As every games journalist says every year, <insert-year> 2018 was a great year for video games. It actually was though, no matter what system you play on. So here’s my list, containing my favorite games of 2018 (and one game from 2017 that I just played at the beginning of 2018).
Marvel’s Spider-Man
No fictional character is as dear to me as Peter Parker, so my expectations for Insomniac’s Spider-Man were as high as it gets. Somehow, the game managed to surpass those expectations, enough so that I felt compelled to write quite a few features about the game post-launch, in addition to a review. It nailed swinging, fighting, and exploring as a Spider-Man game should, but perhaps best of all, it nailed who Peter Parker is, all while establishing an entirely new Marvel canon.
The open-world of New York is littered with collectibles and famous locations that will make Marvel fans smile, all while constructing a new version of Spider-Man’s world in a natural but satisfying way. The story of Marvel’s Spider-Man is consistently surprising, but never boring or out-of-character. This game’s takes on iconic characters like J. Jonah Jameson, Norman Osborn, and Otto Octavius are of my favorite iterations in recent memory, as is its take on Peter. Yuri Lowenthal nails the role out of the park and delivers a performance that stands with the best Spider-Men around.
Marvel’s Spider-Man is also just a lot of fun to play. Mindlessly swinging around is relaxing because of how natural it feels, while combat feels intense and complex because of the variety of gadgets and moves that you can perform. I can’t sing Spider-Man’s praises enough, and I can’t wait for the inevitable sequel(s).
God of War
I’ve talked a seemingly endless amount about God of War, from my review of it to my article about my admiration of the game’s tonal change, I’ve talked about God of War for probably as long as I played the game itself. I did this for good reason though, as the game is really as good as everyone, myself included, says it is.
Combat is different than in previous God of War games, but just as enjoyable for how creative you can be when racking up combos with different weapons. The story is excellent at making you care for its characters and mythology, and the visuals and sound are easily some of the best of this console generation. God of War is a must-play for anyone who owns a PS4, even if previous God of War games weren’t your cup of tea.
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Dragon Ball FighterZ combines everything I love about Dragon Ball with everything I love about fighting games, which is a masterful feat. I’ve gotten more than a few friends into FighterZ because of how accessible it is, and as scary as that word can be when applied to the wonderfully complex genre of fighting games, this is one game that manages to be accessible without sacrificing gameplay depth. The characters are all a blast to use, combos are pretty easy to learn and very fun to practice, and if you want to play on your own, the Story Mode can actually be pretty enjoyable.
The Dragon Ball side of things is even better. From its nostalgic presentation (in both audio and visuals) to the amount of references in every characters’ moveset, FighterZ is everything a Dragon Ball fan could want. Though I’d love to see a bit more love for the pre-Z era of Dragon Ball, both Z and Super are perfectly represented. Time will tell if GT and the films will get the same love as Z and Super, but FighterZ is already a stand-out game for fighting game fans and anime fans alike.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate
Sneaking in at the tail-end of the year, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate managed to devour my schedule far more than I had anticipated. Not having trophies like past games was a bummer, but the sheer volume of exciting content easily made up for it. The “Everyone is Here” slogan was definitely accurate, as Ultimate feels like the culmination of the entire Smash Bros. series thus far.
Though unlocking characters is more of a pain than it should be, having a whopping 76 characters to play as (alongside nearly every stage to ever be in Smash) is an absolute treat. Ultimate also feels more like a fighting game than previous entries, making it even more fun to play with friends who are more competitive when it comes to fighters. Ultimate lives up to its name as the ultimate Smash Bros. game, and I’m sure I’ll be playing it with friends until the next Smash inevitably drops in half a decade.
Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
When I played Revenant Kingdom earlier in 2018, I called it “…a masterpiece, and one of the best games of this generation”, which should give you a good indication of how I feel about the game. There’s something incredibly touching about Evan’s story, as his quest to grow into a worthy king is one that kept me completely invested the entire way through. The Ghibli-esque visuals are obviously a major plus, especially since they perfectly compliment the tone of Revenant Kingdom and its story.
