Best games of 2018.

[FakeSympathy]

Here we go; The best for the last. 10 games, in no particular order, that I personally enjoyed this year.

1. Red Dead Redemption 2
This game is probably one of the best looking games out there right now. Add the fact that this game has mad scientist level of details, fun gunplay, huge map, and a great story, and you got yourself a game that is well worth of $60. I just feel the mission designs are outdated as R* forces you to play missions THEIR way, and not however you want to approach them. Gang mechanic, while I love the characters, doesn't really seem to have much impact. Nevertheless, I had tons of fun playing this game. Now only if I had the same experience with the multiplayer.....

2.God of war (4)
Quite an amazing game. A game that just silences EA's quote on "Singplayer games are dying and no one wants it". I feel the game does justice for Norse Mythology as those who aren't into Norse Myth probably only heard of them from Marvel's Thor franchise. Every area is drop dead gorgeous and I got sucked into the story. The father-son relationship feels realistic thanks to both the writing and the excellent voice actors who voiced Kratos and his son. Gameplay itself was amazing, as it did more than just slaying horde of monsters

3. Celeste
This game reminded me so much of the old platformers. The movements you can do, the tricky platforming, and the retro 16-bit art style. It is all screaming callback to the classic games. Every death feels like it was my fault and not some bullshit mechanics. The characters were relatable and I am glad this game came out.

4. Monster Hunter: World
I will admit, this game took quite a while for me to get into. There were so many game mechanics that were thrown at me I was overwhelmed the first time. As I started learning the game, I began to see the beauty of the game. This game makes you prepare for each hunt, or else it punishes you for not doing so. There is actually a reason why you want to keep the old set of gears as you may need them for later hunts. The monsters themselves are amazingly designed and I felt the sheer scale of hunting down bigger monsters. Partying up with other players as great as well, as each weapon brings different aspects of how to take down a 20-ft dragon.

5. Spider-man 2018
Probably one of the best spiderman experience since spider-man 2. The game is an amazing balance of exploration, stealth (spiderman ones, at least) combat, and the story. Given how much I loved the arkham series, I feel this game took what I loved about those games and multiplied it several times over. The game stays true to the characters and the world we would see it the comics. However, I feel the game could've left out the Miles and MJ stealth sections. I found these sections to be boring and annoying. Regardless, this is an amazing game.

6. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Pure chaos, pure fun. So many characters to choose from. The controls were designed so that the newcomers have easy time getting into the game while the veterans can enjoy pulling off the complex manuvers. I had tons of fun playing this with my buddies, and it will probably be one of our go-to party games in a long time to come. There are crap load of maps to play, and the new singplayer content isn't bad for a smash game.

7. Gris
This game has a jaw-dropping beautiful art style. The water painting art style makes the game feel so unique, and expressing emotions through this art style has left me with a lasting impression. Any game that makes the animation, world design, and visual effects look like a painting coming to life is a plus for me. However, the platforming aspect of the game is quite shallow compared to the likes of Celeste, as if falls back to somewhat basic problem solving. But that issue was so minor for me as I continued to enjoy how artistic this game was.

8. Shadow of the Colossus (PS4)
It was so nice of sony to release this game on PS4 as I never got to try this game out on ps2 (I was too busy playing Kingdom Hearts back then). Each colossus you need to hunt feels massive. Yeah, the monsters in MHW are big, but most of them aren't COLOSSAL. These colossi feel like they are part of nature as if they have been woken from a deep slumber, covered in grass and plants. I also felt terrible about killing them as most of them were harmless.

9. Return of the Obra Dinn
Just like Gris, this game earns huge plus with its unique art style. The game is an extensive murder mystery for players to solve, which I absolutely loved. In most games all you do is investigate the scene and gather few clues. In this game however, there are many details you need to be looking out for. The fact that you are only limited to two tools for investigation makes you feel like an real investigator.

