Top 10 Games of 2018

Yeah, 2018 was alright, I guess.

Gris by JellyEnvy

10. Detroit: Become Human

This game is a mixed bag. It is a story-driven, choose-your-own-adventure with some unique gimmicks that break it from the crowd. For one, it's not a visual novel, so it receives lots of bonus points for requiring less reading than a 200-level English literature class. It also shows each of your decisions in an all-inclusive flowchart, displaying percentages of players that chose each of the available options. It was very refreshing to see that, in some spots, not all of humanity was transparently evil.

The story follows three robot characters as they navigate and make decisions on how to live their life in a pseudo-Apartheid society. Unfortunately, only two of the storylines are interesting. Painter-bot and Detective-bot had very insightful and intertwined plots, but Housewife-bot was a complete downer and barely connected with the overall picture.

I also had difficulty playing the game without constantly singing Kiss's Detroit Rock City.

9. Seers Isle

Seers Isle is another delightful game from the studio Nova-Box, the creators of another game I enjoyed: Along the Edge. Both games are choose-your-own-adventure types. You read through the stories, and, at key points, make decisions for your protagonist. Then, you immediately start second-guessing yourself, reload your save, and change your decision. This process repeats itself several times for every decision point until you finally say "f--- it", and just ride the wave as that one decision results in your favourite character dying a gruesome death.

The characters are interesting, the setting is beautiful, and the story is mysterious. A perfect mix for me to lose myself for a few hours.

8. Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King

I acknowledge that this game technically released last year. However, since its Switch release was in December and I didn't play it until this year, I made the autocratic declaration to include it in the 2018 list.

Blossom Tales is, basically, a Link to the Past clone, and I mean that in the best possible way. It takes the exact same controls and gameplay, then places the player in a new world with a new set of items to collect. It also features a delightful framing device of an old grandpa telling the story of the game's protagonist to his grandchildren. It's sweet, and functionally exists to remind the player of where they were in the game since they last played.

It is also blessedly short. It's sometimes nice, in my busy life of rampant decadence, to play a game I can see through to completion in a single weekend.

7. Spider-Man

This game is amazing when you get to play as Spider-Man!

This game sucks when you get to play as anyone other than Spider-Man!

6. Ni No Kuni 2

Ni No Kuni 2 is best summed up by its opening cinematic. The president of the United States is riding to a UN meeting when a nuclear device detonates, blows up the city, and kills him. The president then awakens in a magical fantasy land, and decides to help a small, furry child form a new hereditary dictatorship after a coup overthrows the kid's royal father.

5. Unavowed

I believe it was a Rock Paper Shotgun review that turned me toward Unavowed. I don't remember the exact phrasing, but they said something along the lines of "if your favourite part of Mass Effect was listening to banter between squadmates, then you will like Unavowed." By golly, they were right! They took that model (interesting characters talking about current situations) and put it into a point-and-click adventure that, thankfully, does not sink into the mire of convoluted adventure game logic.

Don't get to bang any of the NPCs, though. Gotta dock some points for that.

4. Pokemon: Let's Go Eevee

Eevee is adorable. The next game can just be Pokemon: Oops! All Eevee, and I would be okay with that.

3. Stonehearth

Fun fact: I actually helped Kickstart this game back during the Harding administration. After all these decades, the game had a formal release this year, and I succeeded in sinking several otherwise productive weekends into it.

2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Daisy is in Smash. All is right with the world.

1. Gris

 

I cannot think of a game I felt more entranced by in 2018. As soon as I started, I did not want to stop playing Gris. It is a visual marvel to behold. The character motion is smooth and dreamlike. The world designs are distinct. The soundtrack is beautiful. Everything about it enveloped my senses and pulled me into this otherwise simplistic platformer. As I write this paragraph, I'm thinking about sitting down and playing through it again.

Don't get to bang any of the NPCs, though. Gotta dock some points for that.