What's your game of the year?

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Pretty self-explanatory, feel free to share your own choices in your preferred format. Without further ado...

The 2020 Game of the Year:


Half-Life: Alyx - The game of the year you probably haven't played. It's an epic AAA franchise flagship game that happens to be made for virtual reality, the combination of which makes it like nothing else I've played in either VR or traditional gaming. It incorporates features of traditional gaming in VR and makes them exceptional, and makes features of VR feel conventional, that is to say it has a combination of technological craftsmanship, innovation and polish you won't see anywhere else. I'm replaying now with a new overhead cord VR setup, and man is it great. This is the futuristic gaming experience you were looking for in 2020 and beyond (travel to 2077 not necessary, but we'll get to that later =). Don't come to it looking for Half-Life 3, which would amount to a glorified retro experience, but something more on the evolutionary scale of Mario 64. I just don't know how accessible and replicable it is, and therefore how influential and recognized it will ultimately be. Maybe it'll have to settle for being the most high profile, cutting edge and transcendent cult game of all time; or, the best game ever nobody ever played.


Runner-ups:

Final Fantasy VII Remake - This may be a nostalgia trip and pick, but what a nostalgia trip! This is basically the gaming equivalent of trying to remake Star Wars and actually kind of pulling it off, if not always in quality, though the production value is top notch, than with apparent quantity to spare and still more to come. They'll probably still blow it... but not yet!

The Last of Us Part II - Gorgeous, moody, bloody, and exquisitely produced, but for all its apparent effort not nearly as engaging, or transcendent, as its predecessor.

Ghost of Tsushima - Gorgeous and earnest, but it's a AAA open world buffet of familiar features. Well done, though.

Doom Eternal - It's a hell of a fun gameplay loop, but almost too dependent on it to the point of being immediately repetitive, and sort of feels like a kitsch retro game experience in a modern ultra settings package. I'd have liked to have seen what would have resulted if they continued more in the vein of the 2016 version rather than going all out to the point of self-parody.

Cyberpunk 2077 - Visually impressive, ambitious, but the characters and plot are nothing special and it's basically a Bethesda game with some Rockstar sprinkled in, which is every other big game you've ever played over the last two decades. If the cyberpunk genre is your bag, great, otherwise just play Witcher 3 instead.


Special mentions:

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate - Technically a 2019 game, but it somehow just won best fighting game of 2020, and I've played no other game more this year or most years of my life (zeroing in on 700 hours, YIKES!). My favorite fighting game ever and it rekindled my passion for the genre.

Hades - Aaz got me into this one, but I'm not counting it because it's technically been in early access for a couple years and I only started it about a week ago, so I'll be writing a lot of impressions here. It's basically a Greek mythology themed Rogue-like, or Diablo if you prefer, with a twist: each run is until death and you make a different random build every time you play, though you can also level abilities and the story moves forward as much, or even more so, when you fail as while you progress (basically, you're always progressing, even when you die). It manages to capture that old school try 'til you die magic, without feeling like a waste of your time, plus with a lot of modern tricks and twists. The new build every time you play thing is pretty great, and it's just begging you to always try, "One more run..." The art style and story elements are delightfully charming, and the way the gameplay and storytelling naturally compliment each other should be envied by a lot of purportedly narrative driven, but actually clunkily executed, games. I also appreciate the way the references to Greek mythology actually correspond logically, even as they take intentionally irreverent liberties that result in pretty humorous commentary, unlike certain AAA franchises I won't mention (but God of War =).
 
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Last of Us 2 for me. I loved FF7 but Last of Us 2 left a experience that really resonated with me. What a great year for games. In a gloomy world it’s really nice to have these quality escapes.
 
Man, it's hard to say! Feels like it's been three years since I played HL: Alyx, which is one of my problems with GOTY choices in general: the recent stuff always feels more relevant than the ones from the beginning of the year. In my case, Hades would have to be the game I played most over the past 3 months. I'm over it now, but I do find it excellent. FFVII Remake doesn't feel like it qualifies, even though I did everything I could in it. Loved Doom Eternal too, but not sure I'll remember much of it in 2 years. In fact I already don't remember all that much about it. In short... I don't know. Alyx might be it for me too. It pushed the envelope.
 
Half-Life Alyx sounds great for sure but I haven't played it. For me it's Cyberpunk, even tho I've had opportunity to play some of the worst performing version of the game I don't look that much on performance as I've played worse or similar performing games on my PC or PS2/PS3.

