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My number 1 game of this year by miles, God of War blew me away completely. I was on vacation (randomly) when this came out and it's pretty much all I did. I spent entire 8-10 hour nights playing this and never once wanted to stop. That NEVER happens for me, but God of War is so amazing top to bottom that I was fully engrossed the entire way through. It's one of the best looking games I've ever seen, the combat is fast, frenetic, fun, and varied throughout, the story is interesting and unique thanks to the dynamic between Kratos and Atreus. Everything about this game is built to perfection, I actually can't think of a single thing I didn't love about my time with it. I cannot wait for the sequel.
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I love the renaissance of great Spider-Man content happening right now. Homecoming is one of my favorite superhero movies, and Marvel's Spider-Man is the best superhero game since the original Arkham Asylum. And I've heard that Into The Spiderverse is the best animated movie this year (though I haven't seen it yet, very excited to though). It was a complete joy spending this much time swinging through New York as one of the best characters in the Marvel universe. The movement and combat flow together in a super unique way to make every action Spidey takes feel appropriate to the character. He beats people by being faster and smarter than they are, and zipping around buildings to flank the various goon squads you fight never got old for me. I've always loved Insomniac, and this is no exception, my second favorite game I played in 2018.
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Furi was my GOTY two years ago because I love super tight controls in challenging games of all types. Celeste is exactly that. The platforming in Celeste is the best I played all year, comparable to luminaries like Super Meat Boy. But Celeste is more than just tight controls, it also has a great story. Celeste has to climb the mountain to conquer real demons, both mental and physical. She challenges herself for no other reason than to prove to herself that she can do it. There are some great characters encountered a long the way, and everything wraps up nicely. The platforming challenge ramps up in interesting ways, almost Braid like at times with specific challenges that cover certain areas. Celeste is fantastic, everyone should play it.
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Strategy games only really work for me when I can see the direct correlation between my decisions and the outcome. That is the main reason why I will always love Civilization more theoretically than practically. Tactics games provide immediate feedback to decisions, if you mess up, people die. Into the Breach is the best strategy game released this year. It is beautifully simple to understand at first, but layers on several mechanics that up the difficulty in ways that are in the player's control. You get to choose whether you use the complicated mechs, or the simple ones. Also, massive shoutout to the fact that this is a strategy game that favors saving people over killing the enemy. It is almost always a better use of resources to save a city from getting hit, than it is to snipe a low health alien. That alone gives the game a unique feel to other tactics games. Into the Breach was made by the same guy who made FTL, which shows in several ways, but I love this game far more than FTL. Into the Breach kept me hooked for quite a while, always feeling fair, but challenging at the same time.
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The best VR game released in 2018, hands down. Astro Bot uses VR to enhance every aspect of an otherwise simple 3D platformer. Every stage features some unique hook or quirky gimmick that are so much fun to discover. People have pointed out that if this game simply contained Mario instead of Astro Bot it would be called one of the best platformers of all time, and I completely agree. It is so unique the only good comparison I can make is to the first time people played Super Mario 64. While controlling Astro Bot itself is very simple (move/jump/punch) it's all the stuff wrapped around the standard platformer that makes this game truly unique. The best part are the little tools that get inserted into the controller itself, like a water gun or hookshot. This allows another way to interact with the world and help out your little buddy. Astro Bot should be played by everyone, especially any VR non-believers, it is truly a joy to play. I had a big dumb smile plastered on my face for the entire game.
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The second best VR game of 2018! Which is always crazy to say about Tetris, but for me it's true. Being surrounded by the crazy visualizer while being forced to care far more about my skill at Tetris than I ever have before was such an experience. The gameplay never changes from pure Tetris, and yet the combination of that time tested gameplay, plus the music and visuals, all while being completely immersed in VR really affected me at times. What I mean is...yes, Tetris made me cry.
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Q.U.B.E. 2 came outta nowhere for me right in the doldrums of summer when I was super bored. I watched the GB quick look and thought it looked fun, grabbed it on Steam and thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game. The puzzles nailed that perfect level of difficulty, some stumping me for quite some time, leading to a feeling of pure satisfaction when I finally solved them. The story it tells is interesting too, which was a welcome surprise. Q.U.B.E. 2 isn't some earth shattering reinvention of the first person puzzle genre, but damn if it's not a great one.
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When this incarnation of Hitman relaunched in 2016 I was sold on it purely through the Giant Bomb videos. I love stealth games but had never played a Hitman before, so after watching Brad and Dan have so much fun playing through those massive levels I had to try it out for myself. What ended up happening though was that I actually came to enjoy those videos more than playing the game. Watching people play Hitman is always a setup for a great time (just watch GB's Hitsmas video from 2016 for proof). But something about the game just never clicked with me on a personal level. That changed with Hitman 2.
Now I fully enjoy both playing and watching Hitman, and I can't really explain why. Something about the structure of this iteration of Hitman clicked with me far better than a couple years ago. I started to have a lot of fun going for score, or cool ways to murder people, or chasing the Silent Assassin rank, or walking into a level with a sniper rifle in a briefcase and finding cool perches to use it. Hitman 2 just worked for me in such a great way, I had a ton of fun playing it, and it's still super fun to watch.
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This was easily the best fighting game to come out in 2018. This game was so good that it got me to start actually watching Dragonball again (well the game and the All Systems Goku podcast). Other than maybe Starcraft this is the game I most wish I was good at. Watching people of skill play DBZ FighterZ is gorgeous, both on a technical skill level, and just cause the game looks so damn good. Finally, someone took this property and just made a damn real fighting game with it, that doesn't rely on tacky 3D movement and awful fighting. I wish I was better at fighting games so I could enjoy DBZ FighterZ more, but it still deserves a place on my list, it is so impressive.
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Life is Strange was my #1 game of the year when it came out in 2015, so of course I was super excited for the sequel. Unfortunately they only managed to get one episode out the door by the time the year ended, leaving me in a weird spot. I really like what I've seen so far and I trust them to deliver, I'm dying to know where the story of Sean and his little brother goes. Episode 1 was great, but with 4 more to go I can't put this any higher on my list until I get to see more. Life is Strange is still super important to me though, so I'm putting it at #10, with a caveat. I can't wait to play through the rest of the episodes, whenever they launch.
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