This is a list of my favourite games played in 2014 that also came out in 2014.
Overall, it's been a pretty weird year for video games. But (most) of these games are unequivocally (sort of) totally awesome (mostly).
I have not finished this game as of this writing. All the same, I've put over 100 hours in the game and it's sure as hell the best of the 2014 releases I've spent time with.
I got real into The Old Republic this year too, but that apparently wasn't enough BioWare for me. Playing Inquisition reminded me of just how much I love these damn games.
I totally haven't finished this either! Goddamnit! 72 hours into it though. It's enough for me to know this ranks, and ranks high at that.
This game came outta nowhere for me. The moment on the Steam Sale Unprofessional Fridays where the combat starts and is turn-based was a real sit-up-in-my-chair moment. I think it was a few days later (with tons of catching up on game info in-between) that I snagged the game and was fucking lost for days. Good lost, not, you know, lost lost.
I _really_ liked Watch_Dogs. I didn't expect the thing to run on my PC, and surprisingly it did (a running theme this year).
Something about the way the open-world is scaled feels the most realistic of any game I've played. The buildings look big, the streets are wide, sidewalks aren't tiny. I dunno, it just felt significantly more believable than any other open-world game I've played.
But besides the joy of driving and walking around Not-Quite-Chicago, I never expected this thing to be a proper stealth game, and I sure love me some stealth games. Great stealth sequences, great transitions to chases or combat, good open-world schenanigans, and a fantastic hacking gimmick.
I didn't expect the second coming of Assassin's Creed 2 here, and the little expectations I had were far exceeded. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
This came out on PC this year. Dunno how that fits into the rules of this whole "didn't come out in 2014 then we're throwing it out" thing.
Anyways, holy shit this game. Holy shit, this game. Holyshitthisgame? Holy shit. This game.
You hit stuff with your sword and they get cut up where you cut em and there's a Gray Fox model and you can unlock infinite slow-mo and the boss fights are awesome and parrying feels so fucking cool when you get good at it and it's fun. IT'S JUST FUN OKAY. Gosh, what more do you want from me.
AND THAT FUCKING SUBTITLE.
Goddamnit, this game is not like Assassin's Creed. It's like Batman. The movement and the combat are both straight outta the Arkham Games.
Although, did that one guy what worked on AC2 and claimed this game straight up stole animations or whatever ever get his claims proven? That happened when this was announced and then just sort of disappeared.
If that turns out to be true, I'll concede there's a little tiny fragment of Assassin's Creed in this game. Otherwise, there ain't no diddly squat!
Oh and killing things in this game is very fun. Haven't beat it yet though! What the fuck, why didn't I beat games this year.
This would be higher on the list if I didn't REALLY like character action games, or 3D beat 'em ups, or hack 'n slash, or medieval slip 'n slide, whatever that stuff's called.
This game's rad! I'm a bounty hunter who just scans ships and blasts fools that come up as "WANTED". That's about all I've been doing so far, but it gets the job done. That'd be fun. The job I mean. I'm not playing this to get super loaded or grief people; I just wanna shoot fools in my sweet space ship. To that end, Elite's got me covered.
And you can rotate your head in the cockpit! As someone new to these kinds of games, that was the slickest shit I've ever seen. I fully expect to lose my shit even harder when I check out Star Citizen and can walk around my ship
THERE IT IS.
I liked Destiny.
It's got some problems, many of which are well documented. But you know what isn't a problem in this game? The combat. Hoo boy, this is some fun first-person shootin'. The feel of the aiming, the feel of the movement, being able to slide, the various double jumps, throwin daggers at heads for days because of that skill that refunds dagger headshots. This hot Protip™ brought to you by Alexis Gallisá: daggering in the face leads to infinite daggering.
Also cool about Destiny: the art direction. Game's got some real pretty science fantasy stuff goin on. But then there's the lack of story, and the all the grinding, and the limited amount of content, and I don't wanna talk about this game anymore.
...Destiny 2 will probably be pretty dope. Probably hopefully.
Oh god it's gonna be more of the same isn't it.
They fixed Diablo III! I actually really liked Diablo III, but hey, now it's fixed, so that seems like a good time to jump back in. So I did. Loot was gotten, Death was deathed, and much fun was had.
Also the Female Crusader is totally my Pawn buddy from Dragon's Dogma. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen! Hell of a game. Not a great title. That'd probably be on my REAL Game of the Year 2014 list that doesn't give a shit about games actually coming out in 2014. Don't got the MAN holdin me down on that hypothetical list that I may or may not write in the near future.
If you like physics and like flying, then I've got the game for you. It's Luftrausers! Surprise!
It's got sidescrollin physics-y flying, and it just feels great. The whole mix 'n match weapons and ship parts system is really fun too. I think I mostly went for the light body, the laser, and the really fast engine. Sometimes I'd swap the laser for that big fat energy ball gun though. Good stuff.
Another game that came outta nowhere for me. I don't exactly remember how this thing got on my radar, but all of the sudden I was soaking up whatever footage of this game I could find. Thing looked reeeeeaaallly smooth.
Game had a great visual style, the combat was fun, the classes were interesting (you could play as all of them with one character!), and the story was actually kinda neat. Everyone who played the original FFXIV lost! That's the story! There's a sweet cinematic out there of Bahamut fucking everything up and that played when they shut the original down. Love it.
Okay, I don't exactly remember much of the actual story in A Realm Reborn, but it was regular Final Fantasy military invasion/end of the world stuff from what I recall. Also there's a lady with the most RIDICULOUS pants. Just got a goddamn hole where her ass is, showing off her undies. I mean, I know she's in a desert zone, but come on lady!
