We're now a few weeks into 2017 and most of the "Best Of 2016" lists have come and gone, but here at The Loud Table we never got the chance to go through our games of the year (for me personally, the roadblock was managing holiday retail coupled with closing a store- my cruel mistresses). This past year saw a litany of high quality releases from big developers and indie studios alike and while this list doesn't comprise the full scope of what I played throughout 2016, these are my personal top picks of the year.
While not the most polished game of the year, the free to play PS4 exclusive Let It Die, from developer Grasshopper Manufacture and publisher GungHo Online, stole the year for me with a combination of style, attitude, addictive gameplay and brilliant design. At the core of Let It Die is brutal, roguelike hack n' slash action, fueled by over the top gore and an almost manga style visual flare. The usual pains of free to play games are kept to a surprising minimum here, meaning that one of the most unique gaming experiences of the year can be had for an entry price of nothing.
Grasshopper Manufacture frequently breaks the fourth wall in their games, and Let It Die continues that tradition, technically being a game inside of a game. Players are tasked with climbing the Tower of Barbs, a twisted, post apocalyptic mass of buildings and areas that popped up near Japan after a cataclysmic event known as the Earth Rage. All the meanwhile, the player is technically just that - a gamer sitting inside of an arcade playing Let It Die on the Death Drive 128, the latest, greatest video game console in the world.
The world of Let It Die overflows with unique characters, enemies and environments. Your guide to the Tower of Barbs is Uncle Death, a skateboarding, crazy-glasses-clad grim reaper whose witty one liners and humorous dialogue have made him an instant hit with fans (just check out all the cosplay and fan-art going around twitter). Other friendly characters include a lady obsessed with mushrooms, a space helmet wearing weapons and armor vendor, a robotic mannequin and other eccentric personalities. Enemies range from the zombie-like Screamers, strange technological horrors dubbed Tubers and bosses including a mass of body parts sewn together into a hulking monstrosity, a giant head with nails for a beard attached to a mecha body and a wailing, deformed mass with machine guns strapped to it. Environments in Let It Die are just as twisted. Players start their journey in crumbling sewers and subways, climbing their way through labyrinthine passages higher to dilapidated industrial and residential areas that all have a sort of supernatural edge to them, never seeming quite in the realm of reality. All the while a haunting soundtrack from famed composer Akira Yamaoka frames the grim but irreverent tone of the world.
The majority of the game is comprised of climbing the Tower of Barbs with various fighters, slaughtering all the deranged masses that stand in their way. Starting off in their underwear, fighters will have to scrounge together weapons and armor off of their defeated foes. As players progress higher up the tower they find schematics for building weapons and armor, and gain skills in various weapon types. Being a roguelike at heart, expect Let It Die to present a good challenge. Enemies, even seeming weaklings, can ruin a fighter if not careful. If a fighter dies, they're gone for good unless you have the resources or the skill to get them back. Players can either go find where their old fighter died and defeat them or pay Kill Coins (a currency in the game) to retrieve their fighter. The alternative to death is to pay a Death Metal to negate a fighter's death on the spot. Death Metals are the main microtransaction currency in Let It Die but are hardly mandatory to have a good time with the game.
On top of the addictive gameplay of crushing enemies, upgrading gear and climbing the Tower, Let It Die offers a unique form of asynchronous multiplayer. Players sign up to be part of a group representing their State (in the USA) or Country and can then go and raid other players bases through a system dubbed the Tokyo Death Metro. While not true multiplayer, players can set up their stock fighters to protect their base while they're offline or while they climb the Tower with another fighter. It's a real risk/reward system because if a fighter dies while on a raid, all of their gear is gone for good. It's a fun distraction from climbing the tower for a while and the rewards make it worth the time.
Let It Die was my personal favorite of 2016 so it's good news that the game will only continue to grow in 2017. Within a month of release, Let It Die saw over one million downloads, and that was before releasing in its native Japan. The development team has been working on patches and content updates and the games social media team have been very active in keeping the community involved via live streams, timed events and giveaways. If things continue to progress and the content updates are substantial, I can see myself climbing the tower well into 2017.
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