Mary Kish is the Head of Community at Twitch and one-third of the Fire Escape podcast with Dan Ryckert and Mike Mahardy. You may also remember her as the world's #1 Downwell player during her time at Gamespot.
10. A Game About Digging a Hole
I’m adding this game because I want more like this. A simple premise executed well that sticks the landing. Dig the hole. For what? Why, for the sake of the hole itself. We don’t need crazy reasons for everything, just dig, damn you. dig! The upgrades were enticing. I enjoyed blowing stuff up and checking on my stamina so I didn’t pass out in the hole. By the time I truly started asking myself why I cared so much, the game threw me into a new situation and went to credits. They truly built an experience that was meant to last just a few hours, and I’m sold.
9. Guns of Fury
A fun and memorable metroidvania. I wish I had seen a few more people talking about this year about a badass hero hurling granades to victory. Guns of Fury gave me a lot of visual clues of where to go and who to kill; everywhere and everyone. With destructible environments and a shit ton of ammo, I basically went hog wild in every location, and I was delighted by the unique ways I could blow stuff up and take down a tank.
Outside of explosions, I liked the classic metroidvania style in the form of a maniac war-loving soldier, learning how to climb and crawl my way to new areas and continue my rampage. It evokes old game fun, not just stylistically but truly at its core, taking nothing seriously and no prisoners.
8. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
First Shinobi, loved it. I love crushing paramilitary organizations with my hand-drawn combat moves that I chain together without ever touching the ground. I feel like a true Shinobi when I’m using special moves and throwing kunai around like frisbees. Maybe it's because I’m rewatching Naruto in my free time, but damn, I like being a ninja. It's not just the combat that won my heart. The environment traversal was also a joy, and dashing around felt smooth as butter. The boss fights were enthralling and so creative! Maybe I should go back and play other Shinobi? Never really thought about it before, but obviously need to play more ninja games. Oh, and lastly, having a trusty spirit dog is the icing on the cake for me with this one.
7. Megabonk
I wasn’t expecting to get into yet another Vampire Survivors game this year, but I gotta say, this has been one of the best “couch games while watching TV” I ever played. It's got a simple goal of leveling up your character to take on the main boss at the end, but a million different ways to traverse the environment, looking for chests to open, or loot to grab, or shrines to upgrade, or vendors to shop. Mentally, it's a bit overstimulating, but once you get a handle on which characters work best with which playstyle, and find the appropriate tomb/weapons to create game-breaking builds that make you feel like a God, you just start to wind down and enjoy the silly game.
6. Silent Hill f
Hinako, the woman that you are. I honestly am not sure what I would do if a fog came through and killed all my friends right in front of me, but I’m fairly confident I wouldn’t handle it well. This girl not only gets her ass up and running, but eventually picks up a pipe and starts swinging like hell. She goes through a lot of shit, and the themes of this game run incredibly deep with friendship, marriage, and parental relationships.
It's extremely difficult to pick up the mantle of a beloved franchise, and Silent Hill f succeeded by taking the themes to a new world and character while staying true to resource scarcity and player choice. Offering multiple endings, this game will encourage players to try again to get that elusive ending, and yes, I am talking about the UFO dog one (IYKYK).
5. Sektori
Last minute add, sorry, other games that used to be on my list! I had to add it, because this actually has become my most played ‘Plane’ game of the year. Endlessly replayable and visually stimulating, I have adored leveling up my little ship and taking on the bosses while trying to beat my current high score. Sektori is checking the boxes of what I want from my modern games. It's got a simple premise and gets complicated over time, but never too complicated. Kill everything. Level up your little guy, usually with missiles and strikes, and eventually work on combos for getting that high score. I love twin stick shooters, and this has a sick beat I can’t get enough of. Match that with getting all the letters in MIRAGE and unlocking rainbow mode I dare you not to be impressed, I dare you!
4. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
I do not play turn-based RPGs; it’s not a genre I have ever been able to get into outside of a few precious outliers, so when this started a gamer revolution, I was apprehensive that it would be for me. The beauty of Clair Obscure is its ability to pull a variety of gamers into this genre without making it too complicated. The Pictos system allows players to customize their characters and min-max each unique play style is brilliant, but if that’s too much in the weeds, you don’t really have to get into it. I skipped some dialog (not too much) when it got a bit talky for me, but still felt the world building and cared for the team I had made. The story is gripping, and lands a difficult ending that had me questioning my own morals and beliefs on one person's happiness vs others. A groundbreaking game that deserves its flowers.
3. Blue Prince
Did not anticipate that a game about building a mansion with mind-bending puzzles could be a thing. I truly love original game concepts more than anything, and what a sell! My grandpappy left me millions in a mansion, but I have to build said mansion room by room, but my legs get tired, and I don’t have enough keys or gems! Brilliant concept, and brilliant execution too. Finding the garage the first time and seeing the garage door was puzzling, and that feeling when I found the electrical box, the turning of the cogs in my head when I opened that door the first time, ugh! This game makes you feel smart, it guides you but doesn’t tell you what to do, it trusts that over time you’ll figure it out. And outside of the damn math puzzles, I truly can, I just need the RNG to keep up with my brilliance.
2. Peak
There’s usually one game on here I added because I cried from laughing so hard, and here it is. This game is built to make ya laugh, and mostly from your friends being silly little idiots. Climbing a mountain is a simple task; get your ass up, and take your dingdong friends with you, even if they can’t climb for shit. You learn some team building and relationship management, but at its core, this game is stupid fun. Who cares if you all die? Who cares if Peter goes off on his own, never to be seen again? Who cares if the cannon sent Josh to his death? It’s all good, you come back as a ghost to annoy everyone else. You sometimes hope, strategize, and morale improves for a world in which you can actually get to the next area. If I had a banana for every time our plan absolutely went to shit and we all laughed as our corpses faded into the fiery dunes of Mordor, I wouldn’t starve to death so often in the earlier areas. 10/10
1. Hollow Knight: Silksong
Nothing like waiting ten years to play the sequel to the best game you ever played. The hype was off the charts, and I knew I needed to dedicate a lot of time to its release. I took the day off from work to focus all my energy on the game, and holy cow, I’m so glad I did. Everything about Silksong resonated with me all over again: the visual storytelling, the dark and formidable world, the brutal and rewarding platforming, it all came rushing back. Feelings of excitement and tension when finding beads, because now, I have something to lose. Silksong uses the currency as its main source of fear. I found myself much more bold when poor. But beads are important for upgrading equipment, so learning to face my fears is an absolute must to grow both my character and my own skillset.
Hunters March is a particularly memorable area for me, with long stretches of platforming that pushed my mental state and my thumbs to their limits. This game found new ways to always keep me on my toes, with false benches and an entire area that took away all my items, I got adjusted to never feeling safe and just moving forward. The adversity was more than I could have ever expected. I cried, I yelled, and at times I gave up. But this game gave me the biggest thrill of my gaming career, and for that, it is rewarded with my #1 game of the year.