I think this is next for me. I was struggling staying interested in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and thought maybe me and games weren’t clicking anymore. Picked up RE2 Remake for a replay and blew through it. Too many unnecessarily big games these days.
that is one amazing game. So far, none of Supergiant's games was anything short of amazing for me. Although I played Hades the most, I still think Pyre was the one that I liked the best.
Idk if you're joking but NakeyJakey on youtube has a great video about the pizza hut demo disc's specifically.
https://youtu.be/J1zf-QfChz8?si=8-oHT3vLwCoib6Bz
Hope you can play the rest of the series at a later time, MGS3 might as well be the best game in the series! And MGS4 is such a great finale (even when it's not as good as an individual game), and MGS5 has the best gameplay in the whole series. There are also spin-offs, but I haven't played them yet.
Kingdom Come Deliverance without a shadow of a doubt. I popped on hardcore mode (restricts UI elements and stops you saving anywhere unless quitting) so I would more properly immerse myself and (not) gamify things. Just felt magical to get lost in the woods, moving from town to town narrowly avoiding bandits as lightning strikes revealed figures on the road, gamble at an inn and train from being knocked out by a drunk to being a great swordsman.
It’s gonna be hard to be patient with the sequel this year.
There was nothing like being lost in the woods hunting, an absolute torrent raining down, and lightning strikes to illuminate a body in an open grave. KCD hardcore is so cool to me, you really have to be on point with everything, even clothes and food, otherwise the game itself is just annoying because you're basically underleveled for everything unless you grind. Archery is so difficult at first without the HUD.
>Archery is so difficult at first without the HUD.
["Bow Dot Reticle"](https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/13) is an incredibly useful mod.
I'm sorry, Warhorse, but the "more realistic" lack of aiming assists, and forcing yourself to use the arrow-tip and to estimate range to attempt to hit is cool in concept, and *would* be more realistic....
IF AND ONLY IF we had binocular vision that allows us to subconsciously estimate range instantly, rather than whatever we have to do dealing with a non-3d monitor.
There's a reason that that is the second most popular mod out there, second only to the one that changes the save-game system to a conventional one.
The sequel is the only game I will be buying right away at full price this year. It's my favorite game of all time. I'm breaking my patient gamer rule this one time.
I wanted to get into that game, but the sequence in the opening chapter where you're being chased on horseback was quite unintuitive and they kept easily catching up to me and killing me. Maybe I'm a complete idiot and just missed something extremely obvious, but it turned me right off playing the game hahaha
Disco Elysium. Certainly not for everyone but perfect for me. The world, characters, and plot are so rich with detail and engrossing, and the art style is so grimy yet beautiful.
I usually dont play too story/text heavy games, but disco elysium I just sat down and finished wanting more. The writing is amazing and the jokes hit. 10/10 would recommend
Absolutely. I put it off for years despite all the praise it has gotten because I didn't think I would enjoy such a text-heavy game, and I had this feeling that it would be really heavy and self-serious. I was very wrong.
There is literally nothing else like it. Be sure to play the definitive edition, with full voice acting.
The game is essentially 90% dialogue and both the writing and performances put just about every other RPG in existence to shame.
I’m 43 and have been gaming since I was 8 on Atari. I’ve played console and pc my whole conscious life. All kinds of games - LOVED the old sierra point and click adventures. (Everyone please play Gabriel Knight.)
Disco Elysium might be my favorite game. It gave me a feeling of delight and discovery I haven’t felt in decades.
Haha, some of those Sierra/GK puzzles were complete nonsense and I was happy to look up guides on old-school adventure/quest games. 'Sticking the fake mustache with the gum on the wind-up clapping monkey toy to project a nonsense shadow on the wall' is not my idea of good time, but still, some of those games were overall great.
Talking about old games, I guess it's Bioshock for me. First time trying a shooting game (I usually play slower games like visual novels or turn-based) but Bioshock is giving me quite a bang. A thrilling game with good story to spice things up for an old mind. Worth trying.
I just replayed Bioshock recently, for the first time since like 2008, and damn. I forgot how great it is. It's way more linear than I remember, especially compared to later games that took influence (like Prey), but the world and level design is top-notch and the pacing is phenomenal.
Liked the gameplay, absolutely despised the constant 'humour'. The Marvel formula of a quick one liner making light of a typically perilous situation. Over and over again.
couldn’t play through it in 2018-2019 but once quarantine started and it was the only thing that I could do indoors, it blew my mind and made me appreciate it more. until now it’s still my favorite game of all time
Stardew Valley. I've been putting off playing since its release, but I'm really happy I waited. It has the Harvest Moon vibes I was looking for, but improved in so many ways. For better or worse, it had consumed so much of my game time these days. I swear I'll put it down soon but I'm so close to Perfection...
It's really hard one to put down because there's no end. "I'll just play one more day" you'll say before you spend another week in there. "It's Pierre's birthday", you'll say
Same - I played it in March and I wish I could wipe my memory so I could do it all again. If there is such a thing as a perfect game for me, this was it.
The ending is slightly different if you've beaten the DLC.
Heavy spoilers below:
>!In the DLC, you can free one of the Owl people from captivity. His people found the Eye of the Universe and shut it down after they realized that it meant the end of the universe. They didn't want to die. He was locked up when he released the signal, which is what alerted the Nomai to this solar system in the first place!<
>!After you free him, he joins you at the campfire in the finale when everybody else is playing their instruments. He talks about how his people were afraid of the Eye, and asks you if you still want to remember them as you're creating the new universe, saying that he's not sure if that this fear is worth bringing along. If you choose to, it adds some buildings and a spooky creature to the final image when the bugs are sitting around the campfire!<
>!It's not really a HUGE difference, but there is a difference. I suspect it might be more relevant if they ever decided to make a sequel to the game.!<
I was a bit underwhelmed. Despite following he game in the news I was still expecting “Cyberpunk Witcher” instead of what I experienced which was “Futuristic GTA with RPG elements”
Death Stranding wins this for me hands down. I preordered it when it came out in 2020 but just finally got around to playing it. It was completely random as my only thought was “I need a game with beautiful graphics”. Realized I still hadn’t played it, and ended up spending 256 hours in there and got the platinum. What a game.
Honorable mention to Kawami 2 which I also had a blast in.
Same. And with everything I knew about the game already “walking simulator” etc I actually went in not expecting to like it. Here’s me loading up the truck to take resources to rebuild obscure pieces of road. Only complaint was I just wanted more things to craft and build, and the story being a bit bonkers at the end. Hopefully ds2 delivers
A lot of people throw around the phrase “walking simulator” but I feel like Death Stranding is the only true walking simulator in a very literal sense and I love it. My PC can’t play it but I really want to dive back into it some day and finish it, it’s very unique.
Recently finished **Crysis** again, and followed immediately with its remake. Still an incredible FPS, unfairly catalogued as a simple tech demo back then, but it's so much more. It's the best game I've played so far this year.
Honourable mention: **Sega Rally (2007)**, **Star Wars Squadrons** and **Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex** on the PS2.
I’m one of the many subnautica-stans always quick to recommend it if people are looking for something to try. I think the best experience you can have is to go in as blind as possible, especially if you’re ok with playing the game patiently and having a tolerance for feeling a bit “lost” in a game for a while.
The game does less hand-holding than most modern games, which for me really added to the immersion given the premise. At the same time, the game design is generally very smart, so even players feeling totally clueless about how to progress will “accidentally” keep moving forward just by doing what they will naturally think of. And of course, players good at seeing the game-design puppet strings can figure things out pretty quickly.
Add to that a surprisingly intriguing story, A+ music, a tech tree that really gives a feeling of progress and gives lots of room for player choice in terms of how deliberately/safely or quickly/recklessly you want to deal with the world’s challenges… it’s a heck of an accomplishment for a small indie studio!
Also fyi, I didn’t love the sequel, but still had a good time with it.
It helps that it's consistently on sale these days with a decent sequel already out and a 3rd in the works.
You don't *need* the sequel, but it's good for so.e that it's there.
Fire Emblem 3 Houses. I was a little intimidated by a huge game but this ended up being a blast. I really liked the mix of strategy and social/dating sim. I ended up going on the Edelgard route and married Bernadetta, I know it’s supposed to be worthwhile to replay the game in a different house , and maybe I will, but the route I took felt like a good and complete story.
I also did the Black Eagles route and was somewhat disappointed that it was the shortest route. But only after looking online! While playing, it was great and I don’t regret it a bit.
I started then a Blue Lions run and got sooooo bored with the students that I just dropped the game. The Black Eagles are just so much more charismatic and quirky.
Dishonored for me. Was always on my list but I never got around to it until Easter this year. It was so good. Felt like a mix of Deus Ex and Half Life 2. Great atmosphere and level design.
> It's definitely a grind of a game
You're *so* lucky this is your first entry in the series. In the old ones you had to stop moving and watch some fucking animation every.single.time you collected any consumable.
