We’re all hoping for a better year in 2021. This will be our first full year with the next generation of consoles courtesy of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, with confirmed sequels like Horizon Forbidden West and Halo Infinite, and not-so-confirmed sequels like the next God of War, and the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Here are the top ten games I’m most excited about as of January 2021, including a few delayed games you may recognize from last year’s list.
What can I say about 2020 that hasn’t already been said? It’s been a shit year, shadowed by a still-ongoing global pandemic that affects everything in our lives.
With social distancing, video games became more important than ever. This year saw the release of new consoles from Sony and Microsoft, a monumental occasion that only happens once every five or six years. The Nintendo Switch continues to dominate, though you’ll find far fewer Switch games on this year’s list compared to last year.
Indie gaming remained my bread and butter – especially a stellar run in the middle of the year when I live streamed new releases like Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Desperados 3, and XCOM: Chimera Squad.
Before we begin my Game of the Year countdown, let’s take a look at my Most Anticipated Games list from January. Here’s a reminder:
Four of them I wouldn’t play this year. With everything going on, I wasn’t ever in the mood for the bleak violence of The Last of Us Part 2. Empire of Sin and Warcraft 3 Reforged both received poor reviews to keep me at bay. Only FF7R did I just not have time to pick up. Oops!
That leaves only three other games on this list that I did play – and all three made my list!
Without further delay, here are my top ten games of 2020.
My Top Ten Games of 2020
10) Streets of Rage 4
Side-scrolling Beat ‘Em Ups were all the rage in the early 90s, and the Streets of Rage series was always the best – I still own my copy of Streets of Rage 3 on the Sega Genesis.
Streets of Rage 4 is the beautiful marriage of classic game design with modern sensibilities, like retrying a level at the cost of a lower score, rather than a Game Over screen. Fun story, attractive art, unlockable skins, and a killer soundtrack makes this everything I wanted from a sequel, in a series I didn’t know I wanted more of.
9) Monster Train
Monster Train is this year’s Slay the Spire, a roguelike deckbuilder that sucks hours of my life as I unlock new cards and try new strategies. Unlike Slay the Spire, Monster Train focuses on fewer but more meaningful battles, with three different lanes to play monsters and spells, and defend against those awful angelic armies.
Multiple factions focus on different strategies, like the tanky, defensive Awakened or the spell-focused Stygians, and each run includes choices on upgrades, artifacts, and random events. The one thing holding it back – it’s currently only on PC, and would make an awesome Switch game.
8) Journey to the Savage Planet
I’ll forgive if you missed this first-person sci-fi adventure back in January, but know this, Journey to the Savage Planet is one of the best games of the year. It’s basically Metroid Prime with a much cheerier disposition, and focuses on exploration over combat.
It’s a metroidvania where you gradually acquire upgrades and new tools to explore new regions and alien landscapes filled with secrets. It’s also legitimately funny and features two player co-op. One of the most underrated games of the year.
7) XCOM: Chimera Squad
Chimera Squad was the biggest surprise for me this year. An XCOM spin-off that was only $10 on release? Chimera Squad replaces the custom, killable soldiers of the main series with integral party members, each with their own set of skills, not unlike an RPG.
The story is set in an interesting post-war time period that sees aliens and humans trying to work together amidst domestic terrorism. The scaled-down combat still leaves me wanting a proper XCOM 3, but Chimera Squad remains a successful and enjoyable spin-off.
6) Desperados 3
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun was on my Top Ten list back in 2016. Developer Mimimi returned with Desperados 3, which is basically the same real-time stealth-tactics game in a Western setting.
The story and characters continue to impress and keep me engaged, and each of the large, lengthy missions are intricately designed for multiple viable strategies. With lighting-fast reloads, it’s a stealth game that rewards experimentation and puzzle-solving.
5) Cyberpunk 2077
A lot has been said about Cyberpunk 2077. The oft-delayed, open-world, sci-fi RPG-shooter launched with a bevy of bugs that sets a new low standard for preorders, rendering the last-gen console experience nigh unplayable. Thankfully I’m playing on a mid-range PC and, despite some glaring flaws and limitations, am enjoying the hell out of this game.