It’s rather rewarding to explore the many vastly different cities and settlements in Revenant Kingdom as you do side-quests for townsfolk, as you meet all sorts of characters who can be recruited to help you build your own kingdom (which is more addictive than it has any right to be). Combat is a wonderful blend of action and strategy, which makes up for the lack of Familiars that the previous game was built on. Revenant Kingdom is beautiful and brilliant, and I just know it will be considered as an RPG masterpiece as the years go on.
Yakuza Kiwami 2
If there is any series that deserves its newfound popularity more than any other, it’s Yakuza. This year’s Yakuza Kiwami 2, a complete remake of the original PS2 classic Yakuza 2, is what I consider to be peak-Yakuza. The remake is full of ridiculous moments, emotional scenes, satisfying combat, and more side-content than I know what to do with; all things that make Yakuza stand out to me. Its characters are some of the series’ best, and it features one of the best villains in the series.
Kiwami 2 has you punch a tiger in the face to save your adoptive daughter, but if that stresses you out, you can go hit some golf balls at the local range right after. Maybe you want to sing karaoke after curb-stomping some hooligans who were dumb enough to challenge Kiryu to a street fight, or maybe you just want to collect toys from a UFO Catcher after a long and completely optional day of running a Hostess Club. Anything is possible in the weird world of Yakuza, just as it should be.
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
Dragon Quest is one of the most criminally overlooked series here in the West, and Dragon Quest XI successfully does everything it can to fix that. Combining the series’ characteristic simplicity with a strong cast of characters and a story that pulls no punches, Echoes of an Elusive Age finds a way to appeal to all kinds of JRPG fans, whether they’ve played a Dragon Quest before or not.
Akira Toriyama’s visual style is more gorgeous than ever on the PS4, making both old and new monster designs feel alive as they wander around the world map. The voice-acting is top-notch all-around, and the music, while unfortunately not orchestral, is as whimsical and catchy as one could hope. If you’ve been wanting to get into Dragon Quest (which you definitely should, in my opinion), Dragon Quest XI is for you. And if you’re a longtime fan, well you’ve probably already played XI. Play it again, try Draconian mode!
Monster Hunter World
Outside of fighting games and Pokémon, I’m not really a big “multiplayer” kind of guy. Monster Hunter World showed me an entirely new and incredibly fun kind of multiplayer experience. Teaming up with friends to take down massive beasts on a time limit is ridiculously fun, especially when you each have different weapons and roles to play in each battle. My character, using the Insect Glaive, would be bouncing around a huge monster while smacking it all over, distracting it while my heavy-sword wielding friend goes for its head, and my katana-wielding friend attempts to cut off the monster’s tail for extra materials and loot. It’s fun to work as a team in Monster Hunter World, because, win or lose, you spent twenty minutes goofing off and hunting incredible creatures.
And if that’s not a selling feature for you, Monster Hunter World has a far more prevalent singleplayer story mode than previous entries in the series. You can blast through World on your own and still have a blast, though I’d definitely recommend playing with others for the optimal experience. There’s also a Witcher-themed crossover event coming next month, and you don’t want to miss that.
Moonlighter
A Link to the Past-esque dungeon crawler where you fight monsters and sell materials at your own stock-based prices is a strange pitch for most, but Moonlighter proves that a game based on both adventuring and shopkeeping can be an addictive pleasure. As I played more and more of Moonlighter, I found myself caring more about my store and prices than the adventure I was on, which is (strangely enough) an enormous positive for the game.