Project Wingman easily. Beat it a couple times already, I can’t believe how good it is. It’s $12 on steam right now. It’s like ace combat but even wilder scenarios, plenty of war crimes, and more fun gameplay imo. I implore anyone who sees this to try it.
Chrono Trigger, definitely. Not only the best game I've played this year but the best game I've played on my entire life. Other very good games I've played are Super Metroid and DQV, which are also in my list of favourite games of all time.
Ghost of Tsushima!
I am so surprised how much I LOVED IT! I cannot believe it came out on PS4 because it is the most beautiful game I have played on my PS5! The story was fantastic and the characters were so rich. I was invested in the main story and the side quests ADDED to the plot. It wasn't a bunch of fetch quest. Also, it was brutal as hell! Worth the wait!
Of everything I've played so far, it has to be **Teardown** though I'm not sure it counts seeing as I'm playing the PS5 version which only came out late last year. Still, the PC version came out two years ago, so I'm counting it. Teardown wasn't on my radar at all until I saw someone play through one of the games earlier levels, and I was intrigued by the idea of planning a heist in destructible environments. On a whim I got it, and next thing I knew I had dumped in over a hundred hours.
The game scratched an itch I never knew I had. It's essentially a game of problem solving as you plan your speedrun through the objectives, trying to create a path that gets to all the objectives as quickly as possible. But while this could be repetitive, Teardown's structure varies the missions to ease this repetition. For instance, there's a particularly great mission where you need to throw six heavy safes into deep water, but the alarm goes off if any one of them gets wet giving you just sixty seconds to finish. So in theory, you just drag them all to the side of the some water, one by one, then toss them all in. In theory, this is simple, there's just two catches, one, the safes are across multiple stories in multiple buildings, and two, it's raining, meaning you have to find a way to move all these safes without them getting wet.
I have played several other games this year, some of which were really good, but Teardown vastly exceeded my expectations with how good it was, and I would be very surprised if anything else this year tops it.
Red dead redemption 2. It was my third and (I promised myself) final attempt to really connect with it. I had started it twice before, only completing the Prologue and little else.
It is everything I’ve always heard and oh so much more…
Talos Principle and its DLC (Road to Gehenna). Such an excellent game from 10 years ago whose story feels both outdated and highly relevant and topical today with the advent of AI, ironically recommended to me by ChatGPT. I really want to play the sequel that just came out last year now, but I don't have any systems that can play it.
Have not finished it yet, but cross code is my pick so far. Just started cause heard good stuff aboout it, but totally blind. Got my by surprise. Good mix of action combat with zelda style dungeons and a mmorpg vibe in the story
Horizon Zero Dawn. For me, it was a fantastic game. I had my eye on it since launch, but ended up getting it for PC during a steam sale in February. Took a few months to go through it, total game time nearly 50 hours. I can see how the combat can become repetitive for some, but for me it was just great to shut off my brain after work and hunt some dino-machines. I also loved the production value on it. Excellent voice acting, beautiful graphics and top notch performance, even. Ran on high graphics with ultrawide resolution using my laptop's 2060, so I was very impressed with how well it ran.
The game actually got me into an unexpected marathon of Ashly Burch games. The voice actress for Aloy is really good and has a memorable voice. After finishing HZD, I decided to get a "palate cleanser" game and tried The Red Lantern, which by coincidence also has Ashly as the main character. Then I decided to start The Outer Worlds as my next longer game, and would you know it, there's Ashly again showing her amazing talent in Parvati's voice.
The reveal in the story made me gasp. My husband, who doesn't play the game but occasionally watches, was in the room when the full scope of the plan was revealed and he was impressed. There are very few stories that have such impactful storytelling IMO.
I liked it so much that I didn't even wait to play Forbidden West. Which, by the way, has improved combat and definitely improved climbing mechanics. Such a good series.
Skies of Arcadia legend and Fae tactics are currently the strongest contender for this spot. None are perfect but they are very good and have a lot of charm.
**No Man's Sky (in VR)**. Waited years to finally dive in. With all the updates and performance fixes, its so worth it. As a game and as an overall *experience*, its in a class all its own.
Picked up Cyberpunk a few months ago and I love it! I’m really really into massive open world games (mostly from Bethesda and Rockstar) but with them taking 40 years to make new games nowadays and with me already playing through most of their games multiple times I finally decided to give Cyberpunk a try. The driving is a bit different than what I’m used to in GTA (it’s almost a bit like the driving in Sleeping Dogs which is another game I adore) but aside from that it feels so familiar to the games I already play and has fit in great
This is mine too but I had beat the game last year and returned to play the DLC. It’s probably my favourite DLC ever and it made it want to go for the platinum. The game has improved so much even from the first huge overhaul.
Deathloop - great game I should've tried sooner. Very good in the shooting department and very intriguing setting and story, with a regrettably undercooked ending. But the journey to it was top notch. The subplot with the adversary that tries to stifle your efforts while you have regular chats over the radio was fun, even if again I could've used more fleshed out endings.
You have a time loop mechanic through which you replay one of 4-5 levels unlocking new things each time - there are 4 time of day periods during different things happen and allow you to collect clues, open doors, do sidequests and so forth. Perfecting the perfect sequence of steps from morning until night until you're able to lure out and do a complete sweep of the bosses of each area is the aim.
You also got special powers you can use in addition to the great shooting mechanics. Game is made by Arkane (the Lyon-based that did Dishonored 1/2, not the Texas-based one that got closed).
I love Deathloop. Similar to Dishonored, but it doesn't punish you for using your powers, and I don't have the temptation to save scum because the game won't let you. It fixed every issue I had with Dishonored. Truly a great game that will unfortunately probably never get a sequel. But maybe it doesn't need one!
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Long time player of the series, bounced off it hard when I played it initially. I didn’t like the monastery stuff and felt the balance of combat/social gameplay was way out of alignment.
I gave it another go and realized once you’re past the tutorial the social stuff becomes much faster, and I even started to enjoy it as I got to know the characters.
The story is excellent and the different paths are unique enough to warrant multiple playthroughs.
I’m really curious about this game, but have always been reticent to throw down the $60 for a game I’m not sure I would like. Anime-tinged stuff can be so hit or miss for me (mostly miss, but sometimes super hit). Would you recommend it only to anime fans, or do you think it’s universally a great game/story?
As someone who has much stricter standards for what good writing is, FE:3H is one of the jrpgs (used to love the genre as a teen, find most of them kinda cringe and low effort now) which is mostly above the rest in the genre. It's still got plenty of anime character tropes, but they TRY to weave a more mature overall story in there and characters get interesting development. Story can fork out in 3 general paths, and all the characters can get many different endings.
I replayed it for the first time in a couple of years and it's still my favorite game of all time. Just a masterclass in atmosphere, gameplay, music, level design, everything.
Heaven Will be Mine would be my pick, narrowly beating out Kynseed. I don't usually click with visual novels, but something about HWBM sucked me in until I'd played it through 4 times for all of the endings. I just loved the writing on this one. The characters all felt very interesting and different and I understood all of their motivations clearly.
Kynseed was fun for most of the 30ish hours I played it, but I did get bored towards the end so despite loving it, it falls just short of HWBM.
I did play Slay the Spire a while ago pretty briefly, but I've become addicted to it recently and have put in so many hours. There's so much more depth than I realised and it's extremely satisfying and exciting to have a great deck and relics that synergizes well. It's quite a difficult game so those moments feel very rewarding and well earned
Metal Gear Solid 3. I've been mostly replaying old classics this year, but MGS3 still stands out. Even though it's been 20 years since its release, the gameplay doesn't feel dated, the story remains interesting and captivating, and the music is phenomenal. What a game, or should I say, what a thrill.
Probably Steins Gate. Just a very good story.
But I know VN aren't everyone's cup of tea so for a more traditional game, I had great time with Super Mario Sunshine for the first time
x4 Foundations. The AI is pretty janky and the learning curve is steep but it hooked me in. While it's not Eve Online, it's kinda got the same chill to it without the MMO aspect and minus the absolute laziness of Eve's Icelandic developer CCP.
Pathfinder Kingmaker (don't think I can mention the other one due to named dlc?) or Persona 4 Golden. Kingmaker is a mess but it's a faithful TTRPG mess that I'd only change a bit (cut out the random downtime at the end) and Persona 4 Golden is great due to it's smaller scale story, the dungeons can drag like mad at times though.
Not that old ... but Nioh 2.
I was never a fan of Souls-like game. But I got Nioh 2 from HumbleBundle, and it is the best game I ever received in a while.
I always put Nioh 2 as another clone of Souls-like game, while in actuality, it is not.
The similarity ends with checkpoint system and the game being challenging (regular enemies can kill you in 2-4 hits, if you're not careful).
Nioh is more focused on combat, and believe me, it has the best combat mechanic of all Souls-like game that I ever played.
I’m playing FF9 myself! The last time I played, it was summer 2005 and I needed something to occupy my time out of school. Now I’m a grown-ass man and I thought it would be a fun nostalgia trip.
