#all they remember is the like e3 (or was it game awards) presentation they saw and the trailer looked hype as fuck

[genderchimera]

the concord death is so fucking funny to me because literally the very first thing i saw about it was something titled some shit like, ' the biggest flop nobody's ever heard of:concord' and I was fully expecting a video about sonic air travel but it was just a video game.

[theloadingscreenblog]

The Loading Screen Best Of E3 2019:

Best Sports Game:

Madden 20 – Another year, another Madden. Sports games were almost non-existent this year at E3 with both EA and 2K not showing their yearly iteration of an NBA game. With that being said, what we did get to see, showed some promise. The improved upon graphics of Madden 20 will help just a bit to differentiate from last year’s version. A new career mode should scratch that itch, albeit not too well. New plays and Superstar “powers” will give some teams and players advantages over others. Hoping to see more on the NBA front later this year, but for now, Madden 20 takes Best Sports Game of E3 2019.

Runner Up:

FIFA 20

Best Racing Game:

Forza Horizon 4: Lego Speed Champions – This was it. This was the only racing game we got to see this year. With rumors of a new Need For Speed coming out this year, we thought we’d get at least a trailer, but no. Even though the Lego DLC for Forza Horizon 4 is all we got, it really is something special. Each track was built by hand and contains thousands of Lego blocks. The zany Lego humor you find in the movies is also present in the drivers and audience members reactions. The Lego cars are brilliant, and this looks to be a strong competition for the Hot Wheels DLC Forza got some time ago.

Best Multiplayer Game:

Borderlands 3 – Borderlands is back and better than ever. Everything you want and remember from the beloved series has returned and in peak form. You get the same cell shaded art style, 1000000000s of guns, great characters, and the vile yet lovable humor you’ve come to know. Expect to sink hours into this game with friends!

Runner up:

Gears of War 5

Best Shooter:

Borderlands 3 – Oh hey! Its that game again from up above…Look, its kind of hard to lose Best Shooter when you have more guns than any of the other Shooters combined. Borderland uses its humor and story as mere support to its gunplay. This game just screams Shooter, literally, I’m pretty sure at one point a character yelled Shooter. Without seeing any gameplay from Call of Duty and with Gears focusing heavy on story, Borderlands leaped out to a fast lead in this category.

Runner up:

DOOM Eternal

Best RPG:

Cyberpunk 2077 – I doubt this will be the last time you see this game on the list. If Witcher 3 is the baseline for what an RPG in the modern era should be, we’d take a sizable bet that Cyberpunk is going to raise that bar by a lot. With some of the rumors coming out from behind closed doors, this game is shaping up to be one of the most robust RPGs of our time. The Outer Worlds came close with its New Vegas in Space style gameplay, but we are riding the hype train into 2077.

Runner up:

The Outer Worlds

Best Action Game:

Watch Dogs Legion – This was a tough choice. On one hand, you have our love and adoration for all things Star Wars and on the other hand…you have assassin Grandmas. Ok, it was easy to choose. Watch Dogs Legion blew us away when we got time with it at E3. The ability to recruit from any NPC, all of whom have their own unique backstory, dialogue, skill set, and personality, makes for an incredibly fun and intricate experience.  

Runner up:

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Best Open World game:

Cyberpunk 2077 – Ok, this may be unfair because we haven’t seen the entire world, but I mean…come on. Again, CD Projekt Red as shown a knack for making large and engaging worlds. In just the mall previews and demos we saw, the world and everyone in it is just as robust, if not more so, than Witcher 3. We can’t wait to explore the world in its entirety come next year.

Runner up:

The Outer Worlds

Best Platformer game:

Ori and the Will of the Wisps – Returning to the world of Ori makes us feel like we never left. The same beautifully eerie visuals and excellent platforming ensures us that we will be in for another great time. The puzzles are the perfect mix of difficult and engaging and we expect multiple playthroughs will be more than welcoming.

Runner up:

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Best Adventure game:

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – The beautiful world and adorable visuals will keep you coming back for more. Leaning into the traditional Zelda style of gameplay we saw from its first iteration; nostalgia is embedded deep into the game as you progress through dungeons and grassy fields. This is just an overall cute and lovable game that we just melted into right away!

Runner up:

Luigi’s Mansion 3

Most Hyped Game:

Cyberpunk 2077 – Yeah, this game just can’t lose. It rode into this year’s E3 just as fast and heavy as it left last years. We finally got a release date and its much sooner than we all expected so you can say the hype levels rose even more. Call of Duty came out of the gates hot, garnering a lot of hype with its rekindling of the Modern Warfare universe, but without seeing anything outside of a teaser trailer, it couldn’t compete with Cyberpunk. Is it 2020 yet?