10. Dead Cells
This game puts you in a constant state of action, with the map layout constantly changing due to the procedurally generated world. No runs will be the same. The game has so many weapons and spells to try out, and you will constantly switch back and forth to see what play style works best for you. Every death was pain, because I knew I now had to run a completely different dungeon. The momentum of dodging, attacking, jumping, and running is where the game shines, topped with the retro style graphics. Not since Dark Souls have I enjoyed multiple run sessions to this extent

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Honestly, I haven't really played anything released this year that I think merits being on a Best of the Year list. I'd personally say Shadow of the Colossus is easily the best game released this year but I kinda think that's cheating. However, modern game design has become such shit, I don't think anything released this year (especially in the AAA landscape) comes anywhere near close to touching the masterpiece that is Shadow of the Colossus.

Monster Hunter World is probably the best I've played that originally released this year and I'd give that like 7.5-8/10. I think there could've been more variety in the monsters and I really hate how the end-game grind is. That grind made me sell the game because every "build" that I wanted to try I realized was probably going to take 100 hours to get the stuff I needed. I really think the combat system is great, basically deliberate combat done right unlike the Souls series, you actually need to manage your stamina and be much more careful with button inputs so you don't get caught in animations.

I haven't gotten around to playing Gris or Return of the Obra Dinn yet and I think those games can be something really special.

 

[Lufia Erim]

1) Labyrinth of refrain: coven of dusk. It you have a nintendo switch download the demo now!

2)Monster hunter world. This came out in January. It brought much needed polish to an already fantastic series. Now MH has become a household name ( almost).

Also , Praise be to the development team for actually putting in the time and effort making a good PC port. Despite admiting they have little experience with PC games. They TOOK THE TIME, to actually make sure the game was in a good state for PC before releasing it. It is rare for a company to do this. So good on them.

 

[Worgen]

Celeste - I just finished it and its so great. I forgot how much I wanted a hard platformer.

Dusk - A great old school shooter, again, forgot how much I missed the play style.

Iconoclasts - a really good metroidvania which has been in development forever. It was worth the wait with solid game play and a interesting story that did some things I really didn't expect.

Deltarune - Oh man, I was worried about Toby Fox's next game. I mean Undertale was incredible, to the point where I assumed anything else he did would be in its shadow and suffer for it. But he really hit it out of the park with Deltarune also, I just hope we don't have to wait too long for more.

CrossCode - holy crap its a great game. A top down old school rpg kinda like secret of mana but set in an mmo that does it right? Yes please. Another one of those that was in early access forever but the end result is an awesome game.

Overload - its Descent, modern Descent. Its got incredibly tight controls, smart AI enemies, awesome music, and great aesthetics despite the blockly layout of the levels.

Deadcells - someone already mentioned this so I'll leave it at that.

Monster Hunter World - I wasn't' sure I would be able to get into another monster hunter game. I played the hell out of Monster Hunter Tri on the wii, to the point where I couldn't bring myself to play anymore of it. But Monster Hunter World grabbed me pretty hard and I had a blast with it. Although I was trying to get back into it lately for the Behemoth and... just can't get it to click again, plus turns out I need to farm up gear for that fight and regain my skills, not sure I want to again.

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

This may seem like a bit of a cop out, but this year there hasn't really been any games that I've played that have stood out. That's not to say that it was a shitshow all round, but nothing really stood out to me like NieR or Persona 5 or the War of the Chosen expansion for XCOM 2 did last year.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

1. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
2. Soulcalibur VI
3. Octopath Traveler
4. Valkyria Chronicles 4
5. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
6. Dragon Ball FighterZ
7. Battletech
8. Dead Cells
9. Tetris Effect
10. Into the Breach

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Time for my usual hot takes:
Red Dead Redemption 2: In many ways RDR2 is a flawed game. The mission structure is at odds with the open world and some of the gameplay systems are just so oddly obtrusive, convoluted or slow (hunting for perfect pelts is tedious as shit, cooking and crafting takes forever if you want to make a decent batch of ammunition or cook several pieces of meat etc.), but so often it connects in a way that no other game does. RDR2 makes its world feel alive and real, from the way animals interact with each other, to the gradual change in weather to the seemingly endless amounts of random dialogue in camp and from strangers. Add to that a story that delivers on its build-up and a main character that's surprisingly likable and you've got one of the defining games of this console generation.