Night City features a ridiculous amount of content on every city block, the perk system makes leveling fun, and I’m really enjoying the main campaign and all the quirky characters I get to work with. This is not cyberpunk via Skyrim or Grand Theft Auto, and the hype was grossly misplaced, but it’s well-deserving of a spot on my Top Ten list.
4) Ori and the Will of the Wisps
It’s been five long years since I fell in love with Ori and the Blind Forest. Ori and the Will of the Wisps meets and exceeds all my expectations for a sequel, with the same lovely art style and emotional storytelling of a forest spirit on a grand adventure.
The sequel maintains the fluid platforming that defines the metroidvania series while providing a ton of new abilities and weapons, and the welcome feature of quickly swapping loadouts. We’re also provided with a much richer world, with actual NPCs to interact with and complete quests for, along with a hub area to build up to earn rewards. Giving me exactly what I want, along with welcome new features, is the definition of an excellent sequel.
3) Immortals Fenyx Rising
Yes, Immortals Fenyx Rising is Ubisoft’s unapologetic clone of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It says something about my gaming tastes when Immortals ranks #3 on my game of the year list (Breath of the Wild was my #1 in 2017).
It checks all the right boxes for a Zelda-like open-world adventure: dozens of mini-challenge dungeons, nearly endless collectables that increase health and stamina, and a colorful world with the perfect amount of distracting content at every distance. The writing is also delightfully funny and cute thanks to our omniscient narrators, Zeus and Prometheus, and Greek Mythology is always a fun theme to explore in a game.
2) Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
Xenoblade Chronicles technically released back in 2010, but this HD remaster released in 2020, and I played it for the first time, and it’s making my top ten list, damn it. While I loved JRPGs back in the 90s, I’ve fallen off since then, with very few exceptions. I adored Xenoblade Chronicles X back in 2015, and with the Definitive Edition, finally had a great excuse to experience the original game.
I was not disappointed. I love the MMO-style zones and real-time, cool-down based combat. I missed the bigger open-world, giant mechs, and plethora of exchangeable party members of Xenoblade Chronicles X, but the original features a much, much better story with more memorable characters. I recently picked up Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as it’s looking like I finally found a modern JRPG series that I enjoy.
1) Hades
I’ve been a fan of Supergiant Games since Bastion, and both it and Transistor made my game of the year lists in their respective years. Pyre fell short for me, but Hades has to be my new favorite game from one of the best indie developers around.
Hades is a roguelike arena brawler. As the angsty son of Hades, Zagreus is trying to escape the underworld. On each run he can choose from one of six weapons, acquiring many different abilities, buffs, and bonuses from Greek gods and other infamous characters. In a smart evolution of the roguelike genre, death is common, but the story marches forward as you learn more about Zagreus’ plight and the tales of those around him.
Supergiant’s exemplary art, music, and character design has never been better – who would have thought an indie roguelike would feature one of the more gripping stories of the year? Even successfully completing a run doesn’t end the story, motivating me to continue to talk to my compatriots, unlock more abilities, and experiment with an endless combinations of weapon attacks and bonuses.
Honorable Mentions:Fae Tactics, Iratus: Lord of the Dead, Genshin Impact
End of Year Awards
Most Played:Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (overall it was my 3rd most played this year, behind older games Pillars of Eternity 2 and Persona 5)
Best Multiplayer: Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
Best Cooperative Game: Animal Crossing: New Horizon
Biggest Surprise: XCOM: Chimera Squad
Most Disappointing: Dungeon Defenders Awakened
Best Early Access/Beta Game: Baldur’s Gate 3
Best Original Music:Streets of Rage 4
Best Art Design: Hades
Best World Building/Atmosphere: Cyberpunk 2077
Best Writing: Hades
Best Game Nobody Else Played: Fae Tactics
Most Improved Sequel: Wasteland 3
Favorite New Game Mechanic: Talking to the denizens of the House of Hades between runs.
Most Innovative: Hades
Best New Character: Megara, Achilles, Nyx, Theseus…basically everyone from Hades.