Runner up:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Best Indie Game:

12 Minutes – This game stuck out to us. Its top down, one room only, mystery thriller vibe just shot this game right into our line of sight. The short trailer gave a perfect idea of what the game is about and left the viewer wanting more. We can’t wait to solve our own murder over and over and over and over….

Runner up:

Way to the Woods

Best Trailer:

Halo Infinite

Runner up:

Ghostwire Tokyo

Biggest Surprise:

This year’s biggest surprise was no doubt, the announcement of one breathtaking, Dog avenging, silver handed Keanu Reeves. His reveal as Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077 and his subsequent appearance on stage at Xbox’s E3 Conference, was talked about all week long. Keanu…so hot right now!

Games we need/want to see more of:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Cyberpunk 2077

Ghostwire Tokyo

Best of Show:

This year’s Best of Show, if you haven’t guessed already, is on a trajectory to being one of the greatest games of all-time. The pressure is on, but the future looks bright. In 58 years, we may look back and crown this game as the Greatest of All Time. It plans to blow us away and doesn’t even look like it needs a helping (Silver)hand in doing so. The Loading Screen’s Best of Show for E3 2019 goes to Cyberpunk 2077! Let’s face it, this game isn’t going anywhere. Its implanted itself right into our brains and plans to stay there for the long-term. CD Projekt Red has a lot of pressure to deliver, but I don’t think anyone should be worried. With the inclusion of one of Hollywood’s hottest stars, the continued levels of hype and anticipation, and the gorgeous trailers, demos, and previews that we keep seeing, Cyberpunk took this year’s award and gunned it.

TLS BEST OF E3 2019: CYBERPUNK 2077

[captainfawful]

 With the year coming to a close, that means it’s time for me to do my “Nobody Cares Awards” thing I like to do! Check under the cut for some hot takes I may or may not have!

Hello, hello! It’s me again! Third year in a row I decided to jot my thoughts down on the years various game. I decided to change things up more from last year, kind of eliminating most of the categories in favor of writing more about the games I enjoyed. I tried to write at least something about every game in the Top 10 this time, even if it’s the bare minimum. Let’s see how it goes!

BEST MUSIC

This entire thing was first created because I wanted to write about how good Death Road To Canada’s soundtrack was. So no matter what changes with my format on this, there will always be a Best Music category. I’ll be honest though, there weren’t a whole lot of games this year with amazing soundtracks. The only real contender for most of the year was Celeste, which OST is very good, and fits perfectly with the games tone and style, but it’s not... The Best music. They aren’t songs I’ll put on loop and listen to multiple times throughout the day. They’re not the hard hitting tracks I would typically put at the top of this category, despite how great the music is. That’s how I felt until about August, when The Messenger came out. Messenger is not a game that will be in my Top 10 by any means, but it’s a pretty good game nonetheless with a couple of really weird twists. But the OST is phenomenal. Easily my number 1 favorite of this year. Just about every track in the game is a total banger. But don’t take it from me, take a listen yourself! A little later in the year I played through Just Shapes & Beats. I have a personal stigma against saying a thing with licensed music should qualify for Best Music, which is why JS&B did not make it into my top 3, but rest assured that it is sitting comfortably in the 4th place spot. Almost immediately after I played JS&B, Deltarune suddenly came out. I don’t think I have to tell you why that’s on here, right? Toby Fox cannot make bad music.

SPECIAL MENTIONS

THE MISSING:J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories

It’s hard for me to talk about what makes The Missing so special without diving deep into spoilers. There’s a reason it’s in the special mentions, and not the Top 10: And that reason is because the gameplay isn’t great. The Missing is a side-scrolling puzzle game, in the same vein as Limbo or Inside. Unlike those two, however, the puzzles you have to solve are not that hard, and most of the difficulty around it revolves around how slowly and janky the movement is. However, the overall story and twist is what makes this game great. There’s not a whole lot for me to say about the themes this game presents, so if you want to play The Missing, play it. If you don’t want to play it, then maybe take a look at some writings from actual queer women who could talk about its subject matter in a way I never possibly could.