It's basically and mostly (except some cut content) what I wanted from this game which can be basically played with variety of modifications, hacking and gameplay approaches just like Deus Ex, but with even more satisfying gunplay (bottlenecked by enemy AI at some moments tho) Also this game reminds me of some action RPG classics I've played in the past, and in a good way. But this time set in very impressive looking city with lots of interiors/buildings to explore during quests and there are also fun vehicles and very disturbing dark quests to experience. It's mature and brutally realistic experience from CDPR with stunning soundtrack.
 
FF7R and 13 Sentinels.
FF7 pulled off the right level of nostalgia for me even with some of the annoying bloat( that I think will plague the later parts of the series in ways Griffith brought up at some points) and the new stuff was really intriguing.

13 Sentinels, while not for everybody in terms of its characters/aesthetic, weaved together a really complicated and interesting narrative with pretty neat tactical gameplay. The way the story was told really impressed me since it took all these big reveals and had them laid out over time instead of just throwing stuff in as a big TWIST that comes out of nowhere or something that you could easily just guess from little clues at the beginning. As I played it it reminded me of a lot of specific anime/manga/movies I really enjoyed and reading an article about their influences mentioning Sukeban Deka, Please Save my Earth, Megazone 23, and Toward the Terra(among a lot of more obvious western 80s Sci-Fi movie stuff) was really validating.

FFXIV Shadowbringer's continued plot through the patches was also really good, I'm extremely excited to see what the producer and writers will do for Final Fantasy XVI. The team's practical approach to game development while pushing new talent forward is extremely refreshing and I can't wait for people who don't want to spend 600+ hours in an MMO to be able to experience it with that level of budget.
 
The 2021 Game of the Year:

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Resident Evil Village - I've already said a lot about this game, good and bad, it's plenty flawed, but so was almost every big game I played this year, and no other had a greater sum of its parts. If you want a game that combines RE4 and RE7 into a probably lesser but fun as hell game experience, which is also a modern twist on a Universal Monster mash, this is it, and it's a pretty damn cool survival horror FPS. I ended up playing the hell out of it, including multiple NG+ runs and a new game on the hardcore difficulty, which I would have never bothered to do with those "superior" titles. Oh yeah, it also happened to incorporate my young daughter's name as the name of the protagonist's baby daughter, which definitely helped personalize it for me. So, YMMV on that. =)

Runner-ups:


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Returnal - Returnal might have been my real GOTY if not for some cowardly storytelling, or story-obfuscating. It basically leaves you to choose your own interpretation, but that also leaves me wondering if I'm fooling myself with my own preference, and suspecting the creators had something much dumber in mind; more Shyamalanesque than Lynchian. Otherwise, gameplay, story progression and environmental elements are completely worthy of the honor if not for that one little thing... they fucked up the landing, which is at least thematically fitting.

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Metroid Dread - Almost a flawless return to form, including some great new tricks, but this one hasn't really stayed with me or elicited multiple replays like the two above. Otherwise, its as good as advertised.


Special Mentions:


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Demon's Souls - Technically a 2020 game, but there wasn't a game I wanted to play more the last two years other than Half-Life: Alyx, and they may indeed be my favorite games of the last two years. This is basically the alpha, omega, and the cutting edge of Souls until February 25th, 2022.

Diablo II: Resurrected - Just kidding, this was sort of an obligation and chore that doesn't improve upon the original in any meaningful way. If anything it left kind of a bad taste in my mouth.

Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part II - Another disappointment, possibly in part due to Covid, but it must have made them lose their figurative sense of taste, because, in addition to just being too short, the plot basically ate itself and all of Doom with it. This is like the opposite of what Doom Eternal managed to do with its ridiculous story and it's too bad this franchise seems to always end up tripping over its own dick and snapping it off.


Most Anticipated of 2022:


Elden Ring - My GOTY '22 is its to lose, though I hope I like it more for how it's different from its predecessors than how it's the same.

Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - This should probably be at the top of the list given the incandescent transcendence of the original, but like the above; will it blow my mind like BotW all over again, or merely be a retread of it?

Horizon Forbidden West - The previous one was impressive, though it didn't hook me like the big-time franchise property its clearly aspiring to be. Maybe this one will actually get there?

God of War Ragnarök - Same as above, good but not great, but the raw materials are all there so I'm basically hoping this one transcends its predecessor.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - More TMNT arcade? Sure! Slim pickings though, folks. I really hope the game is about this.
 
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - More TMNT arcade? Sure! Slim pickings though, folks. I really hope the game is about this.
Commendatori!

