Honorable mentions

Fuser-This thing might be a bad "game" the story and campaign ranges from uninteresting to actively bad, but these tools are truly amazing and are worth experiencing and playing with.

Mortal shell-Just a good souls-like with some great ideas and execution.

Bleeding Edge-I remain sad that Microsoft and ninja theory sent this out to die.

Deep rock Galactic,Legends of Runeterra-Fun games in their own right but didnt make the cut for various reasons.

Godfall of the year- Godfall

Look....ok I was wrong about this game it sucks shit. I still stand by my statement that they said all the right stuff to get me into this thing and there is *some* potential here...anyway let me tell you about outriders, imagine the division-...

But more sci-fi fantasy like Destiny, see the sci-fi fantasy setting is really the best option for games like this because it gives you the best variety and allows you to have tanky enemies and cool abilities along with some cool guns and-----

The list proper starts here

10. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

A truly sweet game, just brimming with good vibes and positivity at a time when I feel like we all needed that. I'm not sure this would have made my list without that because for every improvement they made there seemed to be a very Nintendo-like issue to accompany it.

9. Genshin Impact

A deeply compromised experience is the best summation of Genshin I can think of. Every positive thing I have to say about the game can be countered and cut down by the extremely predatory and troubling nature of a gacha game. Even though I know for a fact you can play and enjoy all the things I like about the game without spending money, the vibrant world, the fun and fast paced combat, the variety of characters abilities and builds around those...it's all compromised because the game is tuned to extract money from you forever, so I understand that not everyone can enjoy it on the same level as me.

8. The Last of Us 2

As tiring as the conversation around some of these AAA "games are art dammit!" titles can be I think it's unfair to lay that hate at this games feet. That's not to say there is no criticism to be had here it's far from a perfect game, the level design can be downright boring and absurdly convenient to the plot, and I think it overstays it's welcome by a decent amount.

The things I like about the game are hard to talk about as well because they fall into two categories, plot spoilers and things that are the direct result of well known long term developer crunch. So I'll just say that the world here is rich and and dense in detail that obviously results from insane overwork. I care about the story here, and I understand why people don't like it and perhaps my reading of the message of trauma and forgiveness is too generous but I don't think so.

7. Call of Duty: Warzone

Warzone is just fun. Blasting enemies with friends in a casual squad is just very satisfying, it may never give me that heart in mouth adrenaline pumping high that other BR games reach but I don't think every game needs that.

6. Half-Life Alyx

Hey guys...they made a new half life game...and it's pretty damn great. It sucks that it was designed entirely around and for VR....no actually that's what's great about it. The thing that sucks is that VR is so difficult to use/obtain/set up. Alyx is kind of weird for me because its really just a more polished version of the 20 other VR shooters I've played already. Here's the thing though, VR shooters fucking rule.

5. Destiny 2: Beyond Light

The Darkness is here. It's not what we thought, all my theories are proven wrong. It does not destroy us, it does not threaten. It gives us a gift instead, it gives us the ability to channel power through a new lens. I think a new perspective is important for more than just adding a cool new set of abilities in the game. Destiny for a long time was *the* game I played and other things were done in downtime. I have changed the way I look at the game, and now it's just one of the many "living" games I play equally. It's let me step back and see that for all it's faults and issues, I genuinely believe it's doing this better than any other. Reddit Status: calamitous

4. Risk of rain 2

Rogulikes are pretty well made for me, I love bottled, accelerated progression in games and this one goes absolutely bonkers with it. They give you a bunch of interesting items at a very fast pace, the builds you can end up with make the already fun base heroes feel incredibly powerful and goofy. The legacy of doing odd out of the way challenges and secrets is still there and breaks up the normal gameplay well. The final boss being unlike anything else in the game was also such a great surprise.

3. Ghost of Tsushima

I really wouldn't have predicted this game would end up so high on my list but honestly over time I just liked the game more and more as I played it less and less like a generic open world checklist machine, instead I played it slowly and casually explored areas as naturally as I could. I wish they had done more with the story, as well done as it is, it feels so by the numbers. That never impacted my enjoyment of the gameplay however, I really appreciated the smooth combat that gave ample opportunity to be a badass samurai or a deadly ninja. The legends update added what is essentially another games worth of content for free with the multiplayer mode, the small amount I played of that left me wanting more.

2. Final Fantasy VII: Remake

Here's something I never thought I would say - I disagree with the popular theory of the nature of this games story. It's not that I never thought I would disagree with people it's more that I never thought I would care, or that the story would be something worth theorizing over. I have a complicated relationship with the final fantasy series in general, as a child of the 90s it was inescapable in games but I have always hated JRPG gameplay so I never really finished any of these on my own. Basically every game that would come out I would try and give up because I love big crazy anime stories, but I can't deal with tedious boring menu driven combat. 15 was the last one, or so I told myself, they will never get me again with flashy visuals and the promise of a more active combat system.

I'm really, really glad I'm so weak willed because I kinda loved everything about 7R. The combat was FINALLY good enough to keep me engaged for the duration (even if just barely) and of course it had all the other trappings of a FF game that I already knew I would enjoy, but it was a bit more than that. This game does two things in it's plot that I think are super important to why it's so good, one is a bit of a spoiler so all I'll say is that it's sort of commenting on itself. The other is that basically every aspect of the game was fleshed out and made modern and better, characters and relationships that were little more than an impression in the first game are some of the most meaningful and important in the game. Jesse is the best example of this for me, a character that I had literally forgotten existed in the first game is genuinely one of the highlights of the game. She's this flirty character who gets to constantly toy with cloud and call him out on being such a weirdo and brooding, if this was truly a dating game she would be the bad ending (which is probably why I like her so much) but over time you learn more about her life and motivation.

There's just so much detail in this game as well, I unlocked a record for this small child and they started dancing and it was such a cute moment I stopped my party to capture a clip of it, and after a few moments Tifa started bopping a little, then Barret, and eventually even cloud was at least tapping his foot to the beat. Moments like that are what separate good and great to me.

1. Hades

Hades is kind of the total package for me, excellent combat, progression, writing, voice work, music, visuals, world building, characterization. I find it difficult to point to anything I don't like generally about the game. So I won't! Instead I'll just keep gushing about how much I love the characters in this game, how well brought to life they are by the voice cast, and how impressive it is the game has so much unique and interesting dialogue.

I'm a supergiant superfan and have been since Bastion. Transistor and Pyre while both incredible in their own ways never really felt as special as bastion to me, Hades is that new bar. It's so easy to just pop in and do one run as well I will probably keep playing it off and on until the inevitable Thanatos expansion (he said praying to the gods). I can't say enough about how good these characters are, there is a reason half the internet is thirsting after the cast, they are so well designed and feel like real people, and hey, what better compliment can you give than your heart ❤️.