Well folks, we made it through yet another thankless year on this Earth, and what a year it was. 2018 in terms of gaming...kind of seemed to suck. I’d find myself looking back on games I gave scores in the 9’s and I’d realize I’d completely forgotten about them. It wasn’t until I started actually putting these lists together that I realized that this year didn’t suck...it’s just that nearly all of the best quality was shared amongst five games, which sort of took some importance away from the other great titles that came out this year. I’ll go into more detail when the time comes, but this was the first year of my life where I truly didn’t know what my Game of the Year was. For the first time since starting this blog I had to let my empirical system decide. That’s both a testament to the quality of many of the games that came out this year and a testament to the gap in quality between this year’s top titles and everything else. But for the time being, let’s lay down the ground rules and get this thing started.
Firstly, only titles that I both played and reviewed will be on these lists. I played a game called State of Mind that I was too bored to tears by to review, and I played the episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season that came out, but I couldn’t be bothered to review them because I kinda lost interest after Telltale imploded, so neither of those titles will be receiving any spots on any of these lists. Likewise, I could not possibly care less about Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Fallout 76, Battlefield V, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, or half of the JRPGs that came out this year, so don’t expect to see any of them anywhere on this list. In summary, if you look at the navbar (assuming we aren’t in late 2019 when you’re reading this) and don’t see a certain title, then you won’t see it anywhere here.
Secondly, and I hope this goes without saying, this is not an objective list of the best of the best. I use an empirical system in tandem with my subjective tastes to determine spots on the final list, but beyond that, all these winners and all the positions of items on these lists are purely subjective: my lists, my opinions, my rules. I’ll be explaining my criteria for each category, and in each little blurb I’ll be trying to explain why a game or aspect of a game won the position it did in order to give it context, but in the end it all comes down to what I personally felt was earned.
Thirdly, I put a hard stop on my gaming this year to ensure I had all the month of December to write this, so you’ll notice some categories I cut out last year have made a return, and there are even some brand new categories this year! I’m unsure if this article will be as ungodly long as it normally is, but you can bet that I’ve made an effort to put out the most obscenely long article I can without too much fat on the edges.
Fourthly, certain categories in this article WILL feature spoilers for certain titles, but as always, I’ll be calling out which titles to be concerned about at the start of every relevant section. For instance, if you see the words “Mild/Major Spoilers: Red Dead Redemption 2,” and you haven’t played Red Dead Redemption 2, you have two options: 1) When you see the spot on the list where it placed, you can simply skip to the next entry in the list without reading, or 2) if you don’t care you can just read it anyway. Either way, you’ll be fairly warned and will have nobody but yourself to blame if you read something you weren’t ready to read.
Fifthly and finally, the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
Best Realistic Graphics
As always, I’m starting these awards off with the ones centered around graphics. For this category, eligible titles have to sport a graphical style that aims for realism. Placement on this list is determined in part by how realistic the graphics are, but also in part by how flashily and beautifully they’re rendered.
#5): Spider-Man
The New York skyline is something to behold, truly. As you swing through the urban jungle in the red and black tights of your friendly neighborhood webslinger, you’re likely to find yourself inhaling deeply as you leap above a building and are greeted by a crisp orange sunset in the background. Beyond the environments, the character models are animated with a surprising degree of authenticity, lending a more realistic and emotional feeling to cutscenes.
#4): God of War
While God of War doesn’t quite push the graphics as far as some of the other titles on this list, it does accomplish the feat of rendering a fantasy location (Midgard from Norse Mythology) in a way that seems both believable and fantastical at once. When you aren’t going toe-to-toe with draugr and trolls, you could almost mistake the setting for a Scandinavian country. Then, just when you think you’re used to the graphical format, the game thrusts you into one of the other nine realms, which are decidedly more mythological in their appearance, but rendered in a believable way nonetheless. What’s more, these extra mythological areas are beautiful. What more could one ask for?
#3): Red Dead Redemption 2
I have never in my life seen a game more photorealistic than Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s a subtle thing, but when you take a moment to step back and remember that you’re playing a videogame, the result is nothing short of jaw-dropping. This is added to by the game’s tremendous draw-distance, ensuring that you never experience any texture pop-in and that the world is always ready and available to be viewed. So, why does RDR2 not win the top spot? Well, as I said in the introduction, there’s more to this category than just realism. It’s also based on how impressive and jaw dropping the realism is, and as I stated, while the realism in RDR2 is unparalleled, it’s too subtle to be truly wowing on the subjective level that this list is on.
#2): Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
I spent entire evenings of gameplay in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey just exploring the world and not really doing anything. One evening I spent hours just crawling through Macedonia because I was so amazed by the beauty of Ancient Greece. That’s really what puts Odyssey so high on this list: the quality of its environmental graphics. The game suffers from some subpar character animations and models, and there are some typical Ubisoft performance issues, but this category is more about wow factor, and the wow factor here was enough to cause me to waste time exploring when I could’ve been making progress to the next level.
Realistic Graphics of the Year: Detroit: Become Human
Graphics are about the only thing that Quantic Dream games consistently do well, so I have to give credit where it’s due: Detroit: Become Human continues that trend. One could argue it has less to support in terms of gameplay than the other items on this last, and that’s valid, but the fact remains that the graphics in Detroit are just really darn good. Whether it’s the brilliant (and sometimes unsettling) character models, the glow of neon in this futuristic United States, or the animations, Detroit is a game that lives up to the technical reputation of its developer.
Best Artistic Graphics
Unlike the award for realistic graphics, the award for artistic graphics is a little less clearly defined and a little more blatantly subjective. Essentially, to qualify for this award, a game’s art style must be unique in some way. Whether that means emulating a semi-realistic environment with blocky textures a-la Minecraft, hearkening back to the olden days of gaming a-la Undertale, simply taking inspiration from anime a-la Persona 5, etc, all kinds of artistic graphics are eligible for this award. What breeds placement on this list is excellence in whatever style of artistry the developer chooses as well as the uniqueness of the art (albeit to a significantly lesser degree).
#5): Moss
Though VR is still in its teething phase and textures tend to be a little murky no matter what title you’re playing, Moss stands out among other titles in the VR world due to its dedication to its storybook aesthetic. All models of enemies, characters, bosses, etc, are rendered exactly as if you were watching some sort of hyper-advanced puppet show telling a fairy tale. Enemies take the form of little wind-up bugs, the main villain has the kind of domineering presence that an adult arm in a sock puppet would have in a stage filled with miniatures, our protagonist, Quill, is anthropomorphized just enough to be able to clearly communicate while still being a cute little mouse, etc. All aspects of the game’s graphics work in tandem to further the fairy tale/story book nature of the narrative, which is worthy of a spot on this list even if the aforementioned murky textures take away from the experience a little bit.
#4): Senran Kagura Reflexions
I don’t actually have that much to say about Senran Kagura Reflexions’ graphics other than that they’re simply the crispest, clearest anime-inspired graphics I’ve ever seen. The flashiness is literally all there is to it. It feels kind of dirty to have this entry above the likes of Moss, but of the items on this list, SKR is simply the most polished, and I feel that deserves recognition in spite of the game’s relative graphical simplicity.
#3): Celeste
Old school bleep bloop pixelated indie platformers are hardly a new fixture in the gaming world (perhaps a stupid opening statement, given how they literally started the gaming world off and are therefore obviously not new), and this is especially true in 2018, where games seeking to capture the nostalgia of the 8 and 16 bit era are a dime a dozen. Enter Celeste, with its ever-present sense of place and visual cohesion in spite of some different art styles between assets. Bleep bloop platformers tend to have same-y environments throughout, but every level of Celeste feels unique and like it belongs in the game world. Furthermore, what I find truly impressive about Celeste’s graphics is the aforementioned visual cohesion in the face of stylistic dissonance. While the character models and some pieces of the environment sport an undoubtedly bleep bloop aesthetic, weather effects such as snow and a vast majority of the environmental pieces are rendered more in the quality of a small-team indie 2D game that isn’t going for the bleep-bloop look. It’s a difficult thing to describe, but if you take a look at some of the snow levels, it’ll be evident (if you pay attention) that there’s more than one artistic choice being made in Celeste. The fact that it all works out flawlessly in the end is nothing short of fascinating.
#2): Pokemon: Let’s Go
Pokemon: Let’s Go doesn’t look all that different from past Pokemon titles, so it may be confusing to some readers that it scores so high up on this list (especially given how much I blathered on about Celeste in the previous paragraph). The answer lies in small improvements that made a drastic difference to the tried and true Pokemon graphical formula. A lot of the Pokemon models and animations have been lifted from Sun/Moon version, but the same cannot be said for the environmental graphics, your partner Pokemon’s look and animations, or the attack animations. Kanto is absolutely stunning to look at, and it makes a region that I’ve always viewed as static and restrictive feel more engaging. The attack animations make Pokemon moves feel powerful, propelling the turn-based combat beyond the usual loop of selecting a move and waiting for a little animation to play out. The animations for your partner Pokemon are more expressive and varied, causing the bond between you and your Pokemon to feel as close to the iconic bond between Ash and Pikachu as possible. Pokemon: Let’s Go may not be the year’s most jaw-dropping artistic experience, but the small changes it does make add quite a bit of quality to the overall package, and that’s worth noting.
Artistic Graphics of the Year: Octopath Traveler
I was personally disappointed by Octopath Traveler, but one thing that I cannot deny is how stunning it is to look at. Similar to how Moss adheres to a storybook aesthetic, Octopath Traveler adheres to a pop-up book aesthetic. The graphics themselves are a throwback to the JRPGs of old, which wouldn’t be special in and of itself. However, the developers took this graphical style and added severe contrast between the character models and the environment. While characters are all flat, 2D models, the buildings and castles of towns and the trees of the forest are all 3D. As a result, everything on screen pops out at you. It’s intriguing on its own as a stylistic choice, but it’s helped along by the fact that the graphics on display here are just beautiful. How they managed to take the old school JRPG look and make it more than bleep bloop is beyond me, but on more than one occasion I entered a town or a cave and just thought, “wow.” Octopath Traveler doesn’t do a lot right, but as its placement on this list implies, it has the best artistic graphics of the year.
Best Performing
Graphics are all well and good, but they’re only a part of a game’s presentation. More important than graphics, performance is what separates a great-looking game from a shoddy-looking one. Just look at any asset flip on steam built on the Cryengine. Cryengine games always look good as a direct result of being made on the engine used to create Crysis. However, you’ll find that most of these asset flips run at terrible framerates, and it actively takes away from the stellar graphics. The items in this list are the games that were the most stable visual products, boasting solid framerates and little-to-no graphical glitches. These products may not be the most technically sound in other areas, but to make it onto this list, they must perform well.
#5): Celeste
Celeste doesn’t have to handle much from a graphical standpoint. After all, it’s a bleep bloop game, so good performance should just be expected of it. What sets Celeste apart, however, is in just how well it does perform even in the face of that expectation. The action is fast-paced, yet the framerate remains rock solid 100% of the time. Furthermore, upon death, you’re instantly revived without a single second of loading. Let me put it this way, Celeste doesn’t have a lot to hold up on the graphical side of things, but it did have a lot to hold up on the gameplay side, and that makes the game’s stellar performance fascinating.
#4): Detroit: Become Human
Detroit is the exact opposite of Celeste in that it has a lot to hold up on the graphical side but little to hold up in terms of gameplay. It’s a difficult toss-up between the two, but in the end, the fact that Detroit runs smoothly given its sheer graphical prowess is just the slightest bit more impressive. David Cage seems to push the limits of the playstation hardware further and further with each release, and Detroit: Become Human manages to push that hardware the farthest it has ever been pushed without suffering.
#3): Pokemon: Let’s Go
Pokemon: Let’s Go sits somewhere in the middle of the spectrum I’ve been touching on in this section. The graphics are impressive but not necessarily a heavy burden, and the gameplay features some impressive effects but doesn’t demand many resources outside of that. It has a lot to hold up on both the graphical and gameplay fronts while simultaneously not having too much to hold up. Regardless, whether in combat, in catching mode, or while exploring, the Kanto region always feels smooth and never suffers any hiccups.
#2): Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
While the Yakuza games have tended to be a little behind the rest of their respective generations in terms of graphical quality, they’ve always understood that performance is the most important aspect of a game’s presentation. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, however, makes no compromises. Yakuza 6 looks distinctly like a current-gen game (though not quite as flashy) and still manages to run smoothly in spite of the frankly ridiculous amount of enemies Kiryu goes up against in just about any encounter. You’ll sometimes end up in a brawl with as many as 30 enemies, and you’ll dart around the fight area picking up objects and using them as weapons and hurling enemies into hordes of other enemies. In any lesser game, these moments would cause the framerate to sputter a little bit, but not so here. Yakuza 6’s performance is fantastic across the board, and it would easily be the most stable title of this year were it not for one other game.
Most Stable Product of the Year: Spider-Man
Like in the previous entry, the titular hero goes toe-to-toe with frankly ridiculous amounts of enemies. However, the graphics are even more impressive, the gameplay is even more ridiculously fast-paced, and the way you maneuver in the game world is incredibly demanding from a technical resources standpoint. Let me lay out an experience I had that emphasizes Spider-Man’s sheer performance prowess. I’d been swinging around the city at ridiculous speeds and suddenly intercepted a crime in progress on the streets below. I free-fell for a while until I could web myself down to land a blow on an enemy. I did so, and I broke into combat with a substantial crowd of goons. That battle consisted of me leaping off of the sides of the nearby buildings into enemies, using enemies as human bowling balls, knocking enemies into the air and beating them to a pulp before swinging down to knock another enemy into the air, etc. The fight lasted under a minute, and I swung back into the sky and made my way to my next objective the second I’d wrapped everything up. That’s a lot of action to throw into under a minute’s worth of gameplay. However, not once during that time did the framerate drop. Spider-Man is perhaps the most technically demanding product that came out this year, and yet the game is designed to dish out its technical resources so well that its demanding nature never once impacted performance. I had a hard crash and there were plenty of bugs, so it isn’t perfect, but in terms of just smoothness in the moment-to-moment gameplay, Spider-Man is unparalleled.
Best Sound Design
Sound design is an art that gets frequently overlooked, and many times people underestimate its impact. Good sound design is the difference between truly feeling like you’re in a cave due to carefully placed echoes depending on your location and just knowing that you’re in one without really feeling it. Good sound design is the difference between suddenly taking off your headphones to check your surroundings when a gun is fired in-game and firing a gun in-game that sounds like somebody saying “pew pew pew!” Sound design is crucial to just about every immersive aspect of a game, and here at The Right Trigger, we feel that this tragically underappreciated aspect of game design deserves recognition. These are the titles that provided great sound clips and utilized these clips and other aspects of sound to better paint a picture of the in-game environment. Just a note, I will not be including VR titles in this list. VR titles always have great sound design, but that’s a by-product of the hardware, not backbreaking design. Non-VR titles have to work for it since they don’t automatically come with 360-degree sound technology.
#5): Pokemon: Let’s Go
Let’s Go earns a spot on this list primarily because of the way it handles its music. It isn’t a hugely impressive thing, but the mixing of its musical tracks is quite good. Furthermore, the cries of Pokemon ring out even when they aren’t in view, so if you hear a cry you’re familiar with and want to catch the Pokemon responsible, all you have to do is follow the noise. All of this is hardly new territory in gaming, but it’s just too satisfying when applied to Pokemon to be overlooked.
#4): Far Cry 5
Far Cry titles can always be counted on for great sound design. As always, the guns boast the most satisfying modern gun sounds of any franchise, and the sounds of animals, the muffled speech from nearby outposts, and the echo of gunshots in the distance when you fire into an open valley all serve to make the game world feel alive. That being said, the reason Far Cry 5 doesn’t make it higher on this list is simply because, while the sound design is as stunning and polished as always, Ubisoft hasn’t really raised the bar. Even when a game saga historically does something really well, one can only keep giving it points for doing the exact same things for so long.
#3): God of War
I believe that the best examples I could use to describe God of War’s sound design would be literally any interaction with the world serpent. The world serpent, being large enough to be wrapped around the world a couple of times over, needed to sound that large. Through the sheer power of layering and other effects, I found myself actively flinching and shying away from the screen whenever the serpent spoke because he simply sounded gigantic. This was further supported when another character would speak a line. The developers didn’t just turn up the serpent’s volume, they designed his sound flawlessly. Branching more into the practical side of things, enemies have distinct noises that can clue you in as to when they’re attacking, so that even when they’re behind you, you can use sound alone to avoid damage. The anecdote I used about caves in the introduction also applies here, as dialogue echoes in cavernous areas, and the echoing seems to come from the more open places in these caverns. Were it not for some moments where sound effects tend to go missing, God of War would score even higher on this list.
#2): Spider-Man
Spider-Man scores this high up primarily because of how it utilizes sound to enhance its already stellar sense of movement. The wind effects as you swing are just loud enough to make you feel fast without completely blowing out your headphones with swooshing. The small “fwoosh” as you time a landing and subsequent takeoff perfectly is satisfying enough to encourage you to do it again. Every little movement involved in swinging around New York is accompanied by just the right sound in just the right quantity to make it feel speedy and inhuman. Beyond the movement, the sounds of combat are just pronounced enough to make this feel distinctly like a comic book game without being ridiculous. The satisfying crunch of the webslinger’s fist against a goon’s face is enough to make you feel powerful without feeling like you’re causing lifelong damage (looking at you, Arkham series). Finally, sound tends to play a role in combat as well. When you’re taking on a large gang of thugs, it’s easy to miss visual cues like bullet lines indicating a goon is about to shoot at you. Thankfully, Spider-Man’s choice of timing between the sound of a gun loading and the actual shooting is good enough that even if you haven’t been paying attention to visual cues, you still know when to dodge. It’s a clever way of using good sound design to simulate having the titular heroes superior senses.
Sound Design of the Year: Red Dead Redemption 2
I don’t have quite as many pretentious things to say about Red Dead Redemption 2’s sound design as I’ve had to say about other titles that made this list. The fact of the matter is that the sound design in RDR2 is just really darn good, and this is due mostly to the sheer quality of the audio samples on display. Every gun sounds powerful and old-fashioned, while the bow and arrow has a realistic “thwack” to it that most games tend to overlook. The animal sounds are all more lifelike than you usually hear in games (though I’m still convinced that the game industry just has one bear noise track and they all share it). The ricochet of a bullet hitting a rock sounds like something ripped straight out of a John Wayne classic. It can be (successfully) argued that some of the other titles on this list implemented their sound in more creative ways than RDR2, and it’s true that at times dialogue can still be heard from an unrealistically far distance here, but the quality of the sound in this game is second to none, so even if it could’ve been implemented better, it’s still the best of the best this year.
Best Soundtrack
I feel like I say this every year, but having a good soundtrack is about more than just producing high-quality music. The music must also fit the tone and themes of the game. The soundtrack I always turn to as an example of what not to do is the classic Heath Ledger film, A Knight’s Tale, which used classic rock as the backdrop for a medieval knight story. Another negative example would be just about any of Baz Luhrmann’s (admittedly inspired) works. The music in a game can be as great as it wants, but if it sounds like something out of a western and the setting is the sacking of Rome, it isn’t a good soundtrack. As interesting as Baz Luhrmann’s theory of using modern music in period pieces because the music of the time would have been viewed as “modern” for the time and not “baroque” per-se is, if he made games instead of films, he would never earn a spot on this list. But enough prattling on about film. These are the games that sported the most compelling and best-fitting soundtracks of this year.
#5): Pokemon: Let’s Go (Shota Kageyama, Junichi Masuda)
Starting off this category we have Pokemon: Let’s Go, which earns points for being a great reimagining of the music from the original Pokemon games, but can’t make it up any further because it isn’t actually new music. Regardless, the music from the originals, if I’m being perfectly honest, never grabbed me. I thought most of the themes were pretty stale especially when compared to the far superior 2nd generation soundtrack. However, the remakes of these 1st generation tracks were cleverly thought out and orchestrated to the point where I actually quite enjoyed them, so that’s worthy of praise.
#4): Celeste (Lena Raine)
Bleep bloop games like Celeste have a tendency to just throw together a tech-y soundtrack and call it a day. This is not the case with Lena Raine’s heartfelt soundtrack to Celeste. There’s an easily-recognizable soundtrack piece for every moment in this game. In the quiet, heartfelt conversations between Madeline and Theo, a small, simple little piece that just sounds like a heart-to-heart around a campfire plays. In boss battles, tension-heavy themes play on repeat, mimicking the trial-and-error nature of these battles. In the moments of triumph, Raine scores this game with the kind of tracks that feel inspiring. All of Celeste is good enough to warrant its status as a landmark indie title without a good soundtrack, so the fact that the soundtrack is as good as it is is no small feat.
#3): Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (Chihiro Aoki and others)
It seems to be a running theme on this blog that item #3 in the best soundtrack category is one that I don’t have a lot of pretentious things to say about, one that simply earned its spot because it’s good. The same is true of this year’s entry in the long-running Yakuza saga, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. This soundtrack (with so many listed composers that I had to just choose one as the figurehead) spans every tone from electric guitar-based battle anthems to sitar and vocal-riff heavy exotic themes to Lord of the Rings-esque vocal tracks, and in every sound it tries its hand at, it works. That’s really all there is to it: Yakuza 6 does a lot of different song styles in its soundtrack and it always sounds good and works well.
#2): Octopath Traveler (Yasunori Nishiki)
In something of a break from tradition, Octopath Traveler also earns its place on this list because it simply sounds good, not because of any overly pretentious drivel on my part. The difference between it and the ost for Yakuza 6 that puts it in the better of the two spots? It simply sounds even better. While I loved Yakuza 6’s soundtrack, I never stopped playing just to listen. In Octopath Traveler, however, I found myself not moving the characters just because I wanted to listen to the music for just a little while longer without being interrupted by a random encounter. Octopath Traveler on its own isn’t very good, but I’ve found myself returning to the soundtrack on more than one occasion.
Soundtrack of the Year: God of War (Bear McCreary)
Setting aside the fact that this man’s parents named him “Bear,” composer Bear McCreary had a daunting task ahead of him. The soundtrack to the original God of War trilogy is hailed by many (myself included) as one of the greatest series of soundtracks in gaming history. Similarly to how the team at Santa Monica had to craft a sequel that both stood out on its own AND felt like a worthy successor to the original trilogy, McCreary had to craft a soundtrack that would be good enough by itself AND hold a candle to the spitting fury that was the original soundtracks. McCreary, like the rest of the team at Santa Monica, succeeded with flying colors. Let me take a minute to hearken back to the introduction: a good soundtrack is about more than just sounding good, it has to fit its context. Of course this soundtrack sounds great, but beyond that, it also more than fits its context: it actively mimics it. Much like this new version of series protagonist Kratos, the soundtrack is more laid back, more wise, and less angry. That alone would’ve been enough to satisfy my pretentious termite tendencies, but it goes beyond even that. There are a number of themes in this soundtrack that carry meaning. For instance, there’s the main theme of the game, “God of War.” The “theme” in this track is a melody sung by a chorus of male vocalists. That theme makes several appearances throughout the game at different volumes and levels of orchestral accompaniment. But what ties it all together? What gives this theme purpose? What compels this theme to start playing at whatever volume and accompaniment level it does? The answer lies in the title of the track: “God of War.” It’s a theme meant to accompany Kratos’ past as the new God of War after Aries dies at his hands in the original game. Anytime there’s any discussion of the past, you’ll hear that low, nordic vocal theme playing. Furthermore there’s the theme first introduced in the track “Memories of Mother,” and I feel that the context for that theme to start playing needs no explanation. God of War’s soundtrack is far from just a good listen, it’s also an integral part of subtle storytelling by way of auditory clues, and it’s the greatest game soundtrack to come out in 2018.
Best Soundtrack Piece
This is perhaps the most subjective category I have, and that makes it suck all the more that, while there were some great soundtracks this year, there weren’t enough truly standout tracks for me to have the usual 10 entries. But I digress. These are the five soundtrack pieces from games this year. To qualify for this list, a track need only appeal to me.
#5): Cult Theme (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
It’s a fairly simple melody, but it’s one that firmly establishes the Cult of Kosmos as a villain to be feared. Whenever it played in a battle against the cultists, the stakes felt more engaging.