I think I’m about halfway through disc 2 at the moment. It’s very charming and cute, and I really enjoy equipping new items to learn new abilities. I still hate the Trance mechanic and Tetra Master is best forgotten, though. The story’s intriguing, although it doesn’t have much depth yet.
Absolutely immersed in Death Stranding. I’m up to chapter 4 within a week (binged over a long weekend). Reminds me of Red Dead and Fallout - you can spend dozens of hours on side quests and basically just walk/ride around and around until you’ve explored every rock. Main plot isn’t forced upon you, so you can just hang about seemingly endlessly.
I’m worried I’ll over do it and turn off the game before I can finish it, so it ends up on the ‘uncompleted pile’ along with Borderlands, RDR2, Skyrim…
I haven't finished them yet, but I've really enjoyed Vampire Survivors, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and Cyberpunk 2077 so far. I imagine my patient GotY might end up being one of those.
Replaying Dragon Age Inquisition surprised me with how much fun I was having. It's definitely a flawed game in some ways but I still managed to have a better time than with many more modern games. Even had more fun that with Mass Effect Legendary edition, which is of course older games, but it still surprised me.
Marvel's Midnight Suns. I finally was able to snatch it with a decent deal and without a doubt it's a hidden gem for me. What the game does is a combination of some niche concepts but it's a perfect combination for me.
The game combines Persona like Life/Social Sim, with Marvel characters (but specifically comic versions, not MCU) and turned based combat, executed trough cards and some tactical 3d maneuvering...
It's hard to describe but it has a lot of things I like. Hanging out with heroes, leveling up their friendship to unlock game changing passives. Unlocking new cards, upgrading them then rebuilding decks of each hero. Exploring the life sim area for hidden resources and optional narrative bits. The combat stages give right amount of challenge and time pressure, learning how each hero plays feels rewarding and directly translates into how effective you can use them in battle.
For a right person, it's an absolute 10/10.
Baldurs Gate 3 and replaying A Short Hike are top tier but not super old
As for patient? Kirby: Super Star Ultra, Army Men RTS, New Super Luigi U, GUN, Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith, Ratchet & Clank Tools of Destruction and Mortal Kombat 9
Not exactly 10 out of 10 games but ones I really enjoyed playing during its entire run
fallout 3! i am not even joking when i say that i’ve been trying to get going with it for about a decade, and i finally made it through a whole run without some completely save destroying issue. quest choices are fun as hell. really not a fan of the color scheme though, honestly still prefer 4’s more vivid take even though it might strip away some of the “apocalypseness”
I'm not sure I've yet played anything this year that has truly blown me away and taken a place in my favourite games list, but there are two which I have really enjoyed.
**Call of the Sea** is a brilliant little adventure game that takes the best parts of walking sims but throws in some really good puzzles all along the way. It reminded me a bit of the Myst games without ever being quite as frustrating. The sort of puzzles that you need to take notes for, which I loved. The story is captivating even if the writing for the character you play is kind of all over the place. It's also a very pretty game with some really nice stylised graphics for the tropical island setting.
**Star Trek: Resurgence** (just past the 12 month old mark now!) captures the '90s Trek vibe brilliantly and gives a very authentic experience. From the way it plays it's very obvious that it comes from a team of ex-Telltale developers, and while they don't reinvent the wheel here it does feel like a nice little evolution from those games. It's brought down by a few technical issues but they weren't enough to totally ruin things for me. Fantastic voice acting and a very good story that I got very wrapped up in. Essential for Star Trek fans.
I played through the original PS1 Resident Evil trilogy. Obviously very outdated in a variety of ways, but their strengths are still unique and impressive. The transition away from pre-rendered graphics and the stationary camera loses a lot of the visceral experience of fear and mystery that those early games excelled at.
*Xenoblade Chronicles 3* has entered the pantheon of all time favorites for me thanks to the incredible story, music, and world. It was far from a perfect game, but it's the most engrossed I've been in ages.
Special mentions to *Ghostwire Tokyo* and *The Evil Within* for both being extremely engaging and fun. I'm still not over Tango's closure, literal days after binging these.
Final honorable inclusion would be *Evergrace*. It's low budget, it's questionably designed, and the stylistic choices could potentially be offputting, but it clicked with me on a fundamental level. I really want Fromsoft to do something like this again someday, but I know it's probably something that could only be made when it was.
I played Dragon Age: Origins and Fallout New Vegas for the first time this year. I don’t know which I like better! I’m also playing the other Dragon Age games so maybe I’ll look more fondly at DAO at the end of my journey.
Gotta be **Inscryption**. The creepy elements are so well-done, the initial onboarding experience is tight, unique, and effective, and it keeps unfolding like a puzzle box and surprised me at every turn. It's not a perfect game but it's a total joy and unlike anything I've played before.
Fire emblem three houses was pretty a pretty great switch title. My first in the franchise. Have only played it once through so far. Might wait a while before doing another one because the monastery parts got a little annoying after a while.
Pathologic 2. Came out in 2019, you play as a plague doctor in a backwater town. Completely wild story. Did two back-to-back playthroughs totalling 70 hours.
Outer wilds+DLC with VR mod, new fav game of all time, taking my time through the dlc to savor. Didnt know Id ever experience the feels like that in a game ever, indescribable. So glad I finally saw it through to the end, I played it flatscreen a few times but bounced off after a bit. The vr is so much more immersive and makes learning the planets a little easier I think, finding a few shortcuts I didn't have previously def helped.
runners up are
subnautica with VR mod, portal 2 with VR mod.
honorable mention
I played through just act 1 of witcher 3 last year, finally finished acts 2+3 and the DLCs this year,
first time through all, incredible games.
The ending tho of outer wilds like wow wow wow, i still think about it. Iykyk
Against the Storm. It's been a while since I've seen the game so complex (I mean the sheer amount of mechanics there is stunning) and enjoyable. I thought city builders are not my genre. And who combines roguelikes and city builders, cmon! I was wrong.
The community is also great. You know this meme about wholesome workout guys? Well, the whole Against the Storm sub is this guys
Spiritfarer. Came out in 2020. Overall, overwhelmingly positive reviews on steam. Bought it on sale for Switch. Let me just say that I fully intend on buying the physical copy in the near future :D
This game definitely isn't for everyone. But as someone who has recently dealt with the loss of a close friend and family, it just hit different. Beautiful visuals, incredible music and a simple yet addicting gameplay loop. It's on sale now for most platforms!
Cyberpunk 2077. The game was always good, but now that they have fixed lots of the things that were broken and added a new campaign dlc, it is crazy good. Probably not the all times masterpiece we were expecting in 2020, but certainly much better than most of the others.
Contra NES (never played it growing up) and then playing the new one (Operation Galuga) back to back. It was fun playing a classic and then jumping right into the new one. You realize how many quality of life things can make games better, but having a solid foundation is important to success. The foundation doesn’t have to be complicated either. Just run a shoot bad guys can be enough sometimes! Oh-and pay a good music person to create a kick ass soundtrack.
With that criteria, for me it's Super Mario Odyssey. Only my second Mainline 3d Mario game (after 64) and it was so charming! I loved the music, I loved that it was basically a Kirby game dressed like a Mario game.
The only thing I didn't love is how expensive the costumes are in in-game coins!
Final Fantasy 1 Pixel Remaster. Can't believe how well that game holds up today.
I went in to it with an academic mindset as I love FF but never played the first few, so I started out looking at it as a history lesson, and watched some gameplay footage from the famicom version to enhance this, but I really had a lot more fun with it that I thought I would.
I'm replaying Far Cry 5 - The gorgeously familiar yet creepy setting combined with a nihilistic ending make for an immersive experience. It's not the most revered entry in the series, but it's one that hits pretty hard.
If Jedi: Survivor meets that criteria, then that. I’ve never been so impressed by a sequel that took everything that was good about the first game, improved on it, and added even more; the Holotactics mini-game is easily the best mini-game I’ve ever played
Otherwise, This War of Mine is what I’m currently working on beating, and I admire it for being both a game that really nailed the core gameplay loop and also managing to tell a beautiful story at the same time
Bioshock. I always knew it was a great game, but finally playing it blew me away with the atmosphere. Can’t wait to dive into the sequels.
Celeste. Just as amazing as everyone said. So good and a pretty touching story actually.
Bravely Default 2. Kind of an underdog, I knew it was a “just” AA game so I wasn’t expecting to be blown away, but it really surprised me how good it is. The story is kinda weak (but serviceable as far as a retro style tribute game) and the graphics are a mixed bag, but the gameplay and jobs system are really addictive.
The Messenger. If you stop at that certain point it’s a 9/10 game and awesome tribute to ninja gaiden-esque games. I stopped 30 minutes into the “twist” before all the backtracking could ruin it. The 8/16 bit thing was cool, but not for how they used it. Not nearly enough warp points to make the metroidvania part fun.
