Welcome to the my personal list of games I enjoyed this year. That’s right it’s my list, feel free to disagree with me but it won’t change anything.
Anyway here are the rules;
1. These are games that I’ve played and reviewed this year.
2. There isn’t an order to this list, its not a top 10 (or 9 in this case), these all feature because of how good they are.
3. The games don’t have to have been released this year.
Now lets get on with it!
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
This game was harrowing, I can’t say I enjoyed because nothing about playing this game was what I’d call joyful. But it was an experience that I’m very glad I had. Vikings and mental health make for a good game… who knew?
Pyre
This game tricked me into playing a sports game…. and I don’t care. The as per usual with Supergiant the music is outstanding and the art style? I would love to get some prints of the backgrounds to frame!
Dishonored 2
Once again there is only one AAA title on my list. This game builds on and improves everything Dishonored did. Some of the level design in this game was inspired!
The Sexy Brutale
Time travel and multiple murder mysteries, a fantastic combination. Well, maybe not for the the victims but it’s a lot of fun for the one solving them.
Vaporum
I do love a good dungeon crawler, I also quite like steampunk as a aesthetic. So Vaporum ticks a lot of boxes for me. Think Legend of Grimrock but with guns as well.
Just Shapes & Beats
This game is a great example of what can be done with a minimalist art style. The controls are really responsive and the levels are very imaginative. Throw in some fantastic music and you have a winner!
Subsurface Circular
Solve the mystery all while never leaving your seat, and I’m not even talking about the player! It’s a short game but one well worth a look into.
Space Tyrant
A four X strategy game come digital board game with a 80’s style Saturday morning cartoon look. It’s not often I get to manically laugh like a super villian but this game gave me plenty of reasons!
Owlboy
A pixel art platformer with a lot of heart. It’s amazing how much this game made me care for the poor little mute that is Owlboy. On top of that the game has a lot of challenging platforming, which isn’t something I thought would be possible for a character that can fly.
Overall it’s been a pretty good year of gaming. Of course I’m always working somewhat in the past so what I experience isn’t reflective of whats been going on with the gaming industry as a whole. And I have to be honest, NEVER have I been more glad that I don’t deal with a lot of the crap the industry has been pulling. Last year I had hoped that the industry would buck up its ideas and stop treating us like an eternal money source. Seems I couldn’t have been more wrong.
