#goty gameoftheyear toptengames games 2018

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Justin's Top 10 Games of 2018

by Justin Tomasello | @Oaf7724

2018 was a year of change for me. In January I moved back to South Jersey after spending six years living in Staten Island. I worked three (actually four) different jobs this year, trying to find the right fit. I spent a lot of time in my own head, trying to figure out a direction to take and force myself to stay on it. On top of all my mental deliberation, the state of the world continued its transition into a pretty depressing and embarrassing place. I'm not thrilled to admit that to save my sanity, my response to it all was to just bury my head in the sand, much like the noble ostrich.

Obviously, everyone's goal in life is to achieve total happiness in all aspects of it. That is not an easy task by a long shot, as new obstacles and challenges appear quite often to thwart us in our quest. Part of the game of life is not just overcoming these challenges, but acknowledging them and embracing them when they arrive.

Things like family, friends, and of course video games were great avenues this year for me to relax, have some fun, and forget about stuff that was bothering me. I am so thankful to have such a great support group close by to have a beer with and play games to get away from overthinking and worrying about things too damn much.

2018 was a great year for games! Unfortunately, it was quite a busy one for me and I wasn't able to play as much as I would have liked. Nonetheless, the experiences I've had were all quite memorable, including a few games that had me thinking about them constantly while working or away from home. Please enjoy my personal top ten below, along with some honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions

Steamworld Dig 2 - I started playing Steamworld Dig 2 moments after the curtain closed on 2017, and the more I played, the angrier I got that I had waited so long. This gorgeous 2D exploration platformer had such an excellent element of progression to it. Every item you received provided you the ability to get to a new area and get a little bit further down into the depths of the earth. The characters were unique and creative, the story was a surprise, and the music was kick ass (that main town theme is one of the smoothest tracks I've heard in quite a while.) Had I played this in 2017 it may have been in my top three games of the year.

Harvest Moon 64 - The summertime always gets me in the mood to play Harvest Moon, and this year was no different. I picked up HM64 on the Wii U's virtual console just to mess around in for a bit one muggy July day and wound up putting probably more than 40 hours into it. It had always been my favorite game of the series, and I was worried that it would feel too dated. But after an hour of playing I just got used to everything and enjoyed a hearty mix of good ol' farm-sim fun and nostalgia.

Tales of Berseria - Another game that came out in 2017 that I didn't get around to playing until this year, but I'm so glad I finally did. I've been known to enjoy a good Tales game from time to time and this entry did not disappoint. Yeah the battles are a bit repetitive and lack any real sense of strategy, but the characters are awesome and the bloodthirsty-for-vengeance themed story had me quite entertained. I got about 15 hours in until RDR2 came out and understandably fell off. But I'm hoping to go and finish it up in 2019!

And Now, The Top 10

10.) Starlink: Battle for Atlas - When this was first shown off in E3 2017 I recall being quite excited. The idea of a space-adventure shooter coming to the Switch was unexpected but welcomed. The toys to life angle may have scared a bunch of players off, but when StarFox was announced as a playable character in E3 2018, interest returned.

The gameplay is fun and the wealth of weapons is a cool feature (even if it is a bit annoying to keep navigating through menus to switch them - this is made easier if you bought the toy portion of the game, but they are not necessary to play). The game is pretty open too, letting you visit multiple planets at your leisure, or just absentmindedly drift through the cosmos. There is definitely a large No Man's Sky vibe in Starlink, with the ability to travel through space at different speeds and the vibrant colors and textures of the alien worlds. I've barely scratched the surface of Ubisoft's sci-fi adventure but am certainly interested in playing more.

9.) The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit - If you're a loyal listener of the pod, there's no secret that the Life is Strange series is quite beloved by some of our team. To get players excited for the sequel, DONTNOD released a playable intro/demo to Life is Strange 2 earlier this year. As expected the game provided us with deep and interesting characters, great dialogue, and threw our emotions in a tizzy. It's impressive how accurately the team was able to present the story through the imagination and mystic-eyed wonder of a young boy. This game also included the most bullshit, no-way-you'd-figure-this-out-without-looking-it-up puzzle of all time.

8.) Monster Hunter World - Capcom certainly made a splash at the beginning of the year when Monster Hunter World hit the store shelves. Releasing the game on all the big consoles (and PC) and changing some of the mechanics around to be a little bit friendlier to new players helped the series finally breakthrough with the core US audience (this game sold a TON of copies both here and in the East). The game looks the best it ever has and is packed with plenty of badass monsters to take down. While I did enjoy my time with it around launch, I quickly fell off as I always tend to do with Monster Hunter games. The required repetitive gameplay and the chunky online matchmaking were frustrating, and since I didn't have as much time to play as my pals, I was pretty quickly left in the dust.

7.) A Way Out - Chris and I played through the first half of this cooperative video game / team-building exercise earlier in the year. It's cliché as all hell, the characters are pretty one-dimensional, and the writing was terrible (the characters were basically saying the same things over and over again, just presented differently). Beyond those flaws, though, hides a pretty unique and creative local-multiplayer gameplay experience. I cannot properly describe how hard we laughed when Chris drove our getaway vehicle directly into an oncoming 18-wheeler. Or at my failed attempt at sneaking into an old man's house, where he opened the door, saw me, and blasted me off his porch point-blank with his trusty shotgun. We need to finish this game, preferably with some friends watching alongside us.

