Honorable mentions: Halo Infinite, Guardians of the Galaxy, Splitgate, Deltarune chapter 2, The Forgotten City, Back 4 Blood, and somehow Mario Party Superstar (though not that last game)
Pile of shame: Shin Megami Tensei 5, Lost Judgment, Death’s Door, Axiom Verge 2, Inscryption
I need to talk a little bit about the history of Metroid and in particular Dread for anyone who isn’t familiar. The Metroid games, are some of Nintendo’s most well received games, but don’t sell the numbers that other franchises like Mario or Zelda or Kirby do. Metroid Dread is Metroid 5. 19 years ago, Metroid Fusion (aka Metroid 4) was released. There have been some remakes in the meantime like Metroid Zero Mission in 2004 and Samus Returns on the 3DS in 2017, but there was not a guarantee of a new 2D metroid ever coming out. Even Metroid games that have been announced for years (Metroid Prime 4) is not guaranteed to come out after it’s troubled development. We see how Nintendo treats some series and put them on the back burner for a LONG time like F-Zero, Mother/Earthbound, Star Fox…Metroid is a series that deserves to be relevant. Sometime in the mid-2000s on the Nintendo DS, Metroid Dread was announced. Very little was shown of it, but the main idea was that Samus would be hunted and would have a greater feeling of dread compared to past games. Metroid Fusion had small sections of being hunted by the enemy parasite called SA-X, and at the time those felt intense and almost scary (especially for a young kid at the time).
Since that announcement, few games have really done well in the Metroidvania genre. Shadow Complex, Hollow Knight, the Ori games, Axiom Verge. All fantastic games and showed that people really like the genre. However, there is a reason the genre is called METROIDvania, it has metroid in the name. Time and time again, Nintendo shows that they are masters of game design and that they have some of the best game designed in the world. They’ve done this with Super Mario 64, they’ve done it with Breath of the Wild, and they did it again with Metroid Dread. When revealing Metroid Dread earlier this year, they could have easily said it was just a “Metroidvania”, but instead, they ingeniously described it using their own words, without having to refer to just a genre label. That sort of self restrain of being able to describe what Metroid Dread is without just encapsulating it in this “Metroidvania” box made an impression on me. I mean sure, it is a Metroidvania, but I digress. Metroid Dread is some of the absolute peak gameplay in terms of exploration and using your abilities to uncover secrets. The map design is very smart, and is fun to go from A to B. The bosses are incredibly demanding, and require patience and learning each one’s method, to the point where by the final time you fight each boss, you have truly mastered each move and don’t get hit by any attacks. The story is told in a nuanced way, and isn’t forceful or heavy-handed like some of the past Metroids. Metroid has always been one of my favorite Nintendo franchises, and this just cements its place even further.
I feel like I don’t need to write that much about Monster Hunter Rise, but it warrants a little discussion about why I love it. To me, it feels like a game that has the methodical combat of Dark Souls, but is focused on playing with other people and grinding against massive monsters. Each weapon plays entirely different, where one could almost be pinpointed into a weapon choice depending on the types of games they prefer. Big swords, bows, guns, charge axes…each weapon feels unique and almost like their own game in order to learn and master. On top of that, you fight monsters to gain their armor, whether for looks or abilities, that has the Destiny-style loot loop feel fun and fresh each run. These are all features that previous Monster Hunter games have had. What Rise offers up that is different are a number of quality of life upgrades and new tools in your arsenal for the hunts. Lobbying up is much easier now. The grind for abilities is more manageable than in past. The biggest change is the inclusion of dogs and a grappling hook, both of which speed up movement and add additional combat functions. These changes I would love to see in future Monster Hunter games. Anyway, it’s my most played game this year, and I would definitely jump in again at the beginning if anyone ever wants to (especially since there is a new big expansion coming out next summer).
These next 3 games were really close since they are all so good, but I think this is the order that I have settled on. The Tales of games have been a JRPG blindspot for me. I played through Berseria earlier this year, but it didn’t standout to me as a must play. After playing through Arise, it has quickly rose the ranks of one of my all time favorite JRPGS. It is easy to say that Arise is a JRPG-ass JRPG, it has a lot of tropes that the genre is known for, but it is incredibly polished and does everything so well. The story is a dark story about slavery and what it means to be your own person and make your own choices. The characters in your party are fun to be around and have unique perspectives about the state of the fucked up world. The main draw for me is how fantastic the combat is. Arise’s combat is a real time action, similar to Kingdom Hearts or FF7 Remake, that encourages many different combinations of Artes (abilities or magic) throughout the game. It makes me want to go back and check out some of the more well received games in the series. If you want a really polished JRPG, then check out Tales of Arise.