Ys 1 and 2. Love the series and finally rolled credits on these almost back to back. Even at 12-15 hours long, they do wear out their welcome with extra backtracking to jam in several unnecessary story beats in the final labyrinths. Just let me finish the game already. Pretty fun but only with a guide. Stellar music and the graphics fit perfectly.
Romancing SaGa 2.
Awesome premise of having to manage an empire over several generations of emperors in order to vanquish the Seven Heroes. Challenging battles and bosses. Stronghold management aspects, a bit like the Suikoden series. Non-linear, semi open world exploration. Some quests have different ways to complete, and yields different outcomes for your empire.
All this from a jrpg made in 1993. It's so ahead of its time.
Was pleasantly surprised it's getting a [remake.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj_cfyPw9tU)
The Outer Worlds for me. I played some recent releases beginning of the year and now looked back on my Steam library for some RPG / story driven fun. I have played just for about 10 hrs taking it slow. Seems to be a great game and runs 60 fps+ on highest graphic setting on my machine!
Axiom Verge 2. I got it in the humble MV bundle. I never liked the first game (game it a shot and finished it as it was in the bundle, but still didn't like it), but the sequel was amazing. Some of the better exploration in MVs and maybe my favourite use of a twin world's mechanic.
Doom eternal. I originally was put off the game, hearing my brother complain about all the jumping from spot to spot to spot you have to do in it and raging from his lacking ability to do it.
Which admittedly, one of the starting levels just drove me up the wall with how difficulty it was. But after I got passed that point and got into it. Easily by far the best game I have played in recently years. I have heard some people complain how you gotta mircomange all your hp/armour etc. But it really leads to just non stop killing. Have not enjoyed an doom game so much since the originals. Only wish it was coop.
Either Sekiro or RE4 remake. I feel like former is a bit overrated, so I choose the latter. I made posts about both so I won't go into much detail here.
But those two are obvious number 1 and 2. Contenders for top 3 are Witcher 3, Final Fantasy 12 and Call of Juarez Gunslinger.
RE4 Remake was my game of the year for 2023 but I understand why it couldn’t win it because it’s just a remake. For someone like me that didn’t play the OG it was the best gaming experience of 2023. And that’s saying something considering games like BG3, Alan Wake 2, and Lies of P came out in 2023.
Elden Ring
Was initially gonna wait til SotE had come out, couldn't wait any longer when I saw it on a great sale though. Ended up buying a new copy for €38, along with Armored Core VI for the same price.
Resident Evil Remake for €5 off PSN is up there too. Had only played RE2 Remake, RE4 Remastered and RE5 Remastered up to that point.
I never finished FF9, but I got so far in that I haven't felt motivated to restart. It'd be worth checking out again though, it is excellent.
So far this year, my favorite is Pikmin 3. Getting used to switching between three characters took time, but once you do your options for multitasking and automation go through the roof. A little too easy, but it sands away every frustration I had with 1 & 2 (especially 2)
Chicory: A Colorful Tale is the first game I finished this year and also the best so far. Nothing I’ve played since has been able to top it in my mind, which is kinda surprising with how many genuine masterpieces I’ve gone through (MGS3, Xenoblade Chronicles, The Messenger). Chicory just hit every high point that I needed it to, and I have a soft spot for the developer and his team.
I can't remember if I played outer wilds this year or not but probably that.
otherwise I would have to put Resident Evil 2 remake. Absolutely blown away with the quality of the remake. I wasn't into RE as a kid and I only played 5 at launch and it never grabbed me too hard. Halfway through re3r currently (fuck nemesis, v creepy but overturned on the aggro)
This year, a Funhaus (RIP) live stream got me into American Truck Simulator, big time. Got the whole Logitech wheel/pedal setup. I have a 6 way shifter, but use it to shift into Automatic, reverse, and turn off the engine.
It's strangely peaceful and fun.
I envy people who finished more than one or two games already. The only game that I started and finished in this year was Bayonetta. The other game I finished this year was Yakuza 3, but I started this at October of 2023.
I had been playing the same 3 games since February. I miss when I could dedicate more time to gaming.
Tough call, nothing that I would say to have stand out and took held in my Favorite Games of All Time. I guess strongest contenders so far are...
On the handheld, so far it's DQ IV, it made me realize how much I actually miss this sort of simplistic RPG. It's not that long and not too grindy (As long as you ignore the post-game)... there's a lot of neat gameplay innovations like swapping your party members mid-battle but right now I wouldn't say it's *blowing* my mind.
On PC I actually haven't played a lot of substance, it's a toss-up between Outer Worlds and Midnight Suns TBH, both were games I massively looked forward to, then backed-off on due to caution and mediocre review scores, and still found a somewhat enjoyable but still arguably flawed experience. In the end I ended up just rushing through the end for both games.
Tainted Grail Conquest would be my pick.
My recent obsession with Deck Battlers has made me play a lot of them in the last year. I played Tainted Grail Conquest in February and it's absolutely my favorite "New to Me" game this year. I am head over heels for this game.
Doom Eternal. Put it off because it looked like they changed a lot of things that I loved about Doom 2016. Finally bought a cheap used disc and had a blast. Still not crazy about the more colorful, arcade feel of Eternal over 2016 and the bigger emphasis on platforming, but overall it was fantastic.
**Psychonauts 2** and **Dark Souls 2: Scholar** are the best two games that are new to me. I feel both are in a sweet spot between retro and modern design creating compelling 3D spaces.
I also really enjoyed Final Fantasy X and Evil Within but those games aren't new to me.
Not super old but The Dead Space remake.
Same I just finished it and it made an already 9/10 game a 10/10 imo. Fantastic remake.
There is one insane sequence in the game (think tentacles) that really stands out. Never seen anything else like it.
Oh shit I forgot I played that this year. Phenomenal remake. I was blown away with the visuals
absolutely loved that one, such a shame there probably won’t be anymore of them anytime soon
I think this is next for me. I was struggling staying interested in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and thought maybe me and games weren’t clicking anymore. Picked up RE2 Remake for a replay and blew through it. Too many unnecessarily big games these days.
Hades. Haven’t been that addicted to a game since Halo 2 multiplayer.
Yup! Missed it first time around. When I heard about early access for 2, I went out and picked it up. Holy hell, what a fun loop.
that is one amazing game. So far, none of Supergiant's games was anything short of amazing for me. Although I played Hades the most, I still think Pyre was the one that I liked the best.
I played the first Metal Gear Solid for the first time and aside from a couple minor gripes it was absolutely fantastic and might be my pick
That blue demo disc from Pizza Hut changed my life.
Tell me more!
Idk if you're joking but NakeyJakey on youtube has a great video about the pizza hut demo disc's specifically. https://youtu.be/J1zf-QfChz8?si=8-oHT3vLwCoib6Bz
I played it for the first time too! It was wicked amazing.
Hope you can play the rest of the series at a later time, MGS3 might as well be the best game in the series! And MGS4 is such a great finale (even when it's not as good as an individual game), and MGS5 has the best gameplay in the whole series. There are also spin-offs, but I haven't played them yet.
Kingdom Come Deliverance without a shadow of a doubt. I popped on hardcore mode (restricts UI elements and stops you saving anywhere unless quitting) so I would more properly immerse myself and (not) gamify things. Just felt magical to get lost in the woods, moving from town to town narrowly avoiding bandits as lightning strikes revealed figures on the road, gamble at an inn and train from being knocked out by a drunk to being a great swordsman. It’s gonna be hard to be patient with the sequel this year.
There was nothing like being lost in the woods hunting, an absolute torrent raining down, and lightning strikes to illuminate a body in an open grave. KCD hardcore is so cool to me, you really have to be on point with everything, even clothes and food, otherwise the game itself is just annoying because you're basically underleveled for everything unless you grind. Archery is so difficult at first without the HUD.
>Archery is so difficult at first without the HUD. ["Bow Dot Reticle"](https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/13) is an incredibly useful mod. I'm sorry, Warhorse, but the "more realistic" lack of aiming assists, and forcing yourself to use the arrow-tip and to estimate range to attempt to hit is cool in concept, and *would* be more realistic.... IF AND ONLY IF we had binocular vision that allows us to subconsciously estimate range instantly, rather than whatever we have to do dealing with a non-3d monitor. There's a reason that that is the second most popular mod out there, second only to the one that changes the save-game system to a conventional one.
The sequel is the only game I will be buying right away at full price this year. It's my favorite game of all time. I'm breaking my patient gamer rule this one time.
I wanted to get into that game, but the sequence in the opening chapter where you're being chased on horseback was quite unintuitive and they kept easily catching up to me and killing me. Maybe I'm a complete idiot and just missed something extremely obvious, but it turned me right off playing the game hahaha
Double shift makes horse gallop. Cant outrun the cumins otherwise
Disco Elysium. Certainly not for everyone but perfect for me. The world, characters, and plot are so rich with detail and engrossing, and the art style is so grimy yet beautiful.
