.
Outer Wilds or Outer Worlds, because I almost mixed them up.
This is why I'm checkin' it twice.
Get ready for my list that will definitely be featuring Outer Worlds and Outward.
I can't even begin to process this yet.
Once more, thank you Eleima for putting it together, and a thanks to Clocky for doing it for so many years that the format would become tradition.
This will be the first time in a long time my list will be such a fight of games from the current year. Normally it's about leaving one or two off, but I'll likely be leaving three or more in. I'm just about finished Fire Emblem and Crystar, and will be playing Bloodstained. Should funds suffice, I'll be adding Death Stranding and Pokemon Shield, so...
Looks like it's going to be another post-Christmas vote. I've been working on the current sorting, however, and... so far the top three have been largely uncontested, and I'm pretty confident about spots 4 and 5. But 6 and below? That's a battle royale there.
Fitting, I suppose, given current multiplayer gaming trends.
man I hope I have a real list this year...
But 6 and below? That's a battle royale there.
Apex Legends? Tetris 99? I can't wait to find out.
I've got a list that's three times longer than it needs to be. My Top 5 are mostly set, I just need to winnow the hell out of the rest of it, and do a little writeup for each title.
Thank you, Eleima! These are my favorite threads each year. I'm still putting my list together, and deciding if I'll pull the trigger on Jedi Fallen Order in time to play it enough to be able to rank it.
In the past few years, I've struggled to get 10 games under my belt to say are worthy of GoTY listing, and like cceserano, not this year. I've played over 30 new games, and I'd consider 20 or so for my list, plus I've got 3 more I plan on playing and one (Darksiders Genesis) which based on the early streams of it, I know would be top 10 if I had a chance to play it on my platform of choice this year.
ccesarano wrote:But 6 and below? That's a battle royale there.
Apex Legends? Tetris 99? I can't wait to find out.
Thought the same thing. Apex Legends is the only BR that making it onto my list, and it's as close to locked as anything where it's at.
Just tagging this thread for now. There's still a whole month to go of the year to go, and although I have I hard time seeing my top 2 unseated -
RE2 Remake/Disco Elysium
- it could still happen, and there's another eight places to fill.
Once more, thank you Eleima for putting it together, and a thanks to Clocky for doing it for so many years that the format would become tradition.
Well, to be fair, it wasn't just me and Clocky. As far as I know, Sinatar started it all back in 2006, and kept the torch blazing until 2009. Clocky picked things up in 2010 and kept it going til 2016. Then I came in with the 2017 GOTY. So let's not forget Sinatar. 
I miss Sinatar.
So far there are 19 games that have a chance to make my list, even if it's a very slim one. I didn't play much garbage this year.
Going to be interesting ranking these around New Year's. Thanks for organizing this Eleima (and Clocky, and Sinatar)!
Well, to be fair, it wasn't just me and Clocky. As far as I know, Sinatar started it all back in 2006, and kept the torch blazing until 2009. Clocky picked things up in 2010 and kept it going til 2016. Then I came in with the 2017 GOTY. So let's not forget Sinatar. :)
Good point. By time I joined Clock was already heading it up, so I keep forgetting that there was once a time before.
While I am well above 10 games played over the year, my game completions has come to a halt in recent months. Got to try out some more games over the holidays.
Would love to play at least Disco Elysium and Life is Strange 2. Games that should have a pretty good shot at placing high on my list.
There sure are a lot of big open world games on my list this year. It can be exhausting sometimes, but I’m just a sucker for big, cinematic, immersive 3D games.
1. Spider-Man
I’ve only been playing this in the last couple weeks, but it’s absolutely rocketed to the top of this year’s list in that time. I love the Arkham games, but this manages to surpass them. Spider-Man has wonderful combat, but the writing and characterization put it on another level.
It doesn't have the best start: the opening setpiece is a big, loud, overly scripted fight where I struggled with the controls and wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing half the time, the world is pretty but not too interesting, and there are a ton of open world collectibles to find that feed into an oddly abstract method of “crafting” upgrades.