Favorite Moment: Beating Hades the first time
Best Industry Trend: Greek Mythology
Worst Industry Trend: Unavailable new consoles!
Didn’t Have Time to Play: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
Too Long; Didn’t Finish: Cyberpunk 2077
Favorite 2019 Game of 2020: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
There are video games releasing in 2020, and I know at least ten of them.
There’s still so much we don’t know about 2020 in the gaming world, but we do know it’s going to be huge, with both Sony and Microsoft launching new consoles this holiday. So many launch games have yet to be formerly announced, while big games releasing in the first half of the year have been in development for a very long time, including Cyberpunk 2077, The Last of Us Part 2, and the Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
As of mid-January 2020, here are my top ten most anticipated games of the year.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year – when game journalists come together to provide their hot takes on Game of the Year! I’ve been doing a personal top ten list for years, and enjoy comparing them to my Most Anticipated lists (from January) and Mid-Year lists (from June). I like lists.
Before we kick things off, let’s review my Most Anticipated Games of 2019 list, published January 2019. Keep in mind many games that released in 2019 weren’t even announced yet, while others were delayed into 2020.
Pokémon Sword and Shield
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Desperado 3
The Outer Worlds
Warcraft 3: Reforged
Anthem
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Wargroove
Kingdom Hearts 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
I also published a Top Five Games of Mid-2019 list in June, which is usually a pretty strong indicator for my final top ten list:
Wargroove
Steamworld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech
Slay the Spire
Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest
Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark
Finally, here were my top five most anticipated games for the second half of 2019 (alphabetical) as of June 2019:
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Borderlands 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
Pokémon Sword and Shield
Now it’s time for my final end of year ranking. It was a heated battle for my favorite game of the year in 2019. For the first time ever I made it through the year without a clear #1, but in the end came away with a satisfying answer.
My Top Ten Games of 2019
10) Remnant: From the Ashes
Remnant: From the Ashes squeaked onto my top ten list at the last second, when my friends and I realized we hadn’t been playing any co-op games in awhile, and picked it up during the Steam Autumn Sale. Remnant is a game I have a yet to play single-player, and have no real desire to try, but I’ve had an excellent time playing cooperatively. It’s best described as Left 4 Dead meets Dark Souls; challenging, intricate third-person combat, with an important focus on watching your teammates’ backs. Some boss battles alone have taken us entire evenings to conquer, but we always have a good time doing it.
9) Planet Zoo
Even an impressive, well-polished zoo theme park game can’t quite compete to my love of dinosaurs with Frontier’s Jurassic Park Evolution (My #6 Game of 2018), but Planet Zoo is certainly good enough to warrant a spot on my Top Ten list. Planet Zoo combines the advanced animal AI from JPE with the advanced park management and customization from Planet Coaster, making it Frontier’s most impressive park sim to date. Planet Zoo‘s animal AI is as impressive as it is maddening, turning a theme park sim into part-time babysitting, but I can’t help but love the attention to detail, the emphasis on conservation and education, the gorgeous graphics, and multiple gameplay modes.
8) SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech
I’ve enjoyed Image & Form’s previous SteamWorld games, and respected the hell out of the fact that they’re all different genres, from Metroidvania to 2D XCOM. SteamWorld Quest is yet another genre, combining satisfying deckbuilding and card battling within a brightly colored side-scrolling RPG. It’s well-balanced and perfectly paced at around 20 hours, leading to one of the rare card games that actually has a legit story and characters.
7) Slay the Spire
Of all the games on my Top Five Mid-Year list, Slay the Spire is the only one I’ve gone back to play since, and I a big reason is because it’s the perfect game to play on the Switch. The rogue-like deckbuilder is incredibly addicting and balanced to a razor’s edge for each of the three classes. I love playing through a run while cooking dinner and watching TV, testing out new strategies and card synergies, and seeing how far I get. I may not end up dumping dozens of hours into it, but I do plan on playing this one off and on throughout the next year.