I’ll have to give mine some thought. Although right now of the games i’ve played this year it’s between Alyx (yes I know) and Walkabout Mini Golf, both VR games, and Metroid: Dread.
 
Commendatori!

You're going to like my movie of the year, which gets the nod even though 'remember when?' is the lowest form of conversation.

I’ll have to give mine some thought. Although right now of the games i’ve played this year it’s between Alyx (yes I know)

Hey, I wouldn't blame you for rolling it over, this year kinda sucked.

and Walkabout Mini Golf, both VR games,

A mini golf VR game sounds fucking awesome.

and Metroid: Dread.

You know, I said every game I played this year was flawed, but that's not true because Dread was pretty perfect for what it was.
 
Diablo II: Resurrected - Just kidding, this was sort of an obligation and chore that doesn't improve upon the original in any meaningful way. If anything it left kind of a bad taste in my mouth.
What types of ways would’ve you liked to see it improved? They’re adding a new patch to make more builds viable. Something that hasn’t been done in many years. Adding new rune words also. The only minor gripe I had was the loading que which seems to have been sorted out now.
Most Anticipated of 2022:
Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - This should probably be at the top of the list given the incandescent transcendence of the original, but like the above; will it blow my mind like BotW all over again, or merely be a retread of it?
Nintendo needs to just accept that reusing asserts from an existing engine isn’t a bad thing. Maybe they stopped trying to reinvent the wheel every new game then we might get another Majora’s mask level of awesome.
 
I wouldn't worry about Nintendo being afraid of recycling stuff. :ganishka:
Well they only seem to do it for not good reasons.

But when it comes to their flagship games it seems like they always try to build everything from the ground up. That’s not always a bad thing either. I don’t fully understand how game development works. But they won’t have a chance of making another game like Majora’s mask if they keep doing it.

That’s what makes me most excited for the breath of the wild sequel. How much can they improve upon what they already have available? Without trying to fix what wasn’t broken.
 
What types of ways would’ve you liked to see it improved? They’re adding a new patch to make more builds viable. Something that hasn’t been done in many years. Adding new rune words also. The only minor gripe I had was the loading que which seems to have been sorted out now.

That sounds like a good start, but since they have vanilla and LoD Diablo II options anyway, they should have just offered a third choice with more radical changes from the start. I mean, I know they're not the real D2 team and it's a risk, but have some balls and basically make it another expansion with Act VI, etc and go from there. You can always offer the original and LoD versions for purists.

Nintendo needs to just accept that reusing asserts from an existing engine isn’t a bad thing. Maybe they stopped trying to reinvent the wheel every new game then we might get another Majora’s mask level of awesome.
But when it comes to their flagship games it seems like they always try to build everything from the ground up. That’s not always a bad thing either. I don’t fully understand how game development works. But they won’t have a chance of making another game like Majora’s mask if they keep doing it.

That's if one believes Majora's Mask is so much better than those "ground up" titles, or that it's being built on OoT assets gives it an advantage. I honestly think that's more a symptom of its ingenuity to get the most out of an N64 cartridge than the cause of it.

That’s what makes me most excited for the breath of the wild sequel. How much can they improve upon what they already have available? Without trying to fix what wasn’t broken.

Let's hope so, but it was actually resembling Skyward Sword a bit more in the most recent trailer.


P.S. Can we rename this thread to remove the "2020" from the title? Another reason to let us indefinitely edit our posts. =)
 
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I have two GotY for 2021: one that's actually a 2021 game, and one that I discovered this year.

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Lost Judgment - This game was another incredible installment from a very underrated developer (RGG studio). It's got everything, a great main storyline, interesting side-missions, and tons of minigames. It's one of those rare titles that will give you some food for thought and tug at your heartstrings at the same time. It helps that the combat is crazy fun too!

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Hollow Knight - This game remained under my radar for a long time, mainly because until recently, I dismissed side-scrollers and indies right off the bat. The current gen's lack of releases made me look elsewhere, and that's when I discovered this gem. It made me fall in love with an entire genre, and this should sufficiently cover everything else I would say otherwise. I can't wait for the sequel!
 
The 2022 Game of the Year is...

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ELDEN FUCKIN' RING! - No surprise, or really competition, here, and after writing about it publicly and privately for months, culminating in a journal of my level one playthrough, what MORE can I say? How about this in a nutshell: it's basically Dark Souls meets Breath of the Wild; that sound good? It's the game of the year, it's not even close, and it may be a lot more. Perhaps the game of the decade, certainly the culmination of the previous decade of Souls and open world insanity. Time will tell how far it's reach goes...

