Top 10 Games I Played in 2018

2018 had a busy first half, but after graduating I probably had the most free time for gaming I've had in years, and managed to complete a lot of games I'd had in my library for years (and discovered a lot more that I bought and clearly will NEVER get around to.

This, alongside attempting to be more patient with buying games has led to me playing a lot of games that are a year or more old, and definitely not having enough games that were released in 2018 for a tradtional GOTY list. By considering all the games I played this year, I actually had to choose 10 games to list instead of scraping together a top 8 or 9 games as well, which is a refreshing new experience.

List items

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  1. SOMA

  I had avoided SOMA for a long time despite frequent praises of the narrative, frankly because when it comes to horror games, I am quite the coward. That said, two years after release the devs dropped an official "Safe Mode", in which enemies are still super creepy, but their AI no longer includes the option "murder this person and send them back to the last checkpoint", giving people like me the courage to spend hours rummaging through the many lockers and computer terminals of the deep sea bases.

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  2. Night in the Woods

  I did night in the woods a bit of an injustice, because I played it during exam season. Sensible, I know. And as a result, I definitely bolted through the game at a faster pace than I should have, and missed a lot of side activities until halfway through the game (who knew you could get on all the rooftops.....whoops.). That said, what I came away with was a story that I found myself still thinking about occasionally many months after release, with some of the most believable characters I've ever encountered (even if they are in a game where cat-people keep pet cats)

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  3. Subnautica

  I picked up Subnautica entirely because of Philippa Warr (PC gamer, Crate and Crowbar), who has spoken and written about the game frequently since it first entered early access well over a year ago. When the game finally released, I was expecting a fun diving simulator with some light survival mechanics. What I got instead was a horror filled experience revealing an unknown fear of deep water, an innovatively conveyed story conveyed using refreshing mechanics (the game quickly weans you off traditional waypoint markers, and a lack of map means you rapidly become familiar with every mark on the ocean floor). I was left a little underwhelmed by some of the endgame content, but the satisfaction upon completing the game quickly washed away any concerns I had about the few hours of "collectathon" the game pushed my way beforehand, and I was left genuinely sad that I'd finished the game, wishing I could have my memory wiped and experience it again for the first time.

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  4. Minit

  I'll be honest, I bought minit because of the trailer music. And I was not in the slightest disappointed by my purchase, since I ended up with a fun and innovative take on the traditional "Zelda-like" genre, which made me laugh out loud more than once. During my first playthough, I was repeatedly delighted as I thought "I'll just try doing this" and was almost always rewarded with a collectable or some progress. As soon as I completed it, I jumped straight into collecting the platinum trophy, which provided even more opportunites to see everything the game has to offer, and even got me to try out "speedrunning-light" to complete the game in less than 25 lives.

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  5. Quarantine Circular

  Once again, Mike Bithell produced an incredible story. This time, he covers alien encounters, deadly plagues, phages and antibiotic resistance instead of AI. Unlike Subsurface circular, the previous game made in this text adventure style, Quarantine circular offers a number of endings and branching paths, allowing for up to 8 playthoughs if you are so inclined (and I sure was!).

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  6. Life Is Strange: Before the Storm

  I'd been avoiding Before the Storm for a long time, since the first game was a favourite of mine and I was very sceptical of another game being made by a completely separate team, and during the voice actor strike on top of that. That said, they completely nailed the tone once again, and even without supernatural powers thrown in the game was left as a fun to play and moving experience. Extra credit to all the licensed music throughout once again, every song fits the game theme and style perfectly.

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  7. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

  Urgh, ANOTHER uncharted game, I thought. But boy, Lost Legacy has it all. Perfect pacing, cinematic moments, a story that isn't convoluted and keeps referencing previous games I played years before and have forgotten all the details of. What is left is a perfectly condensed Uncharted experience that doesn't overstay its welcome and is complete with the stunning visuals I've come to expect from Naughty Dog.

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  8. Snake Pass

  "How about a platformer where you can't jump"? That's exactly what Snake Pass is. It has the feel of an old 3D platformer, but the twist by controlling a snake through these colourful environments provided an excellent challenge. The satisfaction of mastering controls and finishing the last few levels after spending the first hour flailing around like a piece of drunk string was incredibly satisfying, and the recent addition of extra arcade-fruit-collection levels means I still have a good excuse to fire up the game every so often (even if I probably won't ever be good enough to wrap up collecting the trophies)

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  9. The Wolf Among Us

  The sudden closure of Telltale games earlier this year was one of the crappier things that happened in the games industry for sure, and now that I've finished the Wolf Among Us I am very disappointed that its sequel will likely never see the light of day. Somewhat of a hidden gem, I found the traditional telltale-gameplay loop was far more conducive to a detective game than the usual example (zombie quick time events, anyone?), and the warped-modern fairytale provided unique worldbuilding in a style rarely attempted.

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  10. Tacoma

  Oh Tacoma. This was a highly anticipated game before I picked it up, and I quickly became enthralled by pottering around this old space station, eavsdropping on the memories of the crew while checking every nook and cranny for old notes and belongings. But then, just as it was getting good, the rest of the plot was dumped on me in a room full of text terminals, and before I knew it it was done. The abrupt ending soured the game, but not enough to kick it from my top 10 for this year, as I really did enjoy getting to know the small crew during my time playing before that blow.