2018 Gaems
I used this list throughout the year to keep track of games I wanted to keep an eye on. #1-16 are roughly my GOTY list.
List items
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I am absolutely a mark for Extreme Meatpunks Forever. An arcadey mech-based combat game with a strong emphasis on storytelling and fucking up neonazis. Its episodic release schedule meant that every few weeks, I had a new chunk of story to chew on, and a great excuse to luxuriate with the game's earnest writing and aesthetics.
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This fucking glorious mess. I love Dontnod because of Life is Strange, but goddamn if Vampyr didn't capture my heart and soul this year. Even with the frustrating boss fights. Even with this game's palpable eagerness to fridge the vast majority of women in the protagonist's life and a final act that loses sight of what made the game awesome, I'm still thinking about replaying it very, very soon. A rare quality in most games. (The only one I can think of in recent memory might be Dragon's Dogma.)
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Even as a kid, I had a hard time with the BattleTech universe's story. It was hard to give a fuck about all these noble born shitheads basically jousting with giant mechs. And yeah, in this game I'm still trying to re-install a downed monarch on the throne at the end of the day, but there's so much to love about the characterization of my crewmembers and some of the overall story beats. The art direction really got under my skin and stuck with me all year long, even though I spent way too long grinding out merc missions. I still save scummed way too much on too many conflicts that straight up burgered some pilots, but there's so much to love about this game that even though I spent more time with some other games on this list, BattleTech was far more frequently in my heart.
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In terms of sheer time and energy I spent with a game in 2018, MHW is my game of the year. It's a testament to the quality of other releases that even though MHW added so many QoL changes to the Monster Hunter formula I love so dearly doesn't take the top spot on my list. I still have misgivings about the game's attempts to justify the ethics of its game mechanics, and there's still some systems that are just this side of baffling, but goddamn did I have some epic fucking fights in this game.
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Finally got War of the Chosen this year and that expansion revitalized a game I liked a lot but was really stressed out by. The Legacy Missions DLC was also a great way to dip into some tactics fun without having to worry about the metagame.
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Okay so this came out in 2017. I initially dismissed it as licensed shovelware without looking at the dev or the publisher. The Broken Alliance expansion this year made me give it a closer look and holy heck this is one compelling strategy game.
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Brough released the second expansion for Imbroglio this year and once again I was dragged back in.
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This one came to North America at the end of 2017, but I didn't get to it until the new year
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2017 game.
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The full game comes out in 2019, but the Prologue is free to play right now. Seems like a promising little roguelike.
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2019
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2019
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2019
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2019
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Still got a lotta Yakuzas to play before this.
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2019
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2019!
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2019!
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2019
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2019 :(
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