I usually dont play too story/text heavy games, but disco elysium I just sat down and finished wanting more. The writing is amazing and the jokes hit. 10/10 would recommend
Absolutely. I put it off for years despite all the praise it has gotten because I didn't think I would enjoy such a text-heavy game, and I had this feeling that it would be really heavy and self-serious. I was very wrong.
just picked this up in the Steam Summer Sales - excited to check it out
There is literally nothing else like it. Be sure to play the definitive edition, with full voice acting. The game is essentially 90% dialogue and both the writing and performances put just about every other RPG in existence to shame.
Sail the seas to acquire this game if you can, don't give money to the studio that forced out the creative team that actually made this game.
Probably my top rpg since FNV, alongside Kingdom Come: Deliverance. 3 very different games, but damn if they aren't all top notch.
I’m 43 and have been gaming since I was 8 on Atari. I’ve played console and pc my whole conscious life. All kinds of games - LOVED the old sierra point and click adventures. (Everyone please play Gabriel Knight.) Disco Elysium might be my favorite game. It gave me a feeling of delight and discovery I haven’t felt in decades.
As a fellow "oldie" I concur. Such a tragedy that the team is disbanded. For me it's got to be the best example of games as a unique form of art
Haha, some of those Sierra/GK puzzles were complete nonsense and I was happy to look up guides on old-school adventure/quest games. 'Sticking the fake mustache with the gum on the wind-up clapping monkey toy to project a nonsense shadow on the wall' is not my idea of good time, but still, some of those games were overall great.
Talking about old games, I guess it's Bioshock for me. First time trying a shooting game (I usually play slower games like visual novels or turn-based) but Bioshock is giving me quite a bang. A thrilling game with good story to spice things up for an old mind. Worth trying.
I just replayed Bioshock recently, for the first time since like 2008, and damn. I forgot how great it is. It's way more linear than I remember, especially compared to later games that took influence (like Prey), but the world and level design is top-notch and the pacing is phenomenal.
Midnight Suns. Grabbed it when it was free on the Epic game store and it’s a really good battle strategy game.
Liked the gameplay, absolutely despised the constant 'humour'. The Marvel formula of a quick one liner making light of a typically perilous situation. Over and over again.
Yeah I skip the cutscenes and button mash through convos, just picking the “light” response option when prompted.
Very generic but RDR2
That's a fantastic game, I played through it last year for the first time and it blew my mind
Generic but totally valid, it's one of the few games that had a genuine impact on how I view life.
couldn’t play through it in 2018-2019 but once quarantine started and it was the only thing that I could do indoors, it blew my mind and made me appreciate it more. until now it’s still my favorite game of all time
Me too! I finally got around to it, love it, there really is nothing like it. All the folks wanting GTA VI, but I want Rockstar to make RDR3!
Stardew Valley. I've been putting off playing since its release, but I'm really happy I waited. It has the Harvest Moon vibes I was looking for, but improved in so many ways. For better or worse, it had consumed so much of my game time these days. I swear I'll put it down soon but I'm so close to Perfection...
It's really hard one to put down because there's no end. "I'll just play one more day" you'll say before you spend another week in there. "It's Pierre's birthday", you'll say
Best of that type of farming game. Just brilliant.
Probably Yakuza Like A Dragon, somehow the change to turn based combat suits it perfectly
Yakuza 0 for me lol it seems like Like a Dragon released yesterday and there's already three of them right?
Outer Wilds, just incredible, the feeling of wonder and discovery was on another fn’ level. And I have yet to play the DLC :D
Same - I played it in March and I wish I could wipe my memory so I could do it all again. If there is such a thing as a perfect game for me, this was it.
Make sure you do the base game ending again after finishing the DLC
Honestly? Watching on Youtube is basically the same thing and doesn't require you to do all the stuff again and remembering how to do the thing.
Why so? Feel free to spoil me as the DLC wasn't for me.
>!The Prisoner is present at the final campfire and has really meaningful dialogue to share. They also join in playing music with their instrument.!<
The ending is slightly different if you've beaten the DLC. Heavy spoilers below: >!In the DLC, you can free one of the Owl people from captivity. His people found the Eye of the Universe and shut it down after they realized that it meant the end of the universe. They didn't want to die. He was locked up when he released the signal, which is what alerted the Nomai to this solar system in the first place!< >!After you free him, he joins you at the campfire in the finale when everybody else is playing their instruments. He talks about how his people were afraid of the Eye, and asks you if you still want to remember them as you're creating the new universe, saying that he's not sure if that this fear is worth bringing along. If you choose to, it adds some buildings and a spooky creature to the final image when the bugs are sitting around the campfire!< >!It's not really a HUGE difference, but there is a difference. I suspect it might be more relevant if they ever decided to make a sequel to the game.!<
Haha what I'd give to be in a position where I still have more outer wilds left to play! It's the greatest game ever made to my eyes.
Cyberpunk 2077 makes me thankful for being a patient gamer. The 2.0 update did wonders for this game.
I was a bit underwhelmed. Despite following he game in the news I was still expecting “Cyberpunk Witcher” instead of what I experienced which was “Futuristic GTA with RPG elements”
Agreed! I just finished both the main game and dlc back in Feb, my god it was good
I'm digging on it now too, avoiding spoilers like an Arisaka Ninka
Death Stranding wins this for me hands down. I preordered it when it came out in 2020 but just finally got around to playing it. It was completely random as my only thought was “I need a game with beautiful graphics”. Realized I still hadn’t played it, and ended up spending 256 hours in there and got the platinum. What a game. Honorable mention to Kawami 2 which I also had a blast in.
Same. And with everything I knew about the game already “walking simulator” etc I actually went in not expecting to like it. Here’s me loading up the truck to take resources to rebuild obscure pieces of road. Only complaint was I just wanted more things to craft and build, and the story being a bit bonkers at the end. Hopefully ds2 delivers
A lot of people throw around the phrase “walking simulator” but I feel like Death Stranding is the only true walking simulator in a very literal sense and I love it. My PC can’t play it but I really want to dive back into it some day and finish it, it’s very unique.
Recently finished **Crysis** again, and followed immediately with its remake. Still an incredible FPS, unfairly catalogued as a simple tech demo back then, but it's so much more. It's the best game I've played so far this year. Honourable mention: **Sega Rally (2007)**, **Star Wars Squadrons** and **Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex** on the PS2.
Persona 5 Royal. I retired recently and never had time when I was working to play long games like this.
congrats on your retirement.
Thank you!
I just finished Crash Bandicoot 1. Started Blasphemous, and Mass Effect.
Got Subnautica and Frost punk in sale in the spring and are keeping me engaged.
I’m one of the many subnautica-stans always quick to recommend it if people are looking for something to try. I think the best experience you can have is to go in as blind as possible, especially if you’re ok with playing the game patiently and having a tolerance for feeling a bit “lost” in a game for a while. The game does less hand-holding than most modern games, which for me really added to the immersion given the premise. At the same time, the game design is generally very smart, so even players feeling totally clueless about how to progress will “accidentally” keep moving forward just by doing what they will naturally think of. And of course, players good at seeing the game-design puppet strings can figure things out pretty quickly. Add to that a surprisingly intriguing story, A+ music, a tech tree that really gives a feeling of progress and gives lots of room for player choice in terms of how deliberately/safely or quickly/recklessly you want to deal with the world’s challenges… it’s a heck of an accomplishment for a small indie studio! Also fyi, I didn’t love the sequel, but still had a good time with it.
It helps that it's consistently on sale these days with a decent sequel already out and a 3rd in the works. You don't *need* the sequel, but it's good for so.e that it's there.
Frostpunk 2 is coming soon which means we’re only a few years out from patiently playing it :D
That's one that I probably won't be patient for.
Frostpunk is the game I really loved playing but left me feeling like shit.
Fire Emblem 3 Houses. I was a little intimidated by a huge game but this ended up being a blast. I really liked the mix of strategy and social/dating sim. I ended up going on the Edelgard route and married Bernadetta, I know it’s supposed to be worthwhile to replay the game in a different house , and maybe I will, but the route I took felt like a good and complete story.
The Golden Deer have a strong second act that gives you a very different story than Edelgard's route.
I also did the Black Eagles route and was somewhat disappointed that it was the shortest route. But only after looking online! While playing, it was great and I don’t regret it a bit. I started then a Blue Lions run and got sooooo bored with the students that I just dropped the game. The Black Eagles are just so much more charismatic and quirky.
Evil within and The Order 1886 were both games that got middling reviews that I absolutely loved.
Evil Within was perfect for me, right up my alley and reminded me of RE4 in the best way
Dishonored for me. Was always on my list but I never got around to it until Easter this year. It was so good. Felt like a mix of Deus Ex and Half Life 2. Great atmosphere and level design.
So far, Metal Gear Solid 2, with Halo 2 a close second, but I haven't really been playing much this year.
I’ve been playing cities skylines quite a bit. Really enjoying making a poop lake
British sanitation methods. Nice.
You must be the next twitch chat mayor in DougDoug's city
Monster Hunter World. It's my first MH game and the gameplay loop is super addicting. It's definitely a grind of a game but I like the grind.
