So, I tried doing a top 50....and had to really make some stretches to make that work. But when I reduced the amount to 25, it was slightly easier.
Now, as for how I made my decisions, it kind of varies. I tried to take into consideration things like how often I replayed something, whether I reached 100% completion, how often I come back to it, isolated staying power despite lacking in some of these areas, etc. No one factor ruled the roost, and this was still ultimately a gut-lead process, but these were the kinds of things that helped me make my decisions from time to time. And in doing this list, I learned a couple things.
1): My whole empirical decision process for GOTY each year is pretty much required for me to make decisions like this. I ended up flip-flopping on a lot of these placements because my gut is an unreliable thing. But compounding onto my unreliable gut is my need for decisions to be 100% correct at all times. These two things do not good bedfellows make. I didn't use an empirical system for this, so I'm having to settle for the fact that these placements may change as soon as the day after this goes live. And that doesn't sit right with me, but c'est la vie.
2): Not all of my GOTYs ended up on this list. This was a major surprise to me, but while several GOTYs did make it, there are a few notable absences.
3): This was the biggest surprise by far: There are few games I truly love with all my heart. This is part of why it was so hard to decide on most of these spots and why I had to make so many stretches to get a top 50 list. I was actually shocked. There are plenty of games that I enjoy enough to have played several times...but with many of them, I was quick to dismiss them from the tippy top, and it was hard to pick where they'd go if they made it. In fact, many of these were games that I would've called Top 5 of All Time contenders off the top of my head, but they didn't turn out to be that once I sat down and really thought things through.
So...that's how this came to be, how I ultimately guided my decision-making, and what I learned from the process.
A couple notes before we begin:
1) As this also functions as a series of recommendations, I'll be making a note of what platforms any given game is available on at the top of each blurb.
2) Generally speaking, if a game is available on earlier iterations of a console, it's available on the current model as well. There are very few exceptions to this, so if I list exclusively hardware earlier than what you have, you may still be in luck.
3) Few games are available for MacOS, so unless you see that included specifically, the game isn't available there. Even if I say "all" platforms. I was simply having to type "except mac" too many times.
4) Forgive me if I make mistakes on the platform listings...you wouldn't believe the amount of variability and how it all seems to blend together at times.
5) These aren't going to be the in-depth explanations you might find on my end of year lists. Rather, I'll just be giving general descriptions to sort of whet your appetite to do some more research on your own. Otherwise this will take ten trillion years to finish!
6) I'll also be including a bit of a TLDR at the start of each blurb with the basic amount of story and the overall gameplay style.
7) This is clearly going to be a non-objective ranking. I've looked at some pieces of how this is ordered and thought "oh, that's gonna piss people off," but that's just how it goes sometimes. In fact, there are many cases where I can admit that something I've scored lower is "objectively" better than something I've scored higher...but it's not that kind of list!
Now, let's get into the meat of it!
All platforms back to PS3/Xbox 360 (including MacOS)
Exclusive to Playstation Consoles
Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch 2 [upcoming]
All platforms back to PS3/Xbox 360 (except Nintendo Switch)
Exclusive to Playstation Consoles
All current/last generation platforms
All platforms back to PS3/Xbox 360/Wii U
PS3/Xbox 360/Microsoft Windows (via GoG)
All current/last generation platforms
Exclusive to Nintendo Switch
Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Remastered for last/current generation platforms
Microsoft Windows and exclusively PS3/Xbox 360 (no availability on current/last generation hardware)
Microsoft Windows/Playstation 3 and 4, Xbox 360 and One, Remastered on current platforms.
All current/last generation platforms
All current/last generation platforms
All current/last generation platforms including MacOS
Mostly Microsoft Windows and Mac, limited extra console variability depending on the entry.
Just like the Mass Effect trilogy, the To the Moon series is a series of games that must be experienced as a whole. It's also the entry that I can say the least about, given that the series is 100% story all the time. So, here's the basic premise: in this world, there's a corporation that offers a unique service to people on their deathbeds. With this service, two scientists from the company will enter the client's memories and rearrange things in such a way that one wish is fulfilled. So if a man wasn't there for the birth of his child and his wish on the paperwork is to change that, the scientists might alter his memory so that he believes he skipped a big work meeting and arrived at the hospital just in time. In reality, he still missed that birth, but through this service, he will die remembering things differently. Interesting premise, right? Well, this saga follows two such scientists as they move from client to client, and that's about the most bastardized way I can think to describe the plot. You'll ultimately have to experience this story for yourself, though I will warn you ahead of time that it is, at times, emotionally devastating. But in the devastation, there's always some degree of bittersweet warmth, and oftentimes there's a layer of sweetness that you just don't see in most stories. So this saga provides a first-class narrative, but it also has a consistently good soundtrack from writer/director Kan Gao and the occasional vocal track from Laura Shigihara. To put things in a melodramatic way as a wrap up for this blurb: the To the Moon series tells a story that will make you believe love is real, and that it truly is better to have it and lose it than to never have it at all.