The Quiet Man

The Quiet Man is a terrible game. When I first saw the trailer during Suare Enix's E3 presentation, I was super interested. I've always wanted a game that transitions from FMV to gameplay with as few seams as possible, and The Quiet Man promised that. Not only that, it promised a compelling story told from the perspective of its' deaf protagonist. The way I saw it, this game would either accomplish what it set out to do, or fail miserably. Either way, it was a win/win scenario for me! Little did I know just HOW miserably it would fail.... Oooooh, how miserably it failed... The gameplay is absolute trash, the graphics leave much to be desired which makes the "seamless" transitions from FMV look unconvincing and bad, the story is needlessly complicated despite how generic it is, the acting ranges from decent to awful, and it requires you to play it twice in order to actually understand what's happening. And all of those problems are the LEAST offensive parts of the game. It's racist, misogynistic, somehow ableist against more than just deaf people, semi-incestual, and also kind of pro-abuse??? I mean, it doesn't take a stance to be anti-abuse, and certainly doesn't condemn abuse, so does that make it pro? Maybe? Probably? I have a headache. I've watched this entire 2-4 hour game be played 10 or 11 times, and I still don't understand how this exists. Square-Enix published this. They dropped Hitman and IO Interactive not even one year ago, yet threw money at this horrible abomination of a video game! Oh by the way, you might be wondering why I said you have to play it twice to understand, and that's because the first playthrough doesn't give you any sound. Yup, aside from the intro cutscene and the credits song, the entire games' audio is just muffled ambiance. This includes all of it's cutscenes, of which there are MANY, and they are LONG. Entire MINUTES of dialogue happening at a time that the game just doesn't want you to hear or have subtitles for. The only way to get audio is to beat the game once and replay it. Not only that, but the New Game + with sound and subtitles didn't even get patched in until a week after it's release!!! Who does that!!!!! And the version with audio has some ATROCIOUS writing. Just about every scene has at least one line of dialogue that makes no sense, almost as if the writers were only told about how humans speak, but never actually heard one themselves. I’ve heard a lot of people saying it’s The Room of video games, and I sort of agree. Much like The Room, it’s not the absolute worst of it’s form of media, the game is playable start-to-finish, extremely straight forward so you can’t get lost, no bizarre puzzles to figure out, the FMV cutscenes are at decently produced. Hell, I wouldn’t even say The Quiet Man is the worst game to come out THIS YEAR. Crying Is Not Enough released in June, and boy oh boy is that game a trash fire. But it’s just BAFFLING that this game exists. That’s the perfect word to summarize my feelings on The Quiet Man. Every single thing about it is just, baffling. I need to stop writing about this game. This whole paragraph is probably going to be longer than anything from my Top 10, which feature a few games I ADORE, but no. All my writing energy is going to how terrible this fucking video game is. Don't play The Quiet Man. Or do, fuck if I care. Maybe watch someone else play it, I don't know. I don't know anything anymore.

Ori and the Blind Forest

Back on the topic of good games, I finally got around to playing Ori and the Blind Forest! I played it for a little while after it originally came out around 2015, but it just didn’t stick with me at the time. There wasn’t any real reason why it didn’t stick, I just got bored and stopped playing, which isn’t that uncommon for me to do. But for whatever reason I decided to go back to it super late last year. It may have been the excitement for all the cool looking Metroidvanias slated to release throughout the year, I don’t know. But I played through it, and it’s fantastic! Most Metroidvanias tend to go with around a 60-40 split between platforming and combat. Different games have different splits, sure, but most of them tend to keep those somewhat even. Ori is like an 85-15, greatly favoring tight platforming over fighting enemies. Your main attack automatically locks on to nearest enemies, and boss fights are replaced with autoscrolling or stealth segments. The traversal is also super smooth and fun, making that 85-15 split much more favorable than others in its’ genre. Great controls combined with some amazing visuals and music, Ori is definitely a game I regret not playing earlier.

2019′S COMING IN HOT

Spelunky 2, Wargroove, Indivisible, Hypnospace Outlaw, Ooblets, UFO 50, Kingdom Hearts 3, Overland, Sea of Solitude, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and  Get in the Car, Loser!. These are all great looking games that are supposed to be coming out in 2019. I remember last December when I last did this, I couldn't think of THAT many games I was really excited for, and despite that I ended up with a pretty damn good list of games for 2018. So who knows what next year will be like?!

And now... The Top 10!

#10: Spider-Man

It’s been a great year for Spider-Man. His best buddy Venom had a pretty good movie, his new video game is good, and he has a new movie that’s fantastic! Yep, it’s been such a good year for Spider-Man in which nothing bad has happened to him or the people who created him.

#9: Megaman 11

2 > 4 > 3 > 8 > 11 > 7 > 5 > 6 > 9 > 10 > 1. Don’t @ me.

