Heyyyyy everybody, it's time for my list! I totally didn’t procrastinate and put this off until the very last minute!
I know that some folks out there only want to see the games and the order so we’ll get to that first. I’ll save the sappy stuff for the end!
Here’s the Stuff that Didn’t Make the List:
- Void Stranger - There’s some weird juice under the hood!
- Resident Evil 4: Remake - Okay. Mike was right.
- Pikmin 4 - These little freaks are fun
- Venba - I LOVE COOKING WITH MY MOM
- Slay the Princess - Love the story but I got too squeamish
- Octopath Traveler 2 - THERE’S TOO MUCH GAME
- Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 - I didn’t spend enough time to load any children into the Spirit Canon
- Dave the Diver - Jesus Christ it was so hard to cut you off of my top 10.
- FF XVI - I hate that you're the best Kingdom Hearts game.
10. Cocoon
Did you ever check out the Pixar movie Soul? You know how someone that was content they would just enter into a flowstate when they were in tune with what they were doing? I can’t say that I loved every second of Cocoon but I definitely clicked into some type of flowstate while playing Cocoon where I’d see a puzzle and immediately lock in to the solution. I can’t say that I’ve experienced that with too many other games! But maybe there’s another game this year that I entered into a “flowstate” with.
You’re playing as a little bug dude and Cocoon does so well with playing with scale. I notoriously listen to audiobooks, podcasts, etc while playing games but I had to pause all of that while playing Cocoon because of all the brilliant sound design in each of the worlds.
9. Chants of Sennaar
A gigantic fear and anxiety of mine is not being able to speak the language of somewhere I travel to or being completely lost because of the language differences. Even traveling to different parts of the US I get a little antsy because I know about the varying dialectical differences. Chants of Senaar taps into that fear and anxiety and quickly quells them. You’re never in any major danger while navigating the world so it makes learning the language and dialect a pleasant quest. Chants of Senaar makes the task of learning a language so satisfying because you’re quickly filling up your notebooks with your own translations to words and runes.
8. The Finals
I played an obscene amount of Monday Night Combat and Team Fortress 2 and I haven’t really enjoyed too many class based or competitive first person shooters since. There was a short stint where I was enjoying Overwatch, then overpaying for Fortnite, and most recently rediscovering the majesty of Titanfall 2 but I didn’t have much interest in regularly checking out a competitive game. That was until Bakalar messaged our Slack saying that unfortunately it looked like The Finals was fun and he was so right.
The Finals somehow taps into the pure fun that I had when I played Team Fortress 2 and Monday Night Combat. There is no greater joy for me than shooting my grappling hook through a window and stealing a cash out or using the grappling hook to quickly zip away to heal up. The rounds are so short and fun that I can’t get too upset when my team loses because I’ll queue up for another round. Also, I love miscellaneous pouches that have no discernable function other than adding to my immaculate drip.
7. A Space for the Unbound
My boy Michael Higham puts me onto a lot of things. A lot of those games are expansive adventures that sometimes catch me at the wrong times where I can’t fully dive in. I swear I’ll get into FFXIV or try to finish Octopath Traveler 2. But Michael’s hype for A Space for the Unbound was too palpable to let this one slide.
This is such a special game that tackles loss, friendship, and familial trauma in a tight narrative that easily would have jumped up my list if this year wasn’t as stacked as it was. I’m so here for more games coming out of Southeast Asia.