I can't remember why I missed last year, but this is a fun little thing to do with friends, so let's pick it up again.
I tried to keep it down to games that actually released this year to simplify things a bit.
I'm sure I'd put Undertale, and Legacy of the Void on the list somewhere but unfortunately I just haven't gotten around to playing them, let alone finishing them.
Seeing as this game is the reason I have a PS4, it's likely not at all surprising that it's in my top spot.
I wasn't too much of a Souls fan, even when I started getting into Twitch and mainly just watched Dark Souls speedruns. I could appreciate how difficult the games were, but when I first played Dark Souls 1 I found it nothing but frustrating. Bloodborne had flown completely under my radar when it was announced. I had no idea what it was, or who it was made by until a few of the streamers I had started watching on Twitch all got the game and started playing it. After watching them play the game, I knew I had to have it as soon as possible, and that eagerness to try it for myself didn't die down until I had eventually finished the game.
I didn't have a PS4 when I first played it at a friends house, but I adored the game and only wanted my own copy more after that, luckily I didn't have to wait long before I had it! I transferred my saves over and kept it up, dying over and over of course, but unlike my experience with Dark Souls I could finally see why people loved the From Software games. The frustration that had stopped me from playing the Souls games had become determination. I liked this game so much, I just had to see every part of it, and the sense of accomplishment that came with beating every challenge the game could throw at me made it all the more rewarding. While this games seems simpler, or perhaps just more streamlined than the Souls games, that might be one of the things that drew me to it more than Dark Souls. While there are less weapons, and outfits to choose from, they are almost all completely fine choices when it comes to beating the game. The faster paced combat, and the easier selection of character builds probably makes this the best entry level From Software game. The difficulty is still present in every other aspect it seems.
After I had finished the game several times, with several characters, and played it co-op with a few friends, I played less and less, and eventually stopped. Then the DLC came out...
The Old Hunters DLC for the game features more than one of the games 'best' bosses, and a multitude of new delightfully absurd weapons to maim beasts with. The OST is great, and particularly brilliant in a certain DLC boss fight. The low-key story elements give an air of mystery to the dark, and disturbing world of Bloodborne, and the lore is fairly interesting. Should you look deep enough into it, it's likely it would lead you to numerous insights and details in the game that might surprise, and perhaps even make things seem more disturbing and gruesome than you had first imagined.
All I have to say is that after playing this, I'm very much looking forward to playing Dark Souls 3.
Kind of cheating with this one since the first episode came out in 2014, but the last episode came out in October this year, and it's the game as a whole that earns it a spot this high on the list.
My 2013 list had two Telltale games on it, so it shouldn't be a surprise that what is probably considered their best game of this style so far would make an appearance.
After the last few Telltale games having a much more serious tone it was refreshing to have this one be as silly, and funny as it was all the way through. The best part was that none of that goofiness took away from the more exciting/intense moments, and perhaps even made them hit all the harder when they did come. Overall the characters, and events in Tales from the Borderlands felt more engaging than those in previous Telltale games, and all of it works so well within the Borderlands universe.
And the opening credits sequences for all five episodes are, dare I say it, better than the actual Borderlands openings.
I avoided this game for a while because I knew I would enjoy it, but I was afraid I would enjoy it 'too' much. There just seemed to be so much to it that I knew I would want to go and collect every little thing, and do every single mission perfectly with complete stealth. Luckily it didn't grab me to the degree I had feared, but it certainly grabbed me.
It can be hard to appreciate a Metal Gear game until you've actually played it, and this one just offers so many ways to do things, even if it may not look it. I've had a great time with this game so far, and I haven't even gotten too far through it just yet. I've been completing all the side missions as I go, and I'll probably come back to try and S rank them all at some point after I've finished the game. I spent a few days just playing this constantly, and I'm taking a break for now, but I can't wait to get through the story and see what crazy Metal Gear stuff is going to come up.
The base building, and combat deployment specifically can get a bit tedious, although it does seem like an optional thing. I just can't stay away, I have to do it all.
If nothing else, the attention to detail in some parts of the game, and the ridiculous things you can do should get a good smile out of you.
I loooove this game, and while I haven't had too many chances to play it with others so far, I'm more than glad to have it sitting here ready to go for when the opportunity does come. Somehow I've managed to convince two other friends who own the game to form a little bomb defusing team with me in the hopes that we'll eventually be able to defuse bombs without the manual.