6) Pokémon Sword and Shield
It’s no secret that the first main-line Pokémon game on a home console has been divisive for fans. Hell I wrote up a list of all the things I love – and hate, about Pokémon Sword and Shield. But there’s no denying that I’ve enjoyed the hell out of my time with the game. The Wild Area alone is amazing, a tantalizing tease of a truly open-world Pokémon game that I’ve been dreaming about for years, spending hours just wandering around catching pokémon, and the new Gen 8 pokémon are some of the best we’ve had in several generations. If Sword and Shield are the start of a new era of Pokemon games, we have a lot to be excited about.
5) Wargroove
My favorite game of the mid-year fell a few places to the more flashier AAA games of the latter half, but Wargroove is still a phenomenal strategy game. It completely rips off Advance Wars in all the right ways, from its pixelated art style to its hard counter units, but with an original story and fantasy world filled with fun characters and factions. The campaign is astonishingly huge, and that’s on top of skirmish modes, puzzle modes, and a level editor, for all the pixelated warfare you could ask for.
4) Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
I didn’t know what to expect from the Switch-exclusive third game in a series that hadn’t seen a release in ten years. I loved the co-op beat ’em up Marvel Ultimate Alliance games and X-Men Legends games from the GameCube and PS2 era. I’m more than pleased to reveal my undying love for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.
MUA 3 captures exactly what I loved about the older games – a customizable team of dozens of Marvel superheroes battling waves of bad guys, with just enough RPG elements, powers, and challenges to keep me locked in. MUA 3 dropped the ball a bit with its horrendous camera when playing couch co-op, otherwise this could have easily been my #1 game of the year.
3) Age of Wonders: Planetfall
As soon as Triumph Studios announced their next Age of Wonders game, it rocketed near the top of my Most Anticipated list. Age of Wonders 3 (2014) was a fantastic turn-based strategy game that revitalized the series, and Age of Wonders: Planetfall did not disappoint. The sci-fi strategy game keeps the solid 4x strategy while streamlining colonization with sectors and expanding the tactical depth of combat, along with a meaty campaign mode. Also, the factions include undead cyborgs and amazons riding laser-mounted alien dinosaurs – hell yes.
2) The Outer Worlds
When Fallout: New Vegas released in 2010, we knew Obsidian Entertainment was capable of crafting an excellent Fallout RPG off of Bethesda’s first-person open-world style. The Outer Worlds is proof that they can make their own first-person RPG, and it’s a damn good one.
The Outer Worlds brilliantly combines the best parts of Mass Effect (memorable party members; zipping around to different planets) and Fallout (snarky world poking fun at capitalism; rewarding exploration and slow-mo combat) to create a game that’s the opposite of innovative, but a very enjoyable AAA experience. All of this works because it has legitimately great writing, with party members I actually cared about, and a shockingly down to earth story that doesn’t rely on big bad killer robots or genocidal aliens. Best of all, it distills all the good parts of those big RPGs down to a very well-paced 20-30 hour game.
1) Borderlands 3
Borderlands 3 is an amazing game and a worthy sequel to one of the best games of the previous generation. The writing isn’t quite up to the high standards set by Borderlands 2 (and its equally excellent DLC), but the new characters are solid, and the gameplay offers tons of welcome improvements, such as multiple (and customizable) abilities per character, separate loot tables for parties, and alt firing modes on top of the ridiculous amount of guns. The threequel smartly doesn’t try to fix what sure as hell wasn’t broken: fantastic co-op looter-shooter gameplay.
The Borderlands series means a lot to my wife and me, and we actually played through all of Borderlands 2 again before Borderlands 3 came out. I’ve played BL3 for 50 hours so far, and 40 of those hours have been with split-screen co-op, and have enjoyed every minute of it. Borderlands 3 is my #1 game of the year.
2019 End of Year Awards
Most Played: Fire Emblem: Three Houses (68 hours)
Best Multiplayer: Apex Legends
Best Cooperative Game: Remnant: From the Ashes
Biggest Surprise: Remnant: From the Ashes
Most Disappointing: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Best Early Access/Beta Game: Gloomhaven
Best Original Music: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Best Art Design: SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech
Best World Building/Atmosphere: Borderlands 3
Best Writing: The Outer Worlds
Best Game Nobody Else Played: Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest
Most Improved Sequel: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
Favorite New Game Mechanic: The Wild Area (Pokémon Sword and Shield)
Most Innovative: Slay the Spire
Best New Character: Parvati (The Outer Worlds)
Favorite Moment: Helping Parvati with the perfect date (The Outer Worlds)
Best Industry Trend: Multiple Big Nintendo Switch game releases in the Summer!