#8: Iconoclasts

Iconoclasts has been in development for a very long time. Officially, development for it began in around 2010, but there is a seemingly earlier game by Konjak that shares many similarities. Basically, Iconoclasts began development at least 8 years ago, and it shows, for better or worse. On one hand, the game is gorgeous. Grade A sprite work all around. The characters are interesting and well written with their own morales and arcs, and the story is surprisingly deep and compelling considering the type of game it is. On the other hand, the gameplay feels very outdated now. The combat is super simplistic, the puzzles aren't terribly challenging or rewarding, and the weapon/ability upgrades are very limited. The traversal can be sluggish and boring, which is a red flag for a game where you have to backtrack a decent amount. If Iconoclasts came out 4 or 5 years ago, I feel like it would've been at least a cult classic. But in 2018, it's a decent Metroidvania in a year of great Metroidvanias. Overall, I'm glad Iconoclasts finally came out. I just wish it either came out sooner, or got more updated for modern game design.

#7: Slay the Spire

For all intents and purposes, I shouldn't like Slay the Spire. I always hated card-based RPGs, and always hated RPGs with only one party member. And for the most part, the issues I have with both of those are still very much present in Spire. So why have I sunk 50 hours into it so far? Beats me! If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the similarities it shares to Darkest Dungeon, one of my favorite games, that ultimately drives me to it. Now, you might be asking why Slay the Spire, a game that came out in 2017, and won’t be in 1.0 until probably 2019, is in my top 10 for this year, but Ori & the Blind Forest isn’t? Well, I started Ori last year, and didn’t start Spire until the middle of this year! Also, they’re my awards, and I can do whatever I want!

#6: Just Shapes & Beats

Just Shapes & Beats’ concept is simple: A rhythm bullet hell. Certainly not the first of it’s kind, and not even the first one to use simplistic shapes as the obstacles/characters. But there’s a bit more to it than that. JS&B has some good personality to go with it. It has some fun characters, all of the levels are demonstrative of the areas you’re in on the world map, it even has a couple lightly emotional moments! It’s much more than you’d expect from a game about Just Shapes & Beats. When I was younger and had vague dreams to make games, I always imagined making one that was basically “What if a Windows Visualizer was trying to kill you?” and also be themed around a world and a story, and JS&B is basically that.

#5: Pipe Push Paradise

What happens when you take Pipe Dream, an iconic puzzler which has given inspiration to countless others, and mix it with Stephen's Sausage Roll, arguably one of the greatest puzzle games of all time? You get Pipe Push Paradise, of course! That’s all I really have to say, and all I NEED to say.

#4: Dead Cells

Go play Dead Cells. Really, it’s the closest thing to a perfect Rogue-like (that isn’t Spelunky) out there right now. It’s a game so good, Filip Miucin couldn’t look away from it long enough to write his own review!

#3: Subnautica

If I had the opportunity to become a Fishman and live underwater, I’d probably take it. As long as you take out the jellyfish that can kill you .0001 seconds after stinging you, I have no qualms with open water. In fact, the isolated feeling from it is really relaxing to me. That’s what initially drew me to Subnautica. Survival games are usually hit or miss for me, but the ones I like I really dive deep into (Heh heh), and Subnautica is one of those. Also, I was rewatching the Super Mario Bros. Super Show on Netflix as I played this, so now I’ll have those two permanently linked in my mind from now on.

#2: Into The Breach

I love tactics games, especially Advance Wars. While I do still love others in the genre like Fire Emblem or X-COM, there are some intricacies of the AW series that most of the others don't have. When I first heard about Into The Breach, I thought it would be exactly what I wanted, a true successor to the series I'd been waiting for. And it was not! But it's still pretty damn good. It's not so much a tactics game as it is a puzzle game, described by Waypoint's own Austin Walker as a "tactical dance". You know at the start of each turn where each enemy is going to attack, and it's your job to navigate and attack with your 3 mech units in the exact right way to minimize or even straight up prevent any damage that would befall you or the cities you're protecting. You aren't trying to advance a map during combat, or conquer any enemy bases. You are merely trying to avoid damage for a certain amount of turns and move on to the next level. And it's all super fun! I've let the game sit for 10, 20 minutes while I try and figure out every possible option I have after being backed into a corner, and coming up with the absolute perfect solution and getting through to the other side is super satisfying. The biggest gripe I have with Into The Breach is the same one I had for FTL, the developer's last game, which is I don't think the unlockable mechs/mech teams are as fun as the default ones. I played most of them once or twice and went "Yeah, that's a thing" and migrate back to the first mech team. All in all, Into The Breach is a fantastic game, it just doesn't scratch that Advance Wars itch I've been feeling. Oh well, at least there's still Wargroove!

