Hello hi!

Something something another year, another list. Something something I should blog more, something something little time. Heck.

Videogames happened this year and I played a lot of them. Cutting this list down to 10 games was painful; it omits a lot of stuff I really, really enjoyed. Games like Amplitude, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Firewatch, Obduction, The Witness, etc. I wrote a few words about the ones that did make the list, and you can read that here:

Forza Horizon 3 is a fantastic racing game in a generation of games that sorely lacks them. The Australian outback is a great environment to speed through and the driving feels as tight, fresh, and fun as it always has. Playground Games has arcade racing down to a science.

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Though more puzzle game than shooter at heart, SUPERHOT evoked the same kind of novelty that I felt when playing Portal for the first time. Similarly clever in every way, replacing only the “I’m so smart!” feeling by “I’m so fuckin’ badass.”

SUPERHOT also deserves recognition alone for its chat window, single-question secrets game-within-a-game, something I found almost more compelling than the base game itself.

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Thumper is fucking stressful. Thumper is fucking exhilarating. Thumper is fucking relentless. Thumper is fucking terrifying. Thumper VR is even moreso. Thumper is not the kind of rhythm game I love most, but Thumper is a fucking genius game.

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There were two games this year that had me in a constant itch to come back--the constant voice in the back of your mind that goes “Just one more, come on”--and Devil Daggers was by far the most aggressive of the two. I never got past the 170~ second mark in both V1 and V2 iterations but the thrill of making it that far every time is a feeling few games replicated this year.

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Uncharted 4 doesn’t… feel… real? When you’re not turning down the difficulty and all assists to get through the same tired, annoying, monotonous gunplay, it’s a remarkable achievement in narrative. The cutscenes have actors, the locations feel real, the writing feels human. I finished Uncharted 4 and had to lie down because I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d ever see a story that compelling again.

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Rez Infinite more or less gets on this list solely for being Rez. If you’ve played Rez, you know why it’s here and if you’re reading this, you probably already know that Rez is my all-time favorite game. So, naturally, it should come as no surprise to you that a VR remake of the game is on this list, or that Area X is as surreal and incredible an experience as I hoped it’d be.

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The only reason I’m typing this list is because I needed to take a break from The Division. I clocked 29 hours in the game over the first week of my holiday break and I look forward to so many more. There’s so much to list about why I like the game but more than anything, I enjoy being in that world. Oppressively bleak as it is, it’s filled with personality and stories that I can’t help but uncover.

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Dark Souls III isn’t my favorite Souls game and it’s not what I’d consider to be the best in the series, but it’s a finale to the series that left me feeling exactly how I wanted to. I didn’t want more, I didn’t want it go on, and I didn’t feel like I hadn’t had my fill. It was more of the same with some new ideas, some of the best bosses, themes, and areas series-wide. By the time it was over, I felt complete, my journey through that world finally at its end. Considering the uncertain territory the series’ sequels and expansions have traversed, I couldn’t ask for more.

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BT is my best friend.

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If we were to rank this list as "experiences of the year" and not "games", then Google Earth VR would be at the top of the list by an immeasurable distance. It's unfortunately something that's difficult to convey with text or video—it really only clicks once you see it for yourself. The profound effect of seeing the entire world in front of you, capable of travelling wherever you want to go... it's immense. It means something. Sure, the data isn't all there and the trees look abstract, but it feels real. The places feel right. If you go somewhere familiar, it doesn't look like you're viewing it through a lens. It truly, honestly feels real.

VR, gimmicky and possibly futile as it is doomed to be, is real. It's real, it's promise is real, and Google Earth VR is the first thing to really drive that home. Shooting galleries and fun social experiences are fun and made my purchase of the Vive worth it, but this is different. Sitting on the roof of a skyscraper in the Shibuya crossing, looking down and the structures below... it's not a feeling I can translate here. You'll just have to take my word for it and I hope you get to experience it for yourself someday, too.

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None of us deserve DOOM. Like just about everyone going into it for the first time, I had zero expectations for it and left in a state of shock over how incredible it is.

Everything about it is exactly what I wanted. There is no part of the game that slows down, no part of the game that feels like it’s dragging along, no part of the game that’s trying to be something it’s not, no part of the game that is there for anything other than pure fun. It’s flawlessly paced, masterfully scored, inventively designed, and incredibly gorgeous to look at. It’s unapologetic in how much of a videogame it is and I love it. I love it more than anything else this year and I love it more than almost every shooter I’ve played in the past decade. DOOM fucking rules.

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Thanks for reading. <3 See y'all next year, though I might make a Soundtrack of the Year post at some point--this year was as good for game music as it was games themselves, honestly.