Showing 1-10 of 10 items
No other game has impacted me more than NieR: Automata this year. Coming off liking the original a few years back, as it was more than the sum of its parts, I had some positive expectations about this sequel and Platinum Games being involved with the development. It just came down to if we would get the Platinum Games that worked on Bayonetta, or the one that worked on The Legend of Korra. Thankfully, we got the former mixed with the widespread ideas and concepts of Yoko Taro and his team. This game consistently surprised and entertained me throughout each of its endings and cannot be more highly recommended. Add on fantastic music and this has become one of my favorite games ever.
This ended up being the game I came back to time and again this year, even when I really only wanted to play something for a short period of time, and that would inevitably turn into a much longer play session that I intended. While the story mode doesn't hit the strides of the original Injustice, it's still pretty good as far as fighting games go, and the loot for the different characters allows for progression as well as customization to a level that I found myself coming back to the game throughout the year. While this was partly helped by me being a fan of DC Comics characters and the DLC ones that have been coming out as well, the core gameplay and variety of modes (shout out to the multiverse) were the foundation for me to return to the game repeatedly on a daily or weekly basis.
I had played the original Yakuza back when it first came out on PS2 and was unimpressed with it. Last year, I played through Yakuza 4 since it had been sitting as a PS Plus game for a while and came away appreciating the absurdity of the side quests more than anything else. Yakuza 0 takes that absurdity and multiplies it across everything that isn't a main story mission and this step along with the combat and localization made this one of my favorite games of the year. I am now playing through Kiwami (pretty good, but so far not reaching the highs of 0) and will be going back to play through 5 and I will be picking up 6 when it comes out next year without hesitation.
Wolfenstein 2 doesn't do a good job of letting you know when you're taking damage in the game or where your next objective is located. It nails everything else from the story to the weapons and characters. This had some of the most surprising moments of a game that I've seen and ranks up there with Metal Gear Solid 2.
This was the game that got me to pick up a Switch this year. 3D Mario games have never been my favorite in the past as I never got too into 64 or the Galaxy games and ended up disliking a more sizable portion of Sunshine than I thought I would. Odyssey ended up filling a whole where those others couldn't by being more bite sized in your obtaining Power Moons and building its objectives around the possession mechanic in each zone. Nintendo did a great job of focusing each zone around a handful of types for the most part as it otherwise could have become very unwieldy. Solid mechanics and a robust moveset for Mario made this entertaining to play on a TV and portably and this game became an obsession for a while so I could see each of the new areas and what they had to offer.
The game that almost got me to pick up a Switch this year. I just happened to have a Wii U still and picking up a game rather than an entire system that was untested at the time was the prudent move. I've since also picked this game up on the Switch as well. While the minor quibbles of the rainfall interrupting your ability to climb and the durability of weapons and cumbersome inventory, this game still exceeded all of my expectations with exploration and charm that was second to none this year. While I trailed off the game after 3 dungeons as I searched for the Master Sword, it's one I will be going back to now on the Switch to see what it fully has to offer.
It took me 105 hours to complete Persona 5 and I had a very good time through about 95 of those. I know I lost a few hours here and there due to failing in some of the dungeons, but I kept coming back to it (though sometimes after a bit of a break). While Persona 5 was not as great for me as Persona 4 or 3 story or characterwise, this was still a very good game with memorable characters. One more callout as this was despite the game being hindered by a lower quality localization than its predecessors.
As of this writing, the game is telling me I'm almost halfway to completing the game (though I'm guessing I may be closer to the end of the story) and am enjoying the scenario and Bayek as a character in his travails in Egypt. I do still miss the grapple hook from Syndicate for scaling large objects quickly, but this is also mitigated by allowing Bayek to climb pretty much everything.
Having played the original Evil Within this year and liking it despite its rough edges, I ended up really diving into Evil Within 2. Some better enemies, and more surreal environments helped this become one of the games I kept going back to until I completed it during one of the most congested release times of the year.
Glad Capcom took a chance on Resident Evil, even though I liked 6 more than most people and found that entry to be better than 5 was. I enjoyed exploring the locations in the game and the puzzles/objectives that were very reminiscent of the original game. It also looked impressive and took some pretty decent diversions with the VHS tapes that were sprinkled throughout.