Oh, while we're here and since it may be a while, the updated Souls Ranks (sorry Demon's Souls, you're officially out of the top 3):

Elden Ring - The Most Game Ever!
Bloodborne - The Finest Game Ever.
Dark Souls - The One That Started It All.
Demon's Souls - The one that started that one.
Dark Souls 3 - Really my 3rd if I had any nerve.
Dark Souls II - My most played game I don't even like.
Sekiro - I did it, but I didn't get it.

Runners-Up:

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A Plague Tale: Requiem - This isn't the second best game of the year, it's not even the best Plague Tale game out there, but because there is no other great game of the year after Elden Ring, and these are all basically interchangeable, this is recognition and a "lifetime achievement" or cumulative award for both this and the first game. For the setting they brought to life, the engaging characters, awesome rat tsunami action, and for being the only one on the list, besides Elden Ring, which doesn't count because it could give a fuck anyway, with some storytelling balls. This may not be a more technically advanced or complex game than the next two, or even its predecessor, but I still preferred spending time in this world with these characters, and that means a lot.


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Horizon Forbidden West - Poor Aloy, always a bridesmaid, never the bride (she probably wouldn't care). So, this game, like the original, was very good, had a good sci-fi plot, managed to add a lot more wrinkles to the game and plot and take some swings without fucking it up, basically improve everything; it was a lot of fun just to explore and hunt and upgrade and play, so for all that I'm giving it... third place! The downside is, like the game below, it's basically just an upgraded version of the original, like a full-game-sized expansion DLC. This is probably the best "game" on the list besides Elden Ring though, the one I enjoyed just fucking around with the mechanics in besides the main plot. So, there's a feather in your cap, Guerrilla Games!


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God of War Ragnarök - This was a big improvement over the last game, though I never got into the hype of that one either. Great cinematic production value in every respect, including during gameplay, which is a double-edged sword (how much am I "doing" versus "watching," and are they making extraordinary battles seem so polished they actually seem kind of ordinary), and ultimately I thought the story, which introduced a lot of interesting ideas and basically made sure not to do anything too daring with them, and repetitive gameplay were both kind of hollow. Essentially the video game equivalent of a Marvel movie, and I don't even like particularly beating that horse. Everything is presented as so larger than life that the purportedly big stuff doesn't live up to it (the big, big moment that ends up being the crux of everything is the death of a tertiary character) . Also, the story was really squishy otherwise, and even though I enjoyed the gameplay, character and armor upgrading more in this one, it's all pretty perfunctory and samey whether you're fighting a skeleton or a dragon. Your starting armor becomes one of the best in the game once fully upgraded, no quest or item is missable, so again, nothing matters. Anyway, if it seems like I'm slighting the chosen one here, it's doing fine.

Also, like I said, these are basically interchangeable, so the preceding list could easily be Ragnarok, Forbidden West (still 3rd =), and Requiem instead, and objectively maybe should be, but it's my preference after all. Speaking of which...


Honorable Mentions:

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Sonic Frontiers - A poor, or maybe homeless, man's BotW combined with collect-a-thon gameplay and graphics that'll remind you of N64 and Dreamcast, respectively... but that can still be a lot of fun (who doesn't like fighting kaiju as Super Sonic to some rousing crabcore buttrock?)! Anyway, if I keep playing this any longer, collecting gears, keys, and upgrade materials as I happily speed around fantasy skate park structures and cutting edge Sonic Adventure levels, this is going to sneak up there with God of War and the rest and really destroy any credibility I may have had here.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - A modern day Turtles in Time? Radical!

The Callisto Protocol - If you want derivative survival horror that looks great, this is good enough for you!

Stray - This was a nice little game/cat simulator, but I actually wish it was more of the latter, which is the most novel and remarkable part.


Dishonorable Mentions:

And coming in last place...

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"Hey little girl, wanna play a nasty game with me?"

Resident Evil VIIIAGE: Shadow of Rose - Well, fuck you too, Capcom! This is a completely lazy, lesser-than rehash of the main game's scenario, only worse to the point of being a parody of it. Capcom are now being the best AND the worst game company within the same games!