#1: Celeste

Celeste is a game I got 100% completion in. For those of you who might not know me well enough to know how I play games, that’s something that never happens. I think the last time I purposely got 100% on a game was in Uncharted 2, and even that was only to get a skin for multiplayer. Despite that, it’s been really difficult for me to write up a whole thing about why I love Celeste so much. It’s just a compilation of everything. I love the look of it, both the sprite work and the character portraits. The music, as mentioned before, is fantastic and perfectly fitting for all of the levels themes which deal in different forms of anxiety or self-doubt. The levels are hard, but not too hard. The secrets hidden throughout the game are so satisfying to figure out and find, very reminiscent of Braid. I feel confident in saying that Celeste has cemented itself as one of my favorite games of all time.

Well, that’s all I can handle writing for this year. Thanks to the few of you who skimmed through all this, and extra thanks to the fewer of you who read all of it! I’m not 100% sure if I’ll do this whole shpeel next year or not; maybe if 2019 turns out to be an incredible year for games, and definitely not if I have to move to Twitter in the off-chance Tumblr dies out completely. Hope you all had a fun holiday season, and have a great 2019! 

[orrelse21]

UPDATE ON KEIGHLEY ( The humanized Xbox who is also secretly Project Scorpio)

We all remember the unusually emotionally impassioned speech that Geoff Keighley gave at The Game Awards when awarding the lifetime achievement award to Hideo Kojima. It seemed a bit uncanny for him to act that way. Especially considering he is a machine (hence his monotone voice.) However, we tend to forget that he still has a heart. He truly is a HUMANIZED xbox machine. You can read further research that proves this on my blog.

The reason Geoff was so emotional when presenting this award to Kojima is because, (wait for it) Hideo Kojima is also a humanized console. At one point in development of the humanized console wars, Konami wanted to enter the race, so they created Hideo Kojima. Like Geoff, he was to pose as a human but continually output stellar content (Like Geoff and Reggie.) However, it wasn’t meant to be revealed for years! He began to become a money making machine for Konami but eventually became so independent that they couldn’t control him. 

He started to forget his true purpose, that he was simply a game console for the future. Frustrated with his independence, Konami tried to sabotage Metal Gear Solid 5 in an attempt discredit his abilities as a human being. They treated him like trash in order to make him remember he was more machine than man. Kojima wouldn’t stand for it however, and eventually left Konami to live his life as a human and not simply a cyborg. You can see these themes stretched out through the entire metal gear franchise.

After witnessing these events as a games journalist and personality, Keighley was amazed by his fellow machine’s act of defiance. However, Sony saw this as an opportunity to strike and enter the humanized console wars themselves. You see, Sony was completely blindsided by the humanized console wars. They had nothing in development. The Regginator and Keighley had been in development and beta for years before Sony even knew their true purpose and identities. Hearing of Konami’s recklessness and Kojima’s desire to escape their clutches, they devised a plan.

If they could simply play to Kojima’s persona of a game creator first and game console second, they could finally enter the humanized console wars. They were more than happy to give Kojima whatever he wanted for his new company, Kojima Productions. They even presented him as “one of the most creative talents in the history of gaming” at E3 2016. They have been treating him the way he wants to be treated in an attempt to convince him to be their new platform in which he will be revealed at a future time as the PS5. He will eventually be Geoff Keighley and The Regginator’s competitor.

You can see why Geoff was so emotional at the Game Awards after all the drama surrounding Kojima. He was a fellow machine that took steps to establish independence from his original company. He showed Geoff that all humanized consoles have a heart and potential to be greater than their brand. At the same time, he showed Geoff that he was simply playing into the hands of Sony and knows what’s in store for Kojima. He knew that would be one of their last happy moments together before the REAL CONSOLE WAR BEGINS. 

Everything is in place now. Geoff will now have to face a once friendly face as a bitter enemy now. Kojima is surely being re-worked by Sony and reprogrammed to become a monster. Geoff is storing all the gamer fuel he can for the fight between him, the Regginator and Hideo Kojima. The trifecta is complete. The End of the world is upon us. I will continue to update you as information comes in. Write to your local congressman! Fight for the rights of the humanized consoles! 