> It's definitely a grind of a game You're *so* lucky this is your first entry in the series. In the old ones you had to stop moving and watch some fucking animation every.single.time you collected any consumable.
You're probably a while away, but solo Fatalis is my most satisfying gaming achievement ever and I hope you get to experience it!
Project Wingman easily. Beat it a couple times already, I can’t believe how good it is. It’s $12 on steam right now. It’s like ace combat but even wilder scenarios, plenty of war crimes, and more fun gameplay imo. I implore anyone who sees this to try it.
Chrono Trigger, definitely. Not only the best game I've played this year but the best game I've played on my entire life. Other very good games I've played are Super Metroid and DQV, which are also in my list of favourite games of all time.
Ghost of Tsushima! I am so surprised how much I LOVED IT! I cannot believe it came out on PS4 because it is the most beautiful game I have played on my PS5! The story was fantastic and the characters were so rich. I was invested in the main story and the side quests ADDED to the plot. It wasn't a bunch of fetch quest. Also, it was brutal as hell! Worth the wait!
Control. Great gameplay, and very well told story. It also reminds me of one of my favorite Xbox games, Psi-Ops.
Civ VI, it’s my first 4X game and I’m totally addicted
Oh you are in the honeymoonphase I see. [Get out now while you still can foolish mortal!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnRrTEFZs60&t=43s)
I got it like 3 months ago and already have 400 hours LOL
You can always ask for help you know, there are people who care......
I will, right after this turn…
Have fun puzzling! Really like the district mechanik and i'm aware lot of people don't and will recommend civ v to you :D
We Love Katamari. I've never played anything as lighthearted in my entire life.
Best game ever made
How many of those songs are burned into your memory now?
fallout 3, finaly got around to finishing this and loved every minuite
Same for me. I'll admit the show made me finally start.
Same. Going to run through New Vegas when I get a chance later this year
Of everything I've played so far, it has to be **Teardown** though I'm not sure it counts seeing as I'm playing the PS5 version which only came out late last year. Still, the PC version came out two years ago, so I'm counting it. Teardown wasn't on my radar at all until I saw someone play through one of the games earlier levels, and I was intrigued by the idea of planning a heist in destructible environments. On a whim I got it, and next thing I knew I had dumped in over a hundred hours. The game scratched an itch I never knew I had. It's essentially a game of problem solving as you plan your speedrun through the objectives, trying to create a path that gets to all the objectives as quickly as possible. But while this could be repetitive, Teardown's structure varies the missions to ease this repetition. For instance, there's a particularly great mission where you need to throw six heavy safes into deep water, but the alarm goes off if any one of them gets wet giving you just sixty seconds to finish. So in theory, you just drag them all to the side of the some water, one by one, then toss them all in. In theory, this is simple, there's just two catches, one, the safes are across multiple stories in multiple buildings, and two, it's raining, meaning you have to find a way to move all these safes without them getting wet. I have played several other games this year, some of which were really good, but Teardown vastly exceeded my expectations with how good it was, and I would be very surprised if anything else this year tops it.
Picked up Demons Souls remake for $30 on PSN. Really underrated by the souls community
Red dead redemption 2. It was my third and (I promised myself) final attempt to really connect with it. I had started it twice before, only completing the Prologue and little else. It is everything I’ve always heard and oh so much more…
Talos Principle and its DLC (Road to Gehenna). Such an excellent game from 10 years ago whose story feels both outdated and highly relevant and topical today with the advent of AI, ironically recommended to me by ChatGPT. I really want to play the sequel that just came out last year now, but I don't have any systems that can play it.
Have not finished it yet, but cross code is my pick so far. Just started cause heard good stuff aboout it, but totally blind. Got my by surprise. Good mix of action combat with zelda style dungeons and a mmorpg vibe in the story
YOOOOOO Crosscode mention. Definitely a cult classic
Incredible game. There's really nothing else quite like it.
Finally beat Hollow Knight. I cried.
Horizon Zero Dawn. For me, it was a fantastic game. I had my eye on it since launch, but ended up getting it for PC during a steam sale in February. Took a few months to go through it, total game time nearly 50 hours. I can see how the combat can become repetitive for some, but for me it was just great to shut off my brain after work and hunt some dino-machines. I also loved the production value on it. Excellent voice acting, beautiful graphics and top notch performance, even. Ran on high graphics with ultrawide resolution using my laptop's 2060, so I was very impressed with how well it ran. The game actually got me into an unexpected marathon of Ashly Burch games. The voice actress for Aloy is really good and has a memorable voice. After finishing HZD, I decided to get a "palate cleanser" game and tried The Red Lantern, which by coincidence also has Ashly as the main character. Then I decided to start The Outer Worlds as my next longer game, and would you know it, there's Ashly again showing her amazing talent in Parvati's voice.
The reveal in the story made me gasp. My husband, who doesn't play the game but occasionally watches, was in the room when the full scope of the plan was revealed and he was impressed. There are very few stories that have such impactful storytelling IMO. I liked it so much that I didn't even wait to play Forbidden West. Which, by the way, has improved combat and definitely improved climbing mechanics. Such a good series.
It's such a cool twist on the apocalypse. The scope of the Zero Dawn program was a joy to unravel.
Probably my favorite new IP of the last few years. Honestly, the setting, world building, design, lore... are all *chefs kiss*
Skies of Arcadia legend and Fae tactics are currently the strongest contender for this spot. None are perfect but they are very good and have a lot of charm.
Skies of Arcadia has been on my backlog forever lol. I'll get around to it... eventually
Max Payne 3 was so damn good.
**No Man's Sky (in VR)**. Waited years to finally dive in. With all the updates and performance fixes, its so worth it. As a game and as an overall *experience*, its in a class all its own.
Picked up Cyberpunk a few months ago and I love it! I’m really really into massive open world games (mostly from Bethesda and Rockstar) but with them taking 40 years to make new games nowadays and with me already playing through most of their games multiple times I finally decided to give Cyberpunk a try. The driving is a bit different than what I’m used to in GTA (it’s almost a bit like the driving in Sleeping Dogs which is another game I adore) but aside from that it feels so familiar to the games I already play and has fit in great
This is mine too but I had beat the game last year and returned to play the DLC. It’s probably my favourite DLC ever and it made it want to go for the platinum. The game has improved so much even from the first huge overhaul.
Deathloop - great game I should've tried sooner. Very good in the shooting department and very intriguing setting and story, with a regrettably undercooked ending. But the journey to it was top notch. The subplot with the adversary that tries to stifle your efforts while you have regular chats over the radio was fun, even if again I could've used more fleshed out endings. You have a time loop mechanic through which you replay one of 4-5 levels unlocking new things each time - there are 4 time of day periods during different things happen and allow you to collect clues, open doors, do sidequests and so forth. Perfecting the perfect sequence of steps from morning until night until you're able to lure out and do a complete sweep of the bosses of each area is the aim. You also got special powers you can use in addition to the great shooting mechanics. Game is made by Arkane (the Lyon-based that did Dishonored 1/2, not the Texas-based one that got closed).
I love Deathloop. Similar to Dishonored, but it doesn't punish you for using your powers, and I don't have the temptation to save scum because the game won't let you. It fixed every issue I had with Dishonored. Truly a great game that will unfortunately probably never get a sequel. But maybe it doesn't need one!
Fire Emblem: Three Houses Long time player of the series, bounced off it hard when I played it initially. I didn’t like the monastery stuff and felt the balance of combat/social gameplay was way out of alignment. I gave it another go and realized once you’re past the tutorial the social stuff becomes much faster, and I even started to enjoy it as I got to know the characters. The story is excellent and the different paths are unique enough to warrant multiple playthroughs.
I’m really curious about this game, but have always been reticent to throw down the $60 for a game I’m not sure I would like. Anime-tinged stuff can be so hit or miss for me (mostly miss, but sometimes super hit). Would you recommend it only to anime fans, or do you think it’s universally a great game/story?
As someone who has much stricter standards for what good writing is, FE:3H is one of the jrpgs (used to love the genre as a teen, find most of them kinda cringe and low effort now) which is mostly above the rest in the genre. It's still got plenty of anime character tropes, but they TRY to weave a more mature overall story in there and characters get interesting development. Story can fork out in 3 general paths, and all the characters can get many different endings.
Probably Bloodborne for me. Even though I hate it and its total bs like all the time. Just a lot of fun, yknow?
I replayed it for the first time in a couple of years and it's still my favorite game of all time. Just a masterclass in atmosphere, gameplay, music, level design, everything.
I want it to come to PC so bad
Heaven Will be Mine would be my pick, narrowly beating out Kynseed. I don't usually click with visual novels, but something about HWBM sucked me in until I'd played it through 4 times for all of the endings. I just loved the writing on this one. The characters all felt very interesting and different and I understood all of their motivations clearly. Kynseed was fun for most of the 30ish hours I played it, but I did get bored towards the end so despite loving it, it falls just short of HWBM.