Exclusive to Xbox Consoles, Microsoft Windows
Halo is likely the saga that requires the second least introduction behind Half-Life 2. When it comes to FPS games, there usually isn't a whole lot to say. Normally gameplay can be boiled down to pointing at an enemy and shooting. But Halo has always been different...not in the sense that it isn't about pointing and shooting, but in the sense that it's more than that. In my Doom blurb, I mentioned there was a "chess match" feel, and that's largely because the team at id Software took some inspiration from Halo. In any given loadout of enemies, you can decide what your first move is from a quick look. If there are jackals in the distance, you'll know that you might get your shields taken down in one shot and that they'll be hard to dispatch because of the shields they themselves use. If there's a huge swath of grunts off to the side, you might know not to underestimate the strength they pose in numbers. If you see a pair of hunters, you'll know they're slow, so you might try to kill the rest of the aliens so you can eventually give the hunters all of your attention. Every room or open plain you come across is laid out with intent both in terms of its roster of aliens and the specific environmental designs. Beyond the gameplay, Halo games are also known for their excellent stories and nigh impenetrable lore. And some of the best soundtracks in the business. Know what the kicker is? This spot was initially given to Halo: Reach specifically. With it being my favorite of the bunch, that makes sense. But then I realized that I was describing the whole saga as I wrote, and I figured that maybe meant the whole franchise should get a shout out here. So, for sure play Reach, but don't miss out on the other entries. Even Halo 3: ODST is worth a go....and in fact, it's probably my second favorite, which is another of my hot takes. Anyway, there you go: Halo is, in fact, good!
Exclusive to Nintendo Consoles, Remastered for Nintendo Switch
But for as good a science fiction FPS as any given Halo game is, they're nothing compared to the might of Metroid Prime. All one needs to do to understand Metroid Prime's appeal is to either play or watch the first level. This is a science fiction adventure seeped in atmosphere without a single word of dialogue to distract from it. And once you get out of that first level, that atmosphere is, fittingly, applied to a whole planet to explore. Now, this isn't a modern open world in its scope by any means, but it's pretty huge for a pre-Breath of the Wild Nintendo game from the early 2000s. As a Metroid title, gameplay falls under the "Metroidvania" umbrella. When you're plopped in the world, several paths aren't open to you, but as you explore, you gradually unlock upgrades that let you enter more and more areas. There is, however, quite a bit of branching involved in the critical path. So despite the fact that you're more or less funneled down one path or the other depending on which upgrades you have, there's still plenty of side areas and intrigue to find on those somewhat-linear paths, if that makes sense. As I've made a point of saying, atmosphere is the bread and butter of Metroid Prime, so if you're looking for something like that (and you have Nintendo hardware), hop to it! Metroid Prime is technically a trilogy, but I'm not using the whole trilogy for this slot because both sequels are inferior by pretty wide margins. They're still worth playing, but I'm pretty sure I only played through them once a piece.
All current/last generation platforms
Nobody cares how good a person is at video games...but if you look at the leaderboards on PC for Demon Turf, you'll find my steam account as a world record holder for certain levels. I've only been beaten by a guy that uses glitches in one or two levels, so from a purely moral standpoint, I'm still a world record holder! That, of course, makes me tremendously biased. I mean, how could I not be biased in favor of a game for which I'm verifiably one of the greatest players on this planet? But anyway. Demon Turf comes to us from the developers of the divisive Yooka-Laylee, so by extension, it comes to us from the developers of the classic platformer Banjo-Kazooie. I've never played either of those, but if the developer's original landmark title is as good as Demon Turf, I can understand their reputation. The best way I can think to sell this game to you is to say that there's this unrivaled sense of control that you don't get from most platformers. For example, I often have a hard time with the Mario games, as the lovable little guy is just a tad too slippery for me. With Demon Turf, however, something about the levels just click with me better. So, again, I'm more than a little biased...but if you're in the mood for an excellent platformer that largely flew under the radar, Demon Turf is the game for you!
All current/last generation platforms (except Nintendo Switch)
All current/last generation platforms
Aside from Pokemon, I'm not typically a fan of turn-based combat. There are some notable exceptions, however. Fire Emblem: Three Houses, for example, which you saw earlier on this list. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from earlier this year would be another one. But in general, if I see turn-based combat, my first instinct isn't to give it a chance. But Persona 5 is a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. All you need to do to see what I mean is watch the opening credits. This is a game simply dripping with style every second of its roughly 100 hour runtime. Yes. 100 hours.
All current/last generation platforms
#25): The Walking Dead
Story Level: Extremely high
Gameplay Style: Decisions, dialogue, puzzles
For people just geting their feet wet in this industry, it may be hard to imagine a time where the name "Telltale Games" held any positive connotations. But long before they became a glorified shovelware company that closed its doors in disgrace (screwing over all their employees in the process), they put out The Walking Dead: an episodic story and decision game that changed the industry for a short period of time. Some of the best characters ever written, flawless pacing, The Walking Dead was everything one could possibly want from a story-based game.
#24): Journey
Story Level: Vague, mainly presentation
Gameplay Style: Light puzzles, guided exploration
What is there to say about Journey that hasn't already been said by every other outlet out there? ThatGameCompany's flagship title changed how many people view presentation in games, and it did so in a way that almost no other company since has even attempted to replicate. It sported gorgeous visuals that still stand toe-to-toe with contemporary titles by sheer virtue of its strong art design. It became the first game in history with a soundtrack nominated for a grammy, and it made composer Austin Wintory a household name. I feel like Journey would be on most people's top lists, so I feel like this one doesn't need too much explanation...not to mention explanation would completely destroy the impact.
