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2018 RANKED

I never have enough time to play through all of the games I want each year. As a result, the list doesn't necessarily reflect the best games I played. Rather, it's made up of the only games I played most of the way through that were released in 2018.

2018 in video games couldn't follow up with the mind-numbingly insanity that was 2017. But how could any year? Nonetheless, I still had a heck of a time with a lot of the games on this list. Some propelled me backward through time, cashing in on nostalgia or classic gameplay. Others blasted me to the cutting edge of the present, showing me engaging new methods of storytelling and powerful realizations of the natural world. Just about each one of these games has me excited for what's to come in the future.

A special shoutout to Dark Souls Remastered and the Switch port of Bayonetta 2. I was able to play through each of those for the first time, and I absolutely loved both experiences for wildly different reasons. Dark Souls finally introduced me to the incredible world of Lordran and Anor Londo, and Bayonetta gave me some of the most bombastically entertaining action combat in a long time. It's worth noting how much of an improvement the second Bayonetta is on its predecessor. Since both Dark Souls and Bayonetta 2 are simple remasters without much additional content, I refrained from including them on the ranking. Instead, they will be retroactively added to lists from 2011 and 2014.

To read this list, I recommend starting at the bottom and working your way to the top. That's how I wrote it!

List items

  • I came into Red Dead 2 with the highest of hopes. The early trailers from Rockstar left me concerned that narrative was left behind in favor of an impressively realized world. Others may disagree, but I found Red Dead 2's narrative compelling thanks to a cast of characters that was wonderfully brought to life. I didn't expect Arthur Morgan to unseat John Marston as the cowboy of my heart, especially in the early events of the game when Arthur seems to be a simple, subservient man. Over the course of sixty hours, I fell in love with the character of Arthur Morgan. The realism this game brings to the table - the ability to care for your horse, the hair growth and possible costumes - opened up my mind to roleplaying in a way that other games haven't. I was making choices that Arthur would make rather than simply relying on my own sense of morality to carry the day. Although the narrative does jump the shark (yeah, you know where), I found the conclusion to be meaningful. There can be no question that the world constructed inside of Red Dead Redemption 2 is frighteningly realistic.

  • God of War might be the most cinematic game I've ever played. That single long-take approach to storytelling worked fantastically for me. From the opening moments of cutting down that massive tree that will be used on your wife's funeral pyre, I was locked into this narrative. The various gods are fantastically realized, with a special shoutout to Mimir, my personal favorite character in the game. His storytelling interludes between missions as I rowed my tiny boat from place to place were a constant source of knowledge and amusement. Of course, God of War doesn't work without tight combat. Though the early-goings are a bit simple, the combat tree quickly branches out into a colorful combination of approaches to beheading, dismembering, and all-out obliterating all who stand between you and the mountain. I think this first installment sets itself up for another fantastic trilogy. I liked God of War so much, I even stuck around to get the Platinum trophy. Give it up for Kratos!

  • My father doesn't play a lot of games, but one game he will play is Tetris. When we would visit my grandmother, at some point in the night, he would retire to the basement, boot up the dust-covered NES, and slam out some lines. We'd inevitably end up staying half an hour later than we should have because he had to try to beat the high score one more time.

    Tetris Effect is a game that I want to show my dad.

    Yes, it's Tetris. Not much has changed in the gameplay, but why improve upon perfection? Instead, a series of stunning visualizations and user-generated tunes surround the familiar shapes as you try to climb the leaderboards. It's Tetris as a form of meditation, and I think that anyone who dismissed this game as just being Tetris with some pretty colors is vastly underestimating the emotional power of this game. Tetris Effect is as close to transcendent as games got this year.