But then you visit Aunt May at a homeless shelter and talk to the folks there. You help Doctor Octavius work on creating prosthetics for injured veterans while he fights to keep his funding. As you get better at swinging around the city, you foil faceless goons’ robberies, assaults, and drug deals, which feels pretty good, especially when random people on the street cheer and thank you. And then you play as MJ as she stumbles across a new terrorist group. And from there begins an inexorable slide into crisis and horrifying chaos.
Arkham City dropped you in into a ridiculous scenario where the inmates are already escaped, the civilians are conveniently gone, and there are no consequences to anything you do. When all hell breaks out in Spider-Man's New York City, the stakes are personal and the open world is an asset rather than a weird liability that undercuts the urgency instilled by the plot. The writing and character performances are just so good, and the finale was more emotional than I expected.
It has the same confidence and purity of design that Arkham Asylum had, without the inane excess that crept into Arkham City. My only exposure to Spider-Man is through the movies, and the screenshots and videos I saw of this game didn’t really convey what’s special about this game. If you’ve been holding off on this one, or you tried it out and thought the opening couple hours were nothing special, I encourage you to give it another look.
2. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
This was going to top my list this year until Spider-Man swooped in. This MMO is often called the “secret best Final Fantasy”, and the Shadowbringers expansion is by far the best written Final Fantasy adventure in years. It pays off several long-running threads in the ongoing story of Final Fantasy XIV while introducing a new, nearly apocalyptic setting. Despite that, the focus is firmly on character: it highlights the toll being the savior of the world takes on your character, there are poignant moments of grief and rage borne out of such a harsh setting, it subverts your understanding of the universe and your character’s place in it, and the antagonist earned my sympathy by the end. Emet-Selch is an all-time great Final Fantasy villain, a man trying to restore his people and his home via monstrous means. He’s no cackling narcissist or goth with mommy issues. He genuinely wants to convince you that his point of view is correct.
The music has never been better (Masayoshi Soken is a top-tier composer for the series), the writing has never been more confident (Natsuko Ishikawa has been knocking it out of the park for years in various side quests, and the main story here is her masterpiece), and raids inspired by Nier Automata and Final Fantasy VIII make it the best theme park MMO experience around. If the rumors about FF14 team members working on a FF16 are true, I absolutely cannot wait to see what they come up with.
3. Yakuza 0
I’m still early on in this game, but I haven’t laughed this much while playing a game in a long time. It has so much heart and charm. And the melodramatic main story has kept my interest so far. There are more cutscenes than a Metal Gear game, but I love walking around Kamurocho and Osaka, soaking in the 80’s neon atmosphere. The characters are well acted. It’s weird and loud and Japanese as f*ck. I can’t wait to play more.
4. Final Fantasy XV
The open world in this game is what I always imagined in the 8- and 16-bit 2D games. A mix of wild and barren, fantastical and mundane. Running around with your bros on screen, hearing their constant banter, is what I always wanted to see in older games when it was only the main protagonist on screen. The story telling is flawed, but the mood is what I want from the series going forward. Friends on an adventure, world shattering melodrama, regular folks to chat with in towns and cities, in a glossy high-fidelity AAA production.
5. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
By far the best game in the series. More than its predecessors, it just wants you to play. Mess around with guards, shoot bears with tranq rifles then carry them off with balloons, or jump on cargo containers and ride a wormhole back to Mother Base. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a stealth game, and one of the very few that’s still fun to play once you’ve been spotted. Even the boss fights were, for the most part, enjoyable spectacle rather than frustrating gauntlets. You can ignore the story as much as you want (though the opening should be experienced just for the absurd over-the-top anime presentation). I’ve played all the games prior to this one, and struggled to remember who everyone is. The cutscenes are few, and a lot of the story is delivered in tape recordings that aren’t exactly riveting. Regardless, you can enjoy it without being a fan of Metal Gear. You won’t understand what’s really going on, but it’s still fun, and that’s a huge accomplishment.