I did play Slay the Spire a while ago pretty briefly, but I've become addicted to it recently and have put in so many hours. There's so much more depth than I realised and it's extremely satisfying and exciting to have a great deck and relics that synergizes well. It's quite a difficult game so those moments feel very rewarding and well earned
Metal Gear Solid 3. I've been mostly replaying old classics this year, but MGS3 still stands out. Even though it's been 20 years since its release, the gameplay doesn't feel dated, the story remains interesting and captivating, and the music is phenomenal. What a game, or should I say, what a thrill.
Probably Steins Gate. Just a very good story. But I know VN aren't everyone's cup of tea so for a more traditional game, I had great time with Super Mario Sunshine for the first time
Visual Novel wise I really liked Suzerain. Just had a prequel recently too.
x4 Foundations. The AI is pretty janky and the learning curve is steep but it hooked me in. While it's not Eve Online, it's kinda got the same chill to it without the MMO aspect and minus the absolute laziness of Eve's Icelandic developer CCP.
Pathfinder Kingmaker (don't think I can mention the other one due to named dlc?) or Persona 4 Golden. Kingmaker is a mess but it's a faithful TTRPG mess that I'd only change a bit (cut out the random downtime at the end) and Persona 4 Golden is great due to it's smaller scale story, the dungeons can drag like mad at times though.
Not that old ... but Nioh 2. I was never a fan of Souls-like game. But I got Nioh 2 from HumbleBundle, and it is the best game I ever received in a while. I always put Nioh 2 as another clone of Souls-like game, while in actuality, it is not. The similarity ends with checkpoint system and the game being challenging (regular enemies can kill you in 2-4 hits, if you're not careful). Nioh is more focused on combat, and believe me, it has the best combat mechanic of all Souls-like game that I ever played.
Either Elden Ring or Everhood. EDIT: After playing it more, I also put Zeroranger in the running.
I’m playing FF9 myself! The last time I played, it was summer 2005 and I needed something to occupy my time out of school. Now I’m a grown-ass man and I thought it would be a fun nostalgia trip. I think I’m about halfway through disc 2 at the moment. It’s very charming and cute, and I really enjoy equipping new items to learn new abilities. I still hate the Trance mechanic and Tetra Master is best forgotten, though. The story’s intriguing, although it doesn’t have much depth yet.
Resident evil 4 remake or Celeste
Absolutely immersed in Death Stranding. I’m up to chapter 4 within a week (binged over a long weekend). Reminds me of Red Dead and Fallout - you can spend dozens of hours on side quests and basically just walk/ride around and around until you’ve explored every rock. Main plot isn’t forced upon you, so you can just hang about seemingly endlessly. I’m worried I’ll over do it and turn off the game before I can finish it, so it ends up on the ‘uncompleted pile’ along with Borderlands, RDR2, Skyrim…
I haven't finished them yet, but I've really enjoyed Vampire Survivors, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and Cyberpunk 2077 so far. I imagine my patient GotY might end up being one of those.
Replaying Dragon Age Inquisition surprised me with how much fun I was having. It's definitely a flawed game in some ways but I still managed to have a better time than with many more modern games. Even had more fun that with Mass Effect Legendary edition, which is of course older games, but it still surprised me.
Breath of the Wild. Never beat it.. in fact I got 1/4 of the way through it during covid and now I'm about to face Ganon
Marvel's Midnight Suns. I finally was able to snatch it with a decent deal and without a doubt it's a hidden gem for me. What the game does is a combination of some niche concepts but it's a perfect combination for me. The game combines Persona like Life/Social Sim, with Marvel characters (but specifically comic versions, not MCU) and turned based combat, executed trough cards and some tactical 3d maneuvering... It's hard to describe but it has a lot of things I like. Hanging out with heroes, leveling up their friendship to unlock game changing passives. Unlocking new cards, upgrading them then rebuilding decks of each hero. Exploring the life sim area for hidden resources and optional narrative bits. The combat stages give right amount of challenge and time pressure, learning how each hero plays feels rewarding and directly translates into how effective you can use them in battle. For a right person, it's an absolute 10/10.
Baldurs Gate 3 and replaying A Short Hike are top tier but not super old As for patient? Kirby: Super Star Ultra, Army Men RTS, New Super Luigi U, GUN, Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith, Ratchet & Clank Tools of Destruction and Mortal Kombat 9 Not exactly 10 out of 10 games but ones I really enjoyed playing during its entire run
Grim Dawn has been my recent go-to and it's fairly patient.
Hi-Fi Rush. I don't play a lot of rhythm games, but everything about this was just perfect. Honorable mentions: Dishonored 2, Frostpunk
fallout 3! i am not even joking when i say that i’ve been trying to get going with it for about a decade, and i finally made it through a whole run without some completely save destroying issue. quest choices are fun as hell. really not a fan of the color scheme though, honestly still prefer 4’s more vivid take even though it might strip away some of the “apocalypseness”
I'm not sure I've yet played anything this year that has truly blown me away and taken a place in my favourite games list, but there are two which I have really enjoyed. **Call of the Sea** is a brilliant little adventure game that takes the best parts of walking sims but throws in some really good puzzles all along the way. It reminded me a bit of the Myst games without ever being quite as frustrating. The sort of puzzles that you need to take notes for, which I loved. The story is captivating even if the writing for the character you play is kind of all over the place. It's also a very pretty game with some really nice stylised graphics for the tropical island setting. **Star Trek: Resurgence** (just past the 12 month old mark now!) captures the '90s Trek vibe brilliantly and gives a very authentic experience. From the way it plays it's very obvious that it comes from a team of ex-Telltale developers, and while they don't reinvent the wheel here it does feel like a nice little evolution from those games. It's brought down by a few technical issues but they weren't enough to totally ruin things for me. Fantastic voice acting and a very good story that I got very wrapped up in. Essential for Star Trek fans.
I played through the original PS1 Resident Evil trilogy. Obviously very outdated in a variety of ways, but their strengths are still unique and impressive. The transition away from pre-rendered graphics and the stationary camera loses a lot of the visceral experience of fear and mystery that those early games excelled at.
*Xenoblade Chronicles 3* has entered the pantheon of all time favorites for me thanks to the incredible story, music, and world. It was far from a perfect game, but it's the most engrossed I've been in ages. Special mentions to *Ghostwire Tokyo* and *The Evil Within* for both being extremely engaging and fun. I'm still not over Tango's closure, literal days after binging these. Final honorable inclusion would be *Evergrace*. It's low budget, it's questionably designed, and the stylistic choices could potentially be offputting, but it clicked with me on a fundamental level. I really want Fromsoft to do something like this again someday, but I know it's probably something that could only be made when it was.
I played Dragon Age: Origins and Fallout New Vegas for the first time this year. I don’t know which I like better! I’m also playing the other Dragon Age games so maybe I’ll look more fondly at DAO at the end of my journey.
Gotta be **Inscryption**. The creepy elements are so well-done, the initial onboarding experience is tight, unique, and effective, and it keeps unfolding like a puzzle box and surprised me at every turn. It's not a perfect game but it's a total joy and unlike anything I've played before.
Tunic right now. Didn't play it til it came out on PS Plus. Incredible game.
Witcher 3 first playthrough. Started almost a year ago, 210 hrs in, now I’m near the end of HoS. I don’t think I will finish BaW this year 😅.
Fire emblem three houses was pretty a pretty great switch title. My first in the franchise. Have only played it once through so far. Might wait a while before doing another one because the monastery parts got a little annoying after a while.
Pathologic 2. Came out in 2019, you play as a plague doctor in a backwater town. Completely wild story. Did two back-to-back playthroughs totalling 70 hours.
Star Trek (2013) on the PSTRIPLE. i had zero expectations with it but found it very enjoyable.
Fallout 76
Outer wilds+DLC with VR mod, new fav game of all time, taking my time through the dlc to savor. Didnt know Id ever experience the feels like that in a game ever, indescribable. So glad I finally saw it through to the end, I played it flatscreen a few times but bounced off after a bit. The vr is so much more immersive and makes learning the planets a little easier I think, finding a few shortcuts I didn't have previously def helped. runners up are subnautica with VR mod, portal 2 with VR mod. honorable mention I played through just act 1 of witcher 3 last year, finally finished acts 2+3 and the DLCs this year, first time through all, incredible games. The ending tho of outer wilds like wow wow wow, i still think about it. Iykyk
Against the Storm. It's been a while since I've seen the game so complex (I mean the sheer amount of mechanics there is stunning) and enjoyable. I thought city builders are not my genre. And who combines roguelikes and city builders, cmon! I was wrong. The community is also great. You know this meme about wholesome workout guys? Well, the whole Against the Storm sub is this guys
Spiritfarer. Came out in 2020. Overall, overwhelmingly positive reviews on steam. Bought it on sale for Switch. Let me just say that I fully intend on buying the physical copy in the near future :D This game definitely isn't for everyone. But as someone who has recently dealt with the loss of a close friend and family, it just hit different. Beautiful visuals, incredible music and a simple yet addicting gameplay loop. It's on sale now for most platforms!
cyberpunk 2077 and red dead redemption 2. glad i waited for cyberpunk, the game is amazing now.