  • If Into the Breach was the Rogue-lite that couldn't, Dead Cells is the Rogue-like that could AND THEN SOME. Like Into the Breach, Dead Cells is also perfect on Switch. The art style is fantastic, but most importantly, the gameplay feels crazy great. Maybe it's that HD Rumble pumpin' through those Joy-Cons, but every hit of my swords, bows, whips, grenades, or whatever else I found feels powerful. I feel powerful when I roll through doors to shatter them into a thousand splinters, I feel powerful when I blast downward to damage enemies underneath, and I feel progressively more powerful as I continually upgrade my stats and weapons, obliterating all who stand in front of me in a matter of milliseconds.

    Top that satisfying combat with a progression system that further increases power, and you're left with a game that's one part Metroid, one part Castlevania, one part Dark Souls. I've easily sunk over twenty hours into this one, and I will continue to go back to it, always ready for just one more run.

  • Hollow Knight is such a complete win across the board for me - outstanding visual design and world-building, engaging exploration elements, satisfying Souls-ian combat. I played through the majority of the main story in a feverish week and a half. I couldn't stop myself from constantly wanting to know what was waiting in the next section of this twisted underground world. I can see how the method of filling in the world map might frustrate some, but it always felt balanced to me. The game is a perfect fusion of Metroid-vania pattern of exploring and then upgrading with the Souls games' challenging enemies. Though the game is absolutely challenging, it never reached Dark Souls absolutely soul-crushing level of difficulty. Like with Shovel Knight before, I sense these characters and this world will be enough to sustain a whole franchise of games in the future. I, for one, can't wait to return.

  • Super Smash Brothers was the very first video game I owned on my very first video game console. I can remember late nights in friends' basements battling it out until our hands ached. This tradition carried on through Melee, Brawl, and Smash 4. I have specific memories tied to fighters, stages, and even items that have been in this series. Now, I have the means to recreate each of those memories in one singular package, so inconceivably stuffed with the history of Nintendo games (and now, also inconceivably, the history of games outside Nintendo) that I almost can't comprehend it.

    Smash is a game about community - both inside of games and outside them. It's about the characters and the stories you've loved from games past, and the people you've shared them with. Four years ago, I moved away from home, which meant this would be the first time I wouldn't be able to spend the early morning hours smashing through the game for the first time with my friends. Thanks to Nintendo's (admittedly bad) online service, I was still able to get some matches in with my buds. Although this game brings the fewest new characters to the roster, they all feel great to play, particularly King K. Rool and Simon Belmont. I don't understand how anyone who owns a Switch could contemplate not owning this game. Ultimate is the only word to describe this package.

  • In 2018, I discovered the videos of Tim Rogers. For a period of weeks, I became obsessed with his work. His effusive praise for Dragon Quest XI, which he referred to as just slightly worse than Super Mario Bros. 3, propelled me to purchase. It was a wonderful decision - I was rewarded with a compelling narrative filled with vibrant characters and some of the best polish I've seen outside of a Nintendo game. There's no doubt that critics of this game will lament its length. To be honest, even as I write this, I still haven't finished the main narrative, let alone all of the optional side quests. While a game like Persona 5 might justify its length with plot twists and sheer insanity, Dragon Quest XI comes across as much more simple. Isolated moments and voice-acting performances might elicit groans from more "mature" gamers. I'm sure that any of you who haven't played this game but are moderately familiar with the Hero's Journey can spout out 75% of the game's narrative beats right now. Despite all of the criticism that can be levied at this epic, I still loved my time with it. More specifically, I loved the time I spent with the characters. Aside from Red Dead 2, no game this year endeared me to my party members quite like this one.

  • So much better than it had any right to be. Spider-Man does exist in the same space as the Arkham series. It’s incredible how much of my looking forward to playing this game was just to be a part-time superhero for a while, saving pedestrians and knocking out thugs. The story is surprisingly touching in places, even better than a good portion of the MCU’s works thanks to small character-driven moments. Extremely excited to see how a sequel expands on the features and extends the narrative. Insomniac’s games just play and look so clean.

  • Back when the Wii U was struggling to live up to the promise of meaningful third part support, I took a chance on Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Though I found the gameplay satisfyingly obscure, I fell off the grind after a time because no one was there to share in the hunts with me.