6. God of War
This game has a great mix of combat, exploration, and puzzle solving. The relationship between Kratos and Atreus is interesting, and the tone is so much better than the previous entries in the series. Kratos is trying so hard to put his past behind him, but he still has to reckon with who he is and what that may mean for his son. The character relationships matter, and are anchored by great performances. It’s a super video gamey title, which sometimes feels at odds with the presentation. The pacing is a little weird as well. But I loved each new area that opened up, and it still manages to preserve the spectacle the series is known for while feeling much more grounded in character.
7. Soma
I played this with deaths turned off, and it was still a fantastically unsettling experience. This is a meaty science fiction story, and the horror comes less from the creepy crawlies and more from the ideas it spends the entirety of its story mulling over. Even though I saw its twists coming long before their reveal, they were still effectively horrifying. If you played either of the Amnesia games, this is better, more cohesive, and more fleshed out.
8. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
This game is ridiculously large, but I loved it. Greece is a beautiful setting, and it takes the commitment to openness that Origins introduced and takes it further. Assassinations can be carried out in just about any way you’d like, which is what I originally wanted from the series. Kassandra is a muscly goofball, maybe not the most charismatic of series protagonists, but then again, she always had something interesting or funny to say in reaction to events around her. It pulls the weird deep lore of the series more to the forefront, which I’m happy about. I could take or leave the inclusion of dialog choices and different narrative outcomes, but I didn’t mind the shift to fully RPG systems. I can still kill a dude with one stab, and the combat was fun for those times sneaking around didn’t work.
9. Red Dead Redemption II
A game I respect more than love, perhaps. I got used to the bizarre controls, and the story of Arthur Morgan, Dutch van der Linde, and John Marston was compelling. But it never quite captured my imagination like RDR1 did. But the gorgeous world and immersive setting still earns it a spot on this list. If I were ever to replay it, I’d probably get to chapter 4 then go off and fish or hunt for the remainder of the game. It’s weird how much I got into the loop of waking up, drinking coffee, doing chores in camp, then going out hunting and bringing back the meat and skins.
10. We Met in May
The only indie game on my list. It takes maybe 15 minutes to play, it’s exceptionally weird, but I find myself thinking about it randomly all the time. It’s 4 playable vignettes depicting various stages of a romantic relationship, from the first time your partner sees your apartment (and potentially your weird anime paraphernalia everywhere), to tweaking his nipples while he tries to cook you a delicious dinner. It’s hilarious and charming, super cheap, and extremely memorable.
1. Sekiro
As with last year’s list, I had to really sit down and think long and hard about what made what game better in my eyes with the top three. Sekiro ended up winning out because the world that FROM Software painted – one steeped in Eastern mysticism and mythology – made the exploration of it so fulfilling and thrilling. The Souls formula was taken in a different direction than before, leaning heavily on speed and reflexes over the more slow and methodical style seen in the Souls games proper; I found it a fun – and at times frustrating – challenge that inevitably drew me in and did not let me go until I had pried all four endings and every single trophy from the game.
2. What Became of Edith Finch
What a nice, short ride this game is. The quirky and near-fantastic lives of the Finch family members, their experiences, and their ends all come together to paint a riveting picture of a family’s heritage. The game tugs at the heartstrings and plucks poignant notes that hit a vast range of emotion that had me giggling at times and choking up with tears at others. I came into the game expecting one thing and ended up receiving something quite else.
3. Soma
Where other games in the list are mostly fun, exhilarating experiences, or narrative journeys with thought provoking stories, Soma had me nearly crapping my pants with tension and fear. It was truly an intense experience that, coupled with a fascinating story about, well, I won’t spoil it, but it was greatly satisfying overall. The ending was really something I enjoyed playing through, which is not something all that common in this day and age.
4. Nier: Automata
The Singularity, the definition of cognizant life, the nature of self-awareness, and lots and lots of ass-kicking androids. Yoko Taro’s offerings are always interesting in their idiosyncratic peculiarities, and Nier: Automata is no slouch in that department. Endings galore reminded me of the King’s Quest games of old – all those deaths! – and the main endings – the ones that are the narrative bookends to the story – all hit plenty of emotional notes while leaving me with plenty of questions about philosophical themes and quandaries posited by the game throughout.