#23): Yakuza 0 [1/2 GOTY 2017]
Story Level: High, both whimsical and deeply serious
Gameplay Style: Beat-em-up, multiple minigames
As the saying goes, you never forget your first. In this case, Yakuza 0 was my first foray into the lovably wacky world that is the Yakuza series. Disco minigames, RC car racing, Mahjong, overdramatic karaoke, these are just a handful of the activities you can take part in. There are also a wealth of entertaining side quests that haven't yet been outdone in any subsequent Yakuza titles. You help a shy dominatrix-to-be get into character. You protect Michael Jackson while he films a music video. You pose as a film industry executive for Steven Spielberg. You rescue a woman from a cult that revolves around the words "shoora piipi." You promise a little boy that you'll fetch him something from the vending machine around the corner because his parents promised to and didn't do it. You think it's important to teach him that adults keep their promises...only to round the corner and find that the vending machine sells adult magazines and the kid doesn't get exactly what that is. Still determined to teach this lesson about adults keeping their promises, however, you try to make your way to the vending machine without being caught by little old ladies and your secretary. What's more, these side quests are merely accessories to one of the most gripping, twist-filled crime narratives there is. There's a reason Yakuza 0 won half of the GOTY award in 2017! The only thing keeping it this far down the list is the fact that I got my fill in the first runthrough and haven't been tempted to go back since beating it.
#22): Far Cry 3
Story Level: Medium
Gameplay Style: FPS, crafting, exploration
For as long as I've been a critic, I've had this nearly insatiable appetite to reach 100% completion in games I like. In fact, it's one of the major factors that determines slots on my GOTY list each year. It didn't always used to be that way, though. As you may be able to gather from context clues, Far Cry 3 was the very first game I intentionally 100%-ed. The tropical setting, the feeling of being well and truly stranded in a remote area, the consistent reminder that you're being hunted by human traffickers, and above all else, the Robinson Crusoe/Hatchet-esque survivalist systems all worked together to create the first ever experience I wanted to see all of. I would say that the technical state wouldn't hold up today...but it's Ubisoft, so it's probably better optimized than anything they've put out in years. With this one, it's a similar story to Yakuza 0. Once I'd done everything, I couldn't really go back to do it again, and still haven't to this day. But if you're looking for the kind of survivalist (NOT survival, there's a difference) game where you're living off the land, crafting your own upgraded gear by hunting for pelts and picking plants, this was the game that kickstarted that kind of thing as far as I know.
#21): The Last of Us [GOTY 2013]
Story Level: High, depressing
Gameplay Style: Stealth, crafting
The Last of Us is the rare kind of game that blows a person out of the water against all odds. As another zombie game in what was a saturated zombie game market at the time (The Walking Dead was a mere year beforehand, for instance), The Last of Us would've been relegated to the garbage bin of history in lesser hands...such as if it had been exclusively in co-director Neil Druckmann's hands. Yeah, there's no discussing The Last of Us without mentioning its divisive sequel. The first chapter wasn't 100% Neil Druckmann's project, but when Part II rolled around, he had full control...and we all know what happened there. But let's step away from that for a second. The Last of Us told a story that was simultaneously devastating and hopeful, building up well-written characters in ways that made sense. It also sported crisp stealth gameplay with a crafting system that, at the time, hadn't been done before. What's more, it became another 100% hyperfixation the year after Far Cry 3. And above all else, it had what I considered to be one of the few truly perfect endings in any story. "Had" being the operative word.
When discussing bad sequels, the philosophy tends to be that they don't take away the greatness of the previous entries. This is usually true. But not in this case. The Last of Us: Part II was so toxic, so manipulative, created with so much cruelty to its developers, and developed with such a clear inner-rectal view from Druckmann that it legitimately took away from the first chapter for me. Were it not for this sequel, it's possible that The Last of Us would've taken home a higher spot. But as it stands, this game is still one of my all-time favorites.
#20): Maneater
Story Level: Minimal
Gameplay Style: Dogfighting, but underwater. RPG elements.
There are many, many lists like these out there in the world. However, there is objectively only one that contains Maneater. Riddled with jank, bringing a straight up bad gameplay loop to the table, and largely forgotten by the world, Maneater nonetheless was there for me in a delicate time. Longtime readers will of course know that my sweet dog Lola passed away late last year, but as a paraplegic, it wasn't the first time she was faced with adversity. The first time was a cancer scare where the vets were trying to bully me into having her put down (4 years before she ended up passing), and it was, at the time, the worst day of my life. That night and every night the week after, I was playing Maneater to take my mind off the situation, and it was strangely effective in that way. When it turned out the cancer was nonexistent, I made it a tradition to pick up Maneater again on the anniversary of that (at the time) worst day of my life. And every time, this game is a hopeful reminder of better days ahead. Even thinking about it as I write this warms my heart a little bit.
Don't get me wrong, Maneater is, by almost any objective measure you can think of, a bad game. But it has a special place in my heart because of its context in my life.
#19): Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Story Level: High, good but not great
Gameplay Style: sword fighting, ship combat, exploration
I have one major fantasy: having a boat and being close to the sea. The ocean calls to me at all times, and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag was the first game to let me live out my dream. For the first time in a game, I was able to just get in a boat, look at an island in the distance, and sail to it. Buried treasure, sea shanties, the experience has never been replicated no matter how hard Ubisoft tries. This was yet another one-and-done 100% experience, but I've never forgotten it.