#4): Help me, Faith (Far Cry 5)
One of the many hymns written for the doomsday cult of Eden’s Gate, “Help me, Faith,” stuck with me even after the credits rolled in Far Cry 5. The lyrics are kind of stupid at times, but it also serves as a great depiction of how the cultists think. To them, they’ve been given purpose and the ability to leave all the hate in their hearts behind, and the joy with which this hymn is sung makes that all the more evident.
#3): Today is a Diamond (Yakuza 6: The Song of Life)
It wouldn’t be a best soundtrack piece list in a year with a new Yakuza title without one of the karaoke tracks! As always, the songs you can have Kiryu sing are great and over-the-top, but my favorite of this bunch was “Today is a Diamond.” Just listen and I’m sure you’ll understand. It isn’t as good as Yakuza 0’s smash hit “Judgment,” but that’s a high bar to reach for any game.
#2): Cave Theme/Dark Caverns (Octopath Traveler)
You just need to listen to this one. This is the track that plays anytime you enter a cave. The music in this ultimately mediocre game is this good in its dungeons.
Soundtrack Piece of the Year: Ashes (God of War)
“Ashes” serves as sort of the overture to God of War. It plays in the game’s introduction and introduces all the soundtrack’s major audio themes one after the other (including the one that only plays at the ending), similar to how an opera overture might include the melody of an aria or argument piece that re-emerges later. It also just so happens to be the best piece in the soundtrack, so all that pretentious stuff I just finished writing is just a nice, pretentious little bonus.
Best Level Design
This year, level design can mean either the way that individual levels are designed or the way that a full world is designed in the event that a game isn’t exactly made up of “levels” per-se. Much like sound design, level design is an important factor often overlooked in games. You could have the greatest gameplay in the world, but if the environments in which the gameplay takes place are uninspired, all that greatness is going to fall short. I find myself thinking back to last year’s Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus as I write this. The gameplay was pretty darn good, but the level design was so uninspired that the game really didn’t stick with me. That’s the importance of this aspect of games. These games were the games of 2018 with the most well-designed levels or worlds.
#5): Moss
The name of the game in Moss is “scale.” Taking place in a Redwall-esque world of talking animals and following a mouse protagonist, Moss at all times reminds the player that everything in the world is so much bigger than a mouse. Whether it’s having two deer tower over a level or making the snake villain appear human-sized (remember, this is a VR game where everything is scaled up to your height), the game’s level design works in favor of the narrative in this way. Furthermore, collectibles are hidden in places that can only be seen by standing up and physically leaning into the game world, so the level design also makes great use of the VR hardware.
#4): To the Top
Though there are only a few backgrounds that To the Top takes place in, the design of each race track is varied and tests the player in new ways. To the Top is a simple game, so that’s basically all that was required of the level design, and the game succeeded in this regard. One moment you’ll be hopping across a moving convoy of vehicles, the next you’ll be climbing up the side of a moving robot, the next you’ll be flying through the air with a jetpack. The important thing to note about the level design in this VR title is that it doesn’t rest on its laurels. New types of playgrounds are consistently introduced, and that commitment to level design makes an already stellar title even better.
#3): Pokemon: Let’s Go
Though this is the third rendition of the Kanto region since the genesis of Pokemon, it feels more intricate and full of secrets than ever before. This entry is a little different in that the level design is helped along by changes to gameplay from previous entries. Because there are no longer any random encounters, I felt compelled to explore caves and the like far more often because I knew I wasn’t going to be interrupted by 200,000 zubats if I tried. It’s perhaps more a testament to the level design of the original games, but it’s in Let’s Go that it truly shines.
#2): Celeste
Every level in Celeste forces you to use Madeline’s dash ability in a slightly different way, and each level is built for that new usage beautifully. Not only are the levels designed so intricately that tracking down every secret is nearly impossible in a first try without a guide, but each secret demands that you master the gameplay in a slightly different way. The challenges, the boss fights, and exploration, all of it is built fairly, but in a way that demands the player “git gud,” to borrow from Dark Souls parlance. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that Celeste’s level design is like if the environments of Dark Souls depended on skill as much as its gameplay. Beyond the practical brilliance of Celeste’s level design, however, developer Matt Makes Games also makes each level feel distinct from an aesthetic standpoint. No two levels look or feel exactly alike, and when you pair this with the practical points, it’s impossible to deny that Celeste is a masterpiece in terms of level design.
Level Design of the Year: God of War
God of War’s level design is something of a slow burn. It’s something that takes time and progress before it reveals itself. While the open world is far smaller than your average AAA open world affair, intricacy, content, and attention to detail are the key factors to note. Stepping back for a moment, let’s first touch on level design as it pertains to the main plot and nothing more. As you play through God of War, you’ll often come across puzzles that cannot be solved until later in the game. This game features a lot of backtracking as a result of its mostly roadblock-based plot, but it becomes less of a hassle because when you have to backtrack, typically you do so now having the tools you need to solve previously unsolvable puzzles. The level design in this game is so well-done that it takes some of the pain from one of its negatives (the roadblock-based nature of the plot) away. But that’s just the main plot. The level design in terms of the optional bits, the bits that only come if you explore off the beaten path and take on side quests, is even better. The game’s open world is essentially a hub in the middle of a great lake, and the water level of that lake decreases bit-by-bit as the plot progresses for reasons I won’t list. There are several little islands surrounding the major area, and from the first time the water drops you can access most of them and get quite a bit of side content. As the water continues to drop, lower levels of these islands become accessible, and with it, more content. I played through this game twice. The first time, I waited until right before the end before I started exploring. In that instance, I had the entirety of all the islands to explore, and I was satisfied enough to finish the game even though I still had plenty to do. In my second playthrough, I went and did as much exploring as I could every time the water dropped, and you know what? The flow of content each time was substantial enough to satisfy me without eating up hours upon hours of my time. The result was that I was able to tackle nearly all of the side content because of how well-spaced-out it was. The long and short of it is that the level design in terms of how the open world dishes out optional content is so well-done that you’ll be able to satisfy yourself no matter when you decide to start trying it. God of War is simply unparalleled this year in how well its world is designed.
Best Atmosphere
Normally the little blurb I use for the section on atmosphere talks about how atmosphere is the culmination of all the previous categories, that it’s the ultimate technical category because it requires excellence in all technical facets...but this year I got a VR headset and that went out the window. Not every VR title is atmospheric enough to make this list, but they do have kind of an edge. That being said, how does good atmosphere take shape? The answer lies in absorption into the game and believability of the game world, and this is where my usual blurb comes into play. You can’t have a game that entraps the player into its lore and story if the game stutters every few seconds. You can’t make the player have to get used to the real world at the end of the night if the graphics suck. You can’t convince a player that they’re a soldier fighting against insurmountable odds if the guns all sound like somebody going “pew pew pew.” Whether its because of excellence in the other categories or because of innovation with the VR hardware, these were the five games of 2018 that had the best, most consistent atmospheres.
#5): Celeste
For a bleep-bloop game (take a shot every time I open up a blurb on Celeste with something to that effect) to have good atmosphere in this day and age is nothing short of astounding, but that’s really the best word for nearly every aspect of Celeste. The art is varied and beautiful, and the performance is rock-solid. Tie this together with a soundtrack that always fits the stakes and you have a game that has your undivided attention for as long as you choose to play. I personally recommend Celeste for long flights, as I played it during the 8 hour flight from Hawaii and it went much faster that way just because of how attentive I was.
#4): God of War
God of War games have always been known for their sense of scale, and this most recent installment is no different. However, this game also boasts updated graphics, a more consistently good soundtrack, and a camera that never cuts away or fades to black (except upon death), ensuring that the story flows seamlessly from start to finish (except when you turn it off).
#3): Vampyr
Vampyr is an odd entry for this list in that it isn’t a technically proficient product...at all. If God of War or Celeste are technical rocks wrapped in duct tape, Vampyr is a technical gluten free vegan tortilla trying to hold the contents of a burrito. And yet, in spite of that, Vampyr’s post-WWI London setting is absolutely freaking dripping with atmosphere in the traditional sense. Think Bloodborne with less Lovecraftian inspiration and more old vampire movie inspiration. Vampyr simply gets by on the strength of its traditional atmosphere. Were it not for that, all the technical hiccups would keep it far away from this list.
#2): Moss
Being a VR title, Moss already had a leg up on the competition. However, it’s the game’s use of scale that truly makes it immersive. I touched on this a little bit in the previous category, but the game truly makes you feel like you’re a large being in the world of a mouse (Note the protagonist at the bottom of the screen). That’s really all there is to say on the subject. Moss earns a spot this high on the list for a simple reason, but it hits this simple reason so strongly that the sense of immersion and atmosphere just comes with the territory.
Atmosphere of the Year: Transference
Being both a VR title and a horror title, Transference was perhaps an easy pick for this award. However, I have to say that the game easily earns this spot. From the moment you set foot into the world of Transference, you’re a captive audience. In my time with the game, I found myself having to constantly regulate my breathing and take deep breaths before turning around or turning a corner. Though other titles had better level design, the level design in Transference is so deeply unsettling that the horror simply exists even when nothing scary is actually happening. Furthermore, the game’s use of 360-degree audio lends the small apartment the game takes place in a sense of true existence. When you put on the headset, you are in the world and can’t escape from it until you chicken out and forcibly take yourself out of it. It isn’t a traditional best atmosphere winner, but taking into consideration the ways that VR changes the atmosphere game, I can say with certainty that you’ll find no game from this year more immersive than Transference.
Best Character Development
Introduced last year, the award for best character development is meant to celebrate the games that had the best overall set of well-defined characters. Thing is, sometimes a game can have consistently good character development, but due to major standouts in other products, characters from these games can tend to fall through the cracks. By introducing this award, I hoped to be able to point out the games that might not get an entry on many of the character awards and say, “hey, in spite of how things turned out, this game is also worthy of a look due to its characters.” Of course, this year it wasn’t quite as necessary as last year, but whatever. These were the 5 games that I determined to have the overall best character development of 2018.
#5): Far Cry 5
Though the protagonist is a blank slate and one member of the Seed family is weakly executed, Far Cry 5 took a gamble by having the entirety of the plot rest on its cast of side characters. The fact that it was such a good game, then, is a testament to how well-written and conceived most of the characters you interact with are. From cute characters like Boomer the Dog to more complex semi-Libertarian/semi-anti-corporation characters like Jess, the cast here is solid enough for one or two character hiccups to be forgiven.
#4): Celeste
The cast of Celeste is anything but large, but right off the bat you feel like you know every character. Though your intuition is spot on if you feel that way, as the plot of Celeste progresses, each character becomes more and more developed within the “confines” of their relatively 2D personalities. It’s a similar kind of character development to Undertale in that there have been more complex characters than the ones in Celeste, but their development within their simplicity is astounding.
#3): God of War
Like Celeste, the cast of God of War is relatively small, but there’s far more complexity to be found. We see a beloved Playstation icon develop further as a character than anybody playing God of War in the early 2000’s would’ve been able to predict. We see a young character grow from a sulking child to a character who understands responsibility. We see a woman fighting against impossible odds for her son’s well-being. Every character has an arc, and no character is the same at the end of the game as they are when they’re introduced.
#2): Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
In contrast to the past couple of winners in this category, the cast of Yakuza 6 is (as is expected of a Yakuza title) overwhelmingly large. What puts Yakuza 6 ahead of God of War is the fact that barely any of the many, many characters are the same by the end of the plot, so intricate and well-paced are the individual character arcs.
Character Development of the Year: Red Dead Redemption 2
Rockstar games literally always have excellent character development, so it’s hardly a shocker that they continue this tradition in Red Dead Redemption 2. Like Yakuza 6, the cast of RDR2 is quite large. Like Yakuza 6 and God of War, very few of the cast members keep from changing drastically as the plot progresses. So what is it that puts RDR2 above the other games of this year? The answer is simple and perhaps a little underwhelming as a result of how not pretentious it is: the characters are simply more compelling and better-written. It’s perhaps an easy choice for this award, but Red Dead Redemption 2 is the game with the best overall character development of 2018.
Best Voice Actress
You know what sucks? 2018 was a terrible year for voice actresses. It isn’t that all the performances were bad this year or anything, it’s just that very few actually stuck with me. So I’ve had to really scrape the bottom of the barrel this year to even put together a list of 5 actresses who I felt deserved recognition. My complaints aside, these were the actresses who delivered the most memorable performances.
Major Spoilers: God of War
Minor Spoilers: Red Dead Redemption 2
#5): Dana Gourrier as Rose Chapman (Detroit: Become Human)
You wanna talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel? I don’t actually remember what it was about Gourrier’s performance that caused me to jot her down on the list of possible entries for this list. I just remember playing through Detroit: Become Human, thinking, “she’s doing a pretty good job,” then writing her name down. Ah well. Congrats, Gourrier! Your performance was so good that it brainwashed me into writing it down without question!
#4): Aoi Yuki as Eevee (Pokemon: Let’s Go)
You wanna talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel? Yuki has one line: “Eh-voy.” Here’s the thing, though. As I was playing Pokemon: Let’s Go and playing with Bailey, my Eevee, I kept on thinking about how cute she (the Eevee) was. Then, one day, it dawned on me that Eevees don’t actually exist and a human being had to be making those incredibly adorable noises. I was so utterly disturbed by the fact that Eevee’s noises were coming out of a grown woman that I wrote down Aoi Yuki in the list of options as a result.
#3): Morla Gorrondona as the cast of Moss
Alright, here’s where the bread and butter starts to flow in. Moss, being presented like a storybook, is read like a storybook. Actress Morla Gorrondona reads the narration as well as the voices of each of the characters. It isn’t an incredibly demanding job, but she tells the story of Moss just like a mom or a teacher reading to kids. The performance is full of exaggerated voices when characters speak, and...it’s difficult to describe, but you know how when a story is being read to kids, dramatic events are read with sort of a “wow” tone of voice? That’s here too. As I said, it isn’t Academy Award-winning material, but Gorrondona had a job to do and she did it well enough for it to stick with me.
#2): Danielle Bisutti as Freya (God of War)
Freya is a character that goes through pretty much the whole spectrum of emotions as the plot of God of War progresses. For most of the plot, Bisutti’s performance is great albeit lacking solid examples to reference. However, a change comes at the tail end of the plot, after Kratos and Atreus kill her son, Baldur, in front of her. Bisutti, in a voice that seethes with the kind of anger any woman in her position would feel, swears vengeance upon Kratos. Atreus jumps in, saying, “he saved your life!” after which Freya instantly shouts “and robbed me of everything” through tormented sobs. It was a moment that was painful to listen to, and that, to me, solidifies Bisutti as one of this year’s greatest voice actresses. However...
Voice Actress of the Year: Alex McKenna as Sadie Adler (Red Dead Redemption 2)
By a long shot, there could be no other winner in this category this year than Alex McKenna for her performance as Sadie Adler in Red Dead Redemption 2. Sadie Adler is one hell of a character, so McKenna had a significant feat ahead of her to bring the character to life. Contrary to Freya, the trauma for Sadie begins with her introduction in the game. After the butchering of her husband at the hands of the O’driscoll gang, Sadie joins the van der Linde gang a broken and grieving woman. As the plot progresses, she emotionally matures in some areas and immatures in others, and for the whole plot, McKenna makes it work. Whether it’s throwing out a smarmily-worded emasculating remark at an incompetent gang member, flying into a fit of rage while in combat with O’driscoll boys, or breaking down into tears after getting a moment to let the grief set in again, McKenna brings this character to life and makes her one of the best characters of this year. Without a doubt in my mind, there is none more deserving of the title of Voice Actress of the Year than Alex McKenna.
Best Voice Actor
Thankfully, this year was different for Voice Actors in that there was no shortage of possibilities for this list. 2018 was a year in which a lot of the male voice performers truly brought their A-game, and as a result, I was able to compile a full list of 10 of them. So, without further ado, these were the top 10 voice actors of the year.
Minor Spoilers: Batman: The Enemy Within, God of War
#10): Griffin Burns as Yuma Ilvern (Shining Resonance Refrain)
Sometimes voice acting isn’t glamorous work. Sometimes you’re cast as a character so pathetic that everybody hates him. What separates the men from the boys in these situations is dedication. Griffin Burns, in this case, is a man, not a boy. Burns plays the pathetic loser that is Yuma Ilvern in Shining Resonance Refrain so well that I spent a solid paragraph in my review just talking about how wimpy and pathetic this little wimpy boy is. It takes a strong actor to walk into a role like this and truly dedicate to it, and I have to give Griffin Burns credit for his dedication.
#9): Greg Bryk as Joseph Seed (Far Cry 5)
Joseph Seed doesn’t have a lot of variety in the emotion he shows throughout the campaign of Far Cry 5, but actor Greg Bryk portrays him flawlessly no matter what. In the quiet, soft-spoken moments of reassurance that God is on his side, Bryk plays the role with a confidence divorced from pride. In the loud, impassioned scripture readings, Bryk plays the role with conviction. In the moments of sorrow where all Seed can do is sob, Bryk doesn’t hold back. Certain critical outlets might disagree with me on this, but this performance made an already stellar villain even better.
#8): Christopher Judge as Kratos (God of War)
At first glance, Christopher Judge’s performance as Kratos might not seem like anything special. However, either take a closer look or go through the campaign one more time and you’ll find that Judge brings a lot of nuance to what was once the definition of a one-note character. Even when Kratos flies into a fit of rage as he used to all the time in the original trilogy, there’s a layer of protectiveness in his voice that we haven’t heard before. But it’s in the newer, quieter moments that Judge truly shines. In this father-and-son narrative, there’s so much patience and discipline in the way that Judge delivers Kratos’ lines, and it ensures that this updated version of a playstation icon lands perfectly.
#7): Rob Wiethoff as John Marston (Red Dead Redemption 2)
If I’m being completely honest, Rob Wiethoff was bound to earn a spot somewhere on this list simply because of the fact that, when he voices John Marston, he has the greatest voice of all time. I mean, really, just look up some clips of John Marston on youtube or something and you’ll understand what I mean. Just a great voice. But I digress. The voice aside, the character of John Marston has to deliver some far more emotional lines than he ever had to in the original Red Dead Redemption. The stakes are higher for the man in this game, so it makes sense, and Rob Wiethoff absolutely nails it.
#6): Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2)
At the start of Red Dead Redemption 2, Roger Clark’s performance as Arthur Morgan doesn’t really stand out. It’s no fault of his own, but it just takes a while for Arthur to flesh out enough as a character, and as a result, it takes a while to really understand the nuance of Clark’s performance. But you know what? I’d be willing to bet if I fired up the game a second time, I’d recognize Clark’s voice and pick up on much more depth in the opening few hours, so strong is this performance. Being a blank slate of a character, it would’ve been easy for Clark to play Arthur as just that, a blank slate. But instead, regardless of whether your honor is low or high, Clark simply plays the character as if he’s at his lowest or highest in terms of self-esteem and compassion. Arthur doesn’t feel like a character just saying the good lines or the evil lines, he feels like a character with the capacity for either route just speaking his mind for the given moment, and that flexibility is all due to Clark’s stellar acting.
#5): Jeremy Davies as Baldur (God of War)
Jeremy Davies earns a spot on this list primarily because of how he handles the resentful side of Baldur. As the lore goes, Baldur’s mother, Freya, cast an irreversible spell on him that would keep him from pain and death. But a side effect of this spell was that he could feel nothing, and his life lost all meaning. There are a couple of points where Kratos watches as Baldur goes into breakdowns as this lore gets explained through various means, and watching Davies go from a smug, confident villain to what essentially amounts to a screaming man-child with mommy issues is nothing short of astounding.
#4): Bryan Dechart as Connor (Detroit: Become Human)
Bryan Dechart was pretty much a shoe-in for this award simply because he actually had to do more acting than anybody else on this list. Because of David Cage’s obsession with motion capture, not only did Dechart have to deliver a strong vocal performance, he had to actually act it out and have it captured. That alone would’ve been more than most voice actors have to do, but Dechart was also tasked with quite a difficult role to get right. An android gradually breaking down into either the development of emotions or acceptance of its place in society? How can a person play such a role compellingly? 9 actors out of 10 would’ve either played Connor too robot-like or too emotional, but Dechart hits just the right balance. Connor is robot-like enough for the player to know that he’s an android just from the way he speaks, and when he starts to experience doubts and feel the slightest hints of emotion, he’s played just emotionally enough to instill a sense that this character is breaching unfamiliar territory and is trying to keep it under wraps and process it logically. Given the low quality acting of most other characters in this game, Bryan Dechart could’ve easily just phoned it in, but because of his dedication we got to experience an actually compelling character done better than it could’ve been.
#3): Anthony Ingruber as Joker (Batman: The Enemy Within)
A role perhaps more difficult to perform correctly than an android would be someone with severe mental illness. 9 times out of 10 such roles are overplayed, and the character comes off as actor shorthand for crazy. With Anthony Ingruber’s Joker, however, this isn’t the case. Ingruber plays the Joker as an almost childlike character, a man who believes protagonist Bruce Wayne to be his absolute best friend and thus always tries his best to make him smile. But this is the Joker we’re talking about, so it isn’t always smiles and sunshine. I’ll be delving further into specific story beats in other sections, but one example I’d like to use as a testament to Ingruber’s acting is a section in which Batman corners Joker in a theme park where he’d taken up residence. Upon arriving, Batman finds a series of corpses of Agency members. The Joker emerges from the shadows, saying something along the lines of “Thank goodness you showed up, Batman.” At this point in the story, Batman had been training the Joker in the ways of justice, one of the crucial lessons being “killing is wrong, even if they’re bad guys.” After the Joker emerges, Batman starts surveying the area and questioning him. Joker starts giving details that even the most casual players would be able to see as bold-faced lies, and Batman starts bringing up evidence and pressing the Joker more and more on what happened. As this progresses, the Joker starts gradually caving on little details but constantly saying he didn’t do it in the same voice as a child desperately trying to lie his way out of admitting he’d broken the rules. What really struck me about this sequence was the fact that there seemed to be genuine remorse in the Joker’s voice without the slightest hint of malice or really trying to deceive Batman. I got the sense that his darker nature had taken over for a second, and when he finally regained control over himself, he realized he’d done something that his idol and best friend had told him was bad, and lacking the faculties to admit to it and ask for forgiveness, he was trying his best not to say that he’d been a bad guy and that he’d let his friend down. None of those details are written in, they’re all implications brought forth by Ingruber’s spectacular performance.
#2): Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker (Spider-Man)
In stark (no pun intended) contrast to the previous two entries on this list, Spider-Man isn’t a role that takes much talent to play. Even Andrew Garfield managed to play the character in a believable way. However, the Spider-Man of this year’s game by the same name required just the slightest bit more nuance than your average iteration of this web-slinging hero. The reason? There’s much more emphasis on the character of Peter Parker than on his alter ego. Yuri Lowenthal was tasked with playing the role of a Spider-Man who has been in the business for something like 8 years. At this point, he still has the youthful energy to taunt and quip, but life outside of the suit is more the kind of thing that people my age or slightly older can relate to. He has bills to pay, other passions to chase, ideals to live by in his daily life, etc, but at every turn, Lowenthal simply becomes this character. He plays Peter Parker and Spider-Man as two sides of the same coin, with each side occasionally bleeding into the other. There are times when Peter Parker will quip at an inopportune time and immediately apologize by saying “sorry...I make bad jokes to break the tension,” and there are times when Spider-Man will voice his anxieties about a text he sent being misinterpreted aloud. So he plays a consistent character with two different faces, but there are also incredibly human moments that don’t usually appear in comic book adaptations, and in these moments, perhaps due to the sheer contrast, Lowenthal’s performance hits home even harder.
Voice Actor of the Year: Benjamin Byron Davis as Dutch van der Linde (Red Dead Redemption 2)
In case the fact that this is the third entry that RDR2 has won in the voice actors list and the fourth in the voice acting categories overall didn’t make it clear, the acting in RDR2 is top-notch. However, much like with Alex McKenna, there could be no other winner in this category than Benjamin Byron Davis as the infamous Dutch van der Linde. The reason is simple: Davis perfectly portrays van der Linde’s downward spiral into madness. Compared to other entries on this list, this blurb is going to be relatively short because this performance is the biggest slow burn of this year. It starts off great, of course, but what truly makes it worthy of the top spot on the list is the way that it ever so slowly evolves over the course of the plot. If you haven’t played Red Dead Redemption 2 yet, chances are you’re just waiting for your chance. If that’s the case, once you play it, you’ll understand what I mean.
