I really wish I could have played more this year.

Indeed. 

Anyway, here's me. Tetris Effect should be higher possibly, but I think I'll stick with this. Just mostly taking the text I've already written for the 52 games thread.

1. Celeste
An exceptional piece of 2D platform game design that brilliantly marries the tribulations of its player with the emotions of its character. In mechancial terms, it supplies a simple control scheme that enables supreme precision and then tests it to the limit in a vast array of situations. In design terms, it frequently throws up smart ideas, some familiar, some really quite original, all incoporating mild puzzle elements that have you coaxing insane solutions out of the various environmental features and that narrow yet flexible moveset. The combination of skill and creativity required to advance, and especially to collect the optional strawberries dotted around each stage, is expertly balanced, and while it's often mercilessly exacting you're never asked to do too much in one go. And when you've got a central character who's main trait is self-doubt, leading her to this self-imposed mission to climb Celeste mountain, these continuous, arduous tests become oddly meaningful. As Madeline is frustrated by her own weakness and fear, we are frustrated by our timidity and insufficient skill in the face of the game's tougher layouts. But her tenacity also spurs us into perserverence, and we invariably prove our doubts wrong, as the seemingly impossible turns out to be possible after all. Through the game, we learn with Madeline to believe in ourselves, and by the final ascent jump, grab and dash through the air with effortless precision, spurred on by our successes up to that point. The achievement of finishing Celeste is not attached to some world-saving narrative, but presented to us as it really is - a challenge we accept just to prove something to ourselves - and feels all the more valuable for it.”

2. Shadow of the Colossus
I always wanted to play this, and finally got the chance with the remake. What was amazing, regardless of the visual detail and any modern streamlining, was how fresh the core game still felt. The first thing that impresses is its commitment to the setting - a cursed land long abandoned by human inhabitants. The brave move for a game is to leave the huge open plains, deserts and caverns empty, save for a smattering of wildlife and ancient ruins. It's an incredibly evocative piece of world building that centres on your isolation and the singular commitment of the character's mission. But of course, the colossi are the main attraction, and the battles you face increasingly deliver in scale and drama. The pattern of carefully sizing up the features of your opponent and its surroundings to figure out a weakness seems surprisingly original, even though it only expands on established boss battle concepts, and having to earn that opening grants catharsis when finally delivering the fatal blow. Certainly, some of the puzzle elements aren't as well communicated as others, being overly contrived or obscure, but the majority of solutions emerge as rewards for patient observation. There's also a lot of nuance in the simple set of player inputs, with the grab function especially doing a lot of work. Climbing towards a foe's weak point becomes an epic struggle, as each colossus desperately fights to delay the inevitable. And then, when it comes, that catharsis is tinged with melancholy, as the rush of battle dissipates and the reality of your 'achievement' becomes clear. It's the moment that most perfectly encapsulates the game's tragic central theme - the concurrent selfless nobility and selfish violence of your quest.

3. Monster Hunter World
My first Monster Hunter experience and it delivered pretty much exactly what I'd hoped for. For all the details in its wild environments, and the breadth of customisation and crafting at your disposal, it really boils down to a single, infinitely repeated gameplay loop - hunt a monster, collect materials from it, upgrade a weapon, hunt another, tougher monster. There are side quests and expeditions, the distractions of foraging, cultivating resources or directing gatherers to find you more stuff, but these are all minor housekeeping tasks to support the main cycle. The repetition can take its toll, especially in the early game. But then the hours fly by as you farm the materials to realise the latest weapons and armour on your wishlist, and each of the hunts you do in that time is genuinely exciting. The reason it hooks you, aside from tapping into your consumerist drives, is that the monsters themselves put on such a good show. They're big and impressive, plausible yet unusual, and they lumber, roar, bite and slash with real presence. Once the game hits its stride, each new creature is sufficiently different from the last to demand your full attention, careful selection of equipment and bespoke strategies. The hunts follow a regular pattern of chases and confrontations, but the vast array of weapon styles, items, traps and environmental features available means there's always a new way to make them unfold. And that's without factoring in the scope for online teamwork, which adds its own inevitable layer of depth and unpredictability.

4. Tetris Effect
I haven't played Tetris since the Gameboy version and never thought I'd get back into it again, but the audiovisual convergence in this made it instantly fascinating. And once that got me into the game I quickly remembered what a strong concept Tetris always was. It's so simple and precise, yet so flexible, and the tweaks that have been made over the years add more tactical possibilities. In the end, I was never going to get that good at it, and could have done with a bigger TV (or VR) to get the most out of the visual effects, but it was an amazing experience just to play in short bursts. The way you relax into a rhythm with its music and get in the zone with the colours vibrating around the main play area, and then the vocals of a track kick in as you drop a Tetris and a wave of emotion washes over you. There's nothing quite like it.

5. Guacamelee 2
It basically repeats and builds on the previous game, with the same approach to platform/brawling/puzzling but taken up a notch with more imaginative level design. The dimension shifting, colour coding stuff can turn some parts into Ikaruga-like tests of concentration and skill. It's quite the mind fuck at times. It's also very low on padding for such a good sized game, with pretty much every screen offering a slightly different challenge.The humour is more bad than good, but still retains a great sense of fun due to the visuals and music. The only real criticisms I have are minor - fighting sections getting too chaotic so you lose track of your character, and control/response that could just be that tiny bit slicker, given the complexity of the moveset. As another platform game with clever ideas this year, it's not quite Celeste, but it's not far off.