    Monster Hunter's leap into the modern era of consoles is an extremely effective one. With this game, Monster Hunter strips away all of the tediousness that has long been associated with the franchise, opening up its satisfying loop of killing and crafting to innumerable players. There are so many wonderful choices made in this game - the signal flies that light your way to the monster you're tracking, the cohesive environment that's fully rendered without any loading screens in between areas, the ability to constantly have a whetstone, pick axe, or fishing pole available. All of these changes are for the better, and I can't imagine a world in which future Monster Hunter games go back to the old ways. These monsters can be horrifying, but I'm also shocked how frequently I find myself heart-broken to have to kill them. Playing cooperatively with friends this time around was also a blast. Though I haven't been back recently to check out the continued DLC support the game has gotten, I am eager to one day return as I continue my expansionist dream.

  • Celeste is an absolutely brutal platformer that would make me toss my Switch in frustration if not for the fact that its art direction and sound design were so soothing. The seven chapters that make up Madeline's narrative go quickly if you can master the tricks of the mountain. Celeste is particularly impressive in the way that it weds its challenging gameplay to its message about struggling with mental health. Overcoming the obstacles to reach the summit also means confronting that voice in Madeline's head that says, "You can't do it." The final chapter of this game made me feel like a superhero. Though I can't see myself replaying this to get all of those dang strawberries, I found Celeste to be charming when its challenges weren't making me want to snap my screen in half.

  • Like The Witness, one of my absolute favorite games of this console generation, Return of the Obra Dinn made me feel like the absolute smartest person in the world when I was able to string together a set of clues and determine a person's identity and cause of death. Starting out, I was completely overwhelmed by the possibility of it all.

  • I've been a lifelong Pokemon fan. I've been there since the beginning, and I never bowed out in its more than twenty-year run. I still play Pokemon Go, but maybe not with the same feverish enthusiasm that accompanied the game's first month. All that said, the first time that I saw the trailer for Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu and Eeve, I felt absolutely nothing. Even as a longtime fan of the series, I didn't feel like I was the target audience for this. Simplified mechanics and the removal of long-standing features left me feeling like this was a simple appetizer meant to keep hungry bellies satisfied until the launch of the eighth generation in 2019.

    In less than a month of owning the game, I had logged more hours in Pokemon: Let's Go than all but one of my Switch games (Breath of the Wild). Turns out, removing some of the weight that's bogged Pokemon down for the past several years is actually a good thing. I never thought I'd miss random encounters, but right now, I'd almost be disappointed if this game's method of interacting with wild monsters didn't make it into the next generation. The removal of complex battle systems actually motivated me to get back into the competitive scene for the first time in a decade. Additionally, the competitive scene is incredibly easy to prepare for. Rather than filling each creature with hidden abilities and move-sets loaded with egg moves, almost every great move can be taught through reusable TM, and there's no breeding in the game whatsoever. Completely viable teams can be designed and completed in the span of hours rather than days. Pokemon: Let's Go succeed in their ability to make this eternal franchise even more accessible to every imaginable audience. Don't dismiss this as just a simple place-holder. There's a wonderful world to rediscover here.

  • The true successor to Katamari Damacy has arrived, and it's pure garbage. Of course, I mean that as a compliment. BK and his donuts sure did provide me with a stupidly fun two hours. The light puzzle-solving made me laugh out loud in places and gasp in surprise in others. The soundtrack is excellently playful. Like everyone else, I only wish there was more to the game than a few quick levels. I'm not sure that a sequel could dramatically expand on the formula, but I do know that Donut County is pretty special in its own right. Have a garbage day!

  • Captain Spirit is a fantastic follow-up to the first season of Life is Strange, and a great appetizer for the main course of Season Two to come. Though it is a short experience, I found the relationship between the main character and his father to be powerfully affecting. This game captured the magic of imaginative play, particularly the awkward moments that arise as you start to grow to an age where such play can be perceived as immature, in a way that few other forms of art have. It's "Death with Dignity": the Music Video, and I think it's a delight.

