Highlighting the Best of an Impressive Year for Games
Many have said that 2017 was a particularly special year for gaming, but I actually feel like 2018 was better. Not necessarily in the sense that this year’s best efforts surpass 2017’s (they don’t), but that it was a better year for gaming as a whole. Strides in so-called “games-as-a-service” philosophies, as problematic as they are, led to marked improvements to previously discarded disappointments like No Man’s Sky. The success of the Nintendo Switch means more gamers have been trying indies and ports of older games that maybe they never got around to playing on PC, such as Hollow Knight and The Banner Saga. Meanwhile, services like Xbox Game Pass and Twitch Prime Games allowed many (myself included) to try out several games on their wish lists at no additional cost, including Pillars of Eternity, Fallout 4, and Limbo. Simply put, there has never been a better time to be a gamer.
In addition, 2018 had plenty of great new experiences! Even though I didn’t have a chance to play the big PlayStation 4 exclusives this year (I still don’t have that console), I always managed to enjoy a novel gaming experience on PC, Xbox One, and Switch. Nothing this year was as jaw-droppingly excellent as Breath of the Wild, as provocative as Wolfenstein II, or as perfectly charming as Super Mario Odyssey. But I would put this year’s 10-15 best games against that of any year this console generation. There might not be any true masterpieces on this list, but 2018 was a year where I was constantly playing great game after great game.
With that said, here are my ten favorite video games of 2018:
10) Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion
The single-player component of the Splatoon games has always been highly underrated, and Octo Expansion is no exception. It manages to bring out even more of the series’ colorful exuberance and clever challenges, whether it’s asking the player to take down waves of enemies Space Invaders style or to chisel a pile of boxes into the shape of a dog. Each level in this expansion tasks the player with rethinking the game’s controls and systems to form some of the most creative gameplay sequences of any game I’ve played this year. It’s a little on the short side, but it was still encouraging to me that Nintendo was willing to think outside the box and change a third-person paint-shooter into a puzzle game, a stealth game, and an action-platformer all at once. Also, a ’90s hip-hop aesthetic is always welcome in my book.
9) The Messenger
Sabotage Studios’ excellent 2D-platformer The Messenger simultaneously feels like something I grew up with and a game that could only have been made in 2018. The music, aesthetic, controls, and level design are all straight out of the kinds of action-platformers I played back in the 1990s, yet the game’s story, humor, and mid-game twist feel fairly modern by comparison. It’s no masterpiece, but The Messenger is a great way to spend 10 to 12 hours on Switch if you like both ninjas and time travel.
8) Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
In many ways, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has been mildly disappointing so far (I’ve only played about 8 hours). The world is pretty and vast, but Ubisoft still hasn’t figured out how to make combat against animals nearly as fun and rewarding as combat against humans (some of these hunts are just straight up terrible). The quest designs for the most part are fine, but many of the timed quests and contracts just feel like filler, something Assassin’s Creed Origins managed to avoid. Most notably, it takes just a little too long for the player to feel like any of their decisions matter or have any impact on the world around them.
Still, the combat (against humans) is smooth, the stealth sequences are still perfectly tense and engaging, and the addition of dialogue options makes Assassin’s Creed Odyssey a truly great and immersive RPG experience. As someone with a B.A. in Classical Studies, I also appreciate that a company has finally found the right way to tell the story of someone living during the Peloponnesian War (despite some obvious inaccuracies)—namely, through dabbling somewhat in politics but mostly befriending various farmers, seafarers, and merchants. Most importantly, I love how human so many of the characters feel, even if their existence often amounts to “quest-giver.” Ancient Greece feels alive in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and despite my initial trepidation with it, I’m excited for whatever else this game has in store for me.
7) The Banner Saga 3
While it’s probably my least favorite game in the franchise, The Banner Saga 3 gave me some of 2018’s most emotional moments. I literally gasped out loud watching certain events transpire, and the game’s last hour is as stressful, harrowing, tense, and exciting as any final hour of any game I’ve played in recent years. Issues with the combat system remain from the previous two titles, but the excellent dialogue, powerful soundtrack, beautiful art style, and character development make the finale to one of my favorite RPG series worth all the stress and heartache.
6) Into the Breach
One of my favorite scenes in the 2009 Star Trek reboot was when Spock told Kirk that the final test for captains was to see how they handle “fear in the face of certain death.” Playing Into the Breach asks the player essentially the same question: What moves are you going to make, knowing that either your best mechs or innocent bystanders will die?
The latest from Subset Games is as thrilling and challenging as any turn-based tactics game I’ve played, and its procedural nature and short battles prevent it from being the kind of slog I’ve come to expect from the genre. Knowing what your enemies will do before they do them makes each decision difficult and important, giving meaning to almost every single action in the game. Each battle presents different challenges, and failure just means a new lesson learned in Into the Breach.
5) Forza Horizon 4
While not exactly original, Forza Horizon 4 embodies pure, unbridled video game joy and excitement. Easily the best in the series, FH4 includes some of the best controls, locales, challenges, and music of any racing game I’ve ever played, and some of the game’s best moments (the Halo event, the stuntman missions, driving on ice for the first time) are truly magical. It simply teems with character, beauty, thrill, and fun at every corner.