#18): Fallout 3
Story Level: High, good main story, decent side stories
Gameplay Style: FPS with RPG elements
I have many hot takes. Tarja Turunen's vibrato makes early Nightwish difficult to listen to sometimes. "Flugel der Freiheit" is exactly as good an Attack on Titan opening theme as the original one. And more relevant for this article, Fallout: New Vegas is one of the most overrated games of all time. Fallout 3 is superior in literally every way, and I will die on this hill. With that out of the way, Fallout 3 is well-known for its problems just like any Bethesda title. It's riddled with glitches, performance issues, the works. But what has historically kept me coming back to this game is its atmosphere. The dull greens and browns of the capitol wasteland paired with the hum of old jazz music makes for a borderline nostalgic, cozy time. The gunplay isn't anything too special, but it is fun, and many of the side quests are intriguing. Plus, it has that old school Bethesda sense of exploration that few developers can accomplish.
#17): Neon White [GOTY 2022]
Story Level: Medium, surprisingly good
Gameplay Style: Platforming, FPS, speedrunning
I'm not a fan of...most speedruns. I find it distasteful when players reach a game's end credits with glitches (cheating). Still, not all speedruns rely on glitches, so there are noteworthy exceptions to the rule. Neon White is one such exception, and we'll be getting into another one later on. For now, though, the whole point of Neon White is that it lays out levels in front of you that you gradually, as Dunkey says, "find the weak points" in to reach the finish line as fast as possible. In this way, each level is a puzzle to be solved, and the greatest tool in your arsenal is your imagination. You have access to a couple different types of weapons that, in addition to combat capabilities, come with a traversal move that happens when you throw the weapon away. So you might shave a couple milliseconds off your level time by firing at a group of enemies with a rocket launcher as you plummet through the air, then using the traversal bounce from throwing the launcher to avoid a slow down from landing on the ground. The possibilities are (near) endless, and I'm always a fan of games that organically reward you for indulging your curiosity.
#16): Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Story Level: High
Gameplay Style: Turn-based, strategy
Fire Emblem isn't quite as much of a Nintendo household name as your Marios or your Zeldas, but anyone who has ever played a Smash Bros title will be familiar with the franchise by osmosis. It's a long-running saga spanning multiple handheld and television-bound consoles, and as far aa I'm concerned, the best one is Three Houses from 2019. Any Fire Emblem title puts you in charge of a platoon of characters in various combat classes, and as each character levels up, you gradually guide them into different branches of advanced classes to fit niches or fix pain points in your army. Three Houses is no exception, but there's an interesting meta narrative to it this time around. In Three Houses, you are a professor at a combat academy, and whichever of the titular three houses (think Hogwarts) you choose to teach is your platoon for the game. In this way, as you're guiding your units (students) through the prerequisites required to reach certain combat classes, you'll find you're naturally creating lesson plans and fulfilling your in-story role as a teacher. There's obviously a lot more to this than just this little play on the formula, but I thought it was insanely clever. The turn-based combat is based on the already-strong Fire Emblem formula of semi rock-paper-scissors weapon matching and strategy, and the story is actually something other than your usual JRPG "killing god with the power of friendship" fare. I daresay it's a must-own for Nintendo Switch owners.
#15): Mass Effect Trilogy [Mass Effect 3: GOTY 2012]
Story Level: Extremely High
Gameplay Style: third-person action RPG
I'll lead with this: people were and still are largely overreacting to the ending of Mass Effect 3. There are some aspects of it that don't have explanations, but there are some complaints that just don't hold water. Regardless, that's not what I'm here to talk about. I'm using the whole series for this spot because the combat remains largely unchanged throughout and the stories tend to be of equal quality...plus it really must be experienced as a whole. The original captivated me right off the bat with its sci-fi setting, lore, and expertly-crafted twists. Mass Effect 2 captured not just me but the whole world with its look at the grimier underbelly of such a setting and excellent presentation. And the more divisive Mass Effect 3 became an instant favorite of mine with its oppressive atmosphere, emotional storytelling, and heart attack-inducing final push. Just don't go on to try Mass Effect: Andromeda once you're done with the trilogy...you'll regret it. And you'll probably want to skip Mass Effect 4, which is currently in development from the same hack frauds who created Dragon Age: The Veilguard. But I digress. No game collection is complete without the Mass Effect trilogy, and with its last/current generation remaster, it's available as a full bundle just about wherever you choose!
#14): Half-Life 2
Story Level: Medium
Gameplay Style: FPS, physics, puzzles, horror
Of the games on this list, I'd bet Half-Life 2 is the one that needs the least introduction. It's the rare example of a game that thinks you're as smart as it is, and that goes a long way with me. The FPS action is as solid as in any other Valve title, and the puzzles are some of my favorites. The one I always use to describe the experience is this: in a level centered around your use of a car, you come across a closed gate that needs power to open. So you naturally get out of your car to start investigating. If you follow the gate wires to a nearby house, you'll find an apparatus with several battery slots. Two batteries are in the house, but one is still missing. If you're paying attention, you'll notice a couple of things: the apparatus is in front of a window, the window overlooks a small parking lot with ruined cars, and the battery slots are about the size of a car battery. So if you go to that lot, you'll find a battery in one of the cars. Nothing about this is spelled out, the game just assumes that your deductive reasoning is good. And that's just one example. Beyond that, the pacing between action sections, puzzle sections, and horror sections is second to none. So if you somehow have never gotten your hands on Half-Life 2, here's your sign to do so if you can!