  • Florence is a gorgeous experience delivered straight to the emotional center of your brain thanks to some fantastic visuals, clever gameplay representation, and a breath-taking score. I have always loved the cello, and this game makes it sing. Please play this game with headphones. It's the sort of music you have to surround yourself in. I loved the way conversations and daily tasks were represented through simple gameplay. It's wonderfully minimalistic. To experience a full relationship within an hour is impressive. There's also a touching central message about discovering oneself at the center. Florence is a great lady, and her game doesnt disappoint.

  • You know what, Detroit: Become Human was a whole lot more enjoyable for me than popular consensus was making it out to be. I really enjoyed tagging along as Clancy Brown's robo-sleuth pal, solving crimes and interrogating witnesses. Everyone has already talked to death how brutal a lot of the allegorical racial commentary is. No doubt that's true, but the interactive experience was a pleasure for my lady and I while playing cooperatively on the couch. I laughed at the game when it became ridiculous, but I also found plenty of moments that made me say, "You know what, that's pretty cool." It doesn't reach the heights of nuanced, interactive storytelling that Don'tNod has, but I don't think it's as easily written off as others might suggest.

  • I respect Into the Breach a heck of a lot, but I had very little fun actually playing it. I appreciate its haunting opening theme, its punishing difficulty, and its rewarding looping cycle of gameplay. But I think the reason I only managed to log five hours in the game is because its narrative hooks never got into me. I think this game is perfect for the Switch, but the lack of a compelling narrative left me indifferent. I've seen so many people rave about the sheer number of hours they've dumped into this endless loop of living, dying, and repeating. I found little to no satisfaction in the process. While I undoubtedly got better at the game, it still felt like I'd progress nowhere at the end of a play session - indeed, that seems to be the entire narrative point. There's always another timeline to jump to, win or lose. I kept picking up my Switch throughout the year in an attempt to make the game stick, but it just never happened. I thought I loved tactics games like this one, but it's becoming clear to me that I love the narrative drive and consequence of those games even more than the turn-to-turn strategy.

  • Onrush confuses the hell out of me. Which is not to say that I don't like playing it. Or even that I don't think it does, deep down inside, make some coherent sense. It's an easy pitch: "Let's make Overwatch only this time it's the cars that are the heroes!" Even as someone who has put over two hundred hours into Overwatch, the resulting chaos of Onrush, stylish though it may be, is a bit empty for me to pursue serious involvement. There can be great satisfaction at blasting over hilltops and circling around graffitied walls, all the while smashing into opponents left and right with a well-timed boost, but the scoring system of the main game confuses me.

    It's very possible that Onrush's creators are on to something so novel that the part of my brain that currently understands how cars and racing games work cannot comprehend it. Regardless, I left Onrush feeling like the core of the idea was intriguing but not engaging. Perhaps Onrush 2 will better suit my needs.

  • Writing this list up, I almost forgot about Pokemon Quest! Because that's pretty much what Pokemon Quest is. Forgettable. Nintendo has been cranking out free-to-play games for a few years. I have enjoyed previous games like Pokemon Shuffle and Picross, so I was willing to give this one a shot. The choice to put it out on Switch first suggested to me this might be more than a Diablo clone. The game is clearly designed with mobile in mind, as using anything other than the touch screen to play makes the game less enjoyable and more difficult easy. The voxel renderings of the various Pokemon creations are really not great. Like most free-to-play games, the first few hours are a lot of fun, but after an insane level spike and a punishing timer to keep players from playing too much too quickly, I had to give up on the game. It's still installed on my Switch, but I haven't found the gumption to get back into it since the summertime.

  • I have no affinity to return to the era of early polygons, nor do I particularly love uncomfortable, creepy stories. Paratopic, unfortunately, did nothing for me. I don't care to unravel its mysteries, and I especially don't care to replay it. Of course, your mileage may vary.
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