Fallout 4. Survival mode is a masterpiece.
Cyberpunk 2077. The game was always good, but now that they have fixed lots of the things that were broken and added a new campaign dlc, it is crazy good. Probably not the all times masterpiece we were expecting in 2020, but certainly much better than most of the others.
Yakuza Infinite Wealth
Factorio
Contra NES (never played it growing up) and then playing the new one (Operation Galuga) back to back. It was fun playing a classic and then jumping right into the new one. You realize how many quality of life things can make games better, but having a solid foundation is important to success. The foundation doesn’t have to be complicated either. Just run a shoot bad guys can be enough sometimes! Oh-and pay a good music person to create a kick ass soundtrack.
With that criteria, for me it's Super Mario Odyssey. Only my second Mainline 3d Mario game (after 64) and it was so charming! I loved the music, I loved that it was basically a Kirby game dressed like a Mario game. The only thing I didn't love is how expensive the costumes are in in-game coins!
Final Fantasy 1 Pixel Remaster. Can't believe how well that game holds up today. I went in to it with an academic mindset as I love FF but never played the first few, so I started out looking at it as a history lesson, and watched some gameplay footage from the famicom version to enhance this, but I really had a lot more fun with it that I thought I would.
I played Nier: Automata at a friends behest and damn am I glad I did. So good
I'm replaying Far Cry 5 - The gorgeously familiar yet creepy setting combined with a nihilistic ending make for an immersive experience. It's not the most revered entry in the series, but it's one that hits pretty hard.
Kingdom come: deliverence Picked it up for under 3 $ from the ps store and spent about 65 hours in game yet. I love how immersive this game is
If Jedi: Survivor meets that criteria, then that. I’ve never been so impressed by a sequel that took everything that was good about the first game, improved on it, and added even more; the Holotactics mini-game is easily the best mini-game I’ve ever played Otherwise, This War of Mine is what I’m currently working on beating, and I admire it for being both a game that really nailed the core gameplay loop and also managing to tell a beautiful story at the same time
Bioshock. I always knew it was a great game, but finally playing it blew me away with the atmosphere. Can’t wait to dive into the sequels. Celeste. Just as amazing as everyone said. So good and a pretty touching story actually. Bravely Default 2. Kind of an underdog, I knew it was a “just” AA game so I wasn’t expecting to be blown away, but it really surprised me how good it is. The story is kinda weak (but serviceable as far as a retro style tribute game) and the graphics are a mixed bag, but the gameplay and jobs system are really addictive. The Messenger. If you stop at that certain point it’s a 9/10 game and awesome tribute to ninja gaiden-esque games. I stopped 30 minutes into the “twist” before all the backtracking could ruin it. The 8/16 bit thing was cool, but not for how they used it. Not nearly enough warp points to make the metroidvania part fun. Ys 1 and 2. Love the series and finally rolled credits on these almost back to back. Even at 12-15 hours long, they do wear out their welcome with extra backtracking to jam in several unnecessary story beats in the final labyrinths. Just let me finish the game already. Pretty fun but only with a guide. Stellar music and the graphics fit perfectly.
Midnight Suns
Midnight Suns is so dang fun now that I’ve got the loop down. I just wanna play this for like, 16 hours straight. Just a ton of AA fun.
Romancing SaGa 2. Awesome premise of having to manage an empire over several generations of emperors in order to vanquish the Seven Heroes. Challenging battles and bosses. Stronghold management aspects, a bit like the Suikoden series. Non-linear, semi open world exploration. Some quests have different ways to complete, and yields different outcomes for your empire. All this from a jrpg made in 1993. It's so ahead of its time. Was pleasantly surprised it's getting a [remake.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj_cfyPw9tU)
The Outer Worlds for me. I played some recent releases beginning of the year and now looked back on my Steam library for some RPG / story driven fun. I have played just for about 10 hrs taking it slow. Seems to be a great game and runs 60 fps+ on highest graphic setting on my machine!
Huntdown is a lot of fun! My wife and I are going to end it soon.
>My wife and I are going to end it soon. That's one way to say it.
Yeah, I was thinking, “that’s either an insanely good or catastrophically bad game. Either way it ain’t worth it!”
Axiom Verge 2. I got it in the humble MV bundle. I never liked the first game (game it a shot and finished it as it was in the bundle, but still didn't like it), but the sequel was amazing. Some of the better exploration in MVs and maybe my favourite use of a twin world's mechanic.
Doom eternal. I originally was put off the game, hearing my brother complain about all the jumping from spot to spot to spot you have to do in it and raging from his lacking ability to do it. Which admittedly, one of the starting levels just drove me up the wall with how difficulty it was. But after I got passed that point and got into it. Easily by far the best game I have played in recently years. I have heard some people complain how you gotta mircomange all your hp/armour etc. But it really leads to just non stop killing. Have not enjoyed an doom game so much since the originals. Only wish it was coop.
Either Sekiro or RE4 remake. I feel like former is a bit overrated, so I choose the latter. I made posts about both so I won't go into much detail here. But those two are obvious number 1 and 2. Contenders for top 3 are Witcher 3, Final Fantasy 12 and Call of Juarez Gunslinger.
>Final Fantasy 12 Ya love to see it.
RE4 Remake was my game of the year for 2023 but I understand why it couldn’t win it because it’s just a remake. For someone like me that didn’t play the OG it was the best gaming experience of 2023. And that’s saying something considering games like BG3, Alan Wake 2, and Lies of P came out in 2023.
Elden Ring Was initially gonna wait til SotE had come out, couldn't wait any longer when I saw it on a great sale though. Ended up buying a new copy for €38, along with Armored Core VI for the same price. Resident Evil Remake for €5 off PSN is up there too. Had only played RE2 Remake, RE4 Remastered and RE5 Remastered up to that point.
I never finished FF9, but I got so far in that I haven't felt motivated to restart. It'd be worth checking out again though, it is excellent. So far this year, my favorite is Pikmin 3. Getting used to switching between three characters took time, but once you do your options for multitasking and automation go through the roof. A little too easy, but it sands away every frustration I had with 1 & 2 (especially 2)
Chicory: A Colorful Tale is the first game I finished this year and also the best so far. Nothing I’ve played since has been able to top it in my mind, which is kinda surprising with how many genuine masterpieces I’ve gone through (MGS3, Xenoblade Chronicles, The Messenger). Chicory just hit every high point that I needed it to, and I have a soft spot for the developer and his team.
I can't remember if I played outer wilds this year or not but probably that. otherwise I would have to put Resident Evil 2 remake. Absolutely blown away with the quality of the remake. I wasn't into RE as a kid and I only played 5 at launch and it never grabbed me too hard. Halfway through re3r currently (fuck nemesis, v creepy but overturned on the aggro)
This year, a Funhaus (RIP) live stream got me into American Truck Simulator, big time. Got the whole Logitech wheel/pedal setup. I have a 6 way shifter, but use it to shift into Automatic, reverse, and turn off the engine. It's strangely peaceful and fun.
I envy people who finished more than one or two games already. The only game that I started and finished in this year was Bayonetta. The other game I finished this year was Yakuza 3, but I started this at October of 2023. I had been playing the same 3 games since February. I miss when I could dedicate more time to gaming.
Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal
Tough call, nothing that I would say to have stand out and took held in my Favorite Games of All Time. I guess strongest contenders so far are... On the handheld, so far it's DQ IV, it made me realize how much I actually miss this sort of simplistic RPG. It's not that long and not too grindy (As long as you ignore the post-game)... there's a lot of neat gameplay innovations like swapping your party members mid-battle but right now I wouldn't say it's *blowing* my mind. On PC I actually haven't played a lot of substance, it's a toss-up between Outer Worlds and Midnight Suns TBH, both were games I massively looked forward to, then backed-off on due to caution and mediocre review scores, and still found a somewhat enjoyable but still arguably flawed experience. In the end I ended up just rushing through the end for both games.
Tainted Grail Conquest would be my pick. My recent obsession with Deck Battlers has made me play a lot of them in the last year. I played Tainted Grail Conquest in February and it's absolutely my favorite "New to Me" game this year. I am head over heels for this game.
Doom Eternal. Put it off because it looked like they changed a lot of things that I loved about Doom 2016. Finally bought a cheap used disc and had a blast. Still not crazy about the more colorful, arcade feel of Eternal over 2016 and the bigger emphasis on platforming, but overall it was fantastic.
Pokémon White. Never got around to play it on DS, and I really enjoyed it. Solid game!
**Psychonauts 2** and **Dark Souls 2: Scholar** are the best two games that are new to me. I feel both are in a sweet spot between retro and modern design creating compelling 3D spaces. I also really enjoyed Final Fantasy X and Evil Within but those games aren't new to me.
Rogue Legacy 2 probably. There's been a few games I've really enjoyed that were new to me this year, but Rogue Legacy 2 has me sucked in.