5. Death Stranding
Out of all the games I have ever played, I think this is the first time I can say that this is a true “art house” game. One could argue that other odd ducks in the medium, like Deadly Premonition for one, could fall within the art house label, but truth be told many such titles are close to B movie status than anything else. Death Stranding, on the other hand, appears to be both amazing and ridiculous in a way that screams genius somehow. It is not the game of the year, and possibly not Kojima’s best, either, but it is certainly something that makes a statement and dares to be a rather unique creature that bends to none of the demands of the audience, for better or for worse.
6 God of War (2018)
A very interesting take of Norse mythology with an injection of Kratos shenanigans. Boy was fun and realistic enough, and nowhere near as annoying as some people made him out to be on the interwebz. While the combat system could stand to be refined – Dark Souls it is not, despite some clear inspiration – and the over-the-shoulder view could go the way of the dodo, it was serviceable in allowing me to traverse a rich world and a pretty gripping story for God of War standards.
7 Tacoma
This A.I. rescue game was something I didn’t expect to like as much as I did. Won’t go into too much detail lest I spoil anything, but I really enjoyed playing the space gumshoe in this little tale of sci-fi and discovering all the many details that populated the space station.
8 Iconoclasts
A metroidvania, but not quite. I loved every bit of quirky character development in this game and the bosses and the maze-like world and the… Well, it was really fun and challenging, and the story was fairly interesting as the dangling carrot held aloft in front of me so that I might see the game to completion.
9 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Koji Igarashi is back and in style. This was the Castlevania game I’ve been pining for since I first completed Symphony of the Night way back in 1998; a metroidvania with the power of 3D capable machines driving it while still retaining all the sensibilities of the 2D platformer genre. It only took – what? – three console generations for it to finally crystalize?
10 Persona 5
Persona is possibly my favorite JRPG series after Final Fantasy’s fall from grace. The fifth installment in the series seems to be the epitome of all things Persona. It has style like no other game, challenging dungeons, a fleshed out game world to explore and engage with, and it still has that monster collecting mechanic that made SMT and its spinoffs such addictive experiences. This game is massive and intimidating in that manner, but the investment is well worth it.
Honorable Mentions:
Thimbleweed Park
Timespinner
Marvel's Spiderman
Call of Cthulhu
Wow, didn't come close to playing 10 new to me games this year. As always it's interesting to read others lists though. Thanks Eleima
Eleima: What is the best way to do a short list for easy copy/paste action for you? Titles only listed 1 to 10 with line breaks between them?
Tagging in. I didn't get to play much (not even close to 10 games) but I'll come back and make my list when I get a little more time.
I didn't play a ton of new stuff this year, plus there are some things that I played enough to realize it doesn't make any sort of list, but nevertheless there are some games that I kindheartedly want to be recognized. (I leave room to add games if I remember something down the road.)
1. Disco Elysium - Not only is this my game of the year, it's my game of a long time, and probably cracked my personal Top 5 Ever. The writing is so, so good that it's being lauded as on Planescape: Torment's tier, and I don't disagree. The setting is refreshingly new, the characters are fun and diverse, and the choices are so intertwined and nuanced that half the time I don't realize a small throwaway thing I said to a random person on the street will come back and bite me later. I don't really have any complaints with this game at all - I know some people don't like how some of the characters are assholes and say or do asshole things, but it only adds to the tapestry. Just a wonderful, dreamlike experience that doesn't come often.
2. Control - I like what Control has around its fringe more than what the main story was. The main story, while fun, doesn't have a fantastic payoff. There's also some serious performance issues, but the combat became very satisfying - coupling that with some very nice soundtracks and overall The X-Files creepiness, I can look past the bumps to see that Remedy pulled off their vision that they've been trying to perfect since the PS2 days.
Also, you never get tired of force choking people to mind control them.
3. Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Is this a relationship management sim? Is this a war strategy game? Is this where I teach young kids the finer points of anime school? It's all of them! And it's great.
4. Outer Worlds - This game was comfort food for me. I didn't love it as much as other people did, but this is what Fallout 4 should have been. It didn't try to break the mold though.
