Reborn, played in VR, elevates the tone and theme to another level entirely. This is a truly gorgeous game to lose yourself within, and developer, Rayark, have come very, very far from its origins as a humble peddler of clever little mobile games; it’s a force on all platforms with this particular genre.
Stay tuned for the next award tomorrow!
– DDNet Team