Lamest Character
Before we get started talking about the major categories of character, I always think it’s important to first take a step back to discuss the characters that failed. Whether it’s because they’re irritating, poorly-written, or just because they pale in comparison to the rest of the cast, some characters are just...lame. So, the following five characters were the worst of the worst, the absolute lamest characters of 2018.
#5): The Protagonist (Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet)
The Protagonist of Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is so lame that Kirito, the protagonist of the anime and light novels the game is based off of, looks cool in comparison. Anybody who can make Kirito look cool is a prime example of a lame character.
#4): Jacob Seed (Far Cry 5)
While most of the Seed family is strong, Jacob Seed just comes off as forced. His whole deal is “the strong must cull the weak,” and when put up against the theologies and motivations of the rest of the Seed family, it falls pretty flat. It would’ve been one thing if it ended with his cull the weak theology, but in every radio broadcast he does he says the word “weak” around 3 times, and it makes his character not only flat, but repetitive as well...and ironically, it makes him a “weak” character.
#3): The Colonel (Red Dead Redemption 2)
Nearly every character in Red Dead Redemption 2 is well-written and more-or-less subtle. Enter the Colonel character in the portion of the game having to do with the Native Americans. While most of the Native American sequences tout the same subtlety as the rest of the game (and becomes a much more potent political statement as a result), the few encounters with this colonel feel more like they’re coming from Grand Theft Auto V than from this game. The Colonel goes on about how he can’t pronounce those ridiculous Native names, and his dialogue borders on “This is white man’s land!” in terms of subtlety. It would’ve been fine if the rest of the game were the usual Rockstar “those immigrants think they can just try to get better lives?! Not on my watch!!” affair, but because it isn’t, the character of the Colonel just falls flat.
#2): Todd (Detroit: Become Human)
Todd is an abusive, drug-using father. That can be a great starting point for developing a child character growing up with trauma, but not when the deliverer of the trauma is as ridiculous and cartoonish as Todd. Todd is what someone with no history of abuse would come up with if they tried to write an abusive character based off of what they’d seen in movies. He randomly snaps at his daughter, accusing her of thinking he’s a failure before starting to rant about how she’s just like her mother who ended up leaving him “for a f***ing acCOUNTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT!!!” Then, after hitting his daughter once, he breaks down into tears and says “what am I doing? Sweetie, you know I love you right? You know I *sobs*.” He’s just the laziest excuse for a character I’ve seen in a long time.
Lamest Character of the Year: Yuma Ilvern (Shining Resonance Refrain)
Take a minute to imagine the single wimpiest, most oblivious anime protagonist you’ve ever seen. Whoever you just imagined, I can guarantee you that Yuma Ilvern is wimpier and more oblivious than them. Where do I even begin? He spends the entire first few hours of the game doing nothing but incessantly whining and moaning about what a worthless person he is and how weak he is, and it gets to the point where you just want him to shut up about it already. He spends all his time whining about how he can’t even protect his friends before literally getting a burst of energy from his friends being there for him. Furthermore, in my review of Shining Resonance Refrain, I had to whip out my patented “Nympho-chan” scenario to describe his obliviousness. In case you didn’t read that review or are unfamiliar with the aforementioned scenario of mine, allow me to lay it out for you. The idea behind that scenario is that a female character's name could literally be "Nympho," and the protagonist wouldn't understand amorous advances from her. One of the game’s many love interests could be lying down in front of him wearing nothing but strategically-placed pieces of pumpkin pie and ask him “hey Yuma, you wanna use your big spoon to spread your sweet whipped cream all over me like the warm, moist snack that I am?” and Yuma would miss the signals and respond with something to the effect of “Don't be silly, Nympho-chan! You'll spoil your dinner if you eat desert this early!” He’s just...so infuriatingly pathetic and oblivious, and though his character does slightly improve as the plot progresses, Yuma Ilvern is, by a significant margin, 2018’s lamest character.
Best Love Interest
You know what? This year was also pretty sucky for love interests. I didn’t really have to scrape the bottom of the barrel, per-se, but I did have to get a little liberal with my definition of “love interest.” Anywho, I’ve never been called sexist for having this category, but I still like to put this little disclaimer at the beginning: This is not a “hottest girls” list. Rather, this category exists to celebrate characters whose role in a game’s story is love interest. They can also serve other roles in the story, but what’s important is that they and the game’s protagonist have something at least vaguely romantic going on between them. Placement on this list is determined by the strength of the character, how well they fit the role of love interest, and personal preference. Though the year was not great for romance in games, these were the top 5 best love interests of 2018.
Major Spoilers: Florence
Mild Spoilers: Red Dead Redemption 2
#5): Asuka (Senran Kagura Reflexions)
Asuka spends the entirety of Senran Kagura Reflexions fantasizing about you groping her in various scenarios, so...you can’t say she isn’t fond of you. She isn’t the strongest character in the world, but as a love interest you could do a lot worse than someone with so many fantasies about you………………………….(and the fantasy where she’s your slightly older private tutor is more than a little gratifying, if you’re into that kind of thing).......
But really, the entire plot of Senran Kagura Reflexions is that Asuka is trying to confess something to you, but she can’t remember what it is, so she asks to hold hands with you so that her mind can wander and she can figure her feelings out. Even though some of the fantasies she lets herself wander into are a little strange (including one containing the word “onii-chan”), it’s overall a genuinely sweet concept, so I think Asuka is deserving of a spot on this list, even if it’s at the very bottom.
#4): Daphnae (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
The romance in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is...more than a little awkward, given how it’s Ubisoft’s first time trying it out. All the romance options are pretty much just fade-to-black one time encounters. So why did I see fit to put Daphnae on the list? There are two reasons, both of which are simple. The first is that I needed another entry. The second is that Daphnae is the one romance option for whom you have to work for it. The head priestess of Artemis, Daphnae tasks the protagonist with hunting down a series of legendary animals (giant boars, seemingly immortal lions, etc) for great rewards. One of the optional rewards she seems keen to offer you is one that I could’ve easily woven the whole animal idea into, but I decided against it, and I think you probably get the point given the nature of this category. Moving right along...
#3): Krish (Florence)
Florence tells an eye-rollingly millennial tale of two people dating, moving in together, and having the entire love that was evidently so strong that they started sharing living space shattered by a grand total of two miniscule arguments because they refuse to communicate like people. It doesn’t get more predictably millennial than that, but the fact of the matter is that Krish, as a love interest to the game’s titular protagonist (and as a bit of proof that this isn’t a “hottest girls” list), is pretty darn good. When Florence starts thinking about starting to create art again as a side gig to her office job, Krish not only fully supports her, he actively gives her opportunities to take a step back to paint. It’s a small thing, sure, but Florence is a short story, so Krish’s dedication to supporting Florence is made noteworthy.
#2): Sonia (Shining Resonance Refrain)
Any of the pumpkin pie-wearing love interests in Shining Resonance Refrain could’ve conceivably won this spot. After all, every last one of them is a fantastic line of support for Yuma when he’s feeling down as well as a valuable asset in combat, so those two qualities alone would be enough to put any of them ahead of the previous items on this list. However, I went with Sonia because of personal preference. Of the cast of 2-dimensional personalities, I found her role as warrior princess with a strong heart geared toward making her people happy the most compelling.
Love Interest of the Year: Mary Linton (Red Dead Redemption 2)
At the start of Red Dead Redemption 2, there’s already a storied history between Arthur Morgan and Mary Linton. They were lovers at one point, but due to Arthur’s dangerous lifestyle, Mary ended up marrying another man. Now, many years later and after the death of her husband, Mary finds herself full of regrets, and she and Arthur make attempts to patch up what once was a firm relationship. As Arthur does side quests for Mary, their relationship evolves as she tries to improve him, to get him to leave the outlaw life behind. And while the end result (or one of them, at least) still isn’t positive, it’s the best-written and paced semi-romantic subplot of this year.
Best Supporting Character
Though supporting characters don’t get as much screen time as the protagonist, in most cases they’re far more important. Most of the time, supporting characters are the ones we find ourselves rooting for the most. The typical example is Sam from Lord of the Rings, though that example is a little worn out by now. Placement on this list is determined by strength of the character, the level of support they provide to the protagonist, and most importantly, personal preference.
Mild Spoilers: Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Red Dead Redemption 2, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
#10): The Reader (Moss)
The reader is a little bit of an odd case in that the reader is you. You play as this character, but you’re not the protagonist. But I digress. The reader serves as protagonist Quill’s traveling companion and frequent line of support. Whether it’s lifting platforms for Quill or healing her when she gets hurt, the reader never leaves Quill’s side, and they're there for Quill when she's at her lowest.
#9): Boomer (Far Cry 5)
Boomer is a beautiful doggy, but there’s more to this perfect boy than just that. He can also point out enemies from afar, making him an asset in combat.......
What? Were you expecting more? He's a dog! Of course he gets his own spot!
#8): Ralsei (Deltarune)
Given that Ralsei is the tutorial character, it’s safe to say that Kris and Susie would’ve been screwed in the dark world were it not for him. Beyond that, Ralsei is just a good friend to the both of them.
#7): Mimir (God of War)
Mimir, being a severed head, obviously isn’t much use in combat other than having the ability to watch Kratos’ flank. Where Mimir contributes is in his seemingly infinite knowledge. From a practical standpoint, whenever Kratos and Atreus come across a roadblock, Mimir is always the first to know what to do to rectify the situation. From a less practical standpoint, Mimir makes the journey more interesting by filling long travel times with tale after tale from norse mythology, filling up time that would otherwise be spent in silence with truly entertaining content.
#6): Cheeseburger (Far Cry 5)
Cheeseburger is a diabetic grizzly bear named freaking Cheeseburger. What more could you want? Well, there’s also the fact that he shreds through enemies like a human diabetic shreds through insulin after accidentally drinking a coke and the fact that he draws enemy attention away from you, but even if he weren’t an absolute asset in combat, he would’ve been a shoe-in for this list on principle alone.
#5): Sadie Adler (Red Dead Redemption 2)
After her husband is killed by the O’driscoll gang and she is rescued by Dutch and Arthur, Sadie Adler becomes arguably the most capable member of the van der Linde gang. The women of the gang actively contribute to heists and the like through deception and other roles that women would be best suited for in early American crime, but Sadie wants to contribute more directly. Though quick to anger and prone to running off on her own, every job Sadie spearheads eventually leads to a success of some kind.
#4): Theo (Celeste)
Theo is the kind of guy you look at and automatically think: “This guy unironically loves avocado toast and wears skinny jeans.” A young man backpacking on Celeste Mountain to try and get a temporary escape from his soul-crushing job, Theo meets protagonist Madeline early on in her journey, and at every turn, he’s a great line of support for her whether she listens or not. Perhaps his greatest triumph as a supporting character occurs when he and Madeline are taking a rickety tram to the next part of the mountain. The tram screeches to a sudden halt, and Madeline starts to have a severe anxiety attack. Amidst the onslaught of anxiety-induced ramblings to the effect of “why did we even get on this stupid tram,” Theo guides Madeline through a series of breathing exercises that he learned from his sister. Through this, he helps Madeline calm her nerves and move on. Furthermore, this breathing exercise makes a return later in the game, so even when Theo isn’t by Madeline’s side, his support helps her down the line.
#3): Tsuyoshi Nagumo (Yakuza 6: The Song of Life)
Nagumo starts the game off as a thug, one of Kiryu’s rivals for a variety of reasons. However, after some time passes, Nagumo becomes a sworn brother to Kiryu, and his loyalty is absolutely ferocious. For Kiryu’s sake, this lovable idiot gets himself into all kinds of trouble, into situations that would normally warrant death or the loss of a finger because of how undyingly loyal he is. Nagumo may be an idiot and a hot-head, but in terms of supporting characters of this year, he’s among the more lovable and dedicated.
#2): Myrrine of Sparta (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
Unlike most of the characters on this list, Myrrine of Sparta earns her place through strength of character alone...but we’ll touch on that more later on. For now, I’ll say this. Myrrine of Sparta is the mother of protagonist Alexios/Kassandra. There is perhaps no greater supporter (ideally) than one's parent, but this absolutely ferocious, powerful Spartan woman is a supporting force to be reckoned with even by that standard.
Supporting Character of the Year: Bailey the Eevee (Pokemon: Let’s Go)
I could’ve just said “Eevee,” but I wanted to list my Eevee specifically, because it’s the best one, even though anyone’s partner Eevee could’ve conceivably held this spot. Anywho. The bond between Ash Ketchum and Pikachu in the Pokemon anime is perhaps the most iconic bond between characters in television history post-The Andy Griffith Show. With Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee/Pikachu, Game Freak hoped to replicate this iconic bond in game form with either a Pikachu or an Eevee, and they succeeded with flying colors. From the moment you catch your partner Pokemon, it’s by your side at all times and stands as the strongest member of your team. As you travel the Kanto region, this heavily-animated companion becomes more and more of an asset, and trust me when I say that there’s nothing more satisfying than imagining the Elite Four’s humiliation after being used to mop the floor by an Eevee wearing a bunch of pink flowers and a pink and white sun hat.
Best Antagonist
More compelling than supporting characters a lot of the time, however, are the villains. In most stories, the villain is responsible for raising the stakes so that the plight of the protagonist is a compelling one. Without Loghain mac Tir’s betrayal of the king in Dragon Age: Origins, the gray wardens would’ve had no issues raising an army to defeat the archdemon. Without the Illusive Man pulling strings from the shadows in the Mass Effect saga, defeating the Reapers would’ve had fewer roadblocks in the way. Without the grandstanding and monologuing of Andrew Ryan in Bioshock, Rapture would’ve just been an empty city. A good antagonist can truly make a game brilliant, and these were the antagonists that brought the most to the table in gaming this year.
Major Spoilers: Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Batman: The Enemy Within, God of War, Spider-Man, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
#10): Trash King (Donut County)
The whole “corporate leader” villain idea is one that is perhaps a little overdone. But the developers of Donut County thought, “what if we had the evil corporate leader villain, and he was a raccoon?” Trash King's whole maniacal plan is to better understand the world and thus be able to market to the world better by analyzing trash from all over the county. If that isn't the perfect way to cast a raccoon as a villain, then what is?
#9): Deimos (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
As the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey starts investigating the Cult of Kosmos, they learn about an enigmatic champion of the cult named “Deimos.” This champion evidently possesses the strength of a God and is prophesied to lead the cult to glory. After infiltrating the cult, the protagonist learns that Deimos is none other than their presumed-dead sibling. If you play as Alexios, he learns that his sister Kassandra survived the fall from the mountain and was raised in the cult as Deimos, and it’s the other way around if you play as Kassandra. Deimos isn’t executed as well as they could have been, but they were a clever and mostly strong choice for a villain.
#8): John Seed (Far Cry 5)
Torture will land just about any character a spot on this list because of how squeamish the concept makes me, but John Seed earns some extra villain points. Why? Because his “the power of yes” theology makes him essentially a walking mockery of heretical fraud and con man Joel Osteen. A villain that confirms my biases? That’s hard to come by.
#7): Part of Me (Celeste)
Essentially the physical embodiment of protagonist Madeline’s severe anxiety, the purple character only referred to as “Part of Me” stands as a constant roadblock preventing Madeline from making progress up the mountain. “You can’t make it all the way up,” she tells her, “you’re not strong enough to do it.” “Just give up,” she tells her, “you’re going to die if you keep trying, I’m just trying to help you!” Not only is “Part of Me” a well-conceived villain, she also serves as a well-written embodiment of anxiety.
#6): Baldur (God of War)
There are essentially two sides to Baldur. Firstly, there’s the side that oozes confidence because of his immunity to death and inability to feel pain. This is the Badur that comes out in confrontations with Kratos, and it alone makes for a thoroughly compelling villain. But then there’s the other side of the coin, the side of Baldur that only comes out when he thinks no-one is looking or when he’s in too much emotional pain to care. This side is best exemplified by a moment where he, Kratos, and Atreus and trapped in Helheim, but are scattered across the realm. Kratos and Atreus happen upon Baldur without him realizing, and they notice that he’s viewing a vision of his past. This vision portrays his confrontation with his mother, Freya, after she cast the spell of immunity to death and pain on him. In it, he begs and pleads with his mother to take the spell away so he could feel happiness and the warmth of human touch. The vision ends with him nearly killing his mother, but choosing to let her live. As the Baldur of the present watches this memory play out, he starts pleading with his past self. “Do it!” he growls through tears and clenched teeth. As the vision ends, he starts punching at the spectral version of his mother, breaking down and childishly grunting phrases to the effect of “you ruined everything for me!” While Baldur would’ve been a strong enough villain without this side of him shown, it makes for a more complete look at the gifts this God possesses.
#5): Dr. Octopus (Spider-Man)
The downfall of Dr. Otto Octavius is one that anybody who knows anything about Spider-Man will be able to see coming a mile away, but it doesn’t make it any less tragic. At the start of the game, Octavius is Peter Parker’s mentor: a scientist with a heart of gold who hopes to be able to improve the lives of injured veterans with the prosthetic technology he's developing. He experiences multiple failures but never gives up on his quest in spite of his old business partner and current rival, Mayor Norman Osbourne, cutting funding for his lab. In the face of rising pressure, increasing hatred of Osbourne, and personal anxieties about his failing body, however, Octavius begins descending into madness. The rest is, as they say, history. What makes Dr. Octopus such a great villain is the sheer tragedy of this humanitarian scientist’s fall from grace and the responsibility that Peter Parker feels for it.
#4): Agent Milton (Red Dead Redemption 2)
A member of the pinkertons is automatically a good vessel for an antagonist. There’s just something about their outfits and their smugness that makes them prime villain material, and if this game and the original Red Dead Redemption are any indication, Rockstar Games feels the same way. As despicable as the two pinkerton villains from the original game were, however, Agent Milton in Red Dead Redemption 2 lands with better success. Why? Because while he plays dirty, he does so within the confines of the law. Milton says a line at a point early on in the game that comes to define his character. When Arthur asks him why he won’t just leave the gang alone, Milton replies, “Because I love society, Mr. Morgan, flaws and all.” He doesn’t believe that the society he fights for is perfect, but he believes it to be a better alternative than the current lawless nature of most of the United States, so he tries his best to quell the evil that he perceives in the likes of the van der Linde gang while staying true to his ideals. Shortly after the confrontation in which the aforementioned line of dialogue is spoken, Milton shows up at the van der Linde camp with only one other man. He had the exact location of the gang’s hideout, but rather than surround them with an army and take them out all at once, he elected to instead show up at a disadvantage and give Dutch the opportunity to turn himself in in exchange for the freedom of his followers. After this doesn’t work, Milton starts utilizing violence, but through-and-through, he’s a villain with ideals, and there’s no better type.
#3): Takumi Someya (Yakuza 6: The Song of Life)
Someya represents the future of the Yakuza. Whereas the Yakuza of Kiryu’s day lived and died by the fist and settled all disputes with violence and shows of power, the Yakuza generation that Someya leads revolves around the exchange of money and technology. He’s a perfect character foil to Kiryu: a sleek, manipulative negotiator to Kiryu’s gruff, no-nonsense demeanor. That alone would’ve been enough to grant him a spot on this list, but he reaches this high up because of his sheer complexity. As the plot progresses, it’s revealed that he was married to this game’s female lead, Kiyomi, and that she left him due to issues of domestic violence. Furthermore, it’s revealed that he still has custody of their daughter, and this is a source of constant worry for Kiyomi. So as viewers, we start off seeing Someya as an intellectual kind of villain, then we see him as a wife-beater with a thread of power that he can still dangle over Kiyomi. As the plot continues to progress, we see Someya tell Kiyomi that he never had nor would raise a hand against their child, and we see him make active sacrifices to ensure Kiyomi’s well-being. He never atones for having beat his wife, but Someya, as a villain, is far more compelling and complex than your average character of this nature.
#2): The Joker (Batman: The Enemy Within)
Anybody who has had the misfortune of talking to me about Batman: The Enemy Within has also had the misfortune of hearing me ramble about the scene in the first episode where the Joker gives Bruce Wayne a get well soon card with a cat on it. Taking a step back to provide further context, before he becomes the Joker, this particular character is named John Doe. In the first season of Telltale’s Batman series, John helps Bruce escape from Arkham Asylum in exchange for a favor once he, too, is released. At the start of this second season, John has been released and is keen on getting back together with his friend Bruce. So, John shows up at the funeral of one of the story’s major characters with a cute “get well soon” card because he knew Bruce was grieving, didn’t quite know how to make him feel better, but wanted to try. Telltale brilliantly retells the story of the Joker as a tragedy, casting the Joker as a sensitive, friendly character with a severe mental illness that sometimes makes him prone to violence. Because he has connections to a group of villains that Batman desperately needs to infiltrate, the Joker ends up being used by Batman, with the titular hero constantly reassuring him that they’re friends in order to get what he wants. Of the antagonists on this list, the Joker is by far the most heartbreaking. He looks up to both Bruce Wayne and Batman and wants to be a hero just like him, but he finds himself on the receiving end of manipulation and betrayal too many times. It’s a similar story to that of Dr. Octavius, except the downfall of this overly sacrificial hero-at-heart with low self-esteem is far more tragic.
Antagonist of the Year: Joseph Seed (Far Cry 5)
Joseph Seed has one thing going for him that most of the other characters on this list don’t have, and those that do have it don’t have it going on as much as him: Joseph Seed is absolutely freaking terrifying. From the first few seconds of the game, Seed is established as a figure of legend with an unbreakable stranglehold on Hope County. His doomsday cult, the Project at Eden’s Gate, is said to have infiltrated every aspect of the local government and he has eyes everywhere, constantly watching for those who might do him or his family harm. From the moment that the helicopter you ride in in the introduction passes by the skyscraper-sized statue of Seed, you know that this is not somebody to take lightly. All this being said, Joseph Seed isn’t a new kind of villain, but his execution definitely is new. There’s no shortage of religious leader villains. There's no shortage at all of villains who randomly break into scripture. We’re filled to the brim with villains who destroy in the name of God. However, there are crucial differences between Joseph Seed and your average religious villain that make him absolutely horrifying. Firstly, he’s not racist/sexist/homophobic/etc. The cult is made up of people of all different backgrounds, and while there are laws in the cult against fornication in general, that seems to be a blanket rule without discrimination against particular sexualities. Secondly, he isn’t a hypocrite. His body is covered in the same scars he orders to be put on others. He’s obviously undergone the same tortures that he prescribes for his followers and unwilling conscripts. Thirdly, and most importantly, he means everything he says. There’s one sequence that literally gave me goosebumps as I played this game, and it falls into this third difference. In the John Seed subplot (the part of the game concerning the winner of spot #8 on this list), there comes a point where the protagonist is captured and is being waterboarded by John and his men. John utters lines to the effect of “I don’t think you’re clean enough yet, let’s get you back under the water.” This continues for a little while until Joseph shows up and stops the proceedings. The conversation then goes as follows.
Joseph: Do you mock the cleansing, John?
John: ….no….no, Joseph….
*Joseph walks up to John, starts to talk in a firm voice, but gains control and touches his forehead to John’s*
Joseph: *in a “we’ve talked about this” tone of voice* You have to love them, John.
*Joseph walks over to protagonist, picks them up out of the water, and looks them straight in the eyes*
Joseph: *in a gentle tone* You...even with everything you’ve done...there’s stillhope for you, if you’ll just accept it.
It was at that moment where Joseph Seed became my top villain of the year. I sat there with chills going down my spine as I realized, “Holy crap, he freaking means it!” Even if you went out of story order and ended up killing one of his family members before this moment, he would still have offered you forgiveness and salvation among his ranks if you chose to accept it. He reprimanded his own brother for daring to cause you (a person who has been going around murdering his followers and obstructing his perceived plan for salvation for days upon days) more pain than is necessary for purification. Joseph Seed is a character who loves and accepts all people and practices what he preaches, and he also wants to bring about the destruction of the earth. And you know what? That’s the only kind of person who could actually have the power to accomplish that goal. And that is freaking terrifying.
Best Protagonist
It seems like I give the same spiel about protagonists each year, but I digress. What few people realize (or at least what few people actively think about) is that the role of a protagonist is far more important than just “main character” and vehicle delivering us between story beats. A protagonist also shapes our understanding of the narrative world whether we want it or not. That’s why the concept of the unreliable protagonist is so simultaneously popular and unnerving. Not every entry on this list has such pretentious reasons for landing in a spot, but these were the 10 most compelling protagonists in games this year.