It's bright, it's beautiful, with some really good writing. I disliked a lot of the male party members, but the females more than made up for it. It's a tight and concise little package that knew what it wanted to do and did it. For some reason it didn't wow me, and I would have been mad if I had paid $60, but Game Pass was excellent for digesting this 25-hour treat.
5. Darkest Dungeon - This is not the first time I've played Darkest Dungeon, but it's the first time I tried to break through some of the harder difficulty bumps. I also got the expansion packs. I put enough time into the game with new content that I think it counts. I also rage uninstalled this game about three times within a 6-hour span.
6. Cities: Skylines - Like with Darkest Dungeon, this is not my first rodeo, but I did get a lot of content packs that added so much new variety that I sunk another 30 hours over the last 12 months. I still think this game is too easy and it devolved into a traffic management simulator where you constantly are figuring out how to build more off ramps, but it's still very satisfying to lose yourself for an afternoon macro-managing a sprawling community. I wish there were new ways to add some variety, but if it was a dealbreaker then I'm a moron since I keep coming back to the well.
7. Cadence of Hyrule - The soundtrack alone almost makes this game, but the fun rhythm action really seals the deal. The game is a little too short though, and there's next to no replayability unless you want to experience it all again. Adding these two points to the fact that the game can become extremely easy if you enhance your weapons means it's not what I would call a stellar game. Fun, though. Glad I played it.
8. Sekiro - I wanted to love Sekiro. Sekiro didn't love me, and beat me over and over again the head with its difficulty. I was never good at the rhythm game portion of it, but I could see that the game was well made. I'm so not twitchy enough.
Hey goodjers. I've been pretty much totally absent from the forums this year but I do check in to read from time to time, and I still look forward to this thread, so thanks Eleima... It's good to see what I've been missing.
I've pretty much just played Beat Saber all year due to a new job that's taken up a lot of time, ever increasing demands of kids and a wife that deserved more of my time. Beat Saber has been perfect for maximising a small amount of free time because it's gaming AND exercise! However, I ranked it last year, so the only game on my list is
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare which I bought because a bunch of guys at work are playing it. It's my first CoD game, I'm pretty bad, but I can't deny I'm having fun. It's hard to say how much of the fun is down to the game or those I play with, but even if it's the latter, CoD deserves marks for a pretty good crossplay experience. I'm on PC, all those I play with are on Xbox or PS4.
Happy holidays everyone and all the best for the new year!
I have played hardly any games new to me this year whatsoever, which feels kinda weird.
I have spent the vast majority of the year continuing to play The Crew 2. The reason it has its hooks in me so deeply is that it is a competitive online game in which I can actually compete! I had pretty much given up on ever playing online competitive games again years ago, when it became clear that my reflexes could no longer keep up with teenagers. But for some reason, as I turned 58 this year, it turns out I can drive an arcadey-sim racer car/bike/boat/plane as well as any of those punks!
I spent a month playing WoW Classic, which showed me that I am well and truly over World of Warcraft. There were some nice moments of nostalgia, but I just wasn't interested.
I spent about an hour playing The Outer Worlds with my $1 Xbox Ultimate Game Pass month, but it didn't grab me. At least not enough to pull me away from crashing cars, bikes, boats, and planes.
I've been playing Civ VI on my iPad quite a bit (and now Rise & Fall, but not Gathering Storm, even though it's also out on iPad).
Since the release of Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition, I'm getting prepared to stream a complete playthrough of the "Definitive" Tomb Radier trilogy next month on PS4, starting with TR 2013.
There is one new game that I have spent many hours with since subscribing to Apple Arcade, and that is Mini Motorways. It's as awesome as Mini Metro, but for some reason I have a whole lot more fun with it. I feel like my Apple Arcade subscription is worth it for Mini Motorways alone.
So I guess that's my game of the year?
1. Mini Motorways
EDIT now that the show's over and it won't mess up Eleima, my actual list for this year was
1) The Division 2
2) Mini Motorways
Previous years: 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 (2011-2010: played WoW all year?) 2009 2008
Thank you so much beanman101283, brokenclavicle, Vrikk, kergguz, BadKen for your lists! A few surprises in there, that's always such a delight to see. And of course, I'm more than pleased to see a few adventure games from the club make an appearance. 