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey: Ubisoft might get blasted for their formulaic approach to open world gameplay, but with Odyssey they prove that when the formula works it is amazing. Odyssey delivers great gameplay and a story that's unexpectedly well told and with some actual gravitas. Also Kassandra is buff and hot.

Battlefield V: My friends and I bounced off BF1 hard. BFV is a return to form for Dice, delivering the kind of spectacle that only Battlefield games can do. Sure, the game is buggy and obviously unfinished, but the moment to moment gameplay is exceptional. Instead of trying to write this I wanted to write about all the cool moments I've had in BFV since I started playing it, but it'd take way too much space.

Rimworld: Officially released this fall, this game should be a must play for everyone who likes roguelikes, the Sims, strategy or survival games. Just like Battlefield, it is a game that provides gameplay moments that no other game can really replicate and the openness of the gameplay systems means you can do a lot of stuff in this game.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Oh, so this thread finally showed up. Was starting to think no one playing any good games this year, or that everyone was still drowsy from all the christmas debauchery and I'd have to do it myself. Anyway, here are my favorite games of the year, in no particular order:

Monster Hunter World - My first Monster Hunter and a game I probably would've never gotten if it weren't for a friend pestering me to play it with him. Glad I let him talk me into it. Took me a while to learn to appreciate the combat, but I've come to enjoy it a lot. It ended up my most played game of the year. One of two games I bought full price at launch. Looking forward to the Iceborne expansion.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 - The other full price at launch game. I'd say this is the first sequel to live up to the original. Better in some ways even. The tweaks to the classes, addition of the Grenadier and well-designed missions allows troops like Shocktroopers and the APC to actually shine this time, instead of just Scout rushing everything like VC1. Shame some of the gameplay improvements from the handheld sequels got dropped, but that's fairly minor.

Iconoclasts - I love me some metroidvania and while some this year disappointed (looking at you, Timespinner), this one kind of came out of nowhere for me and proved itself worthy. It feels good to play, has an IMO excellent difficulty curve and comes with a nice story that goes some interesting and unexpected directions.

Guacamelee 2 - Oh hey, another metroidvania. It's more a refinement of the first game than taking it to the next level, but it's still really solid with really engaging combat/movement, a good sense of humor and some really challenging platforming.

Okami HD - Yes, it's just a remaster of an old game on Switch. Yes, it's kind of cheating. But I don't care. They could release it every year without any improvements and it would still make the list every time. Don't like it? Fight me and my savage simian strenght. Come at me bro!

Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana - I was hankering for a good action rpg and this gave me what I wanted when I needed it. Sometimes that is enough to make the cut. The progression being kind of metroidvania-y kind of helped though.

Dusk - We've had a few games, like Strafe, claiming to bring back the old school fps gameplay, but none of them really get it right. Dusk nails that Quake feel tho. All my old circle strafing and bunny hopping skills came back to me and it honestly felt really good. I missed it.

Subnautica - I don't like the survival with crafting genre, but I loved Subnautica. I love the well-designed biomes it brings, I love how it tries to inject a decent story into the mix, and I love how it managed to scare me in a way most supposed horror games fail to. Also, I love cruising around in my mini-sub, singing that Little Mermaid song, and laughing immaturely every time I (not so) accidentally run into a fish.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Dragon Quest 11 is my game of the year, easily. Just the perfect Jrpg and the high point of a consistently excellent series.

Honorable mentions go to Valkyria Chronicles 4, Dragonball FighterZ, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle and Monster Hunter World.

 

[Casual Shinji]

1) God of War - It takes an embarressing juvenile power fantasy character and turns him into someone with actual depth, while fully acknowledging that history. It learns to poke a bit of fun at itself despite the initially somber father/son story set-up, finally breaking this franchise's need to take itself and its main character so overly serious. And has one of the most amazing and character defining nostagia trips I've ever seen in anything. This is up there with fighting Psycho Mantis.

This alone is already freaking impressive, so I don't even feel I need to mention the chunky, hectic, satisfying combat, the beautiful sprawling Zelda-structured gameworld, or the fenomenal acting performances.