#13): The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Story Level: Variable
Gameplay Style: RPG, heavy character progression and exploration
Oblivion was my first "big boy" game...that is to say, my first game not made by Nintendo. I remember stealing something in-game for the first time and being blown away by the as-yet never seen freedom. I took my dark elf character through every single dungeon, collected every piece of armor for a display in my house, and amassed a frankly obscene amount of Welkynd stones from the Ayleid ruins. I didn't quite reach max level because I didn't know how class-based RPGs worked yet and chose a class where Mercantile was a major skill...but I did try. After a lot of digging, I was able to find the "Best of the Generation" list I mentioned in the intro, and in that list, I gave Oblivion the top spot. This right here was another one of the major surprises this time around. I was sure that this game would score at least in the top 5. So, why only #13? Well, the recently-released remaster brought something into clear focus: this is the king of the giant one-and-done experiences. The difference between Oblivion and titles like Far Cry 3, however, is the nostalgia. As I said in the Yakuza 0 blurb, you never forget your first. So, I may still not be able to play much of Oblivion even with its new coat of paint, but it still has a fond enough place in my heart for this list.
#12): The Forgotten City [GOTY 2021]
Story Level: Extremely High
Gameplay Style: Puzzles, deductive reasoning
When I first caved and purchased The Forgotten City in a bout of curiosity, I had no idea it was going to win me over so hard, much less take home the gold in 2021. But where there's a passionate development team, there's typically a good game to come from it. The Forgotten City is a story with an intriguing premise. You are a modern day person who wakes up one day on the banks of a Roman river. You're alone save for a woman named Karen, who entreats you to go into the nearby ruins to look for her friend. Upon entering the ruins, you're sucked up by a portal and spat out in an ancient Roman city with a small-but-thriving community. You're immediately summoned by the city magistrate, and he explains the rules the community lives by. Or rather, the one rule. The "golden rule" inscribed on the walls of the city: "the many shall suffer for the sins of the one." This means that if any one person in this city commits a sin, the whole population will perish. After explaining this to you, the magistrate explains that only he can open the portal you came from: a portal that sends a person back in time. The fact that you're here in the first place, then, can only mean that someone in the city is about to commit a sin, necessitating him opening the portal in the first place. If you can discover who is about to sin and stop them beforehand, it'll undo the portal's initial opening, sending you back to your own time. So, you become an investigator, getting to know the lovable folks in this community to see who will eventually damn everyone else. Throughout this process, you will undoubtedly fail and need to go through the portal again to redo everything. You'll repeat the day again as often as necessary, armed with more and more knowledge with each run. And that's a high level overview of how things work in The Forgotten City. There's so much more to this game than just that, and I can damn near guarantee you that it's impossible to hate this story and characters. Also, remember in the Neon White blurb how I was talking about liking systems that reward you when you indulge your curiosity? Well, I don't think I've seen a better example of that than The Forgotten City. Lastly, this was at #16 initially. But as I was writing, I felt warm and fuzzy inside and thought about playing again, which didn't happen with the games before this. So, that's how it got here!
#11): Doom [GOTY 2016]
Story Level: Minimal
Gameplay Style: High-octane FPS
It may be surprising to see the game that single-handedly changed how I view games in 2016 outside of the top 10. For me, however, it isn't surprising...because I made the conscious choice to give it this handicap. We'll get into the reason why in a later blurb, but for now, just know that this placement is a handicap. Anyway, as I said a sentence or two ago, Doom 2016 awoke something in me that I didn't know was there. Before it came around, I had only really enjoyed RPGs and games of similar speed. I had some experience with fast-paced gameplay, but I always viewed it as a shallow, mindless experience. Then came Doom to prove me wrong. Despite its relentless aggression and swift punishment for standing still for even a second, there was an undeniable chess match feel to the gameplay loop. The handicap I've put on this game ultimately prevents me from discussing any further for the moment, but stay tuned!
#10): Inside
Story Level: Vague, mainly presentation
Gameplay Style: Puzzles
Back in the Xbox Live Arcade days, one little indie game ruled the roost: Limbo. It was a deeply unsettling atmospheric puzzle game about a little boy in a hostile, unfamiliar world, and it kickstarted an entire genre of puzzle platformers. Then, in 2016, the team behind Limbo released Inside...a deeply unsettling atmospheric puzzle game about a little boy in a hostile, unfamiliar world. But whereas I never finished Limbo, I've been through Inside several times. Atmosphere goes a long way for me, and Inside probably has the best atmosphere on this list! But aside from such subjective measures, there's plenty of objective praise to be levied in the game's favor. One example I can think of is a segment in the late game where you have to navigate a room with deep water instead of a floor. There's a monster that will sense your presence and start surfacing to grab you if you touch the water for even a second. And as luck would have it, you can't get through this section without getting wet. Sometimes it's a matter of swimming from one platform to the next. Sometimes it's a matter of jumping in the water on the left side of the platform you're on to lure the monster to that side and buy yourself a second or two of extra time to swim to the next. And in my favorite instance, it's a matter of grabbing onto a moving chain to dip your feet just below the surface to lure the monster even further away. What I would call "objectively" good about this section is how perfectly tuned the monster's swim timing and your own seem to be synced. If you do the right thing to reach the other side, you're still going to make it by the skin of your teeth, sometimes a mere millisecond before you're caught. This is undoubtedly some degree of scripting that kicks in when the game detects you lured the monster to area x or y, but it provides this exhilarating adrenaline rush and makes you wonder: did you actually do the right thing, or did you just get lucky? Again, the answer is probably some underlying scripting or something, but you aren't going to be thinking about that when your foot barely avoids a grabbing hand. Like this combat-esque encounter, the puzzles throughout the game take some thought, but not too much thought. All-in-all, it'll likely net you around 2 hours of your day, so it's ultimately a bite-sized experience. But it says an awful lot about how strong
Inside is that I consider such a small game one of the 10 best games of all time.