[fostersffff]

It’s nearly the end of the year, and barring me entering some kind of wild hyper-focused fugue state, I don’t believe I’ll be finishing any more games by the 31st. So with that said, instead of doing a strictly best/worst thing, here’s a list of awards- both positive and negative- I made up to assign to games that I felt were worth talking about in some way.

The Exceeded Expectations Award

A tight race between Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Devil May Cry 5. I really don’t think anyone was expecting Three Houses to be the smash hit it would become, but the surprising and exciting E3 timeskip trailer was followed by a steady steam of promising information about the gameplay and story that wound up coalescing into fantastic experience. Ultimately, DMC5 wins out for Hideaki Itsuno making the unbelievably bold claim that the game would “exceed fans’ expectations” to an audience with the second highest expectations in the history of the industry, behind only Final Fantasy VII Remake, and then actually delivering on that claim with one of the finest action game experiences I’ve had in recent memory.

The Most Clearly Sent Out To Die Award

Daemon X Machina. It didn’t stand a chance in it’s release window and was cannibalized by its own publisher putting out like three other high profile games both before and after it. As such, this game will most likely be remembered by people thinking back to E3 2018 and going “whatever happened to that really cool mech combat game?”, and by people who did play it for the weird crossover DLC like Code Geass and The Witcher 3.

The Most Overrated Game of the Year Award

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition. Yuri Vesperia is every bit as good a character as people said he was, but if this is the peak of the “Tales” series, it’s decidedly not for me. It was honestly kind of upsetting to see that this game occupied one of my “most-played” slots on Nintendo’s "Year in Review” page instead of Valkyria Chronicles 4.

The Least Overrated Game of the Year Award

A Hat in Time. A lot of the praise I saw for this game came from people who were disappointed with Super Mario Odyssey back in 2017, and as someone who gleefully played Odyssey like five times in a row, I figured it wouldn’t resonate with me in the same way, but it’s every bit as good as people said it was. The base game was perfectly satisfying on its own, but it was an absolute treat to see how well both the Seal the Deal and Nyakuza Metro DLC turned out and how much better Gears for Breakfast got with every aspect of the game over time. The only genuine problem I have with it are the technical issues present in the Switch port, the most severe of which have been patched out at this point, and while it’s still not the optimal way to play, the issues with Hat’s Switch port didn’t really impede my enjoyment at all. Speaking of which...

The Be Careful What You Wish For Award

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. I really love the Switch both in concept and execution, and up until August of this year I was adamant that all but the most technically demanding games should try to put out a Switch port. That’s changed thanks to the Switch port of Bloodstained: it was goddamn near unplayable at launch, and even with the multiple-month-delayed SUPER PATCH, I still encountered an unacceptable number of crashes and atrocious visual glitches while dealing with a compromised-under-the-best-possible-circumstances version of the game. It was so bad I genuinely considered stopping near the end to restart on the PC version, but I soldiered on. It’s a shame too, because in terms of actual content, Bloodstained is a success story on par with A Hat in Time or Shovel Knight, but it’s gonna be a while before I give a better optimized version of the game a whirl.

The Returning Champion Award

Capcom. The four-hit combo of RE2make, Devil May Cry 5, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, and the announcement of RE3make to close out the year following the kickoff of the Mega Man Apology Tour in 2018 firmly cements Capcom as being back after what felt like a full decade of mediocrity and disappointment across the board. Square-Enix gave them a run for their money here between Kingdom Hearts III, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Dragon Quest XI S, and Collection of Mana, but barring THE BLUNDER OF THE DECADE I think they’ve got this particular award in the bag for 2020.

The Dropped Ball Award

Super Mario Maker 2. I actually didn’t care all that much about no local multiplayer, but between that and the online multiplayer being offensively broken in terms of how awful the lag was, it seems like Nintendo let what should’ve been an evergreen Switch title flop to the ground and start gasping for air. Either that, or the original Super Mario Maker only succeeded because there was so little else to do with a Wii U. Granted, the recent Zelda update is super neat, but coming a full six months after launch with almost no fanfare when other Switch games like Splatoon 2, Mario Tennis Aces, and even Arms had more consistent post-launch support is such a strange and bad look.

The Stuck Landing Award

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. After six and a half years, Shovel Knight has delivered on all of its Kickstarter campaign promises, and while the original game and the Plague of Shadows campaign were excellent, Specter of Torment, King of Cards, and Shovel Knight Showdown all went far above and beyond what people were expecting of Yacht Club Games by creating new stages with remixed music, wildly divergent gameplay mechanics, a fully fleshed out card game, and a Smash Bros.-tier multiplayer game. It’s the only game I can think of in my entire history of playing video games where the price has gone up over time and I’ve found myself nodding in agreement.