Worst Industry Trend: BioWare, are you okay?
Didn’t Have Time to Play: Phoenix Point
Too Long; Didn’t Finish: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Favorite 2018 Game of 2019: The Bard’s Tale 4: Director’s Cut
Every year is a great year for gaming, but 2018 in particular was full of big payoffs for blockbuster games like Marvel’s Spider-Man, God of War, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Red Dead Redemption II.
Despite working as a freelance writer who covers games, I definitely didn’t play all the games I wanted to this year. But I still came away with a list of 10 fantastic games that I absolutely loved.
This was the year I finally acquired a Switch, though not until November. As everyone already knows it’s a great system and the gaming world feels better with Nintendo succeeding. You definitely saw some Switch games on my Top Ten list!
On the flip side, the Nintendo 3DS has been all but retired, and this is the first time in years at least one 3DS game isn’t on my game of the year list.
Metroidvanias and roguelikes are two of the most overused genres, and buzzwords, in indie gaming, but it’s still a genre I tend to love. Dead Cells is anything but a tiresome retread, pulling the best elements of both genres into an instantly likable neon art style of colorful death.
I’m an easy target for any game that features tactical, XCOM-like turn-based combat. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden had the dubious potential to become a budget XCOM – which I probably still would have enjoyed. But by combining solid tactical gameplay with rewarding stealth mechanics and shockingly good voice acting Road to Eden carves its own space in the genre.
Pokémon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! are charming and delightful recreations of the original Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow games. Adventuring through a fully 3D Kanto is a delicious nostalgia fest but it’s the little improvements that really kept me hooked, like being able to swap your party out on field, drop-in co-op, and not having to teach the critical Hidden Machine skills just to get around.
Thanks to its incredibly immersive atmosphere, haunting string soundtrack and compelling writing. Frostpunk is more than just a thematic city builder. It’s one of the best games of the year.
I admit that 2016’s Planet Coaster is ostensibly a better, and more robust theme park game, but I’m a huge sucker for dinosaurs and Jurassic World Evolution is the closest thing to a Jurassic Park dream game I’ve been waiting over a decade for.
Out of all the games on this list Into the Breach is the one I plan on returning to the most. Its delicate tactical balance splashed with just the right amount of RPG elements make it more than a worthy follow-up to Subset Games’ previous hit, FTL.
It may be too early to tell if Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the best of the series, but it’s certainly one of the best games of the year. With over 70 fighters, 100 stages and hundreds and hundreds of music tracks it’s well-deserving of its ‘Ultimate’ designation.
If you’ve ever sighed wistfully and declared that they don’t make them like they used to in regards to traditional RPGs, Dragon Quest 11 is here to grab you by the arm and usher you into a gloriously sincere world of monsters and charm.
If I had to choose one single game from the last console generation as my absolute favorite, there’s an excellent chance I would settle on Red Dead Redemption. Rockstar Game’s sequel is bigger and deeper than anyone could have imagined.
I never expected to like this game, let alone fall in love with it. After my first week of playing I feverishly told my friends they had to pick it up, and what followed was dozens of hours of both solo and cooperative greatness as we mastered our favorite weapons, familiarized ourselves with the colorful hunting grounds, and studied the deadly dance of each monster so we could craft better gear and do it all again.
Every year in January I publish my top ten most anticipated games of the year. Now it’s payoff time as we get to remark on how close – or embarrassingly far off, my predictions were!
Four out of ten made my Game of the Year list – same as last year! Three of these games didn’t come out this year: Bloodstained, Spelunky, and Griftlands.
That leaves us with three games: Pillars of Eternity 2, State of Decay 2, and The Bard’s Tale 4.