Edit - other stuff I played this year, from best to worst:

Dark Souls Remastered (still the greatest of all games, but it's not new to me)
Dragon Quest XI (good, but I was hoping for much more)
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (nice little surprise)
Hollow Knight (good, but I was hoping for much more)
Dead Cells (good, but I was hoping for much more)
Street Fighter 30^th Anniversary (let down by lag and the PS4 d-pad)
God of War (impressive but bloated and uninspiring)
Desert Child (original and pleasant but almost zero depth)
Yoku’s Island Express (just not very good at all)

Stay the Spire fair enough. SotC??? Really? It’s hardly different to original except audiovisual so not even a remake!

Also the rule excluding it is dumb.

Tempy wrote:

If Slay the Spire stresses folk out then I dunno, move all of my selections up and stick Dead Cells at the bottom of mine (least points). It's just awkward to have to vote in 2019 for a game I bought and put 100 hours into in 2018. What if I don't play it next year?

If your rules are strict Elf, you know the score.

I'm expecting my copy to arrive somewhere around the end of February, so probably won't have a chance to play before voting closes.

Okay, here we go.

Honourable mentions to Spider-Man, Sea of Thieves, and Into The Breach, and shout outs to Obra Dinn and Donut County which I need to do.

5) Forza Horizon 4
It was Brexit Britain, it was our time. Forza finally came home, thanks to Playground Games, and as part of this, I long thought that I'd get to see my house in a game. Sadly, Newhaven was not as long as one would think, and Leith walk and Stockbridge both went a bit weird in the final product.
But that's a testament to the game itself. Everything else feels so real, so tangible, that you want to expect the world to conform to those rules too. Forza Horizon is always a blast. Sadly I only got online with others twice since release, but I am hopeful that will increase. For single player Forza though, the challenge is there - what else? We have had the same events every year, and they have run like clockwork. What's going to separate it from the pack next time, as the original Horizon did from Motorsports? Nevertheless, more wonder from Playground.

4) Celeste
Somewhat ignominiously dropped at the start of the year, 2018's best platformer is an incredible feat. Nevermind the banging soundtrack, the forgiving nature of the game, the overall message, my overall memories about Celeste are that it's incredibly fun to play.
Every loss feels like a lesson, and in the manner of other titles like Super Meat Boy or Guacamelee, it lets you go straight back to it without any thought of holding you to ransom. What a cool game.

3) Super Smash Bros Ultimate
Everyone is here. This is, in some ways, an understatement, when you consider that Ness from Earthbound's dad is also here, albeit in Spirit Form. I can't think of a single title that has had so much put into it from a video game history point of view. That every spirit encounter is fully thought through, with regards to not only enemy but conditions, is ridiculous in itself. Add to that 900 tracks of audio , every classic mode being tailored to the character you are playing, and a support spirit mode that adds completely cromulent additives, and this is probably the biggest celebration of videogames that has every existed. Whether you care for the Smash itself is another question (I've been onboard since GameCube) but you cannot deny that as a time capsule of games until 2018, there is nothing like Smash.

2) Xenoblade Chronicles 2 : The Torna Expansion
Okay. I'm sneaking this on here because of the technicalities of standalone titles. And I'm sure that I'll be the only person to vote for it, but I need to say - Xenoblade 2 deserves its props. The original title dropped at the tail end of 2018 and therefore I was about 4 hours into it when I listed my games. Dropping it for a bit in a new year lull, I went back with a renewed purpose, and one of the most transformative experiences I had was understanding the orbs, and breaking them during combat. Suddenly the game became this incredible chessmatch.
Along with that, I gained an affinity for Rex and Mythra, in particular, and a wider understanding of the world. The ending of the original game, finished in May, upset me, and when I got to the end of the Torna Expansion, a title that encouraged exploration, investigation, and imagination, I saw how everything looped around. I literally burst into a flood of tears as I realised it was the end of my Xenoblade experience.
Torna streamlines combat, levelling up, narrative, and exploration to an incredible degree. As it is a prequel, I'd recommend anyone who is curious about Xenoblade start there. All I can do is start the clock to Xenoblade 3 - but it is telling that it is the first RPG in decades I've wanted to NGP.

1) Hitman 2
Fuckin Hitman. Seriously. So when I get to drop a big ol' statue on a drug lord who is peddling Super Cocaine, I tend to notice the game. Hitman 2 is more of what I needed, without me realising I wanted it. It's a chaos simulator. If I do X then random Y and Z happen, how do I now contort them. The original 2016 reboot of Hitman was unstoppable, and introduced shit like Helmut Krieger. I'm sorry, Helmut, but a giant pink flamingo and Florida guy have taken you place.
Hitman revels in excess, in the challenge to do theost absurd thing possible. It was not enough to break Robert Knox's neck, I had to ride a speedboat out. Hitman is the silliest game of all time and dumping the first into that has only cemented it as a platform I want, nay, need more of. Game of the year.

hylian_elf wrote:

I haven’t worded it right.

You never do.

Last Guardian is PS4 only. ICO not available as yet - still haven't played it.

Having a proper remake of SotC was a real treat for someone who skipped Sony consoles for a couple of generations. And visually it's as good as anything to come out this year.

I imagine it was a bit easier to remake SotC because it was built to be so massively scalable. It was a bit of a big deal at the time as it would monitor load on GPU and set draw distances and detail levels accordingly. The assets on disc were super high quality, just we rarely got to see them as the PS2 was already being stretched

edit: there was a (very interesting) piece on it, maybe a video, maybe an article I'll try to dig it out

Does Forsaken count?

It's like a competition; GOTY Thread of the Year.

Entries are a bit thin on the ground so far.

Shit was persona 5 this year?
If so I may need to adjust my list!

afgavinstan wrote:

It definitely wasn't.

Saves me re-ordering then.
Cheers

acemuzzy wrote:

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS BULLSHIT?!?!?

You can do what you like in here. My top five are all going to be types of cereal.