The Life is Strange games are about supernatural but realistic personal narrative tales that are about making tough, not black or white decisions. True Colors feels like a return to form after a somewhat not amazing sequel. The LiS games are about characters who have supernatural powers, trying to navigate life in a normal way (writing this out makes the name Life is Strange seem so smart lol). What True Colors does great, is putting you into these quant small towns and tell a personal story about finding yourself and trying to do the right thing, usually with some political backdrop of big corporations, social injustices, etc. It’s fun to play the role of someone who is into the local record store and bar, enjoys indie music, and making connections with random townsfolk. Sure, this isn’t me in real life, but it’s fun to walk down the path of someone else. The other part that makes True Colors work, are the tough decisions you make throughout the game. These choices do not have an obvious right choice, and often have a rough outcome based on either choice you make. I frequently have to sit at each choice for a few minutes and really think out the ramifications for each one, since they are so heavy in either direction. It makes my story feel like my own when comparing how other people’s choices play out, even if the end result is fairly similar. These games are fantastic, I highly recommend them.
Continuing a year of good 3D platformers like Psychonauts 2, It Takes Two is a far more inventive twist on the genre. It is a co-op only game (online or local), that showcases the best cooperative gameplay, up there with Portal 2. Before the game came out, the director Josef Fares (aka Fuck the Oscars) stated in his charismatic way that “it would be impossible to not like this game, if you don’t even smile once, I will give you $1000”. It is a tall claim after his last game was a little dull, but It Takes Two is a blast to play. The real magic of the gameplay is that it is so inventive and changes ideas and play styles frequently, that it never feels repetitive and is exciting to await what new twists await ahead. I would compare it to a fleshed out version of Mario Party mini game collections, but even spoiling some of the surprises of latter gameplay twists would be a disservice. The story itself feels like a Dreamworks take on two parents getting a divorce, that has its own fun cast of characters. And for the final time on this list, I will once again mention it being on game pass.
Almost a collection of the best parts of the other RE games, RE 8 continues the stellar trajectory that the series has been going on. It has a similar village like RE4, a mansion like RE1, a stalking monster similar to RE2 and RE3, FPS style/continuation of RE7, and survival action horror and exploration that all the RE games does best. Exploring the areas and finding secrets is as satisfying as the other games, the action is tense, and the scary moments are some of the best in the franchise. All wrapped up in the massive RE story, that really leaves open where RE9 will go in the future. Also the lady is big
Pyschonauts 2 feels like a game that came out of an alternate timeline where weird Nickelodeon cartoons like Ren and Stimpy or Chowder remained a touchstone of society combined with 3D character platformers. Even though its been 16 years since the first one, Pyschonauts 2 takes place right after the events of the first. However, it feels like a completely stand alone story, that is enhanced if you know what happened in the first, but can be played by itself no problem (I haven’t finished the first one). You continue the journey of Raz of being a Pyschonaut intern and go through the minds of different people throughout the story. The story itself has a lot of comedic parts, but does touch on some mental issues that are present while exploring other peoples mind. The levels are fun to explore and feel like a modern collect-a-thon platformer like Banjo-Kazooie. Once again, it’s on game pass :)
In the past, I haven’t been a fan of the sandbox or open nature type games of Hitman or Dishonored. They feel like there isn’t much of a direction to help lead me to the correct solution, typically giving players many options instead which leads me to not committing to a playstyle. Deathloop solves this by having different objective trees that help guide you. Almost rogue like in structure, you play through 4 different levels at 4 different times to try and assassinate 8 targets, eventually wanting to do it all in one day. The loop of each level got me familiar with each target and trying to find new ways to accomplish each objective. You don’t have to spend time reading in world books or lore, but I found myself wanting to do that more as the game progressed as I got familiar with each level and the characters I am fighting against. Also will probably be on gamepass in a few months since Microsoft bought Bethesda.
When driving games are good, they end up being a pretty fun time. Forza Horizon 5 is an open world “CarPG” where a lot of the fun comes from exploring Mexico, enjoying the sites, and of course racing. There’s a lot of customization you can do for your cars to tune it up where you can experiment on your own, or download someone else’s designs (including spray painting your car with anime girls or Pokemon). It goes without saying it is very good looking, and that it is on game pass so no reason not to try it.
Unfortunately, I like card games…Slay the Spire will probably go down in recent history as one of the more important games in defining the deck building genre and popularizing its mechanics to other games. Monster Train is one of those games. It is a very good version of deck building, perhaps not as balanced though as STS. This comes from being encouraged to build your decks more toward an archetype, like building an armor deck, or a healing deck or so on. It doesn’t benefit you to mix strategies like STS does, but it is a fun twist. (Also on gamepass)