#9): To the Moon Series (To the Moon, Finding Paradise, Impostor Factory, Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode)
Story Level: Extremely High
Gameplay Style: Basically nonexistent
#8): Halo Series (through Halo: Reach)
Story Level: High
Gameplay Style: FPS
#7): Metroid Prime
Story Level: Vague, mainly lore
Gameplay Style: FPS, exploration
#6): Demon Turf
Story Level: Medium
Gameplay Style: Platforming, speedrunning
And now, we come to the top 5. These are the games that have wormed their ways into my heart more than any other, and they obviously serve as the highest recommendations I can possibly give. If you know me well enough, bits and pieces aren't going to be surprising, but that's just how it goes! So, without further ado, the tippy top of the top 25.
#5): Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice [GOTY 2019]
Story Level: Vague, mainly lore
Gameplay Style: Soulslike, emphasis on parrying
Given how many "saga" entries there are on this list, I clearly don't have any rules about "only one game per developer" or anything like that. Regardless, to give just one spoiler for the rest of the list, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the only game from From Software that you'll see. I love Dark Souls and its contemporaries as much as the next guy, but in terms of games that truly stuck with me, Sekiro is the king of the From Software crop. Why? Well, there's the prerequisite fun factor, but much like Doom, Sekiro more or less changed how I view games. I was never a parrier in the Souls games (save for the end of my first playthrough of Dark Souls, where I was struggling bigtime with Lord Gwyn). I could just never get the timings right, and it was never worth the risk when a simple block would work just fine. Sekiro changed that, and to drill down a bit further, the boss fight against Genichiro Ashina changed that. Had the game been just that boss, I think it still would've been worth a spot on this list. This isn't a game where you "fight" enemies, it's a game where you engage in a ferocious, beautiful dance against them. Combat is a vicious back and forth where aggression in striking, defense, and even movement is king. Hell, there's even a degree of aggression involved in stealth! Sekiro is unlike anything From Software has done, so it's a miracle that it pulls off everything as well as it does. And that's a shame, because it's also probably the least talked-about Souls-style game they've made. Even Dark Souls II gets discussion for being sort of the red-headed stepchild of the Souls series. Despite that, Sekiro is, for me, the best the developer has to offer, and it's my 5th favorite game of all time.
#4): Persona 5 [1/2 GOTY 2017]
Story Level: Extremely High
Gameplay Style: Turn-based, strategy, life simulation
[NOTE: The base game is worthy of this spot, but I'll say that if you can get your hands on the "Royal" version, go with that one.]
Anyway, I've already mentioned that Persona 5 embraces a turn-based combat model, but that's only one piece of the pie. In reality, Persona 5 is a daily life simulation.
You play as a Japanese high school student who has recently been forced to move to Tokyo. Now living under an unfamiliar roof and tainted with a criminal history from being framed for assault by a powerful political figure, you could hardly start this story from a lower place. But over the course of the maybe 16 hours it takes for the primary gameplay loop to start, you become aware of a non-Zuckerbergian metaverse accessed via a phone app. This app sends a person into the cognition of twisted individuals and gives the user access to whatever desire led that person to be so twisted in the first place. And by extension of this, it gives one the ability to take that desire away, causing the twisted individual to be so overcome with guilt that they turn themselves in for punishment in the real world. As one of few people who can use the app, you and a scooby gang of lovable friends you make along the way team up to take down the various evildoers that come across your doorstep. But this process is a long, arduous one that requires an awful lot of fighting and exploration, and even though high schoolers have more energy than I do on a good day, nobody has enough to do as much as this task requires. So, you and your gang have to take it in chunks: making progress towards your goal on some days, acting like normal high school kids on others. You'll balance schoolwork with Pokemon-style gameplay, all the while keeping a set-in-stone deadline in mind. So, that's the premise of both the gameplay loop and the story, presented as always in a skeletal, bastardized format.
I'm not going to go on for too long, but I'll say a couple final things.
First, the game's biggest weakness. It thinks you're stupid. Big negative, I know! But do you remember how I alluded to the gameplay loop taking "maybe 16 hours" to get to? That's because while the tutorials don't necessarily last that long, the explanations of this lore thing or that lore thing definitely do. The explanations are so invasive that they're honestly a bigger deterrent to repeat playthroughs than the overall time investment. I brought Persona 5 up to an old coworker once, and he acknowledge that he'd played it and thought it was great...but then he put his head in his hands and said "but good god, the explanations!" The story continues to move forward during all of this, but you've never seen physical and intellectual handholding like this before! So, be warned.
Lastly, the game's biggest strength is its story and characters. For 100 (150 in the Royal version) hours with this premise and characters, it had better be! I've only played it twice for obvious reasons, but this is an experience that I've felt legitimately sad to leave each time.
Clearly I recommend every game I've talked about so far, but here's one where I'm really going to hammer home my evangelism. There are three more games on this list that I like better, but I daresay that Persona 5 has a bit more of a fighting chance to change your life than most of these other entries!