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To Be Continued...?:

A new category of games from this year I'm still interested in playing (let me know any I missed on here or maybe should miss):

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Immortality - This was a GOTY contender in some circles, but also looks like a gimmick out of the 90s. I don't know what to believe.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion - I wasn't opposed to the original, just didn't have the means to play it, so I guess I should give this remake a try.
Lost Judgment - Technically a 2021 release, and I'd probably play the original first, but wanted to get this in writing.
Cult of the Lamb - Heard it's one of those good indie games. It's that simple.
Tunic - Looks like Zelda. Nuff said. Hopefully not too puzzle-centric though.
Chained Echoes - A 16-Bit JRPG-style pastiche? Sagoi!
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Supposedly Final Fantasy Souls. BTW, I have four FF titles listed in this post but probably won't play 3 out of the 4. =)


Most Anticipated 2023:

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Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - On the list for the second year in a row, now that Elden Ring has come to fruition is this the new Elden Ring? It's certainly the legitimate #1 contender and favorite for GOTY next year since Elden Ring DLC probably shouldn't count. But still...

Elden Ring DLC (Barbarians of the Badlands?)! - It was my most anticipated last year with good reason, my preseason #1 and never dropped as it was easily my game of the year, and so I thought I might as well put it on the list again. When this comes out I'll be replaying the game from scratch to properly experience what I hope will be an extensive DLC, ala The Old Hunters, on its own terms. Hopefully this is basically Elden Ring 1.5, but maybe I'm getting overenthusiastic about a DLC here (I don't know though, The Old Hunters is pretty fuckin' good).

Death Stranding 2 - Did not expect this to be a thing, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised since Kojima did over half a dozen sequels to his previous flagship franchise, but I thought this was sort of a self-contained story. I don't know if I'm pleasantly surprised or anxious.

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth - The favorite to disappoint me greatly and actually be my least favorite game of the year. As before, the stakes, expectations, and degree of difficulty are high. But they actually pulled it off last time and gave themselves more wiggle room to boot.

Diablo IV - Aw shit, here we go again. Really not feeling the call yet, but this could easily become my most played next year if they can stay out of their own way.

Street Fighter 6 - I mean, I need to use all my arcade sticks but this list is getting kind of long and I don't know if I have the time to commit to competitive Street Fighter anymore...

Dead Space/Resident Evil 4 - I'm going to play them so I guess I have to be anticipating them by default?

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - First one was pretty decent Star Souls on max difficulty, but this is getting out of hand.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon - I mean, I never played them but it's new From Soft about fire, cinders and bosses, so I guess
I have to?

Final Fantasy XVI - Uhhh, intrigued by the return to more classic fantasy elements, but again, I don't have time for this!

Spider-Man 2 - I mean, this was a good game, but I never got into the Miles Morales expansion. So, ok, enough already!

Blasphemous 2 - Go away, I couldn't even get through the first one... twice!

Mortal Kombat 12(?) - AAAAAAAHH! NO MORE, I HAVE A FAMILY TO TAKE CARE OF!! :magni:
 
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It's Elden Ring. But there wasn't a ton of competition for it this year, at least insofar as the games I've played. Chained Echoes is my second.
 
The only new releases I've played this year were Elden Ring and  Stray.
So I guess it doesn't make much sense for me to compile a list. :farnese:
 
Griffith, we have the same amount of kids. How did you play and finish this many games?

Also, Elden Ring (to be fair, other than Stray, I haven't played many games). I'm not done with it but I am at the final boss and this game is amazing.
 
Elden Ring. Easily. 2022 wasn't a great year for gaming, so this isn't saying much, but I don't doubt Elden Ring would have had a good shot at being the GotY anyway, even in a stronger year. It's a masterpiece.

The 2022 Game of the Year is...

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ELDEN FUCKIN' RING! - No surprise, or really competition, here, and after writing about it publicly and privately for months, culminating in a journal of my level one playthrough, what MORE can I say? How about this in a nutshell: it's basically Dark Souls meets Breath of the Wild; that sound good? It's the game of the year, it's not even close, and it may be a lot more. Perhaps the game of the decade, certainly the culmination of the previous decade of Souls and open world insanity. Time will tell how far it's reach goes...

Damn straight. For sheer scale, scope, and ambition, I think the only competition it has in this generation (I'm counting PS4 gen here since ER is on there too) is probably the Witcher 3. It was definitely a wake-up call for developers in regards to open-world design (or at least, I hope it was), thanks in no small part to it breaking the Ubisoft open-world manual. The angry (jealous) reactions of some devs is some indication of that.