#10): Batman (Batman: The Enemy Within)
Coming in at #10, we have a character who needs no introduction and who would earn a spot on this list through sheer brand recognition alone: the incomparable Batman. However, The Enemy Within does show us Batman’s more manipulative, “get the job done no matter the cost” side, so this already stellar hero gets a bit more compelling development than normal.
#9): The Trainer (Pokemon: Let’s Go)
A 10 year-old child, the protagonist of Pokemon: Let’s Go accomplishes quite a lot. Firstly, they almost single-handedly take down a sinister gang of criminals calling themselves Team Rocket; a task not even the strongest trainers of the region seem capable of doing. Secondly, they become the first ever champion of the Pokemon League, a feat that only the most powerful and dedicated trainer could accomplish. Finally, they defeat several “master trainers,” proving that they not only can train up the best team, they can train up the best individual Pokemon as well.
#8): Connor (Detroit: Become Human)
Connor is an advanced android model made for detective work. To prove his worth and the worthiness of his model, he is assigned the task of teaming up with the Detroit Police Department to investigate the rise in deviancy (androids emulating human emotions) among the Detroit android populace. As the story progresses, Connor eventually has to decide whether his loyalties lie with his kind or with his programming. Does he succumb to the feelings of pain that come from watching happy androids being discarded and abandon his reason for existing? Or does he fulfill his destiny and turn a blind eye to the suffering of his kind? In either case, Connor is put through the wringer and must consistently make difficult decisions.
#7): Kazuma Kiryu (Yakuza 6: The Song of Life)
Kazuma Kiryu has been criticized throughout the years as being a Yakuza who doesn’t quite understand that the Yakuza are criminals. Kiryu seemingly has a heart of gold and only beats up pedophiles and Yakuza who prey on the weak...though to be a Yakuza is to, by nature, prey on the weak. But I digress. Kiryu’s heart of gold and scruffy exterior make a return in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. In this entry in the saga, Kiryu’s major goal is to find the father of his surrogate daughter’s infant son and bring him back into the picture. If you’ve ever played a Yakuza title, you likely are familiar with Kiryu’s stubborn determination. So now imagine that same determination when it comes to finding the man who knocked up his daughter and forcing him to do his part in parenting their child, and you’ve got a good idea of how firm a protagonist Kiryu is in this chapter.
#6): Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2)
Arthur Morgan isn’t quite as compelling a protagonist as John Marston from the original Red Dead Redemption, but he’s still one of Rockstar’s finest. I think the best way to describe Arthur would be to call him an accepting fatalist. He knows that the days of the outlaw are counting down to zero, but rather than bow out gracefully to live an honest life, he decides to stay true to the lifestyle he chose when he was a young man. No matter how far Dutch goes off the deep end, Arthur is still there by his side, trying to put him on the right path. Arthur is a man dedicated to his own ideals, and even though he knows that there’s no happy ending waiting for him, he still rides on.
#5): Kratos (God of War)
Kratos is a character we all know as a merciless killer with a heart that knows nothing but rage. However, at the start of the new God of War, we see a different side of this iconic character. Having reduced the pantheon of Greek Gods to a pile of corpses, Kratos now realizes that revenge and warfare only beget more revenge and warfare. Kratos is older, wiser, and trying his best to turn over a new leaf in Midgard with his new wife and son. However, as the game begins, tragedy has already struck, and Kratos and his son Atreus are in the process of cremating this new wife. What sets Kratos apart from most other protagonists of this year is how much his character progresses further than he’d even progressed from the original trilogy by the start of the game. As the plot continues, Kratos learns to leave his pride behind in the interest of Atreus’ wellbeing and that the past cannot be hidden or undone, but it can be learned from. Kratos is a character that grows and learns as the plot progresses, which makes him a greater character than his former self by leaps and bounds.
Hereafter referred to as Alexios, life dealt the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey a bad hand from the get-go. After accidentally killing a spartan elder to try and stop the ritual sacrifice of his infant sister, Alexios is thrown off of a cliff by his father, and it’s only by the kindness of a sleazy merchant who happened to come across him that he survived. As he aged, the merchant who raised him trained him to be a mercenary, that he might use his inherent spartan might to make a living. Events unfold, and eventually Alexios finds himself saddled with the monumental task of destroying a cult with its fingers in every aspect of the greek world, and he meets this challenge not with excuses, but with pure determination and rage. A great way to describe Alexios would be to say that he’s more like the iconic Kratos than the current Kratos is. The difference is that Alexios is no demigod, and his accomplishments come from his sheer determination and love of his family, not just anger.
#3): Peter Parker (Spider-Man)
You know what one crucial difference between Spider-Man and Batman is? Batman has people who can run the day-to-day aspects of Wayne Enterprises, ensuring that his time in the cape doesn’t have to overlap too often with his time as Bruce Wayne. Spider-Man has no such luxury. Peter Parker is a busy man: He works as an assistant at Octavius labs, he helps his Aunt May run the local homeless shelter, he tries his best to keep his social life and friendship with Mary Jane Watson going, he pays his bills, he keeps his Aunt company outside of the homeless shelter, and to top it all off, unlike Batman, he has to be ready to don the webbed suit at any time of the day. Keeping his double-life going is a trying task that often leaves people hanging on both ends, but Peter never stops giving it his all. On more than one occasion in this game, Peter ends up collapsing from exhaustion, only to wake up hours later in a panic because, having overdone himself yet again, he’s missed some important event he had planned to attend. He is perhaps the greatest example of a superhero that we were given in games this year, and we’ll discuss that further in a later category.
#2): Quill (Moss)
Just wook at her widdle ears! She’s so cute! But I digwess….I mean, digress...anywho. Quill starts off as just an average mouse villager, a dutiful niece, and a kind spirit. However, once her Uncle disappears, she picks up a sword and leaves the village looking for him. She doesn’t care that she’s just some nobody from the village, a nobody who never held a sword in her life, all she cares about is rescuing her uncle. Her journey takes her to faraway lands, shows her beautiful sights, and pits her against insurmountable odds, but this everyday hero, even at her smallest, never lets herself lose sight of her goal. Sure, she may not be as mighty as Kratos, Alexios, or Spider-Man, but when it comes to strength of character and will, there are few protagonists who stuck the landing better than Quill.
Protagonist of the Year: Madeline (Celeste)
If Quill won her spot because she was a nobody who took up arms against unknown terrors, Madeline wins the prestigious honor of Protagonist of the Year because she’s a nobody with even less power up against a foe that has tormented her all her life: herself. At the start of the game, we find Madeline at the foot of the infamous Celeste Mountain. Her goal? To climb to the summit, as the legends about the mountain promise it’s a life-changing experience. However, as she makes her way up the mountain, she finds that the biggest hindrance to her progress is her severe depression and anxiety. A common theme in this list tends to be “they didn’t give up,” but Madeline’s case is different. Sometimes being a strong protagonist doesn’t mean never giving up. Throughout the course of the story, Madeline finds herself close to giving up and actively losing hope numerous times, as anyone struggling with anxiety and depression might. What sets Madeline apart, however, is that even when she has given up completely, even when she decides she’s too weak to climb something as large and foreboding as Celeste Mountain, even when the demons inside her convince her that she’s worthless, the curiosity and longing to be the kind of person who reaches the top of the summit always burns inside of her. This small ember of hope that she holds inside her, even when reduced to mere kindling, eventually allows her to turn around, look at the monumental task ahead of her, and say, “one more try.” Celeste is a game that uses its gameplay and story as a way to discuss the complexities of living with mental illness, and as such, Madeline’s character is one that grows to be a part of the discussion. All of this will be touched upon later, but for now I believe I’ve provided enough detail to explain why, overall, I believe Madeline is the single greatest protagonist of 2018.
Best Writing
For the first time, I’ve decided to put together an award to celebrate writing in games. It’s a little bit of an odd category, as one can argue that character development factors directly into a game’s writing, but sometimes character development is also helped along by story beats or an actor’s performance. With that in mind, I wanted to take some time to specifically point out games with clever, well-written scripts.
Mild Spoilers: God of War
#5): Pokemon: Let’s Go
I never said I put together this category because there were a lot of solid options. Many of the other games that came out this year either didn’t impress me with their writing or were in Japanese...so I had no way of actually knowing if the writing was good or if the translations were indicative of the actual content. With that in mind, Pokemon: Let’s Go stood out in my mind for its occasional quality humor. For instance, there comes a point after a major story moment where you get a message saying “your world is expanding,” and as this is being explained, a little boy walks up to you and says “sorry for interrupting you while your world is expanding!” Another example would be a moment where you and your rival are in need of help. Your rival asks, “who should we ask about this?” and you’re presented with a series of options, one of which is your partner Pokemon. So I naturally said we should ask my Eevee, my Eevee made noises for a little bit, and my rival responded with “oh, mmhmm, yes, you do make a good point...If I could understand you!” It’s not the most sophisticated writing on the planet, but humor in Pokemon doesn’t usually land with me, so it’s worth noting that I found the writing here clever enough at times to warrant a solid laugh.
#4): Deltarune
For the most part, Deltarune hits the same writing beats as Undertale, but that’s hardly a bad thing. It’s the usual slew of meta humor and truly unique character speaking quirks that are...incredibly difficult to describe.
#3): Celeste
Celeste earns a spot on this list mainly due to the sheer variety of its character "voices." Mr. Oshiro constantly whispers self-deprecating things to himself to hint at his deep-seated insecurities. Theo speaks in an almost painfully millennial fashion, constantly throwing out bits of slang and declaring that it’s time for a selfie. Madeline has some truly memorable (and perhaps relatable) lines, such as her response when asked how she normally deals with depression and anxiety: “Drink, usually….and get mad at strangers on the internet.” Chances are you’re reading this section and are thinking: “wait...did he mix up the writing and the character development sections?” I did not. However, the writing and the character development in Celeste are more directly intertwined than in other titles of this year, so it’s a little more difficult to separate the two.
#2): God of War
In direct opposition to what a God of War title usually relies on, this year’s release depended entirely upon its writing. If the writing flopped, then this continuation of God of War would have been a failure. Because the focal point of this story is the developing relationship between Kratos and his son, Atreus, it was important for Santa Monica Studios to get it right. And you know what? They absolutely nailed it. Kratos is written exactly as an older, wiser version of the Deicidal maniac we all know and love would be. But perhaps more impressive is the writing for Atreus. Child characters are often poorly-written. Even the well-beloved Clementine from The Walking Dead has a couple of lines that smack of an adult trying to write like a child. However, Atreus is consistently written in a believably childish way. For an example of this game’s stellar writing, I’d like to discuss a particular moment in which Kratos finally confesses his Godly nature to Atreus, and informs him that he too is a God by extension. After this confession, the conversation flows to the following effect.
Kratos: Have you nothing to say, Boy?
*silence*
Atreus:....Can I turn into an animal?
Kratos: Can you….turn...into an...animal?....No, I…..do not think so
It’s just brilliant. Of all the questions for Atreus to ask after being lied to for most of the game, that was the one that instantly came to mind upon learning he’s a God. Furthermore, Christopher Judge does an excellent job of voicing Kratos’ response in a way that is both calm and expresses complete disbelief that that was the first question Atreus had. If you read through/watch through some of the behind the scenes bits of this game, you’ll discover that the writing team brought all of their collective parenting experience together to write this father/son relationship, and that dedication and passion shows in this bumpy road of a dynamic.
Best Writing of the Year: Red Dead Redemption 2
Given how much I drooled over God of War’s writing in the previous entry, it may be surprising that I thought another game was worthy of this lofty title. Like with the best character development segment, I’m afraid my reasoning is simple and doesn’t warrant much in the way of pretentious drivel. While the writing in Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t as immediately shocking in its relative jump in quality from previous titles as God of War is, the writing is more consistently good and is more consistently good among a significantly larger cast of characters. The reason why Red Dead Redemption 2 earns the prestigious title of game with the Best Writing of the Year is because it just objectively is.
Best Cutscene Direction
This is yet another brand new category that I’m introducing this year, as I don’t believe I’ve ever touched on this kind of thing before. And that’s really a shame, because a lot of work can tend to go into directing cutscenes, and it’s work that oftentimes goes unappreciated. What people tend not to realize is that if a game’s cutscenes aren’t well-directed, they feel stale, and it makes the player want to skip through them as quickly as possible. A well-directed cutscene, however, can serve to immerse the player in the story more than any technical aspect. These were the 5 games with the most well put-together cutscenes of this year.
#5): Spider-Man
While a lot of the time, the cutscenes in Spider-Man simply look good, an overlooked aspect of them is that 9 times out of 10, they’re directed in such a way that they’ll seamlessly transition back into gameplay without the slightest hiccup. That requires conscious effort, so while the cutscenes themselves aren’t too inspirational from a cinematography perspective, they are well put-together.
#4): Detroit: Become Human
Given that Detroit: Become Human is basically 90% cutscenes, it was important for Quantic Dream and David Cage to get them right...but was there ever any doubt that they would? David Cage doesn’t want to make games, he wants to make movies, so it just makes sense that all of his games have stellar cinematography in their cutscenes. Detroit: Become Human is no exception. However, I believe cutscenes, however good they are, should be there to give better context to gameplay, and given how little actual gameplay there is here, I feel that Detroit shouldn’t score higher in spite of the quality of its cutscenes.
#3): Red Dead Redemption 2
While nothing too artsy is done in Red Dead Redemption 2’s cutscenes, there were times where I truly felt like I was watching a movie. This is partly due to the game’s photorealistic graphics, but when the time came for cutscenes to play, the chosen camera angles and the like were something out of an old western.
#2): Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
The Yakuza games all strive to emulate old school Yakuza films. That means lots of overly dramatic staredowns and intense buildups to violent fight sequences. Yakuza games always nail this pretty well, but for all the intensity, not a lot of variety is typically used in the cutscenes. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, however, utilizes many different camera angles and tracking patterns to make its over-the-top story truly feel like something out of an old crime thriller.
Cutscene Direction of the Year: God of War
The entire reason I thought to create this category this year was because of God of War. The game as a whole is exceptionally well-directed, but the cutscene direction is what takes center stage in my book. You see, the camera never once cuts away from Kratos (except upon death). That means that cutscenes had to be created to start in the middle of any action the player happens to be performing and to end with the player being spat right back into gameplay. So, it’s like the cutscene direction for a lot of the cutscenes in Spider-Man, but for literally every instance in which control is taken from the player. Beyond that, the cutscenes themselves are stylistic and unique, with more variety than in any other game of this year. It may be an easy pick considering how its quality is what spurred the creation of this category, but God of War, without a doubt, has the best cutscene direction of any game of 2018.
Best Enemies
This is a classic Right Trigger end of year category that was cut last year, but which boldly makes a return this year. This is one of the simpler categories. Essentially, unless you’re a niche game like Shadow of the Colossus, you can’t make a compelling game out of just bosses. Typically you’ll need in-between challenges to make the game engaging on the way to story beats or boss battles. Sometimes, this takes the form of puzzles, but most of the time this take the form of lower-level enemies that dot the levels and landscapes, taking down your health to put you at a disadvantage for your next challenge. With that in mind, enemies need to be fun to fight in order to serve their purpose as a gameplay aspect. This being as simple a category as it is, there aren’t usually many reasons behind my placements besides “I liked fighting them the most,” but these were the top 5 enemy types of 2018.
#5): Enemy Pokemon (Pokemon: Let’s Go)
The Pokemon gameplay loop is tried and true, and the process of using type advantages to take down enemy Pokemon, as always, never gets old.
#4): Cult of Kosmos Agents (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
Being more ferocious and intelligent than your average enemies in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, agents of the Cult of Kosmos serve as mini bosses. They’re always a challenge, but not so much of a challenge as to feel unfair. Furthermore, they require work to track down, and they each have their own little backstories and specific roles that they play in the cult, which gives them a bit more context than your average enemies.
#3): Draugr (God of War)
Draugr are not only the first kinds of enemies you encounter, they’re also the most varied enemy type and the type that you’ll end up fighting most often throughout the game. There are more Draugr variations than variations of any other enemy type in God of War, and it ensures that they never get stale despite the frequency with which you fight them.
#2): Sable Agents (Spider-Man)
Sable Agents only really become enemies later on in the game (which I don’t count as a spoiler, because you’ll see that coming a mile away), and their tactics reflect that. Anytime you go up against a group of Sable Agents, your abilities will be tested like never before. Like with the Cult of Kosmos, however, it’s never unmanageable. You just have to keep your head and think tactically.
Enemies of the Year: Yakuza (Yakuza 6: The Song of Life)
Why are the Yakuza in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life the best enemies of this year? Simple. They’re the most straightforwardly fun enemies to fight. They come at you in waves of 30-50 and serve as human bowling pins. You can pick one up and throw him into a cone of enemies, knocking several down before doing the same thing in another direction. Any brawl against the Yakuza is a promise of a good time from a sheer action movie appeal.
Best Boss
Bosses have been a fixture of video games for as long as the medium has been around, and they’re a fixture that could literally only exist in this medium. Bosses serve as final, midterm, or bi-weekly exams to determine if you’ve learned how to play the game sufficiently well. If you aren’t good enough at the game yet, you don’t get to pass, and you have to continue honing your skills and learning. If you manage to defeat the boss, you get to continue learning and improving for the next challenge. You’d never see a book where half the pages were locked until you completed a multiple-choice test on the events of the first half of the story. Likewise, you’d never get halfway through a Netflix Original series only to have your progress blocked by a quiz on the minutiae of each frame of episode 1. A good boss is challenging without being impossible to overcome, and these were the 5 best bosses in games this year.
Minor Spoilers: Celeste, Spider-Man
#5): Deimos (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
The battle against Deimos is mostly made compelling by its meaning in the game’s story, but it also is one of the few battles in the game that truly challenges the player’s skill. Deimos tests the player’s ability to attack from both up close and at a distance, as well as their ability to keep an eye on the condition of the fight area and maneuver accordingly.
#4): Master Trainers (Pokemon: Let’s Go)
Every Master Trainer uses only one Pokemon, and they claim that their version of that Pokemon is the strongest version in existence. Its stats and movesets are evidently good enough that it can beat any other version you throw at it. With that in mind, each Master Trainer is the ultimate challenge for anybody trying to raise a particular Pokemon. If you choose to take on a Master Trainer, you’ll take them on in a one-on-one battle with no items allowed. So if you go up against the Charizard master, your Charizard and their Charizard will face off, and the winner will be the one with the highest stats, the best movesets, and the best luck. These battles force you to think more strategically than you’ll likely ever have had to think in a Pokemon game before.
#3): Part of Me (Celeste)
The key to the first battle with “Part of Me” is to realize that she just copies what you do. Once you realize that, then it becomes a matter of keeping your movements fluid and under control. One screw up and you could box yourself in, one moment of panic and you could end up in a corner with “Part of Me” following suit. This battle is challenging even when you know what to do because of how thoroughly it tests your platforming skills and ability to maintain control under pressure.
#2): Vulture and Electro (Spider-Man)
The battle against Vulture and Electro is only slightly challenging, but it makes it this far up the list because of how much it feels like a Spider-Man fight. The battle takes place above a series of rooftops in an industrial part of town, lasts somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes, and more likely than not, you won’t touch the ground a single time. Because of the sheer speed of the fight and the intervals at which both villains attack, you’ll be airborne and slinging around the area nonstop while throwing punches the entire time. For a fight to be constructed and directed so tightly that you’d have to try to get through it while touching the ground is an impressive feat, and the battle feels incredible as a result.
Boss of the Year: The Valkyries (God of War)
The Valkyries are simply an ingenious idea for a series of optional superbosses. They’re some of the mightiest characters in Norse Mythology, there’s enough of them to have each of them be different, and there’s great aesthetic contrast between them and Kratos. While Kratos radiates more of a brutish, raw strength, these winged beings radiate more of a smooth but nonetheless ferocious kind of strength. In God of War, all 8 of the Valkyries and the Valkyrie Queen have been corrupted and locked in hidden chambers. In order to free each Valkyrie, you must first destroy their physical bodies, and that is no easy feat. When I wrote my review of this game, I had gone up against one of the Valkyries, and she mopped the floor with me several times. These bosses are simply the ultimate tests. In order to defeat them, you have to memorize their attack patterns by heart, have perfect reflexes and knowledge of their attack times, and have the patience to stick with it. Beyond that, no two Valkyries are the same, so even if you know how to counter a certain type of attack, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be prepared for the timing of Valkyrie B just because you internalized the timing of Valkyrie A. After defeating the 8 Valkyries, you have the option of fighting the Valkyrie Queen, who has the full moveset of all her underlings and is about twice as hard. As I mentioned, in my first playthrough, I couldn’t even beat one. At time of writing this, however, I’ve defeated each Valkyrie and the Queen as well. And I can say with certainty that defeating a Valkyrie is the most gratifying feeling I’ve experienced in a game in a long time. When you finally knock a Valkyrie to the ground and hold it down as you rip off its wings, there’s a solid feeling of “YES!” It isn’t like a lot of challenging bosses where you’re just glad it’s over, it’s a true feeling of triumph. As I finally ripped the Valkyrie Queen’s wings off, I remember jumping out of my chair and yelling “I DID IT!! I DID IT!!” The battles against the Valkyries are trying and will test you on every level, but the experience of earning your victory, of becoming good enough at the game to overcome the hardest bosses in the game, is so worthwhile that it’s impossible to give the Valkyries any title other than the greatest bosses of 2018.
Best Weapon
This is another classic Right Trigger award that has been cut in recent years. This year, however, there were enough weapons to put together a bare minimum list, so I figured, “why not?” While not every game uses weapons, for those that do, the quality of the weapons is an integral part of whether or not the gameplay is compelling. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen points docked in a review of a game because the weapon selection was bog standard. These were the weapons that I had the most fun using in 2018.
#5): Stakes (Vampyr)
There’s just something satisfying about using a stake while playing as a vampire. That’s literally it...ok, well, they also do serve a gameplay purpose. See, if you stab an enemy with a stake, you gain blood, so fighting with it actively aids your ability to use your skills.
#4): Volcanic Pistol (Red Dead Redemption 2)
The Volcanic Pistol was my first gun purchase in Red Dead Redemption 2, and I remember seeing immediate combat improvements as I took it out for a spin. It feels excellent and just heavy enough when fired, so it quickly became my go-to weapon for the rest of my play through.
#3): Leviathan Axe (God of War)
The Leviathan Axe has an excellent sense of freedom about it. You can throw it and recall it anytime you wish, even in the middle of using it, which allows you to switch between bare fists and weaponry in under a second if you so wish. Beyond that, landing heavy attacks with the axe just feels powerful.
#2): Recurve Bow (Far Cry 5)
Anytime a Far Cry game with a recurve bow comes around, I have to give it a spot on the best weapons list. Few bows in games feel as satisfying to shoot as the recurve bows always do in Far Cry titles. Whenever I boot up a new Far Cry game, my first major quest is to get my hands on the recurve bow, so satisfying is it to use, and the version of this weapon in Far Cry 5 is no different.
Weapon of the Year: Staves (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
The name of the game in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is “crowd control.” If you want combat to be manageable, you’ll typically want a weapon that does damage to enemies at a certain angle from you, not just the enemy in front of you. Any number of weapon types do that, but for me, I found the staves to be the most useful. They combine the crowd control aspect with speed, so when combined with effects like poison, you won’t find weapons that are more useful for dealing with large swaths of enemies.
Best Setting
Ideally, setting is the foundation of a narrative. It’s the backbone, the skeleton, the shell that contains a story and its characters. However, it’s important that the setting fit the contents inside it. A game could have the most beautifully realized depiction of Victorian London imaginable, but if the characters inside fight with laser rifles and speak like 12 year-olds playing Fortnite, then the game is an absolute disaster. These were the most compelling and consistent settings in games this year.
#10): The Storybook World (Moss)
The world of Moss is one teeming with lore hidden behind its cutesy storybook aesthetic. But even if you don’t go looking for that lore, if you play Moss, you’re bound to fall in love with the world at around the same time that you fall in love with Quill.
#9): New York (Spider-Man)
I’ve never in my life wanted to visit the jam-packed hellhole that is New York City....and after playing Spider-Man, I still don’t. However, as a vehicle for the game’s content, New York was pretty much the perfect setting. The amount of tall buildings meant that anytime Spider-Man shot out a web to assist with swinging around the city, it made sense. Furthermore, the city’s congestion was the perfect way to hide starting points for semi-random crimes in progress.