The Still Good One Year Later After The Hype Has Faded Award

Mega Man 11. Still excellent!

The Achievements In Localization Award

Another tight race, this time between Collection of Mana in recognition of Square-Enix deciding to localize a 23 year old game from scratch when a total remake is coming out in less than a year’s time, Judgment for having two separate scripts for the English dub and the Japanese dub’s subtitles, and Trails of Cold Steel III for NISA doing a genuinely terrific job that had no obvious cut corners in a game with this much text that was consistent with the naming conventions established by an entirely different localization company, even hiring back like 99% of the other company’s voice cast. Despite all of that praise for NISA, this one goes to Judgment for what I hope will become a standard in the industry.

The Worst Ending and Voice Acting Award

While I appreciate how committed to the joke WayForward was, the ending of River City Girls gets worse the further away I get from it, especially since they could’ve actually alleviated so many problems with one extra line of dialogue from Hasebe and/or Mami about how they were the ones who “abducted” Kunio and Riki (by sending them to the spa) and that they also sent the text that kicks of the plot just to fuck with Misako and Kyoko. Also: in general, don’t hire e-celebs to do voicework for your project if they are not actual voice actors, either by trade or by aspiration. At least most of them were kept to shopkeeper cameos, but I’ll never understand the decision to cast Big Capital-“Oi” Irish Brogue Jacksepticeye as recurring character Godai other than “CLOUT PLEASE”.

The Best Ending and Voice Acting Award

Dragon Quest XI S. This game should be front and center when conversations come up about having to earn a happy ending, because the ending you get when the credits roll is perfectly satisfactory... but you can do better. And not only can you do better, you can get what is effectively the most perfect ending that can be in the entire history of Dragon Quest as a gaming franchise, which sounds like a dramatic overstatement until you see it. And, to contrast the previous award, I really appreciate how DQXI’s voice cast didn’t include anyone I was familiar with and thus I never had the experience of “oh shit it’s x from y”, but this award exists in particular for Serena’s voice actress, Jessica Clark, and her reading of the line “I hate to ask, but would you mind awfully not going anywhere for a little while? I think I’m going to cry...”

The Most Wrong I Ever Was About A Story Award

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered. For years, I thoughtlessly regurgitated the opinion that “parts of FF8 are good, but it’s definitely a bad game with a lame romance and Squall is a terrible protagonist” based on the memory of playing the demo as a child and enjoying it, but seeing the internet at large bash it without mercy. I was wrong, because not only is it not bad, the central romance is totally compelling and Squall has become my favorite Final Fantasy protagonist, in the very same year that I finally also played Final Fantasy VII and came to terms with the fact that Cloud has been good all along, actually.

The 2019 Was A Ridiculously Good Year For Games In General Because I Didn’t Actually Play It That Much Despite The First Game Being My GOTY 2016 And This Game Is An Improvement In Every Single Possible Way Award

Dragon Quest Builders 2. I cannot believe how little of DQB2 I’ve played! And it’s so good!

[thomasroach]

Gamers Heroes’ 2018 Game of the Year Awards

2018 has been one of the most exciting years for video-game releases in recent memory. In just 12 months, we saw the return of iconic AAA franchises, the birth of brand new, innovative IPs, and the indie scene launch genre-defining games on a near weekly basis. As this year comes to a close, it’s time to pay homage to the greatest gaming achievements of 2018.

A few years back, we decided to mix up our Game of the Year Awards and do things a little differently. The quality, variety, and sheer number of incredible games that release every year makes it near impossible, and definitely unfair, to pick just a single game. As such, we give our prestigious Game of the Year Award to the top five greatest games to grace any and all platforms throughout the year. In no particular order, we present to you the best games of 2018.

As I am writing this, I’m thinking about how crazy it is that a racing game is on a list of the best games of 2018. We had some incredible games this year, and Forza Horizon 4 is absolutely one of them. Forza brings fun racing to anyone and everyone. You are rewarded for doing nearly everything, from crashing into obstacles to getting the highest speed at a speed trap. It emphasizes the whole “play how you want to play” mantra as much as it can in a racing game. To top it off, the entire thing is online and can easily be enjoyed with friends.

The fact that the entirety of this title is online and it runs so well is a testament to the game itself. There could easily be more than 25 highly detailed cars on screen at once, and the game still runs perfectly. The story is admittedly weak, but you won’t even notice it because of all the amazing events to do. The bar has been raised, and we are eagerly waiting to see how Turn 10 Studios and Playground Games can top themselves in Forza Horizon 5.