Out of those three I only played one of them. Despite the first Pillars of Eternity being my #1 Game of the Year in 2015, the sequel shockingly failed to grab me in a meaningful way. I actually replayed part of Pillars 1, along with The White March DLC (part 1 anyway) to prep for the sequel.
But when I finally got around to playing Pillars 2, I just didn’t get sucked in like I was expecting, and the whole pirate/ship theme is a bit jarring. Thus, Pillars 2 wins the rather dubious honor of being my most disappointing game of the year. It’s not a bad game, but I was expecting it to be one my favorites of the year.
As for the other two, I didn’t play them. I read mixed things about State of Decay 2, a game that has been on my most anticipated lists for years (I LOVED the first one). But I also don’t have a modern Xbox console and I’m not super keen to use the Windows 10 store.
As for Bard’s Tale 4, I just didn’t have time for you (winning another dubious award). So many games, so little time! I’m still very interested in how this one plays and really want to try it next year.
I also publish a Mid-Year list in June, celebrating my top five games, as well as my five most anticipated games for the latter half.
The mobile game Jurassic World Alive fell off for me as I actually got back into Pokémon GO thanks to Pokémon: Let’s Go. The rest remained strong going into the finals, with no game able to dethrone the greatness of Monster Hunter: World.
Here were my top five most anticipated games for the second half of 2018 (alphabetical):
The Bard’s Tale IV
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Fallout 76
Red Dead Redemption II
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Red Dead and Smash are obvious inclusions. Bard’s Tale and Bloodstained were Kickstarter games I’d been looking forward to, and both I already mentioned above.
As for Fallout, well, I’m a big Fallout fan but Fallout 76 appears to have some major issues as Bethesda stumbles a bit with its first multiplayer game. Given all the very excellent multiplayer games and modes that released this year, I’m okay with skipping it.
2018 End of Year Awards
Most Played: Monster Hunter: World (102 hrs)
Best Multiplayer: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Best Cooperative Game: Monster Hunter: World
Biggest Surprise: Monster Hunter: World
Most Disappointing: Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
Best Early Access/Beta Game: N/A this year!
Best Original Music: Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
Best Soundtrack: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Best Art Design: Dead Cells
Best World Building/Atmosphere: Red Dead Redemption II
Best Writing: Red Dead Redemption II
Best Game Nobody Else Played: Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
Most Improved Sequel:Monster Hunter: World
Favorite New Game Mechanic: Swapping out Pokémon on the fly in Pokémon: Let’s Go
Most Innovative: Into the Breach
Best New Character: Sylvando (Dragon Quest 11)
Favorite Moment: Drinking with Lenny in Valentine (Red Dead Redemption 2)
Best Industry Trend: Fantastic AAA single player games
Worst Industry Trend: Nintendo’s disappointing online functionality
Didn’t Have Time to Play: The Bard’s Tale IV
Too Long; Didn’t Finish: Red Dead Redemption II
Favorite 2017 Game of 2018: Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Backlogged Games Finished in 2018
A new section I’m adding to my already lengthy year end post – the backlogged games I played (and hopefully finished) this year. I never have enough time to play through my backlog, but this year I made a better effort than the last few years.
My biggest accomplishment was playing through every single Uncharted game, having never before played a single game in the series. Hit the link for my Final Thoughts on each game.
Darkest Dungeon (Let’s Play series, Final Thoughts still forthcoming!)
Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part 1 (No Final Thoughts for DLC)
My top ten favorite games of the year, presented in ascending order each day leading into the holidays. Look for my full Top Ten list with categories and awards on December 24!
Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Platforms: PS4, XBO, PC
While there were some excellent surprises on my Game of the Year list, none reached the incredible dark horse status of Monster Hunter: World. This was a series that I’d never cared much about. I last dabbled in the series with Monster Hunter Tri on Wii a decade ago only to bounce off hard.
I never expected to like this game, let alone fall in love with it. After my first week of playing I feverishly told my friends they had to pick it up, and what followed was dozens of hours of both solo and cooperative greatness as we mastered our favorite weapons, familiarized ourselves with the colorful hunting grounds, and studied the deadly dance of each monster so we could craft better gear and do it all again.