Oh, while we're here and since it may be a while, the updated Souls Ranks (sorry Demon's Souls, you're officially out of the top 3):

Elden Ring - The Most Game Ever!
Bloodborne - The Finest Game Ever.
Dark Souls - The One That Started It All.
Demon's Souls - The one that started that one.
Dark Souls 3 - Really my 3rd if I had any nerve.
Dark Souls II - My most played game I don't even like.

:guts:

Sekiro - I did it, but I didn't get it.

:judo:
 
Elden Ring - The Most Game Ever!
Bloodborne - The Finest Game Ever.
Dark Souls - The One That Started It All.
Demon's Souls - The one that started that one.
Dark Souls 3 - Really my 3rd if I had any nerve.
Dark Souls II - My most played game I don't even like.
Sekiro - I did it, but I didn't get it.
Interesting list. Mine would probably go
1. Elden Ring
2. Dark Souls 3
3. Dark Souls 1
4. Sekiro
5. Bloodborne
6. Dark Souls 2
7. Demon’s Souls
I think you said that you never finished Sekiro right? You should right back on that immediately!
Also yes, Elden Ring is game of the year.
 
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A lot of games I loved this year were from previous years haha, including Sekiro.

Elden Ring obviously takes the cake, nothing could really beat it.
I guess if I count rereleases then my ranking for game from this year I played:
Elden Ring - My biggest complaint is that I'd have liked if the NPC questlines were a bit better set up to accommodate the style of open world it has. That being said I sort of did a "do everything on one character/playthrough" because I don't have the same drive to replay it like I did with the other Souls games back in the day so maybe if I was doing that I wouldn't have minded as much.

Death Stranding Director's Cut: Finally beat it playing this version on Steam, I enjoyed it a lot and am happy for DS2 being made, I am excited to see how Kojima changes up the open world stuff in 2, I liked delivering the entire time but I'd want it to be massively changed up for a sequel, which I expect them to do.

Tactics Ogre Reborn: Decided to get past the "blurry" graphics and got it to play on Steam Deck where it honestly looks fine. The way they changed up skills I think works since you have to make your characters more specialized but I do understand missing the wacky full-on everybody gets whatever skills style of the PSP version. I'm still plugging away at it now and enjoying myself. I hope they really do a Final Fantasy Tactics remake because I never dug deep on that game back in the day but always was interested to.


I'll rank the Souls series like everybody else but I'm sure I've done it before and this list might contradict one I did before lol:

Dark Souls 1
Sekiro
Demon's Souls
Elden Ring
Bloodborne (I am going to beat this fully finally this year so lets see if it jumps up lol)
Dark Souls 3
Dark Souls 2

I really enjoyed Sekiro's combat style and found myself having the most fun with bosses since I fought Artorias in DS1 DLC the first time.
 
Griffith, we have the same amount of kids. How did you play and finish this many games?

Griff's example is my one my hopes that if / when I am responsible for little ones, I can / will still have a life haha. Admittedly, he's among the minority :judo:

I think you said that you never finished Sekiro right? You should right back on that immediately!

Haha I've been trying to get him back to Sekiro for a while, but my posts have been as effective as (continuation) Guts' sword on manga Griffith.

Elden Ring - My biggest complaint is that I'd have liked if the NPC questlines were a bit better set up to accommodate the style of open world it has.

That's interesting. Can you elaborate on that?

---

Anyway, since everyone is ranking, I'll add mine, again:

1. Sekiro
2. Dark Souls
3. Elden Ring
4. Bloodborne
5. Demon's Souls
6. Dark Souls III
7. Dark Souls II

Like I've said before, numbers 1 and 2 often switch places, depending on my mood. I think the sequels, DS II and III, are the weakest entries despite being good anyway. And I think Bloodborne is objectively the best in the series, but it's not on my favorite because I'm more into the fantasy aesthetic than the gothic-Lovecraftian style (which is awesome anyway).
 
That's interesting. Can you elaborate on that?
I think the dynamic world where NPCs can die/move/disappear based on where you explore doesn't work as well when it's so large, I never ran into Patches once, never ran into Rya before getting to Volcano Manor, and a few other things like that. I'm not sure how they'd do it better exactly and I do think figuring that stuff out over time across other play-throughs or hearing about it from friends is cool but I found myself frustrated often with finding out I messed up a questline for myself or missed giant parts of it by progressing too far in the open world. I'm glad they added NPC markers eventually even if it doesn't fully make sense. I also think if I didn't burn myself out on playing the game 10+ hours a day for a few weeks maybe I'd have done NG+ instead of stopping once I beat it.
 
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