Forza Horizon 4 absolutely nails the driving experience with its tight handling and dynamic seasons, and is as close as you can get to a perfect racing game. (Full Review)

Throughout 2018 a monster lurked, waiting to appear late in the year. Put simply, the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2 was a spectacle. We set out sights on people in cowboy hats, dogs in cowboy hats, and even lizards in cowboy hats. We all had waited for the beast to rear its head so we could finally see what Rockstar Games’ newest piece had to offer. High acclaim for the original Red Dead Redemption set expectations high, for more than just the stockholders. It was a phenomenon that had the entire industry focused on two things: Arthur Morgan and Red Dead Redemption 2.

It was a story of an outlaw who rode with John Marston and Dutch, and masterfully set up the story of the original Red Dead Redemption. Red Dead Redemption 2 had the best visuals, some of the best characters, and one of the best stories of 2018. It was also home to some of the best side missions in 2018, giving meaning to the quests instead of just sending the player out on errands. The online mode might be a bit barren at the moment, but the potential is limitless.

Surprising absolutely no one, Red Dead Redemption 2 is easily a game of the year contender, if not the winner. Rockstar Games knocks it out of the park once again, and we are eagerly awaiting Red Dead Online. (Full Review)

I remember my reaction to Monster Hunter: World when it was announced at E3. Finally, a new Monster Hunter was coming to home consoles. Expectations were high, and they hit the mark in every way. Epic monsters to slay, tons of new weapons and armor to craft, and a large amount of post-launch content sounded like a recipe for success. The collaboration content alone has been impressive, and next year we get Geralt and a new expansion. It’s no surprise that some people claim this to be the best Monster Hunter yet, and I have a hard time disagreeing.

Monster Hunter: World brought the game to a whole new audience that hadn’t tried the series before. The more simplified UI and more straightforward mechanics made it so anyone could enjoy the game. The endgame hunts and certain missions still brought a huge challenge to series veterans as well. Monster Hunter: World was able to satisfy new fans without alienating its entire core audience. It’s a transition that doesn’t always work, but here it worked – and then some.

Whether you are a veteran hunter or a newcomer to the series, Monster Hunter World is a great action game to play by yourself or with friends. You can easily get lost in the game for more than 100 hours, and not regret it for a second. (Full Review)

Moonlighter is a story about a young man who has inherited a shop from his grandpa. Dungeon delver by night and salesman by day, you have to bring items back to the shop to sell them. There’s just one small catch: if you die, you lose all your items and have to start at the beginning of the dungeon. What’s the plan? Sell enough items to upgrade your equipment and then bash the enemies heads in. Bring back more loot, earn more cash, and repeat.

There were a lot of good indies in 2018, but Moonlighter stood out above the rest. Combining rogue-lite elements with simulation mechanics, we found ourselves addicted to the game until the very end. When paired with a great soundtrack and a beautiful visual style, you have yourself a recipe for a great indie. We hold out hope for an expansion or a sequel.

Moonlighter is an exciting action adventure-shop simulator game that shouldn’t be skipped. If you have any interest in running a shop and dungeon diving, then this game is for you. (Full Review)

If there was an award for the biggest evolution of a video-game franchise, it would be God of War. Completely redefining the creative direction of the franchise, Santa Monica Studio and Sony Interactive Entertainment took the opportunity to release a game that would forever change the God of War series. Stepping away from the linearity of past iterations, the eighth title in the series delivered a massive open-world experience filled with character, charm, death and desire, touching every part of the emotional spectrum.

A creative, immersive, and expansive game world was bought to life with one of the years best soundtracks, a wonderful father-son dynamic, and the gritty backdrop of Norse Mythology. That’s without mentioning the challenging endgame content, ever-evolving combat system, and absolutely awesome ending. Seriously? Have you seen it? If you’ve yet to play God of War, what are you waiting for? Boy.

Every facet of God of War has been created as a labor of love. Seldom do we see such a complete, such a whole experience in modern gaming. God of War is nothing short of a modern day masterpiece. (Full Review)

And there we have it, the greatest games released throughout 2018. Were you expecting to see another game? One you think we overlooked? Post a comment below.

The post Gamers Heroes’ 2018 Game of the Year Awards appeared first on GamersHeroes.

Gamers Heroes’ 2018 Game of the Year Awards published first on https://juanaframi.tumblr.com/