#8): Donut County (Donut County)
Donut County is a quaint little settlement and surrounding areas inhabited by anthropomorphic animals and people alike. It doesn’t serve much of a gameplay purpose, but the concept is cute enough to warrant a spot on the list. There’s also a decent bit of lore about how the raccoons swooped in to take over everything from the shadows by stealing and researching everyone’s trash, so there’s that.
#7): Celeste Mountain (Celeste)
In the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne ends up tossed into an underground prison that can only be escaped by climbing up its treacherous sides. A friend of mine referred to this prison as “the symbolism factory.” The same could be said about the titular mountain in Celeste, except the game never pretends the mountain is anything but a metaphor given physical shape. Celeste Mountain is a notorious difficult mountain to climb, and many people in the game world end up attempting to climb it as a way to come to terms with their inner demons and better themselves. The mountain’s infamous difficulty plays directly into the gameplay, which makes the lore of the setting all the more fitting.
#6): Kanto (Pokemon: Let’s Go)
There are two reasons why Kanto should have been either lower on the list or not on the list at all. Firstly, this is the second remake of Kanto since Pokemon began and the third iteration of it altogether, meaning that there’s nothing truly new about the setting. Secondly, Kanto has never really appealed to me as a Pokemon fan. However, this most recent iteration of Kanto, due to some changes to gameplay, just appeals to me far more than it should, so it gets a spot on the list. As for why it’s so high up, not only was this the first time I’ve ever enjoyed Kanto, this was the first time I ever felt compelled to actually explore Kanto. So it isn’t just that the various changes made the setting more compelling, they made me want to actively engage with the setting more.
#5): Hope County (Far Cry 5)
While the fictional Hope County, Montana may not be Ubisoft’s most compelling location of all time, from a sheer beauty and folklore standpoint, it’s one of Ubisoft’s more thorough ones. Hope County is a storied location, and you can tell this just by taking some time to explore or by looking at maps and brochures in cabins and the like. It’s just a setting that feels alive, and as if that weren’t enough, Hope County itself is varied and beautiful enough to warrant serious exploration. The whitetail mountains to the north represent everything I love about the mountainous northwestern states. The fertile farmland to the southwest just makes a person want to hop in a truck and listen to country music. Everything about Hope County feels truly American, which makes the stakes of the story hit home much harder.
#4): Kamurocho (Yakuza 6: The Song of Life)
I said this of Kamurocho when it won this exact same spot in last year’s best setting list, but Kamurocho just inspires a childlike curiosity in me. The burning neon and bustling streets of Tokyo have always been a source of odd fascination for me, and Kamurocho is a great enough representation of what I find so fascinating about it to help me scratch that itch without having to hop aboard a plane and spend Lord knows how much money. I may not have interacted with the city in Yakuza 6 as much as I did in last year’s Yakuza 0, but whether I was in an internet cafe, a cat cafe, playing majong or shogi, or singing my heart out in karaoke, Kamurocho, as always, helped me live all my tourist fantasies.
#3): Old America (Red Dead Redemption 2)
During the events of Red Dead Redemption 2, America is on the cusp of change. In the years following the civil war, a vast majority of the country was thrust into a lawless state of individualism, with the rule of law only holding sway over major cities and outlying areas. Now, however, society has started creeping across the country, and the time of gunslinging outlaws is coming to an end. In all corners of what once was the promised land for a man wanting to live a private life by the sweat of his own brow, the black smog of industrialism and unspoken rules and reputation-centered ideals of collectivism are beginning to look like they have a better hand. This is the stage upon which the tragic downfall of the van der Linde gang takes place, and upon it you can see both sides of the war for America’s purpose. In the larger cities like Saint Denis, you see cramped living quarters and minorities having to work for petty change, but you also bear witness to a police force equipped to stop violent crime at the drop of the hat. In the smaller towns like Rhodes you see communities working together and supporting each other voluntarily, but you also see bands of raiders with the power to pick off and kidnap citizens with little resistance. Not only is the setting compelling for such a story, but the way it’s implemented in such unspoken ways as I’ve been laying out makes it one of this years better-designed settings.
#2): Norse Mythology (God of War)
The plot of God of War sees Kratos and Atreus traveling through many of the 9 realms found in Norse Mythology. Most of the story takes place in Midgard, but they also take detours to Alfheim, Helheim, Jotunheim, Muspelheim, and Niflheim. While popular culture tends to depict most of these realms as complete wastelands, God of War goes for a more fantastical approach. Midgard resembles an Earth as imagined by the norsemen (you know, the kind of Earth where every kind of animal has a beard). Alfheim and the elves that dwell therein give off a distinct insectoid vibe. Helheim, the realm of the dead, takes on a sickly blue-green hue that one doesn’t usually associate with death, but that ends up unsettling enough to make the theme stick. The realms of Norse Mythology aren’t places that the developers had to build from scratch, but what they created is a more unique coat of paint on a mythology that spurs the lore for many fantastical settings today.
Setting of the Year: Ancient Greece (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
Ancient Greece has long been my favorite time period ever, so when I heard that we were getting an Assassin’s Creed title set there, I couldn’t have been more excited! What we got, however, was so much more than I was expecting. When you hear about Ancient Greece, what, from a geographical standpoint, do you think of? Probably the two city-states of Athens and Sparta, correct? Well, Odyssey has both city-states as well as the entire rest of the Ancient Greek world, including Macedonia. Every little island in the Peloponnese is included and is fully explorable, and this sheer amount of land included in Odyssey serves to give greater context to the Peloponnesian war. People tend to think of it as just the cities of Athens and Sparta going at it against each other, but in reality, the reach of these city-states was far greater. Athens and Sparta controlled nearly all of the greek world, so the war was far from just a feud between two large cities. But enough of me nerding out. The Ancient Greece of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is rendered gorgeously, it’s packed with content, and the Peloponnesian war ties directly into a power struggle gameplay mechanic where you can win as much of the map for one side of the war as you’d like. Not only is the setting enjoyable, the realities of the time are utilized to add additional gameplay content. Let me tell you what, though. Even if the setting didn’t trickle its way into gameplay, I can guarantee you that I would’ve given Ancient Greece a spot pretty high up this list. Why? Because I would spend entire evenings in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey just walking in a direction with nary a care in the world. One evening I spent my entire playtime just crawling up and down the many arms of Macedonia because I just wanted to take in as many of the sights as I possibly could while I was up in that neck of the woods. Odyssey’s setting is compelling, well-crafted, and has a positive impact on gameplay. There’s no better setting to give this award to, then, than Ancient Greece.
Best Moment
Now we’ve come to one of my absolute favorite sections. Time for a little bit of Right Trigger history. I first started this blog in 2013, but I’d been writing what seemed like large reviews at the time on Facebook throughout 2012. When I started The Right Trigger, I started by porting all my 2012 reviews into it, and after doing so, I realized that I had no end of year wrap up. So, I threw together a series of best lists for 2012 even though it was well into the new year by that point. There were less than 10 categories, the writing was all over the place, I only had reviews out for maybe a third of the items that won spots on the lists, it was a mess. But the very last category of that article was not Game of the Year. In what was an odd stylistic choice, I’d actually opened up the article with the Top 5 Games of the Year. The final category in the very first Right Trigger end of year wrap up was “Best Moment,” so important was this category to me. This category is one that allows me to pour my heart out about the spoiler-y moments that stuck with me throughout the year, so it’s a category that I always cherish. Without further ado, these were the moments that, for whatever reason, ended up lodged in my memory banks this year.
YOU SHOULD ASSUME MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EVERY TITLE YOU SEE IN THIS CATEGORY
#10): Lennyyyyy (Red Dead Redemption 2)
We’ll be starting this category off on a relatively light note. One day, Lenny tells Arthur that Micah, having screwed up yet again, has gotten himself arrested. Arthur reluctantly agrees to help Lenny out with rescuing Micah, and Lenny suggests they start by asking around in the nearby town of Valentine. Upon arrival, however, Arthur reveals his true plans: to let Micah sit on his mistakes for a while and spend the day drinking instead. Arthur and Lenny begin drinking...and drinking...and drinking, and they get up to all sorts of hijinks that drunks always get involved in. One minute they’re punching everyone around them, another minute Lenny is telling Arthur how much he respects him, another minute Arthur suddenly starts believing that everybody in the saloon has Lenny’s face. The evening ends with Lenny being arrested, and with Arthur fleeing from the law practically with crossed eyes and on all fours and screaming “YE’LL NEVER TAKE ME ALAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE!!! HEHEHEHEHEHE!!!” It was a memorable sequence that provided a brief moment of levity from the serious, depressed tone of the rest of the story.
#9): Sarffog (Moss)
In every storybook, there comes a moment where the hero believes that all is lost. In the tale of Quill the mouse, this moment comes when she’s so close to rescuing her Uncle. After dropping down into a series of caverns, Quill is ambushed by the evil snake, Sarffog, and narrowly escapes into a separate cavern. The cutscene transitions to the storybook mode, where you’re looking down at a book as the action happens. Quill flees, treading upon the corpses of several mouse warriors who had died trying to slay the snake. As the narrator continues to narrate, the music starts to swell to a sad bit of flute and violin. Finally, Quill collapses from exhaustion in a cave room by a little pool of water and starts to cry. The narrator reads: “Quill had never felt more small and helpless.” Let me take a step back to emphasize what a difference VR makes in storytelling. You’re probably reading this, thinking “so what? Lots of characters feel small and helpless.” But in the context of this VR game, watching this was truly impactful. The narrator then speaks Quill’s lines, lamenting about how it would take an army to defeat the snake. A mask appears in the pool of water, and you realize it’s the reflection of the reader you play as, and the mask’s position in the pool changes as you move your head, so it’s as if you’re really looking down at Quill. The narrator plays off of this: “But then...she felt a gentle touch of warmth and mustered the strength to look up. The reader was still there, expressionless as always, but unwavering in their loyalty.” The narrator reflects on how far you and Quill had already gone, and Quill finally turns to address you in sign language: “Please, my friend...will you stay with me...and try?” And by this point I’m bawling like a baby and screaming “of course you silly mouse! We’re gonna GET your Uncle BACK!”...well, I wasn’t actually bawling nor screaming, but it was far more emotional a moment than it would’ve been in anything other than VR.
#8): Confrontation (Celeste)
After another battle against the part of herself that represents her depression and anxiety, Madeline and this other part (henceforth referred to as POM) finally start talking things out. In her defeat, POM says “I guess you don’t need me after all...if you want me to go away, I’ll try.” Madeline responds by saying that the two of them have got to work together if they want to reach the top. The two go back and forth in their normal way before Madeline wraps POM up in a hug and says, “It’s ok to be scared.” It’s such a simple moment, but it’s the moment that defines the core message of Celeste. If you suffer from anxiety or depression, like it or not that illness is a part of you, and the only way to win your battles and to face the seemingly insurmountable tasks that stand in your way is to understand the role that your illness plays in your life, the purpose that it believes it serves. In Madeline’s case, POM believed she was keeping Madeline safe by trying to stand in her way, and it was only when Madeline stopped fighting the fear and embraced it as something to accept but set boundaries with that she was able to work together with POM to reach the top of Celeste Mountain, a feat that few people could claim to have accomplished.
#7): A Mother’s Prayer (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
After something around 25-30 years being out of the loop in terms of how his remaining family is doing, Alexios learns that his mother is alive after tracking down the father who threw him off a mountain. A massive hunt for his mother ensues, with him searching and scouring all corners of Greece and inquiring with the most reliable minds in the world. Finally, he learns that his mother is now the leader of one of the pirate islands off the coast of Attika. As he arrives in the main building on the island, a meeting has just wrapped up, and he sees his mother walking towards the balcony. He comes up behind her and she declares that the meeting is over. He draws the spear that she used to train him with and presents it to her. It’s a simple meeting, but it’s an effective mother-son reunion the likes of which I’ve never seen in an Assassin’s Creed title before.
#6): The Plague of Athens (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
This being a game that takes place during the Peloponnesian war, at some point we were going to have to witness the plague that struck Athens and paved the way for their eventual downfall at the hands of Sparta. This sequence begins with an objective stating a need to return to Athens, but once Alexios arrives there, he finds the sun blocked out by clouds and ash, and he finds the city streets strewn with the victims of the plague. The atmosphere is tense, and this is only heightened by the knowledge that the Cult is using this plague as a way to close in on the Athenian ruler, Perakles. Up until now, Alexios’ young friend Phoibe, though a mere child, had taken it upon herself to work for Perakles’ wife, Aspasia. When Alexios arrives at Perakles’ house, Aspasia tells him she sent Phoibe out on an errand but hadn’t yet returned. Alexios takes off running into the heart of Athens to where Phoibe was last seen. After doing some investigation of the area, he sees Phoibe taking off into a temple, being pursued by cultists. As he enters the temple, he finds that he is too late, and the cult has already struck his friend down. After slaying the cultists in the area, Alexios approaches Phoibe’s lifeless body and tearfully delivers a small prayer before placing her beloved toy eagle in her hands and leaving her to Sokrates for a proper burial. This is one of the moments that ultimately ends up glossed over by the plot, so it could’ve been executed better, but it was still an impactful moment.
#5): He was right under your nose (Yakuza 6: The Song of Life)
(gif courtesy of https://gfycat.com/gargantuanvalidfinwhale) Late in the game, Kiryu learns from Kiyomi that Haruto has disappeared, and all the signs seem to indicate that Hirose family patriarch Toru Hirose (with whom Kiryu has spent the whole game working) is responsible for kidnapping him. Given how the entire cast of supporting characters works for Hirose, they want answers as much as Kiryu, but the clock is counting down. Yakuza families from all over Japan are rushing to Hiroshima prefecture to try and intercept Haruto for reasons unknown at the time. Kiryu and the Hirose family roll into the dock town where their working relationship began and cut their way through wave after wave of Yakuza goons as they make their way to where they’re sure they’ll find Hirose. Finally, after taking down one of the Yomei Alliance captains, they meet up with Hirose, who explains that he swept Haruto away to protect him from the other families and promises to give them all the answers they seek. As the group sits down to talk, one question is on everybody’s minds: Does Hirose know who Haturo’s father is? The question gets asked, and in true Yakuza fashion, Hirose dances around the question with vague lines for a solid couple of minutes before shifting his eyes to Kiryu’s left side, singling out Yuta Usami as the father. It’s a moment filled to the brim with tension as this young Yakuza realizes that he knocked up the infamous Dragon of Dojima’s daughter. It’s tension that’s soon broken (or made worse, depending on who you are) by one of the family’s dumber members asking “uh...you...didn’t think to bag it up?” but pretty much the ultimate moment in Yakuza 6’s story, nonetheless.
#4): I am your monster no longer (God of War)
After killing one of Thor’s sons while obtaining the chisel needed to carve the travel rune to Jotunheim, Atreus suddenly falls ill, but the gang presses onward. They get to their next objective, and after Atreus exerts a little too much energy, he collapses, and Kratos has no choice but to turn to Freya for help. Freya tells him that she’ll need the heart of the gatekeeper of Helheim in order to save Atreus, and that the beasts of Helheim are made of ice too cold for fire to melt. Kratos then realizes that he has to return to the home that he and his new wife built, and anybody who knows anything about this saga likely started crossing their fingers at this point. Kratos boards a small boat headed downstream towards his home, where he sits in silence for a little while. In his reflection, an apparition of Athena appears in front of him, taunting him for a little while. When he finally returns to his house, he opens up a secret compartment in the floor and pulls out a parcel wrapped in cloth. The “God of War” theme that I mentioned in the soundtrack section plays as the cloth is removed and the parcel is revealed to contain the Blades of Chaos that Kratos became famous for in the original trilogy. As he wraps the chains around his arms once more, the vision of Athena appears in the doorway and tells him, “You’ll never change. You’ll always be a monster!” Kratos pauses for a moment before responding, “Yes...but I am your monster no longer.” Kratos gets up from off his knees and walks slowly (you know, in a badass way) towards the door of his home and out into the world, where the sky has turned blood red and thunder crashes. A horde of ice-based enemies appears from the ground, and for the first time in the game, Kratos takes the blades of chaos in hand and whips into a more advanced version of the dance of fury that anybody who played the original trilogy will be familiar with. The chains scream as they whip through the air, and Kratos leaps and flips around the area, slamming the chains down and ripping enemies to shreds in a fast-paced ballet of fire and steel.
#3): Birth of the Joker (Batman: The Enemy Within)
There are 5 episodes in Batman: The Enemy Within, and at the end of episode 4, the character of John Doe goes one of two ways: Either he feels betrayed by Batman and becomes a suave villain under the name “Joker,” or he continues to feel friendship and a desire to help heal injustice in Gotham and becomes a vigilante named “Joker.” Either way, at the beginning of the final episode, John has become the Joker in some way. The moment I’m referring to occurs when John goes down the vigilante path, continuing to dedicate himself to fighting by Batman’s side to improve things in Gotham. At the start of this episode, John dons the purple suit, the black eye shadow, and the spiked green hair that we tend to associate with the Joker, but the look isn’t quite complete, and we’ll get to that. As the episode progresses, Amanda Waller continues her crusade against John and starts pushing his buttons in ways that frequently bring out his darker side. Batman spends the entire episode trying to keep John on the path of good, but everything culminates in a finale where John kidnaps Waller and threatens to kill her because he believes she killed the Riddler and is trying to pin it on him. Batman confronts John, and John starts to draw parallels between Waller and our hero, and this is only made worse as Batman tries to convince John that killing Waller isn’t the right thing to do. At that moment, the character who really killed the Riddler appears, and John makes a move to kill this character. He is stopped, and as he tries to flee from the area, he’s hit with stun rounds by agents and is soon surrounded. As the agents start the process of arresting John, Batman reassures him that he’ll get him help and won’t abandon him, but at this point, John’s spirit and faith in his former hero has been completely broken. He takes out a knife and brutally murders all the agents in the immediate area. Batman calls out to him by name, only to be met with laughter. John then yells out, “It’s Joker!” and wipes his hand across his face in a grand bit of gesturing that smears a gigantic stain of blood across his lips, completing the iconic Joker look, before letting out the first truly uninhibited maniacal laugh of the series. It’s a moment that has a lot of impact simply because of how much you likely rooted for John in the prior episodes. But in this moment, we see an unwell yet not evil character, a character who just wanted to help people as best he could, a character who was used on several occasions by a man he thought to be his best friend, reduced to a cackling maniac with a face covered in blood and eyes staring borderline cross-eyed into the distance. Batman: The Enemy Within was far from a good game, but the birth of the Joker as we know him was one of the moments that stuck with me the most this year.
#2): The Hero’s Choice (Spider-Man)
After Doctor Octopus releases a disease upon New York, many of its inhabitants fall ill and find themselves on the verge of death. As Spider-Man works to round up the Sinister Six and put an end to Octopus’ plan, he discovers that one of the people afflicted was none other than his Aunt May, the last living family he has. So, battered and bruised from the last couple of fights, he manages to take down his former mentor and get ahold of the antiserum needed to produce a vaccine to fight the infection. The screen fades to black for a moment before coming back up on the room in Aunt May’s homeless shelter where she’s currently being treated and where one of the scientists who invented the disease is investigating the anti-serum. The scientist tells Spider-Man that it’ll take something around a day to produce a vaccine in large enough quantities to distribute to the New York populace. Spider-Man looks at Aunt May and asks what would happen if they just used what they had to cure somebody right then, but the scientist tells him that if they did that, there wouldn’t be enough to produce a vaccine en-masse. The scientist leaves the room to give them some space. A few moments pass and the orchestra starts to swell. Peter, still in his suit, walks up to Aunt May and, through the sound of tears, tells her, “You’re going to be ok, ma’am. I have the cure right here.” Aunt May tells him to take off his mask, because she knows it’s her nephew on the other side of it. The two go through the usual song and dance of “I’m so proud of you.” Finally, Peter breaks down, telling Aunt May, “I don’t know what to do!” To which Aunt May simply responds with “Yes, you do.” She starts to cough and the medical monitors start reacting. Peter grabs the antiserum and starts to put it on the needle in May’s IV, but forces himself to stop with a sound of exertion. He places the antiserum back on the desk and collapses, sobbing over Aunt May’s barely-living body for her last moments, sacrificing his beloved Aunt, his last remaining family member, so that thousands of others might live to see another day. It was a harrowing reminder of the true meaning of heroism, a side of heroism that we don’t often get to see. Oftentimes we see heroes being presented with a personal vs greater good choice, and most of the time we see them manage to save both their loved one and the school bus full of children. But this was one moment in which a hero truly did have to make a choice, and there was no way to swoop in at the last minute to save everyone. It begs a question of all of us: For as much as we would all love superpowers and to be superheroes, would we have the heroes heart necessary to make this kind of choice? This moment had that question in the back of my mind for a while after playing.
Moment of the Year: Together Forever (Far Cry 5)
Far Cry 5 ends with the deputy and the various lawmen of Hope County finally taking down Joseph Seed and starting the process of arresting him while he starts spouting scripture. As he does this, the deputy starts looking around and noticing that something isn’t right. Finally, Seed looks the deputy right in the eyes and finishes his scripture reading with, “the wrath of God upon the Earth.” Suddenly there’s a bright flash and an explosion in the distance. A mushroom cloud forms on the horizon, and I, for one, suddenly got goosebumps. The gang rushes to their vehicles and starts trying to outrun the shockwaves, but more mushroom clouds start popping up over all of Hope County. You see the county you’ve spent the last God knows how many hours exploring go up in flames, you watch animals disintegrate into dust, and there’s an intense air of panic as a previously brainwashed law man starts shrieking and crying about how Seed was right all along and God was destroying the world. Eventually the car crashes, it’s implied that all your fellow lawmen died in the crash, and you just see the deputy’s body being dragged away. As the deputy wakes up, he finds himself handcuffed to a bed inside of the bunker from the beginning of the game, with Joseph Seed staring right down at him. Seed starts to monologue about how he was right: the politicians won’t be able to wage endless wars anymore, the corporations won’t be able to let the poor starve, etc. Seed declares that he should kill you for what you’ve done, but decides that the fact that you’re still alive means that you’re meant to join him when the time comes to walk out into the new world. And with that, Seed essentially declares that the two of you will be down in the bunker with each other forever. This is my moment of the year because nothing quite stuck with me as much as this ending did, and the sheer shock factor was unparalleled. Sure, the fact that Far Cry: New Dawn is coming means that the interpretation in which God really was destroying the world isn’t accurate and the ending really was just nukes, which makes it a little less unique, but I must say that no moment shocked me and jumped onto this list with more energy than this one.
Biggest Disappointment
The presence of a “Biggest Disappointments” list, in spite of how it sounds, is a good thing. It implies that, while there were several titles or aspects of titles that aimed for glory and fell short, the year itself wasn’t bad enough to warrant a “worst games” list. Some winners in this category get their spots because they, as games, were disappointing. Others won their spots because they were a mechanic or a piece of a game that stood in the way of greatness. Regardless, this last category of the Aspect awards celebrates disappointments. These were the 5 biggest disappointments of 2018.
#5): Octopath Traveler
It was Octopath Traveler that made me realize that I might never actually have played a classic JRPG. When I think of that genre, I tend to think of Shining Force or Fire Emblem, and Octopath Traveler was nothing like that. I went into this game expecting a heartfelt old school game with tons of content, but what I got was a lackluster technical offering with the most boring, repetitive gameplay I’ve experienced in a long time. The only things that saved Octopath Traveler from being a truly bad game in my book were the soundtrack and the art style, which were both admittedly quite good.
#4): Batman: The Enemy Within
Given how much I’ve rambled about the Joker in several categories this year, it may seem like a surprise to find Batman: The Enemy Within among the year’s top disappointments. But the reality is that the Joker is just about the only positive thing I can point to in this season of Telltale’s take on the Batman mythos. The original season made me stay up until 3 in the morning playing because I wanted to know what happened next. So when I heard of a new season, I was beyond excited. Imagine my disappointment when the plot was as forgettable as it was. It’s safe to say that, were it not for the game’s stellar retelling of the Joker story, Batman: The Enemy Within would be a much larger failure.
#3): The Speech (Detroit: Become Human)
There comes a point in Detroit: Become Human where Markus and his gang of Android Liberation Activists break into a TV station to broadcast their message. The cameras are pointed at Markus, and it’s up to him to deliver a speech that either promotes negotiation and equality or freedom at any cost. However, this segment is so poorly done that the tone can end up completely schizophrenic. You can go from having Markus say “we’ll bathe in the blood of humans if you don’t give us what we want” in an angry voice to “we hope you’re willing to join us in discussing our mutual humanity, liberty, and right to happiness” in the voice of a peacekeeper with no transition between the two tones. It’s downright laughable if you decide to mix and match your messages. Furthermore, the message is terribly acted. What was supposed to be a turning point in the story just ends up being laughable like so much else in Detroit: Become Human, and it’s truly disappointing to see.