With Monster Hunter: World I finally understand the appeal of the entire Dark Souls subgenre of action-RPGs: densely detailed game design that requires intimate knowledge of enemies, weapons, and attack animations. Over a dozen weapons provide different styles that completely change how we approach a fight. Every monster has predictable attack patterns and behavior, yet all still provide a dynamic and exciting challenge – especially when nearby monsters are thrown into the mix.
The crafting loop creates a constant and steady stream of rewarding progression while rarely feeling frustrating due to rare drops, at least until the very late game. The main campaign alone lasts over 50 hours, and then you can do it all again but with a fun remixed version of more powerful monsters in different locations. In total I logged over 100 hours into Monster Hunter: World, easily making it my most played game of the year, and much of that with cooperative multiplayer.
Sure the main story is threadbare. They didn’t exactly prioritize the cringey writing or voice acting. And that Zorah Magdaros campaign mission is probably the most laughably awful designed mission in an otherwise stellar experience. The primary appeal is choosing your randomized mission of varying risk and reward and jumping in to a dangerous zone of killer monsters and hazards, which satisfies all my online cooperative multiplayer in a way few modern games seem to be able to.
More than any other game on this list Monster Hunter: World created the most Oh Shit moments, such as fighting a T-Rex only to have a dragon swoop in and carry it off, or fighting a pair of dragons together only to knock them over a cliff by triggering an avalanche of water. It’s a game that cuts out all the middling parts of an action-RPG, leaving only the bombastic, imminently satisfying boss battles.
I hope to return to Monster Hunter: World again in the future but even if I’ve fully retired, it’s more than earned its place as my favorite game of 2018.
My top ten favorite games of the year, presented in ascending order each day leading into the holidays. Look for my full Top Ten list with categories and awards on December 24!
Developer: Rockstar Games Publisher: Rockstar Games Platforms: PS4, XBO
If I had to choose one single game from the last console generation as my absolute favorite, there’s an excellent chance I would settle on Red Dead Redemption. Rockstar Game’s sequel is bigger and deeper than anyone could have imagined.
I’m normally not a big fan of prequels, yet Red Dead Redemption left an intriguing backstory: the fall of the Dutch Van Der Linde gang. Red Dead Redemption II is set ten years earlier, with John Marston one of a whole group of people who live outside the towns and outside the law, unified by unflinching loyalty and camaraderie, even as their world view, and leadership, come crashing down around them.
It’s hard not to fall in love with the Van Der Linde gang. The main story runs everyone through an emotional journey filled with terrifying depravity, exciting dangers, and delightfully quiet moments of celebration and joy. New protagonist Arthur Morgan is a likably sturdy compass, a pragmatic warrior-poet amid the unfolding chaos and eccentric characters around him.
Red Dead 2 isn’t just an open world playground nor a Western-themed GTA. It’s far more introspective and realistic, at least as realistic as a game that lets you pay your way out of mass murder can be. Everything is painstakingly detailed and boldly time-consuming, from brushing and feeding your horse to cooking meat over a campfire to browsing through old-timey catalogs to purchase provisions, clothes, and ammunition. More than anything Red Dead 2 is a true Western simulator while still keeping all the fun gameplay bits that Rockstar is known for.
You’re given the freedom to rob trains, search for buried treasure, track down bounties, clean out a poker table, hunt and track dozens of wild animals, take a bath, fish with friends, and enjoy the countless emergent events and stories that pop up while you travel. And there will be travel – Red Dead 2‘s map is ridiculously huge, and even fits in almost the entirety of the original Red Dead’s map on top of it.
Red Dead 2 easily features some of the best writing, voice acting, and production values of any game this year. Some of my favorite moments in the game didn’t involve a single gun shot, such as the surreal, Guy Ritchie-esque drunken revelry with Lenny in Valentine, or the several camp celebrations where the group comes together to sing, dance, and share stories. It truly makes you feel like you are part of a living, breathing world that’s a joy to spend time in, no matter what you’re doing.
Rockstar is a unique company that only releases one or two games each generation, and those games often make a very big splash. Despite the anticipation, Red Dead Redemption 2 went well beyond my expectations for my dream Western game.
