by bigevil1987
2018 is done. Another insane year for myself and my family. I had even less time to play games this year than I did in 2017 so I won't do a proper ranked list but I still wanted to mention some great games that stuck with me. These games are in no particular order and I'm sick as I type this so there won't be no fancy writin'.
Showing 1-10 of 20 items
A simple, seemingly mundane game about everyday life but it contains a heartbreaking story about a failed relationship and moving one's life on from a tough time. Exceedingly well made, brief but poignant and relatable.
I didn't play a lot of mobile games this year but a few did grab my attention. Pocket City is great, a simplified version of old school SimCity built for phones. My wife and I spent hours on the couch next to each other building cities and discussing strategies. Once you fill a map with a self sustaining city there isn't much to do, as such I fell off the game pretty sharply but did really enjoy my time with it.
Another mobile gem, Holedown. A simple premise but satisfying to play. I almost immediately stopped playing it once I purchased all of the upgrades because there was nothing left to chase and the infinite level didn't interest me. Like a lot of mobile games though, I was only into it for about a week, but what a week.
Those who have seen my previous GOTY lists know I was very much into Star Wars: Galaxy Of Heroes at one point. I got bored with that game and eventually gave up on it. Only to replace it with an almost identical game, this time featuring Marvel characters. This game has me back on a daily grind collecting character shards that I'm sure I will burn out on eventually. For now though, I need to work on unlocking Pyro.
Donut County is delightful. A silly premise with great writing, music and a raccoon who is a lovable asshole.
I'm still not sure what to say about this game. I haven't put that much time into it because life keeps getting in the way. What I've played is solid, the game is immense and complex but also it seems like many of its complex systems don't actually matter. I've spoken with several people who burned out hard on the game by the end which makes me think stretching out my time with it may be the best way to play. Trying to finish the story quickly seems to really expose how repetitive the missions are, ride here, shoot some dudes, ride back etc. Arthur's story intrigues me thought and I'm looking forward to getting back into it but I will purposefully be taking my time.
I've always been into the idea of "toys to life" games. I have almost every Disney Infinity figure, a lot of Lego Dimensions figures, and almost every Amiibo (which aren't really toys to life but still). I bought the Switch version of Starlink because it came with Star Fox stuff and I love Star Fox. Since Nintendo seems to have forgotten how to make a good Star Fox game I'm happy someone else stepped in. The way the toy ships work is cool. You can stack ship parts on each other making some real monstrosities and however you snap the pieces together, that's how your ship looks in the game. It's really neat. Yet the actual best way to play this game is without the toys. You can buy all of the ships and weapons digitally which is nice because swapping parts on the physical ship mid gameplay is annoying. It was a smart decision on Ubisoft's part considering the dying TTL market to make the parts available online. The game itself has the typical Ubisoft map barf, a thousand icons with a dozen repetitive tasks to complete but it's a competent space shooter and the best Star Fox game to come out in some time. I will definitely come back to it when weapons and ships go on sale.
Ever wanted to play as an insurance adjuster inspecting a ghost ship? I know I sure did! I've been playing this game with my wife this past week, we've barely scratched the surface of it but I'm definitely interested. It has a stunning look, great music and a unique premise. A ship full of corpses sails itself home, armed a magic pocket watch that allows you to see the last moments of someone's life, you have to deduce the identities and fates of each crew member. Who doesn't want to play ghost ship detective? Edit: We finished the game in a few sittings and it is great. Bouncing between memories when you get down to only a few crew members is a bit cumbersome but we didn't struggle with it too much. Expertly crafted game.
PSVR has been killing it this year. As with many games on this list, I've barely played any Moss but was immediately sucked into its world. It's adorable and a great use of VR. You can high five the mouse!
Another PSVR killer app. I saw some on Twitter saying this game reminded them of the first time they played Mario 64 which I thought was a ridiculous claim. And then I played it. The gameplay is pretty simple at first glance, but like Mario 64 did the it adds a new dimension to platformers. It's joyous and such a clever use of VR, of PSVR specifically which is one of the cheaper headsets on the market and doesn't always have the best motion tracking. I'm about halfway through the game and can't wait to see the rest of it. Just need to find some time to move the coffee table and get the PSVR set up again. I had a dumb smile on my face the entire time I played and there were times this year when I really needed that.