#2): Roadblock (Shining Resonance Refrain)
In spite of many flaws, I quite enjoyed my time with Shining Resonance Refrain. Sure, Yuma is a little bit of a wimpy little wimp boy, and the twee-ness of the whole ordeal is a little nauseating, but there was something about it that kept me coming back...that is, until my progress was suddenly knocked into the ground. A word of advice, game developers. If your combat system depends on choosing the right people for the right job and building your party accordingly, it’s a dick move to suddenly make party decisions for the player and tie progress to being able to survive in the circumstances. I had my go-to party decked out and ready to go, but at one point in the second-to-last chapter of the game, I found myself being forced to use two characters I never used and who were each about 20 levels too low to survive. My only option was to either quit or grind for hours upon hours upon hours to get these characters sufficiently leveled. I was too distraught at the amount of time it would take, so I had no choice but to quit. That’s a serious problem, and it’s one that deserves scolding, but there was still one bigger disappointment that arose this year...
Biggest Disappointment of the Year: Fiddliness of Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 would probably have been one of the greatest games ever made were it not for the fact that it sucked so much to play. In my first week or so of playing I found myself screaming curses and nearly rage quitting every night. Every evening I found myself yelling “F*** THIS GAME!” as I once again died because of some stupid control issue. The game is just too fiddly for its own good. There’s too much realism incorporated at the cost of fun. I shouldn’t have to wait for my horse to come to me in real-time, re-equip all my weapons when I get off my horse, press about three different buttons to slowly draw my weapons while on horseback, watch a long animation every time I loot a body, get a wanted level and get run out of town for brushing up against an npc on horseback, etc. There’s too little control over Arthur in gameplay. I shouldn’t have to spend a minute spinning Arthur around in a circle so that he can get in just the exact right position to pick up a can of beans, constantly re-adjust Arthur so that he takes cover in the spot I f***ing told him to take cover in, etc. Furthermore, Rockstar’s insistence on giving you the illusion of control makes things incredibly irritating at times. If I’m going to have to crawl my wagon through town at a snail’s pace, it should just be a cutscene. If I’m not actually going to have any control over where my horse goes except microscopic little angle changes, it should just be a cutscene. *sigh*. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a good game, but it’s truly held back from brilliance by this year’s biggest disappointment, the game’s overly fiddly nature.
Most Unique
This is perhaps one of the most self-explanatory categories in this article. This is the category where we take a step back to look at the games that pushed the envelope in some way and celebrate them for it. This is the category where we take a break from all the mainstream bells and whistles that come with games and just look at whether or not a game tried something new. These were the most unique games of 2018.
#5): Senran Kagura Reflexions
Starting this off, we have a game that truly does live up to the word...Unique. You see, SKR is a massage simulator, where you play as a boy helping a classmate, Asuka, understand her feelings for you by holding her hand and causing her mind to float into a fantasy of some sort. In these fantasies, a reason is contrived for you to give her a massage, and you do so with the joy cons of the Switch. As you do this, Asuka reacts in various ways ranging from “hey, what do you think you’re doing” to borderline ecstasy. Then you give one more massage with your choice of one of a couple tools, and this brings Asuka a little closer to understanding her feelings. It’s a game that will likely make you feel uncomfortable on more than one occasion, but one can’t argue that it isn’t unique.
#4): Celeste
Bleep-bloop indie platformers are far from unique these days, and neither are indie games about living with depression and anxiety. So what is it about Celeste that warrants a spot on this list? It’s simple: the way in which the discussion of mental illness is directly integrated with gameplay. Most indie games that cover this topic just have you walk through bleak environments and call it a day. Celeste, on the other hand, sports no such backgrounds. Rather, we see the state Madeline is in, we are made to see visual representations of it in level design, not just aesthetic. Furthermore, while most titles that deal with these topics are mere walking simulators, theme park rides in which we just experience some emotions and then the credits roll, Celeste actually puts us in the shoes of somebody trying their hardest to overcome challenges. The entire game is about failure and starting over, so the hard-as-nails nature of the gameplay actually serves some purpose other than “old games were hard so we’re gonna be too!”
#3): Florence
While I don’t have as many pretentious things to say about Florence as I did about Celeste, Florence is no less unique. Being a mobile game, Florence doesn’t have a lot to work with other than touch screen interactivity, but the game uses that platform beautifully. For instance, the player is sometimes charged with causing conversation to flow by dragging puzzle pieces into a text bubble. As the characters grow closer, less and less puzzle pieces are required, indicating that conversation flows more smoothly than it used to. In a similar vein, during an argument, the player has to fill up as many of the text bubbles as fast as possible, mimicking the “I have to have the last word” nature of a lot of arguments. This is but one example of how Florence is a standout product, but I believe it’s a good representation of how the game takes already innovative mobile gameplay and uses it to move the story along and make implications about the story without a single word of dialogue.
#2): To the Top
To the Top makes it this high up the list because it dared to dream and it pulled off the dream with flying colors. If I’d uttered the phrase “VR Parkour Game” to you a year ago, you probably would’ve instinctively clutched your stomach and covered your mouth. Games are expensive to make, probably much more so in VR, and as I’ve kind of implied, the concept of a VR parkour game is one that many people probably would’ve backed away slowly from. With that in mind, making such a game could be considered a huge financial risk. However, the team that developed To the Top stuck to their guns and delivered the first major VR Parkour title ever. The result? One of the most thrilling games of this year, a game that shouldn’t have succeeded, but did. A success story this unique is hard to come by, so it must be celebrated whenever it can.
Most Unique Game of the Year: Moss
If I’d told you the words “VR Parkour Game” a year ago you would’ve braced yourself to throw up...but if I’d told you the words “Third-person VR game” at around the same time you likely would’ve just yawned or asked “why?” Furthermore if I mentioned that the game could easily be geared towards kids, whatever reaction you initially had would’ve been met with a laugh. “Nobody’s going to let their clumsy kid use their $300 VR headset!”, you likely would’ve jeered. Well...you were probably right on that last point, but in spite of Moss being a potential gamble because nobody asked for a third-person game in VR, it turned out really well. Third-person games involving cute animals are hardly a new fixture in the gaming world, as they helped kickstart the very first generation of 3D games. However, when it comes to Virtual Reality, they’re the last thing you think of. When you think of VR what you typically want is a first-person shooter or horror game, you want to be right in the center of the action and see it all unfolding in front of your eyes. The developers of Moss, however, had the crazy idea to have you standing above the action, watching as the actual protagonist makes her way through the world. Anywhere outside of VR, this would’ve been nothing to give a second look, but in the hardware context it’s stark raving mad! But you know what? In just about every review I read of Moss, the reviewer commented on the sentiment I’ve been describing and stated how pleasantly surprised they were with how Moss used the hardware to put a brand new spin on the third-person platformer. While it’s true that reactions to the concept of Moss were probably not as visceral as they were for To the Top, this success story of a developer taking a truly unique concept and making it work is nonetheless a worthy reason to declare Moss 2018’s Most Unique Game.
Best Developer
Because these categories always tend to do with the games themselves or qualities of them, it’s easy to let slip the fact that there were people and studios involved in their making. So for one award out of every end of year article, I like to circle around for a moment and take some time to recognize the people responsible for the games you’ve been reading about this whole time. Without further ado, these five developers were the cream of the crop, the developers who brought us the most impressive feats of game design and the like.
#5): Mountains (Florence)
Florence is the debut project from teeny tiny indie development studio Mountains. By this point I have a pretty well-documented disdain for the story in their game. This studio has about the same story concept talent as a 20-something white guy writing about a road trip of self-discovery he took with a manic pixie dream girl who broke his heart, but credit must be given where credit is due. A mere section ago I spent a good deal of time talking about how unique Florence is, and the fact that Mountains was able to put out a product worthy of that list on their first try is a testament to the brain power in this studio. I, for one, am going to be keeping an eye on Mountains; they’re going places.
#4): Game Freak (Pokemon: Let’s Go)
The developers of the much-beloved Pokemon series have been at this for about 2 decades, so it’s safe to say they have their product down. However, with this year’s Pokemon: Let’s Go, they took a gamble and decided to re-invent a lot of the tried-and-true game mechanics that the Pokemon games are known for. While these changes weren’t met with fanbase-wide applause, they did signal vast improvements, and it stands as a testament that it’s never too late to change for the better.
#3): Insomniac Games (Spider-Man)
At the first E3 that Spider-Man was shown off, the game turned the heads of just about every game journalist this side of Mott Street. Hype for the game only grew as the years progressed, so Insomniac had some lofty expectations to meet. When Spider-Man finally released this year, it was met with overwhelming critical praise and soon became the fastest-selling Playstation 4 title of all time or something like that. Not only was the game phenomenal, but it also featured a rewarding and skill-based unlock system for the several available in-game rewards. In a year following the infamous “Year of the Loot Box,” it resonated well with players that so much content that would’ve been ripe for extra monetization was simply unlockable in-game without incentive to spend extra cash. Furthermore, Insomniac demonstrated how compelling a game could be if player progression were designed in a way not meant to illicit extra purchases. Spider-Man was not only a triumph of good game design, it was a triumph of good business practices, and for that, Insomniac deserves all the praise in the world.
#2): Matt Makes Games (Celeste)
Matt Makes Games is a teeny tiny little team of developers, yet they managed to put out the game that was one of this year’s most solid technical packages and the first 10/10 I’ve given in years. With such a small amount of hands on deck, Matt Makes Games was able to put together a product more immediately compelling and replayable than most of the AAA titles released this year, and just, what can I say? It’s freaking incredible.
Developer of the Year: Santa Monica (God of War)
If you want a little glimpse of the passion that went into this game, there’s a video up on youtube of director Cory Barlog sitting in his house waiting for the reviews on Metacritic to start flowing in. You can tell that he’s nervous because, of course he would be. God of War is a beloved trilogy in the minds of most gamers, and he’d just spent the last five years working on a complete reimagining of the iconic gameplay formula and the equally iconic protagonist. If I were in that position, I would be deathly afraid of the critical response. In this video, Barlog finally decides to stop stalling and loads the God of War metacritic page before bursting into tears of joy. “A 94” he says, “52 critics and an overall score of 94...It shouldn’t matter, but...I'm just so proud.” Anybody would be happy to see their game do well critically, but there’s so much joy and passion behind his voice that you just know that the five years this game was in development were filled with the same passion. And you know what? That passion shows. God of War isn’t a perfect game, but it’s intricately designed and every detail is included with purpose. Santa Monica seemed to have an impossible task ahead of it in revamping such a beloved intellectual property, but they rose to the challenge and delivered, and that makes them the greatest developer of this year.
Best Story
While it’s true that the core purpose of a game is to be entertaining/fun to play, modern gaming has evolved beyond that. It’s certainly possible for a game to just be about shooting as many things as possible and be fantastic (after all, Doom won my GOTY for 2016), but I’ve found that if a game has a great story attached to it, if the action has some kind of critical context or stakes attached to it, the game is always that much better for it. If you need further proof of this, then look no further than the fact that Doom is the only non story-focused game to ever win my top spot in the list of best games. But enough chit-chat, these were the games with the best stories of this year.
#10): Vampyr
After returning home to London from the Great War, Dr. Jonathan Reid finds himself inflicted with vampirism. After accidentally killing his sister in his thirst for blood, Dr. Reid vows revenge on whatever being made him this way, and he takes up a job as a physician fighting the newest strain of the Spanish Influenza as a cover. This isn’t a story that I was able to see the end of, but the concept was compelling enough...and there weren’t a lot of standout stories this year, so...
#9): Moss
In a quaint little village in a storybook world of talking animals, there lives a mouse named Quill. One day, Quill happens upon a large being known only as “the reader,” and from there the two of them are bound by destiny. When Quill returns home to tell her Uncle about what she experienced that day, the Uncle warns that life with this connection will be hard and that there are those who would seek to harm her for it. The next morning, Quill awakens to find her Uncle missing, and she and her new friend set out on a grand journey to try and rescue him. Though it’s a simple storybook tale, it’s still one that is gratifying to experience in the VR context.
#8): Detroit: Become Human
In future Detroit, three androids undergo trials as a result of their android status. Kara is a household model who runs away with the daughter of her master in order to protect her from his wrath. Connor is a detective android model who teams up with the Detroit police department to investigate the rise in renegade androids among Detroit’s android inventory. Markus is an assistant to a retired artist who learns of both the beauty and the ugliness of the world, and he spearheads the effort to liberate androids from their human masters. All three stories intertwine in different ways all culminating in different outcomes depending on the choices made by each character. The whole “are androids people” question is hardly a new one, but the individual story moments that take place in this game are enough to make the story enjoyable regardless.
#7): Far Cry 5
In the fictional Hope County, Montana, a sheriff, a deputy, some other lawmen, and an FBI Agent are on their way to arrest Joseph Seed, the leader of a doomsday cult known as Eden’s Gate, on charges of kidnapping. Seed is a name and a face that everyone in Hope County knows to avoid, and his reach is wide, so the sheriff of Hope County promises the agent that if they want to make the arrest and get out alive, they need to be very careful. As they arrive at Eden’s Gate’s church, there’s an air of unrest as the members of the cult surround the lawmen but don’t make any sudden moves. Seed doesn’t resist arrest, but reassures his followers that God won’t let the law take him. Sure enough, Seed’s prediction turns out to be accurate, and he uses the attempted arrest as the springboard to begin a full-scale armed takeover of Hope County. Seed’s reach is expansive and his arsenal large, and the county falls under his control practically overnight. Miraculously, the lawmen survive, and from there, they have to work with the locals; men and women of every race, creed, and political affiliation to take their home back from the cult. Ubisoft somehow managed to take the doomsday cult idea and make it into the basis for a compelling “Americans taking America back” story, which is astounding given how this company isn’t exactly known for their storytelling chops.
#6): Spider-Man
At the start of Spider-Man, the titular hero has been simultaneously friendly and in the neighborhood for around 8 years, and he finally has the chance to put Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, in prison. Needless to say, the famed webslinger succeeds, and as Fisk is being carted off to the Raft, he warns that others will try to fill the power vacuum left behind in his absence. Some time passes, and a mysterious villain named Mr. Negative begins launching attacks seemingly aimed at the mayor of New York, Norman Osbourne. I try to keep the “Best Story” section free of major spoilers, so that’s as far as I’ll go in terms of specific plot points. As far as stories go, the overall plot is the kind of thing we’ve seen in superhero narratives before, but it’s the moment-to-moment things, the human moments between Peter Parker and his friends that make this story worthy of a spot this high up the list.
#5): Celeste
Feeling the need to escape from the mundanity of everyday life, a 20-something woman named Madeline decides to take a trip to Celeste Mountain in the hopes of conquering its notoriously difficult-to-climb peak. Along the way, she meets new friends and learns a little bit about how to live with her inner demons. At this point we’ve discussed the intricacies of this story many times over, so I probably don’t need to go over it again. However, I will just say once more for the record that the story in Celeste is quite good.
#4): God of War
After the death of his wife, Kratos, the estranged Greek God of War, take his son Atreus out hunting to determine if he’s ready enough as a young man to embark on a journey to fulfill his mother’s dying wish. After determining that Atreus is not ready, the two return home only for a stranger to show up at their door. The stranger appears to have godlike strength and cannot seem to be killed, and what’s more, he seems to know Kratos’ true identity. After briefly disposing of the stranger, Kratos and son leave their home to fulfill the aforementioned dying wish: a grand journey to scatter Kratos’ wife, Atreus’ mother’s ashes from the highest peak in all nine realms of norse mythology. It’s a journey of self-discovery, growth, and the bond between father and son. As I said in my review, it takes a little while to get invested in this story due to its in media res nature, but once it grabs you, you won’t want it to let go.
#3): Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Alexios lived as a child in Sparta with his mother, father, and infant sister until the oracle of delphi predicted that his sister would bring about the downfall of Sparta. After accidentally killing a Spartan religious official in the midst of his sister’s ritual sacrifice, Alexios himself is thrown off a cliff and left for dead. However, he survives, hops on a boat, and ends up on a neighboring island to the north. There, an aspiring merchant comes across him and raises him to be a mercenary. Alexios lives most of his life just wanting to get off of that island, but never finds the opportunity until a wealthy and suspicious benefactor solicits Alexios’ help in retrieving a simple artifact from a nearby corner of the island. Impressed with Alexios’ work, this benefactor once again requests Alexios’ unique talents. From there, Alexios finds himself a ship and crew and sets off with the goal of earning untold riches from the benefactor...in return for the head of the man he once called “father.” The story in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey has more heart and twists and turns in the plot than in any other Assassin’s Creed story to date, and it would’ve been easily the greatest story in any game this year were it not for two other titles.
#2): Red Dead Redemption 2
After a botched operation in the city of Blackwater, the outlaw gang of Dutch van der Linde finds themselves constantly fleeing from the Pinkerton detective agency. In terms of story, there’s not really a lot I can give here that would be just spoiler-y enough to pique your interest. Really, the best way to explain to you why the story of Red Dead Redemption 2 is worthy of second place in the best story contest would be to simply tell you that it’s a downward spiral of depression and borderline unbearable desperation. This is a game in which you watch a group of extremely desperate people become progressively more and more desperate. Then, just when you think they couldn’t possibly get any more desperate, something devastating to them happens and they become even more desperate. I can recall one evening where it was close to time to end for the night, and I’d just finished a mission that ended with another gang member being killed. As I was given control over Arthur again, the usual positive chit-chat of the camp was replaced with people screaming at each other and calling each other terrible things, and I just felt uncomfortable. Make no mistake, the story of Red Dead Redemption 2 is so great because it’s not at all a pretty thing to watch.
Story of the Year: Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
In order to protect his daughter Haruka’s reputation, series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu goes to prison for a number of years. When he is released and returns to the Okinawa orphanage that he runs with Haruka, he learns that Haruka has been missing for a long time. So, Kiryu returns to his old stomping grounds of Kamurocho in search of clues. Soon enough, he finds that Haruka was recently involved in a hit and run accident that left her in a coma. While the mystery of Haruka’s location is now solved, more questions arise as Kiryu discovers that Haruka was hit while protecting an infant confirmed to be her son. Kiryu follows a lead to a small dock town in Hiroshima prefecture in search of this child’s father. Like any Yakuza title, this is only the tip of the story iceberg. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life weaves a glorious tapestry of intrigue, betrayal, double motivations, secrets, under-the-table alliances between uneasy allies and bitter enemies, and plots that could potentially destroy all of Japan if left unchecked. All of this comes from a simple story about a retired Yakuza chairman seeking out the man who knocked up his daughter so he can smack some sense into him and force him to actually be a father. Though the story of Red Dead Redemption 2 is objectively the better written of these stories, the story in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Though the game itself annoyed me here and there, I was always fully invested in learning what new secret would be uncovered next. Yakuza 6’s story was the deepest and most intriguing to me, so I’m proud to declare it 2018’s greatest story.
Best Gameplay
The award for best gameplay is perhaps the most important award in this article (except for GOTY), as it’s the award that celebrates the one thing that games do that no other medium does. Games have evolved to be able to tell more intimate, personal stories than many books. Games have evolved to be able to frame shots with better cinematography than most films. Games have evolved to be able to tell longer running and more fully evolving stories than most television series’. However, when it comes right down to it, games still boil down to one thing: gameplay. Now, there’s two things to consider when it comes to gameplay. Firstly, there’s quality of the gameplay itself. Is the gameplay well-crafted, in other words? Secondly, there’s sheer fun factor. Regardless of whether or not the gameplay is well-crafted, is the game fun to play? These were the 10 games with the best core gameplay experiences this year.
#10): Red Dead Redemption 2
Rockstar gameplay is tried-and-true at this point. It relies heavily on auto-aim, but it grants you the ability to move the reticle for a headshot if you want to speed things along. This ensures that gameplay is accessible for people of all skill levels, but allows for the player to show their skills if they so choose. Rockstar games have never been about feeling skilled, however. They’ve always been about making the player feel powerful, and Red Dead Redemption 2 accomplishes that, as we should have already expected. However, RDR2 does absolutely nothing to push the boat out, so it sits firmly at #10.
#9): Astrobot: Rescue Mission
Coming in at #9, we have a game that takes a beloved gameplay style and ports it over to VR. Astrobot: Rescue Mission’s gameplay resembles that of Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine. It’s a series of loosely-related levels with collectibles, and you jump on enemies to defeat them. It’s obviously not the most creative gameplay premise in the world, but it does utilize the VR hardware to bring in some gameplay bits where you use your head to knock a soccer ball back or destroy a column or things like that, so that makes the whole thing just a bit more fresh.
#8): Pokemon: Let’s Go
The statement “tried-and-true” perhaps applies to no intellectual property more than it does to Pokemon. The rock/paper/scissors gameplay model has been around since the 90’s, and while changes have been made here and there, it’s largely remained the same. In terms of the combat, Pokemon: Let’s Go is no different. It’s still the rock/paper/scissors model you’re used to, albeit with some of the complexities of later generations taken out (such as abilities, held items, and eggs). However, when it comes to the act of catching Pokemon, the gameplay has been turned on its head. Rather than the usual affair of weakening down a wild Pokemon before catching it, you simply use motion controls to do the job without your existing Pokemon being involved at all. Though there are critics of this new style (including those who rightly believe it’s a little inaccessible to people with mobility issues), I personally felt that it was an improvement to a stale formula.
#7): Celeste
From a gameplay perspective, Celeste is pretty simple in that it only has one gameplay mechanic: dashing. However, every level uses this one mechanic in a slightly different way, and later levels bring in aspects from other levels, ensuring that you’re constantly having to learn new ways to use the dash while never forgetting ways you’ve used it in the past. In spite of its relative simplicity, this game is tough as hell. However, it’s never unmanageable, as the challenges are spaced out in even-enough intervals to ensure that every death is a learning experience. Not only is this game a joy to play, but if I had a separate category for the best crafted gameplay as opposed to the mishmash of fun and craftsmanship I do now, Celeste would almost certainly dominate that list.
#6): To the Top
As I played To the Top, I would often find myself completely drenched in sweat by the time I finished a track and looked to see if I’d beaten one of the three tiers of time goals. If I hadn’t, I’d typically start the track up right again. The allure of the gameplay in To the Top is simple to describe: It’s a racing game. The thrill of a racing game lies in knowing you went the fastest. It just so happens that To the Top instills that goal in the midst of a first person VR parkour game where the racing involves leaping from incredible heights across fantastical locations.
#5): Far Cry 5
Given how many iterations of the Far Cry formula there have been, it should come as no surprise that the gameplay in Far Cry 5 is well-polished and compelling. As usual, you’ll be liberating enemy outposts either by stealth or by running in guns blazing. For the former option, there are plenty of bows and silenced weapons to get the job done. For the latter option, there’s definitely no shortage of gigantic machine guns with which to mow down hordes upon hordes of enemies. I absolutely adore the Far Cry formula, which is why Far Cry 5 makes it so far up the gameplay list, but I can’t allow it to score higher for a couple of reasons. I had more fun with the 4 remaining items, for one thing, but even if that weren’t the case, like with Red Dead Redemption 2, Ubisoft doesn’t push the boat out much in the gameplay on display here. It’s still really good as always, though.
#4): Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey completes what last year’s Origins set out to do in that it completely transformed the usual Assassin’s Creed gameplay into more of an RPG affair. Rather than spend the entire game telling you “be stealthy now” or “fight these guys now,” the game gives you three different types of damage: assassin, hunter, and warrior. Different pieces of gear increase different types of damage, and the type of damage you’ll want to be the highest will depend on your playstyle. If you’re like me and you prefer the stealthy approach, you’ll want to have higher assassin damage, but if you prefer to play as a tank, you’ll want higher warrior damage. No matter what approach you prefer, however, you’ll be able to truly commit to it. Going in with no stealth whatsoever will always put your reflexes and abilities to the test, whereas choosing the stealth route will always put both your ability to come up with a plan and ability to adapt on the fly to accommodate unforeseen circumstances to the test. The gameplay model in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is more open to player freedom than ever before, and the results are absolutely glorious.