I've been practicing solo without the manual and playing the song "Non je ne regrette rien" along with a 2 minute 30 second bomb set to hardcore, with 7+ modules, and hoh boy does it get intense when you get stuck on a module you know you can actually do. As the song picks up, the red lights in the room start flashing, and it really gets to you, it's remarkable. All I need now is a VR headset to step it up another notch.
I went into SOMA not expecting all that much, having played both the Amnesia games. I broke my rule of only playing at night with the lights off and a headset on, but I had to buy the game on PS4 instead of PC and rarely had the room to myself unfortunately. I feel like this is a better game than the first Amnesia was overall, not only because of the environments, and setting, but because of the way the world is set up, and explored. You meet others, and have friends in this game, but it still manages to make you feel alone or disconnected somewhat, even a little more-so than Amnesia did, or at the very least in a different way. The themes are interesting, and the game forces you to acknowledge these themes throughout the story, driving you to do things that may be hard to feel sure of. I found myself not sure how I should feel about a decision I'd just made several times throughout the game. Usually I didn't feel good about it, but it really got me thinking, and that was cool. It's keeps you going at a good pace, and the voice acting adds to the game a whole lot more than it might take away for some.
I'm a big fan of Resident Evil, and having the first game on PS1 as my first and favourite of them all, I'm a big fan of Barry Burton, who made an appearance as a playable character along with his daughter Moira. Before this game was announced I also wished more would be revealed about the Wesker children, specifically Albert's only surviving 'sibling', and that came true too in the same game! Claire is also a badass.
While I liked the theme in this game of several subjects stuck on an island of horrors while having to resist giving in to fear, and the concept of the time difference between Claire, and Barry's campaigns, I very much enjoyed the setting and atmosphere of the first Revelations game more.
I can't quite put my finger one what it is specifically, but something felt lost between Revelations 1, and 2. Perhaps it was the menu's, or the way items and weapons were dealt with, but the most obvious thing would probably be the companions. While I never intended to play the game co-op much, at least in the campaign, the issues they had with the co-op seemed a little ridiculous given that the campaign, and companions were designed with co-op in mind. While I don't dislike the idea of the asymmetrical co-op, and being able to switch between characters in solo play, it certainly took away from the single player experience to the degree that I still prefer the first game.
Revelations 2 did improve on the Raid mode to some degree however, although something about the way it was presented made me miss certain things from the first game as well. The actual gameplay of the mode felt better, but it made me miss the setting, and atmosphere of Revelations 1 even more. They had to make the levels much shorter as well, and their reason for it makes perfect sense, but I was a big fan of the enormous Raid mode maps from the first game, and having two people running around them on their own.
I can't say I'm a fan of Fallout. I really couldn't get into Fallout 3, but the E3 reveal of Fallout 4 got me excited, because I had 'wanted' to get into Fallout 3 and enjoy it, and 4 seemed to be more along the lines of what I was looking for. Whether it's the updated look, improved systems (gunplay, leveling, etc.), voiced protagonist, or all of them together, Fallout 4 is a significantly more enjoyable experience for someone who didn't like Fallout 3.
I've never been one to power my way through these kinds of games, and I'll generally slow down to the point I'll just stop playing, but I feel confident that I'll keep on coming back to Fallout 4 to slowly and steadily 'complete' it, and I'm comfortable in knowing I have a game I can come back to at any point, take my time with it, and still enjoy it.
It's a Call of Duty game. Need I say more?
I haven't played any COD games in a good while, so I figured it was time to give the series a shot again when I found myself craving an FPS, and heard that the Black Ops 3 zombie mode featured it's own exp progression, and Jeff Goldblum doing an all too hilarious voice.
Everything about this game looked so amazing when I initially saw it on Kickstarter, and it only looked better and better as time went on. The devs were great with updates and the like, and a few tracks in the OST just lured me in all the more.
Once the game came out, I was delighted, and I very much enjoy playing it, although I found myself not getting into it as much as I expected, especially after that initial hype.
I think perhaps I would enjoy it more if I had gotten it on a tablet.
Going with another technicality on this one seeing as it came out as one of the very first emulated PS2 games for the PS4.
As one of my favourite PS2 games, and one of my favourite games growing up, I still love this game a lot and always enjoy playing through it again and again over the years, and now it has trophies I can get!
It might just be the nostalgia, but I enjoy just about every little thing about this game right down to the silly little quick time events.