#3): Doom Eternal [GOTY 2020]
Story Level: Medium
Gameplay Style: High-octane FPS action, platforming
Remember how I had a handicap on Doom 2016? Well, this is why. I've obviously used full sagas in a single slot on this list multiple times, but the two modern Doom games are such different beasts that they can't be smushed together. They also both changed who I am as a gamer in different ways. So, the compromise I came up with to have both games in separate spots was to keep only one of them in the top 10. With that compromise in mind, Doom Eternal was the clear choice to keep up here. It's all the concepts and fundamentals of 2016 taken to the next level and given renewed purpose. I've referenced the "chess match" feel before both in the blurb for 2016 and the Halo saga, but in Doom Eternal, that concept reaches its final form. Every demon type has specific weaknesses and weak spots that can be hit to hamper their attack patterns. Each demon type also has a different combat role to play and different levels of aggression. Any combat arena is filled with frankly ridiculous hordes of demons, with each of those different aggression levels and combat roles meshing with each other in ways that force you to think critically on a second-to-second level. For example, if there are two "Pinkys" on the field, both of them will charge you head-on, meaning you'll need to focus on them and know when to jump to avoid being rammed. However, if there's also a slower, stronger cyberdemon somewhere on the field, you'll also have to keep an eye out to avoid some of its AOE missile barrages. It's a constant slew of little combat "puzzles" like this. What really makes Doom Eternal the capital-G Gameplay monolith it is, though, is its speed. You simply have never played a game where the combat moves at as fast a pace as this one does. You'll be moving around constantly, swapping between weapons just about every second to hit those aforementioned weaknesses. All of that goes double if you end up playing its The Ancient Gods DLC, but we're not going to get into that. Doom Eternal won my GOTY award in 2020 handily, and it's one of the few games that I knew for certain was going to make it into the top 5.
And now we're at the top 2. My two favorite games of all time. The hardest choice to make out of all these placements. It's not that I doubted which two would make it up there, but choosing which one ultimately was the best was a hell of a thing. See, one of them won't be a surprise to anyone who knows me, as it has held the top spot for the longest time out of all games that have been my favorite. That one is a clear contender, for sure! The other, however, is a more recent one that I think objectively fits the label of "favorite"...for now, at least. For the first one, staying power has been the name of the game, but that nostalgia has been the major thing carrying it in that top spot all this time. For the other, intensive hyperfixation and several objective legs up on the other make it a contender, but it has only been around for a handful of years, making recency bias a definite factor to consider. That recency bias is even more of a consideration with this one since I've found myself once again hyperfixated because of the recent DLC launch. So...what decision did I make? Well, I had to keep in mind what I said in the introductory blurb about how I simply have to go with my gut on some of these. I also had to remember that this imperfect ranking will likely change in my head with time. All this considered, the choice was pretty obvious, but it was one I wasn't quite ready to admit to myself. It will therefore likely come as an actual shock to anyone who knows me that my choice for second favorite game of all time is...
#2): Dragon Age: Origins
Story Level: Extremely high
Gameplay Style: RPG, strategy
Do you remember what I said in the blurb for The Last of Us about bad sequels actually having negative impacts on the titles that came before? Well, the fact of the matter is that Dragon Age: Origins has two bad sequels, with last year's Dragon Age: The Veilguard dealing a particularly devastating blow. In such a story-heavy franchise, it's more than a little disheartening to go back to earlier titles knowing that Veilguard is what it all leads up to. But we're not here to talk about the Bioware hack frauds and their forceful violation of my favorite fantasy world.
I can still remember my first time playing Dragon Age: Origins. It was christmas evening, as I'd gotten it as a gift. I played it for what I thought was a short period of time, and when I next looked out the window, I realized that the sun had already come out. From there on, it became a tradition to stay up until the sun came up every time a new Dragon Age game was released. That was the first and only time I ever had something like that happen by total accident. What followed became my first "hyperfixation" game. I wanted to know everything there was to know about the lore, and I played through the story enough times to have gotten every possible outcome. To this day, there are few games that do storytelling and characters quite as well. On the gameplay front, this is as old school as an old school RPG can be without being turn-based. This was, after all, Bioware's first fantasy endeavor since their Baldur's Gate titles (before Larian got ahold of that IP). The graphics are infamously bad and there's a bit of technical roughness around the edges, but you'll forget both of those facts before too long if you let everything else sweep you off your feet. From its release in 2009 until making this list, Dragon Age: Origins ruled the roost. Would it still hold the top spot were it not for Veilguard? Who can say? We don't live in a perfect world, after all. But as it stands, this game still means the world to me, and I'd recommend it exactly as fervently as the ultimate winner.
Speaking of which...
All-Time Favorite: Lies of P [GOTY 2023]
Story Level: Somewhat vague, mainly lore and some moment-to-moment plot
Gameplay Style: Soulslike, emphasis on parrying
For a soulslike to be my all-time favorite is probably the most anticlimactic ending to this article you can imagine...but I'm here to tell the truth, not to entertain! I've recently been replaying Lies of P because of the new DLC, so recency bias may very well be interfering with my judgment somewhat...but the fact of the matter is that I've never been as hyper-fixated on a game as I've been with Lies of P.
For those who don't already know, Lies of P is the kind of game that sounds like it would be lame right from the get-go: a grimdark soulslike retelling of Pinocchio. You of course play as Pinocchio, and you and your cricket puppet Gemini make your way through a story ever-so-loosely based on the beloved children's tale. Like I said, the kind of thing you might expect to see from the studio that brought you Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. But it isn't.
I'm not going to pretend that the lore and story here are on the same level as Dark Souls, but it's an interesting take on the source material that tells an actually compelling moment-to-moment plot...something that just isn't present in any soulslike. In the modern soulslike, nobody cares about the story (least of all the developers), so this kind of effort is unheard of.