#3): Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
The gameplay in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life isn’t quite as good as it was in last year’s Yakuza 0 primarily because there’s less player freedom. In Yakuza 0, there were three different combat styles of varying speeds, so you could choose depending on the speed you preferred. In Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, however, gameplay is locked into a single combat style, and first this can feel a little restrictive. Once you get into a good enough groove, however, you realize that the combat pace is perfect for the design of most encounters. This game is meant to be played as an over-the-top action movie. Every combat arena is littered with items to use from potted plants to bar stools. You can pick these up at any time and use them to bash in the faces of your enemies in true martial arts flick fashion. Likewise, you’ll consistently be outnumbered by around 30, so most of the abilities at your disposal tend to deal with crowd control. You’ll use the fatter enemies as human bowling balls and throw them into massive crowds of smaller enemies like you’re some kind of Japanese criminal bowler one strike away from getting his name on a plaque above the bathroom door. And when the time comes to tackle a boss fight, the sheer amount of dodges and swift punches makes the whole ordeal feel like something out of an episode of Dragonball Z. While the gameplay isn’t quite as good in this one, it’s still a Yakuza game, so it’s still head and shoulders above most gameplay you find these days.
#2): God of War
Gameplay has always been fantastic in God of War titles, but this entry is a little different. It’s a little less fast-paced, less combo-based, more strategic, and altogether less brutal. However, it came in second place for the award for best gameplay of the year, so these changes were obviously for the better. One thing that remains unchanged from the older games is the skills-over-stats gameplay model. In the older titles, you could get through the game without purchasing upgrades to health or updated combos if you were good enough with what you had. The same can be said of the gameplay in God of War 2018. Though there’s a much larger focus on RPG elements this time around, and there are a whole boatload of new skills for each weapon you have access to, you could probably get through the game without any issue if you just got good enough at the existing mechanics. That’s always a strong base to start off of, but if you roll with the character progression and accept the RPG mechanics, you’ll find that there’s even more to love in God of War’s gameplay. Every upgrade simply makes the combat feel more fulfilling, but the unsung hero of it all the game’s stellar understated progression system. Half the abilities you see, chances are you aren’t going to think twice about them. You’ll likely look at them, think “there’s no way I’m going to remember to do that!” and buy it just because you have the XP to spend. If you do this, chances are good you’ll activate the ability by sheer accident, and this accident will win a difficult fight for you as it did for me in a Muspelheim trial that I’d died during approximately 800 times. No matter what way you look at it, the gameplay on display here is phenomenal, and it would’ve been inarguably the best of the year, were it not for the gameplay found in...
Gameplay of the Year: Spider-Man
Boy-oh-boy, where should I start with the exceptional gameplay found in Spider-Man? Well, for the time being, I believe I’ll leave web slinging out of the equation, since it only loosely ties into combat. But even without the stellar world traversal aspect of gameplay taken into account, there’s more than enough in the gameplay to more than warrant Spider-Man’s place on this list. I suppose the place to start would be to cover how deceptively simple the gameplay is. You really only press a couple of buttons: the base attack button, the dodge button, and occasionally l1 or r1. However, within the confines of these few buttons, there’s a massive variety of attack possibilities. If you choose to stay on the ground, what Spider-Man actually does depends entirely on context. That is to say, Spider-Man will launch a different kind of attack if he was previously standing still, if he just got out of a dodge, if he just landed an attack, if he’s in the process of falling to the ground, if he’s pressed up against a wall, if he’s in the middle of a dodge, etc. This ensures that the player has a wealth of different attack styles that prevent watching gameplay from getting stale without forcing the player to memorize a complicated series of combos. Of course, if you choose to memorize under what circumstances certain attacks happen, combat is equally rewarding, as you can make a brawl look and feel pretty much however you’d like it to. It’s an excellent way of giving the player freedom over the flow of combat without actually giving the player any sort of combat style freedom. Everything I’ve just laid out is just what’s possible if you keep combat on the ground. However, you aren’t confined to the ground in combat. By holding the attack button, you can launch an enemy into the air and take the battle into mid air. There’s slightly less variety here, but there’s still more than enough flavor to keep it interesting. All of this is well and good, but Spider-Man also subscribes to the best kind of gameplay model: engage with combat to survive combat. As you rack up more and more hits, Spider-Man generates “focus.” This focus can either be used to execute one-hit KOs or to heal Spider-Man’s injuries. This forces the player to make conscious decisions about how to use the focus they build up, but in either case, the player has to actively fight against enemies in order to be able to build up the focus they’d need to heal. Not only is the gameplay in Spider-Man rewarding to play on its own, it actively rewards players for playing in this way. I could go on for pages and pages more about just how utterly fantastic the gameplay in Spider-Man is, but instead I’ll end this category by saying it took me all of one second to decide that Spider-Man was the winner of the award for Best Gameplay of the Year.
In award ceremonies/shows/articles for just about every other medium out there, the term “Honorable Mention” is a term used to honor items that deserved praise but weren’t quite good enough to make the cut. As always, my interpretation of this idea is a little different. When I first started doing my yearly Honorable Mentions section back in 2014, it was a pretty low-quality year, so there were quite a few things I didn’t get to point out as being good. For instance, it was the year that brought us Depression Quest. There was no way that game was going to get anywhere on any of my lists, but I thought it deserved recognition for the steps it took in explaining life with depression. Furthermore, it was a year dominated by some of the weakest women characters in gaming history, so I wanted to take a second to honor an example of an actual strong female character. It was neither a celebration of games that didn’t make the cut nor aspects/characters that didn’t make the cut. Rather, it was a hodgepodge of the two that gradually evolved into something of a celebration of categories that didn’t make the cut for the rest of the article. So, I’ll be doing my usual thing this year, explaining what each Honorable Mention means and what the criteria for winning is before declaring the winner. However, this year, I’ll be bringing back a practice from 2016 wherein I list nominees for the award. In addition, you should assume that there’ll be spoilers for any title you see. After this, it’ll be time for the big list: GOTY. Let’s get started!
Samus Aran award for Strongest Female Character
As I said in the introduction, when I first conceived the Honorable Mentions section in 2014, nearly every female character of the year was poorly-written. With that in mind, I came up with the Samus Aran award for the Strongest Female Character of the year so that, even in years like 2014, I’d have a way to point to a well-written female character and say “it wasn’t all bad.” This Honorable Mention is pretty straightforward, but just in case you’re dense, allow me to spell it out: The Samus Aran award celebrates the character that I thought was the strongest, most well-written female character with the most agency.
The Nominees are:
-Kara (Detroit: Become Human)
-Madeline (Celeste)
-Myrrine of Sparta (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
-Sadie Adler (Red Dead Redemption 2)
-Tiffany Fox (Batman: The Enemy Within)
And the winner of the Samus Aran award for Strongest Female Character is…
Myrrine of Sparta (Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey)
As much as I loved Odyssey, I believe it would’ve been improved tenfold if we’d played as Myrrine instead. Myrrine of Sparta begins the game as an exceptionally powerful mother to Alexios. Most of his flashbacks of his mother involve her training him with a spear, actively molding him to be the powerful Spartan man he grew up to be. After believing she lost both her children to her husband’s foolish sense of Spartan duty, she abandons her worthless husband and breaks the nose of King Archidamus. She flees from Sparta, renouncing her citizenship and becoming one of the Aegean Sea’s most feared pirate captains, the worst nightmare of Attikan slave traders. As if that weren’t enough, however, she eventually left the pirate life behind to become the uncompromising leader of one of the islands off the coast of Attika, ruthlessly driving her people to prosperity with nothing but diplomacy and strategic soldier placements. After reuniting with her son after years of believing him to be dead, she stops at nothing to help him in his quest to destroy the Cult of Kosmos. Myrrine is not only a strong female character on her own, she’s also a strong mother character. She cares deeply for her son and the daughter who serves the Cult of Kosmos, so much that she pleads with Alexios to do anything in his power to return Kassandra home safely. However, this doesn’t mean that Myrrine is soft in any way. There comes a point when Alexios and Myrrine return to Sparta and the two spot a group of Spartan boys being forced to fight against a pack of wild wolves as a training exercise. Alexios, being violently opposed to Spartan ritual, pleads with his mother that they have to help the boys or they’ll be killed. Myrrine, being a woman of spartan blood in spite of everything, tells her son something to the effect of, “Boys must become Men. If a boy cannot hold his own against a wolf, how can he protect Sparta against a man trained to kill? You are doing these boys a disservice by taking pity on them.” Though she’s a caring mother, she understands that children cannot be coddled if you want them to survive in the Greek world. Though the competition was pretty fierce this year, it didn’t take very long to decide on Myrrine of Sparta for this Honorable Mention.
Controls are an often overlooked aspect of games (take a shot every time I use that phrase in this article), but they make quite the difference. When I first played the namesake of this Honorable Mention back in the day, I was impressed by how fulfilling the decision to map reloading to clicking the right stick made the act of reloading feel, and that feeling stuck with me through the years. The reason why any game wins this award varies depending on the year, but it always has to do with either super-intuitive or creative (in a good way) controls.
The Nominees are:
-Celeste
-God of War
-Moss
-Spider-Man
-To the Top
And the winner of the Lost Planet award for Best Controls is…
Spider-Man
I won’t drone on too much about my reasoning for Spider-Man’s victory. Rather, I’ll refer you to its entry in the “Best Gameplay” section. To summarize, however, the controls of Spider-Man are simple, only requiring a couple of buttons. However, this relatively simple control structure yields a frankly unheard of variety of gameplay rewards depending on Spider-Man’s current position and several other factors.
I seem to say this every year, but this Honorable Mention is completely different from “Best Gameplay.” That section takes into account whether or not gameplay is actually well-made, whereas this Honorable Mention is just about fun. The very first recipient of this Honorable Mention was Goat Simulator in 2014, so you know that I practice what I preach. In order for a game to be eligible for this Honorable Mention, it must be straightforward, raw fun. The winner will be the one that is fun in the most straightforward, visceral way. Duh.
The Nominees are:
-Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
-Celeste
-God of War
-Pokemon: Let’s Go
-Spider-Man
-To the Top
-Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
And the winner of the Gears of War award for Most Raw Fun is…
To the Top
If you’re looking to fulfill your dreams of being either a superhero or some kind of silent shonen anime protagonist, then you need look no further than To the Top. From the moment I got used to the concept, I was having the absolute time of my life and seeing just what kinds of freaking ridiculously high jumps and falls I could manage. There were times where I would catch myself laughing to myself like some kind of giddy kid as I flew in first person through the air in an ancient temple area. This was a game that made me sweat through my shirt a couple of times because of how much I would get into the parkour action physically (and also, since this game requires a lot of upward-reaching, it isn’t a good idea to keep the fan on…). If you own a VR headset of any kind, you owe it to yourself to purchase To the Top, because it was the game I had the most straightforward, uncomplicated fun with.
Every year there are positive surprises, but I don’t typically get the chance to call them out for being just that. So, I take this Honorable Mention to lay out the list of games that seemed to come out of nowhere and knock my socks off. 2018 had a decent amount of positive surprises, so let’s get this show on the road!
The Nominees are:
-Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
-Celeste
-Deltarune
-Spider-Man
And the winner of the Undertale award for Biggest Surprise is…
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
And how could it be anything else? At this year’s E3 I had Odyssey pegged as the worst game showed off. I was so pissed off by how they seemed to life the entire UI and combat system from last year’s Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and I hated the smugness with which the presenter said that you could play as a woman “for the first time” even though you could do that in Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. Then news of the grindy nature of the gameplay started to arise alongside news of a million special editions and cringeworthy partnerships with Amazon and Totino's Pizza Rolls. Even if the game had just been good, it probably would’ve been the biggest surprise of the year just given how much I hated it before I started. But given how I now hold Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey as the greatest Assassin’s Creed game ever made, the surprise is just that much grander.
This here is one of my favorite Honorable Mentions because more often than not it lets me be as pretentious as I want. As I briefly covered in the introduction of the Honorable Mentions, back when I started handing these out in 2014, there was a little game called Depression Quest that I loved. It was never going to make it on any of the lists I’d put together, but I still wanted to give it a shout out in some way. With that, the Spec Ops: The Line award for Most Important Game of the Year, named after a game about the validity of nationalism in the face of war crimes, was born. This Honorable Mention celebrates games with a message to send, the games that touch on subjects other than just “kill the thing and save the world.”
The Nominees are:
-Celeste
-God of War
And the winner of the Spec Ops: The Line award for Most Important Game is…
Celeste
Well I’m sure we all saw this one coming. While God of War had some important things to say about the bond between a son and his father, there was just no contest here. There are several games out there, especially indie games, that tout themselves about being about living with depression and anxiety. You can find several of them just by going on steam and throwing a dart. However, few truly nail their premise as solidly as Celeste does. The story portrays these mental illnesses with some degree of visual metaphor, but the representation is pretty accurate. Furthermore, the challenge and try-again nature of the gameplay directly reflects what protagonist Madeline has to deal with every day of her life. I’ve often heard Dark Souls referred to as a brilliant metaphor for life with depression, but I’d say that the challenge found in Celeste is far more representative. Rather than losing a significant block of progress every time you “die” (succumb to your illness and fail to get out of bed to do your laundry, for example), every “death” in Celeste becomes an instant second attempt, much like in real life. With depression, failure to accomplish a task once doesn’t usually mean you give up on it right then. Usually, after feeling like you can’t do it, there’s at least one more “I need to do this.” The same can be said of anxiety. You might feel like you’ll absolutely die if you call a new doctor for the first time, but normally there are at least a couple of internal dialogues to the effect of “you know making a phone call isn’t going to kill you.” It doesn’t always mean you succeed in what you set out to do, but in any case, Celeste’s representation of this is far more fitting a representation than that of Dark Souls. I’ve touched on Celeste quite a few times in this series of lists, but I’ve been waiting for this section to really dig down into how the game is a triumph of designing a game to be a discussion of mental illness, and I hope I’ve convinced you at this point.
I remember it like it was yesterday. I’d been playing Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and I came to a point where I’d been fighting through a group of enemies called “the sons of Laz” to rescue a character. When I reached the character in question, it was obviously time to introduce a new enemy type, because when the character heard something coming, they uttered a line that would live on in infamy within my heart: “It could be the sons of Laz, but it could be something else!” This first Dishonorable Mention isn’t necessarily indicative of a bad game. After all, Kingdoms of Amalur was quite a good game, it’s just that its writing was God awful. Most of the time this award does go hand in hand with low quality, but it isn’t a given.
The Nominees are:
-Detroit: Become Human
-Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet
And the winner of the Kingdoms of Amalur award for Worst Writing is…
Detroit: Become Human
It was a legitimately difficult choice this year, but in the end, the characters in Detroit: Become Human fell much flatter because of the writing than they did in Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet. It isn’t necessarily that there were a lot of “sons of Laz”-esque stinker lines here, because there weren’t, but the characters were just written so unbelievably and statically that it caused what could’ve easily been a great story to just be a good story. Detroit: Become Human isn’t a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, but from the moment you meet Todd and have to listen to his writer-shorthand-for-abusive-drug-using-dad dialogue, you know you’re not going to be in for Shakespeare. From the moment you see Todd’s daughter immediately get over him being murdered in front of her and suddenly want a goodnight kiss from a male character you met two seconds ago because for some reason he’s a father figure now, you know that you’re not going to get anything from this game engraved on a plaque above your door. There have been games with far worse writing for sure, but for this year, Detroit: Become Human takes home the first of the Dishonorable Mentions.
Because I’m old, I was in high school when the original Borderlands hit shelves and started snagging critical acclaim. I remember a number of my friends telling me that I absolutely had to play it because it was the best thing in the world. Then I picked it up and was absolutely bored to tears. The game was ugly, clunky, boring, brown (which I get makes me a hypocrite given my love of Dragon Age), and it suffered from the same objectively bad problems that literally every other meant-for-co-op game suffers from. When Borderlands 2 came around a lot of my issues were fixed, but Borderlands has always stuck out to me as one of the most mind-numbingly boring games of all time. So, in 2014, when the time came to put together a Dishonorable Mention to use to point out that Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor was boring, I knew there was only one game to use as a namesake for the award. As the title and the rambling I’ve been doing in this paragraph suggests, this Dishonorable Mention celebrates the game that bored me to tears the most. Whether this is from lackluster game design or just a lack of interest on my part is of no consequence, if I was bored, it’s a nominee, and…
The Nominees are:
-Batman: The Enemy Within
-Octopath Traveler
-Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet
And the winner of the Borderlands award for Most Yawn-Inducing Game of the Year is…
Octopath Traveler
Until I really sat down to think about it, I thought for sure that this Dishonorable Mention would go to Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet. But at least in that one I felt some slight interest in leveling up to see if any of the characters I knew and loved would gain new abilities...or if the game would improve...but I digress. Octopath Traveler, in spite of one of the most gorgeous soundtracks and one of the best art styles of the year, is a boring, boring, boring, boring, boring game. I’m a fan of turn-based combat, but there was absolutely no strategy involved in this game. It’s just a constant exercise in guesswork for which there are no context clues, so you’ll either end up having to spend a turn to figure out a single weakness of an enemy or just have character attack blindly and hope that they hit a weakness. Even if you hit weaknesses every time, characters do jack diddly squat for damage, so no matter how overpowered you are, encounters can take minutes upon minutes upon minutes upon minutes upon minutes of the same mindless, repetitive, uninspired busywork. This is a game that supposedly takes upwards of 100 hours to beat, and I don’t usually have a problem with that. I beat Persona 5 twice with major progress in a third playthrough, after all. But the thought of having to put in even more time to do the same mindless repetitive busywork against even higher level bosses with likely even more ridiculously large chunks of health somehow managed to both annoy me and put me to sleep, so I put Octopath Traveler away, never to be played again.
As I say in every year in which this last Dishonorable Mention is present, its presence is a good thing. It means that there weren’t enough truly terrible games to fill up a full list. The downside to this, however, is that it means the game I liked the least earns a title as damning as “Worst Game of the Year” when it maybe wasn’t absolutely objectively terrible. So that’s one thing to keep in mind here. Even though the recipient of this Dishonorable Mention is the worst game I played this year, it doesn’t mean it’s actually terrible...it just means I thought it was the least good thing I played. In what may be considered a positive turn of events, there was only one nominee I could envision for this award, so it would be counterintuitive to list it out instead of just giving it the award.
And the Brink award for Worst Game of the Year goes to…
Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet
Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is far from an absolutely terrible game. It’s not a good one by any stretch of the imagination, mind you. In fact, it’s a bad game. But it’s just not terrible. I think maybe a better way to phrase the award for this year’s context is that Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is the bad game with the least redeeming qualities. While other games may have had one or two things they did really well, SAO has none. Where to begin? For starters, I suppose, the story is just awful. SAO as an anime has always had some storytelling issues, but Fatal Bullet manages to take the SAO canon and make it convoluted and boring. Rather than have any sort of stakes, the story is “there’s going to be a really cool loot drop in this ship, but we need to get strong so that we can hold our own out there!” That’s it. There are little substories including a romantic subplot where you can go on dates with characters from the show and, I quote, “hold hands with them,” but...good heavens that’s so cringey. Then there’s gameplay, which essentially devolves into an emulation of all the worst aspects of a multiplayer shooter. Characters never shut up, they’re constantly activating buff abilities which ensures that there’s always little “schwing” sounds as barriers go up, they constantly have the exact same conversations over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, and just when you need them the most they’re off doing their own thing or having the exact same “let’s do our best” conversation yet again! I’m realizing right now that I didn’t actually talk about gameplay at all there, so here goes: you just point the gun in the general vicinity of an enemy and the little probability circle determines whether or not you hit them. You don’t even have to be aiming directly at them at all, so there’s no skill involved whatsoever. The graphics are ugly, the framerate consistently stutters, there’s just nothing to love about this game. There have been worse games, sure, but for the purposes of 2018, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is the worst of the worst of what I played.
Well folks, we’ve come to the moment you’ve all been waiting for. This is the list that all 100something pages of pretentious rambling has been building up to. The time has come to lay out my picks for the top 10 best games of 2018. But before we begin, a note about how this list is constructed. Only games that I give an 8.0 or higher are eligible for this list, so when the time comes to make these decisions, I put together a full list of every eligible game in the order in which I reviewed them. I then put together a “raw” score based off the score I gave the game plus a number of other factors including: how many times did I replay/attempt to replay? How many times did I 100%/attempt to 100%? How compelled was I to research and play other games in the saga/by the same developer? How much did it surprise me? How much value do I feel you get for your money? How much time did I spend in the postgame if I didn’t even attempt to replay it? Finally, what position would I give it in the list if it were just up to my subjective tastes? This “raw” score determines the initial order of the items. Then, I take a tally of all positions that each game won in the lists leading up to this one (if a game wins 1st place in a category with 10 spots, it gets 10 additional points, 9 if it gets 2nd place, etc), and this shuffles around the order of the games into their final positions. Then it’s just a matter of reviewing the positions and executing final veto power if I absolutely disagree with something. I've only had to do that once, and it was last year when Mass Effect: Andromeda had the top spot from the sheer number of times I replayed it. This year, however, I had to do things a little differently. If you recall from a couple sentences ago, one of the aspects that gets tied into the raw score is where I’d put the game on the list were it up to my subjective tastes. Thing is, I usually already know what my GOTY will be, and the numbers tend to make it happen naturally. This year, however, I had no idea what I wanted GOTY to be. There were 5 games that I would’ve been ok with giving that title, but I just couldn’t make a solid decision between them. So, here’s what I did: For those 5 games, I simply treated them as they were: games that I would give the top spot were it up to me. So each of those games earned 10 points in that aspect, and from there I just went down normally. This meant that the game I would’ve subjectively put at spot #10 earned 5 points in that aspect. What this means is that any game I thought deserved a spot on the list at all had a huge leg up on the competition, and the 5 games I thought were deserving of GOTY had an even bigger leg up. In fact, all 5 of the games in question ended up in the top 5 in the end. That was to be expected, but in the interest of transparency I thought it was worth mentioning. One last thing to note on all this is, given how I didn’t know what I wanted my GOTY to be, this was the first time that I ever had to let the numbers make the final decision for me. In reviewing the results, I’m glad with the outcome, and I’ll stand behind the placements of games on this list. Why? Because this is my blog, these are my rules, and these are my Top 10 Games of the Year!
#10):
To the Top
I don’t know about you, dear reader, but whenever I come across a slow period where not a lot of games are being released, I tend to look to the cracks and crevices of Metacritic to see what new, independent titles may have come out. That’s how I first came across To the Top. I was looking for more VR titles in my ever-present quest to justify my purchase of the hardware, and I came across this game that promised hardcore VR parkour action. By this point in my time as a VR player, I was used to the technology enough to have stopped seeing in two different framerates, so I figured, “what the hell?” and I downloaded To the Top. I was not prepared for the thrills that awaited me, that’s for sure. As I glided through cityscape race tracks, trying to perfect my timing and my gymnastic finesse, I found myself having the time of my life and grinning from ear-to-ear. In the end, To the Top isn’t a game I was able to finish due to a large influx of new games and a general lack of time to get the headset ready and get the motion controllers secured, but it’s a game that I’ll be coming back to again and again whenever I feel small and decide I’d like to feel like a super-athletic hero.
#9):
Moss
When Moss was first revealed at last year’s E3, I never would’ve guessed that I would own VR hardware a year into the future. Nevertheless it was a game that I quickly scribbled onto the “good” side of the notes I was taking on the games being presented that year. Fastforward to April 2018 and I’d just purchased a VR headset as a birthday present to myself. It came with a demo disk and Skyrim VR, but there was one game I was looking forward to getting into more than all the rest, and that was Moss. From the moment I booted this adorable little storybook game up, I fell in love with the world, the concept, and most importantly, with the game’s adorable little mouse protagonist, Quill. The fact that this was the first full game I ever played in VR probably makes me a little biased in its favor, but I couldn’t help but feel magically whisked away every time I put on the headset to once again team up with Quill in the search for her Uncle. The sense of scale was fantastic, and the feeling of being a significantly larger being helping a mouse out on her journey was always gratifying and kept me engaged in spite of combat that didn’t really bring anything new to the table. Moss is not only just a great VR game, it’s an excellent VR game for beginners as there isn’t much in the way of sudden movement. So if you’re new to VR or are thinking of getting a Playstation VR headset, I can’t recommend Moss enough.