2) Spider-Man - It's just a great Spider-Man game. It doesn't do for superhero games what the Arkham games did, but it shows you can still deliver a really good Spider-Man game if you just give it to the right people. Most of the game I would give a solid 8, but the final portion bumps it up to a 9. It also gave me a new appreciation for the character of Peter Parker that none of the movies or cartoons ever did.


3) Okami for the Switch (handheld) - This version breaths exceptional new life into an old game. The touchscreen is how the Celestial Brush is meant to be wielded, and it turns what was previously a rather akward, slow mechanic into something that feels like second nature.

 

[Yoshi178]

Super Smash Bros: Ultimate - not just a fun game, it is one giant love letter to not just Nintendo fans, but it is a celebration of video gaming history and culture as whole with the amount of characters, stages and music crossing over with each other, both 1st and 3rd Party.

Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion the main campaigns of Splatoon 1 & 2 were so damn meh but this DLC story mode was ridiculously fun and quite challenging at times. one of the most fun times i've had playing a shooter campaign in years. in fact i think the last time i had this much fun in a shooters campaign was when Halo 3 released.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna the Golden Country only about halfway through it so far because i've been sidetracked with work, moving house and playing other games like Smash bros but so far this is ending up to be a great prequel and meaty DLC campaign to the already amazing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 from 2017. will be taking my time to finish this because i don't want it to end.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

1) Red Dead Redemption 2
2) Spider-Man
3) God of War
4) Shadow of the Colossus (again)
5) Okami (again)

 

[Elfgore]

I'll only talk about the ones actually unique. But note Spider-Man, God of War, and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Rimworld. Damn what a game. It's been in EA since about 2015 but I learned about it this year from a Let's Player on YouTube. He was roleplaying a Star Wars and Warhammer 40K. Then I learned they have mods for Aliens, Starship Troopers, and so much more. I bought it in a heartbeat. So many mods, so many possible stories in this survival-sim. I'm already pushing a hundred hours in. If you like survival strategy games, play this.

Dead Cells. What a damn fun Roguelite! I don't think one of these has gripped me this much since Rogue Legacy. I also think it nails progress better than Rouge Legacy. Rouge Legacy has a massive dull bit in the middle. Where unless you're MLG you can't take down bosses or mini-bosses, but if you don't you have to slowly get minor upgrades. Highly recommended for anyone who likes Metroidvania and Rougelite games.

 

[Trunkage]

Return of the Obra Dinn
Making insurance interesting again 2018

Pyre
Sportsball. But fun. Obviously this has a great soundtrack as well.

Into the Breach
Just as complex as FTL but in a very different manner.

Subsurface Circular
Interesting character are world building for such a short game.

Subnautica
Rust. But fun. And storyline. Collectathon of eggs at the end was a disappointment.

 

[Dalisclock]

Return of the Obra Dinn

Yeah, I know everyone else is saying it, but I'll add to the Chorus. I put off playing this game until like 2 weeks ago. Even when it started popping up on a lot of(as in, pretty much all of them) "Best of 2018" lists recently I looked at it and kept thinking I wasn't interested. Then I started watching a video of GamesMakersToolkit(which I discovered like a month ago) about it and when he explained how the game worked, then I was intrigued. And I'm glad I grabbed it because I spent 8 hours immersed in the details of this ship and how everyone(well, almost everyone) ended up dying awful deaths and why(Oh my god I don't think there's ever been such an unlucky ship in fiction). There's still a mystery or two that there is no answer for but there's more then enough there for me to be satisfied.

By far the best game about Insurance investigation that 1807 has to offer.

Subnautica

Another favorite on these lists but what the hell. I pretty much roll my eyes at whenever I see "SURVIVAL" in a games description but the underwater hook intrigued me. Luckily, the game has a lot of depth to it *Rimshot* And dragged me in for 20-30 hours with it's fascinating underwater world with terrors potentially lurking behind every corner, where every new area leads to a sense of dread of something terrifying and much bigger/faster then you just waiting to eat you and your submarine. The fact there are very few weapons available to you helps keep you on your toes. I also appreciate how there are various game modes to tailor the experience, from "I just wanna explore and build stuff" to "Die and your save file is deleted", so next time I play I can turn off the food and water meters(which really starts feels like a chore in late game). The fact the backstory is mostly optional so if you want to ignore it or go and dig through it both are easy enough to deal with.