Don’t get me wrong, exploring dungeons is certainly fun. Trying to decide if you should be safe and head back with your current loot or press-on and risk losing it is as rewarding as it is scary, and fighting bosses is a whole different experience from other games when your store’s incoming stock is on the line. It’s just that experimenting with prices, pleasing customers, and raking in cash proved to be so addictive that I found myself identifying as a shopkeeper first and an adventurer second. Moonlighter is an unorthodox game, and an amazing one at that.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux
Unlike the more popular Persona subseries, Shin Megami Tensei is less focused on plot and more focused on making you befriend fickle demons to use as party members. Fittingly, Strange Journey is a weird game, but it’s also an incredible one. The story is interesting and pretty easy to follow, the gameplay rewards exploration and experimentation, and the artstyle and music are stellar.
The best part of Strange Journey has to be its demons, who are fun to negotiate with and use as party members. Sometimes you have to give a demon a bit of your health, sometimes you have to give them money, and sometimes they just want to talk and shoot the shit before joining you. Though it could be difficult to decipher each demon’s personality, trying to appeal to them makes acquiring demons far more rewarding, and as with the Persona series, fusing demons provides and endless amount of options in combat. I’d say Strange Journey Redux is a good starting point for Persona fans who want to try out the core Shin Megami Tensei games, as it strikes a nice balance between the two.
Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu!
I love Pokémon. Sure, as a Digimon fan, I make jokes about it, but I’ve loved Pokémon since the days of the Gameboy. Now I’ve seen a lot of people who write-off Let’s Go for oversimplifying Pokémon, which is completely fair. So perhaps it’s partially because I knew almost nothing about Let’s Go going into it, but I haven’t had this much breezy, simple fun with a game in quite some time. And only part of that opinion comes from the feeling of overwhelming joy that comes with feeding Pikachu golden berries until it laughs and high-fives you.
Both Let’s Go games are remakes of Pokémon Yellow, with a revamped catching system and simplified mechanics (no more HMs, no abilities or breeding), but with some very neat additions that make it stand out. Aloan forms, out-of-ball Pokémon travelling, ingame IV judging, battle-less catching, and catch chains are all interesting features that make Let’s Go feel like more than a simple adaptation. I’d love to see some of these features (keyword being some) return to the main series, as there has been a shocking lack of Pokémon walking since HeartGold and SoulSilver. I was also pleasantly surprised by the minor additions and changes in the story, which hint at the stories of Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, with minor elbow-nudges to the anime and manga adaptations. It’s not the most complex game in the series, but for a spin-off/remake, Let’s Go Pikachu! has certainly cemented its place as one of the most simply fun titles in the series.
NieR Automata (cheating)
This is technically cheating, since NieR Automata came out in 2017, but I played it late and wanted to talk about it. I feel as though talking about it will prove to be almost therapeutic in a way, as Automata has lodged itself into my brain for the better part of a year now. Maybe it’s because it’s one of the weirdest games ever made, or maybe it’s because of how unorthodox its story its story is, but NieR Automata has somehow managed to stay present in my subconscious far longer than most games have.
Made by Platinum and published by Square Enix, NieR Automata is the story of YorHa, a militant android group who seeks to free the now-abandoned Earth from unseen aliens and their endless killer robots that took over the planet many years ago. What starts as a very standard JRPG story suddenly spirals into a tale of life, existential crises, and creation that goes far beyond what I expected. Even though Automata has you play through it multiple times, I never got bored because of how straight-up weird everything about it is.
There’s a grinning head that falls out of a robot who just decides to run a shop and be a secret boss. There’s a mission that has you eat tuna and die immediately after, unlocking one of many alternate endings. The credits are a Gradius minigame that has you “kill” the names of the game’s creators. And yet, there are plenty of emotions to be had throughout the game’s strange narrative. I have no idea how Yoko Taro and his team managed to strike this peculiar balance, but I’m impressed nonetheless.
While I really enjoyed the gameplay of NieR Automata (especially the addictive and surprisingly meta chip system), its story, characters, and soundtrack are what made the game stick in my mind as more than just a game. It’s hard to describe, but I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who wants an unorthodox but memorable gaming experience.
And those are my picks for my favorite games of 2018 (and one from 2017). Do you agree, or do you disagree? Let me know in the comments, and give your own list.