#8):
Far Cry 5
Early on in the year, controversy broke out due to the fact that Far Cry 5 would take place in Montana and the villains would be a doomsday cult with practices more or less based on fundamentalist protestantism. Society’s most butthurt, flag-sucking, cop-worshipping, we’re-under-attack-because-starbucks-says-happy-holidays morons and Tumblr’s most incessantly mewling, pink-haired, basement-dwelling freeloaders all jumped headfirst into the arena to complain that the game would either be too anti-Christian or not anti-Christian enough, and like all arguments that human beings ever get into, it was all just a bunch of self-important primitive chest-pounding that disproved all theories of human exceptionalism. I wrote an article much to this effect around the time the controversy broke where the overall message was basically “it’s going to be fine as long as you aren’t a butthurt little sissy about it,” and I remember sitting there as I finally got started installing the game later in the year and thinking “ohhhh please don’t make a liar out of me.” Not like the details actually mattered to anybody who had an opinion before the game launched, but the doomsday cult content was handled perfectly and in a way that was truly horrifying. But beyond that, the game was a more-or-less great reinvention of the Far Cry formula that I’ve come to love so dearly since Far Cry 3. I mean, that’s basically what can be said to summarize this game: It’s more Far Cry, and the villain is good in an entirely different way than you’re used to!
#7):
Red Dead Redemption 2
Speaking of games that do politically-charged content well, we have Red Dead Redemption 2 coming in at #7. This is a game in which the writing and storytelling are top tier for sure. Rockstar paints a picture of early America more thorough than any picture they’ve painted before. The reason? They leave behind the in-your-face political commentary that they’re normally known for, instead electing to simply let the time speak for itself. When driving a carriage full of protesting suffragettes into town, Rockstar simply allows the men of the time to hurl the insults they would have actually hurled without making any nods to modern times. This makes the sociopolitical climate of America in the early 20th century feel that much more alive, and it ensures that the plight of the van der Linde gang as they constantly try to evade capture feels more natural. This is simply one of the most alive-feeling game worlds of all time, and this is helped along by the game’s photorealistic graphics, excellent cinematography in cutscenes, and absolutely freaking insane draw distances. Now, if you aren’t a regular reader and have just stumbled by this particular article, you may be surprised to see that Red Dead Redemption 2 is nowhere near my Game of the Year. Why is that, you might ask with or without an associated fit of rage? Well, because it isn’t worthy of the title. It’s worthy of a spot on the list for sure, but there’s simply too much fiddliness and objective issues for it to be GOTY. I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain that I enjoyed this game given how it ranked in above three other games on this list, but you know Rockstar fanboys with their weak constitutions, inability to process rational arguments, inability to acknowledge that 100+ hour work weeks are bad, and freaky-as-hell obsession with killing feminists.
#6):
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
If I were a game saga, I’d be quite disappointed if I went from Game of the Year in 2017 to spot #6 in 2018. However, just because Yakuza has taken a bit of a fall since last year doesn’t mean it’s any less fantastic. In fact, in many ways, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is objectively better than Yakuza 0. Sure, I was never as tempted to waste entire days of playtime on poker or karaoke like I was in Yakuza 0, and it’s true that this game lacks the same charm, but so much is improved! For starters, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life looks decidedly current-gen when compared to its predecessor from last year. Cutscenes are given an even better over-the-top crime thriller style than ever before, and it serves as a potent enhancer to the story. The story in Yakuza 6 boasts more perfectly timed betrayals, secret alliances, and mysterious motivations than in any story I’ve ever seen before, and it’s just glorious. There are those that look at the Yakuza titles and call the spider’s web of plotlines “convoluted,” but to refer to them as such is to disregard the care with which each bit of progress in each plotline is paced and the careful timing with which betrayals and major reveals happen. This was a story that shocked me and made me go “aaaaah!” more times than any other story this year or in several years prior (including that of Yakuza 0). Beyond the story, the gameplay has also been improved, though there’s a slight bit of a learning curve if you’re coming directly from Yakuza 0 as I was. Gameplay now feels like something right out of a martial arts flick. Kiryu takes out swaths of enemies with a single swipe of his arm, and at any point he can reach behind him and use items like bar stools to piledrive large enemies or bash their faces in. Furthermore, by executing “heat actions” at just the right time, Kiryu can perform contextual takedowns where he throws enemies off the sides of buildings, slams their faces into railings, dodges a blow causing their hands to hit a wall, kicks them into a larger group of enemies, the possibilities are endless. All-in-all, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is not only yet another spectacular entry in the always excellent Yakuza series, it’s a fitting final chapter for iconic series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, and it’s one of 2018’s biggest triumphs.
And with that, we begin our descent into the top 5 games of the year. It should go without saying that I’d highly recommend every game that has been included on this list thus far, but the following 5 games are more than just a series of 5 games that I thought were great. These 5 games were each games that I looked at and thought, “that could be Game of the Year.” In terms of subjective appeal, I loved each one of these next 5 games equally for different reasons, and the only reason they’re in the numbered order they’re in is because I left placement up to the empirical system. The item that ended up winning Game of the Year is still the greatest game of the year in my eyes, but you should keep in mind that that decision was made with the mindset that any of the following games could’ve held that same spot. So here we go, we’re diving into the five absolute best titles of 2018, starting with…
#5):
Pokemon: Let’s Go
Nostalgia is a flame that burns brightly and prominently in the breast of every gamer out there, and if anybody claims to be different, then they’re either lying or they’re new to this. For me, there is no intellectual property for which I feel more burning nostalgia than Pokemon, so it was a given that I was at least going to pick up Pokemon: Let’s Go. Whether or not I was going to like it was a whole other discussion, though, as much negative discussion was had about the changes to the Pokemon catching mechanics. So when I picked up the Eevee version of Pokemon: Let’s Go, I decided to just sit back, relax, and see what I thought. As it turns out, I loved literally every second of Pokemon: Let’s Go, and that’s truly saying something because that means I enjoyed Mt. Moon, Silph Laboratory, and the Team Rocket Celadon City Game Corner Hideout...you know, the absolute worst parts of the first generation games that this is a remake of?! It’s just that compelling, and a lot of that added enjoyment comes from the changes to the Pokemon catching system. Gone are the days of random encounters stopping your progress every two steps. In Pokemon: Let’s Go, the Pokemon actually physically appear in the world, and you only truly “encounter” them by walking into them. With this in mind, you can make it through an entire cave without ever encountering a wild Pokemon if you so choose. What this means is that I felt much more compelled to explore. I went and explored every nook and cranny of every cave I could find, reveling in the treasures I found along the way, all because I knew I wouldn’t have to brave a never-ending stream of wild zubat after wild zubat. Further added enjoyment came from the partner Pokemon itself, in my case, Eevee. The bond that Game Freak sets up between you and this Pokemon is as close as they’ve ever come to mimicking the timeless friendship between Ash and Pikachu in the anime, and the result is a Pokemon game that feels more friendly, more personal, and that’s exactly what I’ve always wanted. I’m not sure what’s next on the horizon for Game Freak. Word on the street is that they’re looking at doing another full-fledged Pokemon RPG for the Switch. If that’s the case, you can bet that I’ll be pre-ordering and awaiting my copy with ceaseless joy.
#4):
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
I think we all knew that Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey was going to get a spot somewhere on this list, because…
*Lights come up on the title*
Reader: Oh God, NO! He’s gonna
*small explosion, blue powder everywhere*
Me: *emerging from secret platform under the stage, toga securely fastened around my waist, olive branches tucked behind both ears* ATHENS! Birthplace of Democracy! A City-State home to the greatest minds of the time, a City-State millennia ahead of the rest of the ancient world! It tragically fell to the primitive knuckle-dragging City-State of Sparta in the historical Peloponnesian War, so it’s our duty to defend it as best we can in this game!!!!!
Really though. In the Honorable Mention for Biggest Surprise, I detailed the specifics of my history with this title: How I was vehemently against it in spite of its setting because of how much it seemed to rip off of Assassin’s Creed: Origins, how my distaste only grew when word of some of Ubisoft’s business practices reached my ears, and how I ended up eating my words when I found that Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is the greatest Assassin’s Creed to date. I’ve seriously gotta wonder where Ubisoft was hiding this all this time! For starters, this is the first time I’ve seen Ubisoft try so hard with a story in my time as a gamer. Odyssey boasts the most heartfelt, twist-filled story of the saga and of the Ubisoft library, as far as my memory serves. Sure, some of the heartfelt moments are over just a little too quickly and characters tend to get up to speed on the events of the story with an alarming lack of communication, but for a first attempt at telling a relatively open-ended story in this series, it’s really darn impressive. What’s even more impressive, however, is the gameplay overhaul. By Zeus, this is simply the most compelling gameplay in Assassin’s Creed history, and it’s even more open-ended than the story is. As I detailed in the “Best Gameplay” section, you have three different types of damage that you’ll choose gear to accommodate. Because I played a stealth build, I always aimed to keep my assassin damage high. However, this came at the cost of damage in open combat, which meant that I truly had to commit to the stealthy approach. Thankfully, the many enemy outposts scattered across Greece lend themselves nicely to the kind of strategic planning that good stealth games depend upon. And more thankfully, the sheer variety of skills you can unlock ensures that you can put together a toolbelt of abilities that’ll let you make split second decisions that allow you to either stay hidden or get rid of a previously unseen enemy in the event that your carefully planned approach hits a snag. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey isn’t just the best stealth game of this year, nor is it just the greatest Assassin’s Creed game to date, it’s one of this year’s absolute strongest titles.
#3):
Celeste
It may seem surprising to some that the game that received the first 10/10 and Masterpiece seal I’ve given in around 3 years isn’t my Game of the Year, but these things happen, and believe me, it was one hell of a fight between Celeste and the next two games. For now, though, let us further discuss the masterpiece that is this game. Whenever I see an indie bleep bloop pixelated platfomer that prides itself on difficulty, I’m usually the first one to roll my eyes and start ranting about the neckbeards and how their blind nostalgia for the 8-bit era is holding the game industry back from its true potential. With this game, however, a number of critical outlets that I respect were going so far as to call it the best game of the year. I didn’t believe them when they said the same thing about Shovel Knight back in the day, so I don’t know why I believed them with Celeste, but I did, and I ended up downloading it on the Switch and being hooked from beginning to end. The most easily noticeable thing that Celeste does well is its sense of control, perhaps the most important aspect of any platformer that prides itself on difficulty. You know how far you’re going to go each time you dash, and you always dash in the direction you choose. Madeline moves exactly when and where you tell her to, so if and when you fail, it’s always a learning experience that forces you to add a new movement to your muscle memory. Helping this along is the speed with which the game puts you back into the action after death. Upon death, the game pretty much instantly reloads you back at the start of whatever frame you died in, so you can try again less than 2 seconds after failing. I’ve talked at length about how the gameplay challenges you, but I haven’t yet touched on the collectibles and the like. The game features several collectible strawberries, each protected by a different puzzle. The more strawberries you collect, the warmer and fuzzier the ending you get, so it serves a minor purpose that is compelling enough to make seeking them out worthwhile, but not so important that one need feel bothered to do so if they don’t want to. Furthermore, there is one incredibly difficult to locate crystal heart in each level, and if you collect all the hearts, you unlock something special in the epilogue. Worth noting here is how creative these crystal heart puzzles can get. For instance, the heart in one of the earlier levels is discovered by dashing upwards along the line between two areas. When you enter an area, you enter it at whatever height you were at, but with your dash restored. In this way, you’re encourage to use the game’s mechanics against it, as it’s the only way to reach this secret in this level. It’s always creative puzzles like that. You’ll notice that I’ve been talking about pretty much exclusively gameplay and haven’t made a peep about the deeper meanings of the game in this blurb yet. Well, here’s the thing. I think I’ve dissected the ins and outs of how this game handles the discussion of mental illness by this point, so I don’t think I need to spend much more time discussing it. I’ll say this, though. As somebody who does live with both anxiety and depression, seeing a game like this, one that truly epitomizes the kinds of experiences I have and makes truly helpful statements about living with them, that really does my heart good. Celeste would’ve been a fantastic game that I placed high on this list even if it didn’t hit home, but because it does, I can’t help but love it all the more.
#2):
Spider-Man
One of the key lines from my review of Spider-Man that I think is a good starting point for this blurb is: “Spider-Man revisionist history-d my childhood!” You see, I was never too into Spider-Man as a kid. I had a passing interest in superheros just like any other boy would’ve had back in the day, but my mind was mostly filled with Pikachus and Eevees. I enjoyed the various Spider-Man films as much as the next person, but it wasn’t ever like my childhood was finally coming to the big screen. Furthermore, when Sony announced Spider-Man at E3 a couple of years ago, I was ecstatic because the game looked fantastic, not because there was suddenly the prospect of my childhood getting a fantastic AAA game. It should stand as a testament to Spider-Man’s sheer staying power, as a testament to the quality game design on display here, as a testament to just how much love for Spider-Man went into this title that as I was playing it, I would pour myself a glass of chocolate milk and absolutely feel like a kid on Christmas morning every waking second. Here’s a little bit of behind-the-scenes trivia for you, dear reader. Remember all that talk of raw scores from the beginning of this section? Well, Spider-Man had the top raw score. That’s right. Before the categories were taken into consideration, Spider-Man was my Game of the Year. When it comes to the aspects that I take into consideration for the raw score, no game of this year scored consistently higher across the board than this one. It was still a tight race, and before I started counting the categories I knew that even one category win less than the next runner up would cost this game the crown, but the reality is that Spider-Man is kind of the Al Gore of my GOTY list this year. That should speak volumes about both this game and my actual Game of the Year. So what is it about this game that makes it so doggoned good? Well, it’s cliche to say, it’s cliche to point out that it’s cliche, and by this point it’s probably cliche to point out that it’s cliche to point out that it’s cliche, but it’s just the truth is all: Spider-Man truly makes you feel like Spider-Man. Half of the fun I had in this game was just in swinging around the city. It’s that fast, that fluid, that intuitive, that open to creative swinging, that open to achieving greater speeds, that satisfying. I simply defy you to point out another game where half the fun rests in just the act of traversing the map. A sandbox game where the act of traversal is a complete joy? Where has that been for the past decade?! Here’s the thing, though. When the time comes to leave the swinging behind, go to ground, and start beating up thugs, it’s just as fun! The options in combat feel recognizably Spider-Man, and the flow of combat is so smooth and satisfying! But I’ve talked about that already, lets now talk about unlocks! This game features a variety of unlockable costumes, gadgets, upgrades, you name it, and the way to unlock these things is by completing side activities in the open world. Thing is, you have a lot of freedom in which side activities you choose to do, so most of the unlocks can be unlocked without having to slave away at crimes in progress unless you want to. If you want the best gear, though, you’ll have to prove that you’re good enough at the game to complete some of the hardest side activities, so while the game is generous with its unlockable content, you do still have to work for it. Folks, Spider-Man might not have ended up in the #1 spot, but it fought hard, regardless. If you own a Playstation 4, you owe it to yourself to get out there and purchase this title. I don’t care if you don’t care about Spider-Man as a hero. I didn’t, and I still had one of the best times of my life.
Game of the Year:
God of War
“I can tell you this much: Unlike just about every other critic (most likely), God of War will not be my GOTY. However, It’s going to have to be a hell of a year to boot it from the top 5 at least.”
-The Right Trigger, 2018
There have been few times where I’ve had to eat my words with as little water as I’m having to with God of War. When I first reviewed the game, I found some aspects of the game annoying, and I felt that, though I quite enjoyed it, it wasn’t worthy of the title of Game of the Year. So, what happened?
Well, dear reader, I think it’s safe to say that Red Dead Redemption 2 happened. I don’t mean that something more popular came around and suddenly I didn’t feel the need to keep God of War out of the spotlight, I mean that Red Dead Redemption 2 was the last game I reviewed before my self-imposed cutoff, and after I finished I was in the mood to play an actual videogame, not an overly-fiddly (but admittedly good) simulator. Given the cutoff, I had no reason to seek out anything new, and I now had the time to actually dedicate to replaying something. As I scrolled through my 2018 library, I noticed the case for God of War in my CD rack and thought, “I wonder what it’s like a second time through.” I think my biggest failing as a critic in 2018 was that I got caught up in the rush to review as many titles as I could, to get as much content out there as I could. When I was playing God of War for the first time, I felt a lot of frustration because there was this looming sense of an invisible deadline and I just needed to get through it regardless of whether or not I was enjoying myself to the fullest at that pace. So here’s what I mean when I said that Red Dead Redemption 2 is what "happened." Every week I listen to Jim Sterling’s podcast, “The Podquisition,” and in the weeks after RDR2 released, Jim’s co-host, Laura K Dale, had a bit of advice in regards to playing it: “Don’t view it as a game that you have to get through. View it as a world that you’re just going to exist in for a little while.” I brought that attitude to Red Dead Redemption 2 and found that I was enjoying myself a lot more when I just let myself relax and enjoy the game. Perhaps as a direct result of the cutoff and the fact that I didn’t have to write any more reviews until the new year, I went into God of War the second time with Laura K Dale’s advice at heart for the first time in this context. In this second playthrough, I just allowed myself to enjoy God of War without worrying about progress or anything else, and I was blown away by it even though I already knew everything that was going to happen.
In my second playthrough, I played in New Game +, a new feature since the game released. I was surprised to find a wealth of new loot, armor, and trinkets, so that was already quite the surprise. But even more surprising was how much I enjoyed the story the second time around. I think the first time around the roadblock-based nature of the plot got to me a little too much. But when I went into the game knowing full well that the story was structured that way, I found myself able to appreciate the little moments all the more. I still hold that in media res isn’t the best choice for this story, but in my second playthrough I found myself close to tearing up at certain points. How weird is that? I already knew that certain story points and words of compassion between father and son were coming, but when I experienced then with a more relaxed attitude they actually hit me for the first time. The ending in particular hit me right where it hurt in my second playthrough. Let me just say this right here: whether or not I enjoyed the story to its fullest at any given moment is on me and my mental state at the time. The objective fact of the matter is that this game boasts one of the single most well-written, realistically-paced stories about the bond between father and son that I’ve seen since The Road. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are moments where Atreus acts like a little turd, and there are times when he gets too full of himself, but there are times where he really tries to live up to his father’s expectations. Likewise, there are times when Kratos simply doesn’t have enough faith in his son to tell him the truth, and there are times when his reactions are completely disproportionate to whatever Atreus has done, but there are also times where he truly tries his best to be the changed man he wants to be and gives his heart to being a good teacher to Atreus. If you’re a strict but loving father, or if your father fits that description, chances are good you’re going to go through God of War seeing a lot of yourself and perhaps you'll see things from your son/father’s point of view for the first time. This is a game whose story was built from the collective parenting experiences of an entire team of story writers, so that effort and experience shows throughout.
I’ve already talked at length about the gameplay in God of War, so I’ll now jump to yet another thing that I didn’t truly appreciate until I went through the game a second time: the side content. In my first playthrough I stepped into Niflheim, completed a couple of Muspelheim challenges, and fought one Valkyrie a couple of times before giving up. I also did a couple of side quests, but not until the very last minute. In my second round, however, I decided to space things out a bit more. Every time the water level dropped, I would go out and explore every island in the lake of nine, taking on any and all side quests I came across and completing them right then and there. An aspect of the side quests that I didn’t realize until this playthrough where I completed all but one of them (before I flew up to visit family for Christmas, the time frame in which I’m writing this) is the fact that they’re unintrusive. They don’t get in the way, they don’t nag you, and a lot of the optional areas at the edges of the map can’t be opened until you accept a side quest, so you’ll seldom have to backtrack through places you’ve visited a couple of times in order to, you know, pick up an item that wasn’t there before because the quest hadn’t been triggered. Initially, that was all I was going to do: the side quests. I wasn’t going to bother with any of the challenges this time around or anything like that...but then I thought, “I just got the thing that opens the chambers where the valkyries are hidden...why don’t I try out the first one and see how it goes?” I got my behind handed to me several times, but eventually I killed the first available valkyrie after you get the tool to unlock their chambers. The thrill of victory was phenomenal, but it was an insanely difficult fight. I thought, “that was fun, but the rest are going to be too hard...I think that’ll do.” But then I found myself at the door to another valkyrie chamber, and I thought, “well...it couldn’t hurt to try.” Several deaths later, I killed that valkyrie and had the same naive thought again. This cycle continued for a while, and eventually I decided I would kill most of the valkyries, but probably not all of them. I killed each valkyrie in Midgard, the one in Alfheim, and the one in Helheim, which left two more. I learned that those two remaining valkyries were found in the challenge realms: One was the final Muspelheim challenge, and one could only be reached by braving the roguelike gauntlet of Niflheim. I thought “those two are going to be too much hassle. I’ve already proven my worth, I can just keep on going.” But something within me wanted to conquer this obstacle, so I went and I braved all the challenges of Muspelheim until I, drenched in sweat, fought and conquered the valkyrie after the second highest amount of deaths in the valkyrie gauntlet. Then I headed to Niflheim and did just enough interaction with the realm to get my bearings and figure out the best way to get to the valkyrie and back before the poisonous fog took over. It took a number of runs through the roguelike dungeon, but I eventually succeeded in my goal, and with that, I’d slain all but the valkyrie queen, the strongest of the bunch. Like an idiot, I immediately thought, “She’s the hardest boss in the entire game. She’s going to require me to be absolutely perfect with my timing, there’s no way this can work.” But lo and behold, like the prideful gamer I am, I spent a full day (we’re talking an entire late morning to late afternoon) battling the valkyrie queen, learning her attack patterns, and learning the exact reflexes I would need to avoid damage, as even one hit would be enough to send me into a brief panic and cause me to lose the fight. I lost countless times, I got close to the end only to be killed by getting too greedy countless times, but eventually I knocked the queen of the vanguard of Hel to the ground and ripped her wings off. In that moment, I was filled with more joy than I’d ever been filled with in 2018. “I DID IT!!” I yelled aloud. But that isn’t the end of my love of God of War’s side content. Eventually I finished the game again and still had some side stuff left to do. Among the things left to do was a series of treasures to be unlocked in the center room of Niflheim. To unlock those treasures, I’d have to brave the roguelike gauntlet several, several, several times over. At time of writing, I’ve obtained all but one of the treasures (due to travel schedule), which should speak to how much time I’ve spent in the roguelike area. The kicker? I hate roguelike challenges. I absolutely hate them, but God of War manages to do even that well!
Folks, I touched on this briefly in the section of this blurb about the story, but whether or not I liked these aspects of the game is entirely dependent on my mental state at the time of playing. The fact that I happened to enjoy both the story and the side content more in my second playthrough just means that I was in a better place to receive them. The story, side content, gameplay, writing, cutscene direction, acting, character development, character progression, everything about God of War is absolutely outstanding, and it’s a failure of mine that I was unable to see this until I gave the game a second look with the attention it deserved. Don’t believe me, still? Well, would you believe me if I told you that this is the longest blurb I’ve ever written for a Game of the Year winner? Would you believe me if you that it’s about twice as long as the longest blurb I’d written before this one? I was able to fill up this much space just by mindlessly rambling about how much fun I had and how compelled I felt to go off the beaten path and enjoy everything this game has to offer. Even now I’m afraid to end this blurb because I fear that something will have been left unsaid. Something is always left unsaid, as it’s impossible to cover everything in these blurbs, but I digress. All I can do is hope that, through my words, I’ve given you the truth. God of War is a touching story of a father and son coming to understand one another better. God of War is a triumph of gameplay that makes the player feel like a God by performing powerful and complex moves without having to memorize a large list of combos or break up the action to review the buttons to press. God of War is a monumental achievement of writing, character development, and acting. God of War is a game with some of the best level design, sound design, and music of this year. God of War is a game for which the side content is painstakingly created to be rewarding no matter how much investment you choose to put into it. But beyond this, God of War is the only game of this year that I completed more than once. God of War is the game that I felt compelled to go back to when I had the time to seriously dedicate to a game I’d already played. God of War is the game that compelled me to go through a roguelike challenge enough times to unlock all but the final treasure in spite of my hatred for the roguelike genre.
And God of War is my Game of the Year for 2018.
Well folks, that’s it for the Game of the Year lists for 2018. I hope you had a great year, and I hope that you’ve enjoyed some of the games you’ve played! If you disagree with my lists, feel free to comment with your own! I love end of year lists, so I never get tired of seeing them!
Well, it’s been a hell of a year, and I look forward to seeing what stellar products come out in 2019! A happy new year to all of you, Dear Readers!
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