It was again an year full of amazing games. This list only contains the ones that I personally like the most.
To choose the games, I picked only those I’ve finished (and also multiplayers, however none of them were good enough to get to the list for me, that is why the list has only singleplayer games).
Games considered/played but not good enough to be on the list (for me, personally):
- Unravel Two
- Far Cry 5
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Donut County
- The Gardens Between
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
- Crossing Souls
- Dead Cells
- Forza Horizon 4
- Guacamelee! 2
- Just Cause 4
- Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
- Vampyr
This time, I did have the time to finish all the games of 2018 I wanted, so this is the final list.
Here we go:
9. Detroit: Become Human
Impressive graphics, probably of the best I’ve ever seen (possible for being a linear game, of course). Of course, graphics don’t make a game, this one has a great narrative that kept me interested all the time.
It still have some cliche problems but that doesn’t disqualify It from being here.
Platform: Playstation 4
8. Celeste
Amazing gameplay and soundtrack on a slightly emotional journey. Despite the gameplay being hard It doesn’t disrespect the player by putting fair checkpoints (even with some hard ones, but still not unfair).
Platforms: Playstation 4 - Nintendo Switch - Xbox One - PC
7. The Messenger
This game is so great. It has an amazing gameplay (it’s basically 2d Just Cause 3, I love it so much) and a map that is fun to explore.
To make It even a better game, the soundtrack is amazing and one of the coolest things about the game are the dialogs, really amazing parody style.
Platforms: Playstation 4 - Nintendo Switch - Xbox One - PC
6. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
A small and simpler experience in the Life Is Strange universe. Despite that, It still has emotional moments, great soundtrack and everything the series is known for, just in a small amount.
Platforms: Playstation 4 - Xbox One - PC
5. A Way Out
This is the first time I’ve seen a game with an emotional adventure also being co-op, and It is great. Full of great small emotional moments, while also having a fun gameplay and minigames. Besides that, It is always throwing new gameplay mechanics witch are innovative.
Platforms: Playstation 4 - Xbox One - PC
4. Red Dead Redemption 2
This one is special. In my opinion, It’s the most advanced open-world game ever made, with really crazy polishment details. The entire game seems to be a linear experience, despite being open-world.
There are a lot of extra activities and every single one of them, like bounty hunting, is hand-crafted. Not only that, but the graphics have details not even the most advanced linear games do.
Leaving the impressive technical achievement this games is, there are some problems with It, like the really slow pacing and heavy controls, besides the old Rockstar open-world structure.
The story is great and emotional at times, with one of the most well written dialogs in any modern game, and amazingly developed characters with great personalities.
Platforms: Playstation 4 - Xbox One
3. Gris
I didn’t think a small indie game would be on my top 3, but Gris really deserves It.
From the start, you can realize this is an incredible piece of art, with incredible hand-drawn graphics, but what you can’t know is how deep It gets towards the end.
It gets really emotionally beautiful and can make you understand how a game can be the ultimate art form.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch - PC
2. Marvel’s Spider-Man
This game is absurdly amazing. If this list was only counting the fun factor, this would no doubt be number 1, with It’s awesome traversal and also combat system.
With Insomniac’s pedigree, you could have seen that coming, but the emotional turns the story gets couldn’t have been predicted. It’s familiar with a lot of stuff for spider-man fans, but even so It still surprises.
Platform: Playstation 4
1. God of War
I couldn’t see this coming. I’ve never played any of the previous God of War games, because hack and slash is not an gameplay style I appreciate, but this game changed everything for this series.
Even not being the most ambitious game ever, like Red Dead Redemption II, and not having the most fun traversal system like Marvel’s Spider-Man, It has an incredible combat system with a lot of great customization.
Besides the combat, another thing that makes the game so good, is the metroidvania-like style.
Those things already make this, in my opinion, the second best game of the year if you only count the fun factor. But there are also crazy Dragon Ball-like fights witch are bizarrely incredible to see but also to play! But there is more.
The most important thing for me, witch makes this my game of the year, is the story and It’s emotional impact. Just a few games explore simple things like that, and even less are the ones witch do It in this scale.
In 2018, there were no games like It.
Platform: Playstation 4
