by mento
Same deal as the other "GOTY (Adjusted)" lists, found here (2013), here (2014), here (2015), here (2016) and here (2017). The idea is to build GOTY lists that are constantly in flux, ever adapting themselves to a new year's worth of catch-up gaming. Like the Borg, but for video game lists. With enough time I should be able to play through every 2018 game that piqued my interest and construct a list that ideally represents what that year meant to me in terms of games, but that wasn't going to happen on the year in question: too many full-price new releases, too little time.
2018 was a come-down year after the many highs of 2017's expansive library, but we live in an era now where if you have any specific tastes and peccadilloes when it comes to games, there's more than enough releasing every year from every direction to sate that appetite (why am I making this sound so sexual?). 2018 was still very densely packed, if not quite to the same extent as 2017, and even though there's a whole new console generation on the horizon I'm in no rush to jump on that bandwagon with so much of this year left to try out.
(2018 Games Yet to Play: Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Shining Resonance Refrain, Unravel 2.)
(2018 Games Yet to Buy: Fist of the North Star: Paradise Lost, Labyrinth of Refrain, Life is Strange 2, The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories, Octopath Traveller, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Tower of Time, Underworld Ascendant, Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country, Youropa.)
| GOTYs | (Adjusted) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
[Last Edited February 2022.]
Showing 1-10 of 48 items
2018 Rank: 1 2019 Rank: 1 2020 Rank: 1 2021 Rank: 1 Deadfire delivers on everything you could want from an old-school CRPG - deep tactical combat, rich storytelling and characterization, a whole open world to explore - and frames it within a swashbuckling pirate adventure with tenuous alliances, ancient cities, rogue gods, and the subtle evils of colonialism. It's peak Obsidian.
2018 Rank: N/A 2019 Rank: 2 2020 Rank: 2 2021 Rank: 2 Speaking of derring-do on the high seas, Return of the Obra Dinn presents an ever-expanding mystery as you piece together the fates of those on the titular doomed ship, building its tale in snapshot scenes and giving players enough respect to figure out the wheres, whys, and whos on their own. The low-res presentation is striking, as is the excellent use of sound design.
2018 Rank: N/A 2019 Rank: N/A 2020 Rank: 3 2021 Rank: 3 I was as surprised as everyone else that the once edgelord Greek mythology brawler suddenly became this thoughtful (though still violent) open-world game that cared more about lore and atmosphere and establishing its central relationship, using ancient Norse mythology as a backdrop to a momentous father/son trip that was at times moribund, joyful, tense, and conciliatory. Throwing that axe around was fun too.
2018 Rank: N/A 2019 Rank: N/A 2020 Rank: 4 2021 Rank: 4 If you're trying to nail the energy that comes from an elegiac send-off to a protagonist that's been through hell and back several times over, the more relaxed pace and generally truncated and focused Yakuza 6 would be the way to go about it. It feels like the first Yakuza to really present Kiryu as a middle-aged man with middle-aged interests, like amateur baseball and going down to the bar to talk about nothing with salarymen, while still presenting the usual Yakuza mix of a serious story of revenge and betrayal, with the adorable baby Haruto at the center of it all, and the silliness that comes with its many sub-stories and side content. Certainly not as ambitious as some of its predecessors, but then ambition is a young man's game.
2018 Rank: N/A 2019 Rank: N/A 2020 Rank: N/A 2021 Rank: 5 Dragon Quest is one of the few major JRPG franchises still likely to get a lavishly produced sequel whenever Square Enix feels they need to put another surefire hit in the canister. Its deceptively simple turn-based combat and Akira Toriyama art design are ever constants for the franchise, polished to a fine sheen here, and the story is one that pulls you in with its dramatic moments and excellent cast, each of whom have their little spotlights. There's a handful of deeper mechanics to discover as you play but it's honestly just sheer comfort gaming food in RPG form: the role that DQ has occupied for a long time and will continue to excel at for who knows how long to come.
2018 Rank: N/A 2019 Rank: N/A 2020 Rank: 5 2021 Rank: 6 The sudden revival of Wonder Boy in 2017 must've stirred some fond old memories, because it was soon followed with this spiritual sequel to the '80s Westone series. Like the Wonder Boy reboot, Monster Boy enjoys an incredible hand-drawn artstyle in addition to some of the most fun I've had with an explormer for a while. A tough but rewarding game befitting its ancestry.
2018 Rank: N/A 2019 Rank: 3 2020 Rank: 6 2021 Rank: 7 Created specifically as the be-all and end-all of the Super Smash Bros. franchise, Ultimate offers fans of both the single-player and multiplayer modes of the platfighter everything they could possibly want, with the largest roster yet and some smartly designed battles based around over 1,000 Nintendo and guest characters and cameos.
2018 Rank: 2 2019 Rank: 4 2020 Rank: 7 2021 Rank: 8 Reducing the bloat and grinding of the original, while retaining the charming Ghibli visuals and quality storytelling, Ni no Kuni II is the best game Level-5 has produced in years. While the overworld RTS sections might be a little too easy, this is a world packed with imagination and compelling combat and dozens of little systems to explore, and is everything I used to love about the studio's PS2 era work (Dark Cloud 2, Rogue Galaxy, etc.).
2018 Rank: N/A 2019 Rank: 5 2020 Rank: 8 2021 Rank: 9 Spider-Man's always had the most success of any superhero franchise in transitioning to a video game format, despite the amount of high-speed acrobatics that are involved with web swinging across a city and hitting crooks from every angle, and Insomniac already had plenty of experience with this thematic genre thanks to their inFamous series. In some ways it felt like the safest bet out there that Marvel's Spider-Man would turn out great, and it even exceeded those expectations with a deluge of fan service and a better-than-average central story.
2018 Rank: N/A 2019 Rank: N/A 2020 Rank: N/A 2021 Rank: 10 Wadjet's spooky crime solving game is one of their best yet, in part due to its structure as a game open for multiple solutions depending on the pair of companions you choose to bring with you for every case. Theses cases give you a taste of the sheer variety and worldbuilding put to work here, confidently establishing the supernatural underworld of New York and its handful of near-immortal protectors. Well-written, smart without being too difficult, and some excellent 16-bit presentation and voiceover. If Wadjet's running out of steam with this constant deluge of point-and-click throwbacks they're not showing it.
