These don't necessarily relate the best games released in 2018, but the ones I have played in that year.
So here are my favourites in order of date played:
Games I've Loved This Year:
Assassin's Creed Origins:
One of the finest gaming experiences out there, I sunk nearly 200 hours into this masterpiece. A breathtaking epic, rounding up the Assassin's Creed experience and lore with a pinch of Dark Souls and The Witcher 3 - and adding the real history and examination of Ancient Egypt. Beautiful and amazing and soooo much to do. Epic bosses, fantastic locations, brilliant gameplay, an engrossing story and the extras were fantastic additions too. Now comes with an in game museum too. AC has never been so good.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice:
A haunting and inventive game that delves in to mental health issues and makes you question reality. Atmospheric and dark with beautiful visuals and some inventive puzzles and a fresh take on portraying a protagonist and their internal struggle. Perhaps a little short and easy, but a fantastic experience nonetheless
The Wolf Among Us:
Telltale Games does the Fables and tells the story of fairy tale characters in a modern New York setting. Filled with little nods, a great story, great characters and an intriguing mystery - and the usual brand of choice and exploration. Probably Telltale's finest work and tragic they died before getting the sequel it deserved.
Life Is Strange:
It seems like a fairly simple episodic game in a similar style to the Telltale games with a few added mechanics. It all seems to be an easy, enjoyable point and click/walking simulator with an interesting time travel mechanic, some side activities, a few new way to deal with gameplay choices and a few interesting mysteries - all set in a school with stereotyped teenage cliches.... and yet somehow it turns into something it turns into something so much more and it throws heavy gut punches from episode 2 onwards. Never has a game grabbed me by the feels and squeezed so much, and never have I cried so much at a videogame. Simple, yes, but heartbreaking and an astounding experience.
Life Is Strange: Before The Storm:
The follow up and prequel to Life is Strange loses the rewind time control ability, gains snappy 'backchat' dialogue options and plays it a lot straighter... and somehow enhances the whole world because of it - the characters are more developed and the story sets up everything brilliantly and the farewell DLC is a heartbreaking gem. Perhaps not quite as laser-guided in its 'feels' as its predecessor but expands everything in the series into a glorious tapestry of Arcadia Bay. And can we talk about how this was developed by a completely different team on a completely different freaking engine and still fells like the same game?!
Remember Me:
DontNod's first stab at a rewind time mechanic. Arguably something which seemed to have a much bigger scope than LiS with an epic sci-fi setting and intriguing story, 'cool' visuals and characters, developed combat and platform mechanics - and backed by Capcom no less... and yet it just doesn't work out, with everything seeming a bit flat and uninspired. You can see the gem that will later grow into LiS there though. Probably the weakest (completed) game on the list... and nearly killed DontNod before they'd begun. Thank you Square Enix for saving them.
Middle Earth: Shadow of War:
The sequel to the highly praised 'Shadow of Mordor', Shadow of War gives us more of everything. The environments are sleeker and more varied, the nemesis system is improved and given an insane amount of depth, the combat is fun and epic, and the story is fantastically woven into Tolkein's tale - with a little continuity bending. Somehow though it doesn't come off as well as its predecessor and the legendarily awful mind numbing tedium of the final 'Shadow Wars' chapter costs it dearly. That said the conclusions of the story arcs were epic - just not worth countless hours of grind.
Prey: Mooncrash:
I played Prey last year and found it to be a brilliant gaming experience. A year later a this DLC debuted and...its very hard to describe and do it justice. You go through a simulation based on the records of a moonbase that was overrun by the Typhon and you must try to escape with one of five characters - with different escape methods and different objectives - ostensibly with the goal of exposing the actual truth of what happened. You rinse and repeat until you unlock everything, complete all the objectives, and escape with all five in a single run. But parts of the environment are procedurally generated, so things change, more of the reality of the situation is revealed as you go through and the corruption in the simulation increases as time goes on. Long story short, no two playthroughs are the same. It sounds somewhat boring and repetitive but it's in fact a surprisingly effective way to keep you on your toes and keep changing things so you never know what to expect. Very entertaining.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt:
Oh my. I tried to play both The Witcher and The Witcher 2 and just couldn't get into them, so my bar was already set pretty low when I started Witcher 3... and yet it blew my mind. One of very few games over the years that has breached the 200 hour (single player) barrier for me. It was epic and you can clearly see where AC Origins and a load of other sandbox/action-adventure/RPG games recently have gotten their ides. A fantastic sprawling open world with beautiful varied environments, entertaining gameplay, tonnes of varied and enjoyable side activities and quests, crafting, levelling and choices galore and an epic story. Certainly one the finest games ever made. Compared to Origins it's a little rustier on the combat and movement, but excels in the RPG elements, the main story perhaps feels a little more rushed (but still amazingly epic) but every single side quest is a compelling story-driven masterpiece instead. Just a brilliant fantastic experience. If you haven't got it already you have to get this game.