Equally unheard of in the modern soulslike is gameplay as good as this. In terms of From Software titles, Lies of P is really more similar to Sekiro than anything else, but with the speed level you'd find in Dark Souls. There's a heavy emphasis on parrying like in Sekiro, but in terms of combat speed, things are actually fairly slow. Perfection-demanding, timing-based gameplay with a more intentional, contemplative speed (well, at least until some of the final bosses). It's like the best of both worlds! The parrying is by far the most satisfying parrying in any game due in no small part to exceptional sound design, the ability to break enemy weapons by doing so, and animations that are simultaneously extremely readable and difficult to master the timing of.
So, gameplay is exceptional, and it's more customizable than any other soulslike thanks to the weapon assembly system. You can take the blade of any non-boss weapon and attach it to any non-boss handle. The blade determines the overall damage while the handle determines scaling and a great deal of the attack speed. A common combination you'll see is a police baton handle with a giant axe or pipe wrench head, allowing for giant axe or pipe wrench damage at a more police baton level of speed. The combination possibilities are endless, and as I said, it allows you to customize your playstyle in ways only limited by your imagination!
Lies of P also has the distinct honor of being one of the few games in this genre to feel truly skill-based. The original Dark Souls and Dark Souls II were like this, as was Sekiro. But what tends to deter me from giving the other half of the From Software library and the vast majority of non-From Software soulslikes truly high marks in my head is this: to me, they usually feel like I come out the other side of a boss fight because I went and raised my level a bunch, not necessarily because I got any better. I undoubtedly did get better, but it never really feels that way. Not so in Lies of P. This is maybe the only soulslike where I've never felt inclined to grind at all, because each major challenge ultimately feels doable. Every challenge I overcome ultimately feels like I actually earned it, just like it does when From Software is at its best.
So, all of this clicks with me and I've been clearly hyperfixated on this game, but what ultimately made me decide on this for GOAT? Normally I can't stand it when critics pose the question "what constitutes a GOTY/GOAT", but I couldn't help but ponder it. This is the three-point decision criteria I came up with:
1): Hyperfixation
This one is pretty self-evident. I've gone through Lies of P upwards of 20 times at this point, resulting in a total of nearly 300 hours. I've done all sorts of different challenge runs with different weapons, rulesets, even a "randomized" run where I picked my blade head and handle at random. I was hyperfixated on Dragon Age as well, but I think the fixation on Lies of P is probably stronger...for now, at least.
2): Skill & Expertise
This one isn't a necessity, but it goes a long way. As I'e said, nobody cares if a person is good at games...but I'd say I'm in an upper echelon of Lies of P players. I've gotten good enough over my upwards of 20 runs that I'm able to get through many bosses without even taking a single hit, and I can get through all of them (disregarding DLC bosses for now) deathless. One of those challenge runs I mentioned is a level 1 (well, 10, since that's the lowest you can be) run that I got through 90% of the game with...others have beaten the whole game like that, but I said I was in an upper echelon, not the upper echelon! As I said, this isn't a necessity for GOAT consideration, but I can't say I was ever good at Dragon Age: Origins. I would always play that on the normal difficulty, as I was never able to make the harder difficulties work. So, that's another leg Lies of P has up on the competition.
3): General Enjoyment
This may seem like an obvious one...and it is! But it's easy to conflate enjoyment and hyperfixation despite the fact that the two don't always go hand-in-hand. After all, another fixation of mine is the film Skinamarink, and if someone told me they liked that movie, I might start backing away slowly! I can think of no better way to sum up this bullet point: It's looking like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is on track to be GOTY for 2025...but since picking Lies of P back up for the DLC, I have a hard time feeling the love for Expedition 33 that I felt when I played it. It's safe to say that for the time being, returning to Lies of P has spoiled the whole year for me. That will likely change as the rest of the year goes by, but I enjoy this game so much that it's hard to really appreciate anything else when it comes back into my life. And as far as comparisons to Dragon Age: Origins, go...that game had the Fade level, which I never enjoyed.
You may have been able to tell this, but for most entries on this list, I've struggled to think of much to say. Yet here I am with a gigantic blurb for Lies of P written over the course of maybe 10 minutes. And I could easily write about it for hours.
I could go in depth about the viability of each individual weapon. I could opine on the specific puzzle that each boss invites you to solve. I could make the case that both Black Rabbit Brotherhood fights are good, actually (though I don't know how convincing I could be about it)! I could even write a guide to running a level one build...at least for up until that second Brotherhood fight. With the launch of the DLC, I could speak on how it elevates the game's story to arguably the best of any soulslike. I could write at length about the many quality of life features it comes with (leaving souls outside of the boss arena when you lose, adding something to the HUD when you can level up, instantly-resetting elevators that cut down on runback time, etc) and how they make From Software titles slightly less pleasant to return to. And perhaps even more indicatively, I could likely spend another half hour thinking of things I could spend another half hour writing about! As I've written this particular blurb, the choice seems all the more obvious to me...and it seems highly unlikely now that these top two spots are going to switch. I happen to be on my third run since the DLC came out, and the evening I wrote this blurb, I came up with another playthrough concept I haven't thought of yet (that I plan to try out the second I finish this run). And as I sit here on this evening where I had such a thought, I find myself content in my choice despite the fact that soulslikes are so overdone these days as to be a cheap choice for this kind of accolade. But with its lack of purely for difficulty's sake difficulty and myriad of quality of life features, I'd say Lies of P is a perfect starting point for people new to soulslikes and the best one you'll play if you're a soulslike veteran!
So, there you have it! My top 25 favorite games of all time!
Now GIT!
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