6.) Subnautica - Something you may not know about me: I am fascinated with the sea, and what lies beneath. I've gone snorkeling a few times on vacations and watching the aquatic world operate right beneath you is a serene, calming, beautiful experience. So I am of course impressed when video games are able to recreate that world in their own artistic vision (Abzu, anyone?). Subnautica at its core is a survival game, which I tend to pompously turn my nose at. However, when fellow PAR teamie Butch showed me some videos wayyyy back in January, I immediately became interested. The art direction is gorgeous. The world of the sea is vast, menacing, beautiful, and unknown. The contraptions you can build (underwater base, a sub-like motorcycle thing) are pretty damn cool. I put this on hold when MHW came out and shamefully never returned. I'd really like to "dive" back in! Oh jeeze, I think I hear the Pun Police knocking on my door.

5.)  Octopath Traveler - I regrettably did not purchase Octopath Traveler in 2018 (this has since been rectified). However, I did play to completion the two demos that were released prior to the game's launch. The second of which is basically the first three hours of the game, and I'll be able to forward my progress once I officially start the main game. Octopath Traveler has everything a classic turn-based JRPG fan like myself wants: beautifully detailed sprite graphics, awesome music, interesting characters and writing, and a fun, strategic battle system. The art direction is a standout, offering a unique, pop-up storybook/diorama style of environment. Plus the game is helmed by the Bravely Default team, who already had a great pedigree with RPG fans.

4.) No Man's Sky - NEXT - No Man's Sky - NEXT, the content-packed free DLC that came out this past summer, is an inspiration. After NMS's absolute nightmare of an initial launch, no one would have blamed Hello Games if they packed up shop and moved to Morocco to hide under false identities as coconut farmers. Instead, they faced the brunt of millions of disappointed and angry fans. They endured Sony turning their backs on them and throwing them under the bus. They owned their mistakes, worked effortlessly, and silently, and managed to take a game we all thought was dead and buried and convert it into one of the most talked about experiences in 2018. NEXT added features such as online multiplayer, character customization, 3rd-person view, base building, better graphics and textures, and a better credit system that made buying ships and other more expensive items much easier. NEXT was only one of a few free expansions that came out this year. ABYSS followed, which provided swimming and a complete remap of aquatic life. VISIONS came out shortly after that, boasting a more diverse universe with new biomes, flora, fauna and architecture. While I would not argue those who say NMS's core gameplay is still weak, these new updates provided me personally with a relaxing and enjoyable starship-exploring experience for a good chunk of the year.

3.)  Donut County - It's rare when a game meets your expectations 100%, but Donut County absolutely did for me. I fell in love with the game's art style and quirkiness when I first caught wind of it at PSX 2017. The game is simply relaxing, fun, and bursting with charm. The wonky characters are a joy, the music is plucky and catchy, and the dialogue is modern and funny without being annoying (a lot of it is conveyed via text message, and I was never once rolling my eyes). The game is brief but I would equate it to a game like Octodad: it ends just before the mechanics would start to wear thin. Donut County was exactly what I wanted it to be.

2.) God of War - My prior knowledge of the God of War series up to this year was pretty weak. Being a strict Nintendo fanboy growing up, I never played anything from the franchise. I was pretty green going in on Sony Santa Monica's latest offering. The fact that I could enjoy this game as much as I did without having played any of the previous games is just one of the many reasons this game ranks so highly on my list.

The direction of this game is spectacular. Spinning the game's lore to mesh with the massive scope of Norse Mythology was so interesting and impressive (heck, we even did a whole podcast about it). Shifting Kratos from a one-dimensional revenge-driven character to a hardened widow noticeably troubled about having to raise a son on his own and prevent him from making the same mistakes he has was unexpected. Watching Atreus grow, and watching Kratos allow him to grow was a touching experience. I still think the scene of the two of them sharing a bottle of wine was my favorite gaming moment of the year.

Oh yeah, then there's the actual gameplay. The combat is fast, fun and intuitive. The progression system is well-designed and the variety of different moves you can perform is so vast I found myself losing track. The way that Atreus' arrows are incorporated is creative; they are also incredibly handy with some of the tougher fights. It should also be noted that in an era of every single player game feeling the need to be a grandiose open-world experience, I found a lot of pleasure rolling through a more linear-based type of gameplay. Sure, the world opens up eventually and there are multiple new areas to explore, but they are pretty paltry in comparison to the main game. Extra content and side quests are the weakest part of the package. Minor flaws aside, God of War was a must-have experience in 2018.

1.) Red Dead Redemption 2 - Give me a good story, give me deep characters, and give me exceptional writing, and I am one happy camper. With the added bonus that I am quite partial to a western/cowboy setting, RDR2 was my personal game of the year. I had only played through the original a couple years ago and I loved every moment of it. When Rockstar dropped the bomb on RDR2, my hype train was blasting through the station, even if I was a tad concerned with how the story would work as a prequel. To my surprise: remarkably well.

Arthur Morgan's character is well-developed and interesting, and as you progress through the game and witness him begin to question, doubt, and worry about his future, your bond with him only swells. The supporting cast of nomadic outlaws are also varied, detailed and bursting with life. Every single one of them is unique and has personality. They all have reasons they joined Dutch's crew and doing quests for each member became an absolute joy for me. None ever felt like a chore.

The environments are beautiful and serene. The NPCs are quite animated and often busy. They will interact with you constantly, even when you don't want them to. The soundtrack is breathtaking, and the animation and graphics on everything (yes, even those horse privates) are the best I have ever seen.

There of course were some minor nags for me. The clunky jog-wheel menus could often be frustrating to navigate. The shooting never felt great. There were some serious pacing issues in moments of the story, and a couple parts that kinda didn't make much sense that often disrupted the experience for me. Some of the gameplay I thought was a bit too similar to the original Red Dead Redemption. Ultimately, these were just bumps in the road that my caravan's wheels were able to roll over without causing any destruction. The game from start to finish (and the fun and lengthy epilogue at the end) was an engrossing, wholesome, and moving experience that anyone who appreciates good narrative and good characters absolutely must play.