Eleima: What is the best way to do a short list for easy copy/paste action for you? Titles only listed 1 to 10 with line breaks between them?
A short numbered list is fine, but long ones are okay too. There's no "easy copy/paste" action here, so whatever you're more comfortable with is just dandy.
That's only 13 lists so far, but it's still early. Interesting to see some trends appearing, but only time will tell if they'll make the distance. 
7. Sekiro - I wanted to love Sekiro. Sekiro didn't love me, and beat me over and over again the head with its difficulty. I was never good at the rhythm game portion of it, but I could see that the game was well made. I'm so not twitchy enough.
Great list.
I suspect that’ll be me when I try Sekiro. I’m determined to try it... at some stage. In the mean time (spoilers) I’m loving the hell out of Nioh and the free Sekiro theme on PS4. The music for the theme is gorgeous but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
A short numbered list is fine, but long ones are okay too. There's no "easy copy/paste" action here, so whatever you're more comfortable with is just dandy. :)
So I try to give you a quick reference list these days (years?), but they're often in reverse order of everyone else: 10 to 1 rather than 1 to 10. Suspense and all that in the countdown. For the quick reference list, does 10 to 1 risk messing you up or is it another case of "doesn't really matter"?
That's only 13 lists so far, but it's still early. Interesting to see some trends appearing, but only time will tell if they'll make the distance. :D
I have compiled a list of all the games I played for the first time this year and so I can be positive in saying that my votes will have absolutely no impact on those trends. 
Thank you so much beanman101283, brokenclavicle, Vrikk, kergguz, BadKen for your lists! A few surprises in there, that's always such a delight to see. And of course, I'm more than pleased to see a few adventure games from the club make an appearance.
Thank you for keeping up with the thread!
And yes, the Adventure Game club seems to influence a lot of my choices, which is funny because I tend to play the CRPG and JRPG clubs, as well as the Monthly game club (forget its proper title) games, but the former's games tend to dig deeper. Perhaps it's due to the very nature of Adventure games; they lend themselves well to plenty of thought and analysis, and that sits nicely with me.
So I try to give you a quick reference list these days (years?), but they're often in reverse order of everyone else: 10 to 1 rather than 1 to 10. Suspense and all that in the countdown. For the quick reference list, does 10 to 1 risk messing you up or is it another case of "doesn't really matter"?
It's another case of "doesn't matter". A quick reference list, numbered either way, will keep the tracking and checking smoother, but ultimately, I'm reading everything.
Eleima wrote:That's only 13 lists so far, but it's still early. Interesting to see some trends appearing, but only time will tell if they'll make the distance. :D
I have compiled a list of all the games I played for the first time this year and so I can be positive in saying that my votes will have absolutely no impact on those trends. :P
If last year showed me anything, it's that every vote really does count. Truly. No joke.
And yes, the Adventure Game club seems to influence a lot of my choices, which is funny because I tend to play the CRPG and JRPG clubs, as well as the Monthly game club (forget its proper title) games, but the former's games tend to dig deeper. Perhaps it's due to the very nature of Adventure games; they lend themselves well to plenty of thought and analysis, and that sits nicely with me.
I'm glad. I mean, you all know me, I've been banging that adventure game drum since 1990.
Eleima wrote:That's only 13 lists so far, but it's still early. Interesting to see some trends appearing, but only time will tell if they'll make the distance. :D
I have compiled a list of all the games I played for the first time this year and so I can be positive in saying that my votes will have absolutely no impact on those trends. :P
If last year showed me anything, it's that every vote really does count. Truly. No joke.[/quote]
Maybe. But so far no game I played for the first time this year has appeared in any list. And really, there is likely only one game from my list that might actually manage get other votes.
I’m glad to see Soma appearing on lists, however. It was such a fantastic experience.
I get that, Mantid, truly, I do. I mean, look at my lists! Outside of Mass Effect, I'm playing lesser known visual novels no one but me will ever vote for. But that's okay, because they were my number one's. What I was getting it was that last year was a photo finish, only a couple of points difference between games. So yeah, every list is precious to me.
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