by jcracken
Honorable mentions: Night in the Woods, Yakuza Kiwami, What Remains of Edith Finch. Reasons they didn't make it: the first was let down by its subpar pacing, Yakuza by its PS2-era story, Edith Finch by lacking the ability to be remarkable in any sense.
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When the first Life Is Strange came out in 2015, it touched me in a way very few games have and as a result not only was it my top game of that year, I also played through it three different times and bought it on two different platforms. But when the prequel Before the Storm was announced earlier this year, I was unsure whether or not to get it, and none of the preview coverage seemed to convince me to jump in. It was only after overwhelmingly positive impressions of the first episode hit that I was convinced to give it a try, and I am glad I did. Deck Nine has recaptured and polished the magic that the first game brought to the table, while also putting forward their own identity. The second episode built on that, and put forward my favorite moment of the year, and even if its third episode has stumbled somewhat and left me feeling a bit mixed, it has, without a doubt, earned its spot at the top of the list, by surpassing my expectations to a degree I never expected.
For a few years I had thought about playing Persona 4 Golden, but could never bring myself to do so. Eventually, though, the momentum pulled in such a way that I just had to, and over the winter break of 2015/2016 I spent 80 hours and completed the whole game, and it immediately became one of my favorite games of all time. So while Persona 5 seemed to carry the baton forward and improving on the formula even forward, it also stumbled a bit. Yes, the graphics are now modern and more stylish than ever. Yes, it still has some of the best music all year. Yes, I spent 90+ hours with it and came out happy. But what made me adore its predecessor, the masterful character work and the story, was a bit uneven here, and while the gameplay and combat saw improvements in leaps and bounds, it still hit the same issue that I had with the first game, where eventually I just grew tired of the grind and started to just force my way through dungeons, skipping fights and trying to blow through the game as fast as possible. So while there is a more nuanced discussion to be had about the pitfalls and summits, the main takeaway is that while this game was incredible, it was set up with high expectations. I don't think it ever managed to hit them.
Prey is the dark horse of this year. Forgotten by almost all, this game is maybe the poster child of the death of the single player game. Despite a high budget and high quality, it struggled with sales and in the end wasn't part of any bigger discussion. But while it had some flaws--that post-credits ending is thoroughly offputting--it still does quite a lot right. Its atmosphere and storytelling was of the highest class, and its specific take on the "let the player do anything" concept worked better than it has in almost any other game of the last few years.
Wolfenstein II has a lot going for it. The timely subject matter, the absolute craziness, any one of several "that moment" setpieces, and so forth. But it also stumbles toward the end of the game, and while it is supremely satisfying to shred Nazis, it is less so when you have to repeat the same encounter three times because you fail the next one a few times and the checkpoint is too far back. Sure, manual saves could bandaid that problem, but this is one of my biggest pet peeves with games, because I rarely ever want to stop the momentum to pull up a menu and save.
Yakuza is the weird sort of game that shouldn't make it on my list, just based on what you would think the game is, but once I sunk into it it very quickly secured a spot. Like the opening of Persona 4, the absolute unintentional ridiculousness got me hooked, and once it actually went off the rails it never let go. While it does have its flaws (the fighting started to wear by the end of it, cool side activities were introduced so late in the game that they might as well not even existed, etc, etc.), it carries itself just well enough that it won me over.
I have never played a Zelda game before. BotW was my first, and a large part of the reason I bought a Switch in the first place. I enjoyed my time with it, and I love the art style (even if technically the looks are a bit lacking) but the game, like many other recent games, just ended up being far too long. As with MGSV, after about 20 hours I reached a point where I just could not keep going, but unlike the mentioned I pushed myself to finish the last main story items and defeat Ganon. Perhaps it earns brownie points for this reason alone--the player is allowed to pull the plug and finish the game at any moment past the opening hour or so. In the end though, the fact that I felt I was limping through the last act of the game is enough to bump it down my list, never mind the issues I had with the game's design and content.
It's a 3D Mario game, so it has that going for it. But it has a worse sense of discovery and amazement than either Galaxy game or 64, it doesn't make the most out of its headline mechanic (capturing) and I felt I was dragging my heels through the game at times. It's fun, but definitely not a game I'm likely to revisit often.
Everybody had their time with PUBG. It's fun, addictive, and a great time. For the first dozen hours or so, at least. I felt compelled to put this on my list because of all the time I spent with it and what it does right, but at the end of the day I won't go back to it.
Oh Rabbids. You started out so well. But as the game started to drag on and on and on, what started out fun and inventive turned into boring and tedious. You had a lot of heart; if only you had less meat.
I didn't expect this game to make my list. But as I compiled, I realized that while I never went back to this game after its short and unfinished campaign ended, I still had a load of fun with it. It was a great successor to the original mostly-forgotten game, but its greatest downfall is not the microtransaction-powered cardpacks, surprisingly. Despite the fact the campaign was very much left on a cliffhanger, the make good was that there was a promised story expansion. However, when that expansion hit, it did not build on the original story at all, instead focusing on a different subject. Worse yet, it was made separate to the season pass and the ultimate edition. I had ended up spending $20 more for this edition on the promise of more story content, but it being separated out completely dulled my enthusiasm. Still, it was fun while it lasted.