Sonic Mania:
Well Well Well, Every few years a Sonic game gets me. And this is a true love letter to classic Sonic games. Revisits the old favourites with a few new twists, adds in some new levels in the classic style and gives you new character with new skills to play around with. Feels like a true successor to the classic Sonic games (where Sonic 4 failed to be). Interestingly enough this was essentially developed by a fangame team and officially released as part of the 25 year Sonic celebrations - the actual Sonic team released Sonic Forces which was critically panned - maybe I'll look into that one next year
SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics:
What can I say? Sonic reminded me of the old classics so I went backwards and played a few of the old 'Mega Drive' greats. I played a bit of Sonic 2 and Sonic 3, played Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, played all the Streets of Rage games and found I still can't complete Sonic Spinball. Fun games, fun times, but looking a little shallow these days.
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit:
This Life Is Strange story is effectively an interactive teaser for Life Is Strange 2 and its setting. It's the smallest LiS chapter yet, but it definitely is already angling towards 'the feels'. Gone is the rewind time mechanic and in its place we have a series of imagined superhero powers of a small child. Inventive and fun... and definitely hinting toward the future of LiS2.
My horror filled Halloween treat (or trick). Loved the first one and found this to be almost as entertaining, but very different in its own way. For starters it's a semi-open world (or it's trying to be) meaning you have a lot more freedom of movement and exploration than its predecessor. To keep things scary and interesting in this respect it's offset by all kinds of random events that could trigger keeping you on your toes and meaning that the area you just cleared may not be the same as you remember it. The areas themselves are just as creepy and the horror is played pretty well (although perhaps not as well as the first). The story is a lot tighter and concentrated meaning ultimately there far less of a mystery going on and more is spelled out to you, but in turn this means greater meaning and emotional impact to it. Swings and roundabouts in comparison to the first. Strangely completely changed the voice cast too (which I didn't really notice until it was pointed out to me).
Before we have the winner, let's look at the games that haven't made the list:
The 'Also Rans'/'Maybe Next Year' Games:
I did of course play a lot more games than the above but for whatever reason I could not get into or otherwise could not investigate thoroughly enough the following games so here's my list of also rans aka the 'maybe next year' category. These aren't necessarily bad games or games I disliked, just games I've played but can't currently recommend (yet) for whatever reason.Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter:
I started the game and found it interesting and enjoyed the puzzles but for some reason got a little bored and lost interest. The mystery does seem interesting and I liked the detective gameplay so I may be back some day
The Witcher:
The first game in one of the finest franchises in the world... and yet I just couldn't do it. Movement seemed clunky and difficult to handle, combat was awkward and unwieldy...I tried but couldn't make it passed the first few scenes.
The Witcher 2:
I tried to get into it, I really did. But after 20 hours I couldn't take it and moved on to Witcher 3. Everything is so much improved and polished over The Witcher and yet I just couldn't bring myself to continue. Something just didn't click.with me and if I'm honest it bored me a little. Maybe I'll give it a chance again after W3
Dark Souls:
Another heavy hitter that I'll probably be back to. I started it, enjoyed it but when push came to shove I was more engrossed in other games and put it down. I'm sure I'll be persuaded to pick it back up at some point in the future
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series:
With Telltale's demise it was one I had on my wanted list for a while. Started it and found the characters quite entertaining but just didn't get into it enough before getting distracted.
Euro Truck Simulator:
I was learning to drive and it seemed like a good idea at the time. It didn't help and I got stuck getting out of the first compound. Passed my real life driving test and drove a lot better there.
The Crew:
A freebie that I've had for a while. Tbh seems like a very promising semi-open world driving experience...and I don't play enough driving games. Got distracted and didn't get into it enough
Resident Evil 7:
A recommendation from a friend, but just haven't been able to get into it (despite playing through the 'Beginning Hour' preview last year). I found the atmosphere to be foreboding but so far seems less interesting than Evil Within. The initial set up and mystery had caught my attention.. and then I put it down one night and couldn't find where I was meant to be going the next day...and I've been lost ever since.
Mad Max:
Got it cheap looking for something to quell my open-world appetite. It seemed to be a good game, with a lot to do but just didn't get far enough into it and lost interest.
Observer:
A novel Blade Runner inspired cyberpunk sci-fi adventure starring Rutger Hauer, what could go wrong? Just haven't put enough into it before other games came out. So far it seems to have some interesting mechanics and lovely visuals. Strangely I feel Rutger phoned in his lines a little.