More importantly, FH4 comes at a time when the AAA games industry seems to believe that open worlds need to keep getting bigger and bigger. While the world in Forza Horizon 4 is certainly large, it’s not uncommonly massive, instead trading a broad, pointless expanse for an appropriately sized open environment that wastes so little of its space. It’s not the size of it: it’s how you use it.
4) Sea of Thieves
As far as Microsoft exclusives go, Forza Horizon 4 is probably a “better” game than Rare’s Sea of Thieves. From a technical perspective, the racer is nearly flawless, while the cartoon pirate simulator launched with numerous glitches and network issues. FH4’s controls are as tight and as smooth as can be, while Sea of Thieves has moments of awkward movement and imprecise aiming. While neither game has a particularly compelling story, Forza at least has a tight narrative and straightforward progression system, something Sea of Thieves does not.
Still, few games I’ve played this year gave me as many incredible moments as SoT did. No other game felt as therapeutic and also as chillingly tense as Sea of Thieves. No other multiplayer experience in 2018 was as fun or engaging as escaping a kraken attack or leading an assault on a skeleton ship.
Sea of Thieves is by no means without its faults, but its ingenuity, character, and charm made way for some incredible experiences: standing at the ship’s bow during a sunset; searching for a treasure chest on an enormous, colorful island while fending off hordes of skeletons; seeing an enemy ship on the horizon and tracking a separate course (or attacking them head on); launching yourself from a cannon and hoping you land safely, knowing full well the island you’re headed to is riddled with snakes; searching a sunken ship for treasures before the sharks come by; and laughing with friends as you all keep dying in an effort to finally overtake a skeleton fort (I have yet to succeed at doing this). The world of Sea of Thieves is freeing, vivacious, terrifying, and inspiring, and it has very little in the way of safe, risk-averse game design.
Rare’s latest effort is far from perfect, and I completely understand everyone’s qualms with it. But I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t enjoy nearly every minute I’ve played in Sea of Thieves, and that I wouldn’t prefer its imperfect cleverness over the medium’s more polished but less interesting offerings.
3) Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a flawed game, one that misses the mark in so many ways that it can never be the incredible masterwork that Rockstar believes it is. That said, I can’t deny that so much of it moved and inspired me. The gang’s parties were as enchanting and immersive as anything I’ve ever played. Many of the shootouts were exhilarating and uncanny. The game’s key characters are incredibly well-developed, and some of they conversations they have with one another are unforgettable. Most of all, now that I’ve largely moved away from the game, I miss the breathtaking vistas and beautiful landscapes of Lemoyne and New Hanover.
It may seem strange for me to write so much about what this game gets wrong and then put it in my top three games of the year. But the parts that RDR2 gets right, it gets so right. It’s certainly not the game to end all games, but it is an impressive achievement nonetheless.
2) Celeste
I’ve written enough about how much I love this game. Just read my damn review.
1) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Sometimes, I kind of hate how much of a Nintendo fanboy I can unintentionally be.
Celeste was one of the best platformers I’ve played in years. Sea of Thieves felt like an entirely new game experience to me. Into the Breach brought new life into a genre I often have conflicted feelings about. Why would the fifth game in a series I’ve played my whole life that hasn’t fundamentally changed all that much in over a decade be my game of the year? The answer is simple: character and, if I’m being honest, nostalgia.
The level of character found in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is impossible to deny. Every fighter breathes life and charisma into every battle, and the impressive stagecraft and item selection make each fight into a brilliant theatrical performance of chaos and intensity. The music, visuals, and polish in SSBU are all top notch, which is to be expected from one of Nintendo’s flagship franchises.
Also, yes, much of my love for Ultimate stems from nostalgia. I’ve always loved Nintendo’s games and characters and greatly appreciate how each title in the Smash franchise expands its reaches into the video game universe, this time grabbing characters from Castlevania and Splatoon for the first time.
While some might argue that nostalgia is a cheap tactic meant to trick fanboys into loving something insincerely, I would argue Smash Bros. Ultimate doesn’t engage in nostalgia quite so obsequiously. Rather, the game uses nostalgia as a way to celebrate and show reverence to the franchises that have made gaming what it is today. You can see it with every assist trophy, every Classic-mode story, and every taunt: this game loves video games, and I love that it does.
Super Smash Bros. Melee remains one of my favorite video games ever made, but I’m finding very few reasons why it’s objectively better than Ultimate. Maybe there are some nuances to the actual fighting that I’m forgetting, but Ultimate has just about everything I love about Melee and then some. Also, the inclusion of King K. Rool was long overdue.
Just missed the list: The Awesome Adventure of Captain Spirit, Super Mega Baseball 2, Hearthstone: The Witchwood expansion
Best non-2018 games I played for the first time this year: No Man’s Sky, Quake Champions, Hollow Knight, Okami HD
Best games I replayed this year: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Halo 2 Anniversary Edition, L.A. Noire, Fallout 3
2018 games I have yet to try and want to: Ashen, Below, Pokemon Let’s Go!, Return of the Obra Dinn, Spyro Reignited Trilogy
Best game I watched my roommate play: Marvel’s Spider-Man
