2018 was a big year for me... I was really miserable at my job of ten years, so I took the rather drastic step of quitting my job, doing this coding bootcamp thing and straight up changing my career. This is literally the hardest thing I've ever done, but I was able to land a new job and I think its gonna work out.
Of course, I had a lot less time to play games with all this going on, but I did play about 15 games that I'd call "list worthy". Some of them came out this year!
Honorable Mentions:
Dragon Ball FighterZ - I suck at this, since I suck at all fighting games, but its incredibly well-made and triggered the start of the world's first anime podcast!
COD Black Ops 4 - I suck at this game too, and absolutely do not have the time or patience to git gud, but it sure does seem like the best battle royale game on the menu.
Showing 1-10 of 15 items
The most I've enjoyed a strategy game in a VERY long time. Its easy to pick up and play, yet has a ton of depth and challenge: a trick that very few strategy games can pull off. Its a game that respects your time, it works well for a 20-minute or a five-hour sitting. Its good on PC, GREAT on Switch and a good podcast game to boot.
A truly fascinating puzzle game that got its hooks in me and totally consumed my free time until I finished it.
Hey, cool, more Hitman!
One of the best platformers I've ever played, consistently hard-but-fair.
An isometric RPG, extremely niche and rough around the edges, but I had a blast with this. The story reacts to your character and your choices in so many different ways, its insane. (Released: 2015)
A solid metroidvania. I really, really liked the story (Agent Black's character arc was great!), but I might be in the minority on that. The pixel art is incredible, the music is fantastic and the gameplay is enjoyable.
DKC Returns blew me away last generation, so I was really excited to finally play this when it came to Switch. It didn't impress me quite as much, but I think that's a time-and-place thing. Most people seem to agree this is the better DKC game. (Released: 2014)
An isometric RPG that is trying really hard to be a Fallout 1&2 successor. It succeeds in a lot of ways. The combat and crafting systems have a lot of depth to them, and there are many different character builds that could be viable. One lesson they did NOT learn from Fallout: brevity. Fallout is a 15-20 hour game, but I put about 30 hours into Underrail and only felt like I was 1/4 of the way through. Also, the game is unfortunately quite humorless and lacking in personality. I had to move on, but I enjoyed the time I spent with this. (Released: 2015)
The new gold standard for remakes of classic games. The hand-drawn art is amazing, and being able to switch back and forth to the classic art takes your appreciation to another level. (Released: 2017)
I haven't played a Civilization game in FOREVER, and it felt good to dip back into it. Civ 6 has some really neat additions, like government policy cards you earn and slot in and out of your government as you see fit. There's a lot of depth here, and yet... I might be at the point where I never want to play Civ again. Sid Meier says that a game should be "a series of interesting decisions". But Civilization 6 often felt like a series of me pressing the "Next Turn" button over and over again while I waited for shit to build. Its a shame, the underlying systems are incredibly deep and fascinating, but I don't think the moment-to-moment gameplay is engaging enough to justify the extreme time investment these games require. (Released: 2016)