Life Is Strange 2:
Well there's only been one episode so far, so it can't join its predecessor yet, but DontNod has returned to LiS, moving the setting and the characters on to create something fresh and new. There's only bit a bit to play with the heartstrings so far, but we'll see how it adds to that through 2019
Assassin's Creed Odyssey:
Got in a winter sale at the start of December and blew away most of the other games I'd been trying to get into and not managing for the latter part of the year (ie everything after Witcher 2 on this list). I'm 50 hours in so far and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface - so expect it to feature next year. Initial impressions are that it starts slower than Origins but soon gets to a happy place where its building in the story along with parts inspired by Black Flag, Origins and The Witcher - and stacking up the RPG elements... to put it mildly I'm already into this and looking forward to see where it goes, but I've not had enough time to fit it in this year - but I know what's gonna start the 2019 list.
And the Winner is.....
Life Is Strange. Really. Seriously though I've played two of the finest games ever created this year in Assassin's Creed Origins and the Witcher 3 - between them I've racked up over 400 hours and had some epic adventures - they are both amazing and have everything a gamer could want and I thoroughly recommend them both ... and yet a comparatively tiny simpler story is the one that stole my heart. Never has a game played my emotions so well - and left me in tears at the end of every episode from 2 onwards. Playing Before The Storm also adds so much to it as well and may just change the perspective on the first. We'll see if LiS2 can live upto it. Until then you simply must own this.
As for 2019, well I'm starting with AC Odyssey and have Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Batman: The Enemy Within on the queue... and I'll see how many I can add back from the also ran list - so we'll see how they all fare next year. Until then, happy new year and hope 2019 is a good one.
With Telltale's demise it was one I had on my wanted list for a while. Started it and found the characters quite entertaining but just didn't get into it enough before getting distracted.
Euro Truck Simulator:
I was learning to drive and it seemed like a good idea at the time. It didn't help and I got stuck getting out of the first compound. Passed my real life driving test and drove a lot better there.
The Crew:
A freebie that I've had for a while. Tbh seems like a very promising semi-open world driving experience...and I don't play enough driving games. Got distracted and didn't get into it enough
Resident Evil 7:
A recommendation from a friend, but just haven't been able to get into it (despite playing through the 'Beginning Hour' preview last year). I found the atmosphere to be foreboding but so far seems less interesting than Evil Within. The initial set up and mystery had caught my attention.. and then I put it down one night and couldn't find where I was meant to be going the next day...and I've been lost ever since.
Mad Max:
Got it cheap looking for something to quell my open-world appetite. It seemed to be a good game, with a lot to do but just didn't get far enough into it and lost interest.
Observer:
A novel Blade Runner inspired cyberpunk sci-fi adventure starring Rutger Hauer, what could go wrong? Just haven't put enough into it before other games came out. So far it seems to have some interesting mechanics and lovely visuals. Strangely I feel Rutger phoned in his lines a little.
Life Is Strange 2:
Well there's only been one episode so far, so it can't join its predecessor yet, but DontNod has returned to LiS, moving the setting and the characters on to create something fresh and new. There's only bit a bit to play with the heartstrings so far, but we'll see how it adds to that through 2019
Assassin's Creed Odyssey:
Got in a winter sale at the start of December and blew away most of the other games I'd been trying to get into and not managing for the latter part of the year (ie everything after Witcher 2 on this list). I'm 50 hours in so far and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface - so expect it to feature next year. Initial impressions are that it starts slower than Origins but soon gets to a happy place where its building in the story along with parts inspired by Black Flag, Origins and The Witcher - and stacking up the RPG elements... to put it mildly I'm already into this and looking forward to see where it goes, but I've not had enough time to fit it in this year - but I know what's gonna start the 2019 list.
And the Winner is.....
Life Is Strange. Really. Seriously though I've played two of the finest games ever created this year in Assassin's Creed Origins and the Witcher 3 - between them I've racked up over 400 hours and had some epic adventures - they are both amazing and have everything a gamer could want and I thoroughly recommend them both ... and yet a comparatively tiny simpler story is the one that stole my heart. Never has a game played my emotions so well - and left me in tears at the end of every episode from 2 onwards. Playing Before The Storm also adds so much to it as well and may just change the perspective on the first. We'll see if LiS2 can live upto it. Until then you simply must own this.
As for 2019, well I'm starting with AC Odyssey and have Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Batman: The Enemy Within on the queue... and I'll see how many I can add back from the also ran list - so we'll see how they all fare next year. Until then, happy new year and hope 2019 is a good one.
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