The first-person perspective hasn't had huge success in the past with incorporating a fully fleshed-out melee combat system, with a few notable exceptions. One of these is the delightfully off-the-wall Zeno Clash, which takes place in a fascinating, beautifully-designed world where you are on the run after being banished from your hometown after killing your father/mother - a hermaphrodite bird-thing called Father-Mother. The visual design of the game world is best described as Neverhood-meets-Salvador Dali with a hint of Dishonored. The game is told in flashback form, as you traverse the fascinating world using your fisticuffs to deal with any predicament you encounter. You'll be fighting all kinds of strange characters, ranging from dwarves to big masked fatties to creatures that look like misfits from the movie Labyrinth, each with their own unique fighting style. The combat feels impactful and satisfying, as you punch, elbow, counter-punch and disarm the oddities hurling themselves at you. Yes, there are some shooting elements in Zeno Clash, but the game never becomes a full-on shooter, staying true to its first-person fighting mechanics, which along with the awesome presentation make it one of the strangest and most overlooked games of the last generation. Which conceptually weird games have you been hooked on in the past? Let us know in the comments!
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