Word of advice if you start playing it: Deployable beacons are craftable from very early in the game. They can be deployed pretty much anywhere, they don't move once placed, pretty much last forever and can be grabbed and reused as much as you want. They are incredibly useful for marking locations of stuff you want to come back to, and even more importantly, the location of underwater cave entrances so you can find them again if you need to get out quickly(because nothing is worse then exploring a cave deep underwater, realizing your O2 is getting low and having no idea how to get back to the surface).

Hollow Knight.

I haven't played that many metriodvanias but this one I almost immediately fell in love with. So much fun to explore with nice ability based progression. I stopped at the boss fight with the 6 or so huge guards and I really need to get back to the game and finish it. I just keep getting distracted. Also, it's like Dark Souls, but everyone is a bug and it's a metriodvania. So maybe it isn't like Dark Souls except in general tone and feel(but I still refer to the first boss as "Bug Smough").

Assassins Creed: Origins

I know I posted a big fucking ass rant about this a couple weeks back so I'll keep it short. I finally got around to playing this game and really dug it. I'm one of those few weirdos who still likes the AC series(though at this point it's pretty much my big AAA indulgence when I'm not playing Indie or Midtiers), but the last couple years (AKA everything after Black Flag) had me pretty much stopped caring about the series. Origins, despite being very different then the older games in a lot of ways, worked very well for me, even if it's obvious they had to steal from Witcher 3 and Dark Souls to accomplish this(But hey, if you're gonna steal, might as well steal from someone who's getting it right). It got me pumped for Odyssey for sure, but I'm giving it a bit more time because Origins was really, really long and Odyssey is supposed to be even longer.

A Night in the Woods(replay)

Speaking Indie games, this is one of those games that just felt like it worked so well despite looking like a furry episode of south park. Even though there is no plot to speak of for the first half the game, instead being essentially the main character fucking about all day with her friends, it actually fits considering the setup and plays into the theme of someone without direction in life coming back home with no idea where to go from there(whereas her friends and family do have jobs and commitments). I played it when it came out and replayed the new "Weird Autumn" update(the minisode content integrated into the main game instead of being separate downloads), so I'm happy that it's held up extremely well upon replay.

Deltarune.

It's not Undertale but really nothing will ever be Undertale again. For not being Undertale, it was still pretty damn good and makes me hope that we do see the rest of the story someday. I'm more then happy to let Toby Fox do what he does but man it's gonna be hard to wait. The fact there's so many things one can read into this only makes the wait harder.

Unavowed

Wadjet games continues it's fine work of reviving and pushing the genre of graphic adventure games while clearly taking some inspiration from the Mass Effect series(RIP Mass Effect). Playing as a newly inducted member of the titular supernatural/paranormal vigilante/investigative group, the game manages to do a lot with what could have been a really trite concept and the devs had clearly picked up the ball on adventure games where Telltale has faltered. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do next and hoping they expand more upon the unavowed universe like they did the blackwell series(which technically is the same universe but they don't overlap that much).

 

[Bernzz]

I only have two, this year. Most of the rest of the games I played were from my backlog from previous years, or were very enjoyable but not my personal GOTY contender material.

In no particular order:

1. Super Smash Brothers Ultimate

I love the Smash series, have since 64. This game feels like a refinement of what makes the series fun. I'm no competitive player, I'm a party player. This game is just pure fun.
Some of those character unlock fights were a little much, though.

But then again, Ridley. Never in my life did I think I'd get that lucky.
[sub][sub][sub]Also Dark Samus.[/sub][/sub][/sub]

2. Subnautica

Early Access or not, it officially released this year, so says Steam, so I'm taking it.
And fuck me, what a game. I deliberately didn't look into it, gameplay videos or anything, while I waited for it to fully release, so I got to experience it all new first hand. That's an experience I wish I could forget, just so I could do it all over again.
I love exploration and I love loneliness in games and movies, and I harbor (haha get it) a love of the ocean and the various cool and terrifying things that live in it. This game gave me all I wanted and more